Little Wild Horse Canyon, UTAH

Little Wild Horse Canyon with Mitby & Adam & others this past October.

Cuddle Wolf's first big snow

2 feet of freshies put the puppy in wonderland.




He was a little unsure, then dove right in.









Frosty beard!



Who loves the snow!








Puppy in Wonderland!

Joe Webb, rookie no mo!

While it is wayyy to early to call Joe Webb road tested, he sure put on a solid performance last evening, including two completions for serious yardage and a sweet rushing TD. He definatly held up his end of the deal, as did the D both the line AND the backfield! Wow. Where has this team been all year!?

Cris Collinsworth is an asseater, pt II

As described here, our old boy Collinsworth was up to his old tricks during the Tuesday night "Sunday Night Football" game between the vikes and the eagles. Up until 7:02 left in the game, his only contribution was to tough-talk the Rookie Webb. What a putz. It's apparent that the rumors of Dan Marino showing him what an 8 second bull-ride is all about after each taping of "Inside the NFL" are true.

Ed Rendell, a democrat with balls.

The Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell, stepped up this week and called out the NFL for canceling the Sunday night football game between the Vikes and Eagles this week. The quote as follows:

"My biggest beef is that this is part of what's happened in this country," Rendell said.

"We've become a nation of wusses. The Chinese are kicking our butt in everything," he added. "If this was in China do you think the Chinese would have called off the game? People would have been marching down to the stadium, they would have walked and they would have been doing calculus on the way down."

Later on he name checks Bud Grant and Vince Lombardi. I like this guy.

Vinyl Picks for 2010, Pt II

Missed a couple in the earlier post here.



Hank III's third(?) studio album is solid country. He sticks to his favorite topics on this one, namely gettin' drunk and gettin' high, and it makes for some kicakass country music. Hope he lives to cut some more of these.




A remaster of this level has to be mentioned here. I don;t think there is much to say about Exile that hasn't been said, save for 2010 was the year I really got it for the first time, and now I'm hooked. While it was sweet to pick up a brand new 180gm pressing of this classic album, sonically, I think that the CD I have from the Virgin European pressing a few years back is superior. Looks for it.

December Brews 2010

This months brews in the primary. On the right is the Oktoberfest using the WLP820 yeast, and on the right is an Olde Ale using the Danstar Nottingham Ale yeast, but fermenting happily at 56 degrees. I am hoping to get a good dry finish on this one without the fruitiness that the Notty Ale yeast can add. I'll post more once these are done an tasted.

My take on Culumbarillo IPA

Columbarillo IPA
American IPA


Type: All Grain
Date: 11/2/2010
Batch Size: 6.00 gal
Brewer: Joe Mama
Boil Size: 7.97 gal Asst Brewer: Doodle
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: My Rig
Taste Rating(out of 50): 45.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: 67.00

Taste Notes: Phenomenal grapefruit bitter, big hop nose and finish. A powerful IPA.

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 68.75 %
4.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 25.00 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 6.25 %
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
2.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
1.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 47.3 IBU
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
2.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
0.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (30 min) Hops 14.5 IBU
0.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] (30 min) Hops 13.5 IBU
2.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1.50 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.20 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Primary 3.0 days) Misc
12.00 gm Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [Starter 125 ml] Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.065 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.065 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.015 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.42 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.92 %
Bitterness: 75.3 IBU Calories: 291 cal/pint
Est Color: 6.0 SRM Color: Color


Mash Profile


Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
75 min 148.0 F
Mash In Add 20.00 qt of water at 160.8 F



Notes

Based on Culumbarillo IPA recipe from BYO mag - dude from New Mexico won the GABF pro-Am with this one. Nice work Herbal Joe!


Dry Hop Simcoe/Columbus pellets 11.6.10
Dry hop Centenial/Amarillo leaf 11.9.10
Keg 11.15.10 - to cellar.

Vinyl Picks for 2010

The following are my top picks for vinyl releases in 2010. All kick serious ass in their own right. Possibly to be included, but not yet in my possession, the 9 album re-issue of Bob Dylan's first nine albums in mono (HFS, right!), and Kid Rock's new release, Born Free (I am a sucker for Bob Seger and understand that this one includes NO METAL and NO RAP, so I bet it rocks!)

This release from Petty stands proudly amongst his best. ROCKIN! Great lyrics, great double disc 180gm presentation, Petty isn't missing a beat. If you love rock n' roll... and check out the picture on the cover. These guys know how to rock, and once again they throw down the gauntlet with Mojo.

My original take on this album, before I knew the story behind the recording, or the story behind the handmade axe that Young wields on it, was that "Le Crap" would be a better title. After reading the story, and listening to the mp3 at a good friend's house, the vinyl was put on order. Easily Young's most intimate album, this thing kicks ass with the same power of the soundtrack to the film "Dead Man". Brooding and introspective, recorded only at night by moonlight, Young lay's it down again on Le Noise.

I bought this and Dan Auerbach's solo effort from 2009 together. What a trip. How these guys can keep a 2-piece rock unit interesting is beyond me, but the proof is this the rock on this album.




Cadillac Sky's 2010 release, Produced by Dan Auerbach, is quite a jump from traditional bluegrass, and sounded great up on stage at the 2010 Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Check it out!

The old home place

Took a hike with the puppy this morning to the top of the ridge across the way. Great view of the house from up there.

Cuddle Wolf

The Cuddle Wolf takes a break from his prey to contemplate further acts of gentleness and Mayhem, his specialties.

More proof that god hates the Vikes

Vikes / Eagles game postponed until Tuesday due to a massive blizzard bearing down on Eastern Pennsylvania. What more could happen to the 2010 season?

2010 Cider in the bottle

This years batch of cider, brewed 9.14.10, went in the bottle today. The going name is "Indian Summer Hard Cider" after the long run of beautiful weather in the San Juan's this fall. It's a New England style hard cider made with molasses, brown sugar, some spices, and cranberry. It'll bew mostly ready in a year, and I'll post the recipe once the verdict is in on the overall taste.

Drinking Reggae Stout

As promised in an earlier post, here is the recipe for the Reggae Stout that was brewed earlier in the fall. It's a dry west-coast stout with plenty of hop to it. Great for these warmish snowy days that we have been blessed with courtesy of the wet pacific storm system that has been rolling through for the last week.



Reggae Stout

Reggae Stout

American Stout

Type: All Grain	Date: 11/5/2010
Batch Size: 5.00 gal	Brewer: Marcus Garvey
Boil Size: 6.82 gal	Asst Brewer: Garvey's Ghost
Boil Time: 60 min	Equipment: My Rig
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0	Brewhouse Efficiency: 67.00
Taste Notes: Dry stout with notes of dark chocolate in the nose and across the middle of the toungue. Nice hop flavor surrounding this, solid hop finish.
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 9.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 63.51 % 3.00 lb Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 21.17 % 1.00 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 7.06 % 0.67 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 4.73 % 0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 3.53 % 1.00 oz Summit [18.20 %] (60 min) Hops 58.3 IBU 1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 6.4 IBU 2.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops - 0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc 1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.066 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.065 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG	Measured Final Gravity: 1.016 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.57 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.40 %
Bitterness: 64.7 IBU	Calories: 294 cal/pint
Est Color: 47.6 SRM	Color: Color
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge	Total Grain Weight: 14.17 lb
Sparge Water: 4.09 gal	Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F	TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE	Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge Step Time Name Description Step Temp 60 min Mash In Add 17.71 qt of water at 165.9 F 154.0 F
Notes
11.5.10 batch with starter of S-05 US Ale yeast. O.G. 1.065 Keg 11.15.10 - to cellar
Created with BeerSmith

A Monday night beating

Favre miraculously starts, and then goes out with a concussion. Webb finishes the ice bowl. Team crushed by Bears 40-14 in the snow. This is the last vikes post for the season. Poor vikes. I hope that wasn't the last homegame ever.

Favre out - Webb to start ice-bowl

Game time temps in the single digits with a predicted 10 below windchill and 4-6" of snow accumulation over the course of the afternoon. hahahahahahahaha suckers. Bulletproof field. Rookie starting quarterback.

Should be a great game, right?

Rare sighting of elusive Cuddle Wolf!

BEHOLD! A rare photograph of the elusive but gentle Rocky Mountain Cuddle Wolf in his native environs.

The territory he prowls.

Is the "Home Field Advantage" worth it?

From NFL.com today:

Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, who suffered a concussion in a game earlier this season, said the condition of the field was "the main concern with the guys in the locker room."

"We don't want to go out there and play on a concrete-type surface," Cutler said.

University officials said they planned to use a tarp over heating coils to soften the field before the game.

Considering the temps should be in the single digits, the generous warmth from the heating coils (yet to be deployed) will likely penetrate what, maybe 1 inch? They ought to just plow the dome parking lot, make it standing room only / BYOB, and play the sucker street-fighter style.

This from the Vikes marketing shill, Steve LaCroix:

"We think it's going to be great," LaCroix said. "It's nighttime football, it's going to be freezing cold temperatures, it's going to be very memorable."

That guy is *full* of horseshit. I guess that's his job, isn't it?

Oh wait, there's more! Sounds like The Rookie Joe Webb will be the starting QB for the Vikes.

go vikes?

And the hits just keep on commin'

Seriously? Check out the loaders that are waist deep in snow. According to NFL.com "The two biggest concerns (over playing at TCF Stadium), according to Minnesota assistant athletic director Scott Ellison, were if all the snow can be removed in time and whether or not the frozen field could be softened to a level that won't hurt the players".

Thaw the field. Like with steam and tarps... yeah - it'll be just dandy when the wraps come off, and the sucker tightens up like a drum in the sub-freezing temps. maybe a nice slick of glaze ice to slow down the receivers?

As for injuries, NFL.com reports that Favre is still broken, TJ has a serious case of Turf-Toe, and the rookie Webb has a pulled hamstring (in addition to BEING A ROOKIE!) So the vikes have pulled in CFL grade vet Ramsey to help finish out the season.

Just end it now....

Get ready for a shit show

After 29 years without an outdoors home game, the stage *may* be set for Monday night when the Bears come to twon for the Vikes 50th anniversary show. I say *may* as no source can yet predict wither or not the flipping seasonal stadium a the U of MN can be prepped in time. Even assuming they can pull this together in time, there are some practical issues, like parking, beer (none is normally served at college games - wha?), security, and all of the other practical considerations of inviting 50,000 people over to your place for a party. On top of all that, this is the current NOAA weather predicition for Minneapolis:

Monday: A slight chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 17.

Sounds F'ing lovely. By game time, the field will be a sheet of ice, and that's without the wind chill.

To all my Pack buddies out there, you win. Compared to all of the humiliations that the vikes have heaped upon your hapless team, there is no comparison with the complete meltdown of a season, the physical failure of a great player, the firing of a coach, and the implosion of your stadium. Truly, god hates the vikes.

Dome is Hosed, Vikes to play outdoors on Monday Night

With the metrodome in apparent ruin,

The Vikes and league will spend an estimated $700k to get the U of M stadium thawed out and ready for the NFL on Monday night.

It's like a freaking circus. The vikes ought to enter the field packed in to little clown cars with favre popping out of a big cake that they wheel in. Poor vikes. This may be the last homegame ever for this team. just lovely.

Vikes take a beating, Favre sits at 297

In signs that the Dome collapse will portent an ill fate to the 2010 season, the vikes got crushed handily by the flatulent Giants in DETROIT last night after the game was moved due to a roof failure at the metrodome. Calamity number two was the ending of Brett Favre's starting streak at 297, due to a serious injury to his shoulder last week. Add to this a brief moment of sheer panic when T.J banged his knee and had to sit a down, coupled with the odd metric of zero fan noise due to the fact the freaking GAME WAS IN DETROIT, and it is hard to conclude anything other than disaster for the remains of the season.

Issue number one is where the scheduled Monday night game against the stinking Bears will take place next week. With some talk of an outdoors game at the U of M stadium, I can't wait to see a below zero snow bowl in MN for the first time since the early 80's. That's exactly what is needed to end the crap about building an open stadium for the vikes. You people are crazy, and enjoy freezing your butts off next week, suckers.

Issue number two is the question of a new stadium and if the team will move. With money together in LA, the stadium is a must to keep the team. The owner would be mad to refuse a decent offer after his stadium collapsed. It's really up to the MN taxpayer now. I don't envy the cost, but I also remember the North Stars moving to Dallas the year after wining the Stanley Cup due to the inability to get a new stadium built. The new stadium was then built some time later at a greater cost, and a new team created, sans 30 years of history. Real clever, MN sportsfan. If the Vikes leave, there's only the face in the mirror to look at.

Turing test possibly to be passed Feb 14-16, 2011

IBM announced plan, reported here in the New York Times, to place a computer and program called "Watson" into head-to-head gameplay against that sucker, Ken, and another past winner on Jeopardy. There is some room for debate, but I feel that if the machine wins, or even performs to a high level, then IBM will have made a huge step forward in answering the famed "Turing Test" for machine intelligence. In a nutshell, the test would have an interviewer hold a conversation with two clients, one machine, one human. If, from the replies, the difference between man and machine was nebulous, or impossible to discern, the machine has passed the test. In many ways, simply competing believably in this exercise on Jeopardy goes a long way to meeting the goal, if not fulfilling it. I may have to tune in...

Metrodome collapse - an ill omen for the Vikes

I hope this is not an ill omen for the Vikes, the season, and the possibility of a move to LA.

Oil Shale Development in the West and You, Pt III

In an encouraging sign, the Gov't accountability office has issued a report questioning the water use issues surrounding oil shale development in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. It is good that someone is finally asking the right questions, rather than simply giving away the leases like the Bush administration did. The original article can be found here.

GAO: More research needed on oil shale, water

DENVER -- Scarce water resources could limit the growth of oil shale development in the West, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Monday.

Oil shale deposits in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming hold an estimated 1.5 trillion barrels of recoverable oil, but companies are still trying to find commercially viable ways to extract it.

Oil shale development could have "significant" impacts on water quality and availability, but the exact effects are unclear, partly because what's known about current water conditions is limited and processes for extracting oil are still being researched, the GAO said.

The GAO urged the Interior Department to figure out the baseline conditions for water resources in the Piceance and Uintah Basins in Colorado and Utah and to coordinate research by other agencies. It also recommended modeling regional groundwater movement to help understand how possible contaminants from oil shale development might travel.

Past studies indicate one to 12 barrels of water, or up to about 500 gallons, may be needed to produce a barrel of oil, though the average for in-situ oil shale production is estimated at five barrels of water, the report said.

Climate change, increasing demand for water from cities and industry, interstate water compacts, and needs of threatened and endangered species in the West all could limit how much water is available for oil shale development, the GAO said.

Based on the average estimates of water use, the oil shale industry might need more water per year than is used by the Denver metro area annually, said David Abelson, oil shale policy adviser for the conservation group Western Resource Advocates.

"There's going to be less and less new water to appropriate. Use conflicts throughout Colorado, throughout Utah, are only going to increase," Abelson said. "The question is, where is the water going to come from and at what expense."

Company representatives with oil shale interests said they were confident they have enough water rights or could obtain them to support at least initial operations, the GAO report said.

Colorado officials said companies can apply for additional water rights in the Piceance Basin, and Utah officials said companies could buy water rights from other users.

AuraSource Inc. Chief Financial Officer Eric Stoppenhagen said different processes for extracting petroleum from oil shale use different amounts of water. He declined to discuss his company's water resources but said it is something it will address as it applies for an oil shale research lease with the Bureau of Land Management for land in Uintah County, Utah.

"The overdevelopment of any resource can lead to environmental problems," he said in an e-mail. "This is a concern of ours as well as of state and federal governments, local landowners and agriculture. The process instituted by the BLM addresses the concern over the impact on the quality and quantity of water resources." He said his company would work with stakeholders to address environmental concerns.

Bob Elderkin, speaking for the Colorado Wildlife Federation, said oil shale research from the 1970s shows that impacts on water quality remain a concern.

"We should understand what the impacts on water quality are before we even consider the idea of commercially developing oil shale," Abelson said.

On the Web:

GAO report: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d1135.pdf

Something amiss in Viking Land.

Well, the inability to convert 3rd downs, or do-or-die 4th downs, the persistent failure to stop anyone on 3rd & long, or just 3rd down, and special teams thinking that 32 yards is fair for an opponents punt or kick return brought a mournful end to the vikings playoffs hopes yesterday. ouch. Green Bay at the dome next week, and I'm not looking forward to it. A nice 35 to 7 victory at any point this season would be nice. These last minute nail-biters are painful. Oh well. next year.

Vikes!

My feed of the game died at 4:39 in the 4th, and I spent the afternoon lamenting the 2010 season for the poor Vikes. It turns out that they didn't quit, and it's back on. Go Vikes!

From NFL.com...

MINNEAPOLIS -- Even Brett Favre thought the Minnesota Vikings were done -- for the game, and quite possibly the season.

Down 14 with less than five minutes to play against Arizona. Chants of "Fire Childress!" filling the Metrodome. A Super Bowl-or-bust season on the brink.

Favre has banner day

Vikings QB Brett Favre has accomplished just about everything in the NFL, but he did something Sunday he had never done in his career. Find out what it was in our milestone tracker.

» Vote: Should Favre make the Pro Bowl?

Suddenly, Favre conjured the kind of magic that simply hasn't been there all season, engineering another jaw-dropping fourth-quarter comeback that may have not only saved the Vikings' season, but coach Brad Childress' job as well.

Favre threw for a career-high 446 yards to rally the Vikings from 14 points down in the final four and half minutes and Ryan Longwell's 35-yard field goal in overtime lifted them to a 27-24 victory over the Cardinals on Sunday.

"There was a point in that game where I think everyone in the building thought this is not going well. We don't stand a chance," said Favre, who has 46 career fourth-quarter comeback wins. "But we did."

Peter Rowan in Durango!!

Panama Red, live and in person at the Durango Performing Arts center on Halloween night. I couldn't believe it. The show was a benefit for the Tara Mandala Buddhist center in Pagosa Springs. Rowan crushed! Two songs I had never heard, and a bunch of classics. Opening the show were local favorites, Wild Mountain, shown here with Red, kicking ass. I had a blast, and multiple times declared it the best Peter Rowan performance I have seen.

Halloween

Halloween! Look at the scary doodle with his fancy Purple Monkey costume on and the Mad Scientist!

Towelie!!! Brett Favre & Lil' Lorenzo, The mad scientist, and momma to be!

Also at this party was a dude dressed in the part of Robert Goulet. I'm still laughing about that one.

Op-Ed in the NY Times yesterday -

From the New York Times yesterday regarding California's proposition 19. I posted the article here in its entirety BECAUSE IT MAKES SENSE!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/28/opinion/28kristof.html?_r=1&src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB

Op-Ed Columnist

End the War on Pot

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Published: October 27, 201

Nicholas D. Kristof

I dropped in on a marijuana shop here that proudly boasted that it sells “31 flavors.” It also offered a loyalty program. For every 10 purchases of pot — supposedly for medical uses — you get one free packet.

“There are five of these shops within a three-block radius,” explained the proprietor, Edward J. Kim. He brimmed with pride at his inventory and sounded like any small businessman as he complained about onerous government regulation. Like, well, state and federal laws.

But those burdensome regulations are already evaporating in California, where anyone who can fake a headache already can buy pot. Now there’s a significant chance that on Tuesday, California voters will choose to go further and broadly legalize marijuana.

I hope so. Our nearly century-long experiment in banning marijuana has failed as abysmally as Prohibition did, and California may now be pioneering a saner approach. Sure, there are risks if California legalizes pot. But our present drug policy has three catastrophic consequences.

First, it squanders billions of dollars that might be better used for education. California now spends more money on prisons than on higher education. It spends about $216,000 per year on each juvenile detainee, and just $8,000 on each child in the troubled Oakland public school system.

Each year, some 750,000 Americans are arrested for possession of small amounts of marijuana. Is that really the optimal use of our police force?

In contrast, legalizing and taxing marijuana would bring in substantial sums that could be used to pay for schools, libraries or early childhood education. A Harvard economist, Jeffrey A. Miron, calculates that marijuana could generate $8.7 billion in tax revenue each year if legalized nationally, while legalization would also save the same sum annually in enforcement costs.

That’s a $17 billion swing in the nation’s finances — enough to send every 3- and 4-year-old in a poor family to a high-quality preschool. And that’s an investment that would improve education outcomes and reduce crime and drug use in the future — with enough left over to pay for an extensive nationwide campaign to discourage drug use.

The second big problem with the drug war is that it has exacerbated poverty and devastated the family structure of African-Americans. Partly that’s because drug laws are enforced inequitably. Black and Latino men are much more likely than whites to be stopped and searched and, when drugs are found, prosecuted.

Here in Los Angeles, blacks are arrested for marijuana possession at seven times the rate whites are, according to a study by the Drug Policy Alliance, which favors legalization. Yet surveys consistently find that young whites use marijuana at higher rates than young blacks.

Partly because of drug laws, a black man now has a one-in-three chance of serving time in prison at some point in his life, according to the Sentencing Project, a group that seeks reform in the criminal justice system. This makes it more difficult for black men to find jobs, more difficult for black women to find suitable husbands, and less common for black children to grow up in stable families with black male role models. So, sure, drugs have devastated black communities — but the remedy of criminal sentencing has made the situation worse.

The third problem with our drug policy is that it creates crime and empowers gangs. “The only groups that benefit from continuing to keep marijuana illegal are the violent gangs and cartels that control its distribution and reap immense profits from it through the black market,” a group of current and former police officers, judges and prosecutors wrote last month in an open letter to voters in California.

I have no illusions about drugs. One of my childhood friends in Yamhill, Ore., pretty much squandered his life by dabbling with marijuana in ninth grade and then moving on to stronger stuff. And yes, there’s some risk that legalization would make such dabbling more common. But that hasn’t been a significant problem in Portugal, which decriminalized drug use in 2001.

Likewise, medical marijuana laws approved in 1996 have in effect made pot accessible to any adult in California, without any large increase in usage. Special medical clinics abound where for about $45 you can see a doctor who is certain to give you the medical recommendation that you need to buy marijuana. Then you can visit Mr. Kim and choose one of his 31 varieties, topping out at a private “OG” brand that costs $75 for one-eighth of an ounce. “It’s like a fine wine, cured, aged, dried,” he boasted.

Or browse the online offerings. One store advertises: “refer a friend, get free joint.” And the world hasn’t ended.

One advantage of our federal system is that when we have a failed policy, we can grope for improvements by experimenting at the state level. I hope California will lead the way on Tuesday by legalizing marijuana.