The Stoned Diary

by rg Fri Mar 2nd, 2007 at 08:09:20 PM EST

(Hat tip to Sven)

Go on. How many of you have actually tried the leaf of cannabis sativa?

It's in wikipedia, so it must be real!

The drug that right-thinking sober folk are wary of (but not half as much as mushrooms!) It fucks with your brain...plays with your neurons...you don't want none of that...but from the horses's mouths...

Powder cocaine rots your soul.

Crack cocaine rots it super quick.

Mushrooms take you places maybe you never wanted to go...the ultimate anti-addictive drug...those who abuse...don't like their realities....and live in strange places, one of which was on a bridge in Amsterdam...the guy had a pocket full of pounds, wanted to change them for Euros...great directions...."I'm not begging"--pulls out handfull of change--"You sound english, I was wondering if we could do a swap..."

So...enlightened ones...are you sober sober types? Do you pontificate from the height of your ego? Could your ego take some mushrooms?

Of course!

Jerome is a Mushroom Man...a Zen Figure...as is Fran...

Together they build great structures...their lives are deep and I wish them much success in their endeavours....

But...hey...you don't have to smoke the leaves...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_tea

Ya know, there are so many egos...everybody has one and we are seven billion.

A friend of mine said this evening:

"The thing is, there's no Al Quaida. What there is is an atmosphere of conflict, and in that atmosphere assholes rise to the top. If there were no conflict, I swear to you! They would be in mental institutions. But it's a case of Tony Blair saying: "I have this much testosterone." And another guy will say, "Well, I have this much testosterone"...

I'm paraphrasing...

Sven! You now have to paragraphise on the subject of economics!

And thanks to all of yez for some interesting diaries these past days--I recommended you all--so...cough cough! Remember! It's not about smoking, it's about drugs! And George Bush is sober. And Hitler took speed. And no empire was ever formed by an opium fiend....

The Stoned Diary | 76 comments (76 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 3)

Nah, George did all the coke he wanted in his youth. The anomalies come from those Manchurian brain implants. I hear they have to keep upping the power levels. Many of us here in the US call it al-CIA-duh as they are truely behind it all.
And, I sincerly believe the testosterone levels will tone down in the future "post industrial" world.
It's a chronological sequence, agricultural age, industrial age, "post 911", post industrial age.

by Lasthorseman on Fri Mar 2nd, 2007 at 08:22:30 PM EST

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 5)

George is a "dry drunk". And he has a cocaine brain.

Sez me.

Cheney is a pure example of why sobriety come with no value-added.

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Fri Mar 2nd, 2007 at 08:27:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 2)

Let me repeat;

Cheney is a good example of why sobriety holds no moral-worthiness cards, in and of itself.

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Fri Mar 2nd, 2007 at 08:32:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

You remind me of good times (4.00 / 6)

Heh.

I miss them.

The Fates are kind.

by Gaianne on Fri Mar 2nd, 2007 at 10:41:59 PM EST

My recommendations (4.00 / 3)

Alcohol: if you are male and drink more than 35 units of alcohol a week you are on your inevitable way to becoming an alcoholic - with a Learned Behaviour Disorder that will come to dominate your life. However, it can take up to 15 years for this dominant behaviour to emerge.

A unit is eg 12 cl of wine or 1/3 l bottle of beer. For women the number of units is around 28.

The social costs of alcoholism in the EU (prior to recent enlargement) are 20 billion € annually. Social costs include lost working days, hospital treatment, broken families, additional policing, emergency services etc.

The serving and consumption of alcohol is legal, depending upon your age. The law is an ass.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 01:45:37 AM EST

Re: My recommendations (4.00 / 2)

Am I male? Check.

Do I drink more than 35 units of alcohol a week? Hmmm...

If a unit is a glass of wine...there are, what, six in a bottle? So four of those a day plus some beers on a Thursday...and maybe some more beers on a Saturday. But maybe on a Tuesday there's no wine...

So maybe I'm hitting the upper limit of that low line...

I've been drinking for, lord, over twenty five years now. When I stop, for example when I have to take antibiotics, it's not harsh, the body hits sobriety (pure) after a day or so (48 hours for the body to flush itself completely?)...and ya know, I just find my brain gets rigid...dried out... I could make it flexible with cannabis tea, with mushrooms, with a long walk to, oh let's see, yes, to Finland, via The Netherlands. I could travel across the lower end of the North Sea in...a small boat...travel through northern Germany...

But we don't live in that world...well I don't. Not enough money....well, more like: too many cars, time dictated by...weeks! By units!

I asked my doctor once.

"Go on, are you telling me that if I drink a bottle of wine every day I'm going to die younger?"

"Well," he said. "It depends on the size of your liver."

Three glasses of wine a night is...twenty one units? Four glasses is...twenty eight (you see? Sometimes I can do maths!) Five glasses of wine a night is...thirty five units.

My personal take is: if you regularly drink "superalcoolici"--spirits...the strong stuff...beware!

I love whisky. If I get a bottle I can work through it in...cough...not very long at all. So I buy whisky for special occasions. There's something about strong alcohol. It's absorbed by the roof of the mouth (I read?) and goes straight to the brain. Wine and beer...the alcohol travels via the stomach...digestion...

...not to mention the chains...what are they called?...that is how we take our alcohol. A good wine is an alcohol molecule with an interesting tail... Premier cru, dernier cru, and I think of ET as being...ya know...I don't see this place as full of those in danger of becoming alcoholics, and I would say it's not just the amount, it's the consistency....yeah, the reprogramming...You overdo anything for fifteen years (including staring at computer screens ;) and you'll feel it. Think long, think hard, keep going...after fifteen years...kazoom! Clouds of smoke and...

meditation!

Fran...can you suggest a first exercise? I have one for sending me to sleep at night, but I...well...okay...I'm slowly building my exercise regimen...Tai Chi (on its way)...the slowest fight in the world...green tea...garlic and...last night I was told of the magic of...parsley!

Parsley's the lion in the middle. On the left is Dill The Dog.

So...seriously...parsley, onions, garlic, cumin seed tea...

...so...Fran...any suggestions for (a) starting-out meditation exercise(s)...for the morning, for sometime during the day...okay, let's start with the morning!

Well...only if you want ;)

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 05:08:01 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: My recommendations (4.00 / 7)

Oh I have many. :-) But lets keep it simple. Meditation in the morning is considered one of the best times to do it. I would recommend to start out slowly, maybe 5 Minutes. My biggest challenge was to sit still, I just couldn't do it at the beginning, you know like 30 Minutes , not even talking about one hour and was continuesly frustrated and felt like a failure. So after I started to reduce to a minimal time all of a sudden I was able to sit longer and feeling successful in reaching my goal. And it still amazes me, now I can sit for an hour and more.

Don't underestimate the 5 minutes. One motto I give to my students is: "A little bit of something is better than a whole lot of nothing". The 5 minutes are easier to integrate into the daily routine on a regular basis, and once it has become routine, extending it is easy.

One of the most important things in meditation is to have a focus. It is not for nothing that yoga calls what is going on in our head "monkey consciousness". So the mind needs to be trained and tricked. Someone described it as being similar to what a mahout does when he needs to guide an elephant through a village. If he lets the elephant his will, his trunk will grab what ever gets in his way. So the mahout gives the elephant a stick to carry. For some reason I am not aware of, the elephant will not let go of the stick and thus will not be able to grasp for the fruits or whatever crosses his path. Mantras and other focuses serve as the stick to carry. Well it is not quite as easy as it sounds, as our mind unfortunately is not really like the elephant, and at the beginning will often let the stick fall and grasps for something else. All that counts, especially at the beginning is to pick the stick up again.

On of the easiest sticks is observing the breath. Something we always carry with us. There is a buddhist technique that involves counting the breath. At every exhalation you count until you reach ten, then you begin again from one. If your mind wanders inbetween you begin with one again. I found myself being at one quite often, or sometimes all of sudden at 18 or 20. :-) I think this is a good technique for Westerners to start with as there is nothing mysthical involved - except of course for the numbers. :-D

If you have more questions, let me know!

by Fran on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 05:29:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: My recommendations (4.00 / 2)

Oh and I forgot, this should be done in a upright sitting position.

by Fran on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 05:34:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: My recommendations (4.00 / 3)

A good breathing exercise is to find yourself a piece of open parkland with the odd tree, or a tree lined avenue. walk from tree to tree, alternating breathing in and out for about 15 minutes (you may have to work up to this amount of time) start at a tree breath in, reach the next tree then start breating out. At the end of the fifteen minutes, sit under a tree and listen for five minutes. It's not meditation, but it's good for you

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 01:23:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: My recommendations (4.00 / 2)

"Go on, are you telling me that if I drink a bottle of wine every day I'm going to die younger?"

I don't know about dying younger, but we know many people who d ink a bottle of wine every evening and it ain't pretty.

I personally can't tolerate more than half a bottle of wine or a pint of beer, and I like it that way. It keeps me away from the stuff.

"It's the statue, man, The Statue."

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 06:02:30 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: My recommendations (4.00 / 5)

There is also a genetic element - found in Chinese genes, and with lesser frequency spreading out from China. Carrying the gene means you are less tolerant or even totally intolerant for alcohol because your metabolism cannot process it fully.

Personally I don't drink beer at all and have never found pubs very interesting. Finnish driving laws are (rightly) so strict, that I often drive to receptions in town and leave when I see people starting to lurch or slur. I do enjoy wine with food at home on good social occasions, but these tend to be infrequent these days. That might mean a bottle or bottle and a half of wine, and a couple of snifters. But I am wiped out the next day - thus the infrequency.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 06:37:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: My recommendations (4.00 / 2)

That same genetic element is common among the Native American tribes. That combined with the toxic combination of ethnic and economic depression that afflicts so many of our First Peoples leads far too many of them into a self-reinforcing downward spiral. Rates of alcoholism and related illnesses, depression, crime, suicide and the like are much higher among the tribes than in the general population, conveniently reinforcing all the negative stereotypes they are already burdened with.

We all bleed the same color.

by budr on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 03:52:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 4)

Interesting that you put me to the mushroom category - must be the reason for my fascination for the Castaneda books at the time. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, I never had the opportunity to use any drugs, they just never came my way - okay, except for some alcohol at the time. Always had to achieve the consciousness shifts the hard way by meditation.

by Fran on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 02:34:01 AM EST

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 4)

Meditation is indeed hard - but achieves the same rewiring effects in the brain in the long run. Most people cannot find the silence in their lives to defocus in such a manner. (Defocus is a Castenada trip)

I have much admiration for you Fran ;-) There are many paths available, and their suitability depends upon individual circumstances and history. The only 'crime' is to not take any steps at all.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 03:00:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 7)

Most people cannot find the silence in their lives to defocus in such a manner

You know, this is the number one excuse for not meditating. But it gets the whole thing wrong. You do not need the silence in your life to meditate, you meditate to bring the silence into your life. :-)

by Fran on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 03:06:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 4)

Sloppy of me to say it that way - I agree - "most people do not seek the silence in their lives"

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 03:35:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 2)

Oh, and thanks for a diary/topic that shifts to a different mind set. :-)

by Fran on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 02:35:02 AM EST

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 3)

Living in neohippyfornia, the hallucinogens are just a matter of when I want them to happen. I'm not quite ready yet.

I'm continually amazed by how much weed I smell on the streets of SF. I've never noticed anything on the same order in any other city I've been in.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 02:56:53 AM EST

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 2)

Same thing happens here. I walk past wafting clouds of hash smoke with some frequency.

by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 05:08:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 1)

And in East London, too.

"It's the statue, man, The Statue."

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 06:03:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 1)

it's not exactly uncommon in West Wales.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 12:27:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 1)

as if to prove this, I experienced the scent of this activityabout six times othe space of half an hour whilst observing tonights eclipse in the street tonight

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 08:49:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

dude (4.00 / 3)

your own pipe doesn't count.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Sun Mar 4th, 2007 at 03:22:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 1)

And in some places in Paris...

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

by Melanchthon on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 01:42:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 0)

Bah, North, South and West London, too. All of England, for that matter. Fuckin' Brits.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Sun Mar 4th, 2007 at 05:33:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 3)

I think it's caused by post empire depression, it will be coming to your country very soon.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sun Mar 4th, 2007 at 06:53:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 1)

I'm perfectly happy to trade our empire for a steady supply of half-decent hash. Just say the word, and I'm there, my friend.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Sun Mar 4th, 2007 at 07:13:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 1)

Wouldn't it be a waste though? you lot dont even know how to use it properly ;-)

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sun Mar 4th, 2007 at 08:34:48 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 0)

Touche.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Sun Mar 4th, 2007 at 08:37:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 0)

My local area is more reputed for the producing of LSD

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sun Mar 4th, 2007 at 08:58:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 0)

you and half the us prison population...

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Wed Mar 7th, 2007 at 03:01:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]

"Marijuana as a wonder drug" (4.00 / 6)

A NEW STUDY in the journal Neurology

A NEW STUDY in the journal Neurology is being hailed as unassailable proof that marijuana is a valuable medicine. It is a sad commentary on the state of modern medicine -- and US drug policy -- that we still need "proof" of something that medicine has known for 5,000 years

Of course, our knowledge has advanced greatly over the years. Scientists have identified over 60 unique constituents in marijuana, called cannabinoids, and we have learned much about how they work. We have also learned that our own bodies produce similar chemicals, called endocannabinoids.

While few such studies have so far been completed, all have lent weight to what medicine already knew but had largely forgotten or ignored: Marijuana is effective at relieving nausea and vomiting, spasticity, appetite loss, certain types of pain, and other debilitating symptoms. And it is extraordinarily safe -- safer than most medicines prescribed every day. If marijuana were a new discovery rather than a well-known substance carrying cultural and political baggage, it would be hailed as a wonder drug.

All my bold

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 04:15:54 AM EST

Endocannabinoid System (4.00 / 3)

The very interesting thing about cannabinoids is that they appear to play a role in a separate system from the opioidergical system (where alcohol plays havoc by releasing endorphins, and morphine derivatives 'mimic' endorphins)

There's more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endocannabinoid_system

I'll try to explain its peculiar capabilities in broad terms.

Firstly, a neuron - a fundamental unit of the brain - is connected both upstream and downstream into neural networks. So there are lots of inputs coming into a neuron, from many different neurons. Certain patterns and frequencies of these inputs will cause the 'receiving' neuron to 'fire' itself in response. It fires down its axon and out into its branches that 'touch' other neighbouring neurons in the same network. And so it goes on down through the network.

Secondly, the neurons don't actually touch. The 'message' is actually a chemical one that transfers across a gap called the synapse - assisted by neurotransmitters.

Now the intresting thing about the canniboids is that a downstream neuron can effect an upstream neuron by sending a chemical message to say 'shut up' or 'don't shout'. This is a bit like telling a gossip to mind their words, but nevertheless still passing on the rumour - although modified.

So what endocannabinoids can do is to suppress rather than excite. Somewhat the opposite of what we expect!

Of course they do a lot more than that - but anyway ;-)

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 06:22:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Phytotherapy (4.00 / 3)

I am all in favour of herbal medicine. I practice it daily:

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

by Melanchthon on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 05:15:18 AM EST

Re: Phytotherapy (none / 1)

Next time you come I will offer some psychotherapy ;-)

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 02:25:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Phytotherapy (none / 1)

I'll bring some fermented grape juice...

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

by Melanchthon on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 02:44:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 1)

I'm really ill with a nasty head cold right now and that has certainly caused a shift in my consciousness. I'd rather find a nicer way of acheiving that shift!

by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 05:47:29 AM EST

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 2)

Coincidentally, there's an on-topic recommended diary on dKos today.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/3/3/1145/89673

Dude, you guys must totally be on, like, the same wavelength or something!

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 02:25:07 PM EST

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 2)

Hey man. are we tuned into the cosmic consciousness or what?

Several points (not pints as in rg's case):

We are not all guys, as far as I know
There are nearly 200 different tunings in different cultures around the world.
'dude' implies some unfamilarity with the ways of the wild
Waves have frequency and amplitude, but not length, except in the surfing sense.

Other than that, spot on ;-)

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 02:33:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 2)

Don't be harshin' my buzz with your PNing, Sven. I'm from LA -- "dude" and "you guys" are genderless.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 02:41:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 2)

Good to see you(r words), Izzy!

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 03:17:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 2)

The Dude!

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 03:23:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 2)

(For those who don't know, that's Sven pondering the empty bottle...and using his fingers to discover the secrets of his brain...)

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 03:23:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 2)

As you can see, I have three fingers deep inside tickling my neo-cortex.

God, this frontal trepanning is the ultimate trip, and the ultimate feedback.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 03:28:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 0)

God says:

"Ah, Mr. Triloqvist! Good to see you refering to me after all these many years of denying my existence! Of course you will know that trepanning is...an interesting theory. Isaiah was big on that one. 'Chanelling to the mind of God,' he called it, ho ho ho!

"Of course, ultimate feedback loops are...loopy. But I was wondering--oh yes, God does wonder!--about...well...I won't worry you with God's worries...

"But, ah yes! I knew there was a reason I planted marijuana on the third day (Bill!)...just before I invented elephant shrews...it seemed such a good idea!

"Yes, that was it! You see, I realised that humans would be attempting to expand their consciousnesses (try typing that on a Saturday a few hours after Jesus has turned the water into wine again!)

(Of course, for some people He is Me and I am He, and You are I and We are They...well...we need to keep the monkey mind occupied...)

"Cough! God needs cough sweets!

"Where was I? So much universe, so little time...well...hey! Here's some more!

"Yes, you see, trepanning is fascinating and...maybe a good acupuncturist would maybe perhaps (don't want to get in the way of free will!) be a calmer starting point...

But yes, the ultimate feedback! Never comes back!

That's what I wanted to say. I blame Ganesha's lentil stew.

And someone pour that man a drink! He is well within his 35 units limit and can be...er...cough...ahem...a member of the drinking classes (rhymes with glasses) without falling into the black hole of alcohol abuse!

Not to mention he is writing a...piece...for TV about people watching TV...no! Gah! Omnipotent omnschnipotent! Thank the lord (oh yes!) that we are legion, they are many, and, er, well, I may have been to the pub....and drunken alcoholic beer...from four different breweries. They make me do it!

(I also have a serious story about a friend's alcoholic father. This father died at forty nine of drinking related...injuries (his guts were ruined.)

Here is an alcoholic in the pub:

"First, I will drink lots of beer."

(Lots of beer is drunk. Some people keel over. One lies face down on the carpet. The other drinkers step over him. This is a drinkers pub.)

"Now I will, let's see...hmmm. I will start with that spirit drink on the far left. One of those. Make it a double."

Drink arrives. Gulp.

"Ah! Now. I would like a drink from the next one along."

Proceed across the optics until coma.

The father's son (my friend) said:

"He just liked alcohol much more than we do."

He also said many other things, but I think the key is the...biological (genetic...? Bizarre DNA world?)...compulsion towards...

The internet!
Alcohol!
Money! (I know a genuine miser, worth millions, sleeps in a van.)

And oh, I realised--I remembered--last night that everyone has to head to their...destination...in their own vehicle...made of past, present...they will define and I will have to...because I am flexible...understand and...live with their choices. Some people don't want to go on and on. Especially single blokes. And some people never want to give it up...they go on and on...not happy, but just...resisting! And so...in the words of one of the great bards...yer goodself, yer good Svenself:

"When I go round someone else's house, I am their guest. If they wish to smoke, they can smoke. I am their guest. If they wish to drink, they can drink. I am their guest."

And more in that theme!

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 04:06:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

As you know (4.00 / 4)

As you know, dear boy, it's not as simple as that ;-)

If you refer to the star portal you will find that I usually use 'god' with a small 'x'. But in the specific case to which you refer, and the yod of your argument, I was at the beginning of a sentence.

I trapped myself - hoist by my own retard, if you will - into choosing between convention and convocation. Capital, my dear sir! Let us use a column to support your argument. LET us begin as we mean to go on.

So I typed God.

Yod-he-vau-he. Jehovah. The word we are not allowed pronounce. talmudically. Yod is a sperm - a little squiggle. The origin, indeed, not only of life, but of the word Iodine, with atomic number 53 skidoo, and the molecular formula of I2. (with the 2, of course, as subscript).

"There is no 'I' in team". but in Finnish the word is 'Tiimi' - no wonder we are so cooperative in this yod-forsaken place. Ménage a troy. Or my Achilles heel.

I will retire to Trepan Alley. Prince of Denmark Street. Out damned spot, Spot, lovable Spot. Incanodine. The Isle of Dogs. Serious the Dog Star. You want my brain? It's yours...

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 04:53:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: As you know (none / 1)

Well...

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Sun Mar 4th, 2007 at 06:10:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: As you know (4.00 / 2)

Oh, I ain't got time to go to no stoning. 'E's not well again...

by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Sun Mar 4th, 2007 at 06:17:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 1)

lasers do a fine job of trepanning, i imagine, lol!

it's self-application of craniosacral therapy youìre doing, me ducks.

heartwarming to see you imprecating the creator, though.

all together in the foxhole of funk, 1,2 3.5, 4

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Wed Mar 7th, 2007 at 02:50:27 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 2)

His Dudeness! El duderino!

"It's the statue, man, The Statue."

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 03:24:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 2)

And, right there, all your problems begin :-)

Vive la difference! Which, if my knowledge of French does not fail me, is, in itself, genderized. If not tenderized.

I still open doors for ladies. I'm old fashioned. It costs me nothing - but it usually raises a smile. In terms of joule consumption, I find it a worthwhile investment.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 03:21:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 0)

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 03:27:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 3)

Wavelength is the inverse of frequency. One of the great discoveries in the early world of radio was that short waves would propagate over much greater distances than the relatively low frequencies then in use. Wavelengths between about 10 meters and 100 meters, corresponding to frequencies between 3 and 30 MHz, are refracted in the upper levels of the atmosphere, returning to earth and receiving antennas at great distances from the transmitters, far beyond anything possible with ground wave reception typical of local broadcast radio. Hence amateur radio, shortwave radio, the BBC, the VOA, and the global dominance of English as a second language. Or so the mindless drones of the New World Order would have us believe.

Yours truly, lapsed member of the QCWA and former mindless drone of the New World Order.

We all bleed the same color.

by budr on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 03:44:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 0)

Surely not? Frequency + amplitude are so-called wavelength. All you have read is wrong ;-)

All energy is vibration - one long spectrum of frequency. A cosmic salami, if you wish, starting at 10 to the minus 80, and going on up through the frequencies of gamma, röntgen, passing through the visual spectrum beginning at 10 to the minus 14th, up through infra-red, radio, TV, and on to cycles beyond our ken.

Anywhere you slice the salami, you get a clock ticking at a different speed.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 05:01:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 3)

Sven, don't do physics when stoned.

"It's the statue, man, The Statue."

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 05:04:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 1)

Migu - it is the only time that I understand it ;-)

Allow an old fool his simple pleasures - please!

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 05:25:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 1)

Sven, don't do physics when stoned.

I find him clearer
than usual..

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

by Melanchthon on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 05:47:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 0)

Mon ami - thank you for your support. I shall wear it always ;-)

"Clearer than usual", indeed! As if I ever deliberately obfuscate....

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 05:57:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 0)

Sven, don't do physics when stoned.

You have no idea how tempting it is to make that my new sig line. :)

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Sun Mar 4th, 2007 at 06:09:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 0)

Ole hyvä ;-)

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sun Mar 4th, 2007 at 06:20:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 2)

Sven, Sven, put down the bong and focus, man. Don't listen to the voices. They're messing with your head again. Those fillings in your teeth? It's the mercury, man. I'm telling you, don't listen to the voices.

We all bleed the same color.

by budr on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 05:10:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 1)

Aaaah - the predictable reaction of the anally retentive scientists ;-)

So you are prepared to scientifically dispute that radiation is not a function of frequency? You are prepared to dispute the fact that our human retinae, for physiological reasons, can only detect radiation in a narrow band of frequencies. And that, for instance, bees can detect a different swathe of spectrum frequencies, for physiological reasons, that means they 'see' a different world from ours?

And I suppose you will now explain to me how it is theoretically impossible for a living organism to detect radiation, for instance, in the 10 to the minus 20 region? I think you are looking at science through the wrong end of the anthropomorphoscope. ;-)

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 05:23:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 0)

I should say for the record that I have heard a good cocaine story. A good cocaine story. It does depend whether, like me (and I think some of you may find yourselves in this group), you have a natural cocaine brain. There are those, who I know, who are naturally "sleepy". Cocaine wakes them up. It's good for that. Beyond "waking up", oh watch out, beware!

Quote from a friend.

"Okay. Yeah. It wakes you up. And then you talk like an asshole for three hours."

I feel I may be prejudiced, so alternative views are welcome.

Oh! And I have a karmic...drive...to post the following quote from Hunter S. Thompson.

That is the hallmark of the Reagan administration--a Punishment Ethic that permeates the whole infastructure of American life and eventually gets down to George Orwell's notion, in Animal Farm, that "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

Which is fair enough, in some years, but even in the worst ones it is not a fair thing to lay on teen-agers who are constantly flogged by the idea that any small deviation from The Rules might get them expelled, branded like lepers and cost them their "place in line" for the rest of their lives.

But that's not the quote. Check out the "search" facility on a paperback!

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 03:50:03 PM EST

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 1)

This may or may not be something I once said:

"I feel like I just drank 10 liters of soda."

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 04:23:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 2)

I was having a conversation today...about how, when I went shopping this morning, how...unhealthy a lot of people looked. Big...tyres of fat around their middles, their hips, their thighs...

The eyes...not bright...stunned...

And I was buying a toy (for a kid's birthday) in a toy shop (I was with my daughter.) Before me was a guy, maybe a few years younger than me, wide at the middle, buying...some toys.

"Are they for a birthday?" asked the assistant.

"Yeah."

"Would you like a card?"

"Er...yeah!"

She flicked through a pack of cards...with the shop logo stamped large across them!

Worra birthday card! Straight from the land of, "I never ever gave this a moments thought, thank...someone (not our someone ;)...that they had the great idea to give me a free card with my purchases!

But my point...there is one...

...about that unhealthiness.

Fish and chips. You can have enough. There are so many chips and there are too many chips. If you eat the real deal.

Somehow, with burgers and fries, it seems that "too many" moment doesn't arrive.

So...culprit one (but these are not in order):

1) Fast food.

Culprit two, I have decided, is:

2) Biscuits.

You can eat a lot and not feel "full". To be unhealthy must mean eating and eating and not arriving at "I am now nourished."

And...yes...number three, suggested by my friend, and you reminded me:

3) Soft drinks (soda in England is a non-sweet fizzy drink that is used mostly as a mixer with spirits...whisky and soda...etc...)

Litres and litres of...fizzy sugary drinks, that are like, perhaps (I don't know...I'm guessing) substitute water. When you're thirsty: attach to the two litre (!) plastic bottle of..."cola" or "lemonade"...

But seriously unhealthy...I don't know percentages (where I live we eat, apparently, the most heatlhy diet in the UK...lossa greens...lossa organic greens...)

...yes, lots of unhealthy people, and they're going to need looking after... They are not being cared for by the companies who have specifically chosen to target them...they are uncared for, I think, and...unhealthy...is "too much of whatever is not doing you good"...perhaps...

For me, a couple of sniffs of cocaine (just the one time)...and it was only afterwards I realised what the effect had been...to heighten the "Now!" of the monkey brain...

But...key point...mileages vary...due to...all kinds of reasons...many of which western medicine (thanks for the link Izzy!) has laughed at, poo poohed, come perhaps, in some cases, grudgingly to...tolerate...the word "placebo" used as a derogative rather than seeing...the essential...lifegiving nature...

And advertisers fucking around with people's consciousness, and when they turn up deaf (the music is too loud!), overweight (the food is crap!), depressed (entertainment doesn't activate!), and all the oh, the myriad, oh ach!

But what a great analogy! Here I am rambling....

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 04:42:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 1)

As a doctor friend of mine pointed out - for the brain there is a big difference between finite and infinite as goals. He was talking about anorexics. If your goal is to be thinner (infinite) the process has no end, If your goal is to be thin (say 47 kilos) it is an achievable, and finite goal.

This may seem trite, but I believe it contains a truth about the latent recursive tendencies of the brain.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 05:09:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 3)

Coke is VERY dangerous. Like you, I had a couple or three of experiences in the 70s, but I didn't become a better me while tooting, I became someone else that I didn't like (afterwards). I really have no desire to escape myself, but I would like to understand myself ;-)

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 05:32:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 2)

coke is indeed a nightmare...

i tried it in the 80's a couple of times...felt like michael jordan for about 15 minutes, followed by 4 days of the sensation of my kidneys being roughly scraped with rusty razor blades...

NOT the behaviour of an ally, as don juan would say!

i saw hitherto mild individuals become jaw-grinding obsessives, committed to spending every penny they had to hoover up more sorrow.

and that was before crack really came along bigtime.

thanks to ronnie raygun, while his wife was travelling the country bleating 'just say no'...

sure did wonders for the growth of urban gangs.

and europe is no better, if we are to believe the banknote stories, and the analysis of the milan sewers!

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Wed Mar 7th, 2007 at 02:43:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 1)

That is the hallmark of the Reagan administration--a Punishment Ethic that permeates the whole infastructure of American life

It seems to be a hallmark of republican ethics in general - including economic and corporate ethics - to kick people when they're down.

Bushco's love of torture and death is legendary. What is this except state-sanctioned non-consensual S&M? Iraq has turned into the ultimate extended-play snuff movie.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Sun Mar 4th, 2007 at 07:47:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (none / 0)

I found the quote (I was looking in the wrong book.)

I'd quote the whole article (titled: I Knew The Bride When She Used To Rock and Roll, in Songs of the Doomed)...but here's an excerpt (which is HST quoting someone else...so...anyway...here we go...):

"No one seems to have noticed that the most powerful force in American society these days must be the Purity League," Quillen wrote. "The Purity League believes that people who are not in a state of perfect grace have nothing to contribute. Our society now judges people not by what they do, but by what they don't do. Any mediocrity who can pass a urine test somehow becomes superior to a talent who can't...

"Ray Charles did his most brilliant work during the years he was addicted to heroin. Keith Richards has confessed that he was a total junkie, living from one fix to the next, when 'Exile on Main Stret' was recorded, and that album has more great loud and dirty rock and roll on it than any dozen recordings by people who could pass blood tests.

"And it isn't just musicians... Do we want to ignore the contributions that were made by William Stewart Halsted to medicine? Sterile operating rooms, thin rubber gloves, residencies for training--most of what we think of as modern surgery was invented by Halsted at John Hopkins from 1890 to 1922. During that entire time, Halsted had a morphine habit.

"Should we go without electric lights, phonographs, motion pictures, fluoroscopes, alkaline batteries, and dictating machines? Those were among the inventions of Thomas Edison, a man who slept only two hours a night and gladly endorsed a concoction whose major active ingredient was cocaine.

"Who contributed more to the political structure of AMerica: Jimmy Carter, pure in all things great and smalle? Or Franklin D. Roosevelt, with his daily nip, his jutting Camel, and his mistresses?"

Don't fight forces, use them R. Buckminster Fuller.

by rg (leopold dot lepster at google mail dot com) on Sun Mar 4th, 2007 at 08:04:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Willpower (4.00 / 3)

So much seems to be built upon this ridiculous idea that there is such a thing as willpower.

If you believe, as I do, that consciousness is 'after-the-fact', then willpower cannot exist, and can be proved to not exist in situations where Learned Behaviour Disorders have become so deeply hard-wired into neural networks that even the threat of death will not modify the behaviour.

It is why punishment is such a stupid and primitive method of changing behavioural disorders. I am not against prisons, for instance, because remedial behavioural treatment is often best carried out in specific knowledge environment - just as diseases are often best treated in hospitals where the conditions and knowledge can prevent society as a whole being damaged.

The Good versus Evil idiots wrongly believe that the threat or administration of punishment will change behaviour. It depends on the depth of the behaviour. Where tactical options exist, such a threat will be weighed against all available options.

So, for instance, in the mild behavioural option of driving faster because one is late for an appointment, the risk of being caught speeding is an option. Repeated offences may cause behaviour modification if caught, but the underlying subconscious behaviour can be one of many: a behavioural tendency to be prompt to meetings and appointments, a noradrenaline rush from speed and risk, distracted thoughts etc.

The subconscious is unaware of the artificial rules such as speed limits (though there may be some visual information going to the unconscious) Basically, driving is a learned behaviour, temporarily modified by conscious options such as 'where do I need to go?'. I guess all of us have experienced motorway driving with the bored conscious mind 'thinking' about something else and then suddenly realising that you have been totally unaware of the last 10 kilometres. No problem - learned behaviour was looking after everything and novelty detection would have snapped you out of it instantly if anything untoward had occurred.

But I digress ;-)

The heavy user of heroin, cocaine, morphine, cigarettes has no options, because the behaviour is totally wired in. It can be unwired using antagonists - but it takes time. If a heroin user can still choose whether or not to take heroin, it is not willpower, it is that there are still equivalent (equal value) behavioural networks at least as heavily wired in as the 'programmed' response to the inputs that create the 'desire' to take the heroin.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sun Mar 4th, 2007 at 08:49:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Willpower (none / 1)

Where does the concept of Willpower come from? German Idealism?

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Sun Mar 4th, 2007 at 02:00:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Willpower (none / 0)

Much older than that I think. The Triumph of the Will was just another version of the old Christian concept of Triumphing over Evil.

I much prefer the old Finnish concept of 'Sisu' - the ability to walk through granite. More easily understood as 'having guts'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisu

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Sun Mar 4th, 2007 at 02:25:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

SIsu (none / 1)

Funnily, Sisu is the name of a Finnish truck manufacturing company I used to represent in Africa...

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

by Melanchthon on Sun Mar 4th, 2007 at 03:44:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 5)

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2211071.html#1

Ananova:
Ban on feeding cows dope
Switzerland's Agriculture Ministry has called on the country's farmers to stop feeding their cows cannabis.
Several recent adverts have promoted feeding hemp to farm animals even after a March 2005 law banning its use.
The Agriculture Ministry has now warned that farmers doping their cows will be prosecuted.
Farmers consider the cheap and easy to grow plant is good for their cows.
They believe the active ingredient in cannabis, THC, makes cows happy and produce more milk, but the Agriculture Ministry say THC can get into the milk and create a health risk.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Sat Mar 3rd, 2007 at 07:47:03 PM EST

Re: The Stoned Diary (4.00 / 2)

Great diary, rg...and interesting discussion too! Thanks! I have to admit, I have been friendly with this medicinal over the years...I just can't be doing anything that requires left brained thinking, is all...but it sure can help give perspective. Not for everyone though...

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia

by whataboutbob on Sun Mar 4th, 2007 at 09:57:53 AM EST

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