Adult Swim's FarmVille parody, Hemp Tycoon, crops up on Facebook

by Libe Goad,
Source: blog.games.com


Adult Swim has been busy taking its popular games and putting them on Facebook. The latest to make the jump is the FarmVille parody Hemp Tycoon, where -- you guessed it -- you grow hemp, sell it and then use your earnings to build up your business. 

The original version of the game came out sometime last year, but it has now been updated with a new questing system as well as more seeds, grow locations, decorations, boosts and fertilizers. Oh yeah, and you can bug your Facebook friends to send you fertilizer, decorations and other in-game items as well. 

Hemp Tycoon arrives on Facebook today and dares to go where FarmVille never will (but games like Pot Farm and Weeds have -- who knew pot farming would be an overcrowded Facebook game genre?)

Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan wears hemp suit in the Dáil

Source: thejournal.ie

Luke 'Ming' Flanagan (top right) wearing the hemp suit in the Dáil this morning

LUKE ‘MING’ FLANAGAN wore a Louis Copeland suit made out of hemp in the Dáil chamber this morning to highlight the 10 year anniversary of his campaign to have cannabis legalised.

A spokesperson for Louis Copeland confirmed that it was the first time the high-end tailor had created a suit made out of hemp.

Speaking to theJournal.ie, the TD for Roscommon-Leitrim South said that he had bought the material outside of Ireland but that the suit had been made in Dublin. “If I could have purchased it here, I would have,” he said.

The hemp suit is “very comfortable, excellent material, and it’ll be my attire for many an occasion from now on,” said the TD.

Flanagan said that it is ten years since he posted joints to journalists and members of the Oireachtas as part of a National Legalise Cannabis Day – but that little has changed.

“In the 10 years that have passed, it is estimated that €7.5 billion has ended up in the pockets of the kind of people who had Veronica Guerin killed. 60,000 people have ended up with a criminal record and for what? What was the goal?”

“The idea was to reduce usage – that hasn’t happened. It was supposed to make life safer for people – that hasn’t happened”.

Flanagan emphasised the specific issue of cannabis being sold with adulterated substances which are seriously harmful to the health of the user,  noting that silicon, crushed up car tyres and “God knows what” is being added to cannabis. “Someone found dealing the substance with these adulterants in it should receive a stricter sentence”, he said.

Flanagan, who gave up smoking cannabis several years ago, said that the best way to guarantee that people know what kind of cannabis they have is to legalise it.

Flanagan will be modelling the suit at a fashion in show in Dún Laoghaire on Thursday evening in aid of the National Maritime Museum of Ireland. Fellow independent TDs Mick Wallace and Richard  Boyd-Barrett will also be taking part in the show.

The Bag Lady

By Betsy Brint
Source: glenview.patch.com

Confessions from a reusable bag junkie.

I am a reusable bag junkie. 

You say “BYOB,” and I bring my own bag. The store clerks ask, “paper or plastic?” I smugly reply, “neither.” You see me strut into the grocery store toting totes filled with totes. What you don’t see is my obsession.

I didn’t just jump on the reusable-bag bandwagon – I leapt. My addiction began with a simple, unbleached organic cotton model. Sleek in style with sturdy handles. No logos, no patterns, no nonsense. I liked how it felt walking through the supermarket parking lot carrying my empty bags, knowing people were looking at me wishing they had thought to bring their own. But they weren’t green enough, together enough, hip enough… not like me.

Then one day, only weeks after my original reusable bag purchase, I saw a better model. It stared at me in the Whole Foods checkout line. It was lighter weight and made of a hemp weave. Artistically highlighted with a vegetable dye stripe in a muted shade of eggplant. “Fair trade” whispered to me from the cloth label. 

I bought five.

No longer needing the organic cotton bags, they found their way into my husband’s trunk, thus alleviating my guilt, and I switched to the hemp weave. 

Stores began enticing me with incentives to arrive bag-in-hand. At Trader Joes I could win hundreds of dollars in free groceries and at Sunset Foods they donate five cents to School District 112 for every bag brought in. Bags, bags, I needed more bags.

It wasn’t long before the hemp weave bags were loaded into my son’s car, making room in my life for a full set of sturdy bags made from recycled plastic bottles. I fooled myself into believing they were better for carrying milk. Until I saw the insulated reusable bags. I needed two: one would keep my milk cold and my ice cream frozen while another would ensure a warm roasted chicken for dinner. I had to have them! 

Soon the recycled bottle bags were relocated to a dusty existence on a shelf in my garage. They were joined by carry-alls sent by The World Wildlife Fund (along with some return address labels) because I made a five dollar donation back in 1989. Bags from golf outings, walk-a-thons, Free People, Lululemon and Mark Shale began to fill my laundry room shelves. I knew better than to ever throw away a reusable-bag.

The day I realized I truly had a problem was the day my sister showed me her new Michelle Obama “First Lady of Fabulous” bag she had gotten as a gift. I bought twelve.

What was I to do with dozens upon dozens of eco-friendly bags? I was beginning to think maybe I wasn’t as “green” as my intentions.

I hang my head in shame.  And here is what I am going to do about it. I found an organization that will actually recycle the surplus bags and get them in the hands of others. I am going to send my reusable-bags to:

ChicoBag Companyc/o Zero Waste Program
13434 Browns Valley Drive
Chico, CA 95973 

I will keep my “First Lady of Fabulous” bags of course, but then I plan to go cold turkey.  Wait a minute…

I’ll need at least one insulated bag for that.

About this column: Betsy Brint and Sally Higginson are wives, mothers, sisters and friends who host the radio show Walking on Air. A large percentage of the time, Betsy and Sally consider themselves happily married. The remaining small percentage of time makes for lively radio. www.walkingonair.org

Cure for cancer discovered, knowledge repressed

POSTED BY : BY RICK SIMPSON

SOURCE: agoracosmopolitan.com

 

Cannabis sativa hemp, the miracle plant, contains the cure for cancer and other ailments
I have been providing people with Hemp Oil medicines, at no cost, for about three years. The results have been nothing short of amazing. 

Throughout humankind's history hemp has always been known as the most medicinal plant in the world. Even with this knowledge, hemp has always been used as a political and religious football. I want this knowledge out there for everyone to learn! Watch the documentary Run From The Cure to understand more about using cannabis as a cure for cancer and other medical problems!

The current restrictions against hemp were put in place and maintained, not because hemp is evil or harmful, but for big money to make more big money, while we suffer and die needlessly. Look at a proposal such as this; if we were allowed to grow hemp in our back yards and cure our own illnesses, what do you think the reaction of the pharmaceutical industry would be to such a plan?

Many large pharmaceutical companies that still exist today sold hemp based medicines in the 1800's and early 1900's. They knew then what I have recently found out. Hemp oil if produced properly is a cure-all that the pharmaceutical industry can't patent.

To learn more about my and hemp oil, visit www.PhoenixTears.ca and watch the documentary Run From The Cure. Below the posted videos you will find more studies and research about cannabis curing cancer.

Internet site reference: 

http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/5169.html

Source: counterpunch.org

Ron Paul and Industrial Hemp

Let It Grow

by RALPH NADER

Congressman Ron Paul introduced H.R. 1831, the “Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011″ on May 11th of this year. It is a simple bill at just two pages in length, and it would legalize the growing of industrial hemp in the United States.

Currently farmers can grow industrial hemp only if they have received a permit from the DEA – a prospect that the agency has made all but impossible for decades. Otherwise, it is illegal to grow.

Although Rep. Paul has introduced several bills like this one in the past, there are several reasons that this bill should be passed now. Hemp has an amazing number of uses. Its fiber can be used in carpeting, home furnishings, construction materials, auto parts, textiles, and paper. Its seeds can be used in food, industrial oils, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. There are assertions, reported by The Guardian and in Biodiesel Magazine that using industrial hemp in biofuels instead of crops like corn and other feedstock provide greater environmental benefits. The expansion of industrial hemp as a feedstock for biofuels could also help to reduce oil imports.

Not only does hemp have a wide range of uses, but its cultivation in the United States could help to spur our lagging economy. Since the cultivation of hemp is outlawed in the United States, the U.S. market for hemp and hemp-based products is entirely dependent upon imports. A 2010 Congressional Research Service report cited an estimate that the U.S. market for hemp-based products may exceed $350 million annually.

A ban on the agricultural production of hemp simply doesn’t make sense. Farmers in places like Iowa could benefit greatly from the production of industrial hemp. In a crippling recession, unemployed Americans could receive a boost from such an emerging industry, from farm to value-added businesses. And many firms here in the United States that sell hem–based products would reap the benefits.

Currently they import their hemp from places like Canada, China, or France, which can increase their costs from 10 to 15 percent or more. As the only remaining developed nation in which the production of industrial hemp is not permitted, the United States is not only missing out on a large – and growing – global market, but limiting the livelihoods of farmers, processors and fabricators.

Industrial hemp could benefit our environment greatly. A range of studies have shown the benefits: hemp can thrive with minimal – or even without – herbicides, it reinvigorates the soil, and it requires less water than crops like cotton. Furthermore, it could prevent the deforestation of large portions of the U.S. landscape and presents significant benefits compared with wood in the production of paper. Industrial hemp matures in three to four months. It takes years for trees to grow. It can also yield four times as much paper per acre as trees.

Critics of industrial hemp may point to its relation to marijuana in order to claim that if one smokes industrial hemp, they can become high. Although industrial hemp and marijuana share the same species, cannabis sativa, industrial hemp is genetically and chemically different. Industrial hemp, at most, contains one third of 1 percent THC, the drug that produces a psychoactive effect in marijuana. However, marijuana is often between 10 and 30 percent THC. Smoking industrial hemp will not make an individual high.

The DEA will claim that growing industrial hemp next to marijuana may serve to impede law enforcement against the latter. However, countries that have legal cultivation of industrial hemp do not have similar problems. Furthermore, since industrial hemp has such little THC, growing it next to marijuana would only serve to dilute by cross pollinations the illegal marijuana plants – something no marijuana grower wants.

Industrial hemp has a distinguished history in this country dating before the revolution and its founding. The Declaration of Independence was drafted on hemp paper and George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew industrial hemp on their farms. During World War II, hemp was used to make very strong rope and the Department of Agriculture made a film, “Hemp for Victory” to encourage its cultivation.

Despite the importance of this issue, we rarely see it discussed in the headlines or by political candidates. Farmers in Iowa could benefit greatly from the cultivation of industrial hemp. Citizens in Iowa, who have the ear of presidential hopefuls, have an opportunity to move this issue back into the spotlight during the December 10th Republican Presidential Primary debate.

Let’s hope Congressman Paul and his fellow candidates agree that it is time to allow farmers in Iowa and other states to once again start growing industrial hemp.

Jeff Musto of CSRL contributed to this article.

Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer and author of Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!

Marijuana Prohibition ENDS This Nov. 5!

Source: theweedblog.com

Richard Brumfield

Richard Brumfield (newly appointed Chief Clinical Director of  the IAMB/TbT group) and Dr. Rena Stark will be announcing Thursday on ‘Time 4 Hemp – LIVE!” the details surrounding the end of the prohibition of marijuana in the United States. ‘Time 4 Hemp – LIVE’ is broadcast globally through American Freedom Radio and on AM/FM stations Monday – Friday, 1-2p.m. (EST).

Richard Brumfield has stated that cannabis clinical trials will begin November 5, 2011 and he will start working November 7 to add Omega XI Protocols into N.I.D.A and begin stocking inventories of the newly introduced Liquid Cannabis Sativa Medicine: OMEGA XI. Veterans PTSD treatment is to be the first Large population study! He is now seeking doctors and clinical staff to assist him and the  University Of Southern California has been chosen as the Study Research Institution.  FREE DEA HANDLER LICENSES will be given to everyone who joins these studies. STUDIES!

With the blessings of the White House and Vice President Joseph Biden along with support of many organizations such as the National Institute Of Health, R.E.A.D., and NIDA, Richard Brumfield will be overseeing all the legal cannabis production in America.  When asked if this mean that farmers in the United States will finally start growing the world biggest cash crop for medicinal and industrial purposes, Brumfield replied; “With the end of cannabis prohibition,you can bet that we will create millions of jobs across the country and in just a few short months America will be on it’s way to a full economic recovery.”

Richard Brumfield will be sharing all the details when he sits down and takes, ‘Time 4 Hemp – LIVE!‘ with host, Casper Leitch and Joint-Host Paul Stanford.

The pulling power of hemp seed

Source: derbyshiretimes.co.uk

Bucking the current trend of ground baiting with various mixtures and sizes of pellets, I’ve gone back to a tried and tested method that still lands lots of fish, the humble hemp seed.

It’s cheap, easy to prepare and so effective, some fisheries still have it on their ‘banned baits’ list.

You can buy ready prepared hemp seed, cooked in the tin, from all tackle dealers.

There are a quite few variations available, with different added ingredients such as chilli flakes, but quite honestly, the seed alone is good enough.

But it couldn’t be easier to cook your own hemp seed, simply pour the seed into a big pan, cover with water and bring to the boil.

Make sure you don’t let the pan boil dry, as once happened to me late one night, the smell lingers for a very long time and doesn’t win you any ‘brownie points’ from other family members.

Once brought to the boil, simmer until tiny white shoots start to appear from the kernels, then drain the seeds and save the water, its full of flavour and oils, ideal for mixing with brown crumb.

You’ll find the cooked hemp seed has turned from its natural colour to black, with a tiny white shoot appearing from the ‘split’ in the kernel.

It can be bagged up and frozen or ideally, used straight away. The boiling ‘liquor’ will also freeze.

Some of the old angling books say hemp seed can be prepared in a thermos flask, but it’s never worked for me.

Fishing for roach, a little and often approach is best, with just a few grains fed into the swim every put in. When fishing for barbel, I use a bait dropper to get plenty down to the bottom. Check out the Fox bait droppers, they work a treat.

Don’t bother trying to hook the seeds; I use an artificial rubber ‘grain’ available from Enterprise Tackle. But if you do have the patience (and dexterity), pierce the seed with a baiting needle and carefully thread onto the hook. Another method is to superglue a few grains onto a small piece of rubber band and then thread the band onto the hook.