Wednesday, November 5, 2014

taught by experts



Marijuana is on a march, winning more midterm elections than the Democrats.


Only in Florida did pot fail to pass. 

57% of the voters there said yes, but the ballot initiative needed 60% and thus fell three percentage points short. 

postcardsfromtheright.com

But Washington D.C. wasn’t even close with 70% of the voters saying yes to 2 ounces of possession, yes to as many as six plants at home and yes to gifting a 27gram lid to your pals. 


alexparkinson34.files

Selling it still remains illegal there, 
so give it, 
don’t sell it and you’re cool.



South Portland, Maine, also went with the potheads, legalizing up to a full ounce as long as you toke it up in private.


Guam went with medical, joining 23 American states that permit a buzz when you feel poorly and your Doctor agrees.

weedsmokersguide.com

The big winners were Oregon and Alaska, where voters went way past just medical or possession.

oregonlive.com

54% of Oregon voters created this countries third legal marketplace, after Colorado and Washington in 2012. 

52% in Alaska agreed.


Now 21’s and over in both states can grow it, possess it, sell it and the state liquor agency will figure out the rules and regulations.

yahoonews

yahoonews

Now 18 states have decriminalized weed, and 23 states allow it as medication.

yahoonews

Of course, I’ve never touched the stuff, myself.




Tuesday, November 4, 2014

fall in the Garden State

from our New Jersey correspondent

yelp yourself to good reviews



San Francisco-based YELP got a big break from the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals the other day.


uanews.org

The court ruled unanimously it was legal to favor restaurants who purchased advertising, and to pan any restaurant who refused.



YELP reviews are based on coerced payment.


Not on food or atmosphere or service.


Going digital did not level the playing field in food service.

At least now we know.

customercare.com

Monday, November 3, 2014

I don’t always drink small batch, artisanal whiskys



But when I do, I head out to Long Island’s north fork.


Truth be told, this was supposed to be a bus-chauffeured,
 wine tasting tour.


If you’re gonna drink wine on a cold rainy day, 
might as well sleep it off in a bus!


Right?

The first stop was Jason’s Vineyards. 
About 2 hours east of Manhattan.


Beautiful landscape but it was just okay, and kinda felt like a money machine.


Probably had no choice considering the investment.

I pressed on, to Duckwalk Vineyards.

This place was huge, another tourist trap.





Again, the wine was just so-so but I enjoyed a young and enthusiastic host.

Plus I was pleasantly buzzed by now. :-D 

Time to go!

But then things took a turn for the worse.

The rain grew harder, the winds went crazy and the next place we rode to, incredibly, was a tent.


Wut?


Cold, wet, windy, I was outta there.

The bus driver told me about a whisky place just down the road and I found it!
Long Island Spirits, in Baiting Hollow, New York.


Homemade liquor! 
In copper stills and charred oak barrels.



Their Pine Barrens single malt is made in small batches, then aged for about a year to 18 months.



Very tasty.

I bought a bottle from batch #12...


...then rode quietly home, back to the city in a warm and dry, alcoholic haze.


Kudos to our driver on wet highways.


Stay thirsty, my friends.


Happy Monday!

Sunday, November 2, 2014

waxing nostalgic



“Get ‘em young” as the saying goes, 
and so doctrine like these crayons are routine 
throughout the South.


But the Orange County, Florida Public School system might think twice before choosing sides again, in a freedom of religion request.


Last year they gave the green light to “World Changers of Florida”, to pass out Bibles to the Orange County children.

efibishopsblog.files

But now New York-based “Satanic Temple” has used that same permission to gain similar access to the students.


Except this time they are handing out the devil’s coloring book. 


The book explicitly features Satanic symbols and...


...a whole range of devilish encouragements.


Said Temple co-founder Lucien Greaves:


Their goal is to highlight the hypocrisy and denounce favoritism to Judeo-Christianity in America, over equally lawful--but unpopular--belief systems.

Probably won’t be long before Orange County wishes they’d been more careful with their approvals.