This morning I was doing my daily RSSing. An article that caught my attention was about machines that vend Pot, Weed, Herb, Grass, The Sticky Green, you name it. This all takes place in the city of angels. Los Angeles. I guess this is good news for all the pot heads and stoners. What's next? Vending machines with meds? Vicodin, please.
source: cnn
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A man died after falling several stories in a Hollywood shopping mall while apparently attempting to slide down the banister of an escalator, authorities said.
The Hollywood & Highland complex includes the theater where the Academy Awards ceremony is held.
The victim's friends told officials investigating the Saturday night incident at the Hollywood & Highland Center that the man "had been drinking quite a bit," said Los Angeles police Officer J. Boyer.
Boyer said the man lost his balance and plunged several stories onto the steps of a moving lower-level escalator.
The man was not identified. He was taken to a hospital where he was declared dead from a head injury.
The Hollywood & Highland Center also holds the Kodak Theatre, where the Academy Awards are held.The work, which appears in the journal BMJ, consists of two case studies (pdf). In the first, a 21-year old woman reported experienced severe diarrhea four to twelve times per day. She'd lost 11 kilograms and had a body mass index of 16.6, substantially below normal. Patient interviews revealed she was chewing about 15 pieces of sugar free gum per day. She stopped chewing the gum and her symptoms disappeared. A middle aged man had similar symptoms and the same miraculous weight-gain upon cessation of gum chewing.
Given that most weight-loss drugs have a difficult time producing one-pound per week weight loss, you might think the scientists would trumpet these findings as a prelude to the newest blockbuster pharmaceutical. But sadly, the drop in pounds was the result of diarrhea and other bowel-trouble caused by ingesting too much sorbitol, a common sweetener that has laxative properties at high dosages.
As John Clemens, a UCLA professor told WebMD about sorbitol, "The laxative effect is very well documented," he said. "We would not expect the average consumer to consume upwards of 20 sticks of gum a day."
That might have been true before these findings, but now, I expect to add at least 15 sticks of chewing gum to my diet per hamburger eaten. Hey, laxatives worked for the guys on my high school's wrestling team.
UPDATE (2:45pm): Commenter Andrew points out, "It's funny because I jus watched a "House" episode where a woman ran into this particular laxative effect because of her gum haha." To wit: Episode #206, which aired November 15, 2005, proving that science sometimes imitates Brian Singer. Also, we're kidding--laxative abuse is dangerous--so don't really try this at home.