But the home videocamera has helped open up the American mediasphere to alternative viewpoints. Smith's recent film, Jesse's Gone , shot entirely with a Sony Betacam, looks at the life and death of Jesse Hall, a young rapper from Oakland, California, who was killed in 1992. More important than technology, Smith argues, is the need to nurture basic writing skills within the black community. The next time you see someone wearing an adhesive patch on their arm, don't assume it's there to help them quit smoking. PharmChek, a drug-detecting patch developed by Sudormed Inc. of Santa Ana, California, absorbs molecules of substances like marijuana, PCP, amphetamines, opiates, and cocaine given off in perspiration.
Users wear the tamper-proof patch for up to seven days, when it is sent to a lab for testing.
Don't bother trying to escape detection by refusing to exert yourself for a week. You're always sweating. But for now, if the idea of getting caught toking up makes you sweat, then avoid getting slapped with a PharmChek patch. Officials there have refined a computerized taxi dispatch system that eases traffic congestion and cuts down on squabbles between competing cabbies. Big Brother syndrome aside, however, most drivers don't mind having transponders mounted on the windshield behind their mirrors and enjoy not having to physically hold their place in a line of waiting cabs anymore.