Using two brain-imaging techniques, they identified striking differences in neural anatomy and brain activity between children able to read and write Chinese easily and classmates struggling to keep pace. Both were at odds with patterns of brain activity among readers of the English alphabet.

Even when readers in both languages looked at the same written characters, the brain activity was different, other researchers found. Arabic numerals of standard arithmetic -- used by readers of Chinese and English alike -- activate different brain regions depending on which of the two languages people had first learned to read, researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and China's Dalian University of Technology reported in 2006.

"In this sense, we may regard dyslexia in Chinese and English as two different brain disorders," Dr. Tan said, "because completely different brain regions are disrupted. It's very likely that a person who is dyslexic in Chinese would not be dyslexic in English."

In a generalized sense, people with Western romance-language brains parse linguistic meaning through a sequential hierarchical rule-based context, eastern cultures tend to do the same thing through logical or emotional juxtapositions of meanings created by particular symbolic groupings. In the West the ultimate point of meaning rests at the top. In the east the ultimate point is in the Center. So it goes.

Albert Hofmann, the father of the mind-altering drug LSD whose medical discovery inspired - and arguably corrupted - millions in the 1960s hippie generation, has died.

School nurses are being trained to spot whether children as young as four are high on drugs, the Gazette has learned.

All school nurses in Islington are now being taught to spot whether youngsters are under the influence of illegal drugs like cannabis, ecstasy or LSD. Even primary school nurses are given the training before starting work with pupils as young as four.

A further programme of drug training is due this summer to make sure school nurses are better prepared to spot signs of drug use.

Education bosses say it is a shame it has come to this - but that parents should feel reassured.

This will send a strong message to all parents: Don't send you four-year-old to preschool high. Okay? Just this once...

Albert Hofmann, 11 January 1006 – 29 April 2008

An Obituary by Dieter A. Hagenbach and Lucius Werthmüller

At the age of 102 years, Albert Hofmann died peacefully last Tuesday morning, 29th April, in his home near Basel, Switzerland. Still last weekend we talked to him, and he expressed his great joy about the blooming plants and the fresh green of the meadows and trees around his house. His vitality and his open mind conducted him until his last breath.

He is reputed to be one of the most important chemists of our times. He is the discoverer of LSD, which he considers, up to date, as both a "wonder drug" and a "problem child". In addition he did pioneering work as a researcher of other psychoactive substances as well as active agents of important medicinal plants and mushrooms. Under the spell of the consciousness-expanding potential of LSD the scientist turned increasingly into a philosopher of nature and a visionary critical of contemporary culture.

Until his death Albert Hofmann remained active. He communicated with colleagues and experts from all over the world, gave interviews, and showed great interest in the world's affairs, although he decided to retire from public life already a few years ago. Nevertheless he welcomed visitors at his home on the Rittimatte, and opened the door for late in the evening.

He managed to keep his almost childlike curiosity for the wonders of nature and creation. In his "paradise," as he would call his home, he enjoyed being close to nature, especially to plants. During one of our last visits he said to us with luminous eyes: "The Rittimatte is my second most important discovery." It was always a unique experience to stroll with him over his meadows and to share his enjoying the living nature all around.
Gratefully and lovingly we grieve for an outstanding scientist, an important philosopher, a dear and true friend, and our member of the board.

Albert Hofmann was born on January 1906 in the quiet small town of Baden, Switzerland, as the eldest one of four children. His father is a toolmaker in a factory where he meets Albert’s mother-to-be; when he falls seriously ill, Albert has to support the family. That’s why he decides for a commercial apprenticeship. At the same time he starts studying Latin and other languages, since he wants to take his A-levels, which he succeeds in at a private school, paid for by a godfather.

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It was known as acid, blotter acid, window pane, dots, tickets and mellow yellow. It was sold on the street in capsules and tablets but most often in liquid form, usually absorbed on to a piece of blotting paper divided into several squares: one drop, or "dot", per square. Lysergic acid diethylamide, or C20H25N30 to give it its snappy chemical formula, derived from lysergic acid, and it introduced you to a world of cosmic harmony and all-embracing love, or a black schizoid hell of paranoia and screaming demons.

Dedicated to two wonderful friends (DJ DaddyJack & Taunji) on their move from Jackson, Mississippi to Atlanta.

Download Now

1.) Cyborgasm - 'Deep Inside Your Cosmic Body Erotic'
2.) Layo & Bushwacka! - 'Deep South'
3.) Saint Etienne - 'Like A Motorway' (Chemical Brothers vocal mix)
4.) Simple Minds - 'Theme for Great Cities (Fila Brasilia mix)
5.) M83 - 'Run Into Flowers' (Jackson mix)
6.) Extortion Labs - 'Starset'
7.) One Dove - 'Breakdown' (Cellophane Boat mix)
8.) Afro Celt Sound System - 'Persistence of Memory' (Rae & Christian remix)
9.) Ambrosia - 'Biggest Part of Me' (Soul Hooligan remix)
10.) Tori Amos - 'Caught a Lite Sneeze'
11.) David Bowie - 'I'm Afriad of Americans' (Trent Reznor remix)
12.) Devo - 'Whip It' (Phillip Steir and Ramin Sakurai remix)
13.) Postal Service - 'We Will Become Silhouettes'
14.) Zero 7 - 'The Space Between'
15.) Billie Holiday - 'Don't Explain' (Dzihan & Kamien remix)
16.) Beck - 'Broken Drum'
17.) Pink Floyd - 'Us and Them'
18.) Extortion Labs - 'Mid Air Collision'

You might imagine that the idea behind a "silent rave" is that those big booming sound systems are tipping people off that something unsavory is going on, so if everyone shows up and dances to their own MP3 players, there doesn't go the neighborhood. Or something. But these "silent raves" are actually utilizing the "flash mob" construct, congregating in public as it turns out, and giving the media the opportunity to point out:

Rave culture has long been criticized for creating public disturbances with loud music and for its alleged ties to club drugs such as ecstasy and ketamine.

Because, uh, congregating in public and dancing to your private MP3 players is somehow less disruptive than throwing a real rave in the outskirts of town where someone might hear your sound system. Or something. No seriously, it's kind of harmless; it's basically taking everything edgy and truly countercultural about a rave and saying, "Ha ha, we can make it into a cartoon that we can force you to watch at any time of day, ha ha!" The dancing yahoos are listening to whatever they want on their private MP3 players because DJs are dangerous revolutionaries who can't be trusted! Or something. Actually, I'm not sure I get it.

The worst part:

Filming your participation in a silent rave is paramount, according to organizers. After all, if a tree falls in the forest and nobody puts the footage on YouTube, the media isn't going to make a sound.

"People aren't living for the moment, they're living for the recording of the moment," says Sullivan.

Blech! Oh, but before I get too cynical (which I guess would require a time machine that takes us back to 1971 or so, but let's just pretend), we shouldn't overlook:

"It's about doing something out of the ordinary that will remind people there's more to life than getting up, going to work, watching TV and going to sleep," says Caitlyn Spencer, the Mount Royal College student behind the event.

Fair enough. Stunts like these are harmless and artsy; who cares if a thousand idiots show up in a mall or a park or a train station somewhere and dance their heads off? Also, what makes them different from the people who freeze themselves in Grand Central Station, or do pillow fights in malls, or stage zombie hordes that roam city streets? Oh wait - nothing. This is just one more example of the entire gestalt of rave culture being condensed down into a very tiny and increasingly irrelevant memeplex that no one cares to defend any longer since the music went commercial and the MDMA long since ceased to be pure.

But hey - at least its wacky!