The health effects of pepper spray

About Pepper Spray | Guest Blog, Scientific American Blog Network
[Via Scientific American]

One hundred years ago, an American pharmacist named Wilbur Scoville developed a scale to measure the intensity of a pepper’s burn. The scale – as you can see on the widely used chart to the left – puts sweet bell peppers at the zero mark and the blistering habanero at up to 350,000 Scoville Units.

I checked the Scoville Scale for something else yesterday. I was looking for a way to measure the intensity of pepper spray, the kind that police have been using on Occupy protestors including this week’s shocking incident involving peacefully protesting students at the University of California-Davis.

As the chart makes clear, commercial grade pepper spray leaves even the most painful of natural peppers (the Himalayan ghost pepper) far behind. It’s listed at between 2 million and 5.3 million Scoville units. The lower number refers to the kind of pepper spray that you and I might be able to purchase for self-protective uses. And the higher number? It’s the kind of spray that police use, the super-high dose given in the orange-colored spray used at UC-Davis.

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The longterm health effects of this agent, especially the pulmonary effects, are not well characterized. It is designed as a general dispersal agent, not as a tool to be directly targeted at specific individuals.

And not only is it a possible health risk, meaning it should be used in extreme circumstances, and not only is its use in war prohibited by international treaty and not only did the Army find it could cause “mutagenic effects, carcinogenic effects, sensitization, cardiovascular and pulmonary toxicity, neurotoxicity, as well as possible human fatalities,” but a Federal court in this country has found that its use against peaceful protesters who pose no danger is not legal and can open the officers to personal liability.

Yes these officers might also lose their qualified immunity and could be sued in civil actions. This also applies to the Chancellor and Board of Regents at Davis if they are found to have authorized the attack. Hope so.

Perhaps then they would use it properly.

The consequences of ones action’s should be commensurate with those actions. Someone committing a misdemeanor should not be tortured to make them comply. Torturing someone who is not under arrest purely to assure compliance should not be ignored.

Pepper spray is not something to use lightly. If an officer does, they should be punished.

For my mother on Thanksgiving

I really enjoyed this presentation because at its heart it is about the meal with family, not the bird. Don’t worry about how the bird comes out. That is what gravy, cranberries, stuffing and wine are there for.

Turkey is not meant to stand on its own at any dinner. It is meant to support and enhance the taste of everything else.

My memories about my mother and the bird do not stem from the manner she cooked them in. It was usually about the timing so that everything came out at the right time – after the Dallas game. How she cooked the bird seldom impinged on my consciuousness.

My Mom always had a great Thanksgiving dinner but I really never remember the bird itself. It was her Waldorf salad – sometimes with oranges added, I think –  giblet gravy, the smell of sweet potato pie (that I never ate but was a favorite of my father), mashed potatoes, crescent rolls, cranberry sauce – first just the jellied kind but advancing to the whole berry as I matured – and the dressing – which changed greatly over the years as she experimented but which never failed to be my favorite. And sometimes we might have kernels of corn or green beans but to my mind they simply added color

I would simply pile my plate high with turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, with gravy on each of them. A huge amount of cranberry sauce and a couple of rolls on the side. Each bite would have a bit of turkey, potato and gravy. Or turkey, dressing and cranberry.

After finishing one plate where I politely ate a bit of everything laid out – except the sweet potato pie which I simply have never been ale to swallow. The small bit I might put on the plate always sat alone when I went back for seconds – I return to get more of my favorites.

Turkey, cranberry sauce, gravy  and dressing. The magic four that I live for.

Hot turkey sandwiches were my reward for the next few days.

I am lucky that my own family does appreciate much of the same – although I am the only one who eats dark meat. We have some different opinions on what type of bird to get and how big but we all agree that turkey, cranberries, gravy and dressing make the meal.

Thanks Mom for providing so many great Thanksgiving memories.

Apple could buy every non-Samsung competitor and still have billions in cash left

Apple could buy the mobile phone industry | Updated
[Via asymco]

The last time I did this comparison (Apple could buy the mobile phone industry | asymco) was in June after the end of the second quarter. The following chart is an updated look.

 

Here is a discussion of the changes since the last analysis:

• Sony Ericsson was valued through its acquisition by Sony. We did not have a way to value the enterprise before as it was not traded independently. Last June I estimated a 14x multiple on its trailing twelve months’ profits and got $3.0 billion. Since then half the company changed hands for about €1.05 thus yielding a total company value of $2.8 billion. The enterprise value should be therefore slightly lower but I’ll stick with the current transaction value as the EV.
• Motorola Mobility has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Google for $12.5 billion by Google. The company’s enterprise value jumped as a result to about $8.6 billion.
• RIM’s share price collapsed and it’s now also trading at an EV of about 7.3 billion (Yahoo finance).
• Nokia’s price has also dropped and it now has an EV of about $13 billion (Yahoo finance).
• HTC recently dropped significantly in price and is now worth about $15 billion EV. (Note that pricing of its equities is subject to suspended trading due to drop limits).
• LG’s phone business is still losing money and it’s still difficult to value. In November it was revealed that the company was seeking to raise $890 million in capital to fund new initiatives including smartphones. The share price fell by 14%. In June I suggested a nominal value for the phone business of $10 billion. I think that’s very generous and with recent events I would place that value at $9 billion today.
• Samsung’s fortunes have increased. In June I applied a 14x multiple to their trailing 12 months’ operating earnings. Given overall discounting of the sector I applied a multiple of 13 today. That yields a business value of $78 billion. Interestingly, that is larger than the value of all other competitors apart from Apple. That also makes it six times more valuable than Nokia.
• Apple’s cash and cash equivalents and investments grew by about $12 billion and were worth about $82 billion as of October.

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This is how disruptive the iPhone has been. Apple and Samsung may be the only two standing alone at the end. Everyone else may be acquired soon.