News of the Weird

[derickw]

where are my sushi fans.......

BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese authorities are using algae-munching fish to clean up one of the country\'s most polluted lakes -- and after their diet of toxins they will be sold on to consumers, state media said Thursday.

source

[sallyalli]

MmmmMmm toxic algae sucking sushi...i think i will stick to the ahi tuna.

[SlimPickens]

The toxins make\'em tasty!

[derickw]

it may end up like the Homer Hot pepper incident

[booztravlr]

It\'s not really weird, just surprising. I think it\'s about time we start using the Death Penalty in every state for all those on Death Row.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080228/ap_on_re_us/prison_population

NEW YORK - For the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report tracking the surge in inmate population and urging states to rein in corrections costs with alternative sentencing programs.

The report, released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said.

Using updated state-by-state data, the report said 2,319,258 adults were held in U.S. prisons or jails at the start of 2008 — one out of every 99.1 adults, and more than any other country in the world.

The steadily growing inmate population "is saddling cash-strapped states with soaring costs they can ill afford and failing to have a clear impact either on recidivism or overall crime," said the report.

Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States, said budget woes are prompting officials in many states to consider new, cost-saving corrections policies that might have been shunned in the recent past for fear of appearing soft in crime.

"We\'re seeing more and more states being creative because of tight budgets," she said in an interview. "They want to be tough on crime, they want to be a law-and-order state — but they also want to save money, and they want to be effective."

The report cited Kansas and Texas as states which have acted decisively to slow the growth of their inmate population. Their actions include greater use of community supervision for low-risk offenders and employing sanctions other than reimprisonment for ex-offenders who commit technical violations of parole and probation rules.

"The new approach, born of bipartisan leadership, is allowing the two states to ensure they have enough prison beds for violent offenders while helping less dangerous lawbreakers become productive, taxpaying citizens," the report said.

While many state governments have shown bipartisan interest in curbing prison growth, there also are persistent calls to proceed cautiously.

"We need to be smarter," said David Muhlhausen, a criminal justice expert with the conservative Heritage Foundation. "We\'re not incarcerating all the people who commit serious crimes — but we\'re also probably incarcerating people who don\'t need to be."

According to the report, the inmate population increased last year in 36 states and the federal prison system.

The largest percentage increase — 12 percent — was in Kentucky, where Gov. Steve Beshear highlighted the cost of corrections in his budget speech last month. He noted that the state\'s crime rate had increased only about 3 percent in the past 30 years, while the state\'s inmate population has increased by 600 percent.

The Pew report was compiled by the Center on the State\'s Public Safety Performance Project, which is working directly with 13 states on developing programs to divert offenders from prison without jeopardizing public safety.

"For all the money spent on corrections today, there hasn\'t been a clear and convincing return for public safety," said the project\'s director, Adam Gelb. "More and more states are beginning to rethink their reliance on prisons for lower-level offenders and finding strategies that are tough on crime without being so tough on taxpayers."

The report said prison growth and higher incarceration rates do not reflect a parallel increase in crime or in the nation\'s overall population. Instead, it said, more people are behind bars mainly because of tough sentencing measures, such as "three-strikes" laws, that result in longer prison stays.

"For some groups, the incarceration numbers are especially startling," the report said. "While one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, for black males in that age group the figure is one in nine."

The nationwide figures, as of Jan. 1, include 1,596,127 people in state and federal prisons and 723,131 in local jails — a total 2,319,258 out of almost 230 million American adults.

The report said the United States is the world\'s incarceration leader, far ahead of more populous China with 1.5 million people behind bars. It said the U.S. also is the leader in inmates per capita (750 per 100,000 people), ahead of Russia (628 per 100,000) and other former Soviet bloc nations which make up the rest of the Top 10.

[derickw]

Researchers at the University of Tokyo concluded that ethanol -- an intoxicating agent in alcohol -- does not cause memory to decrease, as widely believed, but instead locks it in place

[tyzack]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/03/03/seattle.fire/index.html

Your Days of Plenty Are Numbered
-The Edukators

[derickw]

why the Breakfast will never have a MTV video

http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/32067809

That\'s because of its strobe effects, which caused the clip to fail the Harding Test -- guidelines established to prevent TV images from triggering epileptic seizures..........

[jocelyn]

Not sure if this qualifies as News of the Weird, but it\'s definitely funny.

City may ban little baggies
COUNCIL | They\'re \'Marketing 101\' for drug dealers, cop says

March 5, 2008
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
Tiny plastic bags used to sell small quantities of heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana and other drugs would be banned in Chicago, under a crackdown advanced Tuesday by a City Council committee.

Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) persuaded the Health Committee to ban possession of "self-sealing plastic bags under two inches in either height or width," after picking up 15 of the bags on a recent Sunday afternoon stroll through a West Side park.

Lt. Kevin Navarro, commanding officer of the Chicago Police Department\'s Narcotics and Gang Unit, said the ordinance will be an "important tool" to go after grocery stores, health food stores and other businesses. The bags are used by the thousand to sell small quantities of drugs at $10 or $20 a bag.

Navarro referred to the plastic bags as "Marketing 101 for the drug dealers." Many of them have symbols, allowing drug users to ask for "Superman" or "Blue Dolphin" instead of the drug itself, he said.

Prior to the final vote, Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) expressed concern about arresting innocent people. He noted that extra buttons that come with suits, shirts and blouses -- and jewelry that\'s been repaired -- come in similar plastic bags.

Burnett was reassured by language that states "one reasonably should know that such items will be or are being used" to package, transfer, deliver or store a controlled substance. Violators would be punished by a $1,500 fine.

Health Committee Chairman Ed Smith (28th) said the ban is part of a desperate effort to stop what he called "the most destructive force" in Chicago neighborhoods.

"We need to use every measure that we possibly can to stop it because it is destroying our kids," he said.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/826059,CST-NWS-bagban05.article

[skalnbyc]

Gee, you think we have enough laws in this country yet?  I can\'t believe the city council even wasted the time to hear that proposal.  Drugs are illegal yet still abundant, so lets go after the bags that hold them; so bogus.  So now they will just have to leave the city limits to get the bags, or order online.  What\'s next?  The sky is apparently the limit for the social engineering douchebags.

[Gordo]

When I was in high school, I think sophomore year, my brother was at UIC where subsidized housing filled every other block (it has changed recently). My friends and I went down to his place for a party, we were all stoners while my brother and his friends were not, but we asked them if they had the hookup anyways. So Tony, my brother\'s roommate, and my best friend Matt went for a little stroll in the park.
They came back 2 hours later. Matt\'s ear was ringing after getting slapped up side the head by a 10 year-old black kid on a bike who yelled "White bitch!", stirring up the local outdoor liquor line, while waiting for some herb. They got two of ^these^ little baggies, and the hookup, named June, called them \'spaids\' and \'yellows\'. The one bag literally had a yellowish tint and the other was covered in spaids, both the same size and both packed to the max with shitty ass Chi-town ****.

[jocelyn]

The stamping of the baggies is seen more for heroin purchases. Probably crack too I\'m assuming, but not sure on that one. For heroin, it is common, and will in fact denote the quality of the dope.

The law regarding the baggies is especially hilarious because, I am pretty sure, that the corner of a sandwich bag has been used maybe once or twice, and would possibly do the job just fine. Ha ha.

[sallyalli]

no more sandwich bags!!

[Gordo]

The stamping of the baggies is seen more for heroin purchases. Probably crack too I\'m assuming, but not sure on that one. For heroin, it is common, and will in fact denote the quality of the dope.

The law regarding the baggies is especially hilarious because, I am pretty sure, that the corner of a sandwich bag has been used maybe once or twice, and would possibly do the job just fine. Ha ha.

Yeah, it really is absurd. It\'s so funny to think that they\'re proud of this "revelation" that will be of some great significance.

[jocelyn]

no more sandwich bags!!

No more sandwiches!