stray bullets

How medical marijuana is transforming the pot industry Most researchers agree that the value of the U.S. marijuana crop has increased sharply since the mid-nineties, as California and twelve other states have passed medical-marijuana laws. A drug-policy analyst named Jon Gettman recently estimated that in 2006 Californians grew more than twenty million pot plants. He reckoned that between 1981 and 2006 domestic marijuana production increased tenfold, making pot the leading cash crop in America, displacing corn. A 2005 State Department report put the country’s marijuana crop at twenty-two million pounds. The street value of California’s crop alone may be as high as fourteen billion dollars. (via)

For Some Products, Prices Have Been Falling A fair bit in the last ten years, too. (via)

Unidentified Flying Threats A healthy skepticism about extraterrestrial space travelers leads people to disregard U.F.O. sightings without a moment’s thought. But in the United States, this translates into overdependence on radar data and indifference to all kinds of unidentified aircraft — a weakness that could be exploited by terrorists or anyone seeking to engage in espionage against the United States. (via)

Extradition appeal for British hacker dismissed A British hacker who admitted breaking into U.S. military computers hoping to uncover evidence of UFOs looks set to be extradited to the U.S. after the highest British court dismissed his appeal against the extradition on Wednesday. This guy is facing 60 years in prison for "hacking" wide open, non-password-protected military computers using a 56k modem. It was found afterward that entire suites of computers were unprotected by the most basic login passwords. They should give this guy a medal and throw their sysadmins in prison. Our government is an embarrassment. (more)

Hacking Without Exploits Black Hat researchers will demonstrate how the bad guys are quietly raking in big bucks without ninja hacking skills, tools, or exploit code (via)

Man deposits millions, one tattered bill at a time For years, authorities say, he and his family have popped in and out of U.S. banks, looking to change about $20 million in decaying $100 bills for clean cash, offering ever-changing stories... (via)

Building 'The Matrix' Now physicists have created a rudimentary prototype of a machine that simulates quantum phenomena using quantum physics, rather than using data kept in a classical computer. While the new device can't make people fly like the Matrix does, it demonstrates a technique that could enable physicists to create, in the virtual world, materials that don't yet exist in nature and perhaps figure out how to build, in the real world, superconductors that work at room temperature, for example. (via)

One teabag, one spoonful of neurotoxins The PBOI says of aspartame: “The chemical caused an unacceptable level of brain tumors in animal testing. Based on this fact, the PBOI ruled that aspartame should not be added to the food supply.” Add to that all the microwaves pumped into your brain by cellphones and you have quite a toxic brew. (via)

also:
Widespread Flaws in Online Banking Systems
Bush Administration Scandal Map (via)
Six Vacation Photos That Can Kill You (via)
Fly 1950s style From the end of July until the end of the year, Finnair’s retro plane, Silver Bird, will fly to several destinations. The cabin crew will wear 1950s-style uniforms and the beat of music from the 50s will spur the takeoff. (via)
10 Most Bizarre Restaurants
The Bureau of Atomic Tourism (via)
Billy Bob Thornton on his music and movies Big Zappa and Beefheart fan. (via)
Laurie Anderson Interview (via)
Glitter And Doom: Tom Waits In Concert Hear A Stunning Performance, Recorded At Atlanta's Fox Theater (via)
Steve Reich Interview (podcast) (via)
Voodoo Funk Record Digging in West Africa (via)

viddy:
Julie Driscoll - Season Of The Witch (groovy)
More Traffic in Tehran (even better)
I Love Sarah Jane Excellent zombie short. NSFW
Tank Man A documentary about the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.

Ronald McDonald and Colonel Sanders vs. Dragonball Z

I want one of those giant chicken legs!

via Super Punch

Links 5-19-08

30 Awesome Websites for Adventurous Urban Explorers

WebUrbanist provides a look into the world of urban exploration. If you read my comment on the post, you'll find that I'm going on an expedition this week.
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Daniel Schorr: Pinching Pennies and Words (audio)

Daniel Schorr, 91 years old and still kicking it! He's one of my inspirations in life. No old folk's home for me. I subscribe to his feed so that I don't miss any of his gems of wisdom. Wherever you stand politically, you'll find that there is a great deal to learn from this man.

Related item: Candidates Need to Clean Up Their Language
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The Extinction Timeline

Looks like we have about 15 more years to get our blog on. Sadly, still 27 more years of spam. Not sure how accurate this is, but it gives one pause.

via The Presurfer
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Evil Disney

Back in 1987, I was at a friend's house and she had a rather large collection of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck comic books. I remember reading them and realizing just how weird they were. They were nothing like the usual Disney fare. They story lines were harsh and brutal, expounding a philosophy best categorized as Social Darwinism.

I remember reading the Letters to the Editor section in one of the Mickey Mouse comics. I was quite shocked by one of the responses to a reader's question.

The question was, essentially, "Why do you make these comics?"

I'll have to give you the answer from memory as I cannot locate a source at this moment. I can assure you that I'm pretty close to the original here, as I must have read that entry about a hundred times. Every time I went to her place, I read it again, just to assure myself that I wasn't hallucinating.

So here goes:

The reason we make these comics is so that we can make more comics so that we can achieve our ultimate goal of making the entire world one big Disneyland where everyone has to go. That's called a benevolent dictatorship, boys and girls. (emphasis their's)

I swear on all that is swearable upon that this is what they said. I was completely flummoxed by that statement. I always wondered if they were just joking, but in the context it was delivered, it didn't seem to be so. Take what you will from this. I have always been a bit wary about Disney since then.

via Dedroidify
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Sunday Excursions: Sunday Gumbo

Let's hit the ground running...

The Man is keeping me down, pt. 1













WebПарк.ру: Котейки (39 фотографий)
via not enough memory
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The Man is keeping me down, pt. 2












Article: Gas to Hit $7 a Gallon
thanks, Joanne
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4. Amorphophallus: means, literally, "shapeless penis." The name comes from the shape of the erect black spadix.

from Eight of the World's Most Unusual Plants (1-4) (5-8)
via Vitamin Briefcase
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Humanzee















From The Scotsman:

A LEADING scientist has warned a new species of "humanzee," created from breeding apes with humans, could become a reality unless the government acts to stop scientists experimenting.

"If you put human sperm into a frog it would probably create an embryo, but it probably wouldn't go very far," he said.

"But if you do it with a non-human primate it's not beyond the realms of possibility that it could be born alive."

RUMINT has it that humans have been "experimenting" with chimps for some time, though this has never been verified. A few beers, a lonely night, some local fauna...

Some even maintain that chimps are human.

For those of you that missed it, meet Oliver. Many thought he was a humanzee, but genetic tests showed that he was a "normal" chimp.

There's more here.



via Delicious Ghost
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Why do ghosts wear clothes?

Four nights a week, I give ghost tours.

To be honest, I have minimal interest in ghosts. I'm more into the folklore and history, but hauntings are a big part of life in Savannah. I have talked to over a hundred people in this town who have had ghost experiences. These are largely professional or salt-of-the-earth types and they're very matter-of-fact, almost bored, with it. (And let's forestall the "were they drunk?" quips. None that I know have ever seen anything of the sort while intoxicated.)

I usually don't tell people this, even on my tour, but I have seen many things here that I cannot explain. Not ambiguous maybes, but real, often 3-D, actualities. Fifteen years in New Orleans and I never had a single experience. Nearly eight years in Savannah, I've had at least two dozen. I won't go into too much detail here, but if you want to know more, contact me.

I do not believe that there is such a thing as paranormal. It's not that I don't feel that these phenomena are real, they are. I just strongly suspect that they are quite natural, normal and scientifically explainable. We merely lack the perceptual tools to measure them. Whether they are the spirits of the departed, psychic residue, time warps/loops, the product of a geomagnetic anomaly, some other type of entity or any combination of, or all of the above, the ones that are real are real and therefore, knowable. If it is merely some sort of sensory or psychological event or state, this should not dismiss anything. Even so, it warrants serious study.

But back to the matter at hand. One thing that has always puzzled me is, why do they wear clothes? This has always been a bullet point for skeptics. I'm not sure if any of the explanations in this article are sufficient, but it begs pondering. (One that I saw in a downtown cemetery was fully clothed in his authentic 19th century Sunday finest. He disappeared while I was standing about ten feet away from him. I saw another dressed in a Confederate uniform outside of the Bonaventure Cemetery. He walked behind a tree and when I went to look, he was nowhere to be found.)

via Mysterious Universe
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Hut, hut, hut, hut!













from TIME
via FFFFOUND!
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In brief:

The U.S. Civil War almost became an Iraq-style insurgency

Worry about the Daemon not Grand Theft Auto
via Danger Room

Weird Story of the Week: Con Man Reality TV
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Serve with a little...

Gotan Project - Triptico (live)


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Enjoy your week. Y'all come back now.