Amsterdam: Is a city of canals with 90 islands and 1500 bridges. Coffeeshops  are big for tourists, but not as much anymore, as many other locations have legalized this weed. This is the term used for smoky rooms buying and smoking marijuana.   They also sell coffee.   Most are located in the Red Light District. They can sell a maximum of 5 grams of cannabis twice a day to the same person. Cannot sell cigarettes or alcohol. Smartshops sell psychoactive and related substances. Here you can buy magic truffles and cacti. I nteresting that those are legal, but magic mushrooms ( psilocybe cubensis ) aren't . They are rapidly being replaced by online retailers. Read my posting 2011  providing details, for nothing much as changed. Another one of 2014 . The Netherlands is called the land of windmills.  From the Viking Daily. Records indicate that  China was the first  to use windmills, to pump water in 200 BC. Some say they were first invented...

The death toll for Category 4 Hurricane Helene is now up to 64 .  Surprisingly enough, South Carolina is up to 23, with Florida at 11, with 10 of them from the Tampa Bay area.  Perry and Tallahassee had none.  Note that the dangerous quadrant is to the northeast ( 0 to 90 degrees ).  These numbers are expected to further rise.  There is particular worry about North Carolina.   4.8 million lost power.   Notice how the eye of Helene has circled back to Tennessee. I read an article by John Crisp on  Live on Mars? How about life on Earth? What should be the priority of NASA?  Send people to the Moon and Mars?  Or minimize mammoth expenses by focusing on telescopic explorations to find life in our solar system and beyond? I once worked on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence at the NASA Ames Research Center, and eight years ago Harry Jones, who works there, speculated that the  cost of the first human mission to Mars wo...

                     From  Worldometer  (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):     DAY     USA    WORLD      Brazil      India      South Africa June     9     1093     4732         1185        246       82 July    22      1205     7128         1293      1120     572 Aug    12      1504     6556        1242        835     130 Sept     9      1208      6222       1136       1168       82 Oct     21      1225      6849 ...