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College presidents from about 100 of the nation's best-known universities, including Duke, Dartmouth and Ohio State, are calling on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, saying current laws actually encourage dangerous binge drinking on campus. The movement called the Amethyst Initiative began quietly recruiting presidents more than a year ago to provoke national debate about the drinking age. "This is a law that is routinely evaded," said John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College in Vermont who started the organization. "It is a law that the people at whom it is directed believe is unjust...

Hydrogen Is The Answer ... Uh, Isn't It? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-parker/hydrogen-is-the-answer-uh_b_115164.html

Chapel Hill, N.C. (AHN) -- A new study found that stopping drinking alcohol can be detrimental to one's mental health.According to the findings of the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studies performed on mice who voluntarily drank alcohol for 28 days showed that when their alcohol consumption was stopped, it caused depression and a negative mood that set in 14 or more days after their systems were cleared of alcohol. This led scientist to believe that people who quit drinking, even moderate drinkers, will experience "negative mood states" days or weeks...

A Hillsborough sheriff's deputy who said he had always wanted to spend his life in law enforcement used a Taser on his wife then held his service pistol to her head before he was arrested and held for mental evaluation, deputies say. Carlos Thomas Tanner, 38, a 10-year veteran of the sheriff's office, was arrested at his Dover home about 1:45 a.m. Monday. He is charged with felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and misdemeanor battery-domestic violence. Tanner was taken in under the state's Baker Act because he threatened to harm himself if he were arrested, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie...

Drinking Alcohol Cuts Risk Of Developing Rheumatoid Arthritis In Half, Study Suggests ScienceDaily (Jun. 5, 2008) — Alcohol cuts the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis by up to 50%, reveals research published ahead of print in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. The Scandinavian researchers base their findings on more than 2750 people taking part in two separate studies, which assessed environmental and genetic risk factors for rheumatoid arthritis. Over half the participants (1650) had the disease and had been matched for age, sex, and residential locality with randomly selected members of the general public. All participants were quizzed about...

One in three employees admits they have been to work with a hangover and more than one in 10 has been drunk at their desk, a study suggests. Staff said they made mistakes, struggled to concentrate and had to go home early as a result of drinking. Four out of five employers say alcohol is the biggest threat to the well-being of their staff, according to a survey for Norwich Union Healthcare. Alcohol Concern said bosses needed to be aware of symptoms of alcohol abuse. One thousand people and 250 businesses were interviewed about drinking habits for the survey. Of...

Some Teens Also Believe Mountain Dew Will Stop PregnancyORLANDO, Fla. -- A recent survey that found some Florida teens believe drinking a cap of bleach will prevent HIV and a shot of Mountain Dew will stop pregnancy has prompted lawmakers to push for an overhaul of sex education in the state. The survey showed that Florida teens also believe that smoking marijuana will prevent a person from getting pregnant. State lawmakers said the myths are spreading because of Florida's abstinence-only sex education, Local 6 reported. They are proposing a bill that would require a more comprehensive approach, the report said....

WAUSAU, Wis. - Cars lining the street. A house full of young people. A keg and drinking games inside. Police thought they had an underage boozing party on their hands. But though they made dozens of teens take breath tests, none tested positive for alcohol. That's because the keg contained root beer. The party was held by a high school student who wanted to show that teens don't always drink alcohol at their parties. It has gained fame on YouTube.com. Dustin Zebro, 18, said he staged the party after friends at D.C. Everest High School got suspended from sports because...

Photographs of the novelist Kingsley Amis, taken between his fiftieth birthday in April 1972 and his death in October 1995, sometimes show a resplendent sheen on his forehead, nose, and cheeks. This is what some people call “sweat alcohol,” a common problem among heavy drinkers of shorts and beer. On both of the occasions on which I had the pleasure to meet this funny and distinguished man, he drank whisky throughout lunch and by the afternoon was wearing that slightly bewildered, slightly aggressive, slightly penitent expression known as the “Scotch gaze,” a look familiar to all who have walked the...

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A South Carolina lawmaker says underage military servicemen and women should be allowed to drink alcohol. Representative Fletcher Smith has sponsored legislation that would allow alcohol purchases if service members younger than 21 show a military identification card to a bartender or store clerk. State law prohibits the sale or possession of alcoholic beverages by anyone under 21. Changing the law would cost South Carolina to lose federal highway money. South Carolina raised the drinking age to 21 from 18 to comply with federal law in 1984. Safety advocates oppose the Greenville Democrat's bill. They say many...

However, Bush’s vow to veto any tax increases could have ramifications for Democratic leaders who have promised to pay for any new proposals they advance. The speech drew sharp jabs from Democrats. “I thought he had stopped drinking,” House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel , D-N.Y., said in response to Bush’s comments on extending tax cuts. “I think there are certain things that the president just has to say, even though he knows that there’s absolutely no chance.”

The frustration of proving one's age to buy things like alcohol and tobacco does not end when you reach the appropriate legal age. Those of us who are fortunate enough to have a youthful appearance are forever burdened with having to carry a state-issued ID card to every place where we might want to buy alcohol or tobacco. Over the past few years, we've been gradually subjected to another, more intrusive ID-related hassle -- that of electronic drivers license scanning. It's one thing when a government representative scans your driver's license; it's another thing entirely when a restaurant does it,...

Anti-drinking ads which show stupid drunk behaviour inadvertently glamorise Medical Studies/Trials Published: Monday, 10-Dec-2007 . .   Advertising campaigns in Britain meant to discourage young people from drinking to excess have come in for some harsh criticism from researchers and comes at a time when experts are saying alcohol abuse is a widespread problem among the young. The researchers say adverts which focus on the idiotic behaviour carried out when people are drunk may be "catastrophically misconceived" and may backfire by inadvertently glamorising the habit. In a study, led by a research team at the University of Bath, researchers...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER — The students of a girls’ school in Narhwan now have fresh water to enjoy in between lessons. A local contractor completed a well project at the school, funded by the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Dec. 6, 45 days after breaking ground on the project. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by Lt. Gen. Abud, the commander of the BaghdadOperations Center, Maj. Gen. Abdul Kareem, the commander of the 1st National Police Division, and several leaders from the 3rd Infantry Division. “This project will directly impact the 3,500 students who attend the three schools...

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. college football games present students with regular opportunities to drink more -- especially high-profile games, a study found. The study, published in Addictive Behaviors, found students drink alcohol more on football game days than on well-known drinking days such as New Year's Eve and Halloween. Study co-authors Kim Fromme of the University of Texas at Austin and Dan Neal of Kent State University tracked students during the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 University of Texas at Austin football seasons. In the latter season, the football team garnered a national championship. The researchers also found levels...

You have to feel for the residents. These students are there for about four years .. nine months every year .. and they're really upset because the Statesboro City Council has put the brakes on some of the wilder drinking happy hours at area bars. Soooooo .... A couple of bar owners run for the city council, and the students launch a voter registration drive to get them elected. Students voting? Fine. And it is so good to see the students at Georgia Southern have finally found something that will drive them to the polls ... preserving their ability to...

Author: Letting Kids Drink Early Reduces BingingATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Over dinner recently, Anna Peele recalls one of the first times she drank alcohol. "I was like 14 or 15," Peele says. "I ordered a beer and they served me." She had just finished her freshman year of high school and was traveling in Greece with family friends. "We would just have wine with dinner," Peele says. "In Greece it's so not a big deal." Anna Peele's parents allowed her to drink at family functions and social events when she was in high school. While that experience would cause some...

Shock figures show 11 to 13-year-olds drinking twice as much alcohol as they did five years agoLast updated at 15:02pm on 31st August 2007  Tens of thousands of 11-year-olds are getting drunk at least once a month   A "hard core" of young teenagers is drinking to increasingly dangerous levels every week, it has emerged.   Tens of thousands of 11-year-olds are also getting drunk at least once a month, despite a drive to cut soaring numbers of young drinkers. Four out of 10 pupils aged 11-15 have tried smoking at least once, and a majority of young smokers are...

Over the strong objection of federal safety officials, a quiet movement to lower the legal drinking age to 18 is taking root as advocates argue that teenagers who are allowed to vote and fight for their country should also be able to enjoy a beer or two. The proposal, which is the subject of a national petition drive by the National Youth Rights Association, has been studied in a handful of states in recent years, including Florida, Wisconsin, Vermont and Missouri, where supporters are pushing a ballot initiative. Opponents of the idea point to a reported rise in binge drinking...

Women in their 40s are more likely to drink potentially harmful amounts on a night out than younger people, researchers in Cardiff have found. While men's drinking peaked in their late 20s, women's alcohol intake reached its heights among the over-40s. In a year, 893 people were breathalysed late at night in the city centre for the Cardiff University study. It found 40% of men and 20% of women had drunk over a level which put them more at risk of injury and ill-health. Researchers said their findings came as "something of a surprise". Binge-drinking is defined as eight units...

Report: Drunk astronauts were allowed to fly BY MARTIN MERZER NASA allowed at least two astronauts to fly into space even though they were so drunk that flight surgeons considered them a safety risk, according to a report published Thursday by Aviation Week and Space Technology.In a brief account reported on the publication's website, the trade journal said an independent health panel commissioned by NASA also found a pattern of ''heavy use of alcohol'' by astronauts before launch.The report did not include any details about which astronauts or space programs were involved or how recently the problems might have...

Binge-drinking 'causes drop in omega-3 levels' By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent Last Updated: 2:07am BST 25/07/2007 Binge-drinking reduces levels of essential fatty acids which play crucial roles in concentration and memory, scientists have found. Research shows that not only do heavy drinkers need to consume more omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs), but that their diets contain lower amounts of the important nutrients. Omega-3 is broken down into the fatty acids which form the structure of brain cell membranes and carry electrical signals between brain cells. Oily fish such as mackerel are a good source of omega-3, which has been shown...

While recently awaiting the arrival of a new baby, Elizabeth Dacey-Fondelius found herself not so much restricted by her bulging belly as by the opinions of those around her - especially when it came to alcohol consumption. Somehow my body became public property when I got pregnant. People I barely know elatedly rub my belly when they’d feel highly uncomfortable giving me a hug. Then there’s the rest of the public who feel it’s their prerogative to tell me what I am allowed to eat, drink and do. Cultural taboos vary country to country, yet you’d think that medical advice...

CHICAGO - More than 30 percent of American adults have abused alcohol or suffered from alcoholism at some point in their lives, and few have received treatment, according to a new government study. Alcoholics who got treatment first received it, on average, at about age 30 — eight years after they developed dependence on drinking, researchers reported. "That's a big lag," especially combined with the fact that only 24 percent of alcoholics reported receiving any treatment at all, said study co-author Bridget Grant of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The treatment rate for alcoholics was slightly less...

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Beer-loving Germany warned on Tuesday that binge-drinking among teenagers was rising sharply. Beer-loving Germany warned on Tuesday that binge-drinking among teenagers was rising sharply, adding fuel to a national debate over whether the country should tighten its alcohol consumption laws. A new government-sponsored survey showed that half of the country's 16-17 year-olds had indulged in binge-drinking in the last month, up from 40 percent a year ago, said Sabine Baetzing, the government's drugs commissioner. Binge-drinking is defined as consuming at least five alcoholic drinks in one sitting. "The rise is mainly due to an increase in the consumption of beer,...

HOBOKEN - When police suspected a St. Patrick's Day parade reveler of carrying a plastic cup containing beer, they slapped him with a $250 fine for drinking in public as part of a citywide crackdown to prevent rowdy and lewd behavior from ruining the day. Because the officer had not checked a box on his ticket requiring a court appearance, Hoboken resident Stephen DeSimone, 27, simply mailed his fine a short time later.

Drinking just two alcoholic drinks a day when you have breast cancer fuels the growth of tumours, a study says. It has long-been known alcohol increases the risk of developing cancer but the effect of drinking once cancer is present is less established. A University of Mississippi team found giving mice the equivalent of two to four drinks a day doubled the normal growth of a tumour after four weeks. Cancer patients are often just told to moderate drinking. Alcohol has been linked to cancer before

See for example this thread first. A man who saw how much he drank got his horse and rode into a bank He went in the door and passed out on the floor While horse made a deposit -- which stank.

4/18/2007 - ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNEWS) -- The challenge for those assigned water system reconstruction work in Iraq's desert environment is not lack of water with the Tigris and Euphrates rivers running through the heart of Iraq. Rather, the challenge is water treatment. For the Air Force Office of Scientific Research's senior reservist, a civil engineer background helped him focus on water treatment during his latest deployment to the desert. Lt. Col. Joseph Fraundorfer served as deputy chief of Water Sector for the Gulf Region Division in Iraq. He worked alongside Air Force, civilian and Iraqi civil engineers in a construction...

When Eliseo Hernandez came to the United States 30 years ago, he thought he drove better after a few beers. Driving drunk had been normal back in Mexico, he said. But Hernandez, 54, learned of its perils firsthand. He quit the practice after falling asleep at the wheel and hitting a tree 18 years ago. Then, last year, a young Hispanic man who authorities say was drunk nearly killed Hernandez's only son, Diego, in a crash on a rural Johnston County road. Eliseo Hernandez's daughter, who was nine months pregnant, lost her unborn child in the accident. Hernandez has spent...

IT IS with great horror that I read Lindsay Huggins' incredibly irresponsible and error-filled column regarding Commonwealth v. Beebe ("The painful consequences of silence," Mar. 16). While I am sure every current Wahoo wants to wave the flag of school pride, such editorial laziness should not be allowed as it does not in any way help other students. That said, I am glad attention is being brought to the horror of rape. Huggins, however, needs to get some of the facts straight and stop this disgusting and disturbing "blame the victim" stance. That serves no one and shows just how...

From The Hook, a local newspaper here in Charlottesville, Virginia:Four months after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a fellow student in a UVA fraternity house in 1984, 42-year-old William N. Beebe will be sentenced for the nearly 23-year-old crime on Thursday, March 15, in Charlottesville Circuit Court. . . . . . Beebe was sentenced to 18 months in jail and 500 hours of community service on March 16, according to news reports from The Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Virginia).

Two drink minimum? Think again. Under a bill endorsed by a Florida Senate committee Wednesday, bars could no longer kick out patrons just because they aren't spending money on alcoholic drinks. The bill is inspired by a case in Pinellas Park, where a man was booted from his favorite bar for drinking a soda. He reportedly told the bar owners he was the designated driver for his friends, but he was kicked out anyway and got into a scuffle in the process. Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, who is sponsoring the bill, said the bar's policy encourages people to...

Inspired by the Russian roulette scene in the excellent Vietnam War film The Deer Hunter, for our money this is one of the most dramatic and enjoyable of all drinking games.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older men who drink moderate amounts of alcohol may function better physically than either those who abstain completely or those who abuse alcohol, a new study suggests. Moderate drinkers tend to be healthier in general than teetotalers or problem drinkers, Dr. Peggy M. Cawthon of California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco and colleagues note. There is also evidence that moderate drinking may reduce inflammation. Cawthon and colleagues compared functional limitations, physical performance and drinking history for 5,962 men aged 65 or older who were classified into 5 categories. Men who consumed 5 or more...

SANTA FE New Mexico is taking its fight against drunken driving to men's restrooms around the state. The state has ordered 500 talking urinal cakes that will deliver a recorded anti-D-W-I message to bar and restaurant patrons who make one last pit stop before getting behind the wheel. The top of the devices feature the state D-W-I slogan -- "You drink, you drive, you lose." Some Albuquerque bars installed the devices this week. And the state Transportation Department plans to distribute them to Santa Fe bars and restaurants as well as establishments in Farmington, Gallup and Las Cruces. The state...

A growing number of Baptists may have brought in the New Year by raising a glass of something a bit stronger than iced tea, some cultural observers speculate. Baptist attitudes toward alcohol consumption seem to be in transition, they insist. Consider the spirited debate—and debate about spirits—sparked last summer when messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting approved a resolution opposing the consumption of alcoholic beverages—and an amendment disqualifying imbibers from service as trustees of SBC entities. Messengers passed resolutions on such volatile issues as same-sex marriage, illegal immigration and genocide in Darfur with little discussion, but the call...

Villagers tout urine drinking's health benefit (Shanghai Daily) Updated: 2006-11-21 11:41 Du Ximin, 50, was one of the five people who formed a healthcare research center promoting drinking urine to stay healthy in his village in 1993. Now about 400 of the village of 1,600 are in the habit of drinking their own urine, and two-thirds of them are senior people, reported state television. Du, formerly head of the Wuzhuang Village in Baqiao District of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, has been drinking his urine on a daily basis since 1990. He has been very healthy over the years, China Central Television...

Even as studies have consistently found an association between moderate alcohol consumption and reduced heart attack risk in men, an important question has persisted: What if the men who drank in moderation were the same individuals who maintained good eating habits, didn't smoke, exercised and watched their weight - How would you know that their reduced risk of myocardial infarction wasn't the result of one or more of these other healthy habits? A new study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) helps answer this question. Reported in the...

YAKIMA, Washington (AP) -- Federal investigators were set Tuesday to begin an investigation into a fire that ruined about 4 percent of America's yield of hops, used as flavoring in the brewing of beer and ale. The fire started shortly before noon Monday in a 40,000-square-foot (3,600-square-meter) warehouse operated by S.S. Steiner Inc., one of the four largest hop buyers in the Yakima Valley of central Washington. By mid-afternoon flames engulfed most of the building, sending up plumes of smoke and a pungent aroma.

DID Mel Gibson mean it? Did he mean it when he said, according to a sheriff’s report of his arrest on suspicion of drunken driving, that “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world”? Or when he asked the arresting deputy, “Are you a Jew?” snip... So where, exactly, did those words come from? ...snip...Was this alcohol-fueled soliloquy an ugly insight into Mr. Gibson’s character — in other words, in vino veritas? Or was it just the tequila talking? Science, as it happens, has been hard at work trying to understand ...if...alcohol can make people do, and...

CHILDREN from the age of five should be encouraged to drink wine at home to prevent the toll of alcohol abuse in later life, one of the country's leading experts on the problem has told Scotland on Sunday. Jack Law, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland and a member of the Scottish Ministerial Advisory Committee on Alcohol Problems, believes the practice would cut binge drinking among youngsters by taking the mystery out of alcohol. Law, who is helping ministers draft new alcohol policies to tackle the nation's appalling health record, believes parents should also drink more responsibly themselves to set...

Police have warned women "intent on getting ratted" to make sure they had waxed and were "wearing nice pants" in case they collapsed. The advice aims to keep women safe when drinking The advice was contained in a free magazine launched by Suffolk Police which officers say is aimed at keeping women safe when they go out drinking and clubbing. Safe! magazine also contained a picture of a girl in a mini skirt with the caption "if you've got it, don't flaunt it" and warned that alcohol could leave women looking like "wrinkly old prunes". Officers said they were adopting...

MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) has had one hell of a run. Their success rate is the envy of the activist community; their lobbying for tougher laws and public awareness is largely responsible (or so they will tell you) for reducing alcohol-related traffic deaths since 1982 by a whopping 37 percent. Okay, they give a little credit to the maturation of baby boomers, safer vehicles, airbags and mandatory seatbelt laws. They have captured every flag they initially set out to capture. They got prison sentences for repeat DUI offenders. Flying in the face of the Constitution, they pressured the government...

A POLICE chief sparks controversy today by suggesting the number of rapes in Scotland could be substantially reduced if women drank less. Neil Richardson, assistant chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police, bases his claim on new research which identified victims' alcohol consumption as significant in a third of attacks. The senior officer said "a lot" of the 1,100 rapes a year could be prevented "by people not allowing themselves to be in a vulnerable position". Richardson - who stressed he was not blaming women - spoke out after a study of more than 120 rapes revealed alcohol intake was...

Abbey Roos says she has the perfect college job. The Central Connecticut State University freshman works one day a week. Her business attire includes knee-high boots and a cut-off T-shirt, and many nights she walks away with hundreds of untaxed dollars. The slender, attractive young woman uses sex appeal to sell tubes of liquor to patrons at Club Blu in Hartford. She is a "shot girl." "It's easy for a college student," Roos said. "You're going to class all week, you're working on papers, and on weekends, college kids want to go out. So why not work at a bar?"...

Having a drink or two each day appears to be better for the heart than having a drink just now and then, at least for middle-aged men, a Danish study finds. Men who drank moderately each day had a 41 percent lower risk of heart disease than abstainers, while the risk was only 7 percent lower for those who drank on no more than one day a week, the researchers found. The team found no such benefit to daily drinking for women, however. "This is one more study suggesting that a modest to moderate amount of alcohol in the world...

A Canadian company has developed a new, more efficient process to make the alternative fuel ethanol from farm waste. With today's high oil prices, experts hope the new technology could reduce demand on fossil fuels and increase energy security. "In the past, ethanol fuel use has been limited, because the cost of production was too high," said Jim Easterly, a Washington, D.C.-based bioenergy consultant. "Ethanol produced from corn kernels and wheat grain has historically been more expensive than gasoline produced from oil." Producing corn-based ethanol, for example, uses energy from oil and electricity for everything from growing the corn to...