Stannous Flouride's Book of Truthiness

Maya Varma invented a device that cost her only $35 to build and can diagnose five different lung ailments, is already paying dividends. Last week, Varma, now a high school senior, won $150,000 as one of the first place winners in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search competition.

A born inventor

“I just felt there was something I could do about this,” Varma says matter-of-factly. And why not. The daughter of two Silicon Valley engineers, she has been inventing things for a while now.

In the sixth grade, after she became aware of the dangers of distracted driving, she devised a signaling system that would let drivers know when a stoplight was about to turn red. Last year, she was awarded a patent for that one.

Then, in the eighth grade, she developed a cost-effective way to detect foot neuropathy in patients with diabetes. That won the grand prize in the California State Science Fair.

It also sparked her interest in biomedical research, specifically designing technological solutions to health issues. That’s where she felt she could really make a difference.

Source: How a High School Senior Won $150,000 By Inventing a $35 Medical Device | Innovation | Smithsonian

“You want to know what this was really all about?” Ehrlichman asked with the bluntness of a man who, after public disgrace and a stretch in federal prison, had little left to protect.

“The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.

John D. Ehrlichman (l.), a top adviser to former President Richard Nixon (r.) is seen here in a 1972 photo. Ehrlichman, who died in 1999, admitted that the administration’s “War on Drugs” was actually a ploy to target left-wing protesters and African-Americans.

“We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. “Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

In 1971, Nixon labeled drug abuse “Public Enemy No. 1” and signed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, putting into place several new laws that cracked down on drug users. He also created the Drug Enforcement Administration.

By 1973, about 300,000 people were being arrested every year under the law — the majority of whom were African-American.

Source: [Report] | Legalize It All, by Dan Baum | Harper’s Magazine

Oregon’s 300 licensed cannabis retailers sold $13.9 million worth of marijuana in January, generating $3.48 million in taxes, according to a revenue report issued on Thursday.

Oregon’s Liquor Control Commission, charged with regulating the drug, had forecast annual tax revenues of about $8 million during the first two years of legal recreational pot sales.

Source: First-month Oregon pot sales tax receipts far exceed projections | NewsDaily

Oregon’s 300 licensed cannabis retailers sold $13.9 million worth of marijuana in January,

generating $3.48 million in taxes, according to a revenue report issued on Thursday.

Oregon’s Liquor Control Commission, charged with regulating the drug, had forecast annual tax revenues of about $8 million during the first two years of legal recreational pot sales.

Source: First-month Oregon pot sales tax receipts far exceed projections | NewsDaily