Private Folder - What can I delete?

So my Private folder contains about 56 GB of my hardrive. Most of it is in Private/var/log/asl (53 GB).
What is this used for?
Can I delete it without problems? At least the asl part?

The "private" folder is part of the Unix side of OS X. Deleting anything would not be wise. The "asl" folder contains a record of everything that has been installed on your computer. It is what Software Update relies on to determine what upgrades are required, if any. However, 53 GBs in the folder seems a bit odd. Perhaps you could peak inside the folder to see what particular file(s) is using so much disk space. Although deleting the contents of the "asl" folder won't cause great harm, it will cause Software Update and other applications to "forget" what's been installed or updated.

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