A jail deputy in Oregon started collecting before and after mug shots of meth uses, calling them “The Faces of Meth.” It’s pretty scary stuff, how terribly and completely changed these people’s faces and bodies are. (Now, there’s one pair in there where I think the person looks better in the second shot, but that’s just me. Most of them are seriously horrifying. Work-safe, except if you work in a meth lab.)

I had a friend who did a lot of crystal meth. Said it was great, because it allowed him to concentrate for days at a stretch. (Concentrating mostly on doing more crystal meth, or clubbing, or whatever else he was doing, but he ostensibly used it to get lots of work done too.) I haven’t seen him in years. I heard a while back he didn’t look so good. He once said he wanted to get a Ritalin prescription, because that would have the same effect on him…and it wouldn’t be illegal.

Well, I think you’ve got to file this one under “Oops”:

A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing “sexual services” at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year.

Prostitution was legalised in Germany just over two years ago and brothel owners – who must pay tax and employee health insurance – were granted access to official databases of jobseekers.

The waitress, an unemployed information technology professional, had said that she was willing to work in a bar at night and had worked in a cafe.

There must be some way out of this conundrum, but boy am I glad I’m not the bureaucrat who’s got to figure it out.

Update: Oops to me! Sadly, No! sets me straight with a Sadly, No! on this one, with additional pointers to Damnum Absque Injuria and Snopes.

In case you have nothing to do this fine Saturday day, hie thee over to Guess the Dictator or Sit-com character. Make sure you know enough about your dictator to answer the questions correctly: I started with Suharto and ended at Pervez Musharraf. I’m just sayin’.

(Via Riba)