Blog Heap of Links for the day 5 March 2009

Barack Obama appears to be graying around the temples since the Presidency takeover

A tourist who refused to take his clothes off at a swinger sex party has been blamed for "a mini-riot" at a north Queensland nudist colony.... "They felt uncomfortable with him eyeing them off and I asked him to show some respect and take his clothes off," said the nudist colony manager. "He then threatened to bash me, there was some argy-bargy and I ordered him off the premises and police were called." [OMG! Not argy-bargy, too!]

Cathay Pacific has apologized for embarrassing a customer whose anguish after missing her flight was captured on video by an airline employee and posted on the Internet. The Hong Kong airline said in a statement to The Associated Press on Thursday that the worker who filmed the video has been disciplined but that another person posted the footage on YouTube, a video-sharing Web site.

Certain adhesive patches that deliver medication through the skin have been found to be a risk to patient safety. The patches, if worn while undergoing magnetic resonance imaging scans or MRIs, can cause skin burns, says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration today.

Tammy Fausel said that she and her family were shocked at what happened during her uncle's funeral in Gray Court. A Candler, N.C., woman danced in front of the service, waved a wand around the casket, opened the lid, laid her hands on the deceased's head and struck the body with a wand.... charged with disturbing a funeral and public disorderly conduct.... When deputies asked the woman why she acted the way she did, the woman said "she felt that it was the right thing to do at the time...."

In a February 25th press conference with DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters that ending federal medical marijuana raids "is now American policy." [Yeah, sure]

The Bush administration's hostility toward stem-cell science created opportunity in Canada. ... The sight of waving hemp fields just across the Canadian border frustrates many American farmers.... When the United States banned the sale and manufacture of alcoholic beverages in 1920, Canadians found another great export market. Rules governing alcohol varied from province to province, but Canada's generally lighter approach to booze opened new avenues for profit....

"The baby was described as very lethargic, not responsive."

Green-fingered Shane Burfield was so proud of his healthy plants that, like an increasing number of amateur horticulturists, he decided to show the progress of his cherished crop off to other enthusiasts on YouTube. Unfortunately for the 25-year-old, Avon and Somerset police also took an interest in Burfield's plants....

common sense, not economic need, should persuade Americans it's past time for a sober look at our mad "reefer madness" laws. The Golden State legislator pushing the idea, Tom Ammiano of -- plug in the appropriate joke -- San Francisco, says licensing and taxing legal marijuana production and sales would earn California $1.3 billion a year. His bill would legalize marijuana possession and use for adults 21 or older, license commercial farming of it and tax it at $50 an ounce. A big problem: California can't do this on its own.

For the first time, a medical marijuana bill has passed the Illinois House Human Services Committee but will have to wait for state budget issues to be ironed out before it gets a chance in the state Senate. [Yeah, sure]