There’s an interesting new recommendation for how to dispose of old medications. Pour them into used kitty litter, bag it up and throw in the trash.

The old recommendation of flushing them down the toilet has environmental implications, as the impact of drugs in the water supply has been seen in fish.

My favorite part of the article:

“Ferret waste, like nearly any other form of pet waste, can be effectively used to help prevent the abuse of unused prescription drugs,” SAMHSA spokesman Mark Weber said.

This news delighted the American Ferret Association.

“The U.S. government declares ferret poop to be an effective weapon against drug abuse,” the group said in a statement.

That’s finding the positive! Then again, here in California you can’t keep ferrets. Guess the kitty litter will just have to do.

Of course people can still complain about the environmental impact of the plastic bag, but I’m guessing the drugs would break down before the plastic dissolves, and if you have a pet you may well be plastic bagging the litter already, so I don’t know that you can say there’s an added environmental impact. And while I could be wrong about the breakdown time of the drug, something does have to be done with old medications.

But if you want to take the time, I understand many pharmacists will take back old medications and dispose of them for you. Certainly worth asking about at your local pharmacy.

Technorati Tags: medication disposal

You’ve probably heard the bit about how we only use 10% of our brain, an idea I’ve long thought was nonsensical.

ZME Science points out how some research was most likely misinterpreted to come up with that idea. The research found that rats could relearn tasks even when parts of their brains were removed is one of the possible areas where such a misinterpretation could have occurred.

I’ve never understood how people can so easily believe that so much of the brain is just wasted. Even if you assume they’re talking about simple information processing and not including autonomic processes.

As the article notes, brain scans show activity in all parts of the brain. Not a huge dead area.

Certainly many people don’t use their mind to its full potential. We get lazy and don’t learn new things sometimes. It’s been shown that keeping the brain active throughout life has a benefit in old age. But sometimes it’s easy to be lazy and not try to learn new skills or work on things that make you think a little harder than usual. But once you get into the habit, it’s fun.

And certainly uses more than 10%.

Technorati Tags: brain, brain use, thinking

BBC News had a poll recently to find what people thought was the most riduculous law. This covered laws in multiple countries, not just the UK.

I have to admit they came up with some doozies.

It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament

That was the winner, with 27% of the vote. Definitely pretty silly, but my personal favorite was:

It is illegal for a woman to be topless in Liverpool except as a clerk in a tropical fish store

just because I have to wonder how the exemption came about.

There are plenty of absurd laws in many countries, but this was a really good list. It’s a good thing that most of these aren’t enforced.

Technorati Tags: laws, strange laws

No, sorry, they aren’t having an excess of fun with it. Instead, many schools have banned it because it “includes religious elements, the cult of death, the mockery of death.”

I can’t decide if it’s funny or sad that they take it so seriously. I mean I know some people in the United States would also love to see Halloween banned, due to various historical meanings, but I’ve never understood the arguements completely.

After all, if you don’t celebrate Halloween due to its Pagan origens, shouldn’t you do the same to Christmas? Lots of Pagan symbolism used there too.

I’ve had people get mad at me for asking that question.

The concerns in Russia also relate to moral and spiritual issues. I don’t know many people who are interested in the spiritual or moral side of Halloween. Most people want to dress up in ways they won’t the rest of the year and get candy. That goes double for kids. And since they’re talking about school parties, that’s relevant.
Even the more adult parties aren’t about the spiritual side. One might argue about moral issues, but that is more likely relevant to individual behaviors that may or may not be present the rest of the year.

I hope my kids have lots of Halloween fun tonight.

Technorati Tags: Russia, halloween

So what do you do if you’re the child of an astronaut, but not really inclined toward things that would qualify you for a spot on the Space Shuttle?

Earn enough to get into space anyhow, natch!

I can’t say I blame Richard Garriott for wanting to find a way to get into space. I’d go, given a chance, although I would be much surprised if I ever had the money to spare for such a trip. But I also found it inspiring reading about his mother:

The pinnacle one was with my mother’s return on investing in my first software company. She and my dad went back to their hometown of Enid, Oklahoma, and invested their millions into something called Leonardo’s Discovery Warehouse, a hands-on children’s art and science museum, but they built it completely with volunteer labor from the community.

It was my mother who organized this specifically: 10 percent of the entire population of the city — that’s 40,000 people — volunteered and physically came out to help my mother build Leonardo’s Discovery Warehouse.

Wow. I’m utterly impressed with that. It’s some very impressive organizing. How often can you get 10% of the people you ask to do something, especially if you don’t know them?

Can I say how impatient I am for that to be reality. Or at least wish that I could afford the envisioned $200,000 ticket price?

The New Mexico Spaceport Authority has unveiled plans for their spaceport, which is to be home to Virgin Galactic and the X Prize cup.

The plan is to have the spaceport be a vision of the future. Let’s see, by old visions of the future we should all have flying cars, personal jetpacks and robot servants. Maybe they’re waiting for us at the spaceport.

Really, the images they show for the plans look quite attractive. But it will be interesting to see how the designs hold up. Old science fiction shows had a certain look for the future that is completely absurd now. I wonder if this design will hold up. It doesn’t seem to be absurd now. Just very clean and lots of windows.

Technorati Tags: spaceport, new mexico, New Mexico Spaceport Authority, Virgin Galactic, x prize