"ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Anyone who has ever watched a cop catch a bad guy on television likely has this constitutional right committed to memory: If you can't afford an attorney, one will be provided for you.

But a new Minnesota law that requires poor people to pay as much as $200 for this privilege is under attack by public defenders and some judges, who contend that it undermines the 40-year-old legal tenet established by the U.S. Supreme Court in Gideon v. Wainwright.

Minnesota is one of a growing number of states facing enormous budget deficits that are beginning to charge indigents for their constitutional right to legal representation. States including Arkansas, Ohio and New Jersey charge the poor $10 to $200 for lawyers -- fees that proponents argue are nominal and allow everyone to share the burden. Maryland charges adults $50 and juveniles $25; the District and Virginia do not charge. "

Besides being obviously unconstitutional, it acts as a compounded tax on whatever the fine is.

Right to an Attorney Comes at a Price

From the Scout Report: This fascinating collection of social hygiene posters (designed to inculcate certain social practices regarding hygiene, friendship, prostitution, and mental health) is culled from the fine holdings of the Social Welfare History Archives at the University of Minnesota Libraries.

There are some gems to be found here, and the collection is easily browsed. Consider "Beware of Chance Acquaintances" and "Danger in Familiarities".

American Social Hygiene Posters, ca. 1910-1970

"Your Worship...I did not know that it was an offence on Air Malawi to visit the toilet in the business class," Peter Chilambwe told Presiding Magistrate Arthur Mtalimanja.

The Zambian journalist said after being fined 50 kwacha (US 47 cents) on a charge of conduct likely to cause a breach of public peace that he would never travel with Air Malawi again. "

Economy passenger fined for taking his business upmarket

" Brewster Kahle wants the world to know that old software is an important part of our cultural history and -- like books, films and other media -- should be preserved.
The problem is, most software is stored on media that is rapidly degrading. Before long, the data on those original WordStar or Lotus 1-2-3 floppies will be about as useful as a piece of cardboard.

One of the titles the Internet Archive would like to save for posterity is an original copy of Sim City.If the Copyright Office turns down the Internet Archive's request, old titles like WordStar may disappear from the historical record.Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle is hoping to archive thousands of old software titles so that future generations can experience them.

That's why Kahle and his nonprofit Internet Archive have petitioned the U.S. Copyright Office about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA, which governs the circumvention of anti-piracy measures. Kahle's organization is seeking exemptions from DMCA provisions that prohibit the archiving of software titles. If the Copyright Office says no, Kahle fears millions of programs eventually will be lost forever.
"

Fighting to Preserve Old Programs

" EDMONTON - Researchers in Alberta have discovered a new way to produce electricity. They believe the finding may lead to a new kind of battery for small appliances such as cell phones.

The technology involves no chemical reactions, relying instead on pumping water through tiny holes. "

Edmonton team devises new way to generate electricity

Was Humpty Dumpty always an egg? Does anyone know?

] Would today's tykes tolerate the classic games you grew
] up with? Kids do say the darndest things in this uncut
] version of an EGM article—now with a bonus game not
] included in the original story!

] Kirk: I'm sure everyone who made this game is dead by now

Kids Play - Proof that you are OLD

Bucy Wrote
] VeriSign is to relaunch Site Finder, its highly
] controversial domain typo redirection service.
]
] VeriSign suspended Site Finder earlier this month,
] following an order from ICANN, the Net governing body,
] which claimed the company was in breach of its terms of
] operation.

] Sigh...

There should be a class action suit against Verisign for what the system changes will cost.

The Register -- V$ to relaunch sitefinder

"On January 22, 1879 -- the legendary "Day of the Zulu," when more than twenty thousand Zulu warriors nearly wiped out the forces of the invading British army -- even the sun was on the side of the Zulu Nation. A partial solar eclipse during the battle obscured the view of the redcoats, making it difficult for them to see the attacking Zulu warriors. But the Zulu triumph on that day was no freak victory: it came about through a combination of superior battle strategy and fierce weapons, aided by potent traditional medicine.
...
Download Screensaver

Of course, the Zulu might never have vanquished the British at Isandlwana without the help of traditional Zulu medicines. Some scholars have suggested that Zulu pharmacopoeia provided more of a psychological boost than any real physiological effect. But recent scientific studies show that the medicines contained some very potent drugs. For example, warriors were given a cannabis (marijuana)-based snuff to take during battle. Analysis of the snuff has revealed that it contained extremely high levels of THC, a powerful hallucinogen, and yet no detectable levels of the chemicals that cause the sedative effects of marijuana.

Also in the Zulu war medicine chest: the bulb of a flower in the Amaryllis family, called Boophane disticha, or the Bushman Poison Bulb. Studies have shown that the bulb -- which was also used by southern Africans to help mummify bodies -- contains buphanidrine, an alkaloid, like codeine and morphine (although it is not related to them) with hallucinogenic and pain-killing properties. According to botanist Ben-Erik van Wyk of Rand Afrikaans University in Johannesburg, South Africa, the dosage of buphanidrine necessary to reduce pain is very close to the toxic dose, "but in a very experienced traditional healer's hands it should be safe. They usually assess the strength of a bulb by testing it on themselves."

In addition, warriors sometimes ingested a hallucinogenic mushroom containing a toxin called muscimol. The chemical, present in fly agaric -- a mushroom that can attract and kill flies -- is said to induce a state of expanded perception in those who ingest it. Warriors who consumed those mushrooms, researchers speculate, might have been utterly without fear, believing themselves impervious to British bullets. "

I saw this last night. Fuck amsterdam, go to africa and become a zulu warrior.

Day of the zulu

"What's the strangest thing you've eaten?

We tried giant anteater once. It wasn't very good. It started tasting like formic acid after a few bites. I've eaten a large number of different kinds of bats. Once we ran out of food in northern Peru, and we ate whatever we could get our hands on, including palm weevils. The grubs are about two inches long and maybe half an inch in diameter, and they are just wonderfully good, particularly when you're hungry. They are somewhat like chestnuts if you eat them alive, but if you fry them they taste a bit like melted cheese.

Is there anything you've refused to eat?

On our first trip to the Amazon we were living with an Indian group out in eastern Peru called the Cashínáwa. We were invited over to a neighbour's house for dinner that night and they'd just returned from a long hunting trip and they'd brought back some smoked monkeys. But smoking only does a partial job of curing the meat. And in order to eat what they served us you had to pick off the living maggots, which was not very pleasant. But we were obliged to at least make the effort because this was a delicacy and we were in a foreign household being offered the best. That was tough."

Adventures with rats