Back when he was running for president in 2008, Barack Obama insisted that medical marijuana was an issue best left to state and local governments. “I’m not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue,” he vowed, promising an end to the Bush administration’s high-profile raids on providers of medical pot, which is legal in 16 states and the District of Columbia.
But over the past year, the Obama administration has quietly unleashed a multiagency crackdown on medical cannabis that goes far beyond anything undertaken by George W. Bush. The feds are busting growers who operate in full compliance with state laws, vowing to seize the property of anyone who dares to even rent to legal pot dispensaries, and threatening to imprison state employees responsible for regulating medical marijuana. With more than 100 raids on pot dispensaries during his first three years, Obama is now on pace to exceed Bush’s record for medical-marijuana busts. “There’s no question that Obama’s the worst president on medical marijuana,” says Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project. “He’s gone from first to worst.”
via Obama’s War on Pot | Politics News | Rolling Stone.
Due to the ticket fiasco, many people may not be able to go to Burning Man this year. I’ve started a list of conferences/events/festivals that I think might appeal to many Burners.
Glowing Sushi: Transgenic Bioluminescent Fish Turned Into Edible Masterpieces (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
Glow-in-the-dark sushi sounds like something that Gary Shteyngart might imagine hip youngsters eating at a Stephen Starr restaurant in 2035. But it’s already here. Not in hoity-toity temples to haute sushi, though — on YouTube and in the Science Gallery in Dublin, Ireland.
The people at the Center for Genomic Gastronomy have put together a series of instruction videos on the former and an exhibit at the latter highlighting the possibility of using transgenic biolumiscent fish to make edible, glow-in-the-dark sushi, all under the aegis of “Glowing Sushi.” (“Trangenic” refers to a process by which a gene is taken from one organism — like a glow-in-the-dark bacteria or jellyfish — and inserted into another.) Their food doesn’t look as delicious as, say, an omakase sushi tasting at Masa. But it does look pretty darn futuristic and cool.
In the second study, subjects were given cues to recall positive events in their lives. With psilocybin, their memories were extremely vivid, almost as if they were reliving the events rather than just imagining them.
The findings suggest potential uses for psilocybin in the treatment of depression, a condition characterised by rigidly pessimistic thinking patterns. These fixated patterns are associated with overactivity in the medial prefrontal cortex – one of the same connector hubs deactivated by psilocybin. Psilocybin may also be a useful adjunct to psychotherapy, helping patients who are stuck in negative thought patterns to access distant memories and work through them.
via Magic mushrooms, international law and the failed ‘war on drugs’ | Amanda Feilding | Science | guardian.co.uk.
Ms. Pries said it took two years to open the restaurant, due largely to the city’s morass of permits, procedures and approvals required to start a small business. While waiting for permission to operate, she still had to pay rent and other costs, going deeper into debt each passing month without knowing for sure if she would ever be allowed to open.
“It’s just a huge risk,” she said, noting that the financing came from family and friends, not a bank. “At several points you wonder if you should just walk away and take the loss.”
Ms. Pries said she had to endure months of runaround and pay a lawyer to determine whether her location (a former grocery, vacant for years) was eligible to become a restaurant. There were permit fees of $20,000; a demand that she create a detailed map of all existing area businesses (the city didn’t have one); and an $11,000 charge just to turn on the water.
via Before Ice Cream Shop Can Open, City’s Slow Churn – NYTimes.com.
Can’t find a taxi? Uber allows you to hail a black car from a smartphone. The app uses GPS to display the location of drivers’ cars and how many minutes it will take them to pick you up. The driver calls when he arrives, and your phone pays automatically.
Uber has expanded from its base in San Francisco to other cities: New York, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, and DC. But sometimes, city governments are less than welcoming.
“They’re operating illegally, and we plan to take steps against them,” D.C. Taxi Commissioner Ron Linton warned at a meeting earlier this month.
“What they’re trying to do is be both a taxi and a limousine,” Linton has said. “Under the way the law is written, it just can’t be done.”
SUMMARY
Many tech startups are facing an unexpected challenge: government regulation.
Uber: The D.C. Taxi Commissioner aims to stop the growth of an app that helps you catch a cab.
Roomarama.com: Want to book a room for the night? New York state is trying to prevent you from using this online service.
Zipcar: The popular car-sharing service says D.C. tax policies are hitting users hardest.
This month, Linton conducted a sting operation. Using Uber’s app to hail a car, Linton took it for a ride, and arranged for inspectors to greet it at the destination. The inspectors fined the driver $1,650 for various violations and impounded the car.
via Tech startups facing unexpected challenge: the government | Fox News.
