Impressions of the ‘Humboldt Cannabis – A Future Opportunity’ meeting at the Bayside Grange

I got to the Bayside Grange at about 1:00 and there were only 20 or so people around, so I decided to run into Arcata and grab a meatball sandwich at “The Hole in the Wall.” I got back to the Bayside Grange at 1:30 and it was starting to fill up so I parked in a nearby space and ate my sandwich. 

Before the meeting started I got a good seat with my back to the wall (on the left side of the room). I saw a few people I knew, and met Kym Kemp aka Redheaded Blackbelt, a Humboldt blogger (briefly) as she was preparing to get the show on the road.

A friend of mine, Tony (who owns the Humboldt Cooperative) in Arcata, sat down next to me and we talked for a bit. Then the parade of speakers began.

At one point, I had to get up, as my back was killing me, and I went to the rear of the room by a table that was set up by NORML. I lurked in the doorway for another hour. During this time I surveyed the room, checking out the audience, and tried to hear everything the speakers were saying (I barely made out what Hank Sims, the Town Dandy, was saying. He has a soft voice, but a sharp pen. I like his writing style (even though I don’t always agree with him).

I had no problem hearing Kevin Hoover, which is really weird because the last time we talked during a lunch in 2006(!) I was promoting the first Stand Down for veterans in Humboldt County – now an annual event – and I had trouble hearing him speak from across the table.

In fairness, I have an updated hearing aide now (actually a pair) that probably accounts for hearing him well today. I heard Kym fairly well, although at times she backed away from the mike and i couldn’t hear her. Supervisor Mark Lovelace, being a politician, was easy to hear. As a matter of fact, I would have turned down my hearing aide if it were possible. 

It’s been a while since I went out to a public meeting. Crowds cause my PTSD to flair up after a while, and I get paranoid. That’s just part of my reality. I stayed as long as I was comfortable. That translated to shortly after 4:00 P.M. 

My impressions….hmmmmm…hard to say. I saw a very diverse group of people getting along real well. People were respectful of one another. That’s something which always impresses me when it happens in crowds. There was a lot of people there, and if I had to guess, it would be around 140. All in one room qualifies as a crowd in my world.

I sensed a certain excitement among some people, who cheered over things said like “We (Humboldt County) should be able to sell wholesale outside the state.” Just guessing, but this came from the grower contingent somewhere from the right side of the room. It was fun guessing who the growers were. None of the ones I know were there.

I can’t summarize the meeting because I didn’t stay until the end – slated for 6;00 P.M. My last impression was kinda like watching the Berlin Wall fall. It happened in inclements. The audience had an expectancy of a new world, where weed wasn’t going to be demonized anymore. Where weed was going to get the respect it deserved and be legally available to all.

An interesting day and another baby step towards a better world where weed benefits us all. 

 

Strange But True: Home in the sky where owners can always fly

              Boeing 727 House, located in Costa Rica.

 

(images credit: Mr. Vincent Costello, via) For more views and airplane homes Click here.

Are you sitting down too much? It's slowly killing you

Regular workouts don't decrease death risk if you're also a couch potato

The current obesity epidemic in the United States has been attributed in part to reduced overall physical activity.

Illustration source (right)

 

 

 

 

 

"Very few words have a birthday so precise, and so precisely known, as couch potato. It was on July 15, 1976, we are told, that the couch potato came into being, uttered by Tom Lacino of Pasadena, California, during a telephone conversation.

He was a member of a Southern California group humorously opposing the fads of exercise and healthy diet in favor of vegetating before the TV and eating junk food (1973). Because their lives centered on television--the boob tube (1966)--they called themselves boob tubers. Iacino apparently took the brilliant next step and substituted potato as a synonym for tuber. Thinking of where that potato sits to watch the tube, he came up with couch potato.

Or so the story goes, as told in the subsequent registration of Couch Potato as a trademark. In any case, when the new phrase reached the ears of Robert Armstrong, another member of the boob tubers, he drew a cartoon of a potato on a couch, and formed a club called the Couch Potatoes, registered the trademark and began merchandising Couch Potato paraphernalia, from T shirts to dolls. He published a newsletter called The Tuber's Voice: The Couch Potato Newsletter

15 killed in mass panic at Germany's Love Parade

Stampede breaks out in tunnel area during annual techno music festival

A stampede inside a tunnel crowded with techno music fans crushed 15 people to death and injured dozens at Germany's famed Love Parade festival on Saturday.Thousands of other revelers kept partying at the event in Duisburg, near Duesseldorf, unaware of the deadly stampede that started when police tried to block thousands more people from entering the already-jammed parade grounds.

Good news for veterans: V.A. easing medical marijuana rules

Patients may use pot in states allowing it; docs won't prescribe it

The Department of Veterans Affairs will formally allow patients treated at its hospitals and clinics to use medical marijuana in states where it is legal, a policy clarification that veterans have sought for several years.

A department directive, expected to take effect next week, resolves the conflict in veterans facilities between federal law, which outlaws marijuana, and the 14 states that allow medicinal use of the drug, effectively deferring to the states.

PHOTO - David Fox, an Army veteran, at home in Montana. He uses medical marijuana to help quiet the pain from neuropathy.

This is one of the most original dance groups I’ve ever seen

I enjoyed the clever use of people merging into other things – like an elephant for example! If you’ve never seen this group – Pilobolus – take 3:29 minutes out of your schedule and enjoy.

I can’t even imagine how they were able to do what they did, and how many hours of work it must have taken to pull the illusions off. Hats off to talent(s)!

The stench of corruption: Democrats' Charlie Rangel reeks

The news that New York Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel violated House ethics rules and could be subject to a Congressional trial -- likely in September -- has party strategists panicked at what such a spectacle might do to an already difficult election climate for their side.

"A disaster," said one New York Democratic operative when asked about the prospect of a trial detailing the charges against Rangel in the midst of the fall election campaign.

Another New York strategist described the ethical cloud surrounding Rangel as a "two-year albatross that we all wish would go away."

One House Democrat granted anonymity to speak candidly about a colleague called the potential trial timing "terrible," adding: "If it comes to a vote, Charlie will not win."

Say hello to the world’s tallest couple: A combined 13-foot-5

Until recently, the van Kleef-Boltons merely seemed to be the tallest married couple in their Essex, England, hometown — or anywhere else, for that matter.

Now, it’s official: The Guinness Book of World Records has declared the towering twosome the tallest married couple in the world.

They were not without competition. Internet searches turn up other couples who would seem to be taller, including an Indian couple, Sharad and Sanjot Kulkarni, who claimed heights of 7-foot-2 and 6-foot-4, respectively. But after a worldwide search that included an Internet appeal, Guinness has certified the heights of the British pair, as well as the validity of their marriage. At a combined 13 feet, 5 inches, they are in the famous book’s 2010 edition as the tallest in the world.

PHOTO - Keisha and Wilco van Kleef-Bolton with their children Lucas, 4, and Eva, 2, in Dagenham, Essex, England. Keisha, 31, is 6-foot-5; Wilco, 29, is 7 feet tall. Their children are already the tallest in their classes

Freaky Friday: It's 55 percent and wrapped in roadkill, is this the world's most 'shocking' beer?

Bodies of squirrels, weasels and a hare used to package ale costing $765 a bottle

If this isn’t a sick idea, I don’t what is. What I wonder is what kind of person would go for a beverage bottled in a dead animal?

I suspect they have plenty of money to burn, and a dislike for small animals.

According to Scottish firm BrewDog, "The End of History" is the "strongest, most expensive and most shocking beer in the world."

Thursday Parting Shots: Scrutinize Sacrone’s Six Visual Errors

6 critical visual errors cleverly placed inside what seems to be an ordinary picture.

 Can you find them all?

See more stuff by Gianni A. Sarcone