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Singer Miguel Wished He Had Weed During This Interview

Brendan Bures
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Singer Miguel Wished He Had Weed During This Interview

Celebrities aren’t hiding anymore. Thanks to widespread cannabis legal reform, as well as the massive public support marijuana currently generates, everyone feels more comfortable openly discussing their marijuana usage. Some celebs are very active in the cannabis space while other are just active users. Apparently that also includes Miguel, who lamented in a recent Billboard interview that he didn’t have any marijuana on him.

“Damn—I should’ve brought the weed with me,” Miguel said.

Now it wouldn’t be truly Miguel if it weren’t for a few details. The R&B singer told Billboard this two days before his birthday, “staring out at the rows of yachts moored by the waterfront patio of the Marina del Rey Ritz-Carlton in Los Angeles,” while munching on some avocado toast and sipping an almond-milk latte.

But more revealing is Miguel’s change in musical approach. Known for producing sexy, baby-making music, with songs like “Quickie” and “Pussy Is Mine,” the singer is becoming “woke,” as Billboard decided to describe it.

Via Billboard:

After building his career — which includes two No. 1s on the Hot R&B/HipHop Albums charts, 2015’s Wildheart and 2012’s Kaleidoscope Dream — on songs about lust, love and lechery, Miguel has gradually been putting his political beliefs more front and center, starting with the Black Lives Matter tribute “How Many” he dropped on SoundCloud in July 2016. On War & Leisure, due later this year, his focus is still on the bedroom, but the music is threaded with a subtle yet undeniable subtext: Donald Trump and the dystopia he’s ushering in.

So Miguel smokes weed and doesn’t like Trump. Yep, guess that means he’s woke.

This Cool Dad Built Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley For His Kids

Brendan Bures
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This Cool Dad Built Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley For His Kids

It’s safe to assume this man has won Father of the Year. Two or so weeks before Halloween, Seattle dad Jon Chambers quits his job to build something for his daughters and community. It was something straight out of the movies—literally.

Thanks to a little inspiration from his daughters, Chambers built a replica-size Diagon Alley, famous from Harry Potter, the London shopping district wizards and witches access behind a brick wall of the Leaky Cauldron pub. Most of the Harry Potter stories feature Diagon Alley and is a major access point for all the characters.

“I’ve always wanted to do something massive for Halloween or Christmas,” Chambers told GeekWire earlier last week amidst the alley’s construction. “I was born the day before Halloween, and October is like my power month. So I decided to quit my job and focus on this crazy thing.”

Chambers was formerly a creative director in the tech world, and also previously worked in construction, so he really was the perfect man for the job. His Diagon Alley features six storefronts like Ollivanders Wand Shop and cost a few grand to build.

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But the costs went down as more and more members of the community started pitching in, donating resources or time to help the project. Diagon Alley will stand through the New Year, with possibly some new additions, and will help fundraise for local cancer charities.

“People were floored, elated and genuinely in awe of what we all created in the short period it was under construction,” Chambers told Mashable. “The number one comment I received last night was ‘Thank you for doing this for a community.’ It is a good news story in the middle of a lot of depressing ones currently.”

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Scientists Just Discovered A ‘Massive Void’ Inside The Pyramid Of Giza

Maria Loreto
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Scientists Just Discovered A ‘Massive Void’ Inside The Pyramid Of Giza

The pyramid of Giza is the largest pyramid in Egypt. Historians and experts believe it was built around 2560 BC in honor of the pharaoh Khufu. It’s 2017, and experts on the matter only just discovered that there’s a massive void within the pyramid that’s as large as an NBA basketball court. What does that say about our detective skills?

Pyramids have long been the source of interest and study for us, being mysterious and dark and providing us with curiosity, wonder, and a million of hidden possibilities. Since the 60’s researchers and historians have used different kinds of imaging technologies to map the insides of the pyramids. The Huffington Post reports that Muon imaging was the technology responsible for uncovering the hidden chamber within Giza, located just on top of the Grand Gallery as a way of relieving weight. That’s what researchers think at least. The Grand Gallery was discovered a long time ago, and it’s a passageway between the King’s and the Queen’s Chambers, which has no murals or decorations whatsoever.  

The discovery of this ancient, vast, and empty space was achieved by the collaboration of Scan Pyramids project and physicists from Japan and France, who placed detectors and monitored the pyramid’s activity for several months. These advances in technology suggest that we’ll soon discover more things regarding pyramids, which is as exciting as it is scary. We’ve seen The Mummy and we’re not all that thrilled to discover other massive voids in ancient and magical places.

Big Winners Of The Election: Democrats, Diversity And Marijuana

Terry Hacienda
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Big Winners Of The Election: Democrats, Diversity And Marijuana

If you pay much attention to news headlines and cable news chatter, you know that it was a big night for Democrats and diversity candidates. Election Day 2017 was also a huge success for marijuana reform.

On the five year anniversary of the first two states — Colorado and Washington — voting to legalize recreational cannabis, marijuana advocates celebrated a new wave of election results that should give the legalization movement added momentum. The two most significant headlines were gubernatorial election results in New Jersey and Virginia, where cannabis-friendly Democratic candidates sailed to victories.

New Jersey Closer To Legalization

In New Jersey, Democratic candidate Phil Murphy won convincingly, replacing Chris Christie, one of the nation’s most vocal opponents of marijuana. Murphy’s campaign emphasized his support of legalizing the herb. In his Tuesday night victory speech, he declared:

“The criminalization of marijuana has only served to clog our courts and cloud people’s futures, so we will legalize marijuana. And while there are financial benefits, this is overwhelmingly about doing what is right and just.”

A Victory For Social Justice In Virginia

In Virginia, Democrat Ralph Northam defeated Republican opponent Ed Gillespie, who received support from President Donald Trump throughout the campaign. Although Northam is not a backer of recreational legalization, he has been outspoken for his desire to decriminalize cannabis.

Earlier this year, called for expanding the state’s medical marijuana program and decriminalizing the herb:

“We need to change sentencing laws that disproportionately hurt people of color. One of the best ways to do this is to decriminalize marijuana. African Americans are 2.8 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession in Virginia. The Commonwealth spends more than $67 million on marijuana enforcement — money that could be better spent on rehabilitation.”

Here are some of the other election results that will have a bearing on marijuana reform laws:

Detroit Relaxes Medical Marijuana Rules

In Michigan’s largest city, votes agreed to ease restrictions on medical marijuana facilities, making it easier for dispensaries to open and operate in the city.

City In Ohio Removes Penalties For Possession, Growing

Voters in the college town of Athens, Ohio, overwhelmingly decided to eliminate all penalties for possessing, cultivating, and gifting of up to 200 grams of marijuana. More than three quarters of the voters agreed with the proposal.

What Kind Of Baller Thanksgiving Meal Can $527 Buy?

Maria Loreto
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What Kind Of Baller Thanksgiving Meal Can $527 Buy?

Thanksgiving is very busy, we get it. Sometimes you can’t fit in the time to cook, especially if you’re hosting a dinner and have to get your house ready for family members. Maybe you don’t like cooking, or are bad at it, that’s okay. Neiman Marcus doesn’t care about the reasons why you might not be cooking, they just want to provide a fancy solution in the comfort of your home.

The full price of their Thanksgiving dinner for eight people is 527 dollars, including shipping. The meal includes eight 4-ounce servings of roasted turkey, gravy, sausage stuffing, sweet potato casserole, monkey bread, strawberry butter, pecan bread pudding, whisky sauce and more. As you can tell, this meal is made by professional people, not amateurs, which is great for impressing your guests and family members.

While the meal is pretty pricey, everything is sort of cooked for you, so you really don’t have to do much. You do have to roast the turkey, thaw the gravy, and heat some things up.

It’s a steep price, but it’s kind of like eating out at a restaurant, only a little cheaper and in the comfort of your home, where you can get drunk and no one can say a thing about it. You can also have a food coma at your dining table. All is fair on Thanksgiving.

You can order the full meal and some other Thanksgiving options on their website.

Low Calorie Thanksgiving Cocktails

Maria Loreto
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Low Calorie Thanksgiving Cocktails

There are few things more caloric than cocktails. The more delicious and fruity the drink is, the more sugar it has and the worse it is for your weight. These sugary drinks give terrible hangovers and are also super easy to drink, making you get drunk much faster than with other types of (boring) alcohol.

The Fresh Toast – With the Thanksgiving meal, here are low calorie Thanksgiving cocktails to give your waist line a break and your mouth a treat

Luckily, the world is obsessed with being fit and healthy right now, which means that talented bartenders from all over the world are coming up with delicious drinks that are low on calories, and that you can consume without feeling guilty afterwards. These drinks use liquors such as Vermouth and Lillet which have lower calories than other options and that won’t sneak up on you and leave you vomiting in the corner of the bar. The following drinks have manageable levels of alcohol, low calories, and are super delicious, check them out:

Aperol Spritz

Related: Why You Should Consider Adding Golden Milk To Your Diet

This recipe is from Aperol.com, claiming to be the original Italian recipe of the famous aperitif. With a fruity and aromatic flavor, this low strength cocktail is bound to become a favorite at work dinners and places where you want to look like a person who has their shit together.

Ingredients:

  • 3 Parts of Prosecco
  • 2 Parts of Aperol
  • 1 Splash of Soda

Prep:

Add ice into a glass and pour the Prosecco, the Aperol and the splash of Soda. Top the drink with a slice of orange that’ll bring out the fruitiness of the drink.

Bacio Di Rosa

 

A post shared by LILT Lounge (@liltlounge) on

This recipe is from Popugar.com and it’s perfect for a hot and summery day or for a classy drink during the daytime.

Ingredients:

  • “>1 1/2 ounces Cocchi Americano Rosa
  • 1/2 ounce thyme-lemon syrupn>
  • >3 ounces soda water

Prep:

First, you have to make the thyme-lemon syrup by bringing three cups of water to a boil and adding the zest of 1 lemon. Add thyme and take the water off the heat, letting it rest for 10 minutes. Add 3 cups of sugar and stir.

After the cooking part is done, add the Cocchi Americano Ropan>sa and the thyme-lemon syrup onto a glass, then top with ice and soda. For garnishing, you can add a lemon peel.

Vodka Soda

 

A post shared by Stephen Kurpinsky (@sjberto) on

This cool and refreshing recipe is from Liquor.com, and it has a strong level of alcohol with very few calories, making it a great drink of choice.

Ingredients:

  • “>/span>;” data-mce-style=”font-weight: 400;”>2 oz. of Vodka
  • -mce-style=”font-weight: 40pan>0;”>1 Squeeze of lemon
  • Soda to top >

Prep:

>In a tall glass, add the vodka, fill with ice and top with Soda. Add a squeeze of lemon and garnish with a lemon peel.

The Surprising Reason Many Teenagers Aren’t Smoking Marijuana

Amy Hansen
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The Surprising Reason Many Teenagers Aren’t Smoking Marijuana

It seems pot has fallen out of favor with teenagers. Why? Because they’re smoking less of everything, tobacco included.

That’s according to a new study that spent 25 years monitoring more than a million teens (1991 to 2016). Findings are somewhat of a paradox. Researchers discovered that while teens who consider marijuana safe are more likely to do the drug, they weren’t indulging.

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The reason is a fairly simple one. Teenagers today are less inclined to smoke cigarettes (or drink alcohol, for that matter), which is an indicator of whether or not they’re likely to pick up a joint. Not smoking cigarettes is conducive to not smoking cannabis. In fact, the number of teenagers interested in smoking and drinking is steadily declining. 

Richard Miech, a research professor at the University of Michigan who led the study, found that a decline in adolescent cigarette and alcohol use over the past decade has brought marijuana prevalence to “historic lows.” That reasoning seems to explain why the use of marijuana isn’t accelerating even though more teenagers consider it a harmless drug. 

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According to the study, “researchers posit that youth who do not use cigarettes or drink alcohol are less likely to experience associated processes that promote marijuana use, such as exposure to drug-using peer networks and the ‘priming’ of the brain’s reward system for substance use.”

Miech tells Medical Express:

I think a big message of this study is that policies and interventions that reduce teen smoking seem to have the added benefit of reducing teen marijuana use.

But again, teens who believe pot is harmless are still more likely to use it. And that number hasn’t changed much over the past decade; the percentage of high school seniors who’ve smoked marijuana continues to hover around 30-percent.

Dr. Nicholas Chadi, a pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist at Boston Children’s Hospital, tells Medical Express “Marijuana is harmful to the developing adolescent brain” and is more likely to become a gateway drug for teenagers who use it.

Conclusion: Perceived risk of marijuana remains tightly associated with use, and adolescent marijuana prevalence today would be at or near record highs if cigarette use had not declined since 2005,

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Gossip: Kelly Clarkson Thought She Was Asexual; Kevin Spacey In Hiding

Naughty Gossip
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Gossip: Kelly Clarkson Thought She Was Asexual; Kevin Spacey In Hiding

Five years and two kids later and they’re still going strong.

During a private show for SiriusXM listeners at the Highline Ballroom in New York City Friday, the 35-year-old Grammy winner revealed to the crowd that Blackstock was the first man that gave her that feeling inside.

“This isn’t a downer to anybody I dated before him, but I’m just going to be real: I never felt like, honesty, sexually attracted to anybody before him,” Clarkson confessed. “And I’m not downing my exes. You know, everybody’s different. But there was something about him.”

“I honestly thought I was asexual — I’d never been turned on like that in my whole life,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh that’s that feeling… okay! That’s what they were talking about in Waiting to Exhale.’ I just got it. I just didn’t have a clue.”

She first saw him 2006 when he was married and felt a spark but didn’t talk to him until 2012
“Literally, I’m not joking, he walked past us at that time [in 2006] And he walked by, I was like, ready to take it all off. I just felt something.”

“We didn’t really know each other; I had just met him that one time,” Clarkson recalled. “Just from that one time, even six years later, I had never really dated anyone. I honest to God thought, ‘Is this what it’s like to be asexual?’ I was just not attracted to people.”

“We didn’t even know each other, but he had walked past me once and there was a moment in my crazy head,” she said. “He thought I hated him, too. When I finally confessed that, ‘I really dig you,’ He was so shocked because he thought I hated him. I hadn’t let on that I liked him. Inside I was like, ‘Ask me out!’ but outside I was like, ‘I love being single and coming home every night alone. It’s awesome.’

“It’s a hard thing to find that feeling,’ she said. “I always tell [Savannah, her 16 year-old stepdaughter], ‘Wait it out. Wait until you get those goosebumps.’ Because if it’s not, it’s not worth it.”

Kevin Spacey In Hiding

Kevin Spacey has gone silent on some of his closest friends following allegations of sexual misconduct, a source tells ET.

“He has not been communicating with people in his inner circle since,” our source says. “He’s been MIA, even from those closest to him. He realizes how terrible this is and he knows the chances of him getting good work in this town again are very slim.”

Love the fresh dirt we bring over daily from Naughty Gossip? Let us know in the comments!

Lyft Wants To Keep Coloradans From Driving While High

Terry Hacienda
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Lyft Wants To Keep Coloradans From Driving While High

The Colorado Department of Transportation is teaming up with rideshare service Lyft and a marijuana industry group to promote sober driving.

Starting this month, marijuana users in Colorado will be offered discounted Lyft rides as part of the 320 Movement’s initiative to plan for a ride before getting high. The Marijuana Industry Group (MIG) will partner with CDOT and Lyft.

Through April 2018, the 320 Movement is providing monthly discounted Lyft rides to marijuana users and will send users to 320movement.com to obtain the discounts and learn about the dangers of driving high.

According to the Colorado State Patrol, 17 percent DUI arrests in 2017 involved marijuana. In Colorado, a DUI can cost you more than $13,500, in addition to jail time.

“Despite the fact that marijuana impairs judgement, coordination, decision-making and reaction time, an alarming number of users – 55 percent – still believe that it is safe to drive under the influence of marijuana,” said Sam Cole, CDOT’s traffic safety communications manager. “We have partnered with Lyft and MIG in an effort to combat this belief while also providing marijuana users with a safe ride, so they don’t even have to consider driving high.”

CDOT and Lyft launched the 320 Movement in March 2017, a month before Denver’s Civic Center Park’s celebration of cannabis culture on April 20 to remind the tens of thousands of people expected to attend to plan for a safe ride first. The goal? To make 320 as well known as 420. The spring 320 Movement push included free and discounted Lyft rides throughout the month of April. In total, 3,800 Lyft discount codes were retrieved with nearly 1,200 being redeemed.

“Marijuana Industry Group is proud to continue this important partnership with CDOT and Lyft and to help extend the 320 Movement rideshare program, the first of its kind,” said Kristi Kelly, executive director of MIG. “Our ask is simple: If you choose to legally consume cannabis, plan ahead and don’t get behind the wheel. The 320 Movement is important, because we are offering an easy alternative to driving, and discounted rides make it even easier. The reduction of impaired driving is a shared priority, and state government and Colorado’s cannabis industry are united in their ongoing commitment to raising awareness of, and reducing the incidence of, any impairment while driving.”

As part of the 320 Movement continuation campaign, CDOT will deliver toolkits to 125 Colorado dispensaries to encourage them to promote marijuana safety information and the discounted Lyft ride codes to their customers. The toolkits include window clings and postcards for dispensaries to display and distribute, as well as social media assets and suggested captions and hashtags for Facebook and Instagram. Catchy messaging, such as “Puff, puff, pass the driving to Lyft” and “If you load it, CDOT will help you Lyft it,” aims to resonate with marijuana users and raise awareness of the alternatives to driving high.

CDOT’s partnership with Lyft and MIG is part of their Drive High, Get a DUI campaign, which aims to educate drivers about the dangers of driving under the influence of marijuana with the goal of reducing the number of drug-related DUIs, traffic crashes and fatalities. For more information on marijuana impaired driving, visit the CDOT website.

Phil Murphy Elected NJ Governor, Cannabis Advocates Rejoice

Mary Schumacher
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Phil Murphy Elected NJ Governor, Cannabis Advocates Rejoice

Last night, as the election results started coming in, New Jerseyites weren’t exactly on the edges of their seats – Phil Murphy was the projected winner before the polls even closed – but when he did win, this reporter let out a yelp, for it was an enormous win for the Garden State, which yes, is set to become a lot more green.

During his primary, marijuana was one of Murphy’s main talking points and he promised to sign in legalization for New Jersey within his first 100 days in office. In fact, he said he’d sign a legalization bill the second it hit his desk.

Experts are saying this win means it’s “full steam ahead” for cannabis legalization and cultivation in Jersey. Stephen Sweeney (D), State Senate President, who is in control of the bills the 40 person Senate votes on, stated that it is his goal to get the legislation passed within Murphy’s first 100 days.

Senator Nicholas Scutari had said previously that “it would be a waste” to have another hearing on the subject while Chris Christie was in office. Christie has been known to akin pot to opioids, thinks they exacerbate opiate use and called legalizing pot, “beyond stupidity.”

Chris Christie will exit his office on January 16 the least popular governor in U.S. history. Now he can sun himself all he wants and if there is a traffic jam, he won’t have had his sticky fingers in it.

But back on the bright side, Scutari also said, “The election of Phil Murphy gets us a giant step closer. Without him, I don’t know where we would be. He has a 100 percent commitment to [legalization].”

And that’s just what New Jersey needs. Murphy looks at the big picture of an estimated $300 million dollars in tax revenues and sees school funding and public workers’ pensions, not reefer madness or drug war tales.

The original cannabis bill that was to roll out has been cryptically changed to make “improvements,” said Scutari. One known change is that home cultivation will not be allowed. Instead, they hope to build a robust economy via commerce and economic opportunities.

Scutari continued that he hopes to implement factors into the bill that assure minority communities that have been disproportionately affected via arrests, incarceration and harassment have a fair share of the profits to come.

“I’m still trying to figure out how to deal with it. After tonight, I will,” he said, having had the satisfaction of watching his candidate win in a landslide.

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