Merry Christmas

Pat Robertson: Time To Legalize Marijuana

Would-Be Jurors Stage 'Mutiny' in Marijuana Case

Potential jurors staged a “mutiny” during a felony drug case, a Missoula County prosecutor says, and authorities worry the result will be viewed as a game-changer when it comes to future attempts at prosecuting drug cases in Montana.

Nearly all 27 Missoula County residents during the jury selection process on Thursday told District Court Judge Dusty Deschamps there was no way they would convict anybody of having a couple of buds of marijuana.

“I thought, ‘Geez, I don’t know if we can seat a jury,’” said Deschamps, who called a recess...

...During the recess called by Deschamps on Thursday, Deputy Missoula County Attorney Andrew Paul worked out a plea agreement with the defense.

“A mutiny,” Paul told the Missoulian in describing the actions of the potential jurors...

..."I think it's going to become increasingly difficult to seat a jury in marijuana cases, at least the ones involving a small amount," Deschamps said.

from Law.com

h/t
Fascist Soup

More on jury nullification and juror's rights at the Fully Informed Jury Association

Jury Nullification and the Rule of Law

Rodrigo y Gabriela

a cautionary note

h/t
Texan99

The bird was the word all along

The Trashmen’s classic “Surfin’ Bird” made #3 on the British charts — in December 2010, a mere forty-seven years after its original release.

How can this be? Sundazed Records, current home of the Bird, explains.

Nanny of the Year

The Pukatawagan Song

Pukatawagan, Manitoba is a town about 210 kilometres north of The Pas; it can be reached by train from Lynn Lake by a branch of the Hudson Bay Railway, a passenger service provided by VIA Rail. A winter road after the lakes have frozen. The Airport, located east of town, is used by Missinippi Airways. The town has population of 2000 and an additional 2000 in the surrounding area.



h/t
admirable ponokee

Science Sees What Mary Saw From Juan Diego’s Tilma

Digital technology is giving new leads for understanding a phenomenon that continues to puzzle science: the mysterious eyes of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Though the dimensions are microscopic, the iris and the pupils of the image's eyes have imprinted on them a highly detailed picture of at least 13 people, Tonsmann said. The same people are present in both the left and right eyes, in different proportions, as would happen when human eyes reflect the objects before them.

more at the Catholic Education Resource Center

h/t
DMA

Robin plucking a berry

Photographer's description: "Our backyard pyracantha bush took on a flock of marauding robins, who ate all the berries. I took many shots of them as they swarmed the pyracantha. This one showed best the determination and maneuvering necessary to get every last berry. Cedar fence background. Shot with a Canon 50D with 300 mm lens."

Photographer: Alan Estep

h/t
Dusty Enthusiasm

Another random act of culture, this time in the shoe department

Random Act of Culture at Miami's Dadeland Mall from Knight Foundation on Vimeo.

A coded manuscript by Leonardo da Vinci has been discovered in a public library in the French city of Nantes

The document was found after a journalist came across a reference to it in a Leonardo biography, the library said.

It was among 5,000 manuscripts donated by wealthy collector Pierre-Antoine Labouchere in 1872 and then forgotten.

The text is written from right to left in Leonardo's trademark mirror-writing and has yet to be deciphered.

"He was most probably writing in 15th-century Italian, and possibly in other languages," the head of the Nantes library, Agnes Marcetteau said.

The fragment of paper with brown scrawls is the second rare item uncovered in the Labouchere collection, after a score by composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was found among the documents in 2008.

more at the BBC

h/t
Jungle Trader

Some perspicacious analysis from Christopher:

"Probably just a grocery list (I thought I saw the old Italian word for "organic" written backwards and upside-down in there somewhere) but it will somehow be made to prove that Mary Magdalen was not only the wife of Jesus but his numerologist and chiropractor as well..."

Natives getting restless over government stealing their food

If this video is any indication, the struggle for food rights is moving to a new stage.

We finally have a flying car!