And a new report out of Britain makes clear just how far today's tots are from the innocent, carefree, ensconced days of yore:

One in five children aged five to seven are accessing the internet without supervision from a parent, it has been revealed, raising concerns about access to adult material and grooming by paedophiles.

One in ten has a mobile phone despite a series of health warnings, and half have a TV in their bedroom, according to research by media regulator OfCom.

Some 85 per cent have access to a games console as children's lives are increasingly dominated by gadgets rather than physical play.

This data makes me want to cry, wretch and find religion. I've said it before and I'll say it again: fuck the war on drugs, let's target technology (except for the websites for which I work, of course).

Image via Vanderlin's flickr.

After studying 2,300 11-year olds, Taiwanese researchers found that internet addicts are, shockingly, a lot like drug addicts:

Across the sexes, they found depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), social phobia or feelings of hostility to be the most prevalent predictors of which children would go on to develop an internet addiction as adolescents.

For girls, social phobia and depression were markedly the strongest predictors, the team report.

The report's writers declare they want to "alert pediatricians to what might become a major public health problem," which now means that parents, doctors and other busy bodies can take this information and apply it to virtual addiction camps which, oh yes, have been cropping up across China.

Then kids, overwhelmed by all the meddling, will take up good old fashioned addictions, like weed and smack. World order, restored!

Image via altemark's flickr.

Reports The Sun:

The £1.79 app lets users search by city for their nearest medical cannabis suppliers, doctors, clinics, lawyers and other relevant organisations.

It currently covers 13 US states which have passed laws allowing medical cannabis use, legal cannabis "coffee shops" across Europe and uses Google Maps for directions.

Here's a video demonstration of the app:

This is almost as awesome as the iFart application. Almost.

iPhone Cannabis Application is Pot-ty [Sun]
pic via

Halem, who looks like your average middle class white dude (see pic) is adamantly "not bitter" that he can't survive solely as a journalist, states, "If I wanted to destroy my life, I wanted it to be for something I knew I could sell." Yo society, there's something not quite right when, after an education of $100K-plus, one of the few available job opportunities for an aspiring writer (and maybe even for Twitter itself) is selling something called "Blackberry Kush."

The @artistscollctve Twitter account went up last week and, in the vein of a more #420 friendly Kogi BBQ, the medical marijuana delivery service also boasts "On-Time GPS" and the availability of "green crack." Artists for Access is a "creative non-profit" operating under something called a 501 3c non-profit license, "as far as the law is concerned, we're good."

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Technically legal in California, Halem's dicey business model is legit from a state standpoint, but not federally. You can't just call up an get a bag, but knowing the multitudes of dodgy loopholes that exist in the CA medical marijuana policy (i.e. insomnia counts) it's probably not that hard to score a prescription. Line up your doctor's notes ASAP! Because this opportunity may not (probably won't) last.

Farrance's son Sterling, who had a medical prescription for the drug, insists he only had about 15 pot plants growing the attic; police, who long suspected narco-violence, have said it was more like 100 plants, and several pounds of processed bud.

Either way, word of the stash got out. Maybe Sterling, then 19, bragged to one too many friends. Accomplice Cleothius Termaine Amos, who turned state's witness in a plea deal, said he and three others went to the Farrance house looking for the pot:, only to find two bewildered parents.

After the couple couldn't cough up any money, the robbers pistol-whipped the woman and shot the man:

Amos said his group talked about the shooting afterward in the getaway car.

"Montrell was telling Little Man he was stupid, and why'd he have to shoot," Amos said. "And Little Man said he only shot him in the leg. And they were arguing back and forth and I was calling Little Man stupid, too."

The men had obtained a pound of marijuana from the house, which they sold for $1,800.

We can understand the appeal of WeedMaps, which TechCrunch describes as a "Yelp for cannabis clubs," on Sand Hill Road, the epicenter of the venture-capital industry. But we're stumped on who the mystery buyer is (assuming Hartfield isn't just making this up to drum up interest). Really — which venture capitalist isn't a closet pothead?

(Pothead via The Deaf Sage)

Thiel is the former CEO of PayPal who now runs the $2 billion hedge fund Clarium Capital and a venture-capital firm called the Founders Fund. His best-returning investment to date, though, has been Facebook. His $500,000 investment is now worth north of $100 million even by the most conservative valuations of the social network.

On the side, though, his pet passion is libertarianism and the fantasy that everything would be better in the world if government just quit nagging everybody. But, now he's given up hope on achieving his vision through political means because, as he writes in Cato Unbound, a website run by the Cato Institute, all those voting females have wrecked things:

The 1920s were the last decade in American history during which one could be genuinely optimistic about politics. Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women - two constituencies that are notoriously tough for libertarians - have rendered the notion of "capitalist democracy" into an oxymoron.

So there you have it: The problem with women is that they don't vote like their menfolk tell them. We would have so much more freedom, Thiel suggests, if only we'd deprived women of it.

You may wonder: Is Thiel on drugs? The answer, according to Thiel, is yes:

As a young lawyer and trader in Manhattan in the 1990s, I began to understand why so many become disillusioned after college. The world appears too big a place. Rather than fight the relentless indifference of the universe, many of my saner peers retreated to tending their small gardens. The higher one's IQ, the more pessimistic one became about free-market politics - capitalism simply is not that popular with the crowd. Among the smartest conservatives, this pessimism often manifested in heroic drinking; the smartest libertarians, by contrast, had fewer hang-ups about positive law and escaped not only to alcohol but beyond it.

"Positive law" is Libertarian-speak for laws which proscribe certain activities, such as taking drugs. Translate Thiel's language, and you'll see that he's saying anyone in his generation who wasn't taking drugs was an idiot. Which squares with rumors we'd heard about Thiel during his PayPal days, especially while he was fitfully coming out as a gay man. With a life like that, we can understand Thiel's visceral dislike of the government. But what did women ever do to him?

Those who support the contemplative use of salvia disdain the YouTubers for disrespecting the herb’s power and purpose.

“They’re not really taking it as a tool to explore their inner psyche,” said Daniel J. Siebert, a Californian who pioneered the production of salvia extracts. “They’re just taking it to get messed up.”

Because if salvia is banned, it could make it hard for researchers to use it to potentially cure serious medical conditions. Such as insufficient fear of couch monsters:

[NYT]

A long-acting stimulant, Provigil is normally prescribed to those suffering from sleep disorders such as apnea-induced narcolepsy. It definitely gives a mild buzz and increases wakefulness, without many of the harsher side-effects that, say, methamphetamine might. And it doesn't require constant dosing like cocaine or shorter-acting amphetamine cogeners Ritalin and Adderall do.

But "not habit-forming," as some claim? Hilarious. While it has little appeal as a party drug, the fact that people are working Provigil into their work lives to sustain workaholic behaviors should reveal all you need to know about any claims made by the manufacturer which suggest it's not addictive. Using a substance to feed your process addiction (and likely combining it with alcohol and sleep aids like Ambien) is a prescription for trouble. Good luck with that.

• 10. Prostitutes: Absolutely nothing surprising about that, since there are more tech titans of our acquaintance known to prefer quantitative intimacy to qualitative intimacy, as it's just so much more efficient.
• 9. Code words: Anyone familiar for looking for an apartment on Craigslist should know what "420 friendly" means. What's slightly surprising is that Nicholas used such common slang as "party favors" when arranging a score. Your run-of-the-mill paranoid drug dealer is more creative.
• 8. Minions: That Nicholas employed flunkies and other hangers-on to do his dirty work isn't particularly surprising, either. But that he had employees on Broadcom's payroll running errands for him certainly raises an eyebrow. And cost him $1 million in hush money.
• 7. Doctor shopping: To get the amounts of Vicoprofen (hydrocodone and ibuprofen) and Valium (diazepam) Nicholas wanted on hand, he had scripts written up for associates. With a private jet, why not just fly down to Mexico and stock up? That seems easier. One smuggling run is a lot less risky than dozens of doctor visits.
• 6. Drink spiking: While spiking another executive's drink with ecstasy would normally be pretty surprising, I'm pretty sure more than a few techies have been accidentally dosed at Burning Man. What shocks me was that it as at a Super Bowl party in New Orleans. I though techies hated team sports!
• 5. Wire transfers: For a guy who was on all sorts of stimulants, he was surprisingly blasé about being surveilled. Leaving multiple records of five-figure drug deals is the first clue that this guy felt invincible. That he broke the $10,000 rule to keep transactions under the IRS's radar is no-no No. 2.
• 4. Budgets, invoices and petty cash: Leave it to a businessman to have fellow junkies draw up a budget for a Super Bowl party, have dealers submit invoices for large orders of MDMA and direct Broadcom employees to keep $10,000 on hand at all times for Nicholas's whims.
• 3. Death threats: Even Robert Evans, when angered, probably only threw around some verbal abuse on the order of "You'll never work in this town again." But a tech geek reverting to mafia tactics? That's new.
• 2. Hotboxing a plane: By "causing marijuana smoke and fumes to enter the cockpit" of his private plane on a flight to Nevada, Nicholas may go down in history. That seems more like something the boys of Entourage would do, not something an Orange County entrepreneur would indulge in, rock star friends or no.
• 1. Woodstock '99: Even more surprising is that a guy who issued death threats would go to an anniversary of the world's most famous love-in. I mean, I knew Woodstock '99 was a corporate sham, but little did I know exactly how corporate things were when apparently a tech titan (and football fan) was slinging tablets of ecstasy to concertgoers.

One Turnberry Place, 2877 Paradise Road, Suite 3201, Las Vegas, NV

When Nicholas felt like picking up a prostitute or three, doing some high-stakes gambling or just crossing state lines for the generally more permissive laws of Nevada, Nicholas kept a suite on the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas high rise — just a few hundred yards from the Las Vegas Hilton. The getaway was just a quick trip on his private jet, and exemplifies the high life in more ways than one.

Need a refresher? See all five of Henry Nicholas's drug dens.

9 Telescope, Newport Coast, CA

Nestled in the San Joaquin hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean on a quiet estate of nearly identical Spanish Colonial villas was what I can only assume to be the typical "mistress apartments," where guests of Nicholas could shack up near his Laguna Hills home without disturbing his family life. It was conveniently located equidistant from the Broadcom offices in Irvine as his other home in Laguna Hills.

Next: The Turnberry condo

Rodeo Circle, Laguna Hills, CA

Judging by the layout of this posh cul-de-sac, this is where Nicholas probably put up his ex-wife — and also where he probably built his secret underground lair for entertaining prostitutes from from the prying eyes of neighbors. Which didn't stop them from complaining about the unpermitted construction that went on at all-hours thanks to Nicholas demands that contractors race to complete the grotto.

Next: The Telescope house

27324 Camino Capistrano, Laguna Niguel, CA

Behind the unassuming facade of this industrial building was where Nicholas and his cohorts kept their stash. According to the indictment, his minions were under orders to keep the facility stocked with amphetamine, cocaine and MDMA or "ecstasy" at all times. I can only presume a raft of downers — from marijuana to benzodiazepines like Valium and painkillers like Vicoprofen were also on hand to take the edge off.

Next: The Rodeo residence

5300 California Avenue, Irvine, CA

All work and lots of play certainly made Nicholas far from dull. According to the indictment, he had employees of Broadcom meet drug couriers in the lobby of the company's offices in Irvine. One employee even signed an agreement to keep quiet about the excessive habits of the CEO in exchange for $1 million. All of Nicholas other properties in California were conveniently close to the Irvine campus as well.

Next: The warehouse

11. YouTube

At risk: Daredevils, fictional characters

Case 1: While trying to perform a stunt for YouTube, four teens crashed their Ford Explorer, injuring three and killing one. No details on how awesome the clip would have been, but hopefully it'd be more exciting than "ghost riding," the 2005-07 fad of rolling an idling car down the street while dancing beside it. The result of that fad, besides a few lame videos, was two deaths. Other stupid deadly stunts include subway surfing and fake stunts that end up in banner ads.

Case 2: A man who explained on YouTube how to tie a hangman's noose has been accused of inciting suicide. A few days after the news reported it, someone else posted instructions (though this user has posted plenty of other knot-tying videos, and who could hang themselves with the festive purple and yellow rope he uses?).

Case 3: Of course fictional characters die often and violently: Lonelygirl15, Harry Potter, and the radio star.




10. Myspace

At risk: The lonely

Case 1: Remarkably, no charges were filed in the case of the family who carried on a hoax relationship with 13-year-old depression sufferer Megan Meier over MySpace, then "broke up" with her and thus driving her to suicide. But this is only our first glimpse at two themes of Internet-caused deaths: Tragic romance and preying on the lonely.

Case 2: In this case, MySpace technically saved lives. Cops investigated a 12-year-old boy's MySpace death list, warned everyone who was on it, and searched his home. They didn't find weapons and he said he was just fooling around, so he was just charged with juvenile delinquency. Other death threat cases include a dog and another empty threat against high school students. But just to be safe I make my little sister keep a Google alert on her name, cause she''d be the first to go if some trenchcoated freak started shooting up the cool kids in her school.

Case 3: Of course while stupid people may reveal their murder plans on MySpace, they may be inspired by the site too. Heather Kane saw another girl on her boyfriend's profile and hired a hitman to kill her. Good thing she bumped into an undercover cop instead.




9. Facebook

At risk: Anyone who pisses off a muslim

Case 1: A Saudi Arabian father beat and shot his daughter earlier this year for chatting on Facebook. A preacher in the Islamic country called the site a "door to lust;" many Saudi women use aliases on the site and post drawings instead of photos. But there are still plenty of photos of hookups in the Facebook group "Single and Looking in Saudi Arabia."

Case 2: After a Jewish woman in Melbourne rejected a friend offer from one Ibrahim Dirani, he allegedly wrote to her, "I am Hezbollah and I am going to kill you and all of your family — promise you."

Aw,




8. Pornography

At risk: Viewers of extreme or illegal porn and the people who know them

Case 1: It's hard to feel too sorry for those who kill themselves after they're implicated in child porn rings, like these four suicides in 1998 and these six in 2004.

Case 2: Porn doesn't only kill the depraved. The story of Jane Longhurst, an English woman killed by "a man obsessed with violent sexual pornography," was tragic enough to encourage many UK lawmakers to ban extreme porn.




7. Spam

At risk: The terribly gullible

Case 1: Spammers and scammers can easily take your money if you're dumb enough to give them your passwords and financial info. But some Nigerian scams go far beyond online fraud; many scammers lure their victims to Nigeria to continue paying money in person; fifteen victims were killed after they got suspicious.




6. Blogging

At risk: Those already at risk of dying

Case 1: There's a trick to making listicles like this: Put the weakest item in the middle. Unfortunately the New York Times spent an entire trend piece on the bogus idea of "death by blogging." But Gizmodo editor Brian Lam tells me, "Only bogus to lazy bloggers. I did 75 hours this week and anyone over fifty would die doing that."




5. Ebay

At risk: The already dead

Case 1: Seung-Hui Cho bought empty clips and holsters on Ebay before his Virginia Tech rampage. He got his guns and ammo elsewhere, though Ebay notes that the sale of ammunition on Ebay is legal.

Case 2: Ebay's death profits tend to come from the memorabilia. Celebrity deaths bring predictable results, like sales of Pope tchotchkes and autographed Heath Ledger posters. But Ebay has also hosted auctions for supposed Columbia shuttle pieces, video of insurgents shooting down planes in Iraq, the car used in a murder, and O.J. Simpson's book.




4. Drugs

At risk: Druggies

Case 1: Internet drug sales are ridiculously easy (see "spam" above), so easy that every decent men's magazine did an "I ordered Viagra off the Internet" story by 2005. But that means irresponsible doctors can prescribe dangerous drugs, such as this 2002 case of deadly drugs sold online, or this case of a doctor whose patients sometimes became addicted or were hospitalized, or a 2007 case where a 57-year-old Canadian woman died after taking an illegal sedative she ordered online.




3. Webcams

At risk: Suicides

Case 1: Webcam suicide is one of the darkest modern phenomena, an example of loneliness and despair in a supposed age of connection and hope. Those who have fallen that far and recovered may want to forget it ever happened. A webcammer named Stacy has long insisted that despite reports, she did not try to kill herself on camera in 2001 by overdosing on pills but merely took some Advil "to get a few hours sleep" — on her bathroom floor.

Case 2: While her viewers worried about her and called the cops to save her, those watching Brandon Vedas in 2003 egged him on. He OD'd on five drugs and died a room away from his unsuspecting mother.

Case 3: A father named Kevin Whitrick hanged himself after the apparent encouragement of people watching his webcam; viewers later said they thought it was a joke, and indeed they'd acted worried after seeing him die. After all, he was in an insult chat room, which brings us to another cause of death:




2. Chat rooms

At risk: Hopeless romantics

Case 1: A man rejected in real life by his chat room lover in 1999 cut his own head off with a chainsaw in her front yard. Enough said.

Case 2: Plenty of innocents have been killed by online predators like the man who killed an altar girl, the Texas A&M killer, and this guy in a rural North Carolina trailer.




1. World of Warcraft

At risk: 10 million players, particularly the already crazy ones

Case 1: World of Warcraft addiction may not necessarily be deadly for the player, but it can be hell on their family life. Of course, Kim Trenor was probably crazy long before she moved cross-country with her 2-year-old to see a guy she met on the game, and definitely before she and Royce Zeigler beat "Baby Grace" to death. But if it weren't for that damned game she never would have met the allegedly abusive Zeigler.

Case 2: WoW isn't the first game to drive addicts mad. At least one Everquest player allegedly shot herself after getting hooked on the game.

Case 3: And of course any time you put a beautiful bit of fantasy in the world, some kid will try to imitate it. Happened with Superman, happened with WoW when a Chinese boy jumped off a 24-story building. His parents sued game maker Blizzard saying he was imitating the game, in which some players like to platform-jump, an activity totally unrelated to actually playing. Again, totally not WoW's fault, but something had to convince that boy he could leap off a tower.

- The flip side of the founder's coke addiction was a black market Viagra dealer in the office who supplied him, which enabled him to brag publicly and often about having sex with his 20-year old girlfriend several times in one day.

- When I arrived at Capazoo, his wife worked there, as did his mother. And the other founder's wife as well. I should have run screaming. He left his wife a few weeks later... That didn't stop her from showing up at the office with their young child and spitting on the window while we were having meetings.

- [His wife] started posting messages on the founder's page on the website, including that he was bi. Unfortunately, we hadn't yet implemented "remove comment" functionality, which led to several weekends spent just cleaning up the founder's profile, over and over again. Fun.

- The brothers often talked shit about each other, saying that they saved the other from destitution, and that one would be nothing without the other. Should have run screaming.

- Was contacted one day by the founder's assistant, because she was trying to mount a coup d'etat with the other founder to get rid of him. As if that's something you can do to the guy who holds over 50% of the company.

- Several people with ties to the gambling and porn industries, as well as the mafia were hired. On this last point, at least one investor/partner told me he was not worried about losing his investment for this reason. Just another reason you cannot use my name.

- BTW, pro athletes are idiots, it's not hard to swindle them out of money by saying things like "next MySpace, next Facebook".