PlasticBoy

The U.S. is falling behind in the creation of new marijuana-based drugs because of government restrictions on marijuana research. The drugs have the potential to shrink tumors, enhance the effects of morphine in cancer patients, and treat depression, among other conditions. Also see this article on the history of marijuana cancer research.

U.S. music sales have rebounded, even though filesharing continues to increase.

The very special album of the week is Brian Wilson’s Smile. Originally intended for release by the Beach Boys in 1967 the unfinished album has been re-recorded from scratch and released as Wilson originally intended.

Excellent. IPac is a new political action committee dedicated to copyright, trademark, and patent issues.

We believe that technological innovation and individual creativity are vital to the future of this country. We believe that a prosperous and democratic society depends on freedom for all individuals to pursue scientific invention and artistic expression. Unfortunately, new intellectual property laws threaten to stifle these freedoms and restrict public participation in science, art, and political discourse.

Go join now and send them some money while your at it.

When Jon Stewart was on the O’Reilly Factor Bill O’Reilly repeatedly referred to the Daily Show audience as “stoned slackers” (transcript). It turns out that Stewart’s audience is better educated than O’Reilly’s and is more likely to answer political questions correctly.

A study finds that novice weightlifters fail to choose heavy enough weights to gain benefits.

A new study indicates that people who live in the suburbs are less healthy because they have to drive everywhere they go and don’t get any exercise.

G4TechTV has a creative response to the NHL lock-out: they’re playing all 1,230 regular season games on a video hockey game and presenting daily scores and highlights on their “Sweat” show.

The first of the new Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy episodes is now online. It will be up for the next week.

You can now read the Joss Whedon penned Astonishing X-Men #1 online for free over at Marvel.

The album of the week is the Talking Heads’ remastered The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads. Sorry I missed last week, I couldn’t come up with anything good.

Wow, Ziggy sees the fnords. [via Daily Illuminator]

Dan Gillmor takes Hollywood to task for failing to use the Internet creatively.

When I teach in Asia every fall, I can’t legally watch my favorite American network TV shows unless I persuade someone to record them while I’m away. This is ridiculous. Last November, staying in an apartment that included a broadband Internet connection, I just downloaded them — yes, from a peer-to-peer file sharing system… I would have been delighted to pay for this convenience, but of course Hollywood won’t hear of such a thing, not yet, anyway. Another business opportunity for someone?

Eric Idle tells us what he thinks of American politics in song (3MB MP3, not work-safe).

Just a reminder: today’s the day to call in to oppose the INDUCE act. You can still sign up. Update: I made my calls, everyone I talked to seemed bored and slightly annoyed at getting the calls but hopefully the message will get through.