- luv-talk - example.com

Victoria's relaxed attitude gains some chemical assistance
by Rick Moen 20 Apr '16

20 Apr '16

I see that Vic has become the first Austalian state to make medical marijuana legal: http://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/medicinal-marijuana-has-been-… Although I don't partake, I always appreciate it when our international friends help end the War on Drugs Without Major Corporate Sponsorship (WoDWMCS). Today's news is that selected patients will be able to receive cannabis by prescription after the state first does a cultivation trial, and then arranges a controlled supply pipeline from industrial suppliers. Legalising recreational use is not contemplated. WoDWMCS has been spearheaded and advocated to other countries mostly by the USA. I recommend some good, thoughtful background reading about that history, here: http://www.vox.com/2016/3/29/11325750/nixon-war-on-drugs Here in California, voters made one effort to _fully_ opt out of criminalising marijuana in 2010 with Proposition 19, which would have made possession, cultivation, and use of small amounts for almost any purpose lawful by persons age 21 and over. Surprisingly, it enjoyed major support by state law enforcement, and failed by a slender 54% to 46% margin. (As noted below, California voters are predicted to pass an even more thorough legalisation initiative, later this year.) However, medical marijuana has been fully legal in California since Proposition 215 passed by a nearly identical margin in 1996 -- sending shockwaves through the antidrugs establishment, because residents can get a 'medical cannabis card' for essentially any reason after an interview with a physician and paying about US $100-200. Said establishment then spent the next 20 years frantically attempting to convince other US states and other countries to flee in horror from the 'California model' of effective decriminalistion -- apparently with little effect, as I've just noticed that 30 out of the 50 uS states now have either legalised or decriminalised (at least) medical use.[1] More recently, two US states completely legalised recreational use: Colorado and Washington (both in 2012). Joining them, Vermont and California (once again) voters will decide on total legalisation via the November 8th, 2016 ballot, and both initiatives are expected to pass. The US Federal government still (ridiculously) classes use, possession, sale, cultivation, and transportation as felony offence and cannabis as a Schedule I substance under the Nixon-era Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (high abuse potential and no medical use), _but_ the Feds under President Obama have been reluctant to enforce Federal law in states with local drugs legalisation, even though established law (US Constitution Supremacy Clause) states that Federal law can and does pre-empt state law. On April 19, the United Nations will be hosting the first major international conference on national drugs policies in almost 20 years, the UN General Assembly Session (UNGASS) on Drugs -- which should be interesting, as the former Nixon-era 'War on Drugs' consensus is totally gone. (Not that legalisation has become predominant, just that the former international consensus is utterly dead.) Meanwhile, watch for the state of California giving Nevada, Oregon, and possibly the entire western world a contact high after the upcoming November 8, 2016 general election. Air quality may suffer for a while. [1] They might better decry the extremely successful _Portuguese_ model: That country in 2001 decriminalised all drugs, improving the lives of everyone. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/05/why-hardly-anyone-di…

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DKIM and spam
by Russell Coker 18 Apr '16

18 Apr '16

I just received a spam message (one of those "earn thousands from doing almost no work at home" ones) from a member of this list. Apparently spammers took over his account and either saw messages from me in his inbox or saw a public record of LUV list correspondence. The message in question was DKIM signed which proves that the user in question had their Gmail account compromised. I've just sent them private mail informing them. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/

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ready to go?
by marktrickett＠gmail.com 17 Apr '16

17 Apr '16

Unable to show full message. You can view it by clicking [here](http://db0e083.d795597de5780d7f.cfad2.msgsafe1.com/?vi=2&kzo=5.3.8113… Luv error code: 11409 (Sun Apr 17 8:25:04 ART 2016)

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Quick request - sign this card?
by Keith Bainbridge 15 Apr '16

15 Apr '16

Friend, I just added my name to a Good Luck card that's being delivered this weekend to Syrian refugee girls in Jordan. Will you join me? Click here: http://www.malala.org/pages/sign-the-card?sp_ref=187159927.272.165112.e.0.2… Forced to flee Syria due to the conflict, the card's recipients are living and going to school in the Azraq refugee camp. Thanks to support from Malala Fund donors, they have been studying hard to prepare for their entrance exams in June. This is a big moment for these girls — their futures depend on the results of the entrance exam. Will you join me and add your name to this show of support by wishing them good luck, in time for the delivery this weekend? Click here: http://www.malala.org/pages/sign-the-card?sp_ref=187159927.272.165112.e.0.2… Thank you. Keith Bainbridge 0447 667 468 Keithrbau(a)gmail.com Sent from my APad

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petitions
by Russell Coker 13 Apr '16

13 Apr '16

http://tinyurl.com/z5m37ly http://tinyurl.com/o65udwr Please sign the above petitions. The NRA and the Republican party are not doing enough to protect the 2nd amendment as they don't allow everyone to carry guns at their events. The 2nd amandment doesn't have a caveat of "unless you are near someone the secret service calls a 'protected person'". -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/

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I rest my case
by Rick Moen 09 Apr '16

09 Apr '16

Utah. Gaah! ----- Forwarded message from Deirdre Saoirse Moen <deirdre(a)deirdre.net> ----- Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2016 23:48:31 -0700 From: Deirdre Saoirse Moen <deirdre(a)deirdre.net> To: Rick Moen <rick(a)linuxmafia.com>, Cheryl Morris <camorris(a)uniserve.com>, Duncan MacKinnon <duncan1(a)gmail.com> Subject: Freakonomics Baby Names, Utah Bonus Round https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfIehCrO4Zs Girl names https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXPrtJKPmB0 Boy names ----- End forwarded message -----

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Re: [luv-talk] petitions
by Rick Moen 07 Apr '16

07 Apr '16

Quoting John Krivitsky (jk(a)smartguide.com.au) > Rick, thanks so much for explaining the subtleties and strategies > behind the US electoral system. It's really quite fascinating. You're most welcome. Many parts of it are mind-bogglingly _haphazard_, partly because of the early date when it was all improvised. E.g., the US Constitution was written and adopted in 1789, following independence and (in effect) a provisional government 13 years earlier. This was all so early that when that flamboyant character the Marquis de Lafayette came home to France from America to help lead the French Revolution and help write the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen), he was able to jest -- with factual accuracy -- that he'd become an (American) citizen before the concept of (French) citizenship existed. (The brand new US states of Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Virginia conferred citizenship on him in gratitude for his help in the war of independence.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier,_Marquis_de_Lafayette#Hero_… Part of what makes the US arrangement complex will be familiar to both Australians and Canadians, i.e. federalism -- as will diversity among the country's states. But anyway, something invented in the 1700s can be understood to likely contain some peculiarities and utterly puzzling features. And I didn't even get to that infamous, totally screwball 18th Century holdover, the USA's Electoral College, which will become relevant for the November general election. And, if the US is _really_ unlucky, and the Electoral College doesn't return a majority choice for President and VP, the Fourteenth Amendment will kick the whole election to the Senate and the House of Representatives, and you'll never believe the stupidity of how _that_ works. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_College_(United_States)#Fourteenth_… Trent W. Buck really nailed it: The US setup has horrible kludges because it was created over 200 years ago, when it took months to get anywhere, and the people who should have revised those kludges punted on the responsibility because the kludges are what put them in power. > The Australian system seems to be much more straight forward. Absolutely. _And_ Oz's working IRV implementation is a blessing to the world, that should be more widely emulated. Not perfect, but a huge improvement on anything architected in 1789.

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abuse on this list
by Russell Coker 06 Apr '16

06 Apr '16

Craig, you have an ongoing pattern of abusing people who disagree with you. Whether by accident or design this imposes a cost for people who wish to say anything that you disagree with (and to some extent to say anything at all on mailing lists you use). You seem to believe that you are entitled to send a stream of profanity to anyone you disagree with and have them just accept it without even disagreeing with you. It may seem like harassment to you to have someone resolutely disagree with your opinions and your behavior. This doesn't mean that it is harassment, merely that your tactics have worked well for you most of the time and you have become used to "winning" debates in this manner over the course of decades of mailing list discussions while other people have become used to receiving profanity. I don't believe that you are more important than me. I don't believe that I should be silenced by your abuse. I am not arguing for an entire absence of profanity on this list. The topics that are discussed tend towards heated discussion. But when messages have profanity without arguments supporting a case it becomes a problem. Anyone who doesn't want to receive mail from me can easily achieve that objective by not sending mail to me. If you send mail to me there is a possibility that I will disagree with you, if I do disagree there's an almost certainty that I will tell you. <cas(a)taz.net.au>: host taz.net.au[203.16.167.1] said: 550 5.7.1 <russell-sender(a)coker.com.au>: Sender address rejected: FUCK OFF RUSSELL YOU ANNOYING CUNT! (in reply to RCPT TO command) Sending me nasty mail and configuring your MTA to reject a reply in the above manner is not acceptable behavior. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/

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Open Knowledge Book Club - Little Brother
by Russell Coker 04 Apr '16

04 Apr '16

I’m attending a Meetup with Open Knowledge Melbourne http://meetu.ps/e/BlCz8/8BKq/d This looks like a fun event. The book is freely available from the author's web site and there's time to read it before the meeting. -- Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with K-9 Mail.

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Music marble machine
by Russell Coker 16 Mar '16

16 Mar '16

https://blog.tincho.org/posts/Serendipity/ This is amazing. -- Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with K-9 Mail.

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