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Colorado has collected more than $1 million in marijuana tax revenue in less than one month. If the trend continues, the yearly tax revenue could top $100 million. Early estimates, before the laws changed, were closer to $70 million per year.

Revenue generated by sales of legal marijuana could eventually top alcohol, cigarette, and tobacco products. In 2013, Colorado collected $39.9 million in alcohol related taxes and $31.6 million from tobacco related products. Cigarettes still stand out, with an annual tax revenue of $165.5 million. However, that could change.

Colorado’s new marijuana legislation requires the first $40 million in tax revenue to go toward improving schools. As reported by Today, the excess revenue will help the state fund numerous municipal projects, including roads, bridges, and public parks.

Mason Tvert, with the Marijuana Policy Project, said the regulation and taxation of marijuana is a reasonable solution for other states experiencing financial difficulty:

“Elected officials around the country are watching what’s happening in Colorado and they’re recognizing that there’s a better way to handle marijuana.”

Faced with a $100 million state deficit, Rhode Island Senator Sen. Joshua Miller proposed legalizing marijuana in his state. Miller said marijuana sales could raise up to $20 million in tax revenue, which could “take care of more than 20 percent of the deficit… every year.”

Miller also noted legalization of marijuana would save the taxpayers money, as it would reduce the number of marijuana related arrests, court proceedings, and incarcerations.

Tvert expects Colorado’s marijuana tax revenue to continue to increase as more businesses open and supply is available. Several current shop owners have been forced to close their doors, as the city is currently experiencing a shortage.

Toni Fox, with 3D Cannabis, said she is currently selling an average of $20,000 worth of marijuana per day. However, KGW News reports inventory is in short supply. Fox said she could easily sell $40,000 per day if she simply “had enough inventory.”

Critics argue that marijuana use can lead to negative long-term consequences, which are still largely unknown. Some critics believe the funds spent to treat marijuana addiction will outweigh the increase in tax revenue. Others believe marijuana is simply a “gateway” drug, which will cause other addictions and an increase in drug-related crime.

The debate for and against marijuana use remains a hot topic. Although the legislation is new and the long-term implications are unknown, the state is already seeing a positive impact. The increased tax revenue will help fund projects that the state otherwise could not afford. The same could be true for numerous other states throughout the nation.

Colorado’s marijuana tax revenue for the first month was calculated using data provided by 18 sources.

Colorado Collects Over $1 Million In Marijuana Tax In Less Than One Month is a post from: The Inquisitr News

That looks like a job I certainly wouldn't want.

Corsair Obsidian 900D vs. Cooler Master Cosmos II

The Cooler Master Cosmos II debuted in 2011 to much fanfare. Indeed, it was the chassis of our dreams. It housed our precious Dream Machine that year, and was easily the best “super-tower” available. In 2013, the Corsair 900D came on the scene boasting a similarly mammoth stature, and was itself chosen for Dream Machine 2013 duty due to its water-friendly nature and towering physique. Both cases represent the pinnacle of PC case design, so they must do battle.

Corsair’s new Obsidian 900D “super-tower” is tall and roomy, but much less beefy than the Cosmos II.

ROUND 1

Size and Weight

Both cases are big, but it’s how they carry their bulk that makes all the difference. The Cosmos II weighs 48 pounds, while the 900D weighs 41 pounds. The Cosmos II is 27.7 inches tall while the 900D is 27.2 inches, so the two are very close in size. To be honest, we originally felt that the Cosmos II was too heavy because it’s built like a tank. Then we lifted the Corsair 900D out of its box and were a bit let down by its relatively light weight. It just feels too lithe for a case of its size, and there’s no easy way to move it, whereas the Cosmos II has built-in handles, which makes transport much easier. Therefore, we give the Cosmos II the nod, because we wish the 900D had a bit more heft to it and an easier way to move it than squat and grunt.

Winner: Cosmos II

ROUND 2

Total Capacity

It’s safe to say you’d need to have a drug cartel’s bankroll to ever outgrow either of these cases, but it’s still important to gauge overall capacity. For starters, the Cosmos II has 13 3.5-inch drive bays compared to the 900D’s nine bays, though you can buy two more three-drive cages for a total of 15. The 900D has one additional 5.25-inch drive bay to its credit—four total. Both cases hold ATX and E-ATX mobos, as well as smaller boards, but the Cosmos II holds several larger variants, such as XL-ATX, SSI CEB, and SSE EEB. The Corsair 900D has room for dual PSUs, however, mounted vertically, whereas the Cosmos II can hold only one. Both cases have more than enough room for any combo of GPUs your bank account can tolerate. Since both cases are very evenly matched in this category, and can easily swallow even a Dream Machine, with room to spare, this one is a tie.

Winner: Tie

ROUND 3

Build Quality

When you drop $350 smackaroos on a chassis, you expect top-notch build quality, and unfortunately only one of these cases lives up to that expectation, and that’s the Cosmos II. Though both cases are made with a steel frame and feel extremely solid, the fit and finish of the Cosmos II seems much more polished than that of the 900D. With the Cosmos II, everything that moves glides smoothly, doors and latches lock into place tight and secure, and you never get the feeling that any part of the case is brittle or untrustworthy. The 900D, however, has two glaring weak spots—its disappointingly flimsy lower bay doors, and it’s flaccid 3.5-inch drive-bay assemblies. Both of these rickety contraptions feel out of place on a chassis of this class, and require too much fumbling for our well-heeled tastes. The lower drive-bay doors are surprisingly wobbly, with a magnetic retention mechanism that barely works.

Winner: Cosmos II

ROUND 4 

Cooling Options

If you’re running air-cooling, both of these cases provide more mounting locations than you can shake a heatsink at, though they are modestly outfitted out of the box with just a handful of 120mm spinners. When it comes to liquid-cooling opportunities, though, the Corsair 900D is the clear winner, providing ample radiator mounting options on almost every surface of its spacious interior. Not only can you mount a 480mm radiator on the top and the bottom, you can put a 360mm rad in the front too, or two of them in the bottom if you’re cray cray. The Cosmos II can handle a 360mm up top but there is no way to mount a radiator to the front of the chassis. You can also mount just a single 240mm rad down below due to the PSU’s horizontal orientation, plus the Cooler Master provides mounting rails for only one radiator. 

Winner: Corsair 900D

ROUND 5

Modularity

Cases such as these are not mere storage containers, but rather canvases that allow you to express your inner geek via expansion, modification, and customization. To that end, both cases are fairly modular, allowing you to remove fans and drive cages to install cooling components or to manage cables. The Corsair 900D lets you remove and rearrange pretty much everything, including the lower and upper drive bays as well as the PSU location. The Cosmos II, on the other hand, offers fewer options due to the PSU’s location and the steel shelf that divides the chassis’s lower quadrant. You can still remove the upper and lower drive cages, but your options for moving the drive cages around are limited. You also can’t change the location of the power supply, nor can you add a second one if you need to, which is a situation we confronted while building this year’s Dream Machine.

Winner: Corsair 900D

 

The Cosmos II is one of the largest cases ever made, and has a shipping weight of 50 pounds.

And the Winner Is…

As we come to the finish line both cases are tied, so the winner is not immediately apparent. After searching our souls, examining our PC fantasy builds, and consulting with our shaman we arrived at a winner—the Corsair 900D. It’s the winner for one simple reason: It offers more flexibility for ambitious builders who want the option to expand their builds in the future, including running liquid-cooling, for which it’s the best case around, period.

Building a data center in the cloud

Cloud backup company Backblaze has a secret and it's a big one. How big? Try an exabyte. That's how much data Backblaze hopes to be able to store at its relatively new data center in the Sacramento area. We didn't know about it because Backblaze never revealed any details about the facility until now. It's located just outside of Sacramento and away from any earthquake fault zones and flood plains.

It's also considered to be an area that's "very low risk" for tornadoes, so that's one less thing to worry about. Furthermore, the data center has SAS 70 Type II and ISO 9001 certifications and is PCI-DSS compliant, in case you're interested in counting bullet points.

Backblaze says it's been a year since the Sacramento data center first began accepting customer data, and by September 2013, all new customer accounts were being serviced there. At the time Backblaze started looking for a new data center (August 2012), it was hosting 40 petabytes of data.

"We expect to be able to store about 1/2 an exabyte (500 petabytes) of customer data at our new data center," Backblaze said. "That should last us a little while but just in case the operations folks are already scouting locations in Lake Tahoe for the next data center."

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"Theoretically, whoever it is in power, we’re against them."

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Interesting if true. Is it? Are there any basic rules for what works and what doesn’t politically? Republicans are easier for us than Democrats. Democrats tend to take it personally; Republicans think it’s funny. But we’re not sitting here every week going, “We’ve really got to do the First Family.” This week, our cold open […]

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noscoone:

AYE, THERE’S A SPY OVER HERE!

foreshortening/posing practice with a quick splash of colour because i’m tired. RUN SPEE RUN!

(pose ref, go check out their stuff it’s hella rad)

This article has been published at RLSLOG.net - visit our site for full content.

PROPHET has released the MULTi version of Simulation game “Agricultural Simulator 2013 – Steam Edition” for PC. Game version is v1.1.0.3.

Description: An idyllic farming environment surrounded by inviting & untilled mountain panoramas set in the beautiful landscapes of Tuscany, The Alps and USA await all fans of the Agricultural Simulator series.

At their own farm hobby-farmers undertake the daily tasks and challenges of a professional: The production of food, sustainable resources and delivery of eco products all have to be managed.

Fields have to be worked and farm animals cared for. The dynamic ground makes the whole game more realistic! Future farmers have to invest tactically and with foresight – the rapid spend of budgets by running costs and seed bills must not be underestimated. To realize a profit takes financial and tactical skill.

Key Features:

• Including Interactive Tutorial
• Includes 4 Maps
• Includes more than 100 machines
• Free placeable building including:
• Solar Energy Plant
• Greenhouse
• Windmills
• Dung Tank
• Extensive Help System, including Transport tasks
• 6 different animal species

Genre: Casual, Simulation
Publisher: United Independent Entertainment GmbH
Developer: Actalogic
Languages: EN/FR/DE/IT/ES/PL/RU/CZ/DK/FI/NO/

Release Name:Agricultural.Simulator.2013.Steam.Edition-PROPHET
Size: 2.28 GB
Links: Steam – NTi – TPB – NFO

Download: Part1 – Part2 (Uploaded.net)

more at RLSLOG.net

The future of automotive safety isn't about more airbags or stronger steel. It's about building smarter automobiles that talk to each other, so your car knows that other car is about to run a red light and applies the brakes to save your bacon. The feds think such technology, called vehicle-to-vehicle communication, is a great idea and want to make sure every new car has it.

submitted by plgonzrx8 [link] [190 comments]

Steam's in-client support of music playback isn't a feature I'm dying to have, but it is one I will use on a near-daily basis. I'm ready for it. Valve says the beta release of Steam Music is coming soon -- first on Steam Big Picture and SteamOS, followed by support for regular ol' Steam. 

As per usual, you can express interest in taking part by signing up for a community group. Valve is initiating this beta "with what we believe to be the most fundamental set of features to offer a great music listening experience within Steam," so there'll be plenty of room for feedback.

Spotify support. That's it for me.

Introducing Steam's new Music features [Steam]

Breaking Bad the AMC drama that aired its final season over the summer has had a fantastic year. Not only did it score a ratings high with its last eight episodes, but its critical acclaim grew tenfold with praise worthy reviews. The enormous reception for the show has continued as we go into awards season. The show has scored big awards at the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

One of the last award shows that celebrates achievements in television is the Writers Guild Awards. The big winner for film was Spike Jonze’s Her, but as far as television is concerned Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad took the top prize home. The show wound up taking home the trophy for Best Drama Series, beating tough competition like Homeland, House of Cars, The Good Wife, and Mad Men.

The WGAs also gave Breaking Bad the win for Episodic Drama category for the “Confessions” episode from the final season. In this particular episode Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) discovers that Walt (Bryan Cranston) poisoned Brock, his girlfriend’s son. Another huge development made in the series in “Confessions” happened when Walt incriminated his brother-in-law and DEA agent Hank with a tape, having silenced him from going to the agency about his identity as Heisenberg.

The last time we saw Breaking Bad pick up an award it caused a bit of controversy. Although they took home the SAG award for Outstanding Dramatic Cast, it was overshadowed by what happened when a cast member decided to give a Nazi salute. It occurred when Bryan Cranston made a joke about having the, “nicest bunch of white supremacist Nazis I have ever worked with… I swear to you that I would kill you all over again; I really would.” The joke was immediately followed by a “heil Hitler” salute, Nazi style.

As for the WGAs, creator Vince Gilligan attended and even spoke a bit about the spin-off prequel series Better Off Saul. So far it will star Bob Odenkirk as Breaking Bad’s favorite lawyer Saul Goodman. The show is said to focus on the early days of Saul’s wheeling and dealing, but with a more dramatic tone. It’s also been confirmed that Jonathan Banks, who played Mike will also appear on the show. As for Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, both actors have said that they are open to appearing on the spin off series. Although Cranston’s character learned about Saul from Jesse, there’s no doubt that Gilligan will find a way to write both characters in if he wanted to.

‘Breaking Bad’ Cleans Up At The WGA Awards is a post from: The Inquisitr News

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Cream_Cones_%28cereal%29

These are the perfect bags for animal lovers. Etsy seller Ben Tsang has made them in the shapes of different animals’ heads with their images on the front. You can choose from a whole variety of cats and dogs and there’s even a raccoon in there to mix things up. And yes, if you want one sporting your pet’s face, he does take custom orders.

See more pictures after the break…

Product Page ($37.90 and up via Incredible Things)

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(YouTube link)

The Infinite Monkey Theorem states that if you give a monkey a keyboard and an infinite amount of time, eventually he will “almost surely” produce something along the lines of a William Shakespeare masterpiece. It’s actually a mathematical model, but a funny one that sticks in our minds, What is more likely is that, if you give Cyriak Harris an infinite number of digital copies of a chimpanzee, he will produce an animation just like this. -via Metafilter