Digital Society: Facebook and tobacco, booze and drugs

Photo by Laura Stample for The Huffington Post

Excerpted from the Huffington Post

Is Facebook the new gateway drug?

Teens who use Facebook and other social media outlets are five times more likely to smoke cigarettes, three times more likely to drink alcohol and twice as likely to smoke pot than teens that don't use social networks, according to a study released by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University on Wednesday.

But some researchers questioned whether online activity actually puts teens at risk for drug use, saying the link between the two behaviors doesn't suggest social media use encourages drug use.

After surveying 500 parents and 2,000 teens between the ages of 12 and 17, CASA found that 70 percent of teens spend time on some form of social media, which suggests that around 17 million of the country's teens are using social networks.

Half of those teens see pictures of kids drunk, passed out or using drugs while on these sites, CASA found. Kids who don't use social media can still be exposed to these sorts of pictures, but it is a lot less likely. According to the study, 14 percent of the teens who spend no time on Facebook and the other similar sites have also been exposed to pictures of drunk or drugged peers.

"The relationship of social networking site images of kids drunk, passed out, or using drugs ... to increased teen risk of substance abuse offers grotesque confirmation of the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words," CASA's chairman and founder Joseph Califano Jr. said in a press release.

Another festive Laredo tradition: year-round, exterior Christmas lights

I remember when you could pretend to be a detective by analyzing pictures for clues. Naturally, whenever we'd see a picture in front of a Christmas tree or other assorted Yuletide decorations, we knew we were looking at a picture taken during the holiday season. Sadly, we can no longer use these clues with the same kind of accuracy as we used to. This is particularly true when it comes to outdoor Christmas lights. I'm sure that you have seen many a Laredo abode with all sorts of strings of Christmas lights or "icicles" even during our hottest South Texas months.  At least we can say that in Laredo, we celebrate Christmas all year round.....or, some of us are just plain lazy.

Laredo Tlaquache sees shadow sweating, two more weeks of Canicula

"Chale,  le voy a poner p'al canton"

It now appears that this year's Canicula will not only be one of the hottest on record, it will also be longer than usual. Forget Punxsatawney Phil ! Laredo's own Teofilo Tlaquache came out of his garbage can this afternoon and saw his shadow sweating.  That signals that instead of the Dog Days ending today, they will now continue for another couple of weeks-according to legend.

In case there's any doubt that La Canicula is going to continue at full force, especially this coming weekend, get a load of Heatwave Behrler's forecast.

He is predicting that the highs for this Saturday & Sunday will be around 110 degrees. Those temperatures will be among the hottest this year, if not THE hottest.

AT&T cell customers suffer withdrawals as service is interrupted

 


Pro8news reported on the looooong AT&T service interruption experienced by many Laredo cell phone customers. The channel 8 news clip showed a bevy of irate customers at a local AT&T location. As much time as some people spend on their cell phones, it sure appeared that many were having some sort of withdrawal symptons. I am not sure what the symptons for cell phone withdrawals are but I think one of them is repeatedly checking your phone over and over to see if there is a dial tone.

More importantly, Tim Gutierrez report that Laredo's 911 service has been restored after also having been interrupted earlier in the afternoon. Laredotejas could not confirm if there was any truth to reports that several cell addicts were camping outside their respective AT&T service centers.

Maybe it's time to consider "rain-making" experiments again

Oh wait! Lemme get my rain gear!

From the Corpus Christi Caller Times
By Murphy Givens

The U.S. Department of Agriculture decided to conduct a cloud-bombarding experiment in Corpus Christi. On Sept. 26, 1891, experimenters took two howitzers outside town and fired the shells timed to explode at 500 feet. After the shells exploded, a few raindrops fell. By the time the last shot was fired, people at the experiment were soaking wet.

Doubters and scoffers pointed out that the howitzer shots had nothing to do with the rain because on the day of the exercise, thunderclouds were over the city and it had rained the day before. But there had to be clouds to bombard for the experiment to work.

The weather experimenters went on to San Diego,Texas where there had been no rain for a long time. This time, they used 10-foot balloons filled with gas and carrying explosive charges. The balloon explosions were synchronized with artillery fire on the ground. Judge James O. Luby, a spectator, carried an umbrella just in case. The mortars thundered and balloons exploded from 9 p.m. until midnight. The spectators gave up and went home, thoroughly dry. But about 4 a.m. after the last balloon was exploded, a heavy rain began to fall.

This was followed by another experiment conducted in the Alamo Heights area of San Antonio. The first shot took off the top of a mesquite tree and concussions from the cannon shots shattered the windows of the nearby Argyle Hotel. But there was no rain in San Antonio. However, there was a violent downpour in Laredo. A telegram sent from Laredo, perhaps only half in jest, thanked the man in charge, John T. Ellis, for the rain.

Yo querer su voto para Pre-see-dayn-tay de Ey-stados You-nidos

From Time Magazine
By Steven Gray

In his gubernatorial campaigns, Perry, who speaks moderate Spanish, frequently traveled to Hispanic neighborhoods. Last November, he won a third term with about 38% of the Latino vote, up from 31% in 2006, according to exit polls. And his record on immigration, a key issue for Latino voters nationwide,  is nuanced. Even though three-fourths of Latinos in the U.S. are American citizens, a new spate of severe state laws pursued by Republican legislatures have made the issue a foremost concern. Perry supported making undocumented immigrants eligible for in-state college tuition. Shortly after Arizona passed a restrictive measure requiring local law enforcement authorities to check the citizenship status of people believed to be undocumented immigrants, Perry flatly told a gathering of the National Council of La Raza: “It may be right for Arizona, but it ain’t right for Texas.”

BUT.........

When Perry called a special legislative session to resolve a fiscal crisis, the governor revived the sanctuary cities bill and declared it a priority. With other pressing matters – health care, education – on the table, some Texas political observers were taken aback. “That didn’t reflect the traditional Republican pragmatism in Texas,” says Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights, an El Paso-based immigration reform advocacy group.

The sanctuary cities effort drew the ire of Texas’ business community and Latinos. Somos Republicans, one of the nation’s largest Latino Republican groups, in June downgraded Perry from an “A” to a “B-“ on its influential scorecard. DeeDee Garcia Blasé, the 6,000-member group’s president, told TIME the governor’s handling of the bill “was a chance to get anti-immigration points with the Tea Party people.” The bill still ultimately failed, but damage persists: several prominent Hispanic evangelical pastors declined invitations to Perry’s Aug. 5 Houston prayer event, known as the “The Response,” in protest to the legislative campaign.


Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2011/08/24/rick-perrys-complicated-relationship-with-latinos/#ixzz1VyNIW8za

With economy reeling, TAMIU responds by offering a minor in theater

I guess now people can at least ACT like they have a job?

From The Laredo Morning Times/TAMIU press release

 

Texas A&M International University is now offering a minor in theater.

Chair of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts Bede Leyendecker said the new offering is the latest in the university’s arts offerings.

Leading this new degree are faculty members Gilberto Martínez Jr. and Vernon Carroll, she said.

Martínez joined last fall as a communication instructor in the department of Language and Literature and a theater instructor for the department of Fine and Performing Arts.

Vernon Carroll is a theater arts adjunct instructor.

He is also dean of Theater at LISD’s Vidal M. Treviño School of Communication and Fine Arts.

The first course offerings this fall are THAR 1310 Performance for the Stage, Monday-Wednesday-Friday from 12:30 p.m. to 1:20 p.m. and THAR 2340 Play Analysis Tuesday-Thursday from 7:30 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.