Carl Sagan Quotes on Marijuana in LSD Technicolor | 420 Tribune @420Tribune.com: “‘The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.’”
DNA tests link Southern leprosy cases to armadillos | NOLA.com: “With some genetic sleuthing, scientists have fingered a likely culprit in the spread of leprosy in the southern United States: the nine-banded armadillo.”
Drug-bashing RI Republican charged with drug use | The Raw Story: “Robert Watson, a high-ranking Republican state legislator in Rhode Island, is in hot water after being charged with driving under the influence of marijuana and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Drug charges alone would be bad enough for a public official, but Watson, Rhode Island’s House minority leader, is still remembered for his controversial anti-drug, anti-gay and anti-immigrant remarks.
In February, Watson said the Rhode Island legislature had their priorities right ‘if you are a Guatemalan gay man who likes to gamble and smokes marijuana.’
Watson was a guest on a radio show soon after the luncheon where he made the misstep, and in response to the outcry over his comments said, ‘I reject the suggestion that it’s insulting.’ He went on to say that lawmakers were ‘preoccupied with a number of issues, primarily social issues,’ when Watson thought they should focus on the economy.
‘I apologize when appropriate and/or necessary,’ Watson told the Providence Journal in February. ‘I identify this situation as representing neither circumstance.’
Watson was pulled over at a police checkpoint Friday, East Haven police told the Associated Press. Police noted a ‘strong odor of marijuana’ coming from Watson’s car, and charged him with possession and driving under the influence. The lawmaker was released after he promised to appear in court, and has not yet issued a statement.
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20 Banned Books of 2010: “Before jumping into this, it’s important to note that a ‘banned’ book is often just a challenged book. In library lingo, this means a parent (usually) or a concerned citizen has filled out a request to have a particular book reviewed and then pulled from the shelves. Most often, a library or book store has a criteria used for selecting works and when a book is challenged, the librarian checks to see if the book in question meets that criteria. If the book is justified, it stays in the library. If it’s not, it’s usually up for the principal and then school board to be banned and then removed.
This process has been developed to keep school boards and principals from removing works without any due process. Of course, even the best laid plans fail – as evidenced in the list below. These twenty titles are among the most amusing ‘banned’ books from 2010 according to various library resources in the US and the UK. As you look at the list of the top twenty banned (or controversial) books, you’ll notice that most are more tame than the song you just heard on the radio – but one person’s obscene is another’s Mark Twain it would seem.”
JUST CHAD!
30 Awesomely Bad School Portraits – Worst Class Photos | Ace Online Schools: “One of the major advantages of going to school online — besides avoiding stories like these — is that there’s no yearbook and thus no school portrait capturing the awkwardness that is your life. Not YOUR life, of course, but, you know, one’s theoretical life (ahem). Granted, you can still commemorate this time in your life for all eternity by going down to you local Glamour Shots studio (and frankly, some of the folks below might have done so), but before you do, take a peek at what can go wrong.”
JUST CHAD!
30 Awesomely Bad School Portraits – Worst Class Photos | Ace Online Schools: “One of the major advantages of going to school online — besides avoiding stories like these — is that there’s no yearbook and thus no school portrait capturing the awkwardness that is your life. Not YOUR life, of course, but, you know, one’s theoretical life (ahem). Granted, you can still commemorate this time in your life for all eternity by going down to you local Glamour Shots studio (and frankly, some of the folks below might have done so), but before you do, take a peek at what can go wrong.”
Tofu Love : Peas and Thank You:
“Whenever anyone tells me they don’t like tofu, I simply say, ‘Yes, you do. You just don’t know how to cook it.’”
DreamWorks Animation Flips Its Lid for Sid & Marty Krofft’s Lidsville – FOX19 News and Weather – Greater Cincinnati Area: “Information contained on this page is provided by companies via press release distributed through PR Newswire, an independent third-party content provider. PR Newswire, WorldNow and this Station make no warranties or representations in connection therewith.
SOURCE DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc.
GLENDALE, Calif., Feb. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. (Nasdaq: DWA) today announced that it will bring the well-loved Sid & Marty Krofft characters from the 1970’s television series Lidsville to the big screen in a feature film by the same name.
Conrad Vernon (Monsters vs. Aliens, Shrek 2) – animation veteran and lifelong fan of the Krofft’s work – brought the project to DreamWorks Animation. Brothers Sid & Marty Krofft will serve as executive producers. Vernon, DreamWorks Animation’s head of development Alex Schwartz and development executive Chris Kuser are overseeing the project at the studio.
‘Sid and I have had a longstanding relationship with Jeffrey Katzenberg and we’re excited to bring Lidsville to DreamWorks Animation,’ said Marty Krofft. ‘It’s incredible to envision a high-quality 3D animated movie being made out of one of our favorite shows.’
‘The Krofft brothers helped define a generation with the wildly imaginative characters and worlds they created,’ said Alex Schwartz, head of development for DreamWorks Animation. ‘I am thrilled that Conrad is joining forces with them on the first animated feature film adaptation of their work.’
‘Over the past year I’ve had the privilege of working with and getting to know Sid and Marty and I thought their brand of crazy kookiness would work well at DreamWorks Animation,’ added Vernon.
Lidsville will take inspiration from the premise of the original television series, in which a young rebellious kid falls into an alternate reality world of living hats and talking caps. The Los Angeles public TV station KCET Kids & Family Channel recently announced that it will feature the Lidsville television series in an all-new ‘The Sid & Marty Krofft Hour’ together with H.R. Pufnstuf during its weekend programming block on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 9:30-10:30 a.m.
About Sid & Marty Krofft
Brothers Sid & Marty Krofft have been producing quality family entertainment for over 40 years. Sid & Marty became a household name in the ’70s with a series of remarkable programs that featured elaborate sets and fanciful characters. H.R. Pufnstuf was the first in a long line of beloved programs created by the Kroffts, including The Bugaloos, Lidsville, Land Of The Lost, Far Out Space Nuts, Sigmund & The Sea Monsters and The Krofft Supershow which included Electra Woman & Dyna Girl, Wonderbug, Dr. Shrinker and Bigfoot & Wildboy. The Kroffts’ success with Saturday morning television prompted a demand for them to produce prime-time programming. They produced various prime-time series and specials, including The Brady Bunch Hour, The Donny & Marie Show and Barbara Mandrell & The Mandrell Sisters. On April 5, 2011 Vivendi Home Entertainment will begin releasing The Complete Series Collector’s Editions of all the classic Krofft shows, including H.R. Pufnstuf, Lidsville, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, and The Bugaloos.”
The Life & Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch: Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Buns: “Not only is this my first pumpkin post for this Fall, it is also my first ever Pumpkin Cinnamon Bun recipe! My friend Theresa came to visit me over the weekend so I decided that as a special treat I would make the Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns. I have only eaten a Pumpkin Cinnamon Bun once, and that was at a little mom/pop diner in Watertown almost 2 years ago – where I really didn’t care for it at all. I’m thinking I didn’t care for it because it was dry and just not flavorful enough for me. (probably was more than a day old…..) “
7mate – Channel 7 – Yahoo!7 TV: “Female feet fetish
Tarantino loves female feet. He’s obsessed with them. And that’s why he’ll try his best to have as many shots as possible of the feet of the actresses (and even extras) in his movies. Some of the actresses who have exposed their beautiful (and not so beautiful) feet in Tarantino movies are: Uma Thurman, Angela Jones, Jennifer Beals, Bridget Fonda, Lucy Liu, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Rosario Dawson, Zoe Bell, Mélanie Laurent.”
sebastian errazuriz: metamorphosis: “chilean born, new york-based designer and artist sebastian errazuriz’s ‘metamorphosis’ bookshelf is hand carved from baltic birch plywood. it was created for the exhibition of his furniture work ‘beautiful premonitions’ which opens april 28th, 2011 at the cristina grajales gallery in new york. originally based on the thick ivy that he used as natural shelves for his childhood garden toys, errazuriz collaborated with woodworkers from the horm furniture company to develop the piece entirely in italy.”
HP Pretends Linux Voids Netbook Hardware Warranty – The Consumerist: “Installing a different operating system on a computer does not change its hardware. This is a simple enough concept…unless you work in technical support for HP. Their phone tech support have joined their Geek Squad colleagues in insisting that a Linux-infested laptop was no longer under warranty.
Kyle didn’t want to put Windows back on his netbook just so his problem would fit phone support’s standard script. He tried to make tech support see logic…and eventually they did. (Or gave him a new battery so he would go away, but the end result is the same.)”
Cosmic burst in distant galaxy puzzles NASA | The Raw Story: “WASHINGTON – NASA is studying a surprising cosmic burst at the center of distant galaxy that has burned for more than a week, longer than astronomers have ever seen before, the US space agency said Thursday.
Calling it ‘one of the most puzzling cosmic blasts ever observed,’ NASA said it has mobilized the Hubble Space Telescope along with its Swift satellite and Chandra X-ray Observatory to study the phenomenon.
‘More than a week later, high-energy radiation continues to brighten and fade from its location,’ NASA said in a statement.
‘Astronomers say they have never seen such a bright, variable, high-energy, long-lasting burst before. Usually, gamma-ray bursts mark the destruction of a massive star, and flaring emission from these events never lasts more than a few hours.’
The first in a series of explosions was detected by a NASA telescope on March 28 in the constellation Draco.
Astronomers think the the blast occurred ‘when a star wandered too close to its galaxy’s central black hole,’ NASA said.
‘Intense tidal forces probably tore the star apart, and the infalling gas continues to stream toward the hole. According to this model, the spinning black hole formed an outflowing jet along its rotational axis. A powerful blast of X- and gamma rays is seen when the jet is pointed in our direction.’
On April 4, the Hubble telescope spotted the source of the explosion at the center of a galaxy 3.8 billion light-years away from Earth.
‘We have been eagerly awaiting the Hubble observation,’ said Neil Gehrels, the lead scientist for Swift at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
‘The fact that the explosion occurred in the center of a galaxy tells us it is most likely associated with a massive black hole. This solves a key question about the mysterious event.’
The Swift telescope has catalogued the event as gamma-ray burst (GRB) 110328A, alerting worldwide astronomers to its existence for further study.”
Lucid Dreaming | Cracked.com: “
Just The Facts
1. Lucid dreaming is a scientifically proven phenomenon.
2. While some get into lucid dreaming in order to treat chronic nightmares, or to experience all facets of the human experience, approximately 99.8% of people use it as a tool for cheap and interactive 3D porn.
3. A lucid dream is a dream in which the dreamer is aware that he or she is dreaming, and he or she can even choose to control and manipulate his or her dream. Dream, dream, dream.
4. Lucid dreams are oftentimes random and fleeting occurrences, but with minimal effort you can learn to initiate them at will.
How to Take Control of Your Dreams:
So, you’ve doubled your weight over the past five years, you own a record-shattering collection of greasy pizza boxes and broken aspirations, and you’re beginning to consider installing a toilet bowl in the place of your computer chair? You have come to the right place. In a lucid dream, you can do almost anything. You can leap over skyscrapers, practice public speaking in front of audiences of billions, and even try holding a female’s hand, no sedatives required!
In order to even begin to get control over your dreams, there are a few preliminary tasks you must complete. But don’t give up. The benefits of learning to lucid dream are remarkable, and they’re all named Yvonne Strahovski.”
Mexico’s drug war – The Big Picture – Boston.com: “Mexico’s drug war Mass graves. Dismembered corpses. Entire towns besieged. Macabre visions grow in depravity as the drug war in Mexico drags on. Since President Felipe Calderon began using the army to contain the violence four years ago, rival gangs have escalated their turf battles over smuggling routes, and 35,000 lives have been lost, half of those in just the three northern states of Chihuahua, Tamaulipas and Sinaloa. The drug criminals have expanded their shadow by intimidating police forces, using kidnapping and extortion, trafficking migrants, and even pirating oil from Mexico’s national oil company, Pemex. Of course, calling this issue ‘Mexico’s drug war’ is inadequate. Much of the drug product is destined for the United States, and by some estimates, over $20 billion flows south annually to pay for it. Guns made in the U.S. cross the border as well. The last 16 pictures in this entry were made by Nadav Neuhaus, who was gracious enough to share them with us. Neuhaus spent two years living in Ciudad Juarez documenting the drug war. You can see more of his work by clicking on the link below. — Lane Turner (36 photos total)”
Michael Jackson Swigging Vodka With Two Little People On His Lap | someecards.com: ” Prepare to be shocked that this is the only photo you’ve ever seen of Michael Jackson swigging vodka with two little people on his lap.”
SFW or NSFW? Software firm hiring only naked web coders – TechSpot: “Nude House, a computer software company in Buckinghamshire, UK is looking to recruit female web coders who are prepared to work in a ‘warm and private’ naturist office environment. The company is also looking for naked sales people tempting customers to buy, as well as nudists to provide free technical support. An ad titled ‘Nude Web Coders Wanted’ has been placed on Craigslist, offering part-time or full-time positions and customers ‘who never meet you and will not know you are nude.’ “
Bad news – Page 1 – Music – Dallas – Dallas Observer: “The pain of losing a friend is never easy, but it becomes infinitely harder when that loss is a result of a conscious decision. The suicide of Mark Migliore, a successful engineer and investor who used his money to document the psychedelic music scene through his Rockadelic Records, has left the Texas psych scene reeling.
Migliore, who co-owned the vinyl-only label with Rich Haupt, was dedicated to psychedelia both historic and contemporary, preserving both the efforts of unknown ’60s acts (for which he searched relentlessly) like Dark Shadows and offering current Dallas psych bands like the Burnin’ Rain a place to be heard. Obscure and seldom remarked upon here, Texas psychedelia is hugely popular in Europe, where bands that Americans seldom hear about get eight-page magazine spreads complete with color photos.
Migliore grew up in Dallas and attended Jesuit High School. His family was already well-off, but his skill as an engineer and his investment acumen–particularly in real estate–made him quite wealthy. A source who worked with him at Texas Instruments in the early ’80s recalls a ‘guy who was good at his job but still cool and very much into music; back then he kinda had a new-wavey haircut–which wasn’t common there.’
Migliore’s wealth allowed him to indulge his love and many local musical adventurers–J. Bone Cro’s Womb Tune Records, Mike Pemberton and the Burnin’ Rain, and the Vas Deferens Organization, to name but a few–relied on him to various degrees. It also allowed him to indulge a serious drug habit which in the past few months had resulted in behaviors eccentric and unacceptable even by rock ‘n’ roll standards. The death last year of Chris Edgerton, his running buddy in every sense of the word, reportedly had a profoundly destabilizing and depressing effect on him. Migliore had recently checked himself into Minnesota’s heavy-duty Hazelden rehab facility, but left after only a few days. Upon returning to Dallas he found many concerned friends with helping hands extended, but it was somehow not enough. Last week he got into his car, drove out of town, and put a gun to his head.
‘He was successful on so many different levels that it’s really hard to understand,’ says Vas Deferens’ Matt Castille, mirroring the incomprehension and pain of Migliore’s friends; although his mission was obscure, more than a dozen people called Street Beat after the news broke, expressing shock and dismay. Haupt says he will continue with Rockadelic and honor all the label’s obligations, but the more troublesome implications of Migliore’s death remain. If Migliore could see the pain and sadness produced by his departure–if he could feel the void that so many now are feeling–perhaps he would reconsider, but of course it’s too late for that. It always is.”
Back to the future – Page 1 – Music – Dallas – Dallas Observer: “Mazinga Phaser is nothing if not ambitious. Exhausted from a day of intense mixing, producer Matt Castille and four of the six band members are slouching in the bedroom of Castille’s home studio. Although fatigued, they’re talking enthusiastically, riding that final rush that follows a job well done. Phrases like ‘massive cultural enlightenment’ and ‘new psych-rock explosion for the ’90s’ enter the conversation casually, so it’s no surprise when guitarist Wanz Dover announces the title of the debut album they’re working on: Cruising in the Neon Glories of the New American Night.”
Transcendental Blues – Page 1 – Music – Dallas – Dallas Observer: “‘There never will be another Doug, that’s for sure,’ says Matt Castille, who worked with Ferguson in the Vas Deferens Organization, a formerly Dallas-based group that has gained a widespread cult following for assimilating obscure forms of experimental music into a willfully bizarre brew. ‘He would get in his car and drive to the end of the world if he knew he could play on a great record.'”
Dennis Gonzalez Finally Gets His Due – Page 1 – Music – Dallas – Dallas Observer: “The world is just now getting to know Ariel Pink. The totally out-there Los Angeles freak-folker has been stuck in the underground, making some of the world’s weirdest music for over a decade. But since his critically acclaimed indie-pop album, Before Today, earned its release back in April, people have started paying more attention to his unusual pop sensibilities.
HAL SAMPLES Meet Dennis and Aaron Gonzalez, two of the driving forces behind Ariel Pink’s latest blog hit. Related Content Good Friday: True Widow Album Release, Descender, Destroyer, DEVO, Arlo Guthrie, Salt-N-Pepa, Murs, Nervebreakers, REO Speedwagon, Dashboard Confessional & More! March 25, 2011 This Week In Dallas Music History: The Vas Deferens Organization is Not For Everyone December 27, 2010 Happy Days Are Near Again For DFW Market? So Insists National Retail Real-Estate Report. February 15, 2011 Truck Thefts from Texas Soda Distributors Make Dallas a Hub for Hot Dr Pepper April 6, 2011 35 Conferette Adds A Whopping 135 More Bands To Bill, Including A Whole Slew of Locals January 21, 2011 More About Ariel PinkDennis GonzalezDallas (Texas)Eric LumbleauArts, Entertainment, and Media And, now, they’re paying attention to this fun fact: In February, earlier this year, Ariel Pink was right here in the metroplex—Mesquite to be exact—working on his next record, Ariel Pink with Added Pizzazz.
Because of a mutual friendship that had grown after several years of trading music on an underground share-blog called Mutant Sounds, Ariel Pink enlisted Matt Castille and Eric Lumbleau of the former Dallas psych-rock outfit Vas Deferens Organization to handle the record’s production. Ariel Pink and Vas Deferens Organization had been discussing the idea of making a pop record with a basis in jazz-rock for some time. But, to do so, Pink’s backing band, Haunted Graffiti, would need to be upgraded to a group of musicians fluent in both rock and free jazz.”
Out Here – Page 1 – Music – Dallas – Dallas Observer: “MIT consists of Mazinga Phaser leader Wanz Dover, Ohm’s Doug Ferguson, and the Vas Deferens Organization’s Matt Castille and Eric Lumbleau. Unlike Bedhead, these guys are unabashed machine musicians with absolutely no tendency toward pop song structure. That said, Musik von Tone Float is one of the warmest and friendliest examples of this kind of music you’re likely to encounter; the VDO crew in particular did an excellent job of subduing its impulses toward confrontational freakiness. We’re definitely in the realm of soundtrack here, running the gamut from random noises shooting through space (‘tonight we sleep with the eggroll king’) to slowly-building tribal stomps (‘millipede’), but the whole trip is quite seamlessly constructed. A fascinating peek in a surprising direction.
–Matt Weitz”
