Shoplifting 101

“Accidental” stealing

In “Accidental” stealing, a thief takes his place in the queue with the items he intends to steal, and pays for only one of those items while holding what he intends to steal in full view to cause confusion (or places said items into his pockets), while avoiding suspicion due to his apparent intention of payment. In the event of being caught, the thief can simply pass off the attempt at stealing as accidental. This method is also referred to as “left handing,” a reference to the stolen item being held in the left hand while payment is made with the right.

Baby stroller boxes

This scam involves the use of baby stroller boxes, which tend to be quite large in size. A would-be shoplifter removes the stroller from the box and proceeds to conceal a large amount of merchandise inside. He then reseals the box and takes it to a checkout aisle, where he pays the purchase price for the stroller. If the scam is successful the shoplifter leaves the retailer’s premises with the concealed merchandise.

Bagging, Simple

The Simple bagging tactic is when a shoplifter surreptitiously hides an item inside a bag that they have brought into the store (for example, a shopping bag from another store or a purse).

Bag switching

Bag switching methods are generally attempted by a pair of shoplifters. Typically the first shoplifter will have a large bag and gather a large amount of merchandise quickly to attract the attention of a Loss Prevention Investigator. Once the first shoplifter knows that he is being followed he will conceal the merchandise in the bag. The first shoplifter will then switch his bag with the second shoplifter, who usually has a matching bag that is already filled with items that don’t belong to the retailer. Often the Loss Prevention Investigator will miss the switch and arrest the first shoplifter. Subsequently, the first shoplifter may claim false arrest and receive a gift card from the retailer in recompense.

Barcode counterfeiting

In barcode counterfeiting the shoplifter will bring in pre-made barcodes from low value items. These are then applied over the barcodes on higher value items. This allows the shoplifter to go through the checkout process, make a payment, have any security tags deactivated by the clerk and walk out without arousing suspicion. The shoplifter might be working in collaboration with the checkout clerk to ensure the incorrect prices go unnoticed.

Barcode switching

This is when a shoplifter switches the tags/barcodes between two pieces of merchandise, most likely putting the cheaper tag on the product they wish to obtain.

Booster boxes (bag)

A booster box is a device that allows a shoplifter to conceal a large quantity of merchandise on his person. These boxes are lined with metal or some other material to prevent security tags from setting off the security gate alarm at the exit. Typically, professional shoplifters of large girth most commonly attempt this scam. The use of a booster box is most prevalent at clothing retailers because clothing merchandise can be easily molded to fit inside the box. It is not unknown, however, for professional shoplifters to attempt to use booster boxes to conceal electronics and DVDs.

Copper finger

A shoplifter may tape some copper foil to his finger and walk out of the establishment with the finger pressed over the RFID tag on an item in his hand. This will disrupt the signal so no alarm sounds when he leaves the building. If caught, the shoplifter might attempt to get rid of the copper foil knowing that he may be prosecuted for being “equipped to steal.”

Many shoplifters combine this with the walk out technique.

Coupon returns

One of the more common scams involves returning items that were paid for partially with coupons. Some stores refund the entire item amount, including the amount discounted by coupons. Shoplifters involved in this scam often shop at multiple stores, and have family members return items so that no suspicion is aroused.

Defective software scam

A person buys a piece of software from a computer store, exits, opens the software, and records serial number/CD key for single license of the software purchased. After at least a few hours the same person re-enters the store where he bought the software and complains to customer service that the installation disc is defective. Most computer store policies allow same-item exchange for opened computer software, so the person is given a different copy of the same software. The scammer now has two licenses after only paying for one.

Demagnetise in store

Stock that has an acousto-magnetic tag on it (mostly DVDs and CDs) isdemagnetised in the store by the shoplifter so that it will not set off an alarm on leaving. The shoplifter will place a very small but powerful neodymium magnet (power N48 or higher) on the acousto-magnetic tag, put the item down, wait for about a minute to ensure demagnetisation and then walk out with the item. This technique is used with cheaper CDs and DVDs as Blu ray discs and higher value merchandise may have hidden tags.

Distraction

A group of two or more will enter a store and try to distract as many employees as they can. Generally amateurs, they engage sales employees and security guards in different ways to keep them occupied. They are persistent and will take all the time they need. One or more will ask for help while another will be near the items of choice. The accomplice nearest the merchandise will await a perceived safe time to steal.

Double cart

Two shoplifters are usually involved with this scam. They fill two carts with goods and approach the checkout. They load the checkout with the high value goods first. The cashier scans the items and removes the security tags. One of the shoplifters bags the items and places them back into the now empty first trolley. As the second trolley is being scanned the first shoplifter leaves with the first trolley while the second shoplifter stays at the checkout. The remaining goods are scanned and the cashier awaits payment. The second shoplifter excuses himself to go and get a forgotten wallet, and leaves the remaining goods at the checkout. Meanwhile, the first shoplifter has had time to load the high value goods into a vehicle.

Fake returns

The shoplifter picks up an item from the selling floor and tries to receive money for it at the return station. Typically the shoplifter will state that he lost his receipt. He may threaten the cashier in wanting to talk to the employee’s supervisor and to avoid confrontation the cashier will ring up the return and give the shoplifter the value of the merchandise. (See refund theft.)

False alarm scam

The shoplifter places a tagged item into a legitimate shopper’s bag, and waits for him to exit the store. As soon as the alarm goes off the shoplifter has time to leave with his stolen goods.

Fitting room bagging

Typically this scam is seen in large clothing retailers. This scam generally preys upon the common Loss Prevention policy of prohibiting the apprehension of shoplifters when the act of concealment is not actually witnessed by an investigator. The shoplifter enters a retail establishment with a large bag, and then selects a large amount of merchandise and takes it to a fitting room. Once inside, the shoplifter conceals the merchandise in the bag out of sight of store employees and store investigators. In addition, it is common to leave clothes in the dressing room that one does not wish to purchase. This technique is not effective where dressing room supervision includes the checking in and out of clothes by number of items.

A very effective method is to go into store with a bag, and within the bag have the bag of the store inside it, for example, hiding a Topman bag in the plain bag. Go to changing rooms with desired items, remove tags with chosen method (professionals have detachers used by cashiers), put detagged clothing in the shop’s bag, put plain bag inside the shop’s bag so its hidden. Leave store. This technique requires you to buy a piece of clothing inside the store beforehand so you have a bag with their name on it.

Alternatively, detach tags in changing room and walk out with item underneath your clothes.

Grab and run

A common shoplifting technique is known by the Loss Prevention community as a grab and run. A shoplifter enters a retail establishment usually with prior knowledge of what he is looking for and moves very quickly toward the merchandise he or she wishes to steal. Once the shoplifter has found the merchandise, he or she proceeds toward the nearest store exit, usually while walking. Due to the short amount of time that the shoplifter is inside the store, persons who attempt this scam are seldom caught or, in some cases, even detected.

Less common is for a group of people to rush into a store, grab as much merchandise as possible, and then rush out. The speed at which this happens as well as the large number of people involved make this approach difficult to stop.

Half technique

The shoplifter walks into the store and takes two of the desired soft light items (like underwear), then opens a bag to make it appear as though he is getting money out to pay for the item; instead he drops one of the items into the bag, and puts the second item back to suggest a change of mind.

Jewellery in the pocket

A variation of the half technique is for the shoplifter to hide a small item of jewellery in a trouser or jacket pocket and either pay for the item of clothing or proceed to the changing room where, out of the eyes of the cameras, the piece of jewellery is transferred to a bag or pocket being worn.

Metal-lined clothing or containers

Metal-lined sacks, containers, or clothing (such as aluminum foil-lined undergarments) allow a person to shield the RFID tags attached to merchandise concealed on his person from the scanners at the door of a store (see Faraday cage). 2001 Colorado House Bill 01-1221 made it a misdemeanor to possess, use, or know about and fail to report others who possess RFID shielding devices with intent to foil anti-shoplifting devices.

Milkshake subterfuge

A less common shoplifting technique used for smaller high-dollar items is the milkshake subterfuge. A milkshake is purchased by the shoplifter and taken into the store. The shoplifter proceeds to drop small heavy items like jewelry into the milkshake. On leaving the store the milkshake is unlikely to be searched. A similar method is implemented using a packet of chips to shield RFID signals so the sensor won’t go off. This doesn’t work though.

Newspapering

This requires the shoplifter to have a newspaper, enter a small scale retail bakery and put a sandwich in the newspaper and walk out. This is potentially very effective as most bakeries do not have CCTV and are not expecting to be shoplifted. Walking into a music store or entertainment store with a newspaper instantly raises suspicions and is not done by professional shoplifters.

‘Not’ Shoplifting

In a country where you can conceal an item and not be charged (unlike in America where concealing an item is a crime) a shoplifter might wait until the CCTV is on him and make it obvious he is, for example, putting several chocolate bars in his pocket. Since he knows the CCTV will continue to be trained on him he may walk around the store for a little while before putting the chocolate back but he will hold back one chocolate bar. This technique is generally considered very high risk and is rarely done.

Alternatively, a person may conceal something like Playboy magazines or purple dildoes and their excuse may be that they were too embarrassed to pay for it. If caught, this may be offered as an excuse in order to receive a lighter punishment.

Opening the item

The shoplifter gets a small valuable item, quickly puts it in a pocket, so that CCTV cameras and store staff don’t notice. Then the shoplifter goes to the public toilet, opens up the item, and flushes the wrapping down the toilet. The shoplifter is sure to unwrap the item so that alarms will not go off when he or she leaves the premises which he does by simply walking out of the store with the concealed item. To combat this, many stores have policies barring unpaid merchandise from being taken into restroom facilities. Some stores even place alarms at the bathroom entrance to further prevent items from being taken in.

At a supermarket bakery a person may pick up a doughnut or biscuit, possibly by opening a packet, and eat it in the store while walking. Other customers might think that he walked in with it. It may be done with any item that can be eaten or drunk easily such as a bottle of water. It may also be an item in a grocery store which is consumed while browsing. An empty can can be discarded on any shelf in the store.

Alternatively, with DVDs or other disc type merchandise, the shoplifter picks up the item and walks away to look for additional merchandise. Elsewhere the shoplifter very precisely cuts a slit in the cellophane wrapping at the case opening. Using a plastic knife (most commonly, but it can be anything rigid and flat that will do little damage to the disc, such as a popsicle stick) the shoplifter pops the disc from the internal clasp and slides the DVD out from within the case. He then discards the item’s case in the store and exits with the disc hidden. Often this is not discovered until the item is purchased and opened legally.

Out the wrong door

This method requires a common outside door with two diverging doors from the vestibule: one for an entrance (which is not usually supervised) and one for an exit. Two people enter the store. One person retrieves merchandise from the selling floor. When this person is ready to leave the store, he waits at the entrance door. The other person walks around to the exit, walks into the vestibule and activates the entrance door on the way out, and the person with the merchandise also leaves. Sometimes the second person will just distract the cashiers while the person with the merchandise waits for some unknowing customer to enter the store and activate the entrance door.

Another variation is to exit through a fire door. Although these are alarmed, by the time staff respond, the shoplifter will be long gone. Many stores now have fire exit doors that operate with a delay—the alarm is set off several seconds before the door can be opened.

‘Pickpocket’

Two shoplifting accomplices will enter a store. The first shoplifter will pick up, for example, two small chocolate bars. With the chocolate in his hand, he will ‘pickpocket’ his accomplice, but in actuality drop the chocolate in his pocket. When the accomplice tries to leave, he will say that he never knew what happened or that he knew the accomplice.

Alternatively, the accomplice who does the pickpocketing will, as seen on the CCTV, actually put the chocolate in the accomplice’s pocket and pull out a wallet. This technique from a pickpocket perspective is known as the phantom wallet, so that when the pickpocket’s victim touches where his wallet should be he feels something, and assumes it is his wallet.

CCTV operators who have knowledge of pickpockets will assume that the phantom wallet technique is being used.Video

A shoplifter who works alone will put the product into the bag or shopping trolley of a person he doesn’t know, and when the stranger leaves the store with it or actually buys the product, the shoplifter will approach the person outside, directly or indirectly.

Power failure

In the event of a power failure where all lighting and CCTV goes out, the shoplifter quickly grabs as much merchandise as possible and calmly leaves the establishment before power is restored. Some stores have their security equipment on battery backup, however.

Razor finger

This technique involves using a razor blade to remove or destroy security tags on merchandise. The razor blade is taped onto the fingers with medical tape to give the appearance of an injury. The blade is then used to cut off or destroy the security tags. This technique was used in the book Evasion.

Receipt matching

The receipt matching scam involves using receipts to match merchandise codes on the receipt to items found in a store. Most retailers use company-specific merchandise codes on their merchandise so store personnel can identify the location more quickly and efficiently. Additionally the merchandise is used to verify merchandise that was purchased at a particular retailer during a return. This information is printed onto the receipts of purchased merchandise.

Typically, shoplifters will search the retailer’s parking lot or trashcans looking for a receipt that has a high dollar item on it. The shoplifter then enters the store and compares the code on the receipt to the code printed on the relevant store merchandise. Once the shoplifter finds a match he will take the merchandise to the return area and receive money for it. Typically, to avoid detection, shoplifters will use a piece of paper with the merchandise code they are looking for written on it.

Another variation is to purchase the target item, then leave the store, and send an accomplice in with the receipt to obtain the same item. The accomplice can either return the item right away for cash, or leave the store with a second targeted item.

Receipt passing

A person walks into a retail store and buys a high-value item, such as an iPod. On the way out he gives the receipt to his accomplice who enters the store, receipt in hand, picks up the same high-value item and a low-value accessory. At the checkout he shows the receipt to the cashier explaining he already bought the item, but walked back to buy the accessory. The accessory is then purchased. This method is combatted by having merchandise locked.

Receipt-less returns

This method is typically used when the thief desires money as opposed to merchandise. The shoplifter steals an item of their choice, using the method of their choice. He then damages the item. This can be done by making a hole in a cloth-like item, breaking the chain of a necklace, tearing the sole from a shoe, snapping something plastic, or using any other damaging method specific to the item type. The damaged item is then taken back to the store. The thief is normally given a refund without question as it is the law in many countries (such as the UK and US) that faulty items must be refunded.

Rope and fenceline

In large retail stores that have open garden areas, two shoplifters will attempt to steal merchandise in this manner: one shoplifter will wait outside, while the shoplifter inside will take a cart full of merchandise to the garden center. The shoplifter inside will then tie the merchandise to a rope, and throw the rope over the fenceline, and the shoplifter waiting on the other side will untie it and take the merchandise.

Self-checkout scam

At some larger retailers customers have the option of using self-checkout lanes, in which customers do not interact with employees at all when making purchases but check themselves out at a computer. Customers are expected to scan the items that they wish to purchase, insert payment for the scanned items, then bag the items and leave the store. Shoplifters have been known to purchase small items with these machines, and place additional items in their bags without paying for them. A UPC for a small inexpensive item may be keyed in after placing a pack of cigarettes on the weighted scanner. Many shoplifters intentionally act slightly confused when using these machines, and act as though they are attempting to scan the item which they wish to steal, so that, if confronted, they can claim that they took the additional items by mistake.

The majority of self-checkout machines have scales under the shopping bags (where the items are placed after scanning). The scale checks that the weight of the scanned items is the same as reaches the bags. If there is a discrepancy, the supervising attendant is signaled to come to the station for assistance.

Shoe-switching

This scam involves footwear at major shoe stores or department stores. On finding the desired pair of shoes, the shoplifter asks the salesperson to retrieve the required size shoe from the stockroom. After trying on the shoe which the shoplifter wishes to wear out of the store, the salesperson is sent to retrieve a new size and the thief states that he will do a size comparison in which the shoplifter’s own shoes are then left with him. Once the store associate is sent back to the stockroom, the shoplifter simply walks out with the new pair of shoes leaving the old pair in the box. Store associates assume that they must have had a change of mind and discovery is usually made when the same pair of shoes is summoned by a new customer. If seen by other store associates or door/greeting associates, the shoplifter explains that wearing the new shoe immediately is preferred.

Shoe Box switching

A shoplifter walks into a shoe store and finds an expensive pair of shoes. The shoplifter wears the expensive shoes. Old shoes in hand, the shoplifter finds a cheap shoe box and places his old shoes in it. At the cash register, the cashier, having been told that the new shoes are being worn, scans the box.

Shopping cart magic

Shopping cart tricks are often disregarded by Loss Prevention personnel. Typically, older or professional shoplifters usually attempt this scam. The scam works in the following way: when the shoplifter first enters the store, he locates an empty shopping cart. The required item is typically placed on the bottom or under the baby seat. The shoplifter then finds a few inexpensive items and places them in the shopping cart. At the till he removes all the merchandise with the exception of the item he wishes to steal. This item may well be overlooked by the cashier.

Shopping cart passing

Shopping cart passing is usually attempted by a pair of shoplifters. The first shoplifter will gather the desired merchandise into a shopping cart and take it to the register. The cashier will then ring up all the merchandise and place it in bags. Once the total is rung up, the first shoplifter states that they forgot their wallet in their car. The first shoplifter will then exit the store and most cashiers will put the shopping cart off to the side and resume ringing up customers. At this point, the second shoplifter moves in and grabs the cart and walks out of the store with the stolen merchandise in bags.

Stealing CD/DVD keys/serials

Many people download full version games or software from the internet but cannot use it to the full extent without a valid license. There are three main ways of stealing CD keys; 1.Copying the serial using a cell phone or pen and paper. 2.Taking a photograph of the serial using a cell phone or camera(cell phone is more commonly used). 3.Concealing the serial with a brochure, catalogue or pocket. If spotted, suspect will be prosecuted for criminal damage for opening the cellophane.

Wal-Mart TV theft

A shoplifter fills a cart with about two weeks’ worth of groceries and a DVD and pays for them at the register. In the meantime an accomplice approaches the store’s door with a TV. The two meet up at the doors and pass through simultaneously, with the TV on the far side of the associate/greeter. As they pass through the doors the TV will set off the alarm. When the greeter asks the shoplifter carrying groceries to show his receipt, he claims that the DVD in the cart set off the alarm. The person carrying the TV will be outside waiting for the person with the grocery cart at the getaway vehicle.

Walk out technique

The walk out technique is the process of browsing the store, collecting the target items, and simply walking out of the store with items in hand. This seemingly impractical idea can potentially be very effective if the shoplifter’s appearance and attitude are not of a suspicious nature. This tactic is usually limited to stealing small amounts of clothing and is generally only done in large department stores that have multiple entrances. If an alarm sounds, the shoplifter will continue to walk calmly. Also see ‘Grab and Run.’ Another technique is to wait for security to leave the main doors, and then to walk out with the item. However many CCTV cameras instantly move to the door when an alarm sounds, so the shoplifter’s face will be on CCTV. If the person is spotted on a subsequent visit, he may not be arrested for the earlier shoplift as most Loss Prevention officers only arrest people for on-the-spot shoplifting.

A variation of this scam is to select a store where customer service is close to the main cashiers’ row. After selecting an item to be stolen, the individual removes all tags and major packaging and proceeds to customer service where he will attempt to return the item without a receipt. If a refund is refused then the individual will simply leave the store and if stopped claim he had tried to return the item without a receipt. CCTV may spot the shoplifter removing the packaging.

Alternatively, a shoplifter may pick up an item of clothing (usually a jacket) and just walk out of the store. This is very effective for clothes where the items have tags on them that are very easy to remove.

Roast beef, anyone?

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could we have a new meme?

Fires return to Malibu, burning 35 homes

ires return to Malibu, burning 35 homes By ROBERT JABLON, Associated Press Writer
1 minute ago

A fast-moving wildfire pushed by Santa Ana winds raced through the canyons and mountains of this wealthy enclave for the second time in little more than a month Saturday, destroying more than 30 homes and forcing as many as 14,000 residents to flee.

The fire erupted shortly before 3:30 a.m. PST after the long-predicted Santa Anas finally returned, and by late morning it had grown to 2,200 acres, or about 3.5 square miles, but winds began to die down.

“Waking up at 4 in the morning with the smell of smoke in your nose and the wind beating at the windows is something that we learn to live with here, but it always comes as something of a shock,” said Mayor Jeff Jennings.

Twenty-three helicopters and airplanes, including a retardant-dropping DC-10 jumbo jet, attacked from the air while 1,700 firefighters battled flames on the ground. One firefighter suffered a minor eye injury.

“It’s great to be able to say that we have no loss of lives,” Jennings said. “We’re sorry about the one injury that’s been suffered, but it’s certainly not as bad as it could have been.”

Helicopters lowered hoses into pools and the nearby Pacific to refill their tanks for water-dropping runs, and SuperScooper amphibious airplanes skimmed the ocean to reload.

Hundreds of firefighters and equipment from throughout the state had been positioned in Southern California for most of the week because of the predicted winds, which had been expected to blow most of the week but didn’t arrive until late Friday.

Officials remained wary despite the decrease in wind speeds.

The mayor urged residents to “listen to your radios, go outside and see which way the wind is blowing. Stay alert. Stay vigilant.”

An estimated 35 homes were destroyed, and 10,000 to 14,000 people evacuated, said Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman.

The fire broke out along a dirt road off a paved highway, and there did not appear to be power lines in the area, Freeman said. Investigators were trying to determine the cause, he said.

As a precaution, officials at Pepperdine University told its students to move to a campus shelter, although the school remained largely empty because of the holiday weekend.

Another fire broke out Saturday morning in San Diego County near the town of Ramona and was 40 percent contained after burning 50 acres, said Roxanne Provanik, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Power lines blown down by fierce winds caused last month’s 4,565-acre Canyon Fire in Malibu that destroyed six homes, two businesses and a church. That blaze was part of siege of more than 15 Santa Ana-stoked wildfires that destroyed more than 2,000 homes, killed 14 people and blackened a total of 809 square miles between Los Angeles County and the U.S.-Mexico border.

Santa Anas, triggered by high pressure over the Great Basin, blow into Southern California from the north and northeast, racing down through the canyons and passes of the region’s east-west mountain ranges and out to sea, pushing back the normal flow of moist ocean air.

Malibu, with homes tucked into deep and narrow canyons along 27 miles of coast on the southern foot of the Santa Monica Mountains, is prone to Santa Ana-driven wildfires. Among them was a 1993 blaze that destroyed 388 structures, including 268 homes, and killed three people.

Saturday’s fire burned to the west of the portions of Malibu that burned in October.

Neighbors alerted one another, while authorities drove through Corral Canyon, a neighborhood of about 350 homes, telling people to leave. Along some narrow roads, several homes were reduced to embers while their neighbors were untouched.

Meredith Lobel-Angel, 51, and her husband, Frank Angel, 54, said they had 15 minutes to leave their split-level home and managed to take little other than some clothes and their laptops.

“I ran out on the deck and I just saw a little fire and smoke up the canyon on the ridge (about a mile away),” Frank Angel said. “By the time we evacuated it was already over the ridge. It spread faster than I’ve ever seen it.”

Firefighters told Carol Stoddard, 48, that her home was probably gone. The 3,500-square-foot, seven-level home was worth $2 million.

Stoddard, a freelance videographer and photographer, captured some of the fire’s destruction as trees beside her home and her collection of 12 uninsured cars burned.

“I stayed there until I couldn’t breathe and the embers were flying everywhere,” she said. “It was dark and I was standing around my house. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t grab enough stuff that was of importance like my passport.”

Some evacuees were treated to moments of joy and relief.

Geraldine Gilliland, 56, shrieked with happiness as an animal control officer reunited her with her six dogs and 21-year-old cat, left in her house when the fire drove workers at the property down the canyon.

“Oh my God. They got them, they got them, they got them!” she said, kneeling to embrace her pets.

“You can’t put a price on human life or canine life; these are my babies.”

SAUCE 

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Cannabis: Potent Anti-depressant In Low Doses, Worsens Depression At High Doses

A new neurobiological study has found that a synthetic form of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, is an effective anti-depressant at low doses. However, at higher doses, the effect reverses itself and can actually worsen depression and other psychiatric conditions like psychosis.

It has been known for many years that depletion of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain leads to depression, so SSRI-class anti-depressants like Prozac and Celexa work by enhancing the available concentration of serotonin in the brain. However, this study offers the first evidence that cannabis can also increase serotonin, at least at lower doses.

Laboratory animals were injected with the synthetic cannabinoid WIN55,212-2 and then tested with the Forced Swim test — a test to measure “depression” in animals; the researchers observed an antidepressant effect of cannabinoids paralleled by an increased activity in the neurons that produce serotonin. However, increasing the cannabinoid dose beyond a set point completely undid the benefits, said Dr. Gabriella Gobbi of McGill University.

“Low doses had a potent anti-depressant effect, but when we increased the dose, the serotonin in the rats’ brains actually dropped below the level of those in the control group. So we actually demonstrated a double effect: At low doses it increases serotonin, but at higher doses the effect is devastating, completely reversed.”

The anti-depressant and intoxicating effects of cannabis are due to its chemical similarity to natural substances in the brain known as “endo-cannabinoids,” which are released under conditions of high stress or pain, explained Dr. Gobbi. They interact with the brain through structures called cannabinoid CB1 receptors. This study demonstrates for the first time that these receptors have a direct effect on the cells producing serotonin, which is a neurotransmitter that regulates the mood.

SAUCE

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Fuck a bunch of Baby Boomers

just a little roundup of stuff on the web blasting baby boomers:

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As 33 year old with a high IQ and no future, I just want to thank the baby boomers for totally and completely fucking over what could have been the greatest country ever. The whole time I was growing up no one ever said anything about oil. No one ever said anything about foreign manufacturing. No one ever said anything about non-linear population growth. No one ever said anything about Topsoil. No one ever said anything about illegal aliens. No one ever said anything about preparation for anything that might come our way. No, the sad truth is that the boomers grew up in unprecedented wealth and security and blissfully burned more oil, energy, topsoil and whatever else you can regretfully burn than any generation since the beginning of known history. These are the assholes who told us to “get good grades” and everything will be awesome. Guess what dad, no amount of straight A’s are going to help when the shit hits the fan. You just enjoy your retirement in the million dollar piece of shit house you own. And when the illegal aliens and poor white trash are tearing this country a new one in the next civil war, you just pat yourself on the back and tell yourself that you were a great parent.

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The baby boomers would sacrifice their own children for money as long as they get their social security checks.

The worship of money is quite prevalent in this society.

The devil made you love him, and now he’s going to make you choose money or your children?

End the war, you save your children.

Prolong this war, you might get your social security checks with all the nuclear fallout around and illegals stealing your mail to.

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“The Worst Generation”

by Paul Begala

I hate the Baby Boomers. They’re the most self-centered, self-seeking, self-
interested, self-absorbed, self-indulgent, self-aggrandizing generation in
American history. As they enter late middle age, the Boomers still can’t grow
up. Guys who once dropped acid are now downing Viagra; women who once eschewed
lipstick are now getting liposuction.

I know it’s a sin to hate, so let me put it this way: If they were animals,
they’d be a plague of locusts, devouring everything in their path and leaving
but a wasteland. If they were plants, they’d be kudzu, choking off ever other
living thing with their sheer mass. If they were artists, they’d be abstract
expressionists, interested only in the emotions of that moment — not in the
lasting result of the creative process. If they were a baseball club, they’d be
the Florida Marlins: prefab prima donnas who bought their way to prominence,
then disbanded — a temporary association but not a team.

Of course, it is as unfair to demonize an entire generation as it is to
characterize an entire gender or race or religion. And I don’t literally mean
that everyone born between 1946 and 1964 is a selfish pig. But generations can
have a unique character that defines them, especially if they are the elites of
a generation — those lucky few who are blessed with the money or brains or
looks or skills or education that typifies an era. Whether is was Fitzgerald and
Hemingway defining the Lost Generation of World War I and the Roaring Twenties,
or JFK and the other heroes of the World War II generation, or the high-tech
whiz kids of the post-Boomer generation, certain archetypes define certain
times.

You know who you are. If you grew your hair and burned your draft card on campus
during the Sixties; if you toked, screwed, and boogied your way through the
Seventies; if you voted for Reagan and believed “Greed is good” in the Eighties;
and if you’re trying to make up for it now by nesting as you cluck about the
collapse of “family values,” you’re it. If not, even if demographers call you a
Boomer, you probably hate our generation’s elite as much as I do.

Let’s start with the Sixties, the Boomers’ dilettante ball. While a few
courageous people like John Lewis and the Freedom Riders risked their lives –
and others like Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner gave theirs
– the civil-rights movement was led by pre-Boomers like Martin Luther King Jr.
(who would be 71 if he were alive today) and continued without strong support
from the Boomers on college campuses.

Still, I must say this: If you were one of those young people who did risk their
lives to fight racism in the Sixties, who put their bodies on the line to
register voters, who marched and sang and taught and preached against
segregation, you stand as the best refutation of my anti-Boomer tirade. In that
one moment of conscience and courage, you did more with your life than I’ve done
in all the moments of mine. In a generation of selfish pigs, you were saints.

But the reality is that most campuses did not become hotbeds of unrest until the
Boomers’ precious butts were at risk as the Vietnam War escalated. They didn’t
want to end the war because they were bothered by working-class kids being blown
apart; if they had been, they wouldn’t have spat on those working-class kids
when they came home from Vietnam, or tried to make heroes out of the Communists
who were trying to kill them.

Yet as troubling as that may be, the Sixties were in many ways the Boomers’
finest moment. It was at least a fad then to pretend to care about racial
justice at home and war abroad, to speak out against pollution and prejudice.
But it was mostly just talk. As they came of age, and as idealism might have
required some real sacrifice, idealism suddenly became unfashionable.

And so the Boomers careened into the Seventies without a thought to picking up
where King and the Kennedys left off. Without a war to threaten them, their
selfishness came into full bloom. You know the results: Drug abuse, once a
boutique curse of hip musicians, became more common than the clap. And speaking
of sexually transmitted diseases, the Boomers began to fornicate with such
abandon that rabbits we asking them to cool their jets. They didn’t invent sex
or drugs or rock ‘n’ roll, but they damned near ruined them all.

And don’t give me this crap about Boomer music. The Beatles were all born before
the end of the war. So was Janis. So while the Boomers can claim they had the
good taste to listen to gifted pre-Boomers, when it came their turn to make
music, the truest expression of their generation, what did they give us?

Disco.

The generation that came before the Boomers gave them Dylan. The Boomers gave us
KC and the Sunshine Band. Thanks a lot.

Unfair? Perhaps it is a bit of an overstatement. Some friends of mine have
suggested it’s an outrage to ignore Baby Boomer Bruce Springsteen, for one. True
enough.

But even more than music, our remarkable economy is what drives and defines the
times we live in today. And as the generation in the economic driver’s seat, the
Boomers should get the credit for building this remarkable prosperity, right?

Well, not quite. Nothing can detract from the breathtaking entrepreneurship of
Boomers like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. But what’s interesting is that much of
today’s prosperity owes its origins more to the high-tech young nerds of the
post-Boom generation than to the Boomers themselves. The most vital role the
Boomers have in the current economy is to sit on their brains and invest in
post-Boomer high-tech start-ups. The same folks who sponged off their parents
when they were young are now, as they age, getting rich off the industry of
their younger brothers and sisters.

Boomer political and economic values reached their most perfect expression under
pre-Boomer president Ronald Reagan in the Eighties: Screw your neighbor, lay off
the factory workers, shuffle a lot of paper, build an economy in which a few
people get the gold mine and most people get the shaft. It is telling that when
he ran for reelection, Reagan got higher support among Boomers than he did from
his fellow older Americans. Perhaps some of the Greatest Generation saw the
selfishness in Reaganism and turned away from it. And perhaps the Boomers saw
those same qualities, that savage selfishness, and embraced it.

In the long run, will it matter that one generation was so spectacularly
selfish? Maybe not. In a great karmic irony, the Worst Generation may in turn be
raising another great one. Having taught the children of the Baby Boomers off an
on for five years now, at the University of Texas at Georgetown, I find them to
be the opposite of everything I despise about their parents — they are engaged
in their communities, spending endless hours volunteering to build housing for
the poor or to feed the homeless. They are concerned about their classmates,
having calmed down the PC mania and replaced it with a sensible sensitivity to
the feelings of others. They care about the future and are concerned about their
grandparents. They are more responsible in their private lives and more engaged
in our public life. I have no idea whether it’s because of the Boomers or in
spite of them.

Greatest Generation chronicler Tom Brokaw has the difference pegged: “The World
War II generation did what was expected of them. But they never talked about it.
It was part of the Code. There’s no more telling metaphor than a guy in a
football game who does what’s expected of him — makes an open-field tackle –
then gets up and dances around. When Jerry Kramer threw the block that won the
Ice Bowl in ‘67, he just got up and walked off the field.”

That kind of self-effacing dignity is wholly alien to the Boomer elite. But when
that day comes, when they finally walk off the field — or what’s left of the
field — a few of us who’ve been trailing behind them will be doing a little
dance of our own.

- ESQUIRE, April 2000

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i could go on.

Top 10 Obscure 80’s Toy Lines

…

10. The Centurions

Large figures, cool gimmick, and a cartoon to boot. Centurions were great fun. These should be reissued, for sure. These came out around 1985. I never got a chance to own one of these, but I wanted one.

9. Super Naturals

I don’t remember much about these guys. I had a couple of the ghostlings. There is a pic of one above. All the ghostlings had good quality monster holograms on them, and they came with glow in the dark swords. I do recall leaving one of the swords on top of a lightbulb, with the plans of letting the glow in the dark feature charge up real good. The sword melted, and I almost burned the house down. Speaking of toys with holograms…

8. Visionaries

These figures were kinda like GI Joe’s on steroids. They were made in the same 3 3/4″ scale as the Joes, but everything was beefier. Even the rubber O-ring that held the legs together were thicker than GI Joes. I only had one of these dudes, and if I recall correctly, I burned dudes face with a lighter. Battle damage FTW.

7. Starcom

Starcom ruled. They vehicles were very detailed for the scale. The figures were very tiny, super detailed, and had little magnetic feet. The vehicles had metal plates for the figures to stick to. These days, kids would swallow the figures, and the magnets would cause an intestinal obstruction. Not that thats a bad thing, with kids these days.

6. Bravestarr

Space Cowboys! I never owned any of these, but they looked fun. The cartoon is either coming out or is out this year on DVD.

Read the rest of this entry »

How To Catch Wild Pigs

There was a Chemistry professor in a large college that had some Exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the Prof noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt. The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country’s government and install a new communist government.

In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked,’Do you know how to catch wild pigs?’

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line.

The young man said this was no joke. ‘You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming.

When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly, the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America.

The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc. while we continually lose our freedoms- just a little at a time.

Mortgage Lender’s Bankruptcy May Threaten Thousands of Homeowners

By PEG BRICKLEY
September 12, 2007; Page A15

Thousands of homeowners face an “imminent risk” of losing their homes because of clashes between American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. and its former financial backers, according to Freddie Mac, a government-chartered housing financier.

In documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., Freddie Mac said it seized $7 million that homeowners sent to American Home to cover principal and interest payments, property taxes and insurance just before the company’s Aug. 6 collapse. American Home quit making payments to tax authorities and insurance companies Aug. 24.

Freddie Mac said 4,547 loans valued at nearly $797 million are at stake. It said it doesn’t have the loan files necessary to pay insurance premiums and property taxes on them, however. “Therefore, there is the imminent risk that borrowers’ insurance policies may lapse for nonpayment, subjecting the borrowers to a risk of loss of their mortgaged properties,” Freddie Mac said.

Property-tax bills will go unpaid, Freddie Mac said, “resulting in increased tax liabilities and possible tax-foreclosure sales.” It added it needs a court order allowing it to seize American Home’s loan files “to avoid these serious consequences stemming from AHM’s inability to service the Freddie Mac mortgage loans.”

The wave of mortgage-lender bankruptcies in the past few months has disrupted loan-servicing arrangements and triggered court fights over who should get control of the files necessary to service the loans, court documents show.

American Home has resisted demands that it give up loan-servicing files, hoping to auction its loan-servicing business intact in an effort to raise money for creditors. Loan-servicing businesses have proven to be among the few valuable assets left in the wreckage of the failed lenders. Some of Wall Street’s biggest investment banks are fighting for control of them.

For ordinary homeowners, however, the results could be dire, consumer lawyers say. “Companies receive the loan files that they are supposed to be servicing, but the payments don’t catch up,” said Jill Bowman, an attorney with James Hoyer Newcomer & Smiljanich, a Tampa, Fla., law firm that represents consumers in class-action suits against mortgage companies. “Payments are being deemed late, even when they’re not, because they can’t catch up with the paper.” The result is additional insurance costs and accumulating late fees.

American Home, based in Melville, N.Y., and once one of the country’s biggest mortgage lenders, serviced about $50 billion in mortgages. Its bankruptcy-court filing generated particular concern at Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, an agency that is part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Just days before American Home’s bankruptcy filing, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae terminated the company’s loan-servicing rights. They also sent representatives to collect loan files from American Home’s servicing facility in Irving, Texas.

In court documents, American Home said Ginnie Mae representatives “stood in a line in front of the doors and sat on the stairs, preventing AHM Servicing employees from entering the office.” Freddie Mac said American Home “had its security personnel escort the Freddie Mac representatives out.”

In addition to Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, several Wall Street banks are fighting to extract their loans from American Home’s servicing operation. The list includes Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank AG, Credit Suisse Group and EMC Mortgage.

In an interview last week, Ginnie Mae’s senior vice president, Theodore B. Foster, said Ginnie Mae had seized from American Home some of the insurance and tax payments collected from homeowners. “What’s occurred is that we have the money, but AHM hasn’t been able to or willing to pay the taxes and insurance, and they have the loan records,” Mr. Foster said. “Therefore, we don’t know who to pay, and we don’t know how much.”

SAUCE