420 Day, also known as Weed Day, has become an annual celebration for cannabis enthusiasts around the world. On this day, people come together to advocate for the legalization of marijuana, share their experiences, explore the medicinal benefits, and have some good old-fashioned fun.
The movement towards the legalization of marijuana has gained significant momentum in recent years. With more and more states in the US legalizing either medicinal or recreational use, it’s clear that attitudes towards cannabis are shifting. The benefits of legalization include increased tax revenue, regulation of the industry, and a shift in law enforcement priorities toward more pressing matters.
One of the reasons why 420 Day holds such significance is its deep-rooted history. The term “420” originated back in the 1970s, when a group of high school students in California would gather at 4:20 PM to smoke marijuana. This soon became their secret code for meeting up and indulging in their favorite pastime. The term gained further popularity when one of the students, Dave Reddix, who happened to be a roadie for the Grateful Dead, shared it with the band. From there, it spread like wildfire and became synonymous with cannabis culture.
In 1991, High Times magazine printed a flyer inviting people to gather on April 20th, 1990, at 4:20 PM for a smoke-filled event. This event further solidified the association between 420 and cannabis, forever memorializing the date.
Nowadays, 420 Day is a chance for people all over the world to come together, both physically and digitally, to celebrate their love for marijuana. Social media platforms are flooded with posts, hashtags, and discussions about the plant, its benefits, and the ongoing fight for its legalization.
So, how can you celebrate 420 Day? Well, there are plenty of options! You can share your thoughts and experiences about marijuana, educate yourself about the laws and legislation in your state, or dive into the realm of medicinal cannabis and its potential benefits. And of course, don’t forget to use the hashtag #420Day to join in and connect with others who are also celebrating this special day.
As 420 Day continues to grow in popularity, it serves as a reminder that the conversation surrounding marijuana is evolving. Whether you’re an advocate for legalization, a casual cannabis user, or simply curious about the topic, 420 Day offers a platform for open dialogue and a chance to learn, connect, and celebrate together. So grab your favorite strain, roll a joint, and let the festivities begin! Happy 420 Day!
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420 (cannabis culture)
In cannabis culture, the term “420” or “4:20” refers to the consumption of marijuana and hashish, particularly smoking around 4:20 pm (16:20). It is also associated with cannabis-related celebrations that occur annually on April 20th (4/20 in U.S. date format).
Despite two studies reporting an increase in the risk of fatal motor vehicle crashes on April 20, further investigation and analysis found no evidence to support such claims.
Theft of signs with the number 420 is common in the US. In Colorado, the Colorado Department of Transportation replaced the Mile Marker 420 sign on I-70 east of Denver with one that reads 419.99 to prevent theft, but it was also stolen and became a tourist attraction. The sign is now missing. After the frequent theft of mile marker signs with the number 69, the Colorado DOT started replacing them with 68.5 mile signs. Similarly, the Idaho Department of Transportation replaced the mile marker 420 sign on U.S. Highway 95 with mile marker 419.9, and the Washington State Department of Transportation replaced one of their two 420 signs, but the remaining one was stolen. According to The Washington Post, there are eleven 420 mile markers in the US after replacements and thefts. In Goodhue County, Minnesota, 420 St street signs were changed to 42x St. The mile marker 420 sign on U.S. Route 89 in Utah is frequently stolen.
Legislation and other government recognition
In 2003, the California Senate introduced Senate Bill 420 to regulate the use of medical marijuana, deliberately referencing the significance of 420 in marijuana culture. In 2010, an unsuccessful bill to legalize cannabis in Guam was called Bill 420. Similarly, a bill to legalize cannabis in North Dakota was introduced in January 2021, known as HB 1420.
On April 20, 2018, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York), the Senate Minority Leader, announced the Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act. This act aims to decriminalize and deschedule cannabis in the United States. Additionally, on January 9, 2019, Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) introduced H.R. 420 to the 116th Congress. The bill is called the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act and aims to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and return the regulation to the states.
The State of Colorado held an auction for cannabis-themed personalized license plates in 2021. The bidding was set to close on April 20 (4/20) and the highest bid before the auction closed was over $6,500 for plate “ISIT420.”
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After Initiative 71 legalized cannabis in Washington, D.C. in 2014, Mayor Muriel Bowser granted license plate number 420 to the leader of the campaign, Adam Eidinger.
Literature?
There are cannabis cookbooks available with “420” in their title, such as The 420 Cannabis Cookbook published by Simon & Schuster, and The 420 Gourmet published by HarperCollins in 2016.There are cannabis cookbooks available with “420” in their title, such as The 420 Cannabis Cookbook published by Simon & Schuster, and The 420 Gourmet published by HarperCollins in 2016.
Elon Musk controversy
In 2018, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk tweeted his intention to take his company private at $420 per share. The price was widely believed to reference marijuana culture. In 2023, a jury found him not guilty of misleading investors. During the trial, Musk testified that any association with cannabis was purely coincidental. Later in 2022, Musk bought Twitter at a price per share of $54.20. He acknowledged the reference to marijuana culture and explained that he did it because his girlfriend found it amusing.
Workers who are in frequent contact with potentially sick animals are at high risk of bird flu infection.
Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesRon Barrett, Macalester College
Disease forecasts are like weather forecasts: We cannot predict the finer details of a particular outbreak or a particular storm, but we can often identify when these threats are emerging and prepare accordingly.
The viruses that cause avian influenza are potential threats to global health. Recent animal outbreaks from a subtype called H5N1 have been especially troubling to scientists. Although human infections from H5N1 have been relatively rare, there have been a little more than 900 known cases globally since 2003 – nearly 50% of these cases have been fatal – a mortality rate about 20 times higher than that of the 1918 flu pandemic. If the worst of these rare infections ever became common among people, the results could be devastating.
Approaching potential disease threats from an anthropological perspective, my colleagues and I recently published a book called “Emerging Infections: Three Epidemiological Transitions from Prehistory to the Present” to examine the ways human behaviors have shaped the evolution of infectious diseases, beginning with their first major emergence in the Neolithic period and continuing for 10,000 years to the present day.
Viewed from this deep time perspective, it becomes evident that H5N1 is displaying a common pattern of stepwise invasion from animal to human populations. Like many emerging viruses, H5N1 is making incremental evolutionary changes that could allow it to transmit between people. The periods between these evolutionary steps present opportunities to slow this process and possibly avert a global disaster.
Spillover and viral chatter
When a disease-causing pathogen such as a flu virus is already adapted to infect a particular animal species, it may eventually evolve the ability to infect a new species, such as humans, through a process called spillover.
Spillover is a tricky enterprise. To be successful, the pathogen must have the right set of molecular “keys” compatible with the host’s molecular “locks” so it can break in and out of host cells and hijack their replication machinery. Because these locks often vary between species, the pathogen may have to try many different keys before it can infect an entirely new host species. For instance, the keys a virus successfully uses to infect chickens and ducks may not work on cattle and humans. And because new keys can be made only through random mutation, the odds of obtaining all the right ones are very slim.
Given these evolutionary challenges, it is not surprising that pathogens often get stuck partway into the spillover process. A new variant of the pathogen might be transmissible from an animal only to a person who is either more susceptible due to preexisting illness or more likely to be infected because of extended exposure to the pathogen.
Even then, the pathogen might not be able to break out of its human host and transmit to another person. This is the current situation with H5N1. For the past year, there have been many animal outbreaks in a variety of wild and domestic animals, especially among birds and cattle. But there have also been a small number of human cases, most of which have occurred among poultry and dairy workers who worked closely with large numbers of infected animals.
Pathogen transmission can be modeled in three stages. In Stage 1, the pathogen can be transmitted only between nonhuman animals. In stage 2, the pathogen can also be transmitted to humans, but it is not yet adapted for human-to-human transmission. In Stage 3, the pathogen is fully capable of human-to-human transmission.Ron Barrett, CC BY-SA
Epidemiologists call this situation viral chatter: when human infections occur only in small, sporadic outbreaks that appear like the chattering signals of coded radio communications – tiny bursts of unclear information that may add up to a very ominous message. In the case of viral chatter, the message would be a human pandemic.
Sporadic, individual cases of H5N1 among people suggest that human-to-human transmission may likely occur at some point. But even so, no one knows how long or how many steps it would take for this to happen.
Influenza viruses evolve rapidly. This is partly because two or more flu varieties can infect the same host simultaneously, allowing them to reshuffle their genetic material with one another to produce entirely new varieties.
Genetic reshuffling – aka antigenic shift – between a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza and a strain of human influenza could create a new strain that’s even more infectious among people.Eunsun Yoo/Biomolecules & Therapeutics, CC BY-NC
These reshuffling events are more likely to occur when there is a diverse range of host species. So it is particularly concerning that H5N1 is known to have infected at least 450 different animal species. It may not be long before the viral chatter gives way to larger human epidemics.
Reshaping the trajectory
The good news is that people can take basic measures to slow down the evolution of H5N1 and potentially reduce the lethality of avian influenza should it ever become a common human infection. But governments and businesses will need to act.
People can start by taking better care of food animals. The total weight of the world’s poultry is greater than all wild bird species combined. So it is not surprising that the geography of most H5N1 outbreaks track more closely with large-scale housing and international transfers of live poultry than with the nesting and migration patterns of wild aquatic birds. Reducing these agricultural practices could help curb the evolution and spread of H5N1.
Large-scale commercial transport of domesticated animals is associated with the evolution and spread of new influenza varieties.ben/Flickr, CC BY-SA
People can also take better care of themselves. At the individual level, most people can vaccinate against the common, seasonal influenza viruses that circulate every year. At first glance this practice may not seem connected to the emergence of avian influenza. But in addition to preventing seasonal illness, vaccination against common human varieties of the virus will reduce the odds of it mixing with avian varieties and giving them the traits they need for human-to-human transmission.
At the population level, societies can work together to improve nutrition and sanitation in the world’s poorest populations. History has shown that better nutrition increases overall resistance to new infections, and better sanitation reduces how much and how often people are exposed to new pathogens. And in today’s interconnected world, the disease problems of any society will eventually spread to every society.
For more than 10,000 years, human behaviors have shaped the evolutionary trajectories of infectious diseases. Knowing this, people can reshape these trajectories for the better.Ron Barrett, Professor of Anthropology, Macalester College
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Is Chipotle Closing All Its Restaurants After Filing for Bankruptcy? Here’s What We Know
Rumors of Chipotle filing for bankruptcy and closing locations stemmed from a misreported article about a spinoff restaurant. Chipotle confirmed these claims are false and plans to open 345 new restaurants, ensuring customers it remains open for business.
Recent rumors circulating on social media have left many Chipotle fans in a state of panic, with claims that the beloved restaurant chain is filing for bankruptcy and set to close all its locations. Let’s set the record straight and find out what’s really happening.
According to KTLA, the frenzy began when the Union Rayo media outlet published a story on March 20 about the closure of a Chipotle spinoff restaurant called Farmesa Fresh Eatery. Unfortunately, the article mistakenly included a photo of Chipotle, and this misinformation quickly spread like wildfire across social platforms.
Chipotle is famous for its generously-sized burritos, bowls, quesadillas, and tacos, proudly serving organic ingredients at nearly 4,000 locations worldwide. Unsurprisingly, the rumors sent burrito lovers into a frenzy. One social media user expressed disbelief, questioning, “How is Chipotle going bankrupt when I get a bowl with extra chicken and guac every day????”
Amidst the chaos, another user humorously suggested, “They’re talking about Chipotle closing, I’ll chain my wrist to the door don’t play with me,” highlighting the deep connection many have to the restaurant.
In response to the widespread concerns, Chipotle issued a statement to clarify the situation. A spokesperson for the chain told Good Morning America, “The claim that Chipotle is closing restaurants is false. The false information stemmed from an inaccurate online article confusing Chipotle with a venture it tested in 2023. The story has since been corrected.”
Furthermore, as a testament to their growth, Chipotle plans to open 345 new restaurants this year. This expansion clearly indicates that the chain is on solid ground and committed to serving its loyal customers for years to come.
So, if you were worried about your next burrito fix, rest easy! Chipotle is not closing its doors, and the rumors can safely be put to rest. Keep enjoying your favorite meals, and stay tuned for those new locations popping up soon!
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Dolores Raphael is a dedicated writer and blogger focused on health, fitness, and everyday living. She shares practical tips and inspiring insights to help others lead a balanced and vibrant lifestyle. one of her passions is Pickleball.
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Val Kilmer at Cannes in 2005. Image Credit: Georges Biard
LOS ANGELES (AP) — In a heartbreaking loss to the entertainment world, Val Kilmer, the intense and versatile actor known for iconic roles in films such as “Top Gun,” “Batman Forever,” and “The Doors,” has passed away at the age of 65. Kilmer died on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, surrounded by his family and friends, as confirmed by his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, in an email to The Associated Press.
Kilmer’s death was attributed to pneumonia, following a long and courageous battle with throat cancer that he had been diagnosed with in 2014, a struggle that led to two tracheotomies.
Reflecting on his tumultuous yet inspiring journey, Kilmer shared in the documentary “Val” (2021), “I have behaved poorly. I have behaved bravely. I have behaved bizarrely to some. I deny none of this and have no regrets because I have lost and found parts of myself that I never knew existed. And I am blessed.” His words are a testament to his remarkable resilience, artistry, and unique perspective on life.
Val Kilmer
Kilmer was a prodigy in the performing arts, becoming the youngest actor ever admitted to the prestigious Juilliard School when he enrolled in 1981. His breakthrough came with the 1984 spy spoof “Top Secret!” and he quickly rose to fame with a series of successful films, including the beloved comedy “Real Genius” in 1985. He showcased his comedic talents in later works, such as “MacGruber” and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.”
The pinnacle of Kilmer’s career arguably occurred in the early 1990s, where he solidified his status as a leading man. Among his most memorable roles were Doc Holliday in “Tombstone” (1993), Elvis Presley in “True Romance,” and the cunning bank-robbing demolition expert in Michael Mann’s “Heat” (1995), alongside cinematic legends Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.
Despite the acclaim, Kilmer’s career was not without its challenges. A 1996 Entertainment Weekly cover story famously dubbed him “The Man Hollywood Loves to Hate,” citing conflicts with directors and a reputation for being difficult on set. Notable figures, including directors John Frankenheimer and Joel Schumacher, described his work as challenging; however, many others, like director D. J. Caruso, defended Kilmer’s commitment to depth and character immersion.
After delivering memorable performances in adult dramas, Kilmer took a slight detour, engaging in smaller films, such as David Mamet’s “Spartan,” and portraying the troubled 1970s adult film star John Holmes in “Wonderland” (2003). He also embraced the stage with a one-man show, “Citizen Twain,” where he explored the complex life of Mark Twain.
Hailing from the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles, Kilmer’s early life was marred by tragedy with the loss of his younger brother, Wesley, to a seizure — a poignant event that would forever resonate with him. Throughout his life, Kilmer sought inspiration from his brother, often reflecting on the artistic potential he believed Wesley would have achieved.
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As a multi-talented artist, Kilmer not only acted but also wrote poetry, with two published collections, including “My Edens After Burns.” In 2012, he received a Grammy nomination for his spoken word album, “The Mark of Zorro.” He continued to explore various creative outlets and was known for his dedication to visual art and his Christian Science faith.
His personal life saw relationships with notable personalities, including singer Cher, and he was previously married to actor Joanne Whalley, with whom he shares two children, Mercedes and Jack.
In a final testament to his remarkable life and career, Kilmer asserted, “I have no regrets. I’ve witnessed and experienced miracles.” Val Kilmer leaves behind a rich legacy, characterized by his complex characters and deep artistic contributions that will forever resonate with audiences. The film industry has lost a true icon, and his presence will be deeply missed.
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Ron Barrett, Professor of Anthropology, Macalester College
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
