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Why are coffee, tobacco, and marijuana available the world over, but not peyote or qat? Why are alcohol and tobacco legal, but not heroin or cocaine? What drives the drug, and how has it come to be what it is today - a vast, chequered pattern of use and abuse, medicine and recreation, commerce and interdiction? A global history of the acquisition of progressively more potent means of altering ordinary waking consciousness, this book provides the big picture of the discovery, interchange, and exploitation of the planet's psychoactive resources, from tea and kola to opiates and amphetamines. Offering a social and biological account of why psychoactive goods proved so seductive, David Courtwright tracks the intersecting paths by which popular drugs entered the stream of global commerce. He shows how the efforts of merchants and colonial planters expanded world supply, drove down prices, and drew millions of less affluent purchasers into the market, effectively democratizing drug consumption.
Author Notes
Rainer Smola, Rechtsanwalt, Bonn.
Reviews 3
Booklist Review
Courtwright examines the historic tolerance of such psychoactives as coffee, tobacco, and alcohol vis-a-vis the prohibitions of such others as marijuana, cocaine, and opiates, and he delineates the history of various drugs from their first known appearance in written records to their rise as popular medical or recreational substances to, in far too many cases, their prohibition. Consider the progress of the opiates. Originally hailed as a godsend, opium and its derivatives were widely used, more or less medicinally, but fell from favor because of their addictiveness and other side effects. Nevertheless, the British created a lucrative market for the stuff in China, even going to war to keep the supply flowing and the money coming in. Eventually, the Chinese were heavily identified with opium smoking, and fear of opium dens and concomitant iniquitous behavior was used to justify discrimination and worse against Chinese in America. Reasoned and informative, Courtwright's book is a cogent source of dispassionate information on drugs and their role in society. --Mike Tribby
Library Journal Review
Historian Courtwright (Violent Land) ranges widely across more than four centuries and the world to chart the "psychoactive revolution" that made ever more potent drugs available to all classes of people and redefined the meaning and means of consciousness, and even social conscience. As pleasure came to matter more, drugs of all kinds found ready takers. Courtwright gathers up historical, scientific, literary, artistic, and public policy references on psychoactive substances, legal and illegal, to show how drug usage was as much an outgrowth of market forces as cultural habits. Drugs were commerce and currency and moved from geographically limited areas of cultivation to worldwide consumption, with ever more efficient means of production and supply driving down prices and thereby opening markets to the poorest. Efforts by governments over the past century to outlaw particular drugs, while regulating others, have proved uneven and erratic. Always intelligent and informed, witty and wise, Courtwright's book is the best way to get a fix on why getting drugs out of our systems would require more than abstinence; it would take another revolution in handling social and personal pain. An essential acquisition.DRandall M. Miller, Saint Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Choice Review
Courtwright (history, Univ. of North FL) calls his study a "history of the psychoactive revolution." By that he means an analysis of the availability and spread of drugs, both licit and illicit, to all segments of society as a consequence of empire building and the emerging global economy from the 15th century to the present. His subjects are not only hard drugs, including many that are not readily available such as qat, but also rather ordinary items such as alcohol, tobacco, and beverages with caffeine. In the past century and a half, many drugs began as restricted medicines and expanded into recreational activity. With growing popular use came governmental attempts to control and/or tax their trade. Significantly, the author attempts to measure the social and environmental implications of drug use over time and internationally. It is noteworthy that only drugs widely used in the West have become global commodities. As the forbidden fruit of the modern age, the psychoactive technology of drugs may be compared to military technology for its tendency to outstrip our ability to deal with it safely. Highly readable and recommended. S. Prisco III Stevens Institute of Technology
ExcerptsExcerpt The Big Three: Alcohol, Tobacco, and Caffeine The expansion of oceangoing commerce is the single most important fact about the early modern world. Plants, animals, and microorganisms long confined to one continent or hemisphere spread elsewhere, with spectacular demographic and ecological results. New World foods such as the potato and maize made possible rapid population growth in Europe and Asia. Old World diseases such as smallpox and measles wiped out millions of Amerindians, creating a demographic vacuum filled by Europeans and Africans. The exchange of diseases, so much to the Old World's advantage, was usually accidental. The exchange of plants was sometimes accidental, as anyone who has ever weeded a garden of hitchhiker species well knows. But the exchange of psychoactive plants, products, and processing techniques was seldom accidental. The globalization of wine, spirits, tobacco, caffeine-bearing plants, opiates, cannabis, coca, and other drugs--each to be considered in its turn--was a deliberate, profit-driven process. It would transform the everyday consciousness of billions of people and, eventually, the environment itself. Wine Viticulture, the selective cultivation of grape vines for making wine, exemplifies the global diffusion process. Viticulture probably originated in the mountainous region between the Black and Caspian seas, where Armenia is now located, sometime between 6000 and 4000 B.C. Commercial wine production was well established in the Levant and Aegean by 1500 B.C. and was thriving throughout the Mediterranean world by the time of Christ. The Bible mentions wine no fewer than 165 times. The rise of Islam, which condemned wine as an abomination devised by Satan, discouraged viticulture in North Africa and the Middle East, but wine making and drinking flourished in medieval Europe. Greek wine made its way to Russia, along with Orthodoxy; the Kievan Chronicle attributes Vladimir I's rejection of Islam to the Russian fondness for drinking. Wine was a symbol, of Christ's sacrifice, the preferred beverage of the European aristocracy (commoners mostly drank locally brewed ale or beer), and a safe, germfree alternative to polluted water, possibly the single greatest menace to human health since the advent of civilization. That the Good Samaritan poured wine rather than water into the traveler's wounds was no coincidence. Viticulture also spread to northern India and China, though wine drinking never became as popular there as in Christian Europe. As a result of a minute genetic variation, roughly half of all Asians produce an inactive form of an enzyme necessary for complete alcohol metabolism. They experience an "alcohol flush reaction" of bright red facial flushing, heart palpitations, dizziness, and nausea. Those with milder versions of the syndrome, called "slow flushers," sometimes take to drink, but "fast flushers" are vulnerable to acute alcohol poisoning and typically have a stronger aversion. Though alcohol researchers differ over the deterrent power of the flush reaction, some have suggested that it slowed the progress of viticulture and other forms of alcoholic beverage production in East Asia. The Chinese, moreover, had less need of wine or other alcoholic beverages as alternatives to contaminated water. They had tea, made with boiling water and thus potable. During the Renaissance Vitis vinifera , the European wine vine, was successfully transplanted to the eastern Atlantic islands. When Shakespeare's characters spoke of Canary, they meant the wine, not the islands. Though Columbus tried and failed to establish vineyards, Cortés and his followers succeeded in importing wine vines to Mexico. The local varieties of grapes would not do; like almost all native American grapes, they were small, tough, sour, and unpalatable. Cortés solved the problem by transplanting strains taken from the Estremadura by his own father, strains that were the product of seven thousand years of artificial selection for superior size, tenderness, sugar content, and flavor. Between 1524 and 1556 viticulture spread south to Peru and Chile and across the Andes to Argentina, where a Jesuit priest introduced it. Missionaries were also responsible for bringing viticulture to Alta California in the 1770s. Within a century it became one of the great wine-producing regions of the world, exporting its produce to places as far distant as Australia, China, Hawaii, Peru, Denmark, and Britain. The Dutch brought viticulture to the Cape Colony, established in 1652 on the southern tip of Africa as a victualing station for the Dutch East India Company. The idea was to provide crews with fresh wine, an antiscorbutic and palatable alternative to the three-month-old water in the ships' casks. It was, however, the British, anxious to develop alternatives to French imports, who rapidly expanded Cape wine production when they took over the colony in the nineteenth century. The British also introduced viticulture to Australia. The ships that arrived in 1788 to establish the penal colony also carried wine vines from Rio de Janeiro and the Cape Colony. The experiment was initially a disappointment, as transplanted convicts preferred the more familiar beer and spirits. What the British attempted to do in Australia and later in New Zealand, where they introduced wine vines in 1819, was part of a larger pattern, the deliberate mingling of the world's plants by European colonizers and traders. The exotic plants of Kew Gardens, just upriver from London, are living reminders of Britain's preeminent role in the imperial reshuffling of nature. His Majesty's ships served as the means of botanical discovery and exchange. In 1789, when Fletcher Christian decided that he had had enough of Captain William Bligh, the Bounty was transporting a thousand breadfruit trees from Tahiti to the West Indies, where they might provide a cheap new food source for slaves. The mutineers rid themselves of Bligh and his cargo, but the doughty captain survived and later successfully completed a second breadfruit voyage. Spirits European ships carried new technologies as well as new plants. Among the most important of these was distilling. Known to the Greeks and Romans, preserved and advanced by the Arabs, distilling entered Europe via Salerno in the eleventh century. Printed books on distilling, which began appearing in the late fifteenth century, spread knowledge of the technique. Although stills extracted the "essences" of many plants, the manufacture of alcoholic spirits from wine and other fermented liquids assumed increasing economic importance. Larger, improved copper stills and cheaper base materials, notably sugar and Baltic grain, made the mass production of liquor possible. By the mid-seventeenth century stills were dripping their fiery waters from Ireland to Russia. The center of the emerging industry was Holland. The Dutch, already leaders in the wine trade, had efficient stills and were well situated to export their product. To this day their language is imprinted on strong drink. "Brandy" is an abbreviation of brandewijn , or burnt wine. "Gin" is short for genever , grain spirits flavored with juniper berries. The English first ascribed the eponymous "Dutch courage" to their hard-drinking rivals during the seventeenth century. Mass-produced spirits were a cheap source of intoxication and calories. The ales, beers, and wines drunk by early modern Europeans were often of poor quality and spoiled quickly. Brandy and whiskey kept well and improved with age. Vintners also commonly added brandy to preserve wines, whose alcoholic content was thus strengthened or "fortified." Distilling rendered perishable crops imperishable. The potato, for example, was the mainstay of the German distilling industry in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Once harvested, potatoes kept only until the warm weather of the next growing season set in. Converted to alcohol in one of the Reich's 6,000 potato distilleries, they could last indefinitely--and be profitably exported to African colonies. Spirits of all sorts, which were cheaper and easier to ship than beer or wine, became important items in colonial trade. "She is the fountain of all good," the Maoris toasted Queen Victoria. "May she send us plenty of gun powder, plenty of rum and may both be strong." Europeans also brought or improvised stills. William McCoy, one of the Bounty 'S mutineers who ended up on remote Pitcairn Island, managed to adapt a copper kettle salvaged from the ship, with tragic personal consequences: he leapt to his death from a cliff while drunk. Thirsty beachcombers on Ponape learned they could not count on rum or whiskey from passing ships. So they fermented coconut toddy ("a skill they very soon passed on to the islanders") and rigged stills to guarantee a supply of spirits. Native peoples caught on to distilling and were soon adjusting recipes to suit their tastes. Some Maoris fancied tobacco and human urine in their home brew. But a mixture of imported and locally produced liquor became the most common pattern, at least in agricultural societies. By the 1840s the Siamese were consuming imported spirits from China, Batavia, Singapore, and Europe as well as growing amounts of locally distilled rum and arrack. One government official complained that, despite flogging his slaves to the brink of death, he could not stop them from converting their rice ration into spirits, "so strong was their appetite for the poison." Similar complaints could be heard wherever distilled beverages took hold. The mass production of spirits and the fortification of wines exacerbated drunkenness and alcoholism in both European and non-European societies. Contemporaries and historians are unanimous on this point. The question is why. After all, fermentation is a natural process. Except for some Arctic dwellers and North American Indians, most people had access to at least one type of alcoholic beverage--palm wine, mead, corn and barley beers, fermented milk--before they tasted of the fruit of the tree of distilling. One frequent explanation is that fermented beverages spoil quickly and are much weaker in alcoholic content, which is not more than 14 percent in wine and 7 percent in beer, and often less. (Early modern wines--less potent than today's beverages--were also commonly diluted with water before being drunk, lowering the percentage of alcohol further.) Spirits packed a far heftier ethanol punch. "This changed profoundly the economic and social role of alcoholic drinks," writes the historian David Christian, "for distilled drinks were to fermented drinks what guns were to bows and arrows: instruments of a potency unimaginable in most traditional societies." Some traditional societies fared worse than others. Hunter-gatherers were hit harder than sedentary agricultural peoples, who were more constrained by community controls. Festive northern and eastern European drinkers and their American descendants had more trouble with grain spirits than the Romanized wine drinkers of southern Europe, who preferred their alcohol in moderation and on a full stomach. Les misérables swilled more gin than les bourgeois . Everywhere the cultural norms and social circumstances of those who were exposed to liquor, as well as those who did the exposing, influenced the prevalence of problem drinking. Yet it is hard to escape the logic of David Christian's observation. When familiar drugs are processed in unfamiliar ways, increasing their potency to unprecedented levels, heightened abuse inevitably, if not always evenly, follows. This is an important and recurring theme in drug history. Wine is to brandy as opium is to morphine, coca is to cocaine, or shag tobacco is to the modern cigarette. The history of psychoactive substances resembles that of the arms race. Technological change continuously raises the human stakes. Tobacco Europeans learned of tobacco in 1492, when two members of Columbus's party, observed Tainos Indians smoking leaves rolled into large cigars. Subsequent contacts revealed that Indians also chewed and sniffed the drug, methods of administration that one day would be emulated by millions of Europeans. But for most of the sixteenth century tobacco was a sideshow--a botanical curiosity, an exotic medicine, or a raffish toy introduced to English courtiers by Sir Walter Raleigh. Sailors spread the smoking habit in humbler circles, in the taverns and brothels of numberless ports of call. With more deliberation, the Spanish used one of their Manila galleons to transplant tobacco to the Philippines, where after 1575 it quickly became a cash crop. Around 1600 Fukienese sailors and merchants brought the plant from the Philippines to China, soon to become a nation of enthusiastic smokers. Tobacco cultivation began in West Africa sometime in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, recent scholarship inclining toward the latter period. It was brought by the Portuguese, who revolutionized African agriculture by introducing maize, beans, sweet potatoes, tobacco, and many other New World crops. Between about 1590 and 1610 the energetic Portuguese also introduced tobacco to India, Java, Japan, and Iran. Like ripples from a handful of gravel tossed into a pond, tobacco use and cultivation spread by secondary and tertiary diffusion: from India to Ceylon, from Iran to Central Asia, from Japan to Korea, from China to Tibet and Siberia, from Java to Malaysia to New Guinea. By 1620 tobacco was, by any definition, a global crop. But it was not yet an item of widespread consumption. It was still expensive in 1620 and would remain so until colonial tobacco production--an object of all European imperial powers, even minor ones like Sweden--expanded. Virginia and Maryland were the most productive colonies. They were too productive, in fact, for their own good. Farm prices, measured in shillings per pound in the early 1620s, fell to less than one pence per pound by the late 1670s. The average weight of tobacco exports to England rose from 65,000 pounds a year to more than 20 million pounds during the same period. Much of this tobacco was reexported, particularly to Amsterdam. The Dutch and the English were the first European peoples to achieve genuine mass consumption. The Dutch averaged 1.5 pounds per capita in 1670, the English a little more than a pound. Amsterdam and London served as rival headquarters of the psychoactive revolution in the seventeenth century, with Amsterdam the more advanced and aggressive of the two. Amsterdam had its own lively reexport trade. Its enterprising merchants mixed Virginia and other colonial tobaccos with cheaper Dutch varieties, which flourished on the sandy, manured soils of the inner provinces. They shipped the mixture to Scandinavia, Russia, and other markets dominated, to the chagrin of the English, by Dutch tobacco imports. Spanish, English, and Dutch soldiers fighting in the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) introduced tobacco into the German-speaking lands of central Europe. From there it spread to northern, eastern, and southern Europe. Soldiers, along with sailors, merchants, diplomats, students, immigrants, guest workers, refugees, and tourists, have long constituted the advance guard of the psychoactive revolution. Armies, whose ranks are filled with single, lower-class men plagued by alternating cycles of boredom, fatigue, and terror, were natural incubators of drug use. Highly mobile, they introduced novel drugs and drug-taking methods into the countries in which they fought, and returned home with drug knowledge acquired abroad. The troops who fought under Gustavus Adolphus during the Thirty Years' War brought smoking to the interior of Scandinavia. (English and Dutch sailors had already exposed the seaport populations.) Veterans of the Mexican War (1846-1848) boosted cigar smoking in the United States, and veterans of the Crimean War (1853-1856) did the, same for cigarettes in Britain. Demobilized Greek soldiers, who learned to smoke hashish in Turkey, helped spread the practice in Greece in the 1920s. American deserters who had begun using heroin in Vietnam brought the drug to Amsterdam in 1972. Whether advanced by military or by other means, two things are remarkable about tobacco's conquest of Europe and Asia during the seventeenth century. The first is that use of the drug cut across all social categories. Lowborn and high, ortho- and heterodox partook of its pleasures, though whether by quid, pipe, or snuff varied with class, gender, and local custom. The second is that tobacco managed to overcome sharp and sometimes violent initial opposition by civil and clerical authorities. English smokers risked the disapproval of James I, who declaimed against the Stygian weed. Monarchs of more absolute sway meted out cruel punishments. Russian smokers suffered beatings and exile; snuff-takers had their noses torn off. Chinese smokers had their heads impaled on pikes. Turkish smokers under the reign of Ahmed I endured pipe stems thrust through their noses; Murad IV ordered them tortured to death. Priests who indulged in tobacco during Mass--one vomited up the Sacrament after dipping snuff--were threatened with excommunication. Added to the fines, floggings, mutilations, and threats of death and damnation was the everyday obloquy of those who did not indulge. Tobacco, as its critics tirelessly pointed out, fouled the breath, stained the teeth, soiled the clothing, and brought forth umbered streams of snot and spittle. Smoking also entailed the risk of fire, a mortal danger in a world of combustible dwellings. Yet nothing checked tobacco's progress. The drug was so reinforcing--the historian V. G. Kiernan called it the most universal new pleasure human beings have acquired--that it triumphed over all legal obstacles and offended sensibilities. Official statistics suggest that tobacco consumption, measured in pounds per capita, leveled off in Europe during the eighteenth century. This trend is misleading, however. The figures omit clandestine domestic production and unreported American imports, equivalent to perhaps a third of the total. The eighteenth-century rage for snuff also helps explain the apparent stagnation. Pound for pound, tobacco could be stretched further in the manufacture of snuff than in smoking products. Europeans were not consuming less nicotine in the eighteenth century, but rather were consuming it more efficiently--or, in the case of contraband, illegally. Smoking again became fashionable in Europe during the nineteenth century. Romantics, bohemians, soldiers, and dandies led the way. By the 1850s pipes and cigars were rapidly gaining ground, though oral snuff remained popular in Sweden and Iceland. In the first half of the twentieth century cigarettes triumphed over all competitors, becoming the smoking norm--or, more accurately, a kind of international language and freemasonry--in Europe, the United States, Turkey, China, and much of the rest of the world. Smoking in general and cigarettes in particular increased tobacco consumption. In France, a bellwether for continental drug practices, the use of tobacco products per person was only about three-quarters of a pound in 1819. Snuff then accounted for 58 percent of the market. In 1925, when the French were using well over three pounds per person, snuff held just 7 percent of the market, chewing tobacco only 2 percent. The French, remarked an American physician in 1909, after visiting the spotless modern tobacco factory at Issy les Moulineaux, did not indulge in the vile mastication so beloved of his fellow citizens. He need not have concerned himself. Within a generation spittoons were antiques and Americans were in thrall to the cigarette. The victory did not come easily: the cigarette had many enemies. One of the more implacable, Mrs. John Stuart White, objected to smoking during the sinking of the Titanic . "Before we cut loose from the ship two of the seamen with us ... took out cigarettes and lighted them," she complained during a Senate inquiry into the disaster. "On an occasion like that!" More pragmatically, a coalition of evangelical and progressive reformers, who blamed "the little white slaver" for corrupting the young and poisoning the race, endeavored to throw up legislative barriers to its progress. But widespread military use during World War I, rapid urbanization, changing gender roles, and clever advertising ("Reach for a Lucky Instead of a Sweet") paved the way for the cigarette's triumph. In 1930 the authoritative Tobacco Industry Annual Review reported that U.S. leaf production was at an all-time high. It attributed the good news to heavy advertising and the "present great consumption of cigarettes by women," brought into the smoking fold by a "masterly" campaign. "Today, therefore, the cigarette industry cannot only look forward to annual accretions to its ranks from the generations of new male smokers but has added the opposite sex to this group, while continuing its efforts toward those women for whom smoking is still, if not among the taboos, at least a debatable question." By the late 1950s American men and women were purchasing upwards of 15,000 cigarettes a second . World production had climbed to over 8.4 billion pounds annually. N. tabacum was a cash crop on all continents save Antarctica, whose explorers smoked anyway. A third of global production came from North America, two-fifths from Asia, one-sixth from Europe, and the remaining tenth from South America and Africa--the latter then expanding its production rapidly. America led the world in tobacco production and export; its gold-standard cigarettes could be found on every continent. Bushmen begged for them in mime, puffing the tips of their fingers. Though consumption leveled off in the United States and other western nations during the 1960s and 1970s, it continued to expand in developing nations. By the mid-1990s the world's estimated 1.1 billion smokers--a third of the population over age 15--smoked 5.5 trillion cigarettes annually. That sum represented a pack a week for every man, woman, and child, smoker or nonsmoker, on the planet. Caffeinated Beverages and Foods As impressive as the cigarette's triumph was, its principal active ingredient, nicotine, is by no means the earth's most widely used drug. It is in third place. Alcohol ranks second, caffeine first. World per capita consumption is about 70 milligrams a day. In some countries, such as Sweden and Britain, the average is well over 400 milligrams a day, roughly equivalent to four cups of coffee. According to the anthropologist Eugene Anderson, the most widespread words on the planet, found in virtually every language, are the names of the four great caffeine plants: coffee, tea, cacao, and kola. Economically, coffee became the most important of the caffeine plants. By the late twentieth century it consistently trailed only oil as the world's most widely traded commodity. In its own way, coffee had become just as indispensable as a fuel of industrial civilization. Yet it began its career in the relative obscurity of the Ethiopian highlands, whose residents chewed rather than infused the beans for their stimulating effects. Coffee drinking made its earliest appearance outside Ethiopia in Yemen, in southern Arabia, sometime in the fifteenth century, likely before 1470. By the late fifteenth century it had spread to Mecca and Medina; by the early sixteenth to Cairo; by the mid-sixteenth to Istanbul. Iran, connected to the Ottoman Empire by warfare and commerce, soon followed. Exporters shipped the beans to southeastern Europe. They sold in Venice as an exotic drug as early as 1615, and came into more general use by the 1640s. Except for tea, coffee was the only important stimulant beverage whose use spread beyond its original zone of cultivation prior to and independently of European commercial expansion. But it was Europeans who made coffee into a worldwide drink and global crop. Coffee caught on in Europe in the second half of the seventeenth century. As in Islamic lands, the public center of consumption was the coffee house. Itinerant vendors also sold coffee, though fixed distribution was more practical because of the bulky equipment and fire required to brew and warm the drink. Coffee houses quickly emerged as centers of male conviviality, gossip, and business. Luminaries such as Voltaire--"the most illustrious of the coffee addicts," as one French physician styled him--gathered to discuss literature and politics. Coffee houses became incubators of liberal and revolutionary ideas: Camille Desmoulins delivered his "to arms, to arms" speech to a crowd gathered just outside the Café Foy, two days before the storming of the Bastille. Secular and religious authorities were, with good reason, suspicious of coffee houses, and sometimes ordered them closed. But they did so because they feared what went on inside them, rather than the stimulating effects of coffee itself. Many coffee houses doubled as local drug emporiums, offering everything from chocolate to strong drink. Patrons of Paris's famous Café Procope could, besides savoring fresh-brewed coffee, sample imported wines and exotic liquors like rossoly , a mixture of crushed fennel, anise, coriander, dill, caraway, and brandy steeped in the heat of the sun. Such delights were denied the patrons of Islamic coffee houses, who could not generally purchase alcoholic beverages. That trade was relegated to the taverns, disreputable institutions on the fringes of society. But patrons did indulge in smoking, as did their western counterparts. The air of many a coffee house hung thick with acrid haze. This was, in hindsight, good for business. Smokers metabolize caffeine at a rate 50 percent faster than nonsmokers and thus require more frequent cups of coffee to feel the same stimulating effects. It often happens that drugs are not merely substitutes for one another, but serve to increase demand for other psychoactive products. Drug commerce is more than a zero-sum game. European coffee consumption exploded in the eighteenth century, rising from an estimated 2 to 120 million pounds. Tea imports rose from 1 to 40 million pounds, cacao from 2 to 13 million. Allowing for smuggling, customs fraud, spoilage, adulteration, and other sources of measurement error, the growth of caffeinated beverage consumption clearly outstripped that of population, up 50 percent during the same period. Price and social-class usage moved in the same direction, downward, as cooks and chambermaids took to greeting the day with café au lait . Coffee could not have become a beverage of the masses if the Europeans had not organized production in their own colonies. When coffee came into fashion in Europe, the Dutch East India Company purchased Yemenite coffee at the port of Mocha. They resold it in Amsterdam at a markup of 100 to 200 percent. Profits like that drew competition from the English and French, who bid up the price of Mocha coffee. So the company's directors shifted their efforts to western Java, where they had introduced coffee on an experimental basis in 1707. By 1726 they controlled 50 to 75 percent of the world bean trade, and coffee was on its way to becoming an international cash crop. This story was repeated time and again. Indigenous producers tried to maintain cultivation monopolies, but without success. Europeans and their colonial descendants expanded the production of, and eventually the markets for, plant drugs and spirits in regions under their political influence or control. The French turned Saint-Domingue (Haiti) into a sort of Java of the western hemisphere. They produced so much coffee that by 1774 they were exporting 2 million tons annually via Marseilles to their former suppliers in the Levant. The Portuguese managed a similar feat in Brazil, as did the Spanish in their South and Central American colonies. Today coffee covers 44 percent of the permanent arable cropland in northern Latin America. Although the Americas dominate world production, Subsaharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Hawaii, home of Kona coffee, have joined the Ethiopian and Arabian hearth lands as significant sources of beans. A disproportionate share of those beans found their way to the United States, long near the top of the table of per capita coffee consumption. Coffee and America grew up together. Cowboys (and Indians) took theirs hot. black, and strong: "It don't take as much water as you think it do." Frontiersmen of a different sort, the Apollo 11 astronauts, were drinking coffee three hours after landing on the moon. Theirs was history's first extraplanetary drug use. The conventional explanation for the beverage's enduring American popularity is that in the 1770s tea became a symbol of British taxes and tranny, and an object of colonial boycott and vandalism. Coffee became the patriotic drink. But protest politics have a short half-life, and any account that omits cost is incomplete. More significant over time were the country's proximity to Caribbean and Latin American coffee plantations and its low duties on coffee--a few pennies a pound for most of the nineteenth century, sometimes no duty at all. The cost per milligram of caffeine in coffee was thus lower than for any other caffeinated beverage. This was particularly true after the Brazilians, beginning in the 1820s, unleashed a flood of slave-produced coffee. American per capita consumption, three pounds per year in 1830, rose to eight pounds by 1859. Declining price had a similar effect on the habits of the Dutch, another heavy coffee-drinking people. There tea lost out to coffee after 1760, when import duties fell and Dutch per capita coffee consumption quadrupled. Coffee remained cheap throughout America for most of the twentieth century. It was a widely advertised loss leader in supermarkets and a come-on at lunch counters. One drugstore fountain in Canon City, Colorado, still sold it for three cents a cup in inflation-plagued 1969. (When the store had previously raised its price to four cents, half its coffee customers ungratefully departed.) Coffee was practically a free good--literally so in soup kitchens and at grand openings, fairs, and picnics. In the 1970s it took the average American just 30 seconds of work to pay for a cup of home-brewed coffee, less time than it took to drink it. Revolutionary America's "prenatal disinclination for tea" makes for a good story. However, the Occam's Razor of the modern American coffee experience, and the moral to be drawn from it, is that when psychoactive drugs are widely available, heavily promoted, and cheap they become extremely popular, particularly if they are habit-forming. As with coffee, the use of tea became progressively more widespread as the price came down. Tea is indigenous to the region where India and China meet. A Chinese text of 350 A.D. mentions it as a medicinal beverage. It came into general use--taxation was a sure sign--by the late eighth century. When the Japanese first learned to drink tea is uncertain, but firm evidence establishes its presence by 815. Buddhist priests brought seeds from China and planted them in temple gardens. Eventually the tea ritual, embodiment of the Zen conception of greatness in the smallest moments of life, became more central to Japanese culture than to Chinese. The Dutch first imported tea to Europe in 1610, but it remained quite expensive until the British East India Company commenced direct trade with Canton in 1713. After that the trade, legal and illegal, steadily increased. In 1784 the British government removed most of the duties on tea. Low taxes undercut smugglers and further increased consumption, which reached over two pounds per capita--about 400 cups per year--in England and Wales at the end of the eighteenth century. By then consumers were paying only a quarter of what they had paid for tea in the 1720s. The steady expansion of the China trade by the British East India Company and its rivals was the first stage of the development of the world tea industry. The second was the appropriation, in the mid-nineteenth century, of tea cultivation by the European colonial powers. The Dutch introduced tea bushes to the koffie moe (coffee-tired) lands of Java. The British did the same in India and Ceylon, where a blight had so devastated the coffee industry that dead trees were stripped and shipped to England to make legs for tea tables. April 1887 marked the turning point. In that month the British, Europe's leading tea consumers, first imported more Indian and Ceylonese tea than Chinese. Cost was again decisive. The Chinese taxed their tea more heavily at the point of export and produced it less efficiently than on the large Indian plantations. Chinese attempts to maintain the price by putting less tea on the market proved futile, as they no longer held a monopoly on production; Indian and Ceylonese producers simply took up the slack. Aggressive retailers like Thomas Lipton made large, direct purchases of Indian and Ceylonese leaves. By using heavy turnover to compensate for low profit margins, Lipton could sell his tea for a little more than a shilling a pound, a sum within the reach of the poorest families. The third stage was the spread of tea cultivation from Asia to eastern, southern, and central Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1952 more than 97,000 African acres were planted with tea bushes, yielding over 47 million pounds. By then commercial tea production had blossomed throughout the southern arc of Asia. Plantations stretched from Formosa in the east to Iran and Russian Transcaucasia in the west. Tea growing had also spread to Brazil, Argentina, and Peru. Though it does well in lands suited to coffee farming, tea never became a leading cash crop in South America. Perhaps it suffered from too much caffeinated competition, not only from coffee and cacao, but from guarana and yerba-maté. The latter yields a potent tea drunk by more than twenty million people in southern Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and portions of Peru. Cacao, another plant destined to become an important African crop, originated in the American tropics. The Olmecs domesticated it sometime after 1500 B.C. The Spanish learned of it from the Maya and the Aztecs, for whom chocolate, made from pulverized cacao beans and various spices, was the beverage of the social elites. They served it at the end of banquets, along with tobacco, rather like the port and cigars of later European aristocracy. Chocolate bore similar aristocratic connotations in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe, where it came to be drunk warm and sweet rather than cold and bitter in the Aztec manner. Particularly popular among the secular and clerical elites of Spain, Italy, and France, chocolate had about it an air of ancien régime decadence. The obese Marquis de Sade was obsessed with it in all its forms. From prison he badgered his wife for ground chocolate, crème au chocolat , chocolate pastilles, and even cacao butter suppositories to soothe his piles. "I asked ... for a cake with icing," he wrote in 1779, "but I want it to be chocolate and black inside from chocolate as the devil's ass is black from smoke." Chocolate was democratized in the nineteenth century. Technological innovation, industrialized production, and expanded cultivation--Europeans were importing more than 100 million pounds by 1899--made it widely affordable as both beverage and solid food. In 1828 Coenraad Johannes Van Houten, a Dutch chemist, patented a process for pressing most of the cacao butter from chocolate. The resulting cake, powdered and treated with alkaline salts, could be mixed with water to make cocoa, a cheap beverage that required no gilt pots or beating of heavy liquids. Cocoa became a breakfast drink for children, chocolate candies tokens of middle-class affection. While Van Houten and others were revolutionizing the manufacture of chocolate products, the Portuguese were successfully transplanting cacao across the Atlantic, beginning with Príncipe, a small island off the African coast, in 1822. (Spanish efforts to spread cacao had focused on the Philippines, where both cultivation and consumption caught on.) Cacao was growing on the African mainland by the 1870s. Although the imperial powers pushed cacao cultivation ever eastward, establishing plantations from Ceylon to Samoa, West Africa became the center of world production in the twentieth century, supplanting Latin America. By 1991 Africa was supplying 55 percent of the world's cacao, while Mexico, where domestication first occurred, supplied lust 1.5 Percent. West Africans also produced kola nuts, a crop that entered world commerce late and in an unusual fashion. Kola nuts are richer in caffeine than coffee beans and contain traces of theobromine, a milder stimulant also found in cacao. Kola nuts were traditionally broken into small pieces and chewed for their stimulating, mood-elevating, and aphrodisiac effects. Because they dried out easily and required special packaging, their long-distance trade was largely limited to western Savanna Muslims, who prized kola as an alternative to alcohol. Coffee, tea, and cacao were less perishable and hence better suited to international commerce. Coffee, for instance, could travel long distances without much detriment to quality, provided supercargoes took some elementary precautions, such as keeping the beans out of holds that had contained pepper. (Continues...) Copyright © 2001 President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
|The Psychoactive
|Part I The Confluence of Psychoactive Resources
|1 The Big Three
|Alcohol, Tobacco, and Caffeine
|2 The Little Three
|Opium, Cannabis, and Coca


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The Lipscomb Lady Bisons basketball schedule has a heavy local flavor for 2008-2009.
The Lady Bisons will be playing several Ohio Valley Conference teams this season starting with the regular season opener Nov. 15 at Austin Peay in Clarksville, Tenn.
The OVC theme continues with back-to-back home games when Tennessee Tech visits Allen Arena Nov. 18 and Tennessee-Martin comes to Nashville Nov. 20.
"This is the first time we have ever played Tennessee Tech in women's basketball," said Lady Bisons coach Frank Bennett. "We are only 80 miles apart, but we have never played before."
Rounding out the home schedule is a visit from Samford, a former OVC team, Nov. 24 and a visit from Tennessee State, the fourth OVC team on the schedule Nov. 29.
The Lady Bisons will face Bowling Green State in Bowling Green, Ohio Nov. 22. They travel to Evansville, Ind. to play Evansville Dec. 9.
"Bowling Green State has been a very outstanding program the past few years," Bennett said. "They made it all the way to the `Sweet 16' a couple of years ago. That will be a tough game. I understand they have a small gym with a really rabid crowd.
"We are renewing our series with Evansville. That is always a tough game."
The only tournament on the regular season schedule for the Lady Bisons is Dec. 28 and 29 at Dayton University in Dayton, Ohio. Other teams in the field are Bowling Green State and Gardner-Webb.
"Last year we had four of our first 17 games at home and we played a lot of high major teams," said Bennett. "We have four OVC schools that are within easy driving distance. Hopefully, we can develop some rivalries there and have some fan interest."
The Lady Bisons will open the Atlantic Sun portion of the schedule on the road facing North Florida Dec. 4 and Jacksonville Dec. 6.
'Most would consider ETSU, the defending champion, as the favorite," Bennett said. "They lost some players, but they were deep and athletic.
"Jacksonville was the runner-up last season. They lost one key player, but they have a lot of players with a lot of experience coming back."
After the New Year's Day holiday the Lady Bisons will play three straight A-Sun games at Allen Arena with Stetson Jan. 3, Florida Gulf Coast Jan. 5 and Campbell Jan. 8.
Rounding out the home A-Sun schedule for the Lady Bisons will be Kennesaw State Jan. 22, Mercer Jan. 24, the "Battle of the Boulevard Part II" against Belmont Jan. 26, ETSU Feb. 13, USC-Upstate Feb. 15, Jacksonville Feb. 26 and North Florida Feb. 28.
The remaining A-Sun road games for the Lady Bisons are Belmont Jan. 12, USC-Upstate Jan. 15, ETSU Jan. 17, Florida Gulf Coast Jan. 29, Stetson Jan. 3, Campbell Feb. 5, Mercer Feb. 19 and Kennesaw State Feb. 21.
"There are a lot of good teams in the league," Bennett said. "We are back to playing every team in the conference twice. I think that is good."
The Lady Bisons will play two exhibition games to prepare for the regular season. Alabama-Huntsville stops by Allen Arena on Nov. 6. Harding will be on the court Nov. 8.
The Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament returns to Lipscomb Allen Arena March 4-7.

subset: commoncrawl


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New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton made a winning return while the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks survived Week One scares as the NFL delivered a lineup of Sunday thrillers.
Payton, back on the sidelines after serving a season-long suspension for his role in the pay-for-pain "Bountygate" scandal, reunited with quarterback Drew Brees, who connected on 26-of-35 pass attempts for 357 yards and a pair of touchdowns, as the Saints held on to clip division rivals the Atlanta Falcons 23-17.
In Buffalo, New York, Stephen Gostkowski connected on a 35-yard field goal with five seconds left to lift Tom Brady and the Patriots to a heart-stopping 23-21 win over the feisty Bills, while Russell Wilson tossed a 43-yard fourth-quarter touchdown to Jermaine Kearse as Seattle avoided a Week One upset, taming the Carolina Panthers 12-7.
The opening Sunday was filled with drama, as Nick Folk booted a 48-yard field goal with two seconds remaining as the New York Jets surprised the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, giving rookie quarterback Geno Smith an 18-17 win in his NFL debut.
The Chicago Bears also offered new head coach Marc Trestman a victory in his debut, beating the highly fancied Cincinnati Bengals 24-21 in another thriller.
In New Orleans, the Superdome was rocking as Payton was back prowling the sidelines for the first time in 20 months and the Saints were back to their winning ways after last year's disappointing and scandal plagued season.
Brees fired touchdown strikes to Marques Colston and Jimmy Graham, but it was the New Orleans defense that clinched victory, when Roman Harper intercepted a Matt Ryan pass in the end zone with 43 seconds left to snuff out a last ditch Falcons drive.
With favorite target Wes Welker signing with Denver and tight ends Rob Gronkowski out with injury and Aaron Hernandez in jail charged with murder, Brady was forced to work with an almost completely new cast of receivers and the lack of cohesion showed as the New England quarterback looked out-of-sync at times, completing 29-of-52 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns.
Danny Amendola, brought into fill the hole left by Welker, looks like he could be Brady's new go-to-guy hauling in 10 passes for 104 yards, while Julian Edelman had seven catches, including two touchdowns helping the Patriots to a 10th straight opening day win.
The loss spoiled an impressive debut by Bills rookie quarterback E.J. Manuel, who began his NFL career by tossing a pair of touchdowns.
Minnesota and Detroit opened the season with an NFC North clash in the Motor City that featured the Lions' record smashing receiver Calvin Johnson and Vikings' NFL most valuable player running Adrian Peterson.
However, it was Lions' Reggie Bush that stole the spotlight rushing for 90 yards and adding a touchdown and 101 yards on four catches to lead Detroit to a 34-24 win.
The game got off to an explosive start when Peterson, who came up nine yards short of the NFL single season rushing record last season, took his first handoff of the new campaign and raced 78 yards for the score. Peterson added another four-yard touchdown before the end of the half and collected a four-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter in a productive, but losing effort.
The Kansas City Chiefs, who finished last season with a 2-14 record, got the new campaign off on the right foot thumping the toothless Jacksonville Jaguars 28-2.


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Cineworld Unlimited card
October 3rd, 2012
I've recently purchased a subscription to the Cineworld unlimited card program. For those who don't know what this is, it is a card which costs £14.99 a month which lets you watch as many films as you like for free…or the £14.99 a month, whichever way you look at it.
With the rising cost of the cinema experience, and the ease of streaming services such as Netflix, love film; and the obvious pirating phenomenon occurring recently, this is not just a great way to support a local cinema, but it is more cost effective for me.
I currently live just up the road from the Cineworld cinema in Stockport which is a small cinema, only about 8-10 small screens, but it has a very authentic cinema feel. It reminds me of the big luxurious theaters that cinemas started out as and it has the most leg room I've ever had at a cinema.
£14.99 may seem like a lot of money a month but when you consider that the price of a ticket is around £7-8, going to see 2 films a month would cause me to break even. But what about Orange Wednesdays I hear you cry?!?! Well, with a Cineworld unlimited card and an Orange Wednesday text, but you and a friend see a film for free!! Not half price, not a sub, for FREE!!
Plus Cineworld make deals with local businesses as well to help you get the most for your Money. Recently I went to another Cineworld Cinema (Didsbury) and the leaflets there told me I could get a free 6″ sub when I buy a 6″ sub from Subway, 10% off at Nandos, 20% at Frankie and Benny's etc etc. These deals change depending on region but you can't argue with what you get for the price.
There is also access to advanced previews of films which are exclusive to Cineworld unlimited customers.
I can't recommend this enough, if you want to check it out here is the link. Unlimited card
Total Recall
October 3rd, 2012
I went to see Total Recall last week at the cinema and came out with a smile on my face. I'm a fan of the original, Arnie being Arnie of the 90's and being able to let loose is a great film going experience. There was a massive outcry when the film was announced, how oh how can they do this to a classic?
The film nods to the original and the story is nearly exactly the same. They have changed the exotic location of Mars for Europe and there are enough new story pieces for fans of the original to still enjoy the film. Yes there is a lady with 3 boobies and yes you see them.
Colin Farrell is good substitute for Arnie, Arnie being the big bulky action hero while Colin is more athletic type. Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale are great as the wife/girlfriend of Farrell's character.
Die hard fans of the original will always hate this version no matter what but it does deliver everything the Arnie version of 22 years ago did, action, intrigued, 3 boobed lady and enough popcorn action to fill the cinema seats.
The Bourne Legacy
October 3rd, 2012
I went to see the Bourne Legacy last week and really enjoyed it but something strange happened when my girlfriend asked me about it. I've been wanting to see this film for a while so when my mate Dave suggested we go to the cinema it was the first movie which sprung to mind. After arriving home the conversation of the movie went like this:
K: Did you enjoy the movie?
Me: yeah it was really good, well it was just another Bourne film really.
So I enjoyed the film, I really did, I love the whole Bourne series, I think it's a really interesting take on the Spy genre. You have a trained killer, Jason Bourne, who, after a traumatic experience has no memory but now hates guns. It's a about 1 man trying to take down a government full of trained killers with nothing more than his wits and muscles.
Move forward to film 4, a Jason Bourne-less film where we have our new star played by Jeremy Renner. This guy is not afraid of guns, afraid of getting his hands dirty or taking out the people in his way, but he is still a likeable character because he's still doing the right thing with the evil evil CIA trying to stop him.
Now the reason my initial response was, it's just another Bourne film is because it is it had all the classic signs of a Bourne film. A character who is on the run, being hunted by the same people he used to work for, there's fighting, guns, explosions, car chases (always need a good chase for a Bourne film) and a likeable character.
If you liked the Bourne films this is an interesting change up to the series, especially if you are board of Damon and it doesn't disappoint.
Life through an iPad
April 18th, 2011
So I bought an iPad 2. It's my new toy, I really do love it. I never bought the original one as I have a MacBook pro and an iPhone so I couldn't really justify it to myself but when they announced the second one i couldn't resist.
Yes I have a MacBook pro and yes it's awesome. Great for gaming, for working, for everything really. It has it's downsides, being a mac trying to find an msn application that works all the time is hard. Ive tried Microsofts own and a few others and each have their pros and cons.
And yes I have an iPhone as well. Great for on the go, miles more portable than the MacBook and such an open platform for developers so there's a massive app Market.Why buy an iPad than, other than "I want one". Well it's puuurdy? No? Not good enough? I wanted to move more towards tablet/touchscreen based computer and even though an iPad isn't really a tablet it is moving more towards that way of working.
My initial thoughts after having it for about a week are massively positive. The touchscreen works like a charm and the battery life is pretty darn good too. Navigation is sooo simple although on the home screen it is a tad too sensitive. The ability to download all the iPhone apps I've got for the iPhone both free and purchased is great but the 2x zoom button does leave something to be desired even in the updated apps. The main reason for this is probably the will of developers to charge twice for apps, one on the iPhone in what I would guess is SD (standard definition) and one for the iPad in HD (high definition) which are optimised for the resolution of the iPad. I can understand it from a developer standpoint, but from a customer standpoint I would have preferred to get a HD version of the app I paid for since I just bought a £500 iPad.
I love the directness of it. Sounds weird to say this but if you think that your inputs on a pc go from a keyboard or a mouse, onto a monitor to navigate and to input data into another place. Using a touch screen to navigate and it not being a phone, is a much more direct way to navigate web pages and even typing feels more direct even though it'd through an onscreen keyboard.There's only two downsides to it really. 1. The cameras on it are pants, I've not tried FaceTime yet but the front facing camera seems better than the rear one. 2. Safari is the mobile browser.
Number one I can live with as I have an iPhone and I'm not exactly going to be using my iPad for all my picture taking needs. Number two however kinda annoys me. I bought the 32GB wifi White ipad2, so with no 3G I never thought i'd be browsing while on the go. Why they haven't built in a switch so you can flip between mobile browsing and normal browsing is beyond me. The iPad would seem to have the necessary specs to run the desktop safari browser but they haven't including it.
I can understand it from a 3G standpoint but this is wifi only. This wouldn't be an issue but some sites don't like mobile browsers or display differently which is disappointing. Also they have problems refreshing pages correctly.But these are just two small problems in an otherwise perfect world. All in all, I give an iPad 9/10.
The invention of lying movie review
March 17th, 2010
I watch a lot of movies these days, most I just put on while i'm doing work so i don't concentrate too much on them but others I sit down and watch undistracted. So I thought while I had a few minutes i would write a review of "The invention of lying" staring Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner.
The first thing that struck me about this movie is how cheap it looks. From the sets to the on site locations, soundtrack and strangely the quality in which is it filmed. This actually leads to my second point, there are lots of stars in this film who may have eaten away at the budget. Along with Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner the film also stars Rob Lowe, with cameo appearances from Tina Fey, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Edward Norton.
The basic premise is kinda the opposite of liar liar which was a great film. Ricky Gervais is a man in a world where nobody can lie, lying was never invented/discovered and everyone overtly tells the truth to the point of sheer rudeness at times. Ricky Gervais plays a down on his luck loser who just lost his job and is about to be evicted when he discovers he can lie, although he doesn't know what it is he's doing. This sounds like a great idea but it is let down with poor writing/acting and execution.
Now i've never been a fan of Ricky Gervais and I remember why now…he's not funny….at all. We're talking Peter Kay levels of unfunniness. He's also a terrible actor. While others may find his mumblings cute and funny, seeing as he plays the same character in every single thing he's in, thats not acting, that's just being himself in all his project.
Jennifer Garner is the bright spark of this movie, while the writing overlooks a lot of her talents, he delivery is a far better with better comic timing. Also all the cameos from famous people provide great comic acting as well, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Edward Norton make even the worse of writing funny. The two scenes involving the actors were the best of the film.
Product placement is rife in this movie, within 10 minutes they are already advertising Budweiser and Pizza hut is massively advertised in the film as well.
While Ricky Gervais looking like Jesus and acting like Moses was surprising it didn't do anything to raise this film in my eyes.
To summarise, the writing was substandard, the film looked and sounded cheap, the plot was predictable and the highlights of the film can be youtubed if you really want to see them.
Smile and the whole world smiles with you
January 18th, 2010
Not written one of these in a while, so thought while a had a free minute or two i'd try to pump one of these out. Currently bogged down with uni work…which reminds me that i had an essay due in 10 days…oops. Ahh well. Things are going really well in my life at the moment, got a wonderful girlfriend and things are going really well between the two of us.
For those of you who don't know my past i've been really unhappy for a long time but i'm sooo happy at the minute and I expect it to go on for quite a while, hopefully. I got some pretty cool presents for xmas off her as well including some lovely dog tags and a 360 skin which is beautiful. I'm not gonna ruin it by putting it on a 360 which might rrod, so it's going up on my wall soon.
Uni's going well except for all the work they keep trying to make me do. Bastards. Works going well, just swapped shifts so i'm no longer working Saturday nights…after this Saturday. 3 years of no social life is enough. I've also just applied for one of them there proper jobs at the BBC. The job sounds really good i'm just a bit worried I might not get because I might not get the 2.1 it requires.
My gaming social life was great over xmas (while I was doing no work) and now has gone back to usual…non existent. I really wanna go to Newcastle again I just don't have the time. After my final year project is handed in I'll go to celebrate my birthday.
All in all, i'm happy right now, more than I have been in a very long time.
So much time and so little to do
August 16th, 2009
Ok, so that should be the other way round especially considering my circumstances. So after my work being robbed I started working 4 nights a week, this doesn't leave much time for seeing my friends or anything really. On top of this i've met a new girl and things are going really well…really well for a change so between seeing her and working i've basically got no time for anything. I spend most of my days playing computer games and just chilling as i'm just sooo tired.
Going back to uni in about a month so hopefully (with me reducing my hours at work) i'll "Hopefully" have more time to see my new girlfriend, my friends and actually do some work. I have a 3rd year project to do next year (amazingly it being my 3rd year and all) which is supposed to take me all year. I've been meaning to start it all summer (as well as re-writing my novel amongst other things) but haven't gotten around to it. My project is supposed to be a website based on the periodic table something interesting, something which gets kids/students etc excited about the periodic table which might be a bit difficult. With doing chemistry at A Level and creating websites it seemed to be the perfect project for me (that plus all the other projects sounded really hard and stupid!)
I'm off to Newcastle this weekend for a wedding, that should be a good laugh. I want to go to Alton towers and cadbury world before i go back to uni, that might be a bit tough.
Started a new project, more on that at a later date. Stay tuned.
It's been a long time…
June 19th, 2009
Well, not really. But lets move on. Right, the whole not drinking thing was a success. I did 20 days in the end so that i could end when my summer was set to begin, the end of exams. I found that I could handle it no problem, it was everyone around me who hated it. Why does me not drinking affect anyone but me?
Over the 20 days I went to the pub numerous times and didn't drink, it was actually quite amusing, my own mother accused me of drinking after getting back from the pub, said I was acting funny. Yup, she's not seen me sober in quite a while!! I also went out for a mates birthday, again not drinking and had people offering to buy me booze. It's not like i was too poor to afford to drink, soft drinks are generally more expensive than alcohol is. My mate who's birthday it was, was especially unhappy I wasn't going to drink that nigh. I mean why is it such an issue, what if i really was an alcoholic and gave up alcohol altogether, however would my friends cope?
I've finished Uni now and was supposed to go on holiday last week. For one reason or another this fell through and i've been left with 2 weeks off work and nowhere to go. Luckily my friend Cat graciously offered me a place to stay for a few days, the only drawback was that she lives in Reading. Never been to Reading…don't really wanna go again, although they do have some nice buses.
Oh my work was robbed which has caused one of the barmaids to leave (she was held hostage while they robbed the place) which means i'm covering her shifts, so i'm working 4 nights a week. Not too bad while i'm off uni but i'll not have these shifts when I get back there so all is good. Money while I need it, time when I need that.
I got my 360 back so i've been playing an assortment of games. Tried playing Star Wars the force unleashed Jedi temple downloadable content *breathe* which is a bit cack and short and really really hard on Sith Warrior difficulty. Then onto Fable 2 which, while i enjoyed it at first, not remembering any of the controls, what I was doing or anything, quickly bored me. The I turned to Fallout 3. What an unbelievable game!!! I don't like RPG's, i mean really don't; the only RPG i've ever played and liked was KOTOR 1 & 2.
To begin with I didn't really like Fallout but when i got into it and got enough weapons and ammo to arm a small bunch of mercenaries planning a coup d'état I really started to enjoy it. I love doing missions/quests, finding things and exploring and with enemies which don't respawn I can take my time and enjoy the game. I picked up the first DLC Operation: Anchorage because it's currently at a reduced price and I was going to play it when I had completed the main game. But, while exploring an area I came across the location which activates the content. Not realising what it entailed I headed into it and completed the first 2 quests of the content. They aren't particularly difficult, just draining. Because the game is not an FPS the combat is a little bit taxing at times especially when it comes to multiple enemies and constant enemies one after the other after the other. Don't get me wrong, the FPS aspect of the game is pretty darn good and probly one of the reasons I actually like this RPG instead of simply pushing 1 button constantly with the word "attack" isn't my idea of a game.
So i've got a bit hooked and I want to finish this DLC so I can get on with the main exploration. I've only gotten about 12 hours into this game and with multiple ways of exploring (achievements for being good, bad and neutral) I might get lost in this game completely.
I'm heading down to Birmingham this weekend, should be a giggle, that is all.
Strange, i've been playing Fallout 3 for about 10 hours straight today and I came off, went on facebook and all of a sudden felt horrible. Terrible depression overcame me and my stomach started doing somersaults, which is strange as I can't figure out why. Probly something subconscious that i'll figure out when I sleep but I hope I feel better tomorrow. Drinking and Transformers. Get in!!
The plan
May 2nd, 2009
Right, for…well a long time now, i've been going out and just getting drunk. No reason for it, other than the depression, just getting drunk and passing out. More recently i've, more and more, getting drunk and blacking out. Not collapsing just getting so drunk i black out portions of the night, most of the night usually. I drank a bottle of Jack daniels on Monday because i was depressed, i had 5 pints of Carlsberg, 5 JD and cokes and then started on the rum and irn bru last night at a friends birthday.
Thing is, i've known these people all my life so trying to figure out if i was an asshole (more than likely) is tough. I don't mind making a pratt out of myself infront of strangers but friends of my family i do. So, the Plan…
…I was only supposed to blow the bloody doors off. Sorry, wrong film. I can clearly see that when i have 1 drink i have to have more, so i'm gonna do a 30 days. 30 days of no booze what so ever. This might not seem like a long period to drink for but i am somebody who drinks all the time. I work behind a bar, i go to pubs for food all the time, i'm surrounded by alcohol!!!
So 30 days of no alcohol, think i can do it?
Life so far…
February 9th, 2009
Well not too much has happened to me recently, nothing note worthy anyway. I'm finding twitter and actual conversation with people is filling the gap that blogging/venting actually used to. I have my ups and downs, as many people do, but i just find that I am only complaining about the same problems over and over because nothing is changing so i just stopped, complaining. A problem shared is a problem halved but it doesn't make a difference.
Doing loads of group assignments in Uni at the moment and I had a run in with a mate of mine about it. I got a phone call from him last Monday (when the snow was quite bad) saying that the lecturer had been snowed in and if i wanted to come into Uni we could do some group work. He'd not come in for the last 2 meetings but then again, i was the only one in for those as well; for a group of 4, it's pretty damn shocking. So i phone up my friend who's pregnant and let her know we are heading in to do work so she gets up and gets ready but will be a bit late. Nee bother, we can do the work while we're waiting. I fight my way through the snow, the blizzard, i was like an artic explorer trying to get to the north pole!
I managed to get to uni just after 11 and was grateful for the rest as i'd nearly died* several time. I was greeted at the front door by my mate and some of the other students. They were in the middle of a conversation about whether the rest of our lectures were on this afternoon. When we found out they weren't my mate proceeded to tell me he was leaving with the other students to go to the Trafford Centre.
WHAT THE FUCK???!!!??? Seriously?
I'm on the phone to my pregnant friend at the time while my mate leaves and i let her know what's going on. I'm in complete shock as this guy is walking out. We've both had a go at him over the last week as it was completely out of order. I guess that's just the way some people are though. I've been warned about having him in my group as he's known to do shit like this all the time.
Moving on, Valentines day is next Saturday and I have the night off…not that I have anything to do. Someone wanted to swap and have the next day off so now i have Valentines day night (i guess) off and no girlfriend to share it with. Gonna see if some of the lads want to have a night on the pull…but with like 3 single friends (and they are single for a reason) i don't know how successful it's going to be.
The big thing i've noticed this year is that nearly everyone i know is using moonpig to send valentines day cards. Seems like it's the new fad that's going around. Seems like they have cracked a niche market but with the snow recently i've heard the post has been slightly delayed so i don't know if everyone will be getting their cards on time.
Anyways, that's all for now, peace out homies!!
* slipped in the snow


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- Shows
- Classes
- Hire Us
- Get Involved
- About Us
IMPROV 101 Wednesdays 630PM - 830PM Starts 8/10/16
tags :
For a description of this class, please see the IMPROV 101 page.
Registration for this class opens on FRIDAY, July 8 at 8AM
*Student Showcase time and date subject to change.
IBCS Students! Check out THE JAM (and get on stage) Every Sunday 7PM!
Higher Level IBCS Student Teams can submit for CageMatch!
IBCS Students get FREE STANDBY TICKETS for all regularly scheduled weekly shows at the Theater. (Put your name on the standby list at the Box Office an hour before the show starts; Students are let in AT show time, in the order on the list, until seats are filled) Exceptions: Festivals and Special Events
Student Showcase Show:
|ImprovBoston Training Center Upper
Mainstage Director and Performer At 6'6" it would be hard to miss Bobby, even if he hadn't been a member of ImprovBoston since 2000. From improvisation to stand-up to scripted work, he can be seen performing comedy of all kinds all over Boston but has focused on directing and instruction. He has been teaching students and rocking corporate trainings on improvisation across all age and ability levels for well over a decade. Bobby is currently the Director of ImprovBoston's Mainstage cast and tours with the critically acclaimed Mama Bear. Whether you have seen him on TV commercials, heard his voices on cartoon shows, or had him as an instructor - chances are good you are going to remember him.
SOLD OUT - This class has reached maximum capacity


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Based on the famous Stanley No. 1, this miniature Bench Plane handles like a block plane and is wonderfully suitable for fine detail work and final touches.
All Bench Plane blades are bedded at 45° with the bevel down.
Your Lie-Nielsen Bench Plane is ready to cut wood out of the box. The blade is ground sharp at a 25° bevel. A secondary bevel of up to 5 ° helps achieve a razor edge quickly. This also improves edge life in hardwoods. For more information on advanced sharpening we suggest David Charlesworth's DVD Hand Tool Techniques Part 1: Plane Sharpening.
To adjust the mouth opening, loosen the two locking screws at the back of the frog; then turn the middle adjuster screw. Observe the opening in front of the blade. When it is correct, set the locking screws again.
Our Chipbreaker is 1/8" thick. The raised lip under the bevel of the chip-breaker is back beveled 1° to ensure that the leading edge contacts the blade firmly. You should never need to dress this surface, but if you do, use a very fine stone and be sure to maintain the angle. The 25° bevel may be honed occasionally. For general work, set the end of the chipbreaker about 1/16" from the cutting edge of the blade; for the finest smoothing work, set it closer to the edge.
To advance the blade, turn the adjuster nut clockwise. It is always a good idea to finish adjusting the blade by a forward adjustment to take up backlash and to prevent the blade from moving. In order to be able to adjust the blade easily, do not overtighten the lever cap screw.
We use Manganese Bronze for the Bronze bodies. These castings are fully stress relieved, a process that removes inherent stresses and ensures that the tool will remain flat and true.
The blade is A-2 cryogenically treated Tool Steel, hardened to Rockwell 60-62 and double tempered. Our heat treating technique ensures that the blade will take and hold a very fine edge for a long time. After heat treating, the blade is fully surface ground on the top, back, and cutting edge, giving a smooth, flat surface that will take a mirror finish very quickly. The thick blade provides solid chatter-free cutting. The cap is Manganese Bronze.Maintenance: The soles of Iron planes are surface ground flat and square; the Bronze planes are lapped to a tolerance of .0015". Depending on how much use your tool gets, an occasional light sanding with 320 grit or finer wet/dry paper on a flat surface will keep the sole in as-new condition. Tools with Iron bodies should be kept lightly oiled or waxed to prevent rust. We recommend Camellia Oil, a vegetable oil based product. It is non-toxic, odor-free and easy to use. Also, in our shop, we use a fine abrasive handblock to remove any light surface oxide from tool bodies and blades. Camellia Oil and abrasive handblocks are available from us.
A light oiling on the threaded rod, the Brass adjuster nut and the lateral blade adjustment lever will keep them moving freely. Many people like the patina that Bronze gets with age and use, but if you wish to keep the finish bright, a little brass polish is in order. The Cherry knob and handle are finished with wiping varnish and should require no maintenance.
Find everything you need for perfect toolcare.
Materials and workmanship are guaranteed for the life of your tool. Call for repairs or replacement parts. We are available for advice if you ever have a problem using your tool.
Bronze and brass alloys contain lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects, or other reproductive harm. Wash hands after handling.


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Samsung's New WB250F and DV150F Hit the Shelves
Announced at International CES 2013 in January, the Samsung WB250F and DV150F have now made it to the shelves of retailers. Available at bargain prices, Samsung hopes to bring the world of "Smart Cameras" home to everyone. Both cameras offer advanced Wi-Fi connectivity and are designed for smartphone users wanting better images. A new user interface combines touch-typing and big screen functionality for quicker editing and uploading to devices and social media networks.
The WB250F, Samsung's flagship ultrazoom with an 18x zoom lens, offers a 14.2 Megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, hybrid touch interface and full manual mode option for photographers that require complete control. A 3-inch LCD screen makes utilizing features such as Best Face, SMART Mode and Motion Photo features easy and fun. Full HD video recording is also available on this camera. The WB250F has a pop-up flash and is available in four colors; white, cobalt black, gun metal and red.
The DV150F debuts as one of Samsung's compact point and shoot cameras. The DV150F features a 2.7-inch back LCD screen and a 1.5-inch front LCD screen, which makes taking those "selfies" easier than puckering your lips. Eyes aren't wide enough? Teeth aren't bright enough? No problem! The DV150F is even equipped with a Beauty Palette feature which enables users to "enhance" their images by applying make-up type effects to the subject. Other creative features such as Smart Filter 3.0, Motion Photo and Magic Frame allow users greater control over image editing. The DV150F hosts a 16.2 Megapixel CCD sensor, F2.5 25mm lens and 5x optical zoom. The DV150F is available in five different colors including white, black, plum, lime green and light pink.
Just in time for Valentine's Day, the WB250F has an MSRP of $249.99 and DV300F has an MSRP of $149.99.


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This upbeat, positive, and energetic background instrumental features acoustic guitar, ukulele, and piano. This will make a fun and cheerful vibe for youtube videos, movies, photo album slideshows, advertising, or any presentation that needs cheerful and uplifting background music.
Special Bonus Included I have made 2 additional edits included with purchase. You get a 30 Second and a 60 Second Version of this track. You can hear them in preview after main song.
Includes both high quality Wave & MP3 files


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Xbox 360 » Action » Platformer » 3D
Skylanders Giants
|Complete your first arena challenge
|1 and 0
|Complete 1 Heroic Challenge
|A New Hero
|Complete Chapter 15
|Arkus Adventurer
|Chapter 6 - Destroy all the Arkeyan Autogyros
|Autogyro Pyrotechnician
|Chapter 8 - Complete the level without getting directly hit by a cannon
|Cannon Confounder
|Chapter 2 - Complete the Chain Pull Feat of Strength
|Chain Champ
|Don't take any damage from Kaos' rockets during the mini-game on the Dread-Yacht
|Clean Jersey
|Chapter 13 - Destroy all the columns in the second trial
|Column Crusher
|Earn 3 Stars on any Adventure Level
|Complete Chapter 14
|Copter Captain
|Complete Chapter 11
|Drill-X Defeator
|Chapter 1 - Open all the Elemental areas
|Elemental Enthusiast
|Unlock your first Elemental area
|Elemental Explorer
|Collect 10 Hats
|Chapter 15 - Defeat Freebot in a game of Skystones
|Freebot Isn't Free
|Complete Chapter 5
|Glacier Great
|Complete all 21 Arena Challenges
|Great Gladiator!
|Collect 10 Story Scrolls
|Hint Scholar
|Chapter 12 - Destroy 3 enemy huts with boulders Giants can lift
|Hut Wrecker
|Chapter 9 - Destroy 10 Kaos Bust Statues
|Kaos Buster
|Chapter 16 - Complete the chapter without taking damage from fire traps
|Keepin' Cool
|Complete Chapter 9
|King of the Castle
|Chapter 3 - Complete the Log Lift Feat of Strength
|Log Lifter
|Chapter 10 - Shoot down 10 mines
|Mine Menace
|Complete Chapter 12
|Molekin Liberator
|Complete the Story Mode on Nightmare difficulty
|Nightmare Avenger
|Chapter 14 - Collect all 16 speed boosts in "The Long Hall" section
|Pedal to the Metal
|Chapter 11 - Damage Drill-X by throwing a pipe at him
|Pipe Petard
|Complete Chapter 3
|Rumbletown Ranger
|Complete the Story Mode by recovering the Iron Fist of Arkus and defeating Kaos on any difficulty
|Savior of Skylands!
|Complete Chapter 8
|Security Breacher
|Collect 10 Legendary Ship Parts
|Seeker Adept
|Complete Chapter 10
|Sky Survivor
|Chapter 4 - Collect all of the Skystones
|Skystone Sampler
|SkyStones - Capture 2 stones with 1 single stone
|Skystones Strategist
|Complete Chapter 4
|Skystones Superstar
|Chapter 5 - Destroy 7 snowmen
|Snowman Slammer
|Collect soul gems for Tree Rex and Jet-Vac
|Soul Surfer
|Amass 65,000 Treasure with any one Skylander
|Spend That Loot!
|Chapter 7 - Talk to all of the Wilikins
|Talker in a Strange Land
|Level up any Skylander to level 15
|To the Max
|Complete Chapter 13
|Trial Taker
|Purchase all upgrades for any one Skylander
|Upgrade Uniter
|Complete Chapter 6
|Vault Victor
|Complete Chapter 7
|Wilikin Winner
Contributed By: Guard Master.


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Hi there,
finally a got a chance to visit the caribbean for a whole month in march. I planned to go to aruba and bonaire, but during my research I found this kite-heaven called St. Vincent and the grenadines . But as a matter of fact, such a dream destination is far from cheap. But nevertheless I have to visit these spots.
The solution: A sailing Trip through the grenadines. (Maybe starting in St. Lucia, or Barbados)
The next problem: 5-7 girls and guys to get the boat packed, as I´ll be travelling alone.
The next solution: You!
So if you are interested in a 7-10 day trip in march, contact me! Any tips and recommodations are welcome.
Hang loose


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Things to do during a New England winter
Things to do during a New England winter
LEARN TO X-COUNTRY SKI: Carlisle, Massachusetts In 1982, the Great Brook Ski Touring Center opened in Carlisle. Now, 30 years later, the groomed trails and night skiing live on (on Tuesdays and Thursdays, conditions permitting, courtesy of kerosene lanterns).
It's a difficult business: During 2011-2012, it never opened due to lack of snow. But when there are flakes, Great Brook is a fabulous place to try the sport, with lots of gentle terrain and decent rental equipment.
> On weekends, adult trail tickets and rentals at Great Brook Ski Touring Center cost $25; rates for weekdays and kids are less expensive. Call first to make sure it's open. 978-369-7486; greatbrookski.com
SPOT BALD EAGLES: Madison, Connecticut Each winter, thousands of retired Americans migrate down Interstate 95 to spend the winter in balmy Florida. Around the same time, dozens of North American bald eagles follow the Connecticut River south out of Canada, seeking the warmer air and open water of Long Island Sound, where they spend their winter.
For 25 years, Jerry Connolly, owner of The Audubon Shop in Madison, Connecticut, has led groups of birders out to spot them. The group sets out at 8:30 a.m., driving to five or six locations where they hope to see eagles, along with other birds of prey and waterfowl.
The tour is a bargain: The $20 ticket includes soup and a sandwich at Oliver's Tavern in Essex, Connecticut, where Connolly leads a discussion of the various species they've spotted. The Audubon Shop outings are held Saturdays from January 26 to March 2. Call the shop to reserve; most trips sell out. (Binocular rentals are $4 extra.) 888-505-9056; theaudubonshop.com
TAKE A SPIN ON SKATES: Providence, Rhode Island America City Center's rink in downtown Providence is twice the size of ice at New York's Rockefeller Center and less than one-fourth the cost (admission in Providence is $6 per adult; in New York it's $25), and there's rarely a line. When you tire of skating, there are plenty of apres-ice activities — including great restaurants like Local 121 and Red Fez — nearby. Not a skater? The rink can help: It offers a six-week series of lessons for $90, or try a Sunday morning drop-in lesson for $15. They probably won't teach you to do triple axels, but you'll acquire enough know-how for a fun spin on the ice. The Bank of America City Center's rink opens November 21. 401-331-5544; providenceskating.com
TOBOGGAN LIKE A CHAMP: Camden, Maine At the US National Toboggan Championships, held at the Camden Snow Bowl ski area in Camden, Maine, people dress up in costumes, hang out and have bonfires, listen to live music. There's also plenty of hot food, including organic pizzas cooked in a portable concrete wood-burning oven that one vendor tows in on a trailer. Indeed, based on descriptions of this weekend-long event, the tobogganing sounds a bit like the horse race at the Kentucky Derby — it's the centerpiece, but mostly it's just an excuse to throw a giant bash. Next year's event runs February 8 to 10. The championships are held on a toboggan chute that runs 400 feet onto a frozen lake; top riders can reach speeds of 40 miles per hour. Noncompetitors who arrive on Friday and pay $5 apiece can ride down the track themselves. (Loaner toboggans are available for free.)
Even inexperienced tobogganers can compete in the main event: Unlike the Olympics, these championships are open to all people who organize themselves into two-, three-, or four-person teams and pay the $30-per-person registration fee by late December. If speed isn't your thing, don't despair: Organizers offer several nonperformance prizes, including one for the oldest team. In 2010 it went to a four-man group whose oldest member was 90. The US National Toboggan Championships routinely draw more than 8,000 visitors to tiny Camden, filling hotels and inns. So if you hope to compete or just watch, make reservations early. 207-236-3438; winter.camdensnowbowl.com
GO DOG SLEDDING: Jefferson, New Hampshire More than a thousand people hop onto a dog sled each winter at New Hampshire's Muddy Paw Sled Dog Kennel, which houses more than 100 dogs and offers rides from its main facility in Jefferson, as well as from other locations in the state: the Omni Mount Washington and Mountain View Grand resorts and Rocks Estate.
Before the ride, guests at the Jefferson location tour the kennel and meet the dogs, then help Muddy Paw's "mushers" harness the canines to the sled. During the ride, guests recline in a basket at the front of the sled, but mushers often let them take a turn standing at the rear to shout commands to the dogs and try steering.
The kennel offers a variety of ride and tour packages, ranging from a $48 adults/$39 children ticket that includes 20 minutes riding on a sled (wheeled ones when there's no snow) to a two-night, $1,010-per-couple outing that includes a 50-mile full day of gliding through White Mountain National Forest. 603-545-4533; dogslednh.com
TRY ICE FISHING: Stowe, Vermont Newbies hire guides from the Fly Rod Shop in Stowe, Vermont, to take them on three-hour excursions to nearby bodies of water. The guides provide and set up all the equipment (including a propane heater) and bait, and they help find the fish. Depending on the catch, some guides will cook the fish on the spot for lunch.
A Fly Rod Shop's guided ice fishing expedition costs about $350 for four people. Depending on the temperatures, the season usually runs from January through March. 802-253-7346; flyrodshop.com


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The new voter ID law is being used to paint the new GOP legislature and governor in the nastiest terms possible, even though the charges do not hold up under scrutiny. Protesters who suggest this law is "embarrassing our state" are only showing that they have never actually looked at the voter laws of the majority of other states.
Both Sen. Tom Apodaca and Rep. Chuck McGrady knew that by seeing this bill to fruition they would be called vote suppressors and modern-day Jim Crow fans by special-interest groups on the left. They are to be commended for not letting that deter them as these common-sense reforms now put us line with the best practices of the majority of states that already had most of these (if not stricter) provisions in place.
Using simple facts and statistics, I will break down the most common threads of misinformation that have been seen in these pages' letters and columns the past few weeks, including those being pushed by Hendersonville's own "Moral Monday" protesters.
u "Voter ID is about minority voter suppression." I start with the nastiest allegation because it is the easiest to disprove. If a law that requires voters to present a photo ID (free at any DMV to those who do not have one) suppresses the minority vote, then we should be able to look at the states that recently passed photo ID laws and see a lower turnout of minorities. However, in each of the states that have instituted photo ID in the past 10 years (Georgia, Indiana and Texas), minority voter turnout has increased, and not only in the two cycles with Barack Obama at the top of the ballot.
A headline from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Sept. 3, 2012) says it all: "Despite voter ID law, minority turnout up in Georgia." It goes on to say that "turnout among black and Hispanic voters increased from 2006 to 2010, dramatically outpacing population growth for those groups over the same period."
u "They cut early voting in half." I have seen this statement on these pages several times, and it is one that is only vaguely "true" if you leave out some huge facts. Yes, the number of early voting days dropped from 17 to 10. However, the hours that early voting sites must remain open increases both before and after normal office hours, equal to the number of hours from the seven days that were cut. As a result, voters who never voted early because they could not vote between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. won't have to skip early voting anymore. The total hours of early voting is the same, Board of Elections operations are made more efficient, and the system is now more convenient to those who work 9-to-5 jobs.
This supposed "cut" in early voting is also pointed to by some of the protesters as something that North Carolina should be ashamed of. I wonder if they know that 16 states have no early voting at all, including some of the states that we're told by the far left we should aspire to be more like, including Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York.
u "Ending same-day voter registration is going backward for no reason." Same-day voter registration was put in place just in 2007, and security experts saw the major flaw from the beginning. For the Board of Elections to verify that a new voter is legitimate, it must try (twice) to deliver a voter card to that voter's mailing address. Having a voter register during the last week of early voting made it impossible to achieve that step, but the vote had to be counted, anyway.
Have any of the writers calling this step a "repressive" change told you how many other states allow same-day voter registration during early voting? The answer is one.
u "Ending straight-ticket voting is voter suppression." I left this one for last because it hardest to believe that people of good faith can argue it has something to do with "voter suppression." Yet, we have read columns and letters on this page that have included the end of straight-ticket voting on the list of things the GOP has done to "suppress the vote."
I am sorry to people on both sides of the aisle who liked straight-ticket voting, but North Carolina was one of only 14 states with this out-of-date option left, and we were the only state that had the arcane system of having to vote for president first before you decided if you wanted to vote straight ticket.
The late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan gave politics one of its most enduring and valuable quotes: "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts."
That statement is most needed when emotional arguments over a topic are repeated so often that some people accept them as true without going further than the "news opinion" source of their liking (a disease found in all parts of the political spectrum) to reinforce what they already have heard.
Robert Danos is a Hendersonville resident and former spokesman for the 11th District NCGOP.
NC makes common-sense reforms
The new voter ID law is being used to paint the new GOP legislature and governor in the nastiest terms possible, even though the charges do not hold up under scrutiny. Protesters who suggest this law is "embarrassing our state" are only showing that they have never actually looked at the voter laws of the majority of other states.