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Connecticut Voting on Marijuana Legalization Today

Since they are voting on legalization on 4/20 is the outcome of the vote a bit predetermined?

Update 4/26/2012: Yup, it passed.

The House of Representatives voted late Wednesday night to legalize marijuana for medical purposes for adults — despite a letter from the state’s top federal prosecutor saying that those growing marijuana would be violating federal law.

The vote was 96-51 in favor.

Patients would be required to receive a prescription from a physician to receive marijuana to relieve pain from illnesses such as cancer, glaucoma, HIV and multiple sclerosis. The bill would allow some producers to cultivate and grow the marijuana, and licensed pharmacists could provide the marijuana to patients. Patients would need to requalify every year in order to keep smoking medical marijuana.

[Source, Hartford Connecticut Courant, House Approves Legalization Of Medical Marijuana]

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Which camera for a week in the canyons? Olypmus Tough or GoPro?

Five adults are planning on accompanying five boys scouts into the wilderness of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. We will be cut off from the rest of the world for nine days; that is no Internet, no cell phone. In preparation, I have to decide what gear is essential. I love photography and I love timelapse video. My inclination is to make a video documentary of our trip which has me leaning toward the GoPro2 Outdoor Edition The GoPro would give me the ability to take some photography (but not with the composition of a point and shoot or dslr), film video, and film timelapse. Naturally, power and storage space become issues. A more practical solution may be the Olympus TG-810 Tough 14 MP, 5x Wide Optical Zoom (28mm), 3″ 920K LCD (Black). The built-in GPS drains the batteries; however, it would be very nice to be able to map our trip in photographs upon our return. I could also film video and technically could do timelapse also. See specs at DPReview.

How would you decide between these two cameras?


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Parenting – Giving the World to our Children Just Isn’t in the Budget

As a parent, I maintain an uncomfortable level of stress over family finances. I constantly think about my family’s health and the related expenses (forecasting braces, emergencies, regular checkups, etc.), education (saving for college, extracurriculars, making sure there are funds for participation in activities and providing necessary supplies – n.b. public education is far from free!, home schooling to supplement school teaching, family field trips, etc.), our bills (housing, utilities, etc), entertainment (for a balanced life, vacations – a rarity, toys, etc), food, maintenance, transportation….the list goes on and turns my stomach to think about the gross amount of money it takes to maintain a healthy and well-balanced family. I remember the very first time I held a $100 bill; it was so much money and seemed so unreal. Now, it feels like I regularly burn Ben Franklins.

One of the painful aspects of being a parent is realizing the opportunities presented to your children which they have to forego due to financial reasons. I regret not flying to Germany to watch The Wall being torn down during a Pink Floyd performance but I knew the sacrifices I would have made to make that trip and as a young adult I could accept those. A young child gets their hopes and dreams set on something like a camping trip and simply does not have the means to understand why we have to say no. Teenagers better understand but it still pains me to shoot them down.

So I stare at my calendar. An imaginary glow illuminates the critical dates where income appears in the bank and the due dates where bills suck the accounts dry. I see the dates of an 11 day hiking trip I scheduled with my son and his scout troop and ask myself, "will the family understand eating Ramen noodles for a month to make this trip happen?" Then the phone rings, "There’s an opening on this year’s Philmont trip. It’s the last time our district will send a contingent making this a once in a lifetime opportunity for your son. The cost is $2000 plus personal expenses." My heart sinks to my toes.

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From the mouths of babes

N.b. I’m on blood pressure medicine now and my cholesterol is high so I’m supposed to be exercising and dieting.

Too many errands during lunch so I splurge and go into McDonald’s as the drive-thru line was far too long.

Me: "Um.. I’ll have a quarter…wait.." I point at the picture of a grilled chicken sandwich. "My doctor would like me to eat that. But I really want a quarter pounder with cheese meal please."
Ladies behind me: Laughter.
Me, turning toward them and seeing that they are nurses from Park West Hospital: "Shhhh. Don’t tell the doc."
Ladies: "That’ll cost you a fry."
Cashier: "I guess we won’t be supersizing that then."

Thank you world for looking out for me!

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My best friends: me, myself and I

I talk to my computer. It responds better when I do. My friends and family look at me sideways and pause to make sure I’m not addressing them; I’m talking to myself. Aloud. With purpose. They ask, "are you feeling okay?" They think, "he’s flown over the cuckoo’s nest!" Now, I’m vindicated!

In a recent study published in Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, psychologists Gary Lupyan (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Daniel Swingley (University of Pennsylvania) conducted a series of experiments to discover whether talking to oneself can help when searching for particular objects. … It was found that speaking to themselves helped people find the objects more quickly.

[Source, Science Daily, It Doesn’t Mean You’re Crazy – Talking to Yourself Has Cognitive Benefits, Study Finds]
[Derived from Source, AlphaGalileo Foundation, It Doesn’t Mean You’re Crazy – Talking To Yourself Has Cognitive Benefits, Study Finds]
[Original Source, Taylor & Francis Group, The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology – Self-directed speech affects visual search performance]