----> Bioshock
Readers shared their thoughts on this article.
9.12.10
4.12.10
2.12.10
CultureLab: Storytelling 2.0: When new narratives meet old brains
CultureLab: Storytelling 2.0: When new narratives meet old brains
"Gazzaniga also thinks that this left-hemisphere "interpreter" creates the unified feeling of an autobiographical, personal, unique self. "The interpreter sustains a running narrative of our actions, emotions, thoughts, and dreams. The interpreter is the glue that keeps our story unified, and creates our sense of being a coherent, rational agent. To our bag of individual instincts it brings theories about our lives. These narratives of our past behaviour seep into our awareness and give us an autobiography," he writes. The language areas of the left hemisphere are well placed to carry out these tasks. They draw on information in memory (amygdalo-hippocampal circuits, dorsolateral prefrontal cortices) and planning regions (orbitofrontal cortices). As neurologist Jeffrey Saver has shown, damage to these regions disrupts narration in a variety of ways, ranging from unbounded narration, in which a person generates narratives unconstrained by reality, to denarration, the inability to generate any narratives, external or internal."
..."If we create our selves through narratives, whether external or internal, they are traditional ones, with protagonists and antagonists and a prescribed relationship between narrators, characters and listeners. They have linear plots with a fixed past, a present built coherently on it, and a horizon of possibilities projected coherently into the future. Digital technologies, on the other hand, are producing narratives that stray from this classic structure. New communicative interfaces allow for novel narrative interactions and constructions. Multi-user domains (MUDs), massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), hypertext and cybertext all loosen traditional narrative structure. Digital narratives, in their extremes, are co-creations of the authors, users and media. Multiple entry points into continuously developing narratives are available, often for multiple co-constructors.
These recent developments seem to make possible limitless narratives lacking the defining features of the traditional structures. What kinds of selves will digital narratives generate? Multi-linear? Non-fixed? Collaborative? Would such products still be the selves we've come to know and love?"
1.12.10
21.11.10
15.11.10
13.11.10
People spend 'half their waking hours daydreaming'
12 November 2010 via BBC News
People spend 'half their waking hours daydreaming'
Daydreaming woman Daydreaming 'does not make you happy'
Continue reading the main story
Related stories
* The joy of daydreaming
People spend nearly half of their waking hours not thinking about what they are actually doing, according to a US study conducted via the iPhone.
More than 2,200 volunteers downloaded an app which then surveyed them about their thoughts and mood at random times of day and night.
The Science study suggested minds wander, even from demanding tasks, at least 30% of the time.
A UK expert said other studies confirmed people are easily distracted.
The iPhone was a novel research tool for researchers at Harvard University.
Participants agreed to be contacted, at which point they selected what they were doing from a menu, whether they were actually thinking about it, and how happy or sad they felt.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
This study shows that our mental lives are pervaded, to a remarkable degree, by the non-present”
End Quote Dr Matthew Killingsworth Harvard University
Remarkably, some participants were prepared to answer the survey even when making love.
While their study sample was composed entirely of people who owned the device, and were prepared to download and be disturbed by an app of this kind, the researchers said it provides an insight into how our minds can wander during the day.
After gathering 250,000 survey results, the Harvard team concluded that this group of people spent 46.9% of their time awake with their minds wandering.
Dr Matthew Killingsworth, one of the researchers, said: "Mind-wandering appears ubiquitous across all activities.
"This study shows that our mental lives are pervaded, to a remarkable degree, by the non-present."
Happiness
In addition, the survey data on happiness appeared to show a modest connection between the degree of mind-wandering and the level of happiness.
People who were most distracted away from the task in hand were more likely to report feelings of unhappiness.
Reports of happiness were most likely among those exercising, having a conversation or making love, whereas unhappiness was reported most while people were resting, working, or using computers.
Dr Killingsworth said: "Mind-wandering is an excellent predictor of people's happiness."
However, whether mind-wandering is the cause, or the result of unhappiness is still not proven by the research.
Professor Nilli Lavie, from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, said that while any attempt to try to measure the wandering mind was "heroic", the results of the study might be rendered less reliable by the type of participant it attracted.
She said: "Mind-wandering may simply be ubiquitous in the type of person who is engaging in this type of iPhone application, and who is prepared to be distracted from whatever they are doing in this way."
However, she said that her own laboratory research had found similar or even higher levels of mind-wandering among subjects given less demanding tasks to complete.
People spend 'half their waking hours daydreaming'
Daydreaming woman Daydreaming 'does not make you happy'
Continue reading the main story
Related stories
* The joy of daydreaming
People spend nearly half of their waking hours not thinking about what they are actually doing, according to a US study conducted via the iPhone.
More than 2,200 volunteers downloaded an app which then surveyed them about their thoughts and mood at random times of day and night.
The Science study suggested minds wander, even from demanding tasks, at least 30% of the time.
A UK expert said other studies confirmed people are easily distracted.
The iPhone was a novel research tool for researchers at Harvard University.
Participants agreed to be contacted, at which point they selected what they were doing from a menu, whether they were actually thinking about it, and how happy or sad they felt.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
This study shows that our mental lives are pervaded, to a remarkable degree, by the non-present”
End Quote Dr Matthew Killingsworth Harvard University
Remarkably, some participants were prepared to answer the survey even when making love.
While their study sample was composed entirely of people who owned the device, and were prepared to download and be disturbed by an app of this kind, the researchers said it provides an insight into how our minds can wander during the day.
After gathering 250,000 survey results, the Harvard team concluded that this group of people spent 46.9% of their time awake with their minds wandering.
Dr Matthew Killingsworth, one of the researchers, said: "Mind-wandering appears ubiquitous across all activities.
"This study shows that our mental lives are pervaded, to a remarkable degree, by the non-present."
Happiness
In addition, the survey data on happiness appeared to show a modest connection between the degree of mind-wandering and the level of happiness.
People who were most distracted away from the task in hand were more likely to report feelings of unhappiness.
Reports of happiness were most likely among those exercising, having a conversation or making love, whereas unhappiness was reported most while people were resting, working, or using computers.
Dr Killingsworth said: "Mind-wandering is an excellent predictor of people's happiness."
However, whether mind-wandering is the cause, or the result of unhappiness is still not proven by the research.
Professor Nilli Lavie, from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, said that while any attempt to try to measure the wandering mind was "heroic", the results of the study might be rendered less reliable by the type of participant it attracted.
She said: "Mind-wandering may simply be ubiquitous in the type of person who is engaging in this type of iPhone application, and who is prepared to be distracted from whatever they are doing in this way."
However, she said that her own laboratory research had found similar or even higher levels of mind-wandering among subjects given less demanding tasks to complete.
7.11.10
I Whip My Hair Back and Forth
I love Willow Smith's Style - Coolest kid in the world, an exact replica-girl version of her dad!!!
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth (just whip it)
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth (whip it real good)
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth
Hop up out the bed turn my swag on
Pay no attention to them haters cuz we whip em off
and we aint doing nothing wrong
so dont tell me nothing, i'm just tryna have fun
so keep the party jumping
so whats up (yea)
And i'll be doing what to do
we turn our back
and whip our hair and just shake them off
shake them off, shake them off,shake them off
Don't let haters keep me off my grind
Keep my head up i know i'll be fine
Keep fighting until i get there
When i'm down and i feel like giving up i think again
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth (just whip it)
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth (whip it real good)
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth (just whip it)
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth (whip it real good)
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth (just whip it)
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth (whip it real good)
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth
I'ma get more shine than a little bit
Soon as i hit the stage applause im hearing it
whether its black stars black cars im feeling it
but can't none of them whip it like i do
I, i gets it in mmmm yea i go hard
when they see me pull up i whip it real hard
i whip it real hard,real hard,i whip it real hard
Don't let haters keep me off my grind
Keep my head up i know i'll be fine
Keep fighting until i get there
When i'm down and i feel like giving up i think again
Chorus
All my Ladies if you feel me
do it do it whip your hair (whip your hair)
Dont' matter if its long, short (long,short)
do it do it whip your hair (whip your hair)
All my Ladies if you feel me
come on do it do it whip your hair (whip your hair)
Dont' matter if its long, short (long short)
do it do it whip your hair (your hair, your hair)
I ....
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth (just whip it)
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth (whip it real good)
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth
Hop up out the bed turn my swag on
Pay no attention to them haters cuz we whip em off
and we aint doing nothing wrong
so dont tell me nothing, i'm just tryna have fun
so keep the party jumping
so whats up (yea)
And i'll be doing what to do
we turn our back
and whip our hair and just shake them off
shake them off, shake them off,shake them off
Don't let haters keep me off my grind
Keep my head up i know i'll be fine
Keep fighting until i get there
When i'm down and i feel like giving up i think again
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth (just whip it)
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth (whip it real good)
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth (just whip it)
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth (whip it real good)
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth (just whip it)
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth (whip it real good)
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth
I whip my hair back and forth
I'ma get more shine than a little bit
Soon as i hit the stage applause im hearing it
whether its black stars black cars im feeling it
but can't none of them whip it like i do
I, i gets it in mmmm yea i go hard
when they see me pull up i whip it real hard
i whip it real hard,real hard,i whip it real hard
Don't let haters keep me off my grind
Keep my head up i know i'll be fine
Keep fighting until i get there
When i'm down and i feel like giving up i think again
Chorus
All my Ladies if you feel me
do it do it whip your hair (whip your hair)
Dont' matter if its long, short (long,short)
do it do it whip your hair (whip your hair)
All my Ladies if you feel me
come on do it do it whip your hair (whip your hair)
Dont' matter if its long, short (long short)
do it do it whip your hair (your hair, your hair)
I ....
30.10.10
22.10.10
14.9.10
5.9.10
Harabuji
He's just going to the doctor for his regular physical therapy sessions, but he is always the best dressed. He has never been out of fashion.
17.8.10
20.7.10
Anima
Most recent music box:
This playlist shows some of the music I dig, or that I would like to explore further in depth.
This playlist shows some of the music I dig, or that I would like to explore further in depth.
10.7.10
7.7.10
Cell Phone Pixs of KUMA
Below: The water is on... Kuma 1 yrs old and like, 20lbs. He is washing his sweater.
Above: Recent pix of Kuma... I placed my teddy bear there. He is smiling :- )
Kuma means bear in Japanese
Above: Recent pix of Kuma... I placed my teddy bear there. He is smiling :- )
Kuma means bear in Japanese
31.5.10
Red Book
Hello everyone, I am very excited because I'm expecting for C.G. Jung's book, practically an illuminated manuscript, to be delivered within the next day or two.
The reason why this is important to me is straight forward, I want to remember my dreams and learn from them. From my own experience I have seen how illustrations I made in sleepless nights actually manifested and became a part of my life in the future. Sometimes shortly after I drew the images or years after. All I know is that sometimes, when I look at my notebook I find that the images I drew in my past actually happened in real life... Maybe when I have a scanner I can show this and explain... maybe in the future. (This is after all a big steps, since its the first time that I've actually written on my blog. I've been using it as a bookmark that I could access easily)
I believe that this invisible side of your life, our unconscious, is a vital source of energy and creativity. Sadly, I have a hard time remembering my dreams and I have been illustrating the same scene for the last year... (a landscape illustration of the building I occupied when I was living in Greenpoint, BK). I need inspiration and I'm hoping to find some from this individual, Jung, who had developed complete control over he inner life and dreams. Recently I read my first book about Jung, his semi-autobiography Memories, Dreams and Reflections. I found it at Tomskin Sq. Library, it is literally falling apart, showing that this book has been read and digested more than any other book in the library. Though Jung's work is primarily on subjects/aspects of the universe/mind as a doctor he is able to discuss them lucidly in analytical terms. I have only read on the surface about this man, and I will be studying his works in greater depth but one this is clear, he helped to create a language to discuss our spiritual, inner life that could only be expressed through music or art in the western hemisphere since Descartes.
The following is the NY Times article on it that stirred my desire to purchase it:
The Holy Grail of the Unconscious
By SARA CORBETT(for some reason I cant put a link to the NY times article... -_-;;)
Published: September 16, 2009
This is a story about a nearly 100-year-old book, bound in red leather, which has spent the last quarter century secreted away in a bank vault in Switzerland. The book is big and heavy and its spine is etched with gold letters that say “Liber Novus,” which is Latin for “New Book.” Its pages are made from thick cream-colored parchment and filled with paintings of otherworldly creatures and handwritten dialogues with gods and devils. If you didn’t know the book’s vintage, you might confuse it for a lost medieval tom
This afternoon (Memorial Day) Roger and I went to Odessa Cafe. He looked calm because he was coming back to life, he had spent the last two day really sick at my apartment. I had to really force him to get out, so we were finally able to see The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo. We both really enjoyed it. At Odessa I had two eggs over easy with half a Kebasa and he had a ham omlette with american cheese in the middle. Roger also ordered mozorella sticks and a coke. He looked very happy to find this diner and so I was happy too. Our server was the nicest guy, he high-fived me twice, and then ran around the place like a mad man. In the end, it turned out to be kinda pricy since I had to give the server an equally matching tip. Very expensive eggs...
20.5.10
Try A Little Tenderness Otis Redding
Try A Little Tenderness
Otis Redding
oh she may be weary
them young girls they do get wearied
wearing that same old miniskirt dress
but when she gets weary
you try a little tenderness
oh man that
un hunh
i know shes waiting
just anticipating
the thing that youl never never possess
no no no
but while she there waiting
try just a little bit of tenderness
thats all you got to do
now it might be a little bit sentimental no
but she has her greavs and care
but the soft words they are spoke so gentle
yeah yeah yeah
and it makes it easier to bear
oh she wont regret it
no no
them young girls they dont forget it
love is their whole happiness
yeah yeha yeah
but its all so easy
all you got to do is try
try a little tenderness
yeah
damn that hart (hard?)
all you got to do is know how to love her
you've got to
hold her
squeeze her
never leave her
now get to her
got got got to try a little tenderness
yeah yeah
lord have mercy now
all you got to do is take my advice
you've got to hold her
don't squeeze her
never leave her
you've got to hold her
and never
so you got to try a little tenderness
a little tenderness
a little tenderness
a little tenderness
you've got to
got to got to
you've gotta hold her
don't squeeze her
never leaver her
you got
got got got to
now now now
got got got to
try a little tenderness
ye
the silver apples
machine
28.4.10
26.4.10
Sweet Sweet Honey
Queen Bee, Taj Mahal
Sweeter than a honey bee, yeah, baby been sweet on me
Sweeter than a honey bee, yeah, my queen bee
Oh she rock to my soul, mama love me to my soul
Love me to my soul, oh she rock me to my soul
She's a strutter, she can shake it some yeah, oh watch her now look at her run
A strutter, she can shake it some, oh dancing having fun
She love me to my soul, oh she love me to my soul
Oh love me to my soul oh rock me to my soul
Honey in the honey pot and, your pot is hot
Honey in the honey pot and the pot is what you got
To lova rocka rocka me to my soul
Oh love me to my soul, rock me to my soul
Oh love me to my soul, rock me to my soul
Baby won't you come by me yeah, spare me this misery
Sugar won't you come by me, oh I know you'll agree, 'gree, 'gree, 'gree
To love me to my soul, oh to rock me to my soul
Ooh rock me to my soul, oh rock me to my soul
Sweeter than a honey bee oh, baby been sweet on me
Sweeter than a honey bee oh, my queen bee
Oh she rock me to my soul, oh rock me to my soul
Oh she rock me to my soul, oh rock me to my soul
These songs were made for lovers
Lovers and lovers and lovers and lovers and lovers
And lovers and lovers and lovers, And lovers and lovers
My soul, my soul
Queen bee
Queen
Ma jolie, how do you do?
Mon nom est Jean-Guy Thibault-Leroux
I come from east of Gatineau
My name is Jean-Guy, ma jolie
J'ai une maison a Lafontaine
where we can live, if you marry me
Une belle maison a Lafontaine
where we will live, you and me
Oh Louise, ma jolie Louise
Tous les matins au soleil
I will work 'til work is done
Tous les matins au soleil
I did work 'til work was done
And one day, the foreman said
"Jean-Guy, we must let you go"
Et pis mon nom, y est pas bon
at the mill anymore...
Oh Louise, I'm losing my head,
I'm losing my head
My kids are small, 4 and 3
et la bouteille, she's mon ami
I drink the rum 'tilI I can't see
It hides the shame Louise does not see
Carousel turns in my head,
and I can't hide, oh no, no, no, no
And the rage turned in my head
and Louise, I struck her down,
down on the ground
I'm losing my mind, I'm losing my mind
En Septembre '63
kids are gone, and so is Louise.
Ontario, they did go
near la ville de Toronto
Now my tears, they roll down,
tous les jours
And I remember the days,
and the promises that we made
Oh Louise, ma jolie Louise, ma jolie Louise.
Sweeter than a honey bee, yeah, baby been sweet on me
Sweeter than a honey bee, yeah, my queen bee
Oh she rock to my soul, mama love me to my soul
Love me to my soul, oh she rock me to my soul
She's a strutter, she can shake it some yeah, oh watch her now look at her run
A strutter, she can shake it some, oh dancing having fun
She love me to my soul, oh she love me to my soul
Oh love me to my soul oh rock me to my soul
Honey in the honey pot and, your pot is hot
Honey in the honey pot and the pot is what you got
To lova rocka rocka me to my soul
Oh love me to my soul, rock me to my soul
Oh love me to my soul, rock me to my soul
Baby won't you come by me yeah, spare me this misery
Sugar won't you come by me, oh I know you'll agree, 'gree, 'gree, 'gree
To love me to my soul, oh to rock me to my soul
Ooh rock me to my soul, oh rock me to my soul
Sweeter than a honey bee oh, baby been sweet on me
Sweeter than a honey bee oh, my queen bee
Oh she rock me to my soul, oh rock me to my soul
Oh she rock me to my soul, oh rock me to my soul
These songs were made for lovers
Lovers and lovers and lovers and lovers and lovers
And lovers and lovers and lovers, And lovers and lovers
My soul, my soul
Queen bee
Queen
Jolie Louise, Daniel Lanois
Ma jolie, how do you do?
Mon nom est Jean-Guy Thibault-Leroux
I come from east of Gatineau
My name is Jean-Guy, ma jolie
J'ai une maison a Lafontaine
where we can live, if you marry me
Une belle maison a Lafontaine
where we will live, you and me
Oh Louise, ma jolie Louise
Tous les matins au soleil
I will work 'til work is done
Tous les matins au soleil
I did work 'til work was done
And one day, the foreman said
"Jean-Guy, we must let you go"
Et pis mon nom, y est pas bon
at the mill anymore...
Oh Louise, I'm losing my head,
I'm losing my head
My kids are small, 4 and 3
et la bouteille, she's mon ami
I drink the rum 'tilI I can't see
It hides the shame Louise does not see
Carousel turns in my head,
and I can't hide, oh no, no, no, no
And the rage turned in my head
and Louise, I struck her down,
down on the ground
I'm losing my mind, I'm losing my mind
En Septembre '63
kids are gone, and so is Louise.
Ontario, they did go
near la ville de Toronto
Now my tears, they roll down,
tous les jours
And I remember the days,
and the promises that we made
Oh Louise, ma jolie Louise, ma jolie Louise.
14.4.10
''low-calorie martini.'' Dr.xtc, Alexander Shulgin
By DRAKE BENNETT
Published: January 30, 2005
"I've always been interested in the machinery of the mental process,'' Shulgin told me not long ago. He has also, from a very young age, loved playing with chemicals. As a lonely 16-year-old Harvard scholarship student soon to drop out and join the Navy, he studied organic chemistry. His interest in pharmacology dates to 1944, when a military nurse gave him some orange juice just before his surgery for a thumb infection. Convinced that the undissolved crystals at the bottom of the glass were a sedative, Shulgin fell unconscious, only to find upon waking that the substance had been sugar. It was a revelatory, tantalizing hint of the mind's odd strength... [link to article]
...Once a Shulgin compound develops a reputation, it is almost invariably placed on the Drug Enforcement Agency's list of Schedule I drugs, those deemed to have no accepted medical use and the highest potential for abuse or addiction. It is therefore rather striking that Shulgin is not only still a free man, but also still at work. His own explanation is that, quite simply, ''I'm not doing anything illegal.'' For more than 20 years, until a government crackdown, he had a D.E.A.-issued Schedule I research license. And many of the drugs in his lab weren't illegal because they hadn't existed until he created them...
...''The Chemical Story,'' is not a story at all, but capsule descriptions of 179 phenethylamines. Each entry includes step-by-step instructions for synthesis, along with recommended dosages, duration of action and ''qualitative comments'' like the following, for 60 milligrams of something called 3C-E: ''Visuals very strong, insistent. Body discomfort remained very heavy for first hour. . . . 2nd hour on, bright colors, distinct shapes -- jewel-like -- with eyes closed. Suddenly it became clearly not anti-erotic. . . . Image of glass-walled apartment building in mid-desert. Exquisite sensitivity. Down by? midnight. Next morning, faint flickering lights on looking out windows...
NYTimes: Hullucinogens + Alternative therapy
Hallucinogens Have Doctors Tuning in Again
By John Tierney; NYTimes, April 11, 2010
By John Tierney; NYTimes, April 11, 2010
As a retired clinical psychologist, Clark Martin was well acquainted with traditional treatments for depression, but his own case seemed untreatable as he struggled through chemotherapy and other grueling regimens for kidney cancer. Counseling seemed futile to him. So did the antidepressant pills he tried.
Alan S. Weiner for The New York Times
Dr. Clark Martin in his home in Vancouver, Wash.
Alan S. Weiner for The New York Times
“It was a whole personality shift for me. I wasn’t any longer attached to my performance and trying to control things. I could see that the really good things in life will happen if you just show up and share your natural enthusiasms with people.” CLARK MARTIN, a retired psychologist, on his participation in an experiment with a hallucinogen
Readers' Comments
Nothing had any lasting effect until, at the age of 65, he had his first psychedelic experience. He left his home in Vancouver, Wash., to take part in an experiment at Johns Hopkins medical school involving psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient found in certain mushrooms.
Scientists are taking a new look at hallucinogens, which became taboo among regulators after enthusiasts like Timothy Leary promoted them in the 1960s with the slogan “Turn on, tune in, drop out.” Now, using rigorous protocols and safeguards, scientists have won permission to study once again the drugs’ potential for treating mental problems and illuminating the nature of consciousness.
After taking the hallucinogen, Dr. Martin put on an eye mask and headphones, and lay on a couch listening to classical music as he contemplated the universe.
“All of a sudden, everything familiar started evaporating,” he recalled. “Imagine you fall off a boat out in the open ocean, and you turn around, and the boat is gone. And then the water’s gone. And then you’re gone.”
Today, more than a year later, Dr. Martin credits that six-hour experience with helping him overcome his depression and profoundly transforming his relationships with his daughter and friends. He ranks it among the most meaningful events of his life, which makes him a fairly typical member of a growing club of experimental subjects.
Researchers from around the world are gathering this week in San Jose, Calif., for the largest conference on psychedelic science held in the United States in four decades. They plan to discuss studies of psilocybin and other psychedelics for treating depression in cancer patients, obsessive-compulsive disorder, end-of-life anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction to drugs or alcohol.
The results so far are encouraging but also preliminary, and researchers caution against reading too much into these small-scale studies. They do not want to repeat the mistakes of the 1960s, when some scientists-turned-evangelists exaggerated their understanding of the drugs’ risks and benefits.
Because reactions to hallucinogens can vary so much depending on the setting, experimenters and review boards have developed guidelines to set up a comfortable environment with expert monitors in the room to deal with adverse reactions. They have established standard protocols so that the drugs’ effects can be gauged more accurately, and they have also directly observed the drugs’ effects by scanning the brains of people under the influence of hallucinogens.
Scientists are especially intrigued by the similarities between hallucinogenic experiences and the life-changing revelations reported throughout history by religious mystics and those who meditate. These similarities have been identified in neural imaging studies conducted by Swiss researchers and in experiments led by Roland Griffiths, a professor of behavioral biology at Johns Hopkins.
In one of Dr. Griffiths’s first studies, involving 36 people with no serious physical or emotional problems, he and colleagues found that psilocybin could induce what the experimental subjects described as a profound spiritual experience with lasting positive effects for most of them. None had had any previous experience with hallucinogens, and none were even sure what drug was being administered.
To make the experiment double-blind, neither the subjects nor the two experts monitoring them knew whether the subjects were receiving a placebo, psilocybin or another drug like Ritalin, nicotine, caffeine or an amphetamine. Although veterans of the ’60s psychedelic culture may have a hard time believing it, Dr. Griffiths said that even the monitors sometimes could not tell from the reactions whether the person had taken psilocybin or Ritalin.
The monitors sometimes had to console people through periods of anxiety, Dr. Griffiths said, but these were generally short-lived, and none of the people reported any serious negative effects. In a survey conducted two months later, the people who received psilocybin reported significantly more improvements in their general feelings and behavior than did the members of the control group.
The findings were repeated in another follow-up survey, taken 14 months after the experiment. At that point most of the psilocybin subjects once again expressed more satisfaction with their lives and rated the experience as one of the five most meaningful events of their lives.
Since that study, which was published in 2008, Dr. Griffiths and his colleagues have gone on to give psilocybin to people dealing with cancer and depression, like Dr. Martin, the retired psychologist from Vancouver. Dr. Martin’s experience is fairly typical, Dr. Griffiths said: an improved outlook on life after an experience in which the boundaries between the self and others disappear.
In interviews, Dr. Martin and other subjects described their egos and bodies vanishing as they felt part of some larger state of consciousness in which their personal worries and insecurities vanished. They found themselves reviewing past relationships with lovers and relatives with a new sense of empathy.
“It was a whole personality shift for me,” Dr. Martin said. “I wasn’t any longer attached to my performance and trying to control things. I could see that the really good things in life will happen if you just show up and share your natural enthusiasms with people. You have a feeling of attunement with other people.”
The subjects’ reports mirrored so closely the accounts of religious mystical experiences, Dr. Griffiths said, that it seems likely the human brain is wired to undergo these “unitive” experiences, perhaps because of some evolutionary advantage.
“This feeling that we’re all in it together may have benefited communities by encouraging reciprocal generosity,” Dr. Griffiths said. “On the other hand, universal love isn’t always adaptive, either.”
Although federal regulators have resumed granting approval for controlled experiments with psychedelics, there has been little public money granted for the research, which is being conducted at Hopkins, the University of Arizona; Harvard; New York University; the University of California, Los Angeles; and other places.
The work has been supported by nonprofit groups like the Heffter Research Institute and MAPS, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.
“There’s this coming together of science and spirituality,” said Rick Doblin, the executive director of MAPS. “We’re hoping that the mainstream and the psychedelic community can meet in the middle and avoid another culture war. Thanks to changes over the last 40 years in the social acceptance of the hospiceyoga and meditation, our culture is much more receptive now, and we’re showing that these drugs can provide benefits that current treatments can’t.” movement and
Researchers are reporting preliminary success in using psilocybin to ease the anxiety of patients with terminal illnesses. Dr. Charles S. Grob, a psychiatrist who is involved in an experiment at U.C.L.A., describes it as “existential medicine” that helps dying people overcome fear, panic and depression.
“Under the influences of hallucinogens,” Dr. Grob writes, “individuals transcend their primary identification with their bodies and experience ego-free states before the time of their actual physical demise, and return with a new perspective and profound acceptance of the life constant: change.”
13.4.10
Neville Brothers
Yellow moon, yellow moon,
why you keep peeping in my window?
Do you know something I don't know?
Did you see my baby
walking down the railroad tracks?
You can tell me if the girls
ever coming back.
Is she hid out with another
or is she trying to get back home?
Is she wrapped up in some other's arms?
Or is the girl somewhere all alone?
Can you see if she is missing me,
or is she having a real good time?
Has she forgotten all about,
or is the girl still mine all mine?
Chorus:
With your eye so big a shiney
You can see the whole damn land
Yellow moon can you tell me
If the girl's with another man?
Refrain:
Oh yellow moon,
have you seen that creole woman
You can tell me,
Now ain't you a friend of mine.
Chorus
Refrain
why you keep peeping in my window?
Do you know something I don't know?
Did you see my baby
walking down the railroad tracks?
You can tell me if the girls
ever coming back.
Is she hid out with another
or is she trying to get back home?
Is she wrapped up in some other's arms?
Or is the girl somewhere all alone?
Can you see if she is missing me,
or is she having a real good time?
Has she forgotten all about,
or is the girl still mine all mine?
Chorus:
With your eye so big a shiney
You can see the whole damn land
Yellow moon can you tell me
If the girl's with another man?
Refrain:
Oh yellow moon,
have you seen that creole woman
You can tell me,
Now ain't you a friend of mine.
Chorus
Refrain
If you want something to play with
Go and find yourself a toy
Baby my time is too expensive
And I'm not a little boy
If you are serious
Don't play with my heart
It makes me furious
But if you want me to love you
Then a baby I will, girl you know that I will
Tell it like it is
Don't be ashamed to let your conscience be your guide
But I know deep down inside me
I believe you love me, forget your foolish pride
Life is too short to have sorrow
You may be here today and gone tomorrow
You might as well get what you want
So go on and live, baby go on and live
Tell it like it is
I'm nothing to play with
Go and find yourself a toy
But I... Tell it like it is
My time is too expensive and I'm not your little boy
27.3.10
Some Stevie Wonder w/ Lyrics + Skazi
No New Year's Day to celebrate
No chocolate covered candy hearts to give away
No first of spring
No song to sing
In fact here's just another ordinary day
No April rain
No flowers bloom
No wedding Saturday within the month of June
But what it is, is something true
Made up of these three words that I must say to you
I just called to say I love you
I just called to say how much I care
I just called to say I love you
And I mean it from the bottom of my heart
No summer's high
No warm July
No harvest moon to light one tender August night
No autumn breeze
No falling leaves
Not even time for birds to fly to southern skies
No Libra sun
No Halloween
No giving thanks to all the Christmas joy you bring
But what it is, though old so new
To fill your heart like no three words could ever do
I just called to say I love you
I just called to say how much I care, I do
I just called to say I love you
And I mean it from the bottom of my heart
I just called to say I love you
I just called to say how much I care, I do
I just called to say I love you
And I mean it from the bottom of my heart, of my heart,
Of my heart
I just called to say I love you
I just called to say how much I care, I do
I just called to say I love you
And I mean it from the bottom of my heart, of my heart,
Baby of my heart
21.3.10
Reality T.V. and Cannibal Holocaust
Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
The most disturbing movie, mock-umentary that you will ever witness. How a fictional cannibal society behaves is not that detached from our reality...
@40mins is my favorite scene...
Addiction and Freedom
Sally Satel
The Right (and Wrong) Answers
* March 15, 2010
...
18.1.10
paolo's list of italian musica
Sapore di sale
sapore di mare
che hai sulla pelle
che hai sulle labbra
quando esci dall'acqua
e ti vieni a sdraiare
vicino a me vicino a me
sapore di sale
sapore di mare
un gusto un po amaro
di cose perdute
di cose lasciate
lontano da noi
ed il mondo è diverso
diverso da qui
Il tempo è dei giorni
che passano pigri
e lasciano in bocca
il gusto del sale
ti tuffi nell'acqua
e mi lasci a guardare
e rimango da solo
nella sabbia e nel sol
poi torni vicino
e ti lasci cader
cosi nella sabbia
e nelle mie braccia
e mentre ti bacio
sapore di sale
sapore di mare
sapore di te
Il tempo è dei giorni
che passano pigri
e lasciano in bocca
il gusto del sale
ti tuffi nell'acqua
e mi lasci a guardare
e rimango da solo
nella sabbia e nel sol
poi torni vicino
e ti lasci cader
cosi nella sabbia
e nelle mie braccia
e mentre ti bacio
sapore di sale
sapore di mare
sapore di te
sapore di te
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