>> In Salon, Aaron Traister recounts in “Love in the time of terrorism” how after 9/11 he decided to marry a woman he’d only been dating for 5 months — and move to Philly.

I sometimes feel like an asshole who shows up to a funeral for a stranger and cries the loudest, but I can’t escape the sense that I owe those strangers something. As horrible as it feels to admit, it was their loss that served as my inspiration, during that crucial moment in my life, for how much I wanted to live.

>> Still have 9/11-related nightmares? How We Decide author Jonah Lehrer blogs about new pot research that “supports a wide therapeutic application for cannabinoids in the treatment of conditions associated with the inappropriate retention of aversive memories and stress-related disorders.”

>> Perhaps unrelatedly, more baby boomers are toking up, joining what one  Slate author calls the “puff daddy” movement:

My parents didn’t seem … put off by my cautionary tale about the 65-year-old grandma who’d recently been caught with 33 pounds of premium marijuana in the trunk of her car. I tried to nag them, but they were pretty mellow about the whole thing.

>> Lauren Weber big ups a different movement — “ethical cheapness” — in her new book,  In Cheap We Trust: The Story of a Misunderstood American Virtue. From the review in Salon:

The heart of Weber’s book lies in its more contemporary chapters and her advocacy for what she calls “ethical cheapness.” This blend of environmentalism, anti-consumerism, social justice and old-fashioned parsimony asks both “Do I really need this?” and “What other costs — to the planet, to workers, to myself — lie hidden in this product I’m considering buying?”

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