A community along British Columbia's Sunshine Coast is considering whether to implement special zoning for medical marijuana, allowing large-scale commercial operations in industrial and agricultural areas.
Councillors in the District of Sechelt have agreed to consider a draft bylaw that would allow commercial marijuana farms on some industrial or agricultural lands in the community, located a short ferry ride north of Vancouver.
The district will hold public hearings on the proposal, which have the support of the local RCMP and fire department.
The proposed bylaw would allow Health Canada-licensed growers that are producing marijuana for multiple users to set up shop in industrial zones. Licensed users who grow medical marijuana in their homes for their own personal use would not be affected.
"The zoning didn't provide for that kind of business to be operated on industrial property, so this is simply addressing that," Sechelt Mayor John Henderson said in an interview.
"The bylaws never contemplated marijuana being legal. In this case, licensed producers already exist. This is just us saying if a licensed producer wants to create a business in an industrially zoned area, they'll be allowed to."
District staff drafted the proposed bylaw after they received an application to renovate an industrial building in Sechelt to grow medical marijuana.
The Lingerie Football League is hanging up its garters for the 2012 season.
League spokesman Jim Wallin announced Friday that the LFL will go on hiatus until April 2013 so it can get on a warm-weather schedule in the spring and summer. Until then, players will go on promotional tours in Australia and Asia.
The seven-on-seven female league was created in 2009. Eleven teams played in the 2011 season, which culminated in a third straight championship for the Los Angeles Temptation. But, there I go, acting like the league is about football and not bras and panties and unattached garter clips.
Plans to expand into more U.S. cities and Canada will be explored during the hiatus.
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A dozen Secret Service agents sent to Colombia to provide security for President Barack Obama at an international summit have been relieved of duty because of allegations of misconduct.
A Secret Service spokesman did not dispute a tip received by The Associated Press that the misconduct involved prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia, the site of the Summit of the Americas.
A U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter and requested anonymity, put the number of agents at 12. The agency was not releasing the number of personnel involved.
The Washington Post reported that Jon Adler, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, said the accusations related to at least one agent having involvement with prostitutes in Cartagena. The association represents federal law enforcement officers, including the Secret Service.
Ronald Kessler, a former Post reporter and the author of a book about the Secret Service, told the Post that he had learned that 12 agents were involved, several of them married.
The incident threatened to overshadow Obama's economic and trade agenda at the summit and embarrass the U.S. The White House had no comment.
Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan would not confirm that prostitution was involved, saying only that there had been "allegations of misconduct" made against Secret Service personnel in the Colombian port city hosting Obama and more than 30 world leaders.
Donovan said the allegations of misconduct were related to activity before the president's arrival Friday night.
It's a shame that even though women are making equal pay for equal work and rising in the ranks of business, industry and the professions, when it comes to sex, many of us are still not getting our due.
Some bad old habits and beliefs are keeping us from having the best sex possible. I'm suggesting seven simple, common-sense ways for women to have more fun and fulfilling sex:
1. Don't Talk Yourself Out Of What You Need
It's too easy for us women to convince ourselves to settle for less. We're so helpful and accommodating, so eager to please and afraid of rejection that we're quick to give up the things we need, including when it comes to sex.
What we need to see is that doing this will leave us chronically frustrated. While it's true that every relationship requires a certain amount of compromise, going without the things that we really need just doesn't work. We'll end up unhappy in the relationship or resentful toward our partner.
The bottom line is, we need to know what we can't live without, sexually, and what we just can't live with. We ignore these non-negotiables at the expense of a fulfilling sex life.
2. Accept Your Body As It Is Now
We need to be in touch with our bodies; with what feels good, what feels not so good and what feels wrong. We also really need to stop judging ourselves in terms of our weight and our shape. Only a superficial dope would give us a hard time over our imperfections. If someone makes us feel bad about our physical selves, this is more a reflection of his inadequacies than of our own.
Our negative self-talk has to stop. The running commentary on how fat we are, how much cellulite or how many wrinkles we have is guaranteed to kill the mood, often before it even starts. Feeling good about our bodies is crucial if we're going to let go and enjoy ourselves. Being physically self-conscious will keep us from experiencing the joyful abandon of great sex.
3. No Pets In The Room
We might love Fluffy or Rover, but they don't belong in the bedroom when we're being intimate. Our pets are very territorial and could get jealous or want to play, too. Dogs might bark or even growl. Cats might jump onto the bed and start walking around. We can avoid these disasters by remembering to shut the door and leave our four-legged friends outside.
4. Enjoy The Give And Take
The best sex is the kind in which each person is trying to please the other one. The sharing in sex is one of the things that make it great. It can be technically amazing, but when one person gets the impression that the other person really isn't there with them, it can ruin the whole experience.
What makes someone a fantastic lover is not their technical ability or their repertoire of moves but their attentiveness and their efforts to make their partner happy. When both people show that they really care about meeting their partner's needs, sex becomes something wonderful.
5. Share Your Needs And Feelings With Your Partner
If you can't ask them for what you want in bed, you shouldn't be sleeping with them. Good sex happens when we feel safe and at ease. If we're afraid to ask for something or to tell our partner that we don't like something, sex will never be more than mediocre.
This second tip follows from the first one, in that once we identify what we want and don't want, we have to express these things clearly. It's unfair to expect our partner to be a mind-reader and "prove" that they care by somehow knowing what we want without our having to tell them. Healthy sex comes out of healthy communication.
Mitt Romney drew a warm reception from the National Rifle Assn. on Friday as he attacked President Obama for “employing every imaginable ruse and ploy” to restrict gun rights, which Romney pledged not to do if elected in November.
Although gun control groups have complained that Obama has done little to support their cause, Romney took a page from the NRA leadership, which has been saying that the president is waiting for a second term to crack down on firearms. He warned that Obama would “remake” the Supreme Court in a second term, threatening constitutional freedoms.
“In a second term, he would be unrestrained by the demands of re-election,” Romney told a crowd estimated at 6,000 in the cavernous Edward Jones Dome. “As he told the Russian president last month when he thought no one else was listening, after a re-election he’ll have a lot more, quote, 'flexibility' to do what he wants. I’m not exactly sure what he meant by that, but looking at his first three years, I have a very good idea.”
Referring specifically to the right to bear arms, Romney said: “If we are going to safeguard our 2nd Amendment, it is time to elect a president who will defend the rights President Obama ignores or minimizes. I will.”
Romney’s speech came at the NRA’s Leadership Forum, which always draws top conservative speakers. Also expected to speak Friday were three of Romney’s former rivals for the GOP nomination, former Sen. Rick Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, as well as a panoply of other Republican stars, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Sens. Chuck Grassley and Roy Blunt, and Rep. Darrell Issa.
Most of the other speakers could claim a friendlier history with the NRA than Romney, who supported strict gun control measures as governor of Massachusetts and once said he didn’t “line up” with the gun rights group. But the NRA leadership has thrown its weight behind Romney, whom it sees as preferable to Obama, and Romney received several standing ovations during his speech.
Although Obama has not been responsible for any notable gun control measures, the organization has been sharply critical of some of his appointments, especially that of Eric Holder as attorney general.
The following Gchat took place at our desks today:
Margaret: Who's doing something fun this weekend? Regale me.
Lori F.: I am!!!
Emma: What are you doing?
Lori F.: I'm having a cheese party
Margaret: A cheese party.
Lori F.: My boyfriend made it very clear that we can't call it a wine and cheese party. It's a cheese party. (Though there will be wine.)
Emma: Will there be brie? And photos of said brie?
Margaret: Why can't it be called a wine and cheese party?
(And will there be pictures of unsaid wine?)
Lori F.: Yes, obviously there will be pictures. I always take pictures of my food.
Margaret: Obviously.
Lori F.: You've seen them many times on Facebook.
Margaret: I never take pictures. Is that bad?
Emma: Since we don't spend enough time together during the week, it would be good to keep your co-workers abreast of your weekend adventures.
Lori F.: Emma, I can't believe you forgot that we all went to a movie like two weeks ago
Margaret: And are again this weekend.
Margaret: What am I supposed to make you aware of? That I am doing laundry and having an incredibly photogenic phone conversation with my mom?
Lori F.: Take a picture of your TV. You're obviously watching 'Girls.'
Margaret: If I'm taking photos of my TV, other people also have to take photos of their weekends. Even if they are not hosting cheese parties.
Emma: Agreed. Besides, if you use Instagram you'll look really hip even if you're cleaning your apartment.
Lori F.: True. It even made our office printer look stylish. But actually you shouldn't take a picture of your TV -- it's supposed to be beautiful outside. You should do something fun. (Not that TV isn't fun.)
Margaret: I am fun.
Lori F.: I need to go home -- er, cheese shopping.
Margaret: Wait. If I am being forced to photograph my weekend,
I suggest we ask other people do the same and send the photos to us.
Then we will have fun photos to look at Monday morning
and will be only mildly envious of the more interesting stuff other people are doing.
Except those people having cheese parties. I will be REALLY envious of those people.
J-14, Teen Beat, Tiger Beat, BOP. If you were a pre-teen girl in the ‘90s, you probably recognize the names of these teeny bopper magazines. You also may have plastered your walls with their glossy pullouts, printed with uber-cheesy photos of teen idols (don't miss TresSugar’s extensive collection).
James Van Der Beek (a.k.a. Dawson Leery) has recently re-entered the world of television -- and the cultural zeitgeist -- on “Don’t Trust the B-- In Apt. 23.” And the best part is, he’s playing himself! During the first episode he brings a girl back to his apartment, only to have her start playing “I Don’t Want to Wait.” It was hard to watch without getting a serious pang of ‘90s nostalgia: Beanie Babies! Lisa Frank! The Macarena! It was also hard to watch without thinking about those other teen boys that captured the hearts (or at least infatuated) of young women everywhere during that decade. So here’s to you, JTT, BSB and everyone who wasn’t lucky enough to have an acronym. We wish you’d join Dawson and come back into the spotlight. (Important note: Justin Timberlake and Will Smith have only been left off of this list because they’re still superstars.)
The economy may not be the only thing determining your home's sale price. According to a new study, how attractive your real estate agent is can have a serious impact as well.
The research, published last month in the journal Applied Financial Economics, looked the personal characteristics of real estate agents, including looks, gender and race. The study's authors then compared those characteristics to the prices that houses sold for and the amount of time they stayed on the market. The size, location and quality of each property was controlled for, news site Big Think reported. Even with those factors controlled for, the researchers found that looks and gender mattered -- a lot. The researchers found that it can pay -- literally -- to hire a female real estate agent. According to Big Think:
Both male listing agents (those acting on behalf of the seller) and male selling agents (those acting on behalf of the buyer) are associated with lower house prices than their female counterparts.
The gender of the agents did not, however, have any impact on the length of time a house stayed on the market.
In contrast, the level of attractiveness impacted both a property’s selling time and its price point. Good-looking agents tend to sell their properties for more money -- especially attractive listing agents -- but these properties also tend to be on the market for a longer period of time. Jezebel’s Dodai Stewart believes that this discrepancy makes sense, writing that:
humans are visual creatures, and if some polished, pleasing-to-the-eye power broker who looks like a million bucks tries to sell on something worth a million bucks, we're probably going to agree to the price. That's just how sales works! The pretty people in Prada have known this for years.
This the latest in a series of studies to find that there are advantages to being conventionally beautiful. Attractive men and women tend to earn between 10 and 15 percent more on average than their unattractive counterparts.
A man is recovering in Munich after a nightmarish one night stand with a woman who he says wanted way too much sex. When he first attempted to leave the woman's apartment after several sessions of lovemaking, she insisted on doing it again, and as a police spokesman said, "Because the 43-year-old saw no other alternative, he complied with the woman's wishes another few times so he could finally leave the apartment." After his generous compliance, the woman demanded "even more" and the terrified (and probably exhausted) man escaped onto a balcony and called the police. When police arrived, the lusty 47-year-old woman allegedly also propositioned the officers, who declined. She may now face charges of sexual assault and illegal restraint.
This is part 2 of 4 of our "My Coachella" Series. Check back during Coachella for profiles on our favorite bands.
His name is Wally De Backer, but many of you know him as Gotye (pronounced go-ti-yay): the Australian musician whose smash hit, "Somebody That I Used To Know," is on every station, every iPhone and practically stuck in every head across America. The song is so popular that HuffPost has already put together a list of the best covers.
The Belgian-born artist has found success in Australia for years, but he is currently making waves in the US -- scratch that -- he currently has jumped from a high cliff and made a giant cannonball splash into current pop music culture. The video for "Somebody That I Used To Know" [watch above] is like an infectious disease on YouTube, and watching it once is seriously not enough.
To put to simply: Gotye, age 31, is somebody that we all should know. He recorded his most recent album Making Mirrors in his parents' barn on a huge plot of land in Australia and uses every instrument in the book. A self-professed sample junkie, Gotye mixes melody, rhythm, lyrics and beats into a sort of potion you just can't turn off. Part haunting and part enchanting, Making Mirrors is proof that this artist is only on the way up.
He is the musical guest on "Saturday Night Live" On April 14, and he arrives on the scene at The Coachella Music Festival on April 15. The Huffington Post spoke with Gotye recently to learn how he found his incredible voice, what his darkest periods are and who he's most excited to see at Coachella.
