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Buzz Aldrin Says Humans Need To Get Off Earth

Brendan Bures
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Buzz Aldrin Says Humans Need To Get Off Earth

There are two types of people in this world: those who walk on Mars if given the chance, and those who would not. Buzz Aldrin recently helped create a virtual reality experience that will help humans experience what it might be like to walk on Mars, if you’re so inclined.

Buzz Aldrin famously is the second man to walk on the moon. An acclaimed astronaut and engineer, Aldrin has long been a spokesman in explaining humans’ journey into the cosmos. He has dedicated his life to furthering our scientific understanding and inspiring more into a path among the stars.

Aldrin doesn’t want walking on Mars to be limited to a VR program, however. As he stated in an interview with Futurism, he believes that humans should be interested beyond simple exploration.

“One of the things that makes space exploration so exciting is that the possibilities are endless,” he told Futurism. “Mars is the next actionable step for us—we have never been closer to knowing and exploring another planet. Plus, I believe that Mars has realistic potential for colonization.”

That colonization may come sooner than you think. As Aldrin later added, “Now is the time to start thinking seriously about what life on Mars might look like in the future. I believe we can have the first Human Martians at Mars by 2040.”

With worries rising from the scientific community over climate change, a Mars colonization could prove advantageous. Though Aldrin acknowledges not everyone will be able to step on Mars anytime soon, he does hope these VR and AR programs will stimulate national interest in supporting our nautical journeys.

“It is in our nature to explore,” Aldrin said. “We, as a species, are curious and want to see what’s over the next hill, see how fast we can go. It was only 66 years from the point that the Wright brothers flew to us flying rockets to the Moon.”

This Machine Will Tell You How Strong Your Weed Is In One Minute

Brendan Bures
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This Machine Will Tell You How Strong Your Weed Is In One Minute

You don’t have to look hard to notice a connection between the craft beer and the cannabis industries. As each business grows, a sophistication among creators and consumers has taken form. Craft beer enthusiasts don’t just want beer all day every day. They want a smooth, aromatic hefeweizen on a bright summer day or a full-bodied, tasty oatmeal stout on chilly snow night.

What consumers began to grasp is twofold: underneath the surface, the world of beer was robust with multitudes of flavor, and those beers placed drinkers in possibly different moods. These epiphanies led to the craft beer revolution. A similar evolution of thought has been occurring for some time now within cannabis. Those who visit dispensaries and weed shops have preferences to marijuana strains and their effects of usage. In fact, consumers want to understand more about how their product will affect me, down to the science.

That is where one Boston startup hopes to step in. Crafting compact, innovative chemical sensors, 908 Industries has previously specialized in devices that help emergency responders scan for toxins or pharmaceutical companies test the makeups of drugs.

Now 908 Devices is eyeing the world of weed with their newest product, the G908. This small “push-button” mass spectrometer can identify and break down various compounds in cannabis plants.

It is faster, cheaper, and smaller than typical, bulkier equipment used to test marijuana. In addition, the G908 is easier to use, and the developers hope it will appeal to labs, farmers, cultivations processors, and more who wish to know the ins and outs of the marijuana plant in front of them.

“We see cannabis as a growing part of the life-sciences market,” chief executive Kevin Knopp told the Boston Globe. “If this is a legal product being brought to market, we need to be able to tell whether the potency and levels of solvents are within the requirements.”

Processing and analyzing the potency and possible pesticides in specific cannabis plant is usually necessary in states with legalized marijuana. The G908 will possibly cut that process significantly, meaning the grower can know more about their product immediately and adjust, or not, accordingly.

Gossip: Update On Olivia Newton-John’s Cancer Battle; Queen Elizabeth’s Favorite Song Is Gay Anthem

Naughty Gossip
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Gossip: Update On Olivia Newton-John’s Cancer Battle; Queen Elizabeth’s Favorite Song Is Gay Anthem

“She’s doing really well. Thank you for asking,” Chloe Lattanzi, 31, told ET’s Kevin Frazier at Comic-Con in San Diego, California, on Friday. “Yeah, she’s in recovery and she’s doing really well.” Adding, “She’s healing and everything’s going well. So thank you for asking.”

In May, the Grease star announced that she would be postponing her North American tour due to her breast cancer spreading. Newton-John was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, which had been in remission until this year.

Shortly after the news, Lattanzi took to social media to thank her followers for their support. “My mom and best friend is going to be fine,” she wrote, adding that her mother would “beat this.”

Queen Elizabeth’s Favorite Song Is A Fabulous Gay Anthem

When you picture Queen Elizabeth alone in her chambers at night, what image comes to mind?

But just like the rest of us, it turns out The Queen isn’t impervious to the beat. That infectious rhythm. The melody that comes in like a tall, handsome stranger — and suddenly you’re up on your feet.

Or rather, she’s up on her feet dancing to, ever so appropriately, “Dancing Queen” by ABBA.

She can dance. She can jive. She’s having the time of her life, folks.

It’s being widely reported that at a dinner party recently, “Dancing Queen” came on after the speeches had been made.

Queen Elizabeth then loudly sated: “I always try to dance when this song comes on, because I am the Queen, and I like to dance.”

It’s so simple; so profound.

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

Jeff Sessions Prepping For Medical Marijuana Crackdown

Mary Schumacher
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Jeff Sessions Prepping For Medical Marijuana Crackdown

Next week, the Task Force on Crime and Public Safety led by President Trump is expected to release a report linking cannabis in general to violent crimes. Activists fear that the report is going to snowball into tougher sentences on possession, growing and selling marijuana and a general medical marijuana crackdown.

Particularly infuriating for those in favor of medical marijuana and state’s rights, is that if there are any violent crimes being committed over marijuana, they are most certainly fueled by federal illegality and states that still have prohibition. When something as innocuous and easily grown as a plant is made illegal, the black market is bound to be involved.

Back in April, Sessions sent a memo to update the DOJ and U.S. Attorney’s Offices on cannabis policies to be accomplished via a group of subcommittees. In said memo, he gave a July 27th deadline. Punitive policies will be under review along with strategy to get rid of the violent crime assumed to be found in the upcoming report.

If Sessions has successfully made a case for his favorite point: That marijuana is just as dangerous as heroin and causes violent crimes, the cannabis community faces real danger and violence from the government itself. No-knock raids have proven themselves deadly and too many lives have already been marred with prison time and estrangement from children and family.

Last week Sessions apparently also reinstated the criminal asset seizure program in anticipation of the Task Force’s findings. Even local law enforcement, who are aware of the potential new rules coming down the pike, are against their principles. Many cops have expressed that there is no need for this kind of crackdown and that there are much more dangerous, addictive and, yes, violence causing drugs out there to deal with.

The most violent a simple cannabis imbiber is likely to get is killing her bowl and mercilessly reaching for her next pinch of victims.

On the bright side, a bipartisan group of Senators including NY (D) Cory Booker and KY (R) Rand Paul are pushing legislation to protect medical marijuana patients without fear of federal prosecution. They are all state rights proponents whose Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States (CARERS) Act would change federal law to protect state rights even further.

Though on the campaign trail Trump said he would leave state rights alone when it came to cannabis, this impending crackdown is something he and Sessions agree on amid rising tensions. Though Trump flirted with firing Sessions for his Russian recusal, they seem to be on the same page with this newest rage of reefer madness.

What You Need To Know About Marijuana And Hypertension

Richard Faulk
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What You Need To Know About Marijuana And Hypertension

Cannabinoid receptors are present in the brain, the blood vessels, and the heart. Clearly, there could be a role for cannabis in maintaining optimal blood pressure and a healthy heart. What we’ve got, however, is a ping-pong match of conflicting findings and lots of unresolved questions regarding marijuana and hypertention.

Service!

  • Point:
    Smoking weed can double your heart rate. That’s one of several reasons why it might feel like the floor is tilting under your feet is you stand up too quickly after hitting the bong. It’s also the reason a few individuals have a heart attack right after smoking out.
  • Counterpoint:
    The effect is temporary. If you persist (and don’t die), your body will adjust and this effect will eventually go away.
  • Point:
    Longterm marijuana use can trigger heart attack. A 2014 report found “associations between marijuana use and serious adverse events, including myocardial infarction, sudden cardiac death, cardiomyopathy, stroke, transient ischemic attack, and cannabis arteritis.” One of the studies that report was based on determined that the risk of heart attack was elevated 4.8 times in the hour following marijuana use.

  • Related Story: Why Cannabis Is A Power Plant For People With Diabetes

  • Counterpoint:
    That seldom actually happens. Says the author of that second report: “For a 50 year old without any other risk factors, this translates to a change in absolute risk of a 10-in-a-million chance of having a heart attack in the first hour after smoking marijuana.” After the first hour, it gets even smaller. In fact, a 2014 Harvard study found “no statistically significant association between marijuana use and mortality.”
  • Counter-Counterpoint:
    If you are at risk, be careful. After all, you really could die. That’s more or less the position of NORML, a pro-legalization organization, that’s also a good source of legal and medical information about cannabis.
  • Agreement:
    Cannabis research is suggestive. The endocanabinoid definitely has some kind of role in regulating blood pressure. At least in mice. One important study, from 2004 found that stimulating CB1 receptors lowered blood pressure in lab mice. Interestingly, blocking those same receptors increased blood pressure only in those mice that already had hypertension. Normal mice remained normal.Findings like that have made it almost mandatory in every cannabis and heart study to include a clause acknowledging that the endocannabinoid system “may offer novel therapeutic approaches.”

This Luxury ‘Star Wars’ Immersive Resort Is Like ‘Westworld’ In Space

Amy Hansen
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This Luxury ‘Star Wars’ Immersive Resort Is Like ‘Westworld’ In Space

Star Wars fans are about to lose their minds. As part of the anticipated Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge being added to Florida’s Disney World in 2019, the theme park is also getting an immersive resort based on the epic film series.

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts chairman Bob Chapek told a crowd at the D23 Expo last weekend that:

We are working on our most experiential concept ever, it combines a luxury resort with immersion in an authentic environment. It’s unlike anything that exists today. From the second you arrive, you will become a part of a Star Wars story. You’ll immediately become a citizen of the galaxy and experience all that entails, including dressing up in the proper attire.

Once you leave Earth, you will discover a starship alive with characters, stories, and adventures that unfold all around you. It is 100% immersive, and the story will touch every single minute of your day, and it will culminate in a unique journey for every person who visits.

As The Verge puts it: “Guests wouldn’t wear flip-flops and shorts; they’d wear Star Wars costumes. They wouldn’t deal with hotel employees; they’d interact with Star Wars creatures and droids. And over the course of their stay, the story would unfold around them through a series of story moments and interactions, letting them fall completely into a fictional world.”

According to Disney World News Today, the experience would be priced around $1000 per guest and include (among other things), room with an interactive “view” (galaxy or pool/atrium), set check-in and check-out dates so everyone is immersed on the same “story” timeline, and story-driven entertainment that unfolds over the course of your stay (including live character chance encounters, and the opportunity to watch or engage in the story through things like personalized secret missions, flight training, starship exploration, and lightsaber training).

No word if Disney plans to expand this idea to California.

5 Safe Ways To Smoke Marijuana Indoors On The Sly

Maria Loreto
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5 Safe Ways To Smoke Marijuana Indoors On The Sly

Living with your parents or with roommates can sometimes make it difficult for you when it comes to getting high, especially if you live in a state where cannabis isn’t legal and you can’t go out and smoke on the street. In some buildings, smoking indoors is not an option, no matter what it is that you’re smoking, so improvising is the only way you can smoke marijuana indoors without getting caught. 

There are a lot of ways of avoiding this problem and of thinking outside the box. Here are 5 foolproof methods in which you can get your smoke on without getting caught:

Ozium

https://giphy.com/gifs/adweek-sb51-febreeze-Jyi8CJRkodMkg

This is a great option for every marijuana smoker, no matter your housing situation. This little miracle spray bottle will get rid of the identifiable smell of cannabis and help you relax before your parents come inside your room. It’s also super cheap and easy to hide, sanitizing the air without leaving your room smelling like a flower shop.

Shower

The bathroom’s your friend while you’re smoking. You can close your bathroom door and take a hot shower, or simply turn the water on, creating a misty and dense environment that’ll mask the smell of marijuana and diffuse the smoke. Be sure to open a window once you’re done so the room ventilates and the cannabis smoke can make it’s way outside of your house.

Sploof

https://giphy.com/gifs/nbc-nbc-90-90th-special-l44Qqoj8DLXgpLCgM

A sploof is the cheapest solution to your problem, only requiring a plastic bottle or toilet paper roll with some dryer sheets and rubber bands. Pack in a few dryer sheets in the roll or bottle lightly, leaving some room for air to ventilate through the sploof.  This nifty device is a favorite among marijuana smokers, masking the smell of your weed and hiding the smoke.

Window Fan

The most expensive option of the bunch, these fans get the job done because you can exhale the smoke into them and they’ll simply send it off to the street and outside of your house. It might prove to be a good investment. 

Music

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Obviously music won’t disguise the smell or the smoke of marijuana, but it’s a nice touch if you’ve got a sploof in hand or are smoking in the bathroom, disguising the sound of lighters, coughing and anything else that you’re parents and roommates may find mysterious. 

If your apartment or house has a smoke alarm, be sure to cover it up. It would suck to have been so careful in following all of these steps to have that damn alarm ruin the whole thing.  

A New National High: 45% Of Americans Have Tried Marijuana

Terry Hacienda
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A New National High: 45% Of Americans Have Tried Marijuana

The number of Americans who say they have consumed marijuana at least once has reached a record high. In poll from Gallup released on Wednesday, 45 percent of U.S. adults tried marijuana at some point in their lives. That is the largest percentage since Gallup started asking the question in 1969. Last year, it was 43 percent. When the question was initially asked 48 years ago, only 4 percent answered affirmatively.

There’s also been an increase in the number of American adults who currently consume cannabis. The latest poll results reveal that 12 percent currently use marijuana, up from 7 percent just four years ago.

The rise in use since 1969 has paralleled the increasing support for legalization — last year, 60 percent said marijuana should be legal, also an all-time record. Eight states allow recreational marijuana use, and these states comprise one-fifth of the U.S. population. An additional 29 states have approved medical marijuana programs.

According to Gallup:

The increase in the percentage who have tried [cannabis] comes amid a possible federal crackdown on legal marijuana. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has initiated a task force studying links between violent crime and marijuana, and this body will reportedly release its findings by the end of July. The attorney general also has asked congressional leaders to undo restrictions on prosecuting medical marijuana providers, citing a “historic drug epidemic.”

Young adults, men and those with household incomes of less than $30,000 per year are most likely to say they currently smoke marijuana, Gallup reported. Thirteen percent of men say they currently smoke marijuana, compared with 7 percent of women. Eighteen percent of those aged 18 to 29 and 13 percent in the lowest income bracket say they currently smoke marijuana.

Gallup suggests that the percentage of consumers is likely to increase as more states look to modify current laws. The report concludes:

Legality may confer a certain societal acceptance of the drug. Sessions’ hopes to prosecute state-level marijuana crimes may prove to be a hindrance, but it is unlikely this multibillion-dollar industry will be stopped anytime soon.

The poll findings were based on interviews with 1,021 adults ages 18 and older living in all 50 states. The survey was conducted from July 5 to 9.

That Time The Father-Of-The-Bride Was Struck By Lightning While Giving A Toast

Sam Jones
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That Time The Father-Of-The-Bride Was Struck By Lightning While Giving A Toast

There are worse things than rain on your wedding day. For example, watching your dad get struck by lightning while he gives a speech.

The odds of being struck by lightning are one in 280,000 in the U.S. The chance of it happening just as you’re about to express your love and pride on your daughter’s wedding day? It’s safe to assume those odds are a lot higher.

Just as JD Nedeu stepped up to the microphone to give a toast, clouds started gathering behind him. Soon, everyone was in for a jolt.

He told Weather.com:

“I went up and grabbed the microphone and just had time to say a couple of things, you know, and BOOM, lightning struck really hard. The current went went through the wire of the microphone I was holding, and then it was like I was holding lightning in my hand.

“I felt quite solid after all that. I think that the microphone wire was able to ground everything. It spared me, I think, from having to take the whole jolt for myself. It’s pretty funny,” he said. “It’s funny now because I didn’t drop dead.”

Amazingly, even says that he might feel better than before the bolt, with his knee problems improving post-shock.

Are You Using The Most Popular Emojis On Facebook?

Brendan Bures
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Are You Using The Most Popular Emojis On Facebook?

Emojis are a language unto themselves. They communicate feelings when words seem to fail us. So we guess it makes sense that there’d be a holiday celebrating emojis. That day is known as World Emoji Day and took place this week. To commemorate the day, our friendly pal Mark Zuckerberg shared which emojis people most use on Facebook. It actually gives you a decent indication of what people value most explicitly on the internet: crying laughter and fake hearts. Coming in at No. 1 on the list is the laughing with tears running down your face emoji. Don’t confuse this with the emoji rolling on its side through teary chuckles—that placed No. 4 on the list.

Rounding at the list is various smiling and winking emojis, a.k.a. the standard ones everyone finds themselves occasionally using. While it seems the upside down smiley emoji got snubbed, we’re okay with it remaining a cool kids’ secret for now.

Now, while this information is playfully and colorfully presented, we have no idea the data and statistics behind these figures. This does fit in with the way Facebook prefers to operate. So who knows how much anyone uses any of these emojis—we just know they’re popular.

That being said, there’s a basic breakdown showing what emoji is most popular in each country. Spain and Italy share an affinity toward the kissy face emoji, while Brazil and Mexico appreciate the heart eyes emoji. In America, the land of schadenfreude, we’re big fans of the rolling on our side crying laughing emoji. We’re just trying to smile through the tears, y’all.

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