Merry Christmas

Here's a clip from the Trailer Park Boys' holiday special entitled "Dear Santa Clause, go fuck yourself", in which Ricky explains the true meaning of Christmas.



... and now some Christmas listening pleasures. -WARNING: the last one is by no means safe for work.

A Red State Update Ad: Legalize Pot In New York State

From RSU: Empire State NORML wants marijuana to be legal in New York State so bad, they give us $120 to make this ad. http://empirestatenorml.com They accept donations! Just like we accepted their $120.



But why stop at weed jokes? Red State Update will make YOUR campaign ad... for only $120! Are you runnin' for somethin? Like a candidate? Hate a candidate? Got $120? You qualify!

Here are the rules:
ONE: $120.
TWO: We'll make a ad for or against anybody runnin for anything. Republican. Democrat. Tea Party. Any asshole. Does not matter. All that matters: $120.
THREE: You don't get no say so. No creative control. No money back. You tell us who you you want the ad to be for or against, give us $120, we'll make ye ad and put it up on the YouTube. There will probably be some cussin' in it. Please specify attack ad, but let's be honest, they pretty much all gonna be attack ads.
FOUR: We don't care who you are, but I think they's some laws that we probably shoulda looked into before we started this, so at the end of the video, it will say Paid For By YOUR NAME And It Cost Them $120.
FIVE: No matter who we make an ad on, no matter what that ad say, it is not an official endorsement by Red State Update. We only care about the $120.
So email us at redstateupdate@gmail.com, tell us who you want us to go after or backhandedly praise, we'll tell you how to get us $120. It's all about Freedom of Speech. And you can buy ours for $120.

Red State Update Will Make Your Ad video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMxZBT...

420

Westword, is seeking a writer for its weekly review of Colorado's booming medical marijuana dispensaries.

A Denver newspaper has been inundated with applications after advertising for a "marijuana critic" to review the quality of cannabis (albeit for medical, rather than recreational, purposes).

"Compensation will be meager," says the posting. It says the paper can't pay for marijuana purchases.

If it came with the expense account, I might have given this career move a second thought.

Joyful Noise

Today's Date In Music History:

Derek Trucks Band Live at The Paradiso on October 16, 2005

Four years ago today, guitar phenom Derek Trucks led his band through an amazing set at Amsterdam's famed Paradiso in the Netherlands. The performance finds the group covering a variety of musical genres --southern rock, blues, soul, jazz, Eastern music, to name a few.
Derek is the nephew of Butch Trucks (a fellow member of the Allman Brothers Band) and is married to fellow guitar wiz Susan Tedeschi .

This recording is from an FM broadcast on Dutch radio.

• My Favorite Things

• Let's Go Get Stoned

• Crow Jane

• Sahib Teri Bandi

• So Close...So Far Away

• Key To The Highway

• joyful Noise

Download show here.

R.I.P. Dickie Peterson

"I think the secret of rock & roll is that it’s 10% technique and 90% attitude. If you deliver one note with the right attitude, it will do more than 60 notes with no attitude."

Blue Cheer bassist and co-founder Dickie Peterson passed away on Oct. 12 after a bout with prostate cancer.

Blue Cheer had a hit with "Summertime Blues" in 1968 and were the heaviest band to emerge from the San Francisco psychedelic scene (and are also credited as being the pioneers of heavy metal).
"We’re just a power trio," Peterson said. "We play ultra blues, and it’s rock & roll. It’s really simple what we do."
Peterson, who was 61, had held the band -which was named after a brand of LSD- together over the years, but had canceled a recent tour to get treatment.



Dickie Peterson was a supporter of medical cannabis and was the recipient of the High Times Doobie award.

Important new development for both the medicinal and industrial use of hemp.

Scientists at the University of Minnesota have identified the genes in cannabis that allow the plant to produce THC. Finding the genes opens the path to either create drug-free hemp plants for industrial purposes, or to develop plants with much higher concentrations of the psychotropic chemical. (via PopSci.com)

In a related article, cultivars have been experimenting with Ruderalis/marijuana hybrids, in hopes of breeding potent auto-flowering strains. (via KindGreenBuds)

The Houston Hipster: Smokey Wood

"Smokey was shouting blues vocals, pumping kick-ass swing piano, and puffing all the weed that the Lone Star State could supply. He lived the life he sang about - lived it in dingy beer joints and one-lung radio stations far from the networks and international promoters. While a later breed of urban cowboy would make it big in the media, Wood, under a cloud of friendly, fragrant smoke, just faded away into obscurity".

Western swing pianist Smokey Wood was born John Bryce Wood in September 1918 in Harrison, Arkansas, where his father was a railroad engineer and his mother a piano player.
He spent the majority of his childhood in Oklahoma before moving to Houston in 1935 at the age of 17.
Wood set out from Muskogee, OK, bringing his band the Oklahoma Playboys with him. Proudly wearing their jazz influences in a country guise, Wood and his early musical cohorts found it hard to break into Houston's music scene; with influences like Fats Waller (also a favorite of Bob Wills), Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, and Stephen Foster, Houston's musical powers didn't quite know what to do with the group and generally ignored them.
Times were tough due to the depression and they started to make music in the beer joints out of Houston, earning one dollar a night with some tips extra.

Aside from music, Smokey Wood's greatest love was for the "wacky tobacky", or as it's better known: marijuana.
According to some accounts, Wood was high most of the time and would even smoke on the bandstand when the notion grabbed him.
To further put things in perspective, Wood's love was so big, he usually kept at least a pound or two around for safe keeping and would spare his lean budget by growing some plants of his own.
Smokey was also known as "The Houston Hipster" and his reputation was that of "a pot-smoking, whiskey-drinking, womanizing, fun-loving Western swing guy."
Wood played in a series of bands near the end of the Thirties– most notably the Modern Mountaineers with fellow pothead and ace fiddler J.R. Chatwell.
Smokey Wood would also work part time in a Houston gas station, where the job consisted of filling tanks, wiping windshields, and selling pot in quantity.
He continued performing, but he and Chatwell were booted out of a Bob Wills side project for living the nightlife instead of playing it.
Wood played and recorded sporadically until the end of his life. He moved around a lot, played the carnival circuit, ran a flea market, and mostly raised fighting cocks and grew marijuana until his death in 1975.

Smokey Wood & His Woodchips (1937):
Carry Me Back To Virginny; I'm Sorry; Keep On Truckin'; Lonely Heart Of Mine; Moonlight In Oklahoma; Riding To Glory; Woodchip Blues; Wood's Traveling Blues

Just Think Of How Many Concerts Could've Been Cancelled...

... if Jerry Garcia felt the same way.

Britney Spears put a halt to her concert in Vancouver on Wednesday after smoky conditions at the venue she was playing made her feel "unsafe" -- later telling her fans to lay off the marijuana.

Editor's note: What the hell did she expect in B.C.?

Better Living?

"Mentally competent adults should be able to engage in cognitive enhancement using drugs."
(via Wired)


Society must respond to the growing demand for cognitive enhancement. That response must start by rejecting the idea that 'enhancement' is a dirty word, argue Henry Greely and colleagues.
(via Nature)

Research also suggests that T.V. is correctly labeled "the idiot box/boob tube".


Is change NORML?

I still find it hard to believe that there is anything smart about meth.

Hemp for Victory (1942)

"Hemp for Victory" was a U.S. government propaganda film made during WWII touting the virtues of hemp.
This informational film was produced to encourage farmers to grow hemp for the war effort during WWII. The film details the many industrial uses of hemp, including cloth and cordage, as well as a detailed history of the plant's use.

Watch the video below!

Get MADD!

This site offers proof that M.A.D.D. (more precisely M.A.D.D. inc.) is no more than a cash cow temperance movement operating under the guise of a non-profit organization - an organization that relies on fear tactics and even outright lies as weapons to fight for their cause.
A friend once referred to their attempts at a zero tolerance for alcohol as 'legislating people into alcoholism by vilifying them and forcing them to drink alone in the home.'

I offer this information, not to condone the practice but to provide travelers with an idea of what they face.
Here you can find more resources to help you make informed decisions regarding such matters.

In an effort to appear fair and balanced, allow me to present this tool which gives new meaning to the term beer goggles.


"It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues."---Abraham Lincoln

If old Honest Abe is right, my "virtuous" lifestyle should qualify me for canonization.

Model T Centennial

It's time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Ford Model T.
(via A Fine Mess)

Here's an interesting read on its creator Henry Ford.

Did you know Henry once built a car made from hemp?

A Brief History of Hemp

Here's a little video on the history (and future?) of hemp from PEACEBUD.com.

The Emperor wears No Clothes

Jimmy called out for some suggested reading, as he is about to go on a trip.
His request jogged my memory about this gem.
The Emperor Wears No Clothes is a fascinating book written by Jack Herer.
The book compiles detailed information about the numerous uses for cannabis. It is often cited in rescheduling and re-legalization efforts.

A Puzzling Hypocrisy

The same U.S. government that has maintained that marijuana holds no medicinal value owns the patent on its therapeutic chemicals. via NORML.

U.S. Patent #6630507.

SAFER Airports?

Denver-based Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) is calling on the government to allow marijuana in airport smoking lounges throughout the land. via MichaelSavage.com.
They'd better hurry. The way the tide is turning against smoking in this country, the lounges themselves are apt to banned soon .

"Grow More Pot!"

Spoken word, full o' fun facts from Jello Biafra.

So The Government's Responsible?

"Adults who live in areas where marijuana is criminally prohibited are more likely to report a preference for stronger strains of pot as compared to adults who live in areas where the sale of the drug is legally regulated". via NORML.

NEWS FLASH!!!

Smoking Pot All Day, Every Day Might Not Be Good For You

via NORML.