- This is the time of year when soon-to-graduate high school seniors are making their final decisions on where to attend college. The choice can be excruciating, especially if that senior is torn between several worthy choices. However, that choice becomes much easier if a place called Marijuana State University is an option. At long last, MSU is a viable option because it finally exists. For now, Marijuana State University is simply a three-hour-long class that focuses on how to grow marijuana plants. The mastermind behind this “university” is Ray Logan, who has targeted his endeavor towards people with medical marijuana cards but has been gracious enough to leave it open to the public. The university even has a lecture hall feel to it, with Logan using Powerpoint presentation and demonstrations to teach his students. Why is there a need for a “university” to teach people how to grow marijuana plants when any stoner worth his salt can get the job done with some grow lamps, a few crudely made flower beds and an isolated basement? According to Logan, it’s because the demand for medical marijuana exceeds the supply. Inherent in the problem is what Logan calls a “Catch-22” that limits the number of plants that medicinal marijuana dispensaries are legally allowed to grow. "The problem is for caregivers and dispensaries a like you're only allowed to grow six plants per person. If you don't have the people under you, you can't grow the plants, and if you don't have the product it's really hard to get people under you. That's the Catch-22," he said. So in truth, he’s seeking to create something of a farm system for the medicinal marijuana dispensary industry, a place where dispensary owners can come to find their next great stoner, er, grower to expand their business. Logan’s goal is to start small and eventually grow his university to the level of noted stoner/marijuana educator Richard Lee's school, Oaksterdam University in California. Logan’s background in the chron began has its roots in a skydiving accident in 1996 in which he severed his spine. he applied for his medical marijuana card and has been blazing ever since. He contacted the state before launching Marijuana State University and was told that the government would not endorse it. Classes are planned for Lewiston, Augusta, and Biddeford in the coming months, so be sure to apply now to secure your spot…………
- Is it too late to retroactively remove all traces of Dave Grohl from Nirvana’s history? An iconic rock band that defined the grunge movement - whether they liked it or not - should not have one of its former members releasing an album with his current band that was inspired by the single darkest era in music history. Not that there is any need to expound on the term “single darkest era in music history,” but suffice it to say that term always refers to the disco era, when fashion was hideous and the music was worse - much worse. So what are Foo Fighters, one of the biggest bands in the world, doing citing disco acts like ABBA and The Bee Gees as heavy influences on their upcoming album 'Wasting Light' as it is about to drop? I wish I knew. It was Grohl who copped to finding inspiration in garbage disco pop, so I’ll let him explain - or at least attempt to. "I like loads of crazy-ass, dissonant, distorted rock 'n' roll," he said. "But I also love bands whose pop choruses get bigger and bigger. I love anthemic choruses, that overwhelming feeling of release that you can connect with. So whenever I thought I had a big enough chorus for a song, I would use that as the pre-chorus and then I would try and write something even bigger, like they did." Let’s now pause for every rock fan reading this to vomit in their mouth………….and now we continue. Not that Grohl is saying that he tried to mirror the musical stylings of “Dancing Queen” or “Staying Alive,” but any connection to the disco era in any way, shape or form on the part of a band that has any aspirations whatsoever to rock is simply unacceptable. Disco is extremely radioactive and no one can handle it for even one millisecond without signing their rock death warrant. Anyone wondering how much ABBA and The Bee Gees truly influenced the album and its final sound can listen to 'Wasting Light' in full online, as Foo Fighters recently began streaming it free of charge. The album - their seventh studio LP - will be officially released on April 11 and after Grohl’s nauseating revelation, fans have never had more reason to be concerned about the band’s direction and future - even with former Nirvana producer Butch Vig at the helm - than they’ve ever had…………
- To one person, a dead body is just a dead body. To another, it is a sad and tragic sight that represents the end of a life that once held promise and meaning. To supporters of Zimbabwean dictator Bob Mugabe, it’s a propaganda tool to be used to rally support behind one of the world’s most brutal dictators. After hundreds of skeletons were found in a remote mine shaft in rural Zimbabwe and an entire nation was exposed to the site of bodies of people reportedly killed by colonial-era more than three decades ago, the Fallen Heroes of Zimbabwe Trust, a previously little known group of Mugabe party loyalists, latched on to the discovery as part of a heated campaign to discredit political rivals and Western critics of Mugabe’s rule. The FHZT claim the country's former rulers were guilty of human rights violations far worse than anything Mugabe has done. Critics have pointed to the presence of some corpses still with skin, hair and body fluids and expressed doubt that they were as old as was being speculated. In fact, pathologists believe this jarring visual evidence may point to more recent killings tied to election violence and politically motivated murders that have occurred under Mugabe’s rule. The push to raise support for the embattled dictator comes as Mugabe himself has called for elections later this year to end a tenuous two-year power-sharing coalition with the former opposition. The country’s lone broadcaster has urged all citizens to visit the disused Chibondo gold mine near the provincial center of Mount Darwin, 160 kilometers (110 miles) from Harare, to witness the horrific mass grave scene for themselves. Media members taken to Monkey William Mine at Chibondo on a trip organized by Mugabe's Ministry of Information reported that school children were also bused there. Local militants rounded out the scene with obviously orchestrated pro-Mugabe chants and dances denouncing whites and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's pro-Western party for its links with Britain, the former colonial power in question. "Down with whites. Not even one white man should remain in the country," villagers chanted. At the site, exhumed skeletons, bones and remains lay in disorganized heaps, some covered by sheets and blankets, with a pile of coffins nearby. Hair and relatively intact clothing items, including shoes, were clearly visible. The unmistakable stench of death and decay emanated from the mine shaft and journalists who descended a 40-meter shaft found a body with what appeared to be blood and fluids dripping from it. Needless to say, that would not be happening if a body had been decomposing in one place for more than three decades. A reported 640 bodies have already been removed from the shaft and many non-Mugabe sycophants believe they are from the seven-year bush war waged by Mugabe's guerrillas that ended white rule and swept him to power. The Mount Darwin district experienced some of the war’s most brutal fighting, so the theory holds up in that respect. In a true shock, the government has decided not to conduct forensic tests and DNA analysis of the remains, said Saviour Kasukuwere, the government minister of black empowerment. Right, because who would want actual scientific evidence to prove that their theory is one giant pile of sh*t when you can instead have traditional African religious figures perform rites to invoke spirits that will identify the dead, which leaves matters significantly less clear and concrete? "The spirits have refused to lie still. They want the world to see what Smith did to our people. These spirits will show the way it's to be done," Kasukuwere said, referring to Ian Smith, the last white prime minister of the former colony of Rhodesia. "This is the extent of atrocities committed by the Smith regime. They loot our resources and they close up the mine with our bodies." Tsvangirai has criticizes the exhumations for reviving the fires of dissent and hatred at a time when Zimbabwe is attempting to move past the pre-independence war as well as the political violence that has left hundreds dead over the past decade. He and his Movement for Democratic Change Party could attempt to make their feelings on the exhumations better known, but police and security officials have banned the group from holding rallies on account of them being auspicious enough to not automatically agree with everything the government says. Clearly in this case, a corpse is not simply a corpse…………
- Movie theater owners, now would be great time to man up. As the Food and Drug Administration moves forward with plans to make calorie counts mandatory on restaurant menus beginning next year, the new rules apparently would not apply to places that don't serve food as their primary business, i.e. movie theaters. Movie theater owners reportedly lobbied hard for the exemption and their lobbying dollars and time were clearly well spent. Bowling alleys and the quasi-food products they serve to patrons will also be covered under the exemption. As for the guidelines, they are explained in an FDA proposal released over the weekend. They will apply to food-selling chains with more than 20 locations nationwide, including restaurants, vending machines, and grocery stores. Health activist groups are already criticizing the proposed rules because of the aforementioned exemption, but to no avail. Theater owners argue that because patrons are not eating full meals at their establishments (as no one can really afford to eat a full meal at a place where a 6,000-calorie bucket of popcorn costs $12 and a normal-size soda costs $6), they should not be included with businesses whose primary purpose is serving food. The FDA began making noise about the new rules last year and theater owners immediately began railing against them despite the fact that, as many nutrition experts have pointed out, a tub of movie theater popcorn is the caloric equivalent of three Quarter Pounders plus a whole lot of butter. Letting people know just how unhealthy the grub they grossly overpay for before heading in to see Mat Damon’s new action flick or the latest crappy Vince Vaughn romantic comedy wouldn’t seem to be that much to ask and odds are, no one is going to decide to pass on the Goobers, Mike and Ike’s, Pepsi and five-gallon barrel of popcorn just because the cold, hard reality of how unhealthy those items are is put in front of them. So every last movie theater owner across the United States needs to sack up, carve some extra space into their budget for new concession stand signs and get in line with the rest of the food-serving world whether the government mandates that they do so or not………….
- If the Mayans were right and the world really is going to end in 2012, at least the general public will get one shot to see the Masters and walk the amazing grounds of Augusta National. For as long as it has existed, golf’s most storied and hallowed tournament has been one of the toughest tickets in sports, with a waiting list for patron badges dating back to 1971. Worse still, only spectators on the club's list are allowed to buy tournament-round badges each year. That will change in 2012, when Augusta National will make a limited number of Masters Tournament badges available to the public via its website. Fans will be able to submit applications to both the tournament and for practice rounds via Masters.com as the club moves all of its ticketing online, including ticket services for annual patrons. "Moving the entire application process to our official tournament website is a safe and convenient way for those wishing to apply for daily practice round tickets," said club chairman Billy Payne. "We are also pleased to provide a limited number of tickets for the individual tournament round days, which, up until now, have only been allocated to our series badge holders." But just because the applications are for the 2012 Masters, fans would be wise not to wait in submitting them. Daily tournament ticket applications must be submitted by June 30, some 10 months before the event, with practice round applications allowed until July 30. Both ticket allocations will have their own random selection process and the lucky winners - who still must pay steep prices for their tickets - will be notified by email within several weeks of the application deadline. In the unlikely event that the apocalypse actually does happen at the tail end of 2012, at least a few more golf fans will be able to greet the end of the world armed with the knowledge that they were able to see Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Co. up close and personal at golf’s most famous tournament…………
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