A parcel of magazines addressed to a former beauty queen was found to contain 356 grams of hashish. Which is about 40 tolas. Which is a lot. And stupid. One British national was caught at customs and another bolted. They were subletting a house from some people I know, on Hudson Street. Neither Angela Seneviratne (the celebrity addressee) nor the couple were in the house or seem to be involved, but it’s still a damn mess.

Today is 4/20, or International Marijuana Day. Marijuana is great, one of the least toxic and most rewarding drugs. The fact that this plant, which you can pluck from the ground in Tanamalwila, is illegal is a misnomer at best and an ongoing tragedy in reality. Seriously, it’s a plant, it’s good for sick people, it’s an essential ingredient in traditional Ayurveda, and it supports great music and art. It also good economics and social policy, as the California video above shows. Today, on International Marijuana Day, everyone should just chill.

In terms of politeness, apparently loud is the most rude. I dunno though. I think loud is usually funny (which the dug-up study) also shows. I’ve been on planes and buses where dudes are ripping silent deadlies and it’s really noxious and infuriating. One’s own farts are always somehow interesting, but others are plain noxious. I read this story via Andrew Sullivan. His comments were pretty hil:

The kid got had fever and nausea and was in bad shape. Put him in hospital and thank god it wasn’t dengue, seemed more like bad sushi (his favorite, until now). We had to put him in hospital, but even with shitty insurance the bill was like Rs. 43,000. For a two night stay. This is obviously insane.

An AFP story about Sri Lankan eye donations has been making the rounds. Around Colombo 7 there’s a sign that says ‘eye donations this way’, which I always found a bit odd. There’s also old images like the above, of a Bodhisattva donating an eye (in Mulkirigala). Turns out its not so odd after all, Sri Lanka is among the top cornea providers in the world.

A lot of people are protesting online that no stray dogs in Sri Lanka should be killed. But some should. It is not healthy to have stray, mangy, bitey dogs running around a city, not healthy for anyone. Normal policy is you put them in pounds, make them possible for adoption and euthanize them if they’re not. Vaccinating or sterilizing them and sending them back out isn’t a good option.

Alex is a cat (a kitten to be exact). He’s basically addicted to Valium. If he misses one dose he has seizures, which are absolutely pathetic to behold. As long as he gets his meds, however, he’s a lovely and personable cat. He likes biting and play-fighting and sleeping in improbable positions.

In this video, Andrew Sullivan (a gay, HIV positive, conservative Catholic blogger) talks about why he started meditating. In his case, it was precipitated by Internet overload and rather scattered thought. For me, each time I restart meditation it’s much the same thing. Not the Internet so much, but if you sit and just listen, there’s a huge amount of cacophony and noise in your head. In mine at least. If you listen long enough, it kinda fades away and you’re left with a stillness. As they say in Eat, Pray, Love, if you leave a vacuum, God can rush in.

Halik is full of weird ideas that end up knee deep in paddy fields or getting chased by elephants. He had this idea to go for a 5 km cancer run in Colombo, which couldn’t possibly go wrong. It didn’t. It was shorter than I thought, and for a good cause, beating Halik. JK, raising money for the Maharagama cancer hospital. Very good organization by the Colombo Uptown Rotaract Club.

Some friends of mine are doing a story and they managed to score Rs. 300 of heroin without too much difficulty, but reports are that the supply has dropped noticeably in the past few weeks. Hmmm.