Category: History
If you can ever laugh at death, then you’ll be sure to chuckle at these extreme examples of irony. Take the man above:
Clement Vallandigham was a lawyer who represented a man charged with killing someone during a bar fight. Vallandigham’s approach was to convince the jury the dead man had shot himself as he drew his weapon from his pocket. As he faced the jury, Vallandigham re-created the situation exactly as it happened. And when I say exactly, I mean that he managed to also re-create the end result: a man shooting himself whilst drawing his pistol.
While the Falklands War turned out to be a fairly pointless battle between two countries who had no actual need for the island, there was one clear winner in the conflict: the island’s penguin population that was in serious decline. Fortunately, because the island is now filled with areas that are covered in landmines that penguins are too light to set off, the island has become an unintentional penguin sanctuary.
Image via Graham Canny [Flickr]
This list of the 10 most haunted homes in America has quite a few goodies, but don’t miss out on this list of the scariest buildings in the U.S.
Obama and his family better not be afraid of specters, because the whole White House is full of them. From Lincoln to Jackson to Jefferson, some of history’s greatest men have refused to give up their residence in the famed home, even in the afterlife.
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The History of Roller Skating
As an avid roller derby enthusiast (I would be a participant, but I can’t afford insurance -contrary to popular belief, blogging doesn’t make you a millionaire), I love not only roller derby, but the simple pleasures of roller skating. That’s why I was inspired to learn more about the history of skating. With any luck, this article may even motivate you to strap on some roller skates or at least check out a roller derby game in your local area.
Image courtesy of Paul Goyette [Flickr]
The first set of roller skates was created by an unknown Dutchman in the early 1700’s. The devices were known as skeelers and they were made by nailing wooden spools to strips of wood and then attaching them to shoes. Rudimentary at best, these devices never really took off.
One of the first people to bring attention to the concept was London inventor Joseph Merlin created a more refined version that comprised of boots with metal wheels on them. They may have taken off quickly, but Merlin had a bad plan to bring attention to his invention. He used them to crash a party in a by skating into the crowd while playing the violin. Because the early skate models could hardly turn or stop, he almost immediately crashed into a wall-length mirror, which brought him plenty of attention…although likely not the kind he was looking for.
The first time skates got the public’s attention (in a positive way) was when they were used during an 1818 summer performance of the German ballet Der Maler oder die Wintervergn Ugungen, which called for an ice skating scene. Since real ice skates couldn’t be used at that time of year, the company opted to improvise with roller skates. Within the next year, the first patent for a land-based skate was filed in France. The first design included two to four rollers made from copper, wood or ivory and arranged in a single row.
If you though roller waitresses were a creation of the nineteen fifties, think again. They aren’t even a phenomenon of the last century. The idea actually started back in a tavern near Berlin in 1840. Beer halls in the area were massive, so waitresses opted to skate across the hall to better serve their patrons, and the number of people seeing skating waitresses help bring popularity to the sport in turn. By 1857, there was enough public interest in roller skating to open the first public rinks.
The modern roller skate wasn’t perfected until 1863, when American inventor James Plimpton came up with the idea to set up two parallel sets of wheels. The wheels were made of boxwood and attached to rubber springs. This was a huge step forward in skate technology because it allowed users to turn on a smooth curve, where previous skate models couldn’t. Plimpton also helped popularize skating by opening rinks, leasing skates at the rinks and teaching people how to use his invention.
As roller rinks started to gain popularity, skaters began to experiment with the versatility of their skates. Artistic skating, speed skating and roller hockey all became popular hobbies in skate rinks around the world. The speed skating competitions eventually led to the idea of a “roller derby,†which was originally just an endurance race. During the depression much of the endurance aspect was abandoned and a point system was put in place, along with rules of contact, setting the stage for modern roller derby.
In the fifties, skaters began staging theatrical plays combined with the rules of the game and this act gained a lot of popularity by the sixties and seventies, taking away focus on the athletic aspect and focusing on the theatrics.
When disco hit the scene, skating found a new renaissance. Over 4,000 roller discos were opened in the late 70s and skating discos started to be prominently featured in Hollywood movies. Skating lost a lot of popularity throughout the 80s, but when inline skates started to become popular in the early 90s, rinks started seeing more customers again. These skates also revolutionized the concept of roller hockey, allowing the sport to be as close as possible to ice hockey. Inline skates also allowed for a number of aggressive skating methods that were impossible with regular quad skates, bringing skating out of the rink and onto the concrete.
Image via Wikipedia user Xuacu
Right as the inline skating trend started to fade away at the end of the 90s, grassroots roller derby organizations started to sprout up, focusing on the athleticism of the sport again and removing the theatrics. At the same time, jam skating, a form of hip hop dancing on skates, also started to soar in popularity. These activities, paired with the continued success of roller hockey allowed many skating rinks to survive in a time where fewer casual roller skaters are to be found.
With the roller skating industry constantly changing in nature, it’s hard to tell what the future of the sport will be. But if you like skating, roller derby, roller hockey or anything else involving roller skates, you can help keep the sport alive by supporting your local rink, particularly during October, National Roller Skating Month.
Sources: Skateland, Wikipedia#1, #2
If you do decide to go skating and need any gear, Low Price Skates is a great place to order from.
As marijuana legalization seems to be very likely in the near future, it’s time to consider the relative merits of another naturally growing drug that may have been prematurely illegalized. In this case, I’m talking about magic mushrooms. Recent studies have shown they may be able to help treat depression, cluster headaches and reduce obsessive fear of death.
While friends and family can do an intervention, the decision to seek drug abuse treatment remains the sole decision of the drug user himself.
As someone who has depression and migraines, I can tell you first hand that the drug does treat both symptoms for months at a time.
If you thought the military’s idea to train dolphins or bees is crazy, then you’ve never heard the story of Vortek, an amazingly successful animal recruit.
This November, California will be voting on whether or not to legalize marijuana throughout the state. At the same time, Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske has promised to stop federal drug raids of medicinal marijuana dispensaries.
Update: Unfortunately, Californian voted against this measure and Mr. Kerlikowske lied about stopping the raids.
No matter what states do on their own though, marijuana is still illegal on the federal level and even classified on the same level as heroin because it is considered to be addictive and have no medical uses or applications. There is a reason for that. Those people recovering from addiction in Richmond Virginia can prove that marijuana can cause a lot of troubles. But why was the substance illegalized in the first place and why do people these days have such polarizing views on the drug. To understand that, it’s critical to look at the history of the drug itself.
While marijuana may not be physically addictive, many other illegal drugs are. If you or a loved one is addicted to a drug, please visit http://addiction.utsandiego.com/directory/rehab-centers/ to find a rehab center that can help.
Image by Flickr user Dey.
Florida recovery center provides addicts with the knowledge and tools to begin taking the first step towards receiving the treatment they need. Records show that cannabis seeds were used for food all the way back in 6000 B.C., by 4000 B.C. the Chinese were making textiles from hemp. As far as drug use goes, charred cannabis seeds found in a brazier at an ancient Romanian burial site shows that people were smoking marijuana 3000 years before Christ’s time. While it’s difficult to say if these seeds were used ritually or medicinally, the medicinal use of marijuana was officially documented in 2727 B.C. Since that time, every part of the world has turned to cannabis for some type of medicinal use. Nowadays you may get cannabis and hemp products from Discount Pharms.
One of the earliest groups to be known for their marijuana use were the ancient Hindus. They called the drug “ganjika†in Sanskrit, which many believe to mean “belonging to the Ganges†as it grew naturally beside the Ganges River. The word has now evolved into our modern word “ganja.†The Hindus revered their ganjika so much that the sacred text of Antharva veda, written around 900 B.C., specifically mentions dried cannabis leaves, calling them “sacred grass.†The drug was declared to be one of the five sacred plants of India and was used as medicine and offerings to the god Shiva.
By 500 B.C., Europeans were introduced to cannabis by the Scythians, who relied on the intoxicating effects for ceremonies, medicine and recreation. It caught on here just as it had with the rest of the world.
Image by Alexandra Moss.
It wasn’t until the seventh century that the drug began to be restricted. Islamic law of the time banned the use of all drugs. Even so, leaders of the community still saw a value in the use of medicinal marijuana and allowed the drug to be used in treating disease and pain. Some of them took advantage to this and started smoking it in their custom rolling paper in the form of joints. Despite the Islamic ban on the drug, Europeans still began to associate marijuana with Muslims. The Spanish Inquisition banned the use of ganja as a medicine as early as the thirteenth century. In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII forbade the use of cannabis, calling it an “unholy sacrament†of Satanism. After the Pope’s decree, the use of the herb as a healing agent started to be used by the church as evidence of witchcraft.
Nevertheless, the drug remained popular through much of Europe, partially due to its usefulness in manufacturing. The plants could be used for clothing, rope and paper and needed little natural resources or time to grow. It was considered so useful that Columbus even brought cannabis to the new world with him in 1492.
Although the use of marijuana as an intoxicant was less common by the time America was being colonized by Europeans, many early English settlers were grew hemp for the production of textiles, particularly rope and clothing. Washington, Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson all grew hemp. The Declaration of Independence was drafted on paper made from cannabis fiber. Washington, often considered the father of our nation, once said, “Make the most you can of the Indian hemp seed. Sow it everywhere.”
Image by Scot Beale, Laughing Squid.
By the nineteenth century, cannabis stopped being used for manufacturing as much as it had once been, but many people were instead reverting to using marijuana as medicine. Even Queen Victoria was prescribed pot as a relief for her menstrual cramps in 1891.
CBD is a cannabinoid, or chemical compound, within the cannabis plant. THC is another cannabinoid; at least 104 have been identified and we are just beginning to learn about their powers. CBD is touted for relieving pain, anxiety, and inflammation, just to name a few of its properties. Vaping is perhaps the fastest and easiest way to feel the potential benefits of CBD when experiencing chronic anxiety attacks. Many people ask if can you order wax pens online, of course, there are many online sites where you can get them and vapeactive.com is one of the best!
During this period, the drugs were not used on their own, but mixed in elixirs and tonics. Many of these drugs, all available over the counter, also contained opiates, alcohol or cocaine. As many people began getting addicted to their cough medicines, the government decided to step in and require the labeling of all products containing these drugs. This was the beginning of the end for legalized marijuana use in America.
At the turn of the twentieth century, the Mexican revolution of 1910 began spilling into the American borders and western states began to harbor negative feelings towards their south-of-the-border neighbors. In an effort to differentiate themselves from Mexicans, states started to take issue with the marijuana plant that was so popular in Mexico. California was the first state to take action against the drug, followed by Utah and other western states. Many of the laws specifically targeted use by Mexican Americans. On the east coast, similar hatred of the drug began to develop as people associated it with African Americans. Stories spread that marijuana gave minorities a feeling of equality with whites and would help them seduce white women.
Image via Torben Bjorn Hansen.
At the same time, advancements in technology started to make hemp far more efficient in the creation of paper. Increased production capacity allowed hemp to produce four times the pulp as trees and an invention by Henry Timken, the creator of the roller bearing, would allow for quick stripping of the hemp plant, leaving only pulp. This development was touted to do for hemp what the cotton gin did for the cotton industry. It was estimated that paper from hemp could cost 50% less than newsprint. Additionally, hemp could be used for plastics, fibers and fuels. Henry Ford even constructed a car using hemp hardened by resin and  fueled by hemp ethanol.
The deck was stacked. Racism against blacks and Mexicans was turning the general public against cannabis and the paper, cotton, plastics and fuel companies recognized the threat hemp placed on their industries. Between racism and economics, marijuana and its THC-impaired cousin, hemp, were on the short-road to illegalization.
When Harry J. Anslinger was selected to head the new Federal Bureau of Narcotics in 1931, he knew fighting cocaine and opium wouldn’t be enough. He decided that marijuana would be an easy opponent for his new agency. Anslinger began to help spread fear that the only people who enjoyed smoking ganja were ethnic minorities and jazz musicians. He also warned that whites who took the drug would suddenly become violent and lose all sight of their morals.
When William Randolph Hearst, who had extensive interests in the lumber industry, decided to lend his support to Anslinger, it was only a matter of time before the government outlawed the drug. Hearst’s famed yellow journalism papers helped spread misinformation about cannabis throughout the nation. Within a few years of this news saturation, films like Reefer Madness began appearing, depicting white, suburban teenagers turning to rapists and thugs after toking on one marijuana cigarette.
Public domain image courtesy of Wikipedia.
When congress passed the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, every state of the nation already had at least one anti-cannabis law on its books. Of course, none of these laws meant the government would stop researching the drug. In the early forties, the Office of Strategic Services began testing the effectiveness of marijuana as a truth serum.
While the organization tested many other substances for this same purpose, including LSD, cannabis proved to be their most successful truth drug. In 1943, they gave a cigarette mixed with THC to mafia enforcer, Augusto Del Gracio. He quickly warmed up to the investigators and gave up all information about his gang’s heroin operation.
While the government was becoming cozy with the drug, the public and its legislatures became more paranoid about the effects of marijuana on their society. As a result, mandatory sentencing was introduced for anyone caught in possession of marijuana. Punishments included between 2 and ten years in prison and fines up to $20,000 –equivalent to around $175,000 in today’s currency value.
Despite these strict sentences, marijuana use continued to grow. In 1965, one million Americans had tried ganja. That number reached 24 million by 1972.
Raid image courtesy of the OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov.
These mandatory sentences were repealed in 1970 and a commission on the subject that was appointed by Nixon urged legalization of cannabis. Unfortunately, that same year marked the start of the War on Drugs and the marijuana commission was ignored. The DEA classified marijuana as a schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act. Schedule I drugs, like heroin, are seen as to have no acceptable medical use and a high potential for abuse.
Despite the DEA’s opinion that there is no medicinal use for marijuana, the FDA wasn’t so sure. They established an experimental “Compassionate Use†program in 1978. Under this experiment, patients suffering from cancer, glaucoma or multiple sclerosis were permitted to legally use marijuana provided to them through the federal government. At the height of the program, there were over 30 patients. Although it was discontinued by the Bush administration in 1991, those already enrolled were grandfathered in. There are currently seven people still alive from the program and still receiving government raised pot.
Image by Troy Holden.
Between the FDA’s experiment and the thousands of years of further data about the effectiveness of medical marijuana, DEA administrative judge Francis Young agreed to hear a case regarding the legal status of cannabis. In 1988, Young recognized the effectiveness of the drug as a medicine and proposed the government remove marijuana from their list of schedule I drugs. The DEA put his recommendation aside and continued to try marijuana users on the same charges as junkies. Between the DEA and state law enforcement, it was estimated that someone was arrested every 38 seconds for violating marijuana laws in the U.S.
Since the Compassionate Use program started, many states tried to start their own medical marijuana programs, but these laws were largely symbolic because they all required doctors to prescribe the drug. Because federal law prohibits this action, doctors were afraid to issue prescriptions, as they may face legal sanctions. Even if the patient did receive a prescription though, there would still be no pharmacies to distribute it because it was against federal law for them to do so.
Image by Chuck “Caveman” Coker.
Everything changed with the 1996 California medical marijuana initiative though. This time, doctors only had to “recommend†the patient try marijuana and the patients were free to grow, possess and use the drug. By avoiding prescriptions and pharmacies, the law actually proved to be useful. Unfortunately, the federal government didn’t see it that way and thousands of users, doctors and dispensaries were raided and arrested by the DEA.
Despite the federal pressures, California’s law was largely considered a success, and seven other states followed suit and passed medical marijuana laws in 1998. By 2000, there were three more states with medical marijuana laws on the books. In 2003, Canada became the first country to completely legalize medical use of the drug.
The recent recession has proven to be another boon to the re-legalization of the drug, as state and federal governments face severe budget crises. In an effort to curb government spending, the DEA was ordered to stop raiding medical marijuana dispensaries. California will be voting on the legalization of the drug in November and many anti-drug advocates are still supporting the initiative, hoping that a tax on marijuana will help solve the state’s massive deficit. Marijuana is the number one cash crop in America and one of the largest industries in California. It is estimated that taxing the drug could bring in over $2 billion a year in taxes. Massachusetts is considering a similar initiative and many people are anticipating the federal government may be next. A $36 billion industry could certainly help the federal budget get back on track.
In the meanwhile, medical marijuana users are still in an awkward place, still not protected by the law, but not officially criminals either. Only time will tell if America will eventually follow Canada’s lead and legalize the use of medical marijuana completely.
Sources: Norml #1, #2, #3, Huffington Post, Salon, A1, Wikipedia