Illegal drugs and immigrants in the same post!

So, Arizona has approved "medicinal marijuana use" (15th state, along with DC, that allows such), and its tourism industry has suddenly seen quite a spike of activity. From the article,

"Sadly, patients in 35 states still have no legal protection if marijuana is the medicine that works best for them," Kampia said in a statement. "We will continue working in the years ahead to ensure that others are awarded the respect and compassionate care that seriously ill patients in Arizona will now enjoy, thanks to this law."

I guess, if your sickness is addiction to marijuana, and the obvious "medicine that works best" is marijuana itself, you're in luck! (You can find the remainder of the states in which marijuana is an approved medical treatment listed in the article.) I also found interesting this bit: "Patients who live more than 25 miles from a dispensary can grow their own marijuana." Quite the defense, huh? Cop: "Why do you have 30 acres of marijuana growing in your back yard?" Drug lord: "Oh, it's for my own, personal, medical use."

In other law-related news, California (Arizona's apparent antagonist in all things illegal-immigrant pertaining) has had its supreme court rule that illegal immigrants can pay in-state tuition. As long as the immigrant has, apparently, filed for legal status, they don't have to legally be a resident of California (or the USA even) to pay in-state tuition. Arizonians wanting to attend USC? Out-of-state rate for you, my fellow American.

Maybe I'll just move to Germany or Italy or Japan... nice cars in the first two, and nice food in the last. Better yet... when are we going to start colonizing Mars? Count me a volunteer!

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...

If you've thought reality television has nowhere else to go, nowhere any lower, anyway, check out  Bridalplasty - where potential brides are competing - in bridal sorts of competitions, like dress picking - for complementary plastic surgery of various kinds. First, how stupid can we get, people? Second, can't we get away from all of this "make yourself more awesome by surgery" junk? Seriously... there are times and places for plastic surgery, typically related to injuries, but I'd wager that the majority of people undergoing these surgeries don't really need the "fix" - they probably looked at least as good before (if not better), and definitely natural trumps artificial in my mind. Too much advertising and peer pressure goes into selling the lie that girls (or even guys these days) are flawed and need help to look better, or even acceptable. And now we have a tv show devoted to exactly that.

Totally unrelatedly, a train killed 20 cows the other day ( article ). Now, is that headline-worthy news or what?

And, as this is Veteran's day, thanks to all of you who've served our country in its military, defending our freedom and way of life.

Twinkie diet?

What can you say about this? Some professor goes on a diet of a variety of snack foods: twinkies, little debbies, etc. - one of these every three hours instead of meals. (Also he was taking in a serving of veggies - 3-4 celery stalks or a can of green beans - and a protein shake and a multi-vitamin.) Over 2 months, he lost 27 pounds - and, interestingly enough, his bad cholesterol levels dropped and good cholesterol levels increased. I think I may have to give this diet a go. :) (Read the article; he does not recommend or endorse the diet, but he also doesn't say it's bad - simply that there's not enough evidence to support a conclusion in either direction at this point.)

Unrelatedly, here's a good reason to call an ambulance rather than trying to get your loved one to the hospital yourself: you might end up in jail.

Now I'm going to post this since it may look like I'm copying a friend of mine (@jejily), when in actuality I saw this article independently. Later, all...

Alliterative Asking

Just wanting some opinions: Is it possible as a practicing parent to undo unintentional implicit condonement of potentially perilous or halfway hazardous behaviors without seeming hypothetically hypocritical? Any thoughts on this poorly worded subject?

(In other words, if past actions or omissions might have led to certain behavioral conclusions in your children, reinforced by repetiton or lack of correction, is there any benefit to an abrupt "policy shift" or are there other ways that would be better suited to remove bad or introduce missing good to their teenage minds that might actually work?)

And, yes, I know that there is potential for my or other children to read this note, hence vagueness. :)