More random facts {Part 2} Posted on February 10, 2012 in Humor If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Facebook or Twitter . Thanks for visiting! Rate this Post (3 votes, average: 2.33 out of 5) Loading ... So... Check this out on our Partner Network The Narco State - By Charles Kenny America's longest running war -- the one against drugs -- came in for abuse this weekend at the Summit of the Americas. The abuse is deserved. Forty years of increasingly violent efforts to stamp out the drug trade haven't worked. And the blood and treasure lost is on a scale with America's more conventional wars. On the upside, we know that an approach based around treating drugs as a public health issue reaps benefits to both users and the rest of us. President Otto Perez Molina of Guatemala opened the rhetorical offensive against the drug war last week when he wrote that "decades of big arrests and the seizure of tons of drugs" have not stopped "booming" production and consumption. But it isn't just in Latin America that the winds of change are blowing when it comes to drugs policy. As a domestic policy, a harsh enforcement approach has done little to control drug use, but has done a lot to lock up a growing portion of the U.S. population.
Entheology By David Ian Miller Alex Grey paints souls. His work shows human bodies — rendered with medical-illustration precision — wrapped in layers of sacred energy. Whether you believe Grey's work depicts the reality of divine auras or a particularly vibrant artistic license doesn't much matter. His paintings have an uncanny effect on viewers, making them sense — or at least consider the possibility of — the subtle energies that surround us and how these personal force fields might change depending on our intention, actions and moods. They are modern-day religious icons and mandalas for 21st century Westerners. Grey, 55, lives and works in New York City with his wife, the painter Allyson Grey, and their daughter, actress Zena Grey. SFG: In an essay of yours called "What Is Visionary Art?" AG: I think that that's why artists make art — it is difficult to put into words unless you are a poet. SFG: You had a kind of vision as a young man that changed your life and work. AG: It was 1975.
How Famous Companies Got Their Names Ever wondered about how famous brands got their names from? Here are a couple of explanations. Via Should the U.S. legalize hard drugs? Consider current policy concerning the only addictive intoxicant currently available as a consumer good — alcohol. America’s alcohol industry, which is as dependent on the 20 percent of heavy drinkers as they are on alcohol, markets its products aggressively and effectively. Because marketing can drive consumption, America’s distillers, brewers and vintners spend $6 billion on advertising and promoting their products. Americans’ experience with marketing’s power inclines them to favor prohibition and enforcement over legalization and marketing of drugs. But this choice has consequences: More Americans are imprisoned for drug offenses or drug-related probation and parole violations than for property crimes. And although America spends five times more jailing drug dealers than it did 30 years ago, the prices of cocaine and heroin are 80 to 90 percent lower than 30 years ago. Dealers, a.k.a. Marijuana probably provides less than 25 percent of the cartels’ revenue. georgewill@washpost.com
Psychedelia Psychedelia is a name given to the subculture of people who use psychedelic drugs, and a style of psychedelic artwork and psychedelic music derived from the experience of altered consciousness that uses highly distorted and surreal visuals, sound effects and reverberation, and bright colors and full spectrums and animation (including cartoons) to evoke and convey to a viewer or listener the artist's experience while using such drugs. The term "psychedelic" is derived from the Ancient Greek words psuchē (ψυχή - psyche, "mind") and dēlōsē (δήλωση - "manifest"), translating to "mind-manifesting". Psychedelic states may be elicited by various techniques, such as meditation, sensory stimulation[1] or deprivation, and most commonly by the use of psychedelic substances. Etymology[edit] To make this mundane world sublime, Take half a gram of phanerothyme To which Osmond responded: To fathom Hell or soar angelic, Just take a pinch of psychedelic[3] History[edit] Modern usage[edit] In art[edit]
6 Real People With Mind-Blowing Mutant Superpowers If the insane, explosive popularity if superhero movies is any indication, we are fascinated by people who are insanely better than us at any given thing. Probably because, in real life, we're all such a bunch of incompetent boobs that we've been enslaved by blue paint, flashing lights and crying French babies. But it turns out, superpowers are real. And not just the secret ones that everyone has, or even the ones everyone thinks they have -- this Cracked Classic is about a group of people that, in a sane world, would already have multi-colored leather jumpsuits, delightfully mismatched personality traits and a skyscraper shaped like whatever they decide to call themselves. We've all dreamed of having superpowers at some point (today), but the majority of us have to accept the sobering reality that preternatural abilities simply aren't possible. For instance ... #6. As with most superpower discoveries, Xiangang found his by acting like a braying jackass. So What's Going on Here? #5. #4.
Potopia Could Shutdown Haunt Burwell? by Ben Jacobs Larry Downing/Reuters Obama’s nominee to succeed Kathleen Sebelius played a key role in closing Washington’s monuments—a... Psychedelic Health By Arran Frood Psychedelic drug users throughout the ages have described their experiences as mind-expanding. They might be surprised, therefore, to hear that psilocybin – the active ingredient in magic mushrooms – actually decreases blood flow as well as connectivity between important areas of the brain that control perception and cognition. The same areas can be overactive in people who suffer from depression, making the drug a potential treatment option for the condition. The study is the first time that psilocybin’s effects have been measured with fMRI, and the first experiment involving a hallucinogenic drug and human participants in the UK for decades. Robin Carhart-Harris at Imperial College London and colleagues recruited 30 volunteers who agreed to be injected with psilocybin and have their brain scanned using two types of fMRI. Low flow Less blood flow was seen in the brain regions known as the thalamus, the posterior cingulate and the medial prefrontal cortex. Mood swing
60 Tips For A Stunningly Great Life!! I want to shift gears from leadership to a pure focus on crafting an exceptional life. Ultimately, life goes by in a blink. And too many people live the same year 80 times. To avoid getting to the end and feeling flooded regret over a live half-lived, read (and then apply) these tips: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. Source: robinsharma
Doctors consider using street drugs to ease suffering of dying patients Recent studies at Harvard, U.C.L.A. and my alma mater John Hopkins have now made it plain that doctors should—as soon as proper safeguards can be put in place—be free to offer illicit drugs to patients who are terminally ill, in order to ease their emotional suffering and potentially offer them new perspectives—fueled by drug-induced insights—into issues like their own mortality. At Harvard, Dr. John Halpern (as reported in the New York Times) tested MDMA (the street drug Ecstasy) to determine if it would ease the anxieties in two patients with terminal cancer. The results are reportedly consistently good. The truth is that the likelihood of creating an MDMA or psilocybin addict out of a terminal cancer patient is exactly zero. Not long ago, I debated with former talk show host and motivational speaker Montel Williams. Terminal conditions and final days are, in fact, but one of the settings in which chemicals considered “street” drugs may be Godsends. Dr. Dr.
Slideshow: Scientists Analyze Drawings by an Acid-Tripping Artist | 1950s Psychiatric Study of Psychedelic Drugs | LSD | Life's Little Mysteries Credit: sxc.hu user FOTOMO The following nine drawings were made a half century ago by an artist under the influence of LSD, or acid, during an experiment designed to investigate the psychedelic drug's effects . The unnamed artist was given two 50-microgram doses of LSD, one 65 minutes after the other, and had access to an activity box full of crayons and pencils. The subject of his art was the assisting doctor who administered the drug. Though records of the identity of the principal researcher have been lost, it was probably a University of California-Irvine psychiatrist, Oscar Janiger. Janiger, known for his LSD research, died in 2001. "I believe the pictures are from an experiment conducted by the psychiatrist Oscar Janiger starting in 1954 and continuing for seven years, during which time he gave LSD to over 100 professional artists and measured its effects on their artistic output and creative ability.
The Lion Whisperer Toronto Star Picture Editor Wanda Goodwin shares these delightful images of Kevin Richardson a.k.a "The Lion Whisperer." A new film opening soon in The United States about a rare white lion who escapes becoming a trophy on a wall, is a rare happy ending in a country where more than 1,000 lions are killed legally each year. Kevin Richardson, the man behind the movie, calls himself an "ambassador of lions" and hopes the film will act as one too at a time when foreign tourists are willing to pay up to $40,000 to shoot a big cat. Kevin Richardson, a.k.a. the Lion Whisperer lays with two of his lions on October 11, 2010, in their enclosure at the Kingdom of the White Lion park in Broederstroom, South Africa. Kevin Richardson sprays his lions with water and citronella in their enclosure. Kevin Richardson wrestles playfully with a lioness. Kevin Richardson shows the size of a lion's tongue. Kevin Richardson snuggles a lioness to his chest.