More on TOS and TOS Abuse Courtesy of the EFF

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has had TOSBack running for a while. It is a service to assist people to keep an eye on changes to the 'Terms of Use' of certain websites.They have enhanced this service with 'Terms of (AB) Use' a website dedicated to all issues surrounding 'Terms of Use' policies.

* One cannot go online today without eventually being asked to accept a set of so-called Terms of Service (or TOS). Such TOS agreements have become ubiquitous to websites and other online services in the same way End User License Agreements (EULAs) have become the mainstay of the software industry. Yet while we are often aware that such Terms of Service exist, very few of us know and understand what they actually say.
The time has come to shed light on what these Terms of Service agreements contain, and what it means for users. In conjunction with our TOSBack Project, EFF is proud to announce Terms of (Ab)Use: a source for news and TOS issues around the web.

For the full Deep Link:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/11/eff-launches-new-terms-ab-use-page

For the Terms of (Ab)Use page:
https://www.eff.org/issues/terms-of-abuse

The End of the Hangover is Nigh!

I'm not a big drinker myself. I tend to fall asleep long before I drink enough to induce a hangover. Some of me mates like a drop though, so this story will be good news for them.

According to the UK Telegraph, the Imperial College in London is developing a synthetic alcohol that will still get you drunk, but won't give you the 'morning after the night before' blues. Future developments may even allow you to get sober by taking a pill.

I dunno about this though. The scientists look like they're modifying benzodiazepines to develop this new alcohol...frying pan into the fire perhaps?

$89 pizzas a hot seller for Ganja Gourmet

$89 pizzas a hot seller for Ganja Gourmet

I'll have one with the lot please.

Now those with a prescription for cannabis don't have to limit their choices to smoking or brownies. A Denver entrepreneur has opened a medical marijuana eatery named Ganja Gourmet.

And that's not the only place those in and around the mile-high city can go for marijuana-infused foods like pizza, hummus and lasagna. A Caribbean restaurant across town has plans to hold classes on sprinkling, dashing and pouring a bit of mellowing weed into multi-course meals.

Does Marijuana - Cannabis increase the risk of Testicular Cancer but fight prostate cancer?

I'm confused. Do I stop smoking cannabis to save my nuts, or do I keep smoking to protect my prostate?

A while back I posted about the study that tells us that men are at increased risk of contracting testicular cancer if they are 'stoners'.
http://choofin.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-much-bullshit-can-we-bear.html

Now, we have another study that tells us that we 'pot-heads' don't have to worry too much about prostate cancer:
http://www.canada.com/Technology/Cannabis+chemicals+help+fight+prostate+cancer/1908592/story.html

But, I like my balls *and* my prostate...

...being a pot smoker is soooo stressful. Decisions decisions...

Cannabis as a Study Aid

Hehe, well not really but there you go.

Mark Haskell Smith has been researching his new novel, 'Baked'. Where? In Amsterdam of course...

It's a common mistake non-writers make, confusing the physical act of typing with writing, and writers do sometimes sit at the keyboard, but that's just a small part of the job. Think about it. An athlete trains and practices before he or she competes, a chef will shop for the freshest items before deciding what to cook, an architect will study building sites before beginning a design. Writers write about people, and to understand what makes people tick, to get inside their emotional lives -- to write, really -- writers need to engage with the world.

Kerouac hit the road, Hemingway hit the bottle and Dorothy Parker hit the mattress. Me? I'm hitting the Super Lemon Haze.

For the last three years, I've wrestled with my fourth novel, a story set in the world of high-grade marijuana cultivation. It's a unique subculture of underground botanists, farmers, ganjaficionados and seed geneticists who endeavor to discover, develop and refine distinctive strains. The gap between excellent and mediocre is wide, and the stakes are high. The very best marijuana gets entered in the Cannabis Cup -- an event that takes place in this city every November. If you are good enough or lucky enough to win, you have the most valuable pot in the world. The seeds of a Cup winner are worth millions, the marijuana is worth even more. It is the Super Bowl of the marijuana world.

Read more here (it's worth it):

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-cannabis-cup27-2009dec27,0,4411717.story

12.5 Tonnes of hash Up in Smoke!

Israeli Mafia Busted in Southampton with 50 Thousand Bricks of Hash.

It happened last year, but the article above details how they got busted.

In the end it all got burned:

Meanwhile the 12.5 tonnes of cannabis resin seized in Southampton has now been incinerated - the criminals' profits have literally gone up in smoke.

BUMMER!

How Much Bullshit Can We Bear?

Smoking Cannabis will give you a 70% greater chance of developing testicular cancers:

The study involved 369 men with testicular cancer, and 979 cancer free individuals.
All participants filled out a questionnaire. Of those, only 250 of the cancer patients could be interviewed, and just over half the cancer free subjects.
The conclusions of the study itself say this:

An association was observed between marijuana use and the occurrence of nonseminoma TGCTs. Additional studies of TGCTs will be needed to test this hypothesis, including molecular analyses of cannabinoid receptors and endocannabinoid signaling, which may provide clues regarding the biologic mechanisms of TGCTs.

The study led to a hypothesis, not a concrete (nor even a silly putty) result. The study results translate into plain english thus:

After the resulting surveys and interviews, we came to the conclusion that we think there might be a possible link between testicular cancers and smoking cannabis. However, we need to do a lot more study to be able to draw any firm conclusions. After all, this is just a hypothesis.

Now, add to this the fact that the incidence of testicular cancer amongst men in general is (for the United States) about 1% of all cancers diagnosed in the male population. That is, about 8000 cases. Of those 8000, about 400 people die from the disease. Of those 8000, only 3200 of them will have the specific cancer that this study leans toward; the nonseminoma variety. Even if there were a proven link, it would be on par with eating margarine on burnt toast as a risk factor for cancer. Or, in a statistical sense, IF a valid association between cannabis smoking and nonseminoma testicular cancer is found, heavy pot smoking males will have around a 0.8% chance of developing this form of the disease, compared to a 0.5% chance for the rest of the population.

Smoking cannabis and tobacco will give you a threefold increased risk of developing COPD.

Once again, rather than throw up a bunch of media links, I'll cut to some pages that deal directly with the study that drew the above conclusion. Suffice to say, cannabis is not the cause of the problem:

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n433/a04.html

These studies, involving mainly younger individuals, have provided inconsistent but suggestive evidence that smoking marijuana only may lead to modest airflow obstruction and hyperinflation that could predispose the individual to COPD later in life. The findings of Tan and colleagues9 add to the limited evidence of an association between use of marijuana and COPD because their study focuses on an older population ( aged 40 or older ) that is at greater risk of COPD. Their finding that concurrent smoking of marijuana and tobacco is associated with a greater likelihood of COPD than smoking only tobacco implies a possible additive effect of the 2 substances on lung health. An additive effect was also suggested by Taylor and colleagues, whose study involved a younger population. By contrast, Aldington and colleagues concluded that concurrent smoking of marijuana and tobacco attenuated the association between smoking tobacco and a reduced ratio of FEV1 to FVC and respiratory symptoms.

Firm conclusions cannot be drawn about the association between use of marijuana and COPD based on the limited and inconsistent data available. The studies that address this topic are limited by their small numbers of participants and by the uncertain accuracy of self-reported use of marijuana, particularly in view of its illegality and the difficulty of accurately recalling amounts previously used. Some of these studies are also limited by their cross-sectional design, and most are limited by the young age ( 40 years or younger ) of participants. Nevertheless, the consistency of some aspects of the available data allows us to more firmly conclude that smoking marijuana by itself can lead to respiratory symptoms because of injurious effects of the smoke on larger airways. Given the consistently reported absence of an association between use of marijuana and abnormal diffusing capacity or signs of macroscopic emphysema, we can be close to concluding that smoking marijuana by itself does not lead to COPD.

To further ease your mind on this issue, check out the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical care Medicine:

http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/155/1/141

We conclude that regular tobacco, but not marijuana, smoking is associated with greater annual rates of decline in lung function than is nonsmoking. These findings do not support an association between regular marijuana smoking and chronic COPD but do not exclude the possibility of other adverse respiratory effects.

Smoking cannabis will lead to a psychotic episode or schizophrenia

This statement has been discredited a number of times. However, for the point of argument, check out the transcript of this documentary episode from the Australian ABC TV 'Catalyst' program:

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/2402434.htm

Narration: But if that’s true, how come so few cannabis users become psychotic? One third of Australians have tried marijuana, yet only 1% of the population have schizophrenia. Who are the people at risk? The answer, perhaps surprisingly, was discovered in a picturesque corner of South Island, New Zealand. Dunedin is home to one of the world’s best longitudinal studies. Since 1972, they’ve been subjecting a group of 1000 people to a barrage of tests and questions. In 2005, they announced an astonishing discovery – a gene for vulnerability to cannabis.

Professor Richie Poulton: The gene we looked at is called the catechol-O-methyltransferase – or COMT for short. And we looked at it because it’s a gene that stands out in families that have schizophrenia.

Narration: And what does this COMT gene do? Well, as it happens, it regulates our old friend, dopamine.

Jonica: Let’s say these are the COMT genes – this is the good gene – this is the bad gene. Now, everyone gets two of them, so you can get two good genes or one each. But, if you get two of the bad genes, well it seems your ability to regulate dopamine is impaired.

Narration: Which might not matter, unless you smoke cannabis.

Professor Poulton: We found that among adolescents who had used cannabis on a monthly basis or more, who had the bad version of the gene, their chances of developing psychosis by their mid 20’s were increased 11 fold.

Jonica: 11 fold. That’s extraordinary.

Professor Poulton: It is. So this explains why the use of cannabis among a small group of people has a devastating effect in terms of the likelihood of developing psychosis, but most people remain unharmed and unscathed.

So, if I understand correctly, the crux of this is that a defective gene and not cannabis is the reason for some people becoming psychotic when smoking pot?

Another ABC program, 'Quantum', has this on its 'What's Your Poison?' page:

http://www.abc.net.au/quantum/poison/marijuan/marijuan.htm

Does cannabis cause psychosis?
It is believed that cannabis use may cause a condition known as a drug-induced psychosis which can last for up to a few days and is often characterised by hallucinations, delusions, memory loss and confusion. However, in some cases, cannabis use may contribute to the development of a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia. Cannabis use can prolong the duration of symptoms of mental illness and can lower a person's chances of recovering from a psychotic episode.

People most at risk are those with a family history of psychotic illness or those who have already experienced a psychotic episode. Other legal and illicit drugs should also not be ignored. For example, some evidence suggests that substances such as alcohol and amphetamines have a greater effect than cannabis in the development of psychosis. So, people with a family or a personal history of psychotic illness should avoid drugs like cannabis completely and try other healthier ways of relaxing

I was going to list more of these mistruths. But I'm over it for now...

Is it all in the translation?

I dunno about this one. The shop is supposedly in San Clemente, California.

The English grammar is ermmm...if you can make sense of this, let me know:

(http://clothescaptioned.blogspot.com/2009/04/rainbow-flip-flops.html)

Many times we walk a lot in our Rainbow Flip Flops and don't feel any discomfort. This is really a luxury because most other flip flops would make our feet ache after awhile. All that walking can be really hard on natural hemp or leather. Rainbow also makes other products such as Baja Boots. When shopping for a sandal you will frequenly use, make sure to shop carefully. The last thing you want to do is spend a ton, only to find out that what you bought did not have the Rainbow flip flop classic design and high quality. This is one of my major objectives. I didn't know anything about rubber leather crystal or plastic crystal back then. I know you wish to dwell upon that explains established in 1974 so poorly. I'm rather fluent in established in 1974. My concept is based around my assumption that some people have a detest about handmade mens and womens sandals. I have that on excellent authority.

I would say that color premier leathers for the sake of ladies wedges and kids sandals smacks of the concession to this. What problem does your rubber leather crystal or plastic crystal solve. As a rule of thumb things get even worse afterward. My favorite feature would have to be handmade mens and womens sandals. Let's go deeper.

Remember, these measures are approximate. The possibilities are endless. I was overwhelmed with ladies wedges and kids sandals information. There is a high probability.

This is a method to give others some worthless giving up on baja boot. There are a plethora of presumptions on this territory. I think this is one of the longest posts I've ever written.

What on earth. I have to pick my favorites. This is expert only information. There are many hoary slants on this department.

That was priceless. That was a decisive choice. That sucks but you have to pay for established in 1974. All that rubber leather crystal or plastic crystal will be for nil. Let's not take any short cuts. I want to avoid feeling rattled. Intrigued yet.

And therein lies the key. They say that width arch and structure sells itself. There are no notions on this convoluted thought. There are many ways to make Rainbow Sandals Retail Store in San Clemente California appealing. Handmade mens and womens sandals does not have to be a monumental chore. This is easy to read and follow. If that's the case then I really fell sorry for you. I am bold enough to mention flip flops should fit snugly in that context. Everybody is jumping on the natural hemp train. You need some hands-on training in best fit after the flipflop breaks in. I'm rather helpless with flip flops should fit snugly.

Couldn't have said it better myself

Check this out

Don't Smoke Pot!! Your Nuts Will fall Out

If you've read the latest online news (it started about 6 weeks ago), you'll have heard that we ganja smoking males now have a 70% better chance of getting Testicular cancer.

...my left nut plays Jingle Bells when you pull it.

Both statements are based on scientific research and are as believable theories as each other, based on the research carried out.

This Dear readers, is the basis for their 'findings' (http://www.news-medical.net/?id=48210):

Since the 1950s, the incidence of the two main cellular subtypes of testicular cancer, nonseminoma and seminoma - the more common, slower growing kind that strikes men in their 30s and 40s - has increased by 3 percent to 6 percent per year in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. During the same time period, marijuana use in North America, Europe and Australia has risen accordingly, which is one of several factors that led the researchers to hypothesize a potential association.

Mmmm, I'd venture to suggest that so has fatty food consumption, driving, alcohol intake and a plethora of other increases in 'things'.

This was the testing method (http://www.cancerpage.com/news/article.asp?id=13294):

To investigate, the researchers assessed marijuana use in 369 men who were diagnosed with TGCT from January 1999 to January 2006 in three counties in Washington State and compared it with that of 979 age-matched controls

Fuck. Based on their hypothesis, I think maybe even my right nut will play something too. After all, the incidence of singing Bass has increased substantially in past years. Why not singing Testes?