Beautiful work! And the kids are so adorable.

WASHINGTON – Approval last month in the U.S. House of Representatives of legislation that would prohibit the sale of synthetic marijuana and other drugs known as “bath salts” and “plant food” has been delayed indefinitely in the Senate, American Medical News reports.

The House voted 317-98 on December 8 to ban the synthetic drugs, which can mimic the effects of marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamines; however, the Senate companion bill has been held up by an objection from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).

Hooray for Rand Paul! This is why I’m still active in the political process. It takes far more work to repeal a law than it does to prevent it from being created in the first place. Even a single senator can derail a bill indefinitely. A few more Rand Paul’s in office could block many pernicious laws.

In addition, although Romney is likely to win the Republican nomination, he will need Ron Paul’s support in order to win the general election. If Paul were to run independent, Romney would almost certainly lose. (And Paul himself has nothing to lose by doing just that; he’s not running for re-election as a Congressman, and the Republican leadership has treated him like shit.) That gives Paul a lot of leverage over Romney. For example, he could insist that Romney pick Rand Paul as his running mate.

Out of this world beauty here.

When Fritz asked the players which violins they’d like to take home, almost two-thirds chose a violin that turned out to be new. She’s found the same in tests with other musical instruments. “I haven’t found any consistency whatsoever,” she says. “Never. People don’t agree. They just like different things.”

In fact, the only statistically obvious trend in the choices was that one of the Stradivarius violins was the least favorite, and one of the modern instruments was slightly favored.

Demonstrates the importance and power of double-blind testing to get at the truth, which in this case, is that Stradivarius violins do not have an appreciably better sound than modern violins.

How has the “date rape drug” myth gained so much traction in the public consciousness? The study floats a theory: The worry over “date rape drugs” helps “give shape to otherwise nebulous threats,” in turn”allowing us to displace worry about other, less manageable threats.” We drum up concern over the risk of “date rape drugs”—then devise strategies for managing that risk—because it’s easier than actually doing the business of preventing rape. It’s easier to keep your thumb over your bottle than it is to stop your boyfriend from raping you. It’s easier to take your drink to the bathroom than to understand why a person you trust would assault you. It’s easier to tell grown women what to do than to teach our children not to grow up to be rapists. And it is a whole lot easier to avoid a crime that rarely happens than to prevent the type of sexual assaults that occur every single day.

On the flip side, not making time for friends can really detract from happiness. Research shows that during our teenage years, we spend nearly one-third of our time with friends. For the rest of our lives, the average time spent with friends is less than 10%. That’s a pretty big jump, and can make us feel lonely or unfulfilled. If you are married with kids and you have a job and an endless list of errands to run, it’s likely that time with pals slips off the to-do list. It can feel more like a luxury than a necessity. But just a little bit of time with the gals (or guys) can go a long way towards our overall health and happiness.