Pubdate: Tue, 15 Oct 2002 Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA) Copyright: 2002 Santa Cruz Sentinel Contact: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/394 Author: Bob Fenster ONLY IN SANTA CRUZ In last Tuesday's column, we wondered how the "4:20" code you see on some panhandler signs around town came to represent "like to smoke pot." We received a number of answers from our readers: "Some high school students (in Marin County?) used to get together after school at 4:20 p.m. to get high. So 4:20 became a code word for smoking dope." "4/20 is National Smoke-In Day for pot smokers, a good way to console oneself after April 15's extortion." "It's police code for busting people who smoke grass." (Our ex-police reporter doesn't buy that one.) "There are 420 chemicals in marijuana; and THC, the one that gets you high, is the 420th." My favorite theory: "The DEA has 419 better things to do than harass people for growing medical marijuana, so naturally they do the 420th." Whatever the origin of 4:20, the idea has caught on. As one reader pointed out, "I've seen some entries on various Web sites (usually Grateful Dead-related) about people getting married on April 20 (4/20) at 4:20 in the afternoon." Another reader offered this suggestion: "Walk down the Avenue April 20 around 4:20. Chances are you'll forget where the Sentinel offices are located and end up at Clouds with a martini in your hand!" Is there a better show during the year than the Monte Foundation fireworks spectacular? The show on Seacliff Beach last Saturday was a kick even with a fogged-in coast because the fireworks made the fog glow. With all the money that the day-long event generates for schools throughout the county, you have to wonder: Where our kids would be without it? Reader Diane Reymer sends along this bid for the last laugh of the day, a thought from playwright George Bernard Shaw: "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom