Triple Trouble

Rap Sheet editor J. Kingston Pierce has his news wrap-up posts, so I figure I can put together one of my own. Below you will find three things worth reading (click on the links for full stories):

From The New York Times:

It was just about a year ago that Kevin Faler came up with his get-rich-quick marijuana scheme. No, he does not plan to sell the drug, even if Californians vote next week to become the first state in the nation to fully legalize it. He intends to sell the Internet real estate that could one day lead to marijuana Web sites.

Mr. Faler, a former police officer who once worked the narcotics beat, has registered more than 1,000 marijuana-related Internet domain names, including oddities like icecreammarijuana.com and marijuanapastry.com. And he is not the only one banking on the drug’s online future. He is part of an Internet land grab for marijuana domains by so-called domainers who hope to sell their holdings at a profit, betting that more lenient marijuana laws will eventually drive more people to the Web for their supplies, whether they are seeking seeds, bongs, recipes or drug-laced dog treats.

All of this has been given a fresh burst of intensity by next week’s vote on Proposition 19, the California ballot measure that would legalize up to an ounce of the drug for recreational use. Fourteen states have already legalized medical marijuana.

“Marijuana domain name values will fly off the charts once Prop. 19 passes,” said Mr. Faler, 49. “I’m hoping to make enough money to buy a condo in Morocco. That’s how big it’s going to be.”

I’m not sure about the condo, but I do have a great pot domain name in my head: LeavesOfGrass2010.com (the title taken from Walt Whitman, of course). I just went ahead and bought that domain for a mere $8. Any bidders out there want to take it off my hands? E-mail me at dickadler@mail.com. I’m also planning to put the domain up on eBay ...

From one of my all-time favorite blogs, Kevin Roderick’s LA Observed:

“The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest,” the third and ostensibly final film with Noomi Rapace playing the part of Swedish hacker-punk-heroine Lisbeth Salander, opens Friday to the approval of Roger Ebert. He speculates that, even though writer Stieg Larsson only finished three “Girl” novels before he died, the Lisbeth character will somehow continue. He hopes so, anyway.

Finally, chapters 14 and 15 of my new serial novel, Forget About It: The First Al Zymer Senile Detective Mystery, have just been posted here. To find a full archive of the book so far, just click here.