Pot Amnesty Boxes Appear in Colorado Airport -

Pot Amnesty Boxes Appear in Colorado Airport - 



Stoners flying out of Colorado Springs now have the opportunity to discard any forgotten pocket weed before suffering the wrath of a security shakedown. According to a report in The Gazette, the Colorado Springs Airport began positioning “amnesty boxes” around the terminal on Wednesday, as a courtesy for travelers who may have overlooked the fact that they are about to walk into airport security with a fat stash of marijuana.

Recreational marijuana was made legal in Colorado by Amendment 64; however, the law gives property owners the right to prohibit "the possession, consumption, use, display, transfer, distribution, sale, transportation, or growing of marijuana on or in that property," Both Colorado Springs Airport and Denver International have banned marijuana from their premises for fear of violating federal law.

Airport officials in Colorado Springs say that while it is best if travelers can be conscious of their actions and leave their marijuana at home, those who inadvertently bring weed into the terminal can get rid of it before there are any issues with the law.

Colorado Springs police chief Pete Carey says that the Transportation Security Administration has been advised to contact law enforcement if marijuana is found during security screenings. Passengers caught trying to smuggle their personal stash aboard a plane could face jail time and fines up to $2,500.

Unfortunately, while passengers now have the chance to forfeit their weed before boarding a flight without facing any penalties, officials say they will never see their pot again. Marijuana collected in airport amnesty boxes will be destroyed, according to The Gazette.

Officials with the Eagle County Airport near Vail, Colorado say they too are considering incorporating the use of amnesty boxes in their terminal. Aviation director Greg Phillips says the boxes are secure and keep out the scavengers. “What we don’t want is them throwing it in the trash can,” said Phillips. “Then you have other people digging through the garbage.”

Read more -

http://www.hightimes.com/read/pot-amnesty-boxes-appear-colorado-airport

Beijing Citizens, Shrouded In Pollution, Flock To Giant Screens To View Artificial Sunrise -

Beijing Citizens, Shrouded In Pollution, Flock To Giant Screens To View Artificial Sunrise - 



You know it's bad when...The smog has become so thick in Beijing that the city's natural light-starved masses have begun flocking to huge digital commercial television screens across the city to observe virtual sunrises. Following this week's practical shutdown of the city of "beyond index" levels of pollution, as The Mail Online reports, residents donned air masks and left their homes to watch the only place where the sun would hail over the horizon that morning...

It's grim...



The futuristic screens installed in the Chinese capital usually advertize tourist destinations, but as the season's first wave of extremely dangerous smog hit, this happened...

Via The Mail Online,

...

The air took on an acrid odor, and many of the city's commuters wore industrial strength face masks as they hurried to work.

'I couldn't see the tall buildings across the street this morning,' said a traffic coordinator at a busy Beijing intersection who gave only his surname, Zhang. 'The smog has gotten worse in the last two to three years. I often cough, and my nose is always irritated. But what can you do? I drink more water to help my body discharge the toxins.'

...

The density of PM2.5 was about 350 to 500 micrograms Thursday midmorning, though the air started to clear in the afternoon. It had reached as high as 671 at 4 a.m. at a monitoring post at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

That is about 26 times as high as the 25 micrograms considered safe by the World Health Organization, and was the highest reading since January 2013.

In the far northeastern city of Harbin, some monitoring sites reported PM 2.5 rates of up to 1,000 micrograms in October, when the winter heating season kicked off.

...

Beijing reported 58 days of serious pollution last year, or one every six to seven days on average, Xinhua quoted Zhang Dawei, director of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center, as saying.

...

China has drawn up dozens of laws and guidelines to improve the environment but has struggled to enforce them in the face of powerful enterprises.

Read more - 
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-17/beijing-citizens-shrouded-pollution-flock-giant-screens-view-artificial-sunrise

Mystery rock appears in front of Mars rover -

Mystery rock appears in front of Mars rover - 



After a decade of exploring the Martian surface, the scientists overseeing veteran rover Opportunity thought they’d seen it all. That was until a rock mysteriously “appeared” a few feet in front of the six-wheeled rover a few days ago.

News of the errant rock was announced by NASA Mars Exploration Rover lead scientist Steve Squyres of Cornell University at a special NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory “10 years of roving Mars” event at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, Calif., on Thursday night. The science star-studded public event was held in celebration of the decade since twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed on the red planet in January 2004.

While chronicling the scientific discoveries made by both rovers over the years, Squyres discussed the recent finding of suspected gypsum near the rim of Endeavour Crater — a region of Meridiani Planum that Opportunity has been studying since 2011 — and the discovery of clays that likely formed in a pH-neutral wet environment in Mars past. While these discoveries have been nothing short of groundbreaking, Squyres shared the Mars rover’s team’s excitement for that one strange rock, exclaiming: “Mars keeps throwing new stuff at us!”

In a comparison of recent photographs captured by the rover’s panoramic camera, or Pancam, on sol 3528 of the mission, only bare bedrock can be seen. But on sol 3540, a fist-sized rock had appeared (raw Pancam images can be found in the mission archive). MER scientists promptly nicknamed the object “Pinnacle Island.”

“It’s about the size of a jelly doughnut,” Squyres told Discovery News. “It was a total surprise, we were like ‘wait a second, that wasn’t there before, it can’t be right. Oh my god! It wasn’t there before!’ We were absolutely startled.”

But the rover didn’t roll over that area, so where did Pinnacle Island come from?

NEWS: Opportunity Breaks NASA’s 40-Year Roving Record

Only two options have so far been identified as the rock’s source: 1) The rover either “flipped” the object as it maneuvered or, 2) it landed there, right in front of the rover, after a nearby meteorite impact event. The impact ejecta theory, however, is the least likely of the two.

“So my best guess for this rock … is that it’s something that was nearby,” said Squyres. “I must stress that I’m guessing now, but I think it happened when the rover did a turn in place a meter or two from where this rock now lies.”

Read more - 
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/01/17/mystery-rock-appears-in-front-mars-rover/?intcmp=features

FACEBOOK to copy TWITTER 'trends' as teens depart in droves -

FACEBOOK to copy TWITTER 'trends' as teens depart in droves - 



The big news in the tech world today is that Facebook is rolling out a newly redesigned "Trending" feature. Pretty soon, users will see a ticker on the right side of their News Feed that will spotlight what chatty Facebookers are yapping about.

If the feature looks familiar, it should be. It's basically Twitter's trending topics painted Facebook blue, plus a few minor differences.

"The list is personalized, including topics based on things you're interested in and what is trending across Facebook overall," explains engineering manager Chris Struhar in a blog post. "Each topic is accompanied by a headline that briefly explains why it is trending. You can click on any headline to see the most interesting posts from your friends or pages that are talking about that particular topic."

Click on the word "Golden Globes" in the module, for example, and you'll be taken to a page full of people talking about the drunken gabfest-cum-awards ceremony. Or at least that's the idea.

So why is Facebook interested in becoming more like Twitter?

On the Twitter, news moves fast. On Facebook, it doesn't. That's partly because it's just really, really big. But it's also because of the way Facebook's News Feed relies on algorithms to organize content, unlike Twitter, which is 99 percent chronological. Breaking news often gets swept away on Facebook, lost in a sea of BuzzFeed listicles.

Furthermore, journalists and content producers simply like and use Twitter more. It's an indispensable part of many influential folks' media diets, and Facebook wants in.

Mark Zuckerberg has long expressed a deep interest in winning over publishers, which he sees as essential to Facebook's own essentialness as a platform. No new content means there's no reason to keep checking Facebook.

Facebook is trying to achieve that goal in a few ways. News broke earlier this week that Facebook was planning on building its own version of Flipboard, a reader that arranges web links into a pretty magazine format. Before that, Facebook tweaked its algorithm to gift web publishers — including TheWeek.com — a massive boost in traffic, while filtering out "low-quality content" like memes. And before that, Facebook began courting celebrities in hopes of establishing some symbiotic relationships, which Twitter seems to know a thing or two about.

Now, it's giving whatever people around the globe are discussing some prime real estate.

Facebook wants in on the news business to capitalize on your Fear of Missing Out. Like Twitter, it wants to be the first thing you see in the morning, the last thing you check at night, and the thing you obsessively check during all the hours in between. It wants Reddit's self-anointed title of the front page of the internet.

Facebook's goal, in other words, is complete ubiquity. That's pretty trendy.

Read more - 

http://theweek.com/article/index/255237/why-facebook-wants-to-be-more-like-twitter

Everything From This 1991 Radio Shack Ad You Can Now Do With Your Phone -

Everything From This 1991 Radio Shack Ad You Can Now Do With Your Phone - 



Some people like to spend $3 on a cup of coffee. While that sounds like a gamble I probably wouldn't take, I'll always like to gamble -- especially as little as three bucks -- on what I might be able to dig up on Buffalo and Western New York, our collective past, and what it means for our future.

I recently came across a big pile of Buffalo News front sections from 1991, every day for the first three months of the year... collected as the First Gulf War unfolded. Three bucks. I probably could have chiseled the guy down a buck, but I happily paid to see what else was in those papers.

There's plenty about a run up to the first Super Bowl appearance ever for the Bills, and mixed in with the disappointment is an air of hope and expectation for what is to come. Harumph. There are also some great local ads commemorating and/or coat-tailing on the Bills' success.

We'll get to those someday, but today, something much simpler. The back page of the front section on Saturday, February 16, 1991 was four-fifths covered with a Radio Shack ad.

There are 15 electronic gimzo type items on this page, being sold from America's Technology Store. 13 of the 15 you now always have in your pocket.

So here's the list of what I've replaced with my iPhone.

All weather personal stereo, $11.88. I now use my iPhone with an Otter Box.
AM/FM clock radio, $13.88. iPhone.
In-Ear Stereo Phones, $7.88. Came with iPhone.
Microthin calculator, $4.88. Swipe up on iPhone.
Tandy 1000 TL/3, $1599. I actually owned a Tandy 1000, and I used it for games and word processing. I now do most of both of those things on my phone.
VHS Camcorder, $799. iPhone.
Mobile Cellular Telephone, $199. Obvs.
Mobile CB, $49.95. Ad says "You'll never drive 'alone' again!" iPhone.
20-Memory Speed-Dial phone, $29.95.
Deluxe Portable CD Player, $159.95. 80 minutes of music, or 80 hours of music? iPhone.
10-Channel Desktop Scanner, $99.55. I still have a scanner, but I have a scanner app, too. iPhone.
Easiest-to-Use Phone Answerer, $49.95. iPhone voicemail.
Handheld Cassette Tape Recorder, $29.95. I use the Voice Memo app almost daily.
BONUS REPLACEMENT: It's not an item for sale, but at the bottom of the ad, you're instructed to 'check your phone book for the Radio Shack Store nearest you.' Do you even know how to use a phone book?
You'd have spent $3,054.82 in 1991 to buy all the stuff in this ad that you can now do with your phone. That amount is roughly equivalent to about $5,100 in 2012 dollars.

The only two items on the page that my phone really can't replace:

Tiny Dual-Superhet Radar Detector, $79.95. But when is the last time you heard the term "fuzzbuster" anyway?
3-Way speaker with massive 15" Woofer, $149.95.
It's nothing new, but it's a great example of the technology of only two decades ago now replaced by the 3.95 ounce bundle of plastic, glass, and processors in our pockets.

Read more - 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-cichon/radio-shack-ad_b_4612973.html?utm_hp_ref=canada&ir=Canada

Precious Metals Manipulation Worse Than Libor Scandal, German Regulator Says - 



Remember when banks were exposed manipulating virtually everything except precious metals, because obviously nobody ever manipulates the price of gold and silver? After all, the biggest "conspiracy theory" of all is that crazy gold bugs blame every move against them on some vile manipulator. It may be time to shift yet another conspiracy "theory" into the "fact" bin, thanks to Elke Koenig, the president of Germany's top financial regulator, Bafin, which apparently is not as corrupt, complicit and clueless as its US equivalent, and who said that in addition to currency rates, manipulation of precious metals "is worse than the Libor-rigging scandal." Hear that Bart Chilton and friends from the CFTC?

More on what Eike said from Bloomberg:

The allegations about the currency and precious metals markets are “particularly serious, because such reference values are based -- unlike Libor and Euribor -- typically on transactions in liquid markets and not on estimates of the banks,” Elke Koenig, the president of Bafin, said in a speech in Frankfurt today.
Actually, what makes the most serious, is that precisely because they are on liquid markets means they implicitly have the blessing of the biggest New Normal market maker of call - the central banks, and their own "regulator" - the Bank of International Settlements (hello Mikael Charoze).

“That the issue is causing such a public reaction is understandable,” Koenig said, according to a copy of the speech. “The financial sector is dependent on the common trust that it is efficient and at the same time, honest. The central benchmark rates seemed to be beyond any doubt, and now there is the allegation they may have been manipulated.”

Bafin has also interviewed employees of Deutsche Bank AG as part of a probe of potential manipulation of gold and silver prices, a person with knowledge of the matter has said.
We wonder how long until this particular investigation is stopped based on an "executive order" from above, because Bafin is now stepping into some very treacherous  waters with its ongoing inquiry of gold manipulation: what it reveals will certainly not be to the liking of the financial "powers that be."

Read more - 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-01-16/precious-metals-manipulation-worse-libor-german-regulator-says

Study - Diet soda drinkers end up consuming more calories -

Study - Diet soda drinkers end up consuming more calories - 



Diet soda may not help you meet your weight-loss goals.

A new study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health shows that overweight and obese adults who drank diet beverages took in more food calories on average than their counterparts who drank the sugary stuff.

"Although overweight and obese adults who drink diet soda eat a comparable amount of total calories as heavier adults who drink sugary beverages, they consume significantly more calories from solid food at both meals and snacks," lead study author Sara Bleich, associate professor in the Bloomberg School's Department of Health Policy and Management, said in a press release. 

Researchers looked at information from the 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which is a population-based survey that looks at the health and nutrition of U.S. adults. They looked particularly at diet beverage consumption, caloric intake and body weight.

Overall, diet soda consumption rates increased 17 percent from 1965 to today. Currently, about 20 percent of U.S. adults drink diet beverages.

Despite the calories they cut by sipping on diet drinks, researchers found adults who drank diet beverages ate more calories from solid food.

"The results of our study suggest that overweight and obese adults looking to lose or maintain their weight -- who have already made the switch from sugary to diet beverages -- may need to look carefully at other components of their solid-food diet, particularly sweet snacks, to potentially identify areas for modification," Bleich said.

The study was published in the American Journal of Public Health on Jan. 16.

The researchers believe that the artificial sweeteners may activate more reward centers in the brain. This in turn affects a person's appetite, making the diet drinkers eat more food because they don’t think they are getting enough sugar in their bloodstreams.

Read more - 

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/diet-soda-drinkers-consume-more-calories-study/

UPDATE: Woman Cleared in 'Driving While GOOGLE Glassing' Case... - 



A California woman believed to be the first person cited for wearing Google Glass while driving won her case, but legal experts say it marks only the beginning of what they predict will be numerous court battles fought in the gap between today's laws and fast-arriving technology.

Cecilia Abadie's was found not guilty Thursday after being cited for wearing the computer-in-eyeglass device while driving because San Diego County Traffic Court Commissioner John Blair said there was no proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the device was operating while she was driving.

But Blair stopped short of ruling that it is legal to drive while Google Glass is activated.

Abadie was cited under a code banning operation of a video or TV screen at the front of a vehicle that is moving. Blair said the code's language is broad enough that it could also apply to Google Glass if there were evidence the device was activated while the motorist was driving.

But Abadie, who wore the device around her neck during her trial, insisted afterward that the screen is above her line of vision, its functions can be activated with her voice or a wink, and it is not a distraction even when activated.

"I'm recording a video of all this," she told reporters outside the courthouse as she answered questions without skipping a beat. "Do you feel like I'm not paying attention to you?"

Vivek Wadhwa, a fellow at Stanford Law School, said the lower court ruling does not set a legal precedent but marks the start of what he expects will be a number of similar challenges.

"The fun is just starting," he said.

From driverless cars to wearable devices that can enhance human functions, Wadhwa said, there are a host of legal questions to be answered. For example, when a Google-operated car is on the road and hits someone, who is responsible - the passenger, car manufacturer or software developer?

Abadie, a software developer, is among thousands of "explorers" who have been selected to try out Google Glass before the technology becomes widely available to the public later this year.

The device in a kind of glass-wear frame features a thumbnail-size transparent display above the right eye.

Her attorney, William Concidine, said anything can be a distraction, such as when drivers turn the radio dials to change stations. He wants lawmakers to rule that Google Glass can be used safely while someone drives, so codes like the one used to cite his client are not left up to the interpretation of individual judges.

"I believe there is an information gap," he said.

The lightweight frames are equipped with a hidden camera and tiny display that responds to voice commands. The technology can be used to do things such as check email, learn background about something the wearer is looking at, or to get driving directions.

Legislators in at least three states - Delaware, New Jersey and West Virginia - have introduced bills that would ban driving with Google Glass.

After the ruling, Google said it has warned early Glass adopters to exercise caution.

"Glass is built to connect you more with the world around you, not distract you from it," Google said in a statement. "Explorers should always use Glass responsibly and put their safety and the safety of others first."

Read more - 

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GOOGLE_GLASS_TICKET?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-01-16-18-32-47