Free Republic

JESUS used cannabis and was an early champion of its medicinal properties, a growing consensus of experts agree. And acceptance of this theory could help promote the controversial drug’s use in treating a range of illnesses. Cannabis historian, author and journalist David Bienenstock is one who believes cannabis oil even explains the “miracles” attributed to Jesus. Speaking exclusively to Daily Star Online, he said: “Historical records show that cannabis was widely available at the time – they would’ve known how to grow it and exploit its medicinal properties. “There is nothing different in the efficacious cannabis oil used today that...

The Senate today easily passed its version of the farm bill by a vote of 86-11,paving the way for a conference committee to reconcile differences with the House's version of the sweeping agriculture and nutrition legislation. The Senate farm bill attracted bipartisan support, as expected, but key differences with the House's partisan version, which passed last week, set up potentially contentious negotiations between the lawmakers who will be tasked with melding the two measures into one. The main differences relate to proposals for the food stamp program, farm subsidy caps and conservation initiatives. Congress has until Sept. 30 to get...

South Florida’s not quite Jurassic Park, but it’s getting close. Packs of green iguanas are swarming seawalls, roaming yards and parks, and leaving a path of destruction and filth in their wake. Like a shot of espresso, the hot summer sun has stoked activity in the cold-blooded creatures, which experts say may be at record numbers. “This year is the most iguanas I’ve seen and I’ve been in business for nine years,” says Thomas Portuallo, owner of Fort Lauderdale-based Iguana Control. He says the invasive lizards are out of control with “many hundreds of thousands” creeping around Broward, Miami-Dade and...

Parmigiano-Reggiano thieves are driving producers to drastic measures; “This is Fort Knox for cheese” SERRAMAZZONI, Italy—The thieves came in the thick of darkness. They used a blowtorch to pry open steel bars and sneaked through a narrow window before making off with their loot. Less than 24 hours later, they came back for more. In all, they made off with almost 25,000 pounds of Parmesan cheese. The target was Santa Rita Bio, a small producer of Italy’s famous Parmigiano-Reggiano. The thieves took 271 wheels of organic cheese, weighing 90 pounds each and with a total street value of $300,000. The...

James Hansen issued dire warnings in the summer of 1988. Today earth is only modestly warmer. James E. Hansen wiped sweat from his brow. Outside it was a record-high 98 degrees on June 23, 1988, as the NASA scientist testified before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources during a prolonged heat wave, which he decided to cast as a climate event of cosmic significance. He expressed to the senators his “high degree of confidence” in “a cause-and-effect relationship between the greenhouse effect and observed warming.” With that testimony and an accompanying paper in the Journal of Geophysical Research,...

As drought kills Kenya’s livestock, some herders are fighting hunger by growing their own grass. At noon in Joseph Kwopin's dry and dusty homestead in Kenya's central Baringo County, a calf shelters from the sweltering sun under a shed made of sticks. The barren ground has no vegetation but for a few shrubs and the red-flowered Carraluma socotrana plant – a rare species whose appearance here could seem cruel given that it isn't edible, even to livestock... According to UNICEF, 2.6 million Kenyans have become food insecure as a result of the lack of rainfall. The Kenya Red Cross reported...

A female beaver in Devon. Credit: Michael Symes/Devon Wildlife Trust ___________________________________________________________________________ Beavers could help clean up polluted rivers and stem the loss of valuable soils from farms, new research shows. The study, undertaken by scientists at the University of Exeter using a captive beaver trial run by the Devon Wildlife Trust, has demonstrated the significant impact the animals have had on reducing the flow of tonnes of soil and nutrients from nearby fields into a local river system. The research, led by hydrologist Professor Richard Brazier, found that the work of a single family of beavers had removed high...

Calling all farmers, land owners, and gardeners... yours truly recently took ownership of 4 acres of property in central Florida and has some questions. I'm far from a greenhorn, but I'm learning new things and don't know what I don't know. Please bear with me and correct any misuse of terms herein. Approximately 3 acres of my land is heavily wooded and was poorly maintained. My last 2 weekends were spent with a rented brush hog clearing the front acre of my property of undergrowth. Vines were everywhere, some as thick as 2 inches (diameter), and it made for very...

FAIRFIELD (CBS SF) — A 29-year-old Fairfield woman was severely mauled in her backyard by her own dog early Thursday before police shot it dead, authorities said. Fairfield police said the attack took place in the woman’s backyard in the 1600 block of Kentucky St. A next-door neighbor called 911 to report they had heard the woman screaming and looked over the fence and saw a large dog attacking her. Arriving officers could see the woman lying face down and bleeding profusely from both arms with a large dog standing over her. The woman’s house has an unusually large yard,...

If the strapping chestnut colt Justify wins the Belmont Stakes on Saturday to become just the 13th horse in history to claim horse racing’s Triple Crown, two of the three groups that have an ownership stake in the horse’s breeding rights will be front and center during the celebration.

Scientists and chefs in Italy say they have made a pizza which prevents cancer and heart disease. The Pizza Pascalina, designed by scientists in Naples, has been called 'the pizza that extends life' and an 'anti-tumour' pizza. The Pascalina is packed with ingredients from the Mediterranean diet which are known to have health benefits. Neither cheese nor meat feature on the dish; its toppings include tomatoes, olives and rapini – a type of broccoli. It will be on sale at the Napoli Pizza Village, a pizza festival in Naples this week. Scientists from the Istituto Nazionale Tumori in Naples –...

Agricultural-equipment makers gear up driverless tractors, combines in quest to produce more food, more sustainably The bright red, driverless tractor drags the tiller in a perfect line in a south Indian field, makes a turn at the edge of the property, encounters a test dummy and then stalls, not knowing what to do. India’s Mahindra & Mahindra , one of the biggest suppliers of smaller tractors to the U.S., and other manufacturers are racing to develop what they see as the future of farming: robo-tractors and other farming equipment to help produce more food, more sustainably at a lower cost....

Travis County is partnering with the University of Texas at Austin to evaluate a pathogen as a biological control agent for tawny crazy ants. The invasive ants can threaten your yards and get into your home. They also threaten songbirds and some endangered species. Researchers at UT will introduce the microsporidian pathogen by inoculating tawny crazy ant colonies. In prior research, experts found the pathogen may significantly reduce TCA populations.

Scientists at the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife have found that mussels in Seattle's waters are testing positive for opioids. The finding suggests "a lot of people" are taking oxycodone in the Puget Sound, researchers say. Scientists used mussels as a way to test pollution in Seattle's waters and discovered high enough oxycodone levels for the shellfish to test positive. Mussels do not metabolise opioids, but some fish can become addicted. Mussels are filter-feeders, which means they filter water for nutrients to nourish themselves. In the process, they end up storing pollutants in their tissues, which makes them...

A TEAM of stem cell researchers have done the seemingly impossible and successfully combined artificial human cells with the embryo of a chicken in a shock new experiment aimed at trying to better understand developing life. ================================================================================== Until now, scientists have been unable to answer how certain cells in a developing embryo decide to become muscles or limbs, while others become bones and nerves. But now researchers led by Dr Ali Brivanlou, from Rockefeller University in New York, have achieved the unimaginable in a shock experiment. By grafting petri dish-grown human cells onto the embryo of a chicken the scientists...

U.S. officials have ordered a San Francisco brewery to stop producing beer containing cannabidiol, the hemp-derived extract known as CBD. The U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is allowing Black Hammer Brewing to sell the rest of the CBD beer it already brewed, including one called Toke Back Mountain... The San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday that the order to stop brewing cannabis beer was not issued because the federal government says marijuana is illegal, but because the trade bureau requires special approval for non-standard beer ingredients. The brewery plans to apply for the approval.

Add this to the ongoing list of fun facts about the Trump family: Melania Trump has an orchid named after her. The flower is a hybrid orchid known as Rhyncholaeliocattleya Melania Trump, or "Rlc Melania Trump," and it even won an award this weekend. When you know the context, the fact that this flower exists isn't so bizarre. It was created by Chadwick & Son Orchids Inc., a company that breeds orchids and has a longstanding tradition of naming flowers after the spouses of the two leading presidential candidates during election years. The company gave both Melania Trump and Bill...

NORTH RIDGEVILLE – Police in northeast Ohio said they received a call from a man walking home early Saturday morning claiming he was being followed by a pig. That's right. A pig. Police didn't believe it, either. The North Ridgeville Police Department said it responded to the “obviously drunk guy walking home from the bar at 5:26 in the morning” in Elyria. When police arrived, they found a man who was not drunk at all. And apparently, he was telling the truth. Police confessed the man was not walking from the bar named "Train Station" but rather from the actual...

“Pit bull roulette” cost the lives of 38 humans, plus nearly 13,000 dogs, 5,000 cats, and more than 20,000 farmed animals in 2017––and, only two weeks into 2018, has already killed Happy Hound Hotel boarding kennel worker Laura Williams Ray, of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, and three-year-old Rylee Marie Dodge, of Duncan, Oklahoma, along with many dozens of animals. Overall, pit bulls accounted for 68% of the human dog attack deaths in 2017, 88% of the human disfigurements, 92% of the dogs killed by other dogs, 94% of the dogs seriously injured by other dogs, 96% of the cats killed by...

CARTER COUNTY, Okla. -- Officials said a woman was attacked and killed by a neighbor's dogs on Thursday night. Carter County Sheriff Chris Bryant said the victim -- whose name has not yet been released -- was attacked by seven dogs and later died from her injuries. Bryant said the incident happened before 10 p.m. at a residence just east of Ardmore on Banyon Road. He said one of the dogs was a pit bull; the others were medium-sized dogs of other breeds, all with the same owner. "Once we were notified that this female had succumbed to her injuries,...