| Saturday, January 28, 2006 |  |
| Assembly OKs Bill Letting Farmers Grow Hemp | 0 comments |
| 28 Jan 2006 @ 23:41 Assembly OKs Bill Letting Farmers Grow Hemp SACRAMENTO - A bill approved by the state Assembly Thursday would add California to the growing number of states seeking to legalize the cultivation of industrial hemp - a biological relative of marijuana. Supporters claim that despite its family links, hemp is a completely safe product that could become a cash crop for California farmers because of its use in a long list of products from soap and cosmetics to rope, jewelry and even luggage. But even if the measure eventually becomes law, farmers would still face hurdles to actually cultivate the plant because hemp contains trace amounts of a banned substance and may still fall under federal anti-drug rules. The bill's author, Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, said the Assembly's passage of the measure marks an important milestone. "This makes sense," said Leno. "It could provide an opportunity of great value to family farmers. This could be a bonanza of job growth." The bill passed on a vote of 41-30. If senators approve it, it would need the governor's signature. A spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he has not taken a position on the proposal. Some critics complained that allowing hemp to be grown puts the state on a slippery slope. "You pass industrial hemp today and then something else and then something else," said Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, R-Monrovia. "And then at some point you will get legalized marijuana." The Drug Enforcement Administration had classified hemp as a controlled substance because an average plant contains small amounts of tetrahydrocannabinols, or THC, the same drug that gives marijuana its intoxicating effect. Analysts from the Office of National Drug Control Policy said there are also concerns that hemp farms could be used to hide marijuana plants. But the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2004 that the DEA did not have authority to regulate hemp. Still, Leno said it remains unclear if states have the authority to let farmers cultivate the plants. Processed hemp imported from other countries is sold throughout the U.S. for manufacturing products. A hemp trade group estimated the annual retail market in the U.S. at $270 million. A number of states have already passed laws aimed at allowing hemp farming, including Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, and West Virginia. Although the vote Thursday in the Assembly was largely along party lines, Republican Chuck DeVore of Irvine joined Leno as a co-author. "This measure does not allow the cultivation of marijuana," DeVore said. "All we are doing is legalizing in the United States what is already being done in 30 different nations." |
| Quotes from "Megatrends 2010" | 0 comments |
| 28 Jan 2006 @ 17:50 This is from Patricia Aburdene the auther of Megatrends. Quotes from "Megatrends 2010": The seven new Megatrends: 1. The Power of Spirituality 2. The Dawn of Conscious Capitalism 3. Leading From the Middle 4. Spirituality in Business 5. The Values-Driven Consumer 6. The Wave of Conscious Solutions 7. The Socially Responsible Investment Boom "Megatrends 2010 explores the quest for morals and meaning in business within the legal confines of modern capitalism, a world where public firms are bound by law to maximize shareholder return. What is both remarkable and largely unheralded, however, is that corporate morality often correlates with superior performance. In other words, plenty of `good guys' are trouncing the Standard & Poors (S&P) 500!" (p. xxiii) "Business does not possess the power to prevent people from transforming. Yet there's little wonder why we think it does! The business world often portrayed on CNBC and in `The Wall Street Journal' boasts, not just a single-minded passion for turning a buck, but unmatched devotion to assassinating any high-minded ideal that might get in the way. "Well, guess what? Mainstream business is under siege, from activists and regulators, as expected, but even from investors. And all the barricades in the world cannot prevent it. Because the most dangerous adversary of all a transformed individual lies within and we are IT. Whether spiritual CEO, activist middle manager or visionary entrepreneur, we've opened our minds and expanded our hearts and there is no shutting either of them down." (p. 3) "What business leaders need more than anything else is exactly what Spirit offers: The power of self-mastery. Self-knowledge and personal mastery, the fruits of spiritual practice, are also key to the worldly pursuits of leadership, high performance, power. Yet, self-mastery is sorely missing in business (not to mention politics). The failure of self-mastery is often the downfall of leadership. And the most reliable route to self-mastery is personal spiritual discipline reflection, journaling, meditation the sort of activity designed to force busy, stressed-out, Type A people to sit still and simple be. True, spiritual practice will lift your consciousness and bring you closer to the Divine but there's a mundane benefit as well: the clear thinking it nurtures will prevent you from making costly mistakes!" (p. 131) Patricia Aburdene is a world-renown speaker, best-selling author and passionate advocate of corporate transformation. Coauthor of four previous Megatrends books, Patricia has addressed business audiences throughout the world. Her 25-year career in business journalism began at Forbes magazine. In recognition for Megatrends for Women, she was appointed public policy fellow at Radcliff College, where she explored emerging models of leadership. Patricia later embarked on new studies integrating business research and spirituality. She now inspires audiences with a concrete blueprint of how values, consciousness and leadership will heal modern capitalism. Patricia holds three honorary doctorates and received the Medal of Italy in 1990 for her interpretation of global trends. She resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Telluride, Colorado. |
| Hydropolis - The World's First Underwater Hotel | 40 comments |
  28 Jan 2006 @ 08:10 Hydropolis - The World's First Underwater Hotel Posted on Friday, January 20 @ 22:50:47 CST Currently under construction in Dubai, Hydropolis is the world's first luxury underwater hotel. It will include three elements: the land station, where guests will be welcomed, the connecting tunnel, which will transport people by train to the main area of the hotel, and the 220 suites within the submarine leisure complex. Great photos. It is one of the largest contemporary construction projects in the world, covering an area of 260 hectares, about the size of London's Hyde Park. "Hydropolis is not a project; it's a passion," enthuses Joachim Hauser, the developer and designer of the hotel. His futuristic vision is about to take shape 20m below the surface of the Arabian Gulf, just off the Jumeirah Beach coastline in Dubai. The £300 million, 220-suite hotel is due to open at the end of 2007 and will incorporate a host of innovations that will take it far beyond the original blueprint for an underwater complex worthy of Jules Verne. There are only a few locations in the world where such a grandiose dream could be realised. A high proportion of today's architectural marvels are materialising like fanciful mirages from the desert sands. We have come to expect extravagant enterprises to be mounted in the Middle East, and especially in Dubai. "This venture could only be born here in Dubai," says Hauser. "It [has] a very open-minded, international community - and that's what makes it so special." The land on which Hydropolis is being built belongs to His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai. It was his last free beach property on this stretch of coast. The project is a fantastic one, yet Sheikh Mohammed's success record with comparable schemes instils confidence that science fiction can become fact. With his support, several companies have been formed to kick-start this phenomenal project, and around 150 firms are currently involved. "There have been many visions of colonising the sea - Jules Verne, Jean Gusto and several Japanese architects - but no one has ever managed to realise this dream," says Hauser. "That was the most challenging factor, and that's what makes it so fascinating. Despite being a dream of mankind for centuries, nobody has ever been able to make living underwater possible." UNDERWATER HOTEL DESIGN The original idea for Hydropolis developed out of Hauser's passion for water and the sea, and goes much deeper than just building a hotel underwater. More than just curiosity, it is a commitment to a more far-reaching philosophy. "Once you start digging deeper and deeper into the subject, you can't help being fascinated and you start caring about all the associated issues," he explains. "Humans consist of 80% water, the earth consists of 80% water; without water there is no life." Hydropolis reproduces the human organism in an architectural design. There is a direct analogy between the physiology of man and the architecture. The geometrical element is a figure eight lying on its side and inscribed in a circle. The spaces created in the basin will contain function areas, such as restaurants, bars, meeting rooms and theme suites. These can be compared to the components of the human organism: the motor functions and the nervous and cardiovascular systems, with the central sinus knot representing the pulse of all life. READ MORE More > |