Keep hope alive.................

Ramblings from The Convicted Audiophile™
Main Entry: man·i·fes·to
Pronunciation: \ˌma-nə-ˈfes-(ˌ)tō\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural man·i·fes·tos or man·i·fes·toes
Etymology: Italian, denunciation, manifest, from manifestare to manifest, from Latin, from manifestus
Date: 1620
:A written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer.
Adorable 100 year old Padaro Lane beach cottage sits above the sand in Santa Barbara's premiere ocean front enclave. On nearly one half acre with almost 100 feet of beachfront one can enjoy it as it is or take advantage of plans designed by Neumann, Mendro, Andrulaitis Architects for a stunning two story beach home with expansive views all the way down to Serena Cove.
Inspired by books and blog entries about living simply, Ms. Strobel and her husband, Logan Smith, both 31, began donating some of their belongings to charity. As the months passed, out went stacks of sweaters, shoes, books, pots and pans, even the television after a trial separation during which it was relegated to a closet. Eventually, they got rid of their cars, too. Emboldened by a Web site that challenges consumers to live with just 100 personal items, Ms. Strobel winnowed down her wardrobe and toiletries to precisely that number.
In a not-too-distant future, I can even imagine frequenting, for example, a HIGH TIMES Café or a NORML Healing Center. Given the right partners and conducive legal circumstances, it hardly seems a stretch of one’s imagination to see this happening relatively soon in California, where citizens will vote this November on a marijuana-legalization ballot initiative.
With this in mind, Print contacted four firms: Lust, a graphic design practice in Amsterdam established by Thomas Castro, Jeroen Barendse, and Dimitri Nieuwenhuizen; the New York office of Base, which worked with its branches in Europe; the Oslo firm Strømme Throndsen, winner of the 2009 Award for Design Excellence for its flour packaging; and The Heads of State, a two-man operation run by Jason Kernevich and Dustin Summers in Philadelphia.Building a Better Baggie
The brief was simple: What would a legal pack of marijuana cigarettes look like?
YAK edibles is launching a broad line of eight products, including; YAK Brownie, YAK Fudge, YAK Mini Cookies, YAK Greenie, YAK Sensi Star (cookie in star shape), YAK Haute Chocolate (instant hot chocolate drink), YAK Mocha Juana (instant coffee drink) and their best selling YAK Cannabis Extract Capsules.
The Hershey Co. has sued Affolter, 40, for giving his forbidden marijuana munchies names like Stoney Rancher, Rasta Reese’s and Keef Kat. Each came in packaging similar to Hershey’s Jolly Rancher, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Kit Kat candies.Hershey Vs. Pot Dealer in Trademark Suit
Hershey’s suit, filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in San Jose, accuses Affolter of trademark infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition. The company is seeking $100,000 in damages.
The government's "war on drugs" has been both a tremendous triumph and an abysmal failure. Drug warriors have been very successful. We have all seen media images of police stings involving massive amounts of money, drugs, and firearms. However, this has had no impact in local markets. Illegal drugs are available just about everywhere and at prices that have fallen in real terms over time. The amount of pot that could be bought for $10 at a local high school in 1980, for example, is likely the same quantity that could be obtained for $10 today.
In most states and under federal law, law enforcement can keep some or all of the proceeds from civil forfeitures. This incentive has led to concern that civil forfeiture encourages policing for profit, as agencies pursue forfeitures to boost their budgets at the expense of other policing priorities.
The Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section provides centralized management for the Department's asset forfeiture program to ensure its integrity and maximize its law enforcement potential, while also providing managerial direction to the Department's components in prosecuting money laundering. The Section initiates, coordinates, and reviews legislative and policy proposals impacting on the asset forfeiture program and money laundering enforcement agencies.
The world is complicated, and an electorate so diverse in geography, race, class and beliefs can’t be shoehorned into two fixed templates. There is no particular reason why all advocates of fiscal restraint should also oppose abortion rights, or why supporters of a progressive tax code should necessarily favor restrictions on gun ownership.
As discussed earlier in this section, a victim of prison rape is often much smaller and weaker than the perpetrator of the violence. Therefore, while prior violence should certainly be taken into account, the classification system should incorporate the strength and size of the inmate as well. This Note encourages prison officials to continue to use degree of violence as a factor but within that violence classification, to check each inmate for height and weight, and classify each according to a sliding scale, the details of which will be discussed later in this section.
Consider Waits and Weil. Waits is a musician who has lived much of his 61 years on bourbon, loose women and cigarettes. Weil, a 67-year-old holistic physician, thrives on organic food and yoga. Each, from his own perspective, leads more or less the kind of life he wants to. Both can be fulfilled. Without actually being them, how can we tell? Waits sings bitter-sweetly of his 'misspent' life. Weil writes, in self-help books, about healthy living. We could observe their behavior or ask them to take an MRI. Otherwise, we have to trust each man's report to determine whether or not they are well or fulfilled. When the government embraces some idea about how people ought to live (value), the instinct might be to tax Waits and subsidize Weil. But why?
If you have a hot reliever who is not your closer and can pitch two innings consistently (as in Mariano Rivera in 1995), why not start the game with that pitcher? If you could get two solid innings out of a reliever at the start of the game, your actual starter would only need to pitch seven innings to finish the game. Or, that actual starter could pitch just six innings and hand it over to the closer for the ninth.
I would suggest calling the new relief position “The Opener.”
Professor Lynn found a positive correlation between the breast size of waitresses (n = 432) and the size of their tips (both were self-reported measures). He did not split the tipping data by sex of the patrons. One might expect that the "breast effect" might enhance tips for male patrons whereas female patrons might "punish" shapely waitresses (intra-sexual rivalry). The existing data did not allow for a more refined set of analyses to test such possibilities. Also, Lynn notes that he might have expected a quadratic relationship between breast size and size of tips, namely, breasts that are too small or too big would result in lower tips than medium sized breasts. However, his data suggests that bigger is always better...at least when it comes to tipping behavior!
Abstract: Waitresses completed an on-line survey about their physical characteristics, self-perceived attractiveness and sexiness, and average tips. The waitresses’ self-rated physical attractiveness increased with their breast sizes and decreased with their ages, waist-to-hip ratios, and body sizes. Similar effects were observed on self-rated sexiness, with the exception of age, which varied with self-rated sexiness in a negative, quadratic relationship rather than a linear one. Moreover, the waitresses’ tips varied with age in a negative, quadratic relationship, increased with breast size, increased with having blond hair, and decreased with body size. These findings, which are discussed from an evolutionary perspective, make several contributions to the literature on female physical attractiveness. First, they replicate some previous findings regarding the determinants of female physical attractiveness using a larger, more diverse, and more ecologically valid set of stimuli than has been studied before. Second, they provide needed evidence that some of those determinants of female beauty affect interpersonal behaviors as well as attractiveness ratings. Finally, they indicate that some determinants of female physical attractiveness do not have the same effects on overt interpersonal behavior (such as tipping) that they have on attractiveness ratings. This latter contribution highlights the need for more ecologically valid tests of evolutionary theories about the determinants and consequences of female beauty.
Released last Friday, Playboy’s 2010 Top 10 Party Schools list dubbed UCSB the eighth wildest campus in the country. With plenty of beach access, a socially active student body and the healthy party scene in Isla Vista, UCSB made it back onto the list after several years of being excluded. UCSB was last ranked in the top 10 in 2006, when Playboy put the university at number two.SB Rises in Playboy Party Ranking
According to Playboy’s junior publicist Steve Mazeika, a thriving social presence, location, atmosphere, nightlife and even academics were taken into account for the formulation of their rankings.
“We consider a lot of different things,” Mazeika said. “Basically, we’re looking for a place that someone who wants to live the Playboy lifestyle would want to go to school. It has to be the full package.”
Additionally, Mazeika said in order to represent an accurate general opinion, Playboy’s editors base their rankings on a variety of sources, including responses from online voters, student readers and campus representatives.
This year, the University of Texas at Austin took the title as the top party school in the country.
Though many are glad to see UCSB back in action on the list, not everyone is thrilled about the “Playboy lifestyle” UCSB supposedly caters to.
Vice Chancellor Michael Young said many negative connotations come with being ranked one of the nation’s top party schools, and this ranking may drive away qualified students who feel they would be better suited at a more disciplined university.
“Despite records to the contrary, people want to continue to say we’re a party school, even with the presence of five Nobel Prize winners and outstanding academics,” Young said. “But our statistics will speak for themselves, and students need to remember that this list distracts people from what is important.”
Clayton Carlson, Associated Students external vice president of local affairs, said now is not the time for UCSB to be getting more risqué publicity.
“This list ties back to events like Floatopia — the publicity around Floatopia was not good,” Carlson said. “And it seems like bad stereotypes of our school just keep getting perpetuated. Playboy has the power to affect so many people and I think that this list may push possible candidates for the school away. ”
Jake Wiskel, a second-year business-economics major, said it’s all about finding a balance between the crazy I.V. parties and the prestigious academics that make the school what it is.
“People party pretty fucking hard at UCSB so it’s not surprising that we’re on the list,” Wiskel said. “But the partying isn’t what defines UCSB, it’s what enriches the environment.”
In addition, UCSB has consistently been featured on the Princeton Review’s Top 20 Party Schools list. While the two lists have no connection and apparently operate based on different criteria — Princeton Review ranked Penn State as top party school of 2010 — both publications agree on UCSB’s party factor.
Young said in the end, it comes down to the UCSB community to uphold the campus’s academic status.
“It’s about individual responsibility and personal choice,” Young said. “If we all operate in the way we want it to be, it will be that way.”
Similarly, Carlson added that maintaining a balance between work and play is necessary for the university’s integrity.
“I think it comes back to being a good member of the community and proving to people that we as students at UCSB can go out and party but still get our stuff done,” Carlson said.
UCSB was the only California college or university on this list, but the Playboy top 10 did also mention Chico saying that “Chico State may get a touch higher, but UCSB grads go on to do great things after their six years in college.” Most do not know that UCSB has 5 Nobel Prize winners on the faculty, which might be why Playboy called the college the “Harvard of Santa Barbara.”
UCSB and the town of Isla Vista is also well known for their massive Halloween party every year that fills up the entire town. It is no wonder that so many people apply each year for UCSB, and other California colleges in the region near the beach. There are not many schools like UCSB in California which have such strong academics, and a great atmosphere for partying
If you're like me who likes to upload photos to Flickr, and then post them onto forum boards, this is for you.Parka Blogs: BBCode Generator for Flickr
This Firefox plugin will generate the BBCode for your Flickr photo. Most forum uses BBCode.
1. You'll need to have Firefox web browser. The download link for that is on the right most column at the bottom.
2. After you've installed Firefox, visit Greasemonkey plugin to install Greasemonkey.Greasemonkey is needed for you to install the BBCode generator.
3. Next visit userscripts.org to look for a "Install this script" button. Click on it.
4. Greasemonkey will install the script necessary to generate the BBCode.
5. Then from your Firefox menu bar, go to Tools->Greasemonkey->Manage User Scripts...
Under your included pages, add http://*flickr.com/photos/*/*/sizes/*/
6. You're done. Next time you visit the Flickr photo page where all your photos are shown in different sizes, you'll get a form box with the BBCode ready for you to copy.