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World's first state-licensed marijuana retailers open doors in Colorado

By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) - The world's first state-licensed marijuana retailers legally permitted to sell pot for recreational use to the general public opened for business in Colorado on Wednesday with long lines of customers, marking a new chapter in America's drug culture.

Roughly three dozen former medical marijuana dispensaries newly cleared by state regulators to sell pot to consumers who are interested in nothing more than its mind- and mood-altering properties began welcoming customers as early as 8 a.m. MST.

The highly-anticipated New Year's Day opening launched an unprecedented commercial cannabis market that Colorado officials expect will ultimately gross $578 million in annual revenues, including $67 million in tax receipts for the state.

Possession, cultivation and private personal consumption of marijuana by adults for the sake of just getting high has already been legal in Colorado for more than a year under a state constitutional amendment approved by voters.

But as of Wednesday, cannabis was being legally produced, sold and taxed in a system modeled after a regime many states have in place for alcohol sales - but which exists for marijuana nowhere in the world outside of Colorado.

Scores of customers lined up in the cold and snow outside at least two Denver-area stores on Wednesday morning waiting for doors to open.

"I wanted to be one of the first to buy pot and no longer be prosecuted for it. This end of prohibition is long overdue," said Jesse Phillips, 32, an assembly-line worker who was the day's first patron at Botana Care in the Denver suburb of Northglenn. He had camped outside the shop since 1 a.m.

A cheer from about 100 fellow customers waiting in line to buy went up as Phillips made his purchase, an eighth-ounce sampler pack containing four strains of weed - labeled with names such as "King Tut Kush" and "Gypsy Girl" - that sold for $45 including tax.

ew gallery

He also bought a child-proof carry pouch required by state regulations to transport his purchase out of the store.

Robin Hackett, 51, co-owner of Botana Care, said before the opening that she expected between 800 to 1,000 first-day customers, and hired a private security firm to help with any traffic and parking issues that might arise.

Hackett said she has 50 lbs (23 kg) of product on hand, and to avoid a supply shortage the shop will limit purchases to quarter-ounces on Wednesday, including joints, raw buds or cannabis-infused edibles such as pastries or candies.

TURNING POINT IN DRUG CULTURE

Like other stores, Botana Care also stocked related wares, including pipes, rolling papers, bongs, and reusable, locking child-proof pouches.

Voters in Washington state voted to legalize marijuana at the same time Colorado did, in November 2012, but Washington is not slated to open its first retail establishments until later in 2014.

Still, supporters and detractors alike see the two Western states as embarking on an experiment that could mark the beginning of the end for marijuana prohibition at the national level.

"By legalizing marijuana, Colorado has stopped the needless and racially biased enforcement of marijuana prohibition laws," said Ezekiel Edwards, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Criminal Law Reform Project.

Cannabis remains classified as an illegal narcotic under federal law, though the Obama administration has said it will give individual states leeway to carry out their own recreational-use statutes.

Nearly 20 states, including Colorado and Washington, had already put themselves at odds with the U.S. government by approving marijuana for medical purposes.

Opponents warned that legalizing recreational use could help create an industry intent on attracting underage users and getting more people dependent on the drug.

Comparing the nascent pot market to the alcohol industry, former U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy, co-founder of Project Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said his group aims to curtail marijuana advertising and to help push local bans on the drug while the industry is still modest in stature.

"This is a battle that if we catch it early enough we can prevent some of the most egregious adverse impacts that have happened as a result of the commercialized market that promotes alcohol use to young people," he said.

Under Colorado law, however, state residents can buy as much as an ounce (28 grams) of marijuana at a time, while out-of-state visitors are restricted to quarter-ounce purchases.

Restraint was certainly the message being propagated on New Year's Eve by Colorado authorities, who posted signs at Denver International Airport and elsewhere around the capital warning that pot shops can only operate during approved hours, and that open, public consumption of marijuana remains illegal.

(Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Dan Whitcomb, Lisa Shumaker, Barbara Goldberg and Chris Reese)

10 Coolest Archaeology Discoveries of 2013

By By Tia Ghose, Staff Writer

Archaeologists dig through the faint traces of the past to learn more about human history. And 2013 was a big year for new archaeology finds.

From royal tombs to the mysterious vanished inhabitants of Europe, here are some of the strangest and most exciting archaeology finds of the year.

1. Richard III bones

In February, researchers announced a grave suspected of harboring the bones of King Richard III did indeed hold the royal's remains. The tomb was found under a parking lot in Leicester, England. Since then, a host of studies have revealed more about the once-reviled, crippled king's life and death. It turns out Richard III may have been a control freak who spoke with a lilt and was subjected to painful scoliosis treatment. And after several bruising head injuries, the king was buried in a hasty grave without any ceremony, analysis of the skeleton revealed. [Images: Digging up King Richard III's Grave]

2. Royal squash?

Last year researchers announced that a gourd emblazoned with images from the French Revolution contained the blood of the beheaded King Louis XVI of France. Legend had it that a bystander at the execution sopped up his blood with a handkerchief and then stashed the bloody relic in a decorative squash. Blood from the squash seemed to match blood from a head reputed to be that of King Henry IV, Louis' relative and also a member of the Bourbon royal lineage.

But a study in 2013 cast doubt on the royal origins. The study revealed the male lineage in the head and the different one in the bloody squash could not have come from the Bourbon line; that the two men were not related; and that whoever bled on the handkerchief likely had brown eyes, not baby blues like Louis XVI.

3. Prince … oops!

It made big news when it first came out: Archaeologists had unearthed the tomb of an Etruscan warrior prince, carrying a lance and lying next to his wife. Only it turned out that the archaeologists made a mistake: A skeletal analysis showed the Etruscan warrior prince was a princess, and her lance was likely a sign of high status, not warlike ways. The finds revealed the trouble with making assumptions based on the objects found in tombs and graves everywhere. [In Photos: The Tomb of an Etruscan Prince]

4. Oldest rock art

In a dried-up lake in the Nevada desert, archaeologists unearthed signs of ancient rock art that dates to between 10,500 and 14,800 years ago. The rock art is the oldest in North America by several thousand years. But much remains unknown about the enigmatic lines and grooves carved into the limestone near Winnemucca Lake. Scientists aren't sure about the meaning of the rock art, though the images do seem quite similar to the second-oldest rock art in North America, which was found in Oregon.  

5. War's destruction

On the archeological front, some of the news was devastating. Syria's civil war has imperiled its rich archaeological heritage, and reports of damage continued to trickle out this year. Satellite imagery revealed that the ancient Roman city of Apamea was so riddled with looting holes it looks like "the surface of the moon," one archaeologist told LiveScience in September. The ancient city of Ebla, which contains a trove of thousands of cuneiform tablets, was thoroughly looted. And fighting in Aleppo and Beirut has damaged ancient mosques in the region.

6. Herod's tomb?

The tomb once thought to be Herod's may not be, according to two Israeli archaeologists. A tomb at the Herodium, a complex built by the king of the Israelites about 2,000 years ago, was too shabby and poorly constructed to hold the man who wanted to be laid out on a gold bed draped with fine fabrics and whose funerary procession was thronged by an entire army, the researchers argue. If the archaeologists' theory is true, then the resting place of King Herod is a mystery yet again. [The Holy Land: 7 Archaeological Finds]

7. Stonehenge hunting grounds

Stonehenge has inspired speculation for millennia. But this year researchers revealed a new theory on why the enigmatic megaliths were raised: The area around Stonehenge was a sacred hunting ground where wild aurochs and other beasts congregated long before the mysterious monument was erected. Hundreds of animal bones and thousands of stone tools found near the site suggest humans congregated from far and wide to feast and butcher wild beasts about 5,000 years before the first stones were raised.

8. Royal tomb

A 1,200-year-old, pristine royal tomb was uncovered in Peru. The grave held the bodies of three queens who ruled the Wari Empire, which flourished between A.D. 700 and 1000, long before the Incan site of Machu Picchu was erected. The tomb was still sealed and buried under 30 tons of loose stone fill when the archaeologists discovered it. The royal mausoleum held a rich assortment of gold and silver finery and the remains of possible human sacrifices.

9. Vanishing Europeans

The ancient inhabitants of Europe mysteriously vanished about 4,500 years ago, a genetic analysis revealed. The analysis of 7,500-year-old skeletons unearthed in Central Europe suggests that the genetic makeup of the continent was dramatically different back then. These ancient people spread out from Turkey and the Near East with the agricultural revolution, supplanting the hunter-gatherer lifestyle that prevailed beforehand. But about 4,500 years ago a group of people with different genetics replaced these individuals. No trace of their lineage remains in modern Europeans. Exactly what happened has remained a mystery.

10. Iceman's relatives

Some Europeans may be part Iceman. The astonishingly well-preserved mummy ofÖtzi the Iceman, who was found in the Italian Alps, may have at least 19 living relatives, a new genetic analysis revealed. The researchers discovered these living relatives by accident, while completing a genetic study of people living in the Italian Alps. Though it's possible one of these people may descend in an unbroken line from Ötzi, it's much more likely that he's only a distant relative. And the Iceman may have more relatives in the region

ARCHAEOLOGICAL COVERUPS BY DAVID HATCHER CHILDRESS EGYPTIAN CAVES-GRAND CANYON WITH GEORGE NOORY ON

MUSEO Computadoras de ajedrez, fotografías y vídeos

XCALIBUR KARPOV 2294

 

Estas fotografias me traen nostalgia de los años 2001 cuando necesitaba algun programa de ajedrez para entrenarme y compre ese en el club de la calle 8,en ese entonces era el tablero de ajedrez mas caro y de fuerza sin lugar alguna.abjo coloque el link para q visiten este formidable website,que seguro te traera algun recuerdo

meca-web.museo

The ORB,Alien Technology

The ORB

Product: #XC6935BK

Description:

Calling all test pilots! Recruits needed to assess the ORB's Alien Technology. Equipped with aerodynamic E.T.F. Technology, the ORB is Easy To Fly and has impact shielding rendering it crash resistant. The ORB can take off from any surface and has an auto-upright design for easy crash recovery.

World Computer Chess Championship - 2013

WCCC 2013

Played games: wccc2013.pgn
Report: 20th WCCC.pdf

Cross Table

#	Name	Score	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	Junior	7½	–	1½	11	1½	0½	11
2	Shredder	4½	0½	–	00	01	½½	11
3	Hiarcs	5½	00	11	–	½½	0½	11
4	Pandix	5½	0½	10	½½	–	½½	11
5	Jonny	7	1½	½½	1½	½½	–	11
6	Merlin	0	00	00	00	00	00	–

Round 1
Junior – Merlin 1-0
Shredder – Jonny ½-½
Hiarcs – Pandix ½-½

Round 2 – Tuesday 13 August 09:00-13:00
Merlin – Pandix 0-1
Jonny – Hiarcs 1-0
Junior – Shredder 1-0

Round 3 – Tuesday 13 August 13:30-17:30
Shredder – Merlin 1-0
Hiarcs – Junior 0-1
Pandix – Jonny ½-½

Round 4 – Wednesday 14 August 09:00-13:00
Merlin – Jonny 0-1
Junior – Pandix 1-0
Shredder – Hiarcs 0-1

Round 5 – Wednesday 14 August 13:30-17:30
Hiarcs – Merlin 1-0
Pandix – Shredder 1-0
Jonny – Junior 1-0

Round 6 – Thursday 15 August 09:00-13:00
Merlin – Junior 0-1
Jonny – Shredder ½-½
Pandix – Hiarcs ½-½

Round 7 – Thursday 15 August 13:30-17:30
Pandix – Merlin 1-0
Hiarcs – Jonny ½-½
Shredder – Junior ½-½

Round 8 – Friday 16 August 09:00-13:00
Merlin – Shredder 0-1
Junior – Hiarcs 1-0
Jonny – Pandix ½-½

Round 9 – Saturday 17 August 09:00-13:00
Jonny – Merlin 1-0
Pandix – Junior ½-½
Hiarcs – Shredder 1-0

Round 10 – Saturday 17 August 13:30-17:30
Merlin – Hiarcs 0-1
Shredder – Pandix 1-0
Junior – Jonny ½-½

(times by approximation, can change!! Most likely earlier)

Program Overview

(as given by the programmers)

Program	Country	Team	Hardware
Junior	Israel	Amir Ban, Shay Bushinsky	Dual 12 core Intel Xenon I5 2.7 GHz
Jonny	Germany	Johannes Zwanzger	2400 core AMD 2.8 GHz
Merlin	Hungary	Balazs Jako	I7-3740, 2.7 GHz, 16 GB RAM
Pandix	Hungary	Gyuala Horvath	I7-3740, 2.7 GHz, 16 GB RAM
Shredder	Germany	Stefan Meyer-Kahlen	16 core Intel 3.1 GHz
Hiarcs	Great Britain	Mark Uniacke	16 core Intel Xenon E5 3.1 GHz

(4204 viewers)

PGN file: PGN

Links

http://icga.uvt.nl/?page_id=631

http://icga.uvt.nl/

http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/

http://www.husvankempen.de/nunn/rating.htm