marijuana potency is going up

 

Everyone knows that the marijuana that is around today is far more potent than the pot our parents smoked back in the 60s and 70s. Some people seem to think that this is a good thing, and believe that the more potent strands of marijuana are actually more healthy for you than the shittier types of buds you can find around. It’s true that they don’t have same drousyness effect that comes with mid-grade weed, which might make you feel like you’re being less lazy, but the fact is that THC affects the brain, and too much of it can cause some serious damage.

Obviously people are going to smoke pot, but if you’re getting into the habit of smoking on a daily basis, no matter how good you think your bud is, you better get yourself in check, because the long-term effects of this kind of lifestyle can destroy people’s lives.

For more information about marijuana, click the following links:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/14/marijuana.potency/index.html

http://alcoholism.about.com/od/pot/a/effects.-Lya.htm

elon emagine

This semester I was enrolled in a class called “Millenial Imagine” taught by a professor named Anthony Weston. It was an upper level GST course that focused on stimulating students’ imagination and developing their creative skills, with the hopes of generating bright new ideas for the future.

As a final project, we decided to raise awareness about a few ideas which included “Elon Eco-conomy”, “Elon Outside”, a “Student-Centered Curriculum”, and “Bikelon” and generate new ideas from the student body by standing outside of Moseley on Monday and Tuesday handing out pamphlets and t-shirts (which we designed and painted ourselves) in exchange for other people’s ideas on how we could improve our campus.

The t-shirts were a hit, and we managed to generate a lot of ideas, which professor Weston plans to type up and bring to the 2020 meeting the administrators at the school discuss the future of Elon.

For more information about Elon Emagine and the ideas we came up with as a class, click on the following links:

http://elonemagine.wordpress.com/about/

http://elonemagine.wordpress.com/about/elon-eco-conomy/

http://elonemagine.wordpress.com/about/elon-outside/

http://elonemagine.wordpress.com/about/student-centered-curriculum/

http://elonemagine.wordpress.com/about/bikelon/

aztec temples

Above is a picture of the Aztec Temple of the Sun that I took during my trip to Mexico last summer. My primary destination for the trip was the Internation Materials Research Conference in Cancun, where I gave a presentation on behalf of my dad’s company called Innovation in a Traditional Metal-Powder Manufacturing Company Prepared for the Future, but after the conference I traveled to Mexico City in order to meet with some old friends and our representative down in Mexico.

One of the afternoons I didn’t have anything to do, so I decided to take off on my own and check out the Aztec temples that are located a few miles outside of Mexico City. The Pyramid of the Sun (pictured above) is the third largest pyramid in the world behind the Great Pyramid of Cholula and the Great Pyramid of Giza, and its construction began around 100 AD.

For more information on the Pyramid of the Sun, check this out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_the_Sun#Structure_measurements.2C_location_and_orientation

Pictured here is the Pyramid of the Moon taken from atop the Pyramid of the Sun. To learn about the Pyramid of the Moon, check this out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_of_the_Moon

victoria falls

This is a picture of me standing on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls in southeast Africa.

It was our one day of “vacation” during a three-week-long trek around southern Africa that my father and I took last summer on behalf of his company FW Winter Inc. & Co. which started in Johannesburg and took us all the way up to the northern tip of Zambia.

The main purpose of our trip was business, but on this particular day we didn’t have anything planned so we decided to make the 6 hour trip by car (in each direction), mostly over dirt roads, from our homebase at the time, Lusaka, all the way down to Livingstone to see one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. It was a long and incredibly bumpy ride, but when we finally made it I understood why my dad was so insistent that we go.

For more information on Victoria Falls click the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Falls

This is a picture of a monkey from on top of the falls. Unfortunetly, besides monkeys you really aren’t going to find much wildlife on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls. Due to lack of protection, almost all of the animals that used to roam that area have been hunted to near extinction.

There is still a good amount of wildlife being preserved on the Zimbabwean side of the falls, but due to political reasons, we didn’t really think it was safe for me to cross the border as an American citizen. We probably would have been fine, but the situation in Zimbabwe is incredibly brutal at the moment, and it didn’t make sense to take any chances.

For more information on the situation in Zimbabwe, click on the following link:

http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/

i like sunset

This is a picture that I took from an airplane on my way from Florida back to Philadelphia in the beginning of January. I adjusted the exposure and the colors a little bit on my computer when I got home, but either way it was a pretty epic view. The only reason I was in position to take this picture is because the airline somehow screwed something up with my ticket and ended up bumping me up to a first class window seat – so I ended up getting to sip champagne and snap pictures of sunset for free. For some reason I’ve always loved sunset because of all the vibrant colors you see just before and for a few minutes after the sun falls over the horizon. I’m sure sunrise is just as epic, I’m just never awake to witness its beauty.

This is another sunset pic I took from a golf course down in Florida that I thought was kind of cool.
Here are some links to other websites with some pretty sweet sunset pictures:

http://www.hickerphoto.com/sunset-pictures-photos.htm

http://www.hawaiipictures.com/pictures/index/module/media/category/gallery%7Csunsets/start/0/

Elon Raids Rally

From a Facebook event regarding the recent raids by Elon Police:

As you are all well aware, there have been many questions regarding the Elon police’s actions surrounding the recently drug raids and arrests. Many students as well as members of the community have raised questions about the violation of the rights of these individuals. This is a peaceful protest, so no vulgar signs and any signs or banners should focus on student rights violations. There will most likely be some media coverage and Campus Security will be blocking off the streets. Meet at the fountain outside of the Business Center at 2:30 PM and the march will begin at 3:00 PM. We will make our way through main campus and proceed through the town of Elon, with our final destination being at the Elon Police Station. Remember, this is OUR chance to be heard, so come out and show your support!

 

 

But Matt Nathanson stresses that if you are going to come support that’s great, but make you are well behaved:

 

“As a person with a lot of vested interest in this protest, I would please ask that people who are attending not turn this into a drinking event. i have already received questions about BYOB, or where the pregame is. if you plan on drinking, please do not show up as we want to be taken seriously, not just a bunch of college students looking for an excuse to get wasted. Thank you to all the people who plan on showing their support.”

For further information regarding the raids, please visit the following websites:

http://phoenix14news.wordpress.com/

http://www.elon.edu/pendulum/Story.aspx?id=2227

Barack Obama’s First 100 Days

By Derek Winter

 

Wednesday marked the 100th day that President Barack Obama has been in office since being sworn in on January 20th of this year. There’s no question that since taking office the President has had his hands full with the current financial crisis, and other issues have taken a back seat until he can get these economic issues sorted out.
Since taking office, the President has taken steps towards fixing the economy starting with the signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and 41 percent of Americans believe the country in heading in the right direction. That number is up from just 23 percent in February. He is also sporting a 68 percent approval rate, which has also been steadily increasing over the past couple of months.
Other steps that have been taken include the President’s “ Making Home Affordable” home refinancing plan, the launching of a $15 billion dollar plan to boost lending to small businesses, and the announcement of the Financial Stability Plan that he announced with Secretary Geithner. On top of this, President Obama also played a lead role in the G-20 Summit, which produced a $1.1 trillion dollar deal to combat the global financial crisis. Despite these efforts, the number of unemployed Americans has risen from 11.1 million in December to 13.2 million in March.
“He’s doing as well as can be expected,” says Stephanie Miller, an Aramark employee at Elon University.

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