I lost my closest cousin and good friend Jeff is a car wreck Thanksgiving 2006. I hadn't talked to him in a year because of 2 moves and lots of work over that time, I'll never not regret that. In 2005 I lost my closest Uncle, Dave"Bail"(yes, the get you out of jail kind, nice little story with that one...when he was 17 he decided he was going to hitch-hike to Florida from Detroit, MI; our families home turf; at 2am my Grandpa got a call from the Toledo, OH[45min south of Detroit] police with him in custody, he told them "Bail him out? at 2am? let him spend the night in there, I'll get him in the morning"...hence the name bail) to a genetic disease in his neck. His son, another cousin as close to me as Jeff if not closer is my camping/hunting buddy(I just sit in the blind, I have no desire to purposely kill anything since the passing of my uncle). He was alway more of a dad to me than my own father. I miss his conversations, advice, and green thumb.

Until it stared affecting my grades too much, I never did my homework. I'm not trying to be an egomaniac, but I'm smart and pick up logic-based subjects quickly. I also have the ability to "think outside the box", or a curse as it was in school since teachers never could get my form of reasoning even though the result was the same. I get bored with a subject once I learn the concept if I don't move along, so homework is torturous for me. To sit and pound out math problems I got after the 1st two was pointless and actually counterproductive in my eyes. But saying that, my mind isn't he same as others, and I say the benefit of other doing their homework as they usually asked the best questions is class. I did find homework that I could do without mental drudgery such as literature, history, and language studies. I still enjoy reading to this day, and have my Honors Literature teacher Maj Burton Gale. I hope he's in whatever paradise comes after, sitting with Robert Frost, his favorite poet looking on the road less traveled.

Does it have to be for school? If not I'm reading two books "The Children of Hurin" J.R.R.Tolkien edited by Christopher Tolkien and "The Wealth of Nations" Adam smith. For fun I've been skimming through "The Communist Manifesto" Karl Marx the 1848 Friederich Engels translation and it has been interesting so far, many myth being dispelled by information.

I love sports, gaming, running, swimming, reading, arguing politics(I'm liberal, that need not come up if one doesn't agree with me and doesn't enjoy a healthy political argument), learning science and history. As far as TV goes I like comedy, like stand-up, or Tosh.O and other comedy shows. I enjoy PBS shows like Nova and Nature and documentaries, the Ken Burns Civil War being the 1st I watched and still enjoy. I love the Lord of the Rings and Tolkien lore, having read all of his writings based upon middle earth, and have read the trilogy over 15 times and the Silmarillion more. I play Lord of the Rings online, have a 65 hunter and captain, and have just gotten into the creep side rolling a Stalker(Warg) and War-leader(uruk tank/off heals).

When considering something as profound as the legalization of a prohibited substance, one must look at all the of the factors. I do not pretend to be a scientist, though I do read often and scientific research and history are my favorite reading topics. The major factors to consider would be; what caused the prohibition to begin with, economic impact of the war on drugs vs the economic possibilities of medical marijuana, health factors of marijuana vs prescription drugs used for the same relief.

First of all, why was marijuana prohibited to begin with? There have been several anti-marijuana movements in the US. For multiple reason William Randolf Hurst began an anti-marijuana campaign in the late 1890s. Some say hemp was a threat to his forest paper production for his news papers, other say it was because the Mexican army seized land he considered his and it was rumored they and their general were pot smokers(never proven, or even looked into with much enthusiasm). The next period of time was not long after during the alcohol prohibition era when teetotalers linked marijuana with mythical foul behaviors of immigrants and african-americans. The last and final step was in the 1970s when the supreme court found the Marijuana stamp act of the first quarter if the century to be a catch 22 and therefore illegal. Congress then jumped into action qualifying Marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, automatically prohibiting it without a law or vote of any kind.

Secondly, let's look at the economic impact of the war on drugs. New studies from New York show that the New York Police Dept spent millions on minor possession drug busts. Considering the numbers of men and women in jail for marijuana possession and the number of people of probation for the same, the economic cost for prohibition is ghastly. Then include the money spent by the offender that might have gone into the economy, not into the courts and testing centers(many of which are owned and operated by relatives of the police and judges sending "criminals" to them). Should we be putting honest hardworking citizens in jail for a non-violent crimes when we need productive people to drive an economy forward? Compare that economic cost to the benefits of taxing and selling marijuana in a controlled manner. I won't get into exact figures here, if your interest is peaked you may look up the projected economic benefits, not only from the buds itself, but from byproducts as well. Oil, rope, fabric, possibly bio fuel, the economic possibilities of such a cheap growing plant it incredible.

Last of all, one must look at the side effects and benefits of marijuana vs the prescription drugs currently used for treatment or self medication. Similar to alcohol, but not as severely, MJ effects the motor system. One might also expect to get the munchies when "high". Dry mouth, or cotton mouth, is usual as well. Long term effect can include a low sperm count, though a few new studies have countered that laying the blame on undies instead, noting that the older pot smokers in the study that wore boxers not briefs had larger counts. The final know symptom is short term memory loss, that may be true, not enough studies have been conducted for most non-political doctors to say weather or not it's true. Though by the fact that I am a pot smoker and did this entire post from information off the top of my head points to the fact that long term memory must be fine. Now who hasn't watched a prescription drug commercial where the side effects seamed worse than the problem the pill is supposed to fix. Anti-depressants that make people want to commit suicide, sleeping aids that can cause ulcers or make people sleepwalk. Prescription drugs are dangerous and too easy to get(in the case of non-life saving or medically necessary, I'm talking about comfort and pain relief drugs)

In conclusion, we learned that marijuana was villianized and congress took it into their power to bypass the public vote to prohibit it. Clearly laid out as well was the economic cost of the war on drugs vs the economic gains of marijuana. Add to that the risk and side effects of prescription drugs vs the relatively small side effects of marijuana. Hands down, the pros vs cons have the pros out ahead at an un-catchable pace.

I dream a few dreams a night. Also I'm 33 and still dream about school often. Lately my Uncle and cousin(both passed) have been a part of my dreams. It's cool because I know they shouldn't be there, so it's always a way to know dreaming and I know to spend that time with them before I wake.

My friends that were born and raised outside of the US tell me they don't have those prejudices about Americans. The main thing I think people are talking about is the media at the local level. I don't know much about the news at the local level in Europe, but in Canada the news doesn't dwell on the negative about society. They don't hype fear and violence like the local media does in the US. I also think that people from other countries see the popularity of Fox News as troubling since it is quite obvious how spun their "news" is. It's not that Fox shouldn't be able to lie as they so often do, it's that so many people use Fox ONLY for their news. When people use multiple sources for news they rely on their own intellect to determine the correct news, or at least have that chance. When one source is relied upon, that person is reliant upon another persons intellect, or lack thereof. Now I know CNN and MSNBC aren't perfect and spin the truth as well, and people that rely on those for their opinions will have rather shallow opinions. The polls just seem to indicate that more people rely on Fox and only Fox for their daily news than the other 2.

Being completely new, and having checked out the current Newbie board, I would be exited about a forum that focused on meeting new people and getting to know them better than just a brief introduction.

Welcome! Family gaming is the best. I haven't seen one of my cousins in 4 years, but we keep up every day through gaming.

Welcome! I am a fan of the Tron franchise as well, having been taken to the original movie as a small child. I used to love the Tron arcade games.

Welcome from a fellow newbie! I too have been playing since the Atari days. Take it easy on your pal, his intentions were pure I'm sure.

Hello I'm new as well to this board. Everyone is very nice here from what I can tell.

Hello everyone. My gaming history spans back to Atari and IBM256. I have been playing since I can remember, going back to 1980. My favorite system would have to be Sega Genesis or Playstation. My favorite game would be really tough to call. I have always enjoyed a variety of games, and have played almost every system since the 80s. The Nintendo got me through middle school, the Genesis got me through high school, and the Playstation took over after that. All throughout I had various stages of the computer as well. From action games, to RPGs, to sports games, driving simulators and arcade racers, strategy, and shooters; I have spent hours of my life escaping into the virtual world. I plan to play until I die. Though I do have many other interests, gaming has been a huge factor in my life, and I can actually say I have learned about life situations through gaming. I can also honestly say that playing some game has spurred interest in learning history and science.

I hope to learn more about all of you as I spend time on this board. The gaming community is going to be the generation that changes the world. We are strong, we are many, we are educated, we are hard working, and we are wonderful people. Live long and prosper.