Trees: one country gaining forests (video)

Where's the best place to mediate? The forest. But be protected: practice metta first.

Why does this forest look like a fingerprint?

(Vox) Team Vox set out to solve why a forest in the middle of Uruguay, South America, looks like a fingerprint and other odd patterns — and wound up finding something much bigger.

• The most famous Buddhist tree in the world
• The oldest trees in the world live in California
• The largest single stem tree: General Sherman

They're just trees. What's the big deal?

Deep in the geographic center of Uruguay, there’s a peculiar group of trees just a few kilometers down the road from the small town of San Gregorio de Polanco.

From the ground, it's not particularly notable. But from above, from a bird or drone's eye view (and particularly on Google Earth), the view is mind-boggling:

Hundreds of trees are arranged in perfect concentric arcs, all spiraling toward the center. Together, they look remarkably like a human fingerprint.

When the team first saw this forest in a Reddit post, it was fascinated.

• Why had the trees been arranged in this shape?
• Who planted them there?
• And why — when one zooms out on satellite view — was the entire country of Uruguay covered in similar-looking forests?

To answer that question, the team went straight to the source: interviewing locals, experts, and people whose lives have been shaped by a transformed landscape and economy.

Further reading

• Read the text of the original “forestry law”: impo.com.uy/bases/leyes/1...
• Read some of Alexandra’s work on afforestation and wildlife: sciencedirect.com/science...
• Eilís O’Neill has a great feature in the Nation on Uruguay’s forestry industry: thenation.com/article/arc...
• More stories about residents affected by the railway construction: yle.fi/a/3-11756418
• Subscribe to channel: goo.gl/0bsAjO

ABOUT: Vox.com is a news website that helps cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com. Watch full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE. Follow Vox on Facebook: http://goo.gl/U2g06o or Twitter: http://goo.gl/XFrZ5H.

• Vox.com, May 9, 2024; Xochitl, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Jimmy Dore Show: Covid (comedy)

Mike MacRae, Jimmy Dore (jimmydore.com); Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The World's Weirdest Latinos (video)

Masaman, Oct 19, 2018; Xochitl; Crystal Quintero, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Paraguayans are World's Weirdest Latinos

What exactly makes Paraguay different? Why are Paraguayans known throughout Latin America and beyond as the "weirdest Latinos"? Let's look at the history of one of the smallest, but certainly not weakest, "Hispanic" (Spain-based or Spanish-speaking) countries, a country few outsiders know much about. This video has been demonetized due to the title...worth it. Sources: ozy.com..., daytranslations.com..., britannica.com..., britannica.com....

Canada is world's largest legal pot market

Associated Press (ap.org); Buzzcocks; Seth Auberon, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

(Buzzcocks) What could go wrong? "Something's Gone Wrong Again"

Canada now world's largest legal marijuana marketplace

TORONTO, Canada - Ian Power was among the first to buy legal recreational cannabis in Canada, but he has no plans to smoke it. He plans to frame it. Canada became the largest country with a legal national marijuana marketplace as sales began early Wednesday in Newfoundland. Power was first in line at a store in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Depiction of cannabis bud hangs from ceiling as a band plays at Leafly's countdown party in Toronto, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018, as they prepare to mark the legalization of Cannabis across Canada (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP).

When is it too much weed? Pot becomes "beer"

(October 17, 2018) "I am going to frame it and hang it on my wall. I'm not even going to smoke it. I'm just going to save it forever," Power said.

And there was more good news for pot aficionados: Hours before a handful of retail outlets opened in the country's easternmost province a federal official told the Associated Press that Canada will pardon all those with convictions for possessing up to 30 grams of marijuana, the now-legal threshold.
 

No amount is too much = Addiction.

A formal announcement was planned for later Wednesday. The official, who was not authorized to speak public ahead of the announcement, said those who want to take advantage of the pardons will have to apply.
 

Canada has had legal medical marijuana since 2001 and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has spent two years working toward expanding that to include recreational marijuana. The goal is to better reflect society's changing opinion about marijuana and bring black market operators into a regulated system.
 

Uruguay was first was the first country to legalize marijuana. In St. John's, Newfoundland, hundreds of customers were lined up... More

As Canada legalizes marijuana, other countries likely to follow

SEATTLE, Washington (Oct. 18, 2018) - More than two dozen countries (13+) have relaxed their cannabis or other drug laws, and a number could consider legalizing weed in the not-too-distant future. The South American nation of Uruguay was first to legalize pot in 2013. Canada became the second on Wednesday (Oct. 17), and its size and global standing likely will encourage others to follow. Here's a look at other nations that could be influenced by Canada's legalization: More