According to the Associated Press, one innovative California man has installed pot vending machines in two locations for use by previously authorized and paid-up medical marijuana patients. “Convenient access, lower prices, safety and anonymity” are the advantages touted by owner/inventor Vincent Mehdizadeh. According to the article, anger management is one of the disabilities covered under California state law. Anger? Vending machines? I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

(For up-to-date info on medical marijuana in Rhode Island contact the good people at RIPAC.)

Our world’s grand experiment with the cellular phone continues:

Radiation from mobile phones delays and reduces sleep, and causes headaches and confusion, according to a new study.

The research, sponsored by the mobile phone companies themselves, shows that using the handsets before bed causes people to take longer to reach the deeper stages of sleep and to spend less time in them, interfering with the body’s ability to repair damage suffered during the day.

The technology is now in place for me to go ahead and start a family. As reported this morning on NBC news, scientists in California have finally produced human embryo clones. All I have to do is provide the nucleus of a skin cell. But here’s where you come in! I will still be needing; an egg donor, a surrogate mom, several nannies and the name of a good boarding school. (And sperm donors are still required for my various side projects.)

Tonight at the Providence Geek Dinner AS220 was treated to an update on the progress of the mostly Rhode Island based Rentomatic (formerly iiProperty). Rentomatic.com is a website for both landlords and tenants which allows for online rent payment, maintenance requests and other landlord communication for tenants, and accounting, property and tenant tracking, etc. for landlords.

The new site rolled out just last week and they have grand plans for the future including connecting landlords with service providers and allowing tenants to communicate with each other. The company also runs rentometer.com which is a service that attempts to bring more transparency to the world of housing rentals, letting you view average rents for neighborhoods and even particular streets. Enter your address and see whether you are getting a great deal for your place or whether you should be demanding free laundry from your landlord for the dough you dole out every month.

Other news from around the webosphere:

• Google goes political: Google Checkout for Political Contributions allows candidates to easily and cheaply accept online donations. Even better it can be tied to a candidate’s YouTube page, meaning we may all get to see even more of our candidates favorite recipes!
• France says that Amazon’s free shipping is illegal, amazon says f*uck you and decides to pay a €1,000 fine per day instead.
• FDA sys cloned meat A-OK. Thank Dolly next time you next time you enjoy your lamb kabobs.
• “Phraselator” lets cops take down perps in their own language. No, I didn’t make that name up.

What with Jack Templin’s feting in Providence Monthly and the big new hire over at RISD.  The Providence Geeks meet again this Weds, 5:30-9 at AS220. Here’s the scoop:

This coming Wednesday we’ll be kicking off the new year, by checking in with an “old” friend of Providence Geeks – Investment Instruments Corporation (IIC).

One of the advantages of being young and stupid in such a go, Go, GO! world is that you can pretend that by the time you’re all old and craggly, the wizards will have cured all the scary degenerative ickies that await on the other end — cancer, Alzheimer’s, baldness, etc.

And then, one day, you’re in your late twenties, and not much seems to have changed over the previous couple of decades. (Except that a few of your contemporaries have been stricken by cancer and/or baldness.)

But as somebody who saw 1 or 2 grandparents succumb to Alzheimer’s, this is pleasant news:

Drug “can reverse Alzheimer’s symptoms in minutes”

A drug used for arthritis can reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer’s “in minutes”.  It appears to tackle one of the main features of the disease - inflammation in the brain.

The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, which is expected to receive more than 140,000 visitors this week, is no stranger to bizarre gadgets but the iTaser - as it has been dubbed - must rank as one of the oddest. It combines a Taser stun gun, used by 12,000 law enforcement and security forces, including the Metropolitan police, with an MP3 player and earphones….According to Rick Smith, founder of the company, “personal protection can be both fashionable and functionable”.

From Wired, a story that seems ripped out of amemorable part of Carl Sagan’s Dragons of Eden:

In what sounds like a dream for millions of tired coffee drinkers, Darpa-funded scientists might have found a drug that will eliminate sleepiness.

A nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in monkeys, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests.

Everybody wants to perform like well-rested monkey, right?

 HEY FRIENDS!!! the print shop class/event schedule for NOVEMBER is finally ready!
HERE IT IS:
Open House!!! - MONDAY NOV.5th, 6pm - FREE
Any and all interested in learning a bit about the shop and how it works, come to the FREE shop open house! We walk you through the shop and show off our awesome facilities (silkscreen, letterpress, intaglio!) If you miss it this month, don’t worry! There’s an open house the first Monday of every month, at 6pm. more »

The Providence Geeks’ next dinner is tomorrow, Wednesday, October 17, 2007, 7 – 10pm, at AS220:

Coming on the heels of September’s Geek Dinner blowout, we’ve got another great evening lined up. Joshua Gold, co-founder of Warwick-based Domodomain, will be presenting his company’s web-based sales & marketing intelligence solution of the same name. Domodomain has been killing it lately. Highlights include forging a deep relationship with Salesforce.com and closing a Series A of almost $3 million….

more »

Tucked away just beyond the reaches of Federal Hill in an unassuming building by the highway lies the Old Fashion Robotic Store, one of the few remaining bastions of robotics the way robotics was meant to be. Offering everything from motors, switches and sensors, to complete lego mindstorm kits, to lamps in the shape of robots, it’s like a little slice of heaven for cyborgs, androids and their fans. The proprietors, Brenda and Jim Tabele, also hope to become a hub for all things robotic in RI through their educational website. Meanwhile, if you are looking to get involved in Southern New England’s robot-based community definitely check out the upcoming Bash@theBeach:

• When: Saturday, October 13, 2007
• Where: Old Lyme Middle School, Old Lyme, CT
• Website: batb.us/

 Last wednesday at the September edition of the Providence Geek Dinner, the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RI EDC) announced rinexus.com, a digital hub for all your local info-tech needs. The site includes a one stop feed of all Rhode Island’s technology news, a state-wide directory of tech related companies, a calendar of events, and soon a marketplace for jobs. It is also just the first piece of the new RI Nexus initiative, which aims to build a “21st-century innovation economy” in little rhodie by increasing the number of Information Technology and Digital Media jobs. If you register for a profile on the site by October 15th you could win an iPod Touch and in a state the size of RI I like your chances.