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Monday, July 20, 2009

You Can Now Legally Use iPhone to Find Cannabis

Apple Approves Potent Application called Cannabis to find the real thing.

Ajnag.com originated as the first medical-cannabis-locator system on the Web
Ajnag.com originated as the first medical-cannabis-locator system on the Web.

(LOS ANGELES) - This week Apple releases a new iPhone and iPod Touch application which allows users to locate cannabis resources worldwide including the nearest medical cannabis collectives, doctors, attorneys, organizations, and other patient services in the states, such as California, that have passed laws allowing medical cannabis -- also commonly referred to as marijuana.

Imagine you are an iPhone user who has been dealing with a chronic condition that you believe can be alleviated with cannabis to improve your quality of life. You now have the ability to access all the resources you need at your finger tips to access medical cannabis in states that have approved medical cannabis legislation. Pull out your iPhone or iPod Touch, download the "Cannabis" application from iTunes and locate a medical cannabis doctor near you.

Once you have received your medical cannabis recommendation from a qualified physician, you will need to locate an organization that can provide you with medical cannabis. Access the Cannabis application again. Press locate. The nearest medical cannabis collectives, cooperatives or facilities will appear with little green dots on a map of your current or selected location. Get real-time door-to-door directions. Add the locations' details to your iPhone contact list.

If the unfortunate happens, and you find yourself in legal trouble over your medicinal herb, pull out your cannabis application once again. Pin point local attorneys who specialize in marijuana-related offenses.

Not living in a medical cannabis state? The only way to make cannabis change is to take action. Your new iPhone application will locate the nearest cannabis-reform group so you can get involved.

Vacationing in Amsterdam? Find international cannabis coffee shops in regions that have approved cannabis for adult-responsible use.

Ajnag.com and Cannabis Apps released this application to empower marijuana consumers -- adult-responsible users and medical cannabis patients -- and to help connect the global hemp movement.

Features:

* Search by City * Search by Zip/Postal Codes * Bookmark Listings * Add Listings to Contact * Lookup Addresses, Phone Numbers, and Websites for a 1000+ listings * Directory Tended by Patient ID Center and AJNAG * Supplied by iMedicalCannabis.org and AJNAG.com databases * Live News, Videos, Activism Tools, and Cannabis Menus (Coming soon)

In 2006, Ajnag.com originated as the first medical-cannabis-locator system on the Web to provide Internet users with an easy and safe way to find nearby medical cannabis collectives, doctors, and attorneys. The site quickly spawned into an educational tool to promote awareness among cannabis users and supporters locally, nationally and globally.

Cannabis Apps consists of a software development and digital activist team focused on cultivating the most useful iPhone applications for the cannabis industry and movement.

In May 2009, Julian Cain, a software engineer and a legal cannabis patient, found a serious need to develop a mobile application that allows patients to quickly locate medicine right from their iPhone. The first protoype was demonstrated to Devin Calloway, the Founder and Webculturist of Ajnag.com. Calloway, being a web engineer, digital activist, and medical cannabis patient, shared the same vision with Cain.

The vision that technology should be used to converge mother earth, politics, and empower cannabis consumers. The two immediately connected. A week later cannabis data was being delivered from the Ajnag web server to the newly harvested mobile iPhone application.

As a conscious effort to empower the cannabis movement, AJNAG.com will donate $.50 cents for every “Cannabis”, the application, purchase to a cannabis non-profit reform fund, which will be setup once the application reaches 1000 subscriptions. The non-profit will unite with the many cannabis organizations and raise money for grassroots media campaigning.

Kid Brings Weed Brownies To School, Instantly Becomes Most Popular Student



Ok so I have no idea if this kid actually became the most popular student in the school but I know I would definitely want to hang out with him after he had the balls to bring weed brownies to school and feed them to his classmates and teacher. Judging by the reactions of the parents and people who they interviewed (except for the tight ass with the tie on) it shouldn't have even been considered a big deal. It would have been a pleasant surprise for me.

Attention Prostitute

attenzione_prostitute1

Italy seems pretty cool. This doesn’t even look like an actual caution sign because “attenzione” means “attention” no? It’s more of a friendly heads up. Sort of like “Hey, stop searching through your iPod for a minute, you’re about to roll up on some hoes.”

This is Italy right?

26 Ridiculously Questionable T-Shirts (PICS)



26 More Ridiculously Questionable T-Shirts [Pics] As with all t-shirt compilations, this one contains some slightly NSFW selections so proceed with caution. Now click in.

Potter Star Waylett Pleads Guilty To Drug Charges

(SHAUN CURRY/AFP/Getty Images)

"Harry Potter" star Jamie Waylett has pleaded guilty to illegally growing marijuana.

The 19-year-old actor, who plays Vincent Crabbe in the wizard franchise, was arrested in April after cops allegedly found him driving with eight bags of marijuana in his car.

Authorities then ordered a raid on his mother's home in Camden, North London, where they were said to have found ten cannabis plants at the property.

The 19-year-old was summoned to appear in court and subsequently charged with growing cannabis plants.

Thursday's hearing, which took place in London at Westminster Magistrate's Court, was adjourned until July 21.

Waylett faces a maximum sentence of 14 years behind bars for production of a Class-B drug.

Published on: July 16 2009 at 12:45 PM

Listed Under: Harry Potter


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/dailydish/detail?blogid=7&entry_id=43719#ixzz0LpLgTHAo

How to instantly fail a DUI


Cops laugh as man tries to drink out of breathalyzer machine.

Military Developing Half-Robot, Half-Insect 'Cybug' Spies


By Charles Q. Choi

Miniature robots could be good spies, but researchers now are experimenting with insect cyborgs or "cybugs" that could work even better.

Scientists can already control the flight of real moths using implanted devices.

The military and spy world no doubt would love tiny, live camera-wielding versions of Predator drones that could fly undetected into places where no human could ever go to snoop on the enemy.

Developing such robots has proven a challenge so far, with one major hurdle being inventing an energy source for the droids that is both low weight and high power.

Still, evidence that such machines are possible is ample in nature in the form of insects, which convert biological energy into flight.

• Click here for FOXNews.com's Patents and Innovation Center.

It makes sense to pattern robots after insects — after all, they must be doing something right, seeing as they are the most successful animals on the planet, comprising roughly 75 percent of all animal species known to humanity.

Indeed, scientists have patterned robots after insects and other animals for decades — to mimic cockroach wall-crawling, for instance, or the grasshopper's leap.

Mechanical metamorphosis

Instead of attempting to create sophisticated robots that imitate the complexity in the insect form that required millions of years of evolution to achieve, scientists now essentially want to hijack bugs for use as robots.

Originally researchers sought to control insects by gluing machinery onto their backs, but such links were not always reliable.

To overcome this hurdle, the Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (HI-MEMS) program sophisticated robots is sponsoring research into surgically implanting microchips straight into insects as they grow, intertwining their nerves and muscles with circuitry that can then steer the critters.

As expensive as these devices might be to manufacture and embed in the bugs, they could still prove cheaper than building miniature robots from scratch.

As these cyborgs heal from their surgery while they naturally metamorphose from one developmental stage to the next — for instance, from caterpillar to butterfly — the result would yield a more reliable connection between the devices and the insects, the thinking goes.

The fact that insects are immobile during some of these stages — for instance, when they are metamorphosing in cocoons — means they can be manipulated far more easily than if they were actively wriggling, meaning that devices could be implanted with assembly-line routine, significantly lowering costs.

The HI-MEMS program at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has to date invested $12 million into research since it began in 2006. It currently supports these cybug projects:

— Roaches at Texas A&M.

— Horned beetles at University of Michigan and the University of California at Berkeley.

— Moths at an MIT-led team, and another moth project at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research.

Success with moths

So far researchers have successfully embedded MEMS into developing insects, and living adult insects have emerged with the embedded systems intact, a DARPA spokesperson told LiveScience.

Researchers have also demonstrated that such devices can indeed control the flight of moths, albeit when they are tethered.

To power the devices, instead of relying on batteries, the hope is to convert the heat and mechanical energy the insect generates as it moves into electricity. The insects themselves could be optimized to generate electricity.

When the researchers can properly control the insects using the embedded devices, the cybugs might then enter the field, equipped with cameras, microphones and other sensors to help them spy on targets or sniff out explosives.

Although insects do not always live very long in the wild, the cyborgs' lives could be prolonged by attaching devices that feed them.

The scientists are now working toward controlled, untethered flight, with the final goal being delivering the insect within 15 feet (5 m) of a specific target located 300 feet (100 meters) away, using electronic remote control by radio or GPS or both, standing still on arrival.

Although flying insects such as moths and dragonflies are of great interest, hopping and swimming insects could also be useful, too, DARPA noted.

It's conceivable that eventually a swarm of cybugs could converge on targets by land, sea and air.

Copyright © 2009 Imaginova Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Ebony mag, 1985 - What will Jackson look like in year 2000?

How to make your iPhone battery last for days

Away from power? Here's the ultimate guide to saving juice

iphone

As the iPhone is so fully featured, there are a myriad of ways to save power


Recently, when standing in a field at Glastonbury, the idea came to us – was it really possible to make your iPhone battery last for several days? Well yes it is, as long as you completely strip down the power-sucking features and follow a few simple tips. Keep an eye on how long your iPhone typically lasts by going to Settings > General > Usage.

And, although this is not completely a power-saving tip, before you leave it's always best to make sure you have the latest software installed: Apple is always working on little fixes to improve your iPhone's power savings.

1. Keep it cool
Seriously. Don't put your phone in the sun. Don't leave it in a hot pocket. Battery life is lowered by heat and you should store your iPhone in temperatures less than 35 degrees centigrade – below 95F. As close to room temperature as possible is best for use.

2. Don't use power-sucking apps you don't need to
Minimise your app use, especially if it's a game, stuff that sucks data (hello, Facebook) or uses GPS. Not only does some of the fun stuff suck power, it can also stop the auto-lock coming on.

3. Turn off 3G
So there we were, in our field, with little data coverage (thanks O2). So what did we do? Turn off data, that's what. If you haven't got it, there's no point in wasting juice looking for it. Settings > General > Network and slide Enable 3G to Off.

4. No to EQ
Who'd have thunk, but equalising your iPod playback can drain your battery pack. Settings > iPod > EQ is where to turn it off.

5. Don't fetch
Set the common apps to only fetch data when you want them to. Set Mail, Contacts and Calendars to only fetch data Manually. BE WARNED - if you have MobileMe, it's dangerous to set the auto-check to Manual, since the much-vaunted Find My iPhone won't work.

6. Don't make long calls
Or don't make any calls. Sounds like the stupid filler tip, but if you do make calls (and you probably do, as that's almost certainly what you're conserving battery for), just keep 'em short.

7. Lock it up
iPhone not in use? Make sure you lock the screen and set the auto-lock to a minute in case you leave it unlocked.

8. Don't use the GPS
Minimise use of it (such as in Maps or turn-by-turn sat-nav) and disable it: Settings > General > Location Services. If you're lost, ignore this advice.

9. Turn it off when you don't need it
Sleeping? With all your mates anyway? Then turn your phone off. Bit pointless if it's for 10 minutes, but if it's hours, it will add up.

10. Disable Wi-Fi
Nowhere near a wireless network? Go to Settings and slide Wi-Fi- to off. However, if you are going to be doing a fair amount of data browsing and you are near a wireless network, it will be better for your battery to use this than the thirsty cellular signal.

11. Turn off Bluetooth
Likewise, make sure Bluetooth is off. And keep it there unless you use accessories: Settings > General > Bluetooth and slide Bluetooth to Off.

12. Push off
Not many apps use push notifications, but in the future this will have more of an effect on your iPhone's battery life as more start to. Settings > Notifications and slide Notifications to Off – only visible if you have relevant apps installed. Apple says this won't stop the apps receiving data when the app is actually open though, so be careful, unless you've disabled data in other ways. Equally you need to turn off push mail (MobileMe, Microsoft Exchange). Go to Settings Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data and slide Push to Off.

13. Turn it down
Refrain from employing the speaker for music playback and turn down the volume - louder playback can make a difference, even with the headphones. Set the phone to silent on the side.

14. Dim your screen
Turn off auto-brightness and whack the brightness down as low as possible. Especially effective for many of us, as it's the supreme brightness that's one of the things that makes the iPhone screen look terrific, so it's usually very bright as a default.

15. Go airplane
If you've got very little coverage, you can't make calls anyway. If you're going to be in a coverage lowspot for a little while, turn on Airplane Mode. It makes a serious difference, since your handset won't be continuously searching for a network signal. This is one of the biggest drains of battery life on any handset.

So that's it. Still not convinced? Then buy one of these. And if your battery really is dying, then one of these might be the answer.

What is the best way to drink whisky?

by Nick

Two of the world’s greatest drinks experts go face to face in a showdown designed to answer the age-old question: how should you take your whisky?

The issue of whether you should drink quality Scots whisky on its own, on the rocks or with a splash of water has divided drinkers the world over for generations.

In an attempt to settle the issue once and for all, master blender at the Isle of Jura distillery and widely recognised as the world’s best whisky blender - and Colin Field, who as head barman at the Ritz Paris is arguably the best cocktail mixer in the world.

Representing polar opposites in the argument over how good Scots malt should be enjoyed, the two men are primed and ready for what looks set to become an historic battle.

Richard said: “This is the moment we’ve been waiting for. For years I’ve been forced to stand by and watch as barroom dandies sully the world’s greatest drink with a range of inappropriate mixers and sacrilegious frills, but enough is enough. Whisky is something that should be appreciated in the pure, God-given form that its distillers intended, and now I’m going to prove that once and for all.”

Field on the other hand thinks anything goes as long as it’s a quality experience. “Single malt is a drink for anybody, anywhere, anyhow. The purists can complain about it as much as they like, but with the right mixers and a splash of imagination, it can be conjured into a world-beating taste experience that will knock the spots off anything the whisky snobs might offer,” said The Ritz barman.

“Their time is over, and I’m going to show the world how a new generation of drinkers takes theirs.”

How Human Cloning Will Work

Introduction to How Human Cloning Will Work

Cloning Image Gallery

TIME cloning issue
Time & Life Pictures/­Getty Images
Hello, Dolly! After Dolly was cloned in 1997, people worried that humans would be next. See more cloning pictures.

­On July 5, 1997, the most famous sheep in modern history was born. Ian Wilmut and a group of Scottish scientists announced that they had successfully cloned a sheep named Dolly.

If you stood Dolly beside a "naturally" conceived sheep, you wouldn't notice any differences between the two. In fact, to pinpoint the only major distinguishing factor between the two, you'd have to go back to the time of conception because Dolly's embryo developed without the presence of sperm. Instead, Dolly began as a cell from another sheep that was fused via electricity with a donor egg. Just one sheep -- no hanky-panky involved.

While Dolly's birth marked an incredible scientific breakthrough, it also set off questions in the scientific and global community about what -- or who -- might be next to be "duplicated." Cloning sheep and other nonhuman animals seemed more ethically benign to some than potentially cloning people. In response to such concerns in the United States, President Clinton signed a five-year moratorium on federal funding for human cloning the same year of Dolly's arrival [source: Lamb].


­Today, after more than a decade since Dolly, human cloning remains in its infancy. Although cloning technology has improved, the process still has a slim success rate of 1 to 4 percent [source: ­Burton]. That being said, science is headed in that direction -- pending governmental restraints.

Scientists have cloned a variety of animals, including mice, sheep, pigs, cows and dogs. In 2006, scientists cloned the first primate embryos of a rhesus monkey. Then, in early 2­008, the FDA officially deemed milk and meat products from cloned animals and their offspring safe to eat.

But what would human cloning involve, and how could you take sperm out of the reproductive ­equation?

Creating a Human Clone

In January 2001, a small consortium of scientists led by Panayiotis Zavos, a former University of Kentucky professor, and Italian researcher Severino Antinori said that they planned to clone a human in two years [source: Kirby]. At about the same time, news surfaced about an American couple who planned to pay $500,000 to Las Vegas-based company Clonaid for a clone of their deceased infant daughter [source: Clonaid]. Neither venture produced documented success.

cloning
A breakdown of how cloning works.

Then, in 2004, South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk announced that he and his research team had cloned 11 human embryos for the purpose of extracting stem cells. However, after reviewing his work, a panel at Seoul National University concluded tha­t his findings were false. There ­hasn't been any confirmed human clone created to date. When discussing cloning in the sense of doing so to make a duplicate of an organism, we refer to it as reproductive cloning

Cloning Corner

­If human reproductive cloning proceeds, the primary method scientists will likely use is somatic ce­ll nuclear transfer (SCNT), which is the same procedure that was used to create Dolly the sheep. Somatic cell nuclear transfer begins when doctors take the egg from a female donor and remove its nucleus, creating an enucleated egg. A cell, which contains DNA, is taken from the person who is being cloned. Then the enucleated egg is fused together with the cloning subject's cell using electricity. This creates an embryo, which is implanted into a surrogate mother through in vitro fertilization.

If the procedure is successful, then the surrogate mother will give birth to a baby that's a clone of the cloning subject at the end of a normal gestation period. As mentioned before, the success rate for this type of procedure is small, working in only one or two out of every 100 embryos. After all, Dolly was the result of 277 previously failed attempts.

­On the surface, human cloning may evoke a similar reaction to the space program's race to the moon -- groundbreaking accomplishment, but what could we actually glean from it? Re-engineering the human reproductive process has made many people nervous that cloning crosses the ethical boundaries of science. But we can't fully evaluate the moral dilemma without first addressing the potential benefits of human cloning.

Cloning Uses

­At the outset of the clone craze, some scientists and companies focused on exploiting the science-fiction aspects of the technology. For instance, Zavos and Antinori, mentioned earlier, aimed to develop cloning to aid infertile couples -- to the tune of approximately $50,000 for the service. The group said that the procedure would involve injecting cells from an infertile male into an egg, which would be inserted into the female's uterus. This child would look the same as his or her father. Then there's the possibility of bringing deceased relatives back to life. A now-defunct company called Genetics Savings & Clone performed this type of cloning for a woman's dead cat, Little Nicky, in 2004.

Cloning on Film

Human reproductive cloning probably won't be a reality any time soon, but you can indulge your curiosity with a few cloning film selections.

  • The Island: Set in 2019, wealthy people keep clones of themselves on an island so if they ever get hurt, they can just snag a body part from their clone by murdering him or her.
  • The Boys from Brazil: If you like Gregory Peck, you may want to steer clear to preserve his old-school, dreamboat image. However, if you like movies about neo-Nazi cloning projects, get the popcorn ready!
  • Multiplicity: Doug Kinney has no time for anything, so he clones himself without telling his family -- let the hilarity ensue.

­Therapeutic cloning holds the most promise of valuable medical advancement. Therapeutic cloning is the process by which a person's DNA is used to grow an embryonic clone. However, instead of inserting this embryo into a surrogate mother, its cells are used to grow stem cells. These stem cells could become the basis for customized human repair kits. They can grow replacement organs, such as hearts, livers and skin. They can also be used to grow neurons to cure those who suffer from Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or Rett syndrome. And since the stem cells would come from embryo clones using your own cell's DNA, your body would readily accept them. For more detailed information on stem cells, you can read How Stem Cells Work.

Here's how therapeutic cloning works:

  • DNA is extracted from a sick person.
  • The DNA is then inserted into an enucleated donor egg.
  • The egg then divides like a typical fertilized egg and forms an embryo.
  • Stem cells are removed from the embryo.
  • Any kind of tissue or organ can be grown from these stem cells to treat various ailments and diseases.

To clone human embryos, however, you need eggs. If therapeutic cloning were to begin in earnest, it could increase the demand for such eggs and potentially create additional moral questions regarding the donors [source: Lamb]. Speaking of ethics, there's plenty of related debate to go around when it comes to human cloning.

Human Cloning Ethics

Surveys have shown that few Americans approve of cloning for reproductive purposes, although more are open to therapeutic cloning [source: Burton]. The U.S. government has established strategic roadblocks related to human cloning, although no federal ban exists. First, the government won't fund research focused on human cloning for reproduction. Also, the FDA, which regulates public cloning research, requires anyone in the United States attempting to clone humans to first get its permission. President George W. Bush's appointed Council on Bioethics unanimously opposed cloning for reproductive purposes.

twins at a table
Symphonie/Getty Images
Human reproductive cloning is banned in more than 50 countries.

Certain countries abroad have stricter standards, and more than 50 have legally banned research efforts on reproductive human cloning [source: Medical Devices & Surgical Technology]. In Japan, human cloning is a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. England has allowed cloning human embryos for therapeutic use only. Many individual states have also passed laws restricting cloning.

While legal restrictions are one deterrent to pursuing human cloning at this time, some scientists believe today's technology just isn't ready to be tested on humans. Ian Wilmut, one of Dolly's co-creators, has even said that human cloning projects would be irresponsible. Cloning technology is still in its early stages, and nearly 98 percent of cloning efforts end in failure. The embryos are either not suitable for implanting into the uterus, or die some time during gestation or shortly after birth.

Those clones that do survive suffer from genetic abnormalities. Clone cells may age more rapidly, shortening their lifespan, similar to what happened with Dolly. Some clones have been born with defective hearts, lung problems, diabetes, blood vessel complications and malfunctioning immune systems. One of the more famous cases involved a cloned sheep that was born but suffered from chronic hyperventilation caused by malformed arteries leading to the lungs.

­Opponents of cloning point out that while we can euthanize defective clones of other animals, it's morally problematic if this happens during the human cloning process. Advocates of cloning respond that it's now easier to pick out defective embryos before they're implanted into the mother. In 2005, the United Nations attempted to pass a global ban on human cloning, but was unsuccessful due to disagreements over whether therapeutic cloning should be included. For now, human cloning remains in a stalemate from both a scientific and public policy perspective -- the future of human cloning will likely depend on which side gives in first.

Sources

  • Burton, Kelli Whitlock. "Cloning in America." GeneWatch. November/December 2005.
  • Clonaid Web site.
    http://ww­w.clonaid.com/
  • "Cloning Fact Sheet." Human Genome Project Information. Updated July 23, 2008. (Sept. 3, 2008)
    http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/cloning.shtml#policy
  • "Human clones: New U.N. analysis lays out world's choices." Medical Devices & Surgical Technology Week. Dec. 2, 2007.
  • Javitt, Gail H.; Suthers, Kristen; and Hudson Kathy. "Cloning: A Policy Analysis." Genetics & Public Policy Center. May 23, 2005. (Sept. 3, 2008)
    http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/Genetics_and_Public_Policy/GPPC_Cloning_0505.pdf
  • Kirby, Alex. "Cloned human planned 'by 2003.'" BBC News. Jan. 30, 2001.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1144694.stm
  • Lamb, Gregory M. "How Cloning Stacks Up." Christian Science Monitor. July 13, 2006. (Sept. 3, 2008)
    http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0713/p13s01-stgn.html
  • "Use of Cloning Technology to Clone a Human Being." FDA. Updated Dec. 27, 2002. (Sept. 3, 2008)
    http://www.fda.gov/CBER/genetherapy/clone.htm

Video shows Jones in Vegas nightclub