The book is extremely powerful. He has the whole thing online here:

http://www.american-pictures.com/

Everyone should read it.

Salvia's meh. Definitely too strong/intense for people who haven't experimented with heavy doses of psychedelics before, but because it's readily available and legal, that's where people are starting.

In my experiences, salvia's basically DMT Ultra Lite. Well, the experience is different, but that's about where the intensity is.

Pasteurization and sterilization are going to be important - as is a fresh supply of yeast. Ask anyone who has experimented with brewing at home - if a bacteria gets the advantage over the yeast you won't have any fermentation, only a gross mess.

Also, can someone explain to me how this device deals with the CO2 that's released? Fermentation releases a lot of gas, albeit very slowly.

This seems like a very bad idea and seems to me that it might be a hoax. Has he posted a schematic anywhere?

It's pretty funny actually, in my case. I'm an infrequent p2p user, and I use Azureus with Peer Guardian.

I used to wonder why peer guardian blocked comcast, and why comcast was trying to portscan me, but then that article broke.

Not long before that AP article came out, I noticed my upload bandwidth increased from what used to be a maximum of ~50 kbps to over 120 kbps.

It's times like this, or when I have to explain the concept of codecs to people who don't understand why their stolen copy of LATEST HORRIBLE STUDIO MOVIE won't play correctly that I get this guilty feeling of not minding so much - in a way, they're only preventing people who don't know much about p2p from using it.

That's not really how I feel, hence the guilt. It would be nice if Comcast considered these measures "enough" though and didn't think of something else to try.

Speaking of which, has there been an ISP yet to offer a lower price for unlimited bandwidth through port 80 only? I'd find that funny.

Mushrooms truly are beautiful and, sadly, underappreciated both as an aspect of the ecosystem and a delicacy.

Of course there are also the dozens and dozens of medicinal and/or spiritual species of fungi. I like to think psilocybian mushrooms are nearly impossible to abuse: people who injest psiloc(yb)in "just for kicks" always wind up getting theirs in the end. Treat them with respect and they can be an extremely valuable spiritual and emotional tool. Misbave, and, well, I hope you enjoy crying for six hours. :)

Anyway.

Anyone interested in the ecological and medical (no drugs, sorry) uses for fungi should read Paul Stamet's latest book, "Mycelium Running." It's seriously a phenomenal book.

Just one tidbit from it: there are species of mycelia that possess enzymes which can break down oil (he demonstrates with used motor oil) and even some that can destroy nerve gas!

I'll stop whoring it now, but seriously. Any fan of mycology would love this book.

@ #3: Yes, clearly the problem lies primarily (solely?) with the people at the very bottom of the corporation. Especially females, who apparently have to provide sexual favors in order to keep their jobs.

Good thing you put them both in their places through the magic of dehumanization!

The way I see it, anyone in the service sector (or low-level law enforcement) is "just doing their job." It's really sad when people take the little authority that's granted to a flight attendant and abuse it, but more often than not they're expected to do so by management.

In other words, these people are probably considered overachievers rather than rogue agents who grossly deviated from the corporate script out of their own personal desire to inflict chaos on the status quo.

Midwest airlines needs to take responsibility for allowing this situation to happen, and they need to change what they consider acceptable customer service.

Aah, yes, that good sort of horrible, like "Dr Goldfoot and his Bikini Machine."

Now if we could find a movie where Vincent Price drops acid...

I agree with #9 - how did "What the Bleep Do We Know?" make it into a list of True Films?

I watched every clip I could find after the first time these were linked to on boingboing, and I love em. There are a few things to consider though:

as #10 eloquently points out, this is a joke on social scripts. I'm a staunch pro-absurdist so getting random people to answer nonsensical questions gets an A+ from me. The fact that they're using jokes about Canada, which most US citizens really don't know much about, can understandably provoke some jingoistic ire, but as long as you look at it as absurd instead of political commentary, it's still funny.

Another thing to point out is that they're picking and choosing the most amusing footage. Obvious, I know, but there's really no indication of just how many people he had to interview in order to get those responses.

Just so long as nobody assumes this is a representative sample of US citizens and then extrapolates the average intelligence of US citizens from these clips.... but then, the joke would be on them, wouldn't it?

Just wait'll they find out about the 1955 LeMans Disaster, then all magnesium will be banned too.

No alkali metals! Hey! You were going to use this table salt to blow up the plane, weren't you? Whattayamean it's a sodium ion? 'Zat mean bomb?

Hey, it's all good. I didn't even notice, and I'm a forum mod too so I completely understand tone monitoring. I'd honestly rather have one of my comments removed rather than disrupt a community like boing boing. I am well aware that I can be a jerk. :)

C'mon though. Viral videos and "memes" as a sort of internet Rorschach or LOLschach?

#7 - Pot calling the kettle a nerd?

Since every blog that's posting this seems to provide the exact same story, they have to be repeating it from somewhere. Regardless, googling "Old Man Goes Nuts in Car Wash" provides a gajillion blogs and entertainment sites linking to it.

Pretty formulaic responses across the blogosphere too:
* It's like a video game!
* Oh, those wacky old people!
* Oh, those wacky psychiatric meds!
* Viagra!
* Hey, what if it was a woman putting on makeup?

Which I guess makes sense; lack of context leads to people overlaying their realities onto it - way to go, misogynists! Thanks for being vocal enough so that I know to avoid you.

Seriously though I want to see this police report. Pity no one seems to have it.

Nothing! Absolutely nothing! STUPID! You're so STU-PIIIIIIIIIIID!

emphasis via imdb

My only criticism of Erowid is that the information, while reliable, may be out of date. They are trying to present a huge body of information, so it's understandable. Erowid is, of course, a great starting point for amateur and personal research, but when one focuses on a particular topic, be it one specific substance or one specific social issue relating to prohibition, you'll quickly want to look elsewhere.

It's irrelevant if someone considers "drug use" to be a matter of personal freedom, a pox on society, or an externality of race relations in the 20th century. If we're going to form educated opinions about "drug use" the more information available, the better.

And really, this sort of information is hard to come by, even in bookstores. Actually, you have a worse chance at finding good information in the average bookstore about "drug use" than you do on Erowid. (I collect drug books, largely as cultural artifacts.)