this is a great day.

first and foremost, the end of this semester is in sight. i will then take a few weeks off, hopefully find a decent job, start making some money and then start it all back up again...today is particularly nice because all of my actual assignments are complete, and all that's left now is three consecutive nights of pushing my body to its limits by staying up all night and cramming massive amounts of information into my head.

but for the rest of today, i am not stressing, i am not freaking out about any of the many things i could be...i am hoping to relax somethin fierce...enter GTA IV.

anyway, in recent interwebs news, let me start with something completely unexpected. There is a man who conducts research at UCLA regarding the hazards of marijuana smoking. This one man has been the go-to guy for the American government's case against legalization for over 30 years. His name is Donald Tashkin, and today, he has some good news for those who happen to enjoy the sweet green:

"We hypothesized that there would be a positve association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use," he said. "What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect."

Now before you try to pretend i'm pulling this quote from a faceless independent case study done by Dr. J Toker, let me remind you, this man has made a living (from the government) of telling us how bad marijuana is for the human body.

He is also quick to point out that previous statements were not incorrect, but simply incomplete. Yes, marijuana does contain potential cancer causing chemicals, but this new batch of studies showed that marijuana's THC (you know, what distinguishes your twenty sack from a bag of oregano) counteracts those chemicals efficiently, and leaves the body no more susceptible to cancer than if you had never smoked a spliff in your life.

It is also worth noting that this was the largest study of its kind, which included more than 2,000 subjects with a wide variety of past marijuana use, and it was not just limited to lung cancer, but also head and neck. Tashkin still personally believes that marijuana is harmful in other ways, but cancer is (thankfully) off the list...

i guess if anyone could tell you about the possible harms of marijuana smoking, it might be DFW's own, Charles Fuller who was accused of unlawful possession of a weapon and marijuana shortly after trying to cash a [bogus] $360 billion check. His side of the story? He says his girlfriend's mom gave him the check so he could start a record company. THE MOST WEALTHY RECORD COMPANY EVER! Where did he get THAT weed!?