n2doc
n2doc's JournalAmericans are buying more legal pot than Oreos, Girl Scout cookies, and Pringles combined
One of the benefits of marijuana legalization is the rise of a new, multibillion-dollar industry that provides legal jobs to thousands of taxpaying workers. This is one of the main reasons advocates have used to get legalization enacted in Colorado, Washington state, Oregon, and Alaska.
But how big is that industry, really? A new chart from Statista puts it in context: US purchases of legal marijuana in 2015, counting retail sales in states where marijuana is legal for medical or recreational purposes, were bigger than Dasani, Girl Scout cookies, Oreos, and Pringles sales combined in 2014.
more
http://www.vox.com/2016/3/30/11327344/marijuana-girl-scouts-cookies
Trump is now refusing to back any GOP nominee other than himself
Last year Donald Trump signed a pledge saying he’d back whoever becomes the GOP nominee. Now he doesn't think he will.
"No, I don’t anymore," Trump told Anderson Cooper at a town hall-style event hosted by CNN last night. "No, we’ll see who it is."
In September, Republican Party leadership asked Trump to sign a loyalty pledge at a time when he was threatening to run as a third-party candidate if he failed to capture the Republican nomination. Trump vowed to sign only if all of his Republican rivals did the same – which they all did.
more
http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/3/30/11330488/donald-trump
Paul Ryan booed at hometown Trump rally
Speaker Paul Ryan received a mixed reception Tuesday at a Donald Trump rally in Wisconsin, when the GOP frontrunner mentioned his name.
"How do you like Paul Ryan? You like him?" Trump asked the crowd in Ryan's home of Janesville, Wis.
While some in the crowd cheered, a hearty boo took over the room.
"I was told to be nice to Paul Ryan. He's the speaker, he's a nice guy, he called me the other day, he was very nice …”
Surprised at the audience reaction, Trump asked the supporters whether they were Republicans and conservative. To both, the crowd cheered.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/274614-paul-ryan-booed-at-hometown-trump-rally
Something just struck Jupiter, and two amateur astronomers captured it on video
Two amateur astronomers in different countries captured space images that astronomers say depicts an amazing cosmic event: something basically crashing into the planet Jupiter.
Experts say it wasn't aliens, alas, but space debris--either an asteroid or a comet. It's cool but not too terribly surprising, because Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, with the most mass.
“Two amateur videos shot early on March 17th show a brief but bright flash on the edge of Jupiter's disc,” reports Sky and Telescope.
more
http://boingboing.net/2016/03/29/something-may-have-just-struck.html
Real 'Siberian unicorn' remains found
The real 'Siberian unicorn', or Elasmotherium sibiricum.
New research has revealed the 'Siberian unicorn' roamed the planet far more recently than we originally thought.
The bad news is it looked nothing like the mythical creatures portrayed in so many fairy tales.
It was fatter and furrier, and in reality more rhino than stallion. It did, however, have a huge horn
This real unicorn, or 'Elasmotherium sibiricu', was originally thought to have gone extinct 350,000 years ago.
But a well-preserved fossilized skull found in Kazakhstan reveals the shaggy creature was still alive and walking this earth a mere 29,000 years ago, according to a study published this month in the American Journal of Applied Sciences.
There is now some mystery surrounding how it survived so long.
more
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/29/living/real-unicorn-remains/
Forget democracy abroad. Let's worry about Arizona.
By Star-Ledger Editorial Board
on March 29, 2016 at 6:30 AM, updated March 29, 2016 at 9:16 AM
Remember when tens of thousands of people waited in the hot sun to vote in the very first election of the independent nation of South Sudan?
It was just like Arizona's 2016 presidential primary election, except the lines in the South Sudanese capital were shorter.
Seeing as Arizona isn't a new democracy born of a war-torn nation, it's not inspiring to watch people wait five hours to vote there. It's just outrageous.
Some folks didn't get to cast their ballots until midnight, hours after the election had been called for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Others were told by poll workers to go home because the race had already been decided.
more
http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/03/forget_democracy_abroad_lets_worry_about_arizona_e.html
Profile Information
Gender: Do not displayMember since: Tue Feb 10, 2004, 01:08 PM
Number of posts: 47,953
