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Monthly Archives: May 2017
Slice of PLOS: Psychedelics in the Lab and Clinic: Making Up for Lost Time – PLoS Blogs (blog)
Posted: May 14, 2017 at 5:57 pm
Nearly 50 years ago, psychiatrists lost access to one of the most promising tools theyd found to study consciousness and treat a range of refractory psychological conditions: psychedelic drugs. Psychedelics were banned in the United States in 1970 and by the United Nations the next year, classified as Schedule I drugs with a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical use. Many scientists blame Timothy Leary, the Harvard psychologist who became one of the most prominent psychedelic proselytizers of the sixties, for fueling both the drugs popularity and the media frenzy that inevitably triggered a legal backlash [1].
These restrictions have severely impeded research into novel therapies to treat brain disorders. As British psychiatrist David Nutt argued in PLOS Biology a few years ago [2], Most researchers do not have the time, money, or energy to work through the regulatory jungle. And with no federal support for this work,scientistsmust rely on private organizations like the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and the Beckley Foundation, which funds Nutts group at the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit in the Division of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London. Both organizations are dedicated to breaking the bureaucratic logjam.
Last month, Nutt joined hundreds of other clinicians and researchers whove received private funding to pursue psychedelic medicine and research at the third MAPS-sponsored Psychedelic Science 2017 conference in Oakland, California.
Scientists and clinicians presented evidence from ongoing research suggesting that psychedelics, used in a controlled psychotherapy setting, have the potential to alleviate conditions that dont respond to conventional drugs and therapy, including depression, social anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction. Some are harnessing psychedelics to study the neural basis of consciousness, using advanced imaging techniques to map changes in brain activity and chemistry to altered perception, moods and perspective.
Much of the recent work with psychedelics picks up where early psychiatric pioneers left off, in many cases confirming what researchers hypothesized but lacked the tools to test.
Early evidence of positive results
Clinicians started experimenting with LSD in the late 1940s, soon after Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who first synthesized the drug while studying the ergot fungus as a potential medicine, accidentally dosed himself. Hofmann reported an extraordinary disturbance marked by an uninterrupted stream of fantastic images of extraordinary plasticity and vividness and accompanied by an intense, kaleidoscope-like play of colors.
The potential of this mind-altering drug was not lost on Hofmann, and psychiatrists soon began experimenting with psychedelics to treat addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorders, depression and anxiety. Some used LSD to model the delusions and psychosis seen in schizophrenia, while others explored its mind loosening effects to help patients work through repressed thoughts and feelings. Experimental psychiatrist Joel Elkes took LSD with a small group of volunteers in 1952, the first to do so in England. He noted in a retrospective commentary that observations from these experiments led him to propose that the drug selectively inhibited the organization of sensory information through a serotonin-mediated receptor.
Elkes was remarkably prescient, Nutt says, because thats what we have shown.
Historians of psychedelic science say that by the mid-1960s researchers had published over 1,000 clinical studies involving over 40,000 patients, reporting few side effects, though many of the studies would not meet contemporary research standards. Even so, Learys promotion of LSD as a panacea for the unenlightened masses, many scientists say, led regulators to slam the door on research that held great promise for unlocking the mysteries of the mind.
Despite a lack of accepted safety designation that goes along with a Schedule I classification, most studies have found no evidence that psychedelics produce serious adverse effects when used under controlled conditions. That may hold for recreational use as well, according to a 2012 PLOS ONE study, which found no indication of psychological problems in healthy people who used LSD, psilocybin, peyote or mescaline [3]. Another PLOS ONE study came to the same conclusion about ayahuasca, a psychedelic tea brewed from bark and leaves traditionally used as part of ritual healing ceremonies in the Amazon Basin [4].The research doesnt claim that adverse events cant happen. But they are likely rare and in some cases may be related to pre-existing conditions.
Placebos, probes and treatments
Early studies of psychedelics typically failed to use controls, raising an obvious question: how do you design a placebo-controlled trial when the active drug under study produces profound changes in perception and cognition?
It helps to work with people whove never experienced the drug before so they dont know what to expect, says Fernanda Palhano-Fontes, a PhD student working in Draulio Barros de Araujos lab at the Brain Institute at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil. In a recent study to test ayahuascas potential to alleviate treatment-resistant depression, she and her colleagues used a placebo brew designed to mimic the potent teas color and nasty taste, and even its capacity to cause nausea.
Participants were randomly assigned to receive a placebo or a single dose of ayahuasca and, as often happens in depression trials, both groups improved somewhat the next day. But by the end of the week, people in the ayahuasca group showed much greater gains than the placebo group. The study, which involved just 35 patients, hasnt been published yet (but is available on bioRxiv [5]).
To better understand how ayahuasca affects mood and perception, Palhano-Fontes and Araujo have been studying its effects on the brain in healthy people, using fMRI. They reported in a 2015 PLOS ONE paper [6] that ayahuasca caused reduced activity in whats known as the default mode network, a connector hubof brain regions that tends to be more active when people are resting or daydreaming. Its been associated with sense of self, and emotional and cognitive processing. Studies have associated increased activity in this network with schizophrenia, depression, social phobia and several other psychiatric conditions. This increased activity has also been linked to intense rumination and obsessive thoughts. One theory holds that by suppressing the default mode network, psychedelics may help release the brakes on severely constrained thinking, opening the door to more effective psychotherapy.
For David Nutt, psychedelics hold a unique capacity to probe the neurobiology of mental states, and to reprogram circuits to recover from psychological distress. These drugs can change your attitude to life, Nutt says. In a study of psilocybin-assisted therapy for depression, he found that patients became less pessimistic. My outlook has changed significantly, one patient said. Im more aware now that its pointless to get wrapped up in endless negativity.
Stanislav Grof, a Czech psychiatrist who conducted clinical trials with LSD before it was illegal, once said, Psychedelics, used responsibly and with proper caution, would be for psychiatry what the microscope is for biology and medicine or the telescope is for astronomy.
But that promisewont be realizeduntil regulators change the restrictions on psychedelics and recognize their potential as a medicine. Hofmann immediately recognized that psychedelics release constraints on consciousness to offer a glimpse into a world we otherwise cant perceive. Now scientists have the tools to figure out how psychedelics do that by interrogating the underlying brain mechanisms in a reproducible, scientifically valid way if only we let them.
Credit for featured image: Psilocybe zapotecorum from Michoacan, Mexico, by Alan Rockefeller via Wikimedia Commons.
Further reading
[1] Moreno, J. D. (2016) Acid Brothers: Henry Beecher, Timothy Leary, and the psychedelic of the century. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, vol. 59 no. 1, pp. 107-121. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/pbm.2016.0019
[2] Nutt D (2015) Illegal Drugs Laws: Clearing a 50-Year-Old Obstacle to Research. PLoS Biol 13(1): e1002047. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002047
[3] Krebs TS, Johansen P- (2013) Psychedelics and Mental Health: A Population Study. PLoS ONE 8(8): e63972. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0063972
[4] Bouso JC, Gonzlez D, Fondevila S, Cutchet M, Fernndez X, Ribeiro Barbosa PC, et al. (2012) Personality, Psychopathology, Life Attitudes and Neuropsychological Performance among Ritual Users of Ayahuasca: A Longitudinal Study. PLoS ONE 7(8): e42421. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0042421
[5] Rapid antidepressant effects of the psychedelic ayahuasca in treatment-resistant depression: a randomised placebo-controlled trial (2017) Fernanda Palhano-Fontes, Dayanna Barreto, Heloisa Onias, Katia C Andrade, MorganaNovaes, Jessica Pessoa, Sergio Mota-Rolim, Flavia L Osorio, Rafael Sanches, Rafael dos Santos, Luis Tofoli, Gabriela Silveira, Mauricio Yonamine, Jordi Riba, Francisco RRSantos, Antonio A Silva-Junior, Joao Alchieri, Nicole Galvao-Coelho, Brunoj Lobao-Soares, Jaime Hallak, Emerson Arcoverde, Joao Maia-de-Oliveira, Draulio B de Araujo bioRxiv 103531; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/103531
[6] Palhano-Fontes F, Andrade KC, Tofoli LF, Santos AC, Crippa JAS, Hallak JEC, et al. (2015) The Psychedelic State Induced by Ayahuasca Modulates the Activity and Connectivity of the Default Mode Network. PLoS ONE 10(2): e0118143. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118143
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Slice of PLOS: Psychedelics in the Lab and Clinic: Making Up for Lost Time - PLoS Blogs (blog)
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What is the Difference Between Entheogens and Drugs?
Posted: at 5:56 pm
James Oroc, Guest Waking Times
The word Entheogen means God contained within and in some other translations it means to awaken the divine within, which is closer to the word Entheogenesis, describing the process of doing away with all that which is transient and impermanent, while allowing the unchanging aspect of our being to awaken to itself. An Entheogen is a compound that induces a spiritual or mystical experience. There have been many kinds of Entheogens or plant based psychoactive substances used by humans. However, there isnt much known about these plant medicines commonly, as a result of which humanity has been for long exploited by psychological manipulation at the hands of the powers that be. Constant repetition of lies and negative propaganda seem to be working well on the sleeping masses, however with more information and awareness on these subjects things are quickly changing globally.
It is good to see great change manifesting when people join hands and come together against this regressive oppression and tyranny that act out through the various world governments, big greedy corporations and the Military Industrial Complex. One of the ways to beat the system is through creating more awareness by disseminating useful information, sharing knowledge speaking your truth and more importantly, living it ! We came across this brilliant source of information on various drugs and their effects on human consciousness and thought it must be shared here
In 2010 I was fortunate to be a presenter on the subject of entheogens at a fascinating conference in San Rafael, California, titled Beyond the I the end of the Seeker. The conference organizers had recruited a remarkable collection of physicists, neuroscientists, consciousness researchers, and spiritual teachers, all with a common interest in what turned out to be the rather hazy subject of Science and Non-Duality. (I say that I was fortunate to present because I was also able to attend workshops and lectures with some of my personal heroes including the physicist/authors Peter Russell, Amit Goswami, NASAs zero-point scientist Bernard Haisch, anesthesiologist Stuart Hammerhof on his and Roger Penroses theory of Quantum Consciousness, and a remarkable presentation by Nassim Haramein exclusively on his paper about the Schwarzschild Proton). The entheogen section of the conference titled Entheogens as a Portal was a panel comprising of Rick Doblin (MAPS), Dr. Martin Ball, James Fadimann, myself and a couple of other speakers (whose names I must confess I dont remember) all who received 20 minutes to speak about entheogens and (I presumed) non-duality.
So for this conference, rather than discussing my usual subject (the endogenous entheogens, DMT and 5-MeO-DMT), I decided to consider the broad spectrum of different mood-enhancing compounds available, and rather than considering how each particular drug affects our bodies or our mental well-being as most scientific studies would, I would instead rank each drug on how it affected our sense of Ego, our sense of I. Since the total loss of Ego and the sense of I is the core of the transpersonal mystical experience (and I am an experiential-mystic at heart) I decided that I would assign each drug its own Mystical Value, with the drugs that can induce the transpersonal state of total loss of Ego and Identity having the highest value (most value to an experiential mystic), while the drugs that reinforced or inflated the sense of the Ego would have the lowest. After having ranked the various compounds (according to experiential reports in literature, EROWID, etc), it was interesting to note that the scale naturally descended by the chemical class of the compoundtryptamine, phenethylamine, opiates, amphetamines, alcohol and that this corresponded to a noticeable increase in toxicity.
Here is how I ranked the various compounds, along with my personal commentary on the effects of the compound, its toxicity, and human history.
The endogenous entheogens/ Simple tryptamines:
1. 5-Methoxy-DMT: Regularly capable of inducing a classical mystical experience of transpersonal oneness with complete dissolution of Ego and Identity, even at dosages as low as 5 micrograms. Endogenous. Which means that it is naturally produced within our own bodies and thus 100% physically non-toxic. Also present in nature in the leaf, bark, and roots of trees, and in the venom of the Bufo Alvarius toad. 5-MeO-DMT has been used in South America in the forms of snuffs for an estimated 3000 years. 5-MeO-DMTs modern use, first in the form of smoking toad venom, and then as synthesized 5-Meo-DMT, is approx 35 years old.
2. DMT (dimethyltryptamine): Capable of inducing a classical mystical experience of transpersonal Oneness, with complete dissolution of Ego and Identity, mostly at high dosages, and in certain individuals. Endogenous. Found in the leaf, seeds, bark, and roots of plants, DMT has been used in South America as snuffs, and as the active alkaloid in ayahuasca, for more than 1500 years. These plant admixtures are regarded as sacred medicines amongst the Amazonian cultures from which they originate. After being discovered to be psychologically active by the Hungarian psychologist Stephan Szara in 1957, DMT was used by IM sporadically throughout the early 1960s (most notably by William S Burroughs and Timothy Leary) before experiencing a brief burst of popularity in the late 1960s (after the underground chemist Nick Sand discovered that the fumurate was smokable), before disappearing almost completely by the end of the 1970s. The writings of Terence McKenna subsequently rekindled interest in the compound and its natural analogue ayahuasca, which combined with the unsubstantiated theories of Dr Rick Strassman presented in the more recent book DMT: The Spirit Molecule, has resulted in a significant modern mythology amongst the current psychedelic counter-culture.
The Complex Tryptamines:
3. LSD-25. (lysergic acid) Also a tryptamine, LSD is capable of inducing a classical mystical experience of transpersonal Oneness, with complete dissolution of Ego and Identity, in high dosages, and in certain individuals. Synthetic, with close analogues found in nature. The Eleusinian mysterieswhich could only be attended once in a lifetimewere considered the high point of Greek Society and ran for more than 2000 years, tremendously influencing Greek Philosophy and thus Western Thought. Kykeon, the entheogen at the heart of these mysteries, was most likely an LSD analogue produced from an ergot (grain) fungus. (The Temple at Eleusis was dedicated to Demeter, the Goddess of Wheat). LSD-like compounds have also been isolated from the Aztec ololiuqui (morning glory) seeds. Lysergic Acid LSD 25, which captured the public imagination like no other entheogen in modern history during the late 1960s and early 70s when an estimated 75 million people tried the drug is the synthetic counterpart of these natural plant analogues. While the very high dosages (800+ micrograms) recommended by Leary, Metzner, and Alpert in The Varieties of the Psychedelic Experience (1963) to induce a transpersonal-mystical experience ultimately proved to be more than most people liked to handle psychologically, LSD is physiologically one of the safest compounds known to man, since it requires the smallest known amount (1/10,000th of a gram) to be psychologically active, and is thus has an incredibly low toxicity to dosage. (You can ingest the same amount of cyanide, or even plutonium, and it will pass through your body with affecting you). Wikipedia reports a suspected fatal overdose (Kentucky, 1975) medical literature on LSD, which involved the IV injection of a ridiculously large amount of LSD (1/3rd of a gram more than 3000 of todays hits!) but notes most sources report that there are no known human cases of such an overdose.
4. Psilocybin (4-OH-DMT). Can induce transpersonal-mystical experience in high dosage. Naturally occurring in some 200 mushroom species. The presumed entheogen in Terence McKennas Stoned Ape theory. The least powerful of the tryptamines, psilocybin is of low toxicity although overdoses are reputedly possible on synthetic psilocybin, such as in the death of John Griggs, the leader of the notorious LSD-and-hashish cartel, The Brotherhood of Love, although none are reported on EROWID.
Ketamine/PCP
5. Ketamine/PCP: Capable of inducing a classical mystical experience of transpersonal Oneness, with complete dissolution of Ego and Identity, mostly at high dosages, and in certain individuals. The only legal PCP analogue (estimated 5-10% the strength of PCP), Ketamine, which acts as a stimulant on the central nervous system, requires inclusion due to its impressive record for inducing mystical experiences in individuals (mostly by IM injection) and it could be argued that it deserves a higher ranking than the complex tryptamines. Since it is used as a medical anesthetic, it is considered physically very safe and overdoses are rare. While PCP was first synthesized in 1926, with an illegal street use that peaked in the mid-70s, Ketamines illegal use as an entheogen (and increasingly as a party drug in small doses) is a relatively recent human development.
The Psychedelic-Phenethylamines:
6. Mescaline: Can induce transpersonal-mystical experience in high-dosages. Naturally occurring in various cactus species, mescaline is one of the oldest psychedelics known to man. The San Pedro cactus cults of Northern Peru are the longest known continuous shamanic tradition having existed for at least 3000 years, while there is evidence of peyote use in Mexico and North America dating back 5700 years. In these cultures, the mescaline-containing cacti were considered sacred medicine. Although very rare today, synthetic mescaline was the main subject of Aldous Huxleys The Doors of Perception, which helped spark the 60s psychedelic revolution. (Mescaline, Psilocybin, LSD, and DMT would be the 4 compounds listed in the introduction to Leary, Messner, and Alperts The Psychedelic Experience in 1965.). Like most psychedelics, mescaline is physically non-toxic and non-addictive.
7. 2-CB, 2-CI: Structurally related to mescaline, both 2-CB and 2-CI can induce transpersonal-mystical experience in high-dosages. Synthetic phenethylamines, these are notoriously dose-sensitive and little is known about their toxicity, but due to the extremely low toxicity of mescaline and virtually all psychedelics, they can be assumed to be physically non-toxic and non-addictive. Both are creations of Alexander Shulgin (most famous for popularizing MDMA), which rose to popularity in the LSD drought of the early 21st century caused by the infamous Kansas Silo bust, proving once again that prohibition simply results in diversity.
FATAL OVERDOSE LINE
The Empathagenic-Phenethylamines:
8. MDA: (Sassafras). Empathogen. The original 1960s Love Drug. As with all the compounds in this class, empathogens can decrease the effect of Ego by inducing love and compassion to others, weakening the sense of I. Empathogens also differ from psychedelic/entheogens in their acute toxicity, with deaths caused by cardiac arrest/brain hemorrhaging at a fatality rate of approx 2 in 100,000 users, approximately the same as the more popular (though less toxic) MDMA.
9. MDMA (Ecstasy). See MDA. Rediscovered and popularized by chemist Alexander Shulgin in the 1980s, MDMA held great promise for psychiatry before becoming illegal in a wave of Federal paranoia. Currently being used in hospital trials in Israel, the organization MAPS (Multi-disciplinary Association of Psychedelic Sciences) wants to start clinical trials on returning soldiers with post-traumatic stress syndrome here in the USA.
Other Popular Illegal Compounds:
10. THC (Cannabis or marijuana). Decreases the effect of the Ego by shifting perspective, often towards the humorous side. Relatively low toxicity, no possibility of physical overdose. While cannabis related crimes are the number one reason for incarceration in the USA, with over a million people in jail for its sale, distribution, production, or possession, there has never been a single death related to THC consumption itself.
11. Opiates/Heroin: Nullifies the Ego by negating all desire although not the sense of I. Highly physically addictive with regular fatal overdoses, heroin was involved in 213,118 Emergency Room (ED) visits in 2009. Meanwhile Oxycodon fatalities (OxyContin is a semi-synthetic opiod pain reliever derived from opium) have increased 66.7% over the last five years due to this pain-medicines relatively high toxicity. (14,459 in 2007 82,724 people died from FDA approved drugs in 2010.) ED visits involving nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals (either alone or in combination with another drug) increased 98.4 percent between 2004 and 2009, from 627,291 visits to 1,244,679. OxyContin sales currently exceed $4 billion per year.
12. Cocaine: The ultimate Me drug. Physically and psychologically addictive. Highly toxic. A nervous-system stimulant, cocaine dependence (addiction) can result in cardiovascular and brain damage. The Greed Culture of the 1980s that came only 15 years after the Psychedelic Revolution can almost be epitomized by its reverence to cocaine, the most expensive drug that does the least for the shortest amount of time. In 2009 Cocaine and crack cocaine overdoses were responsible for over 400 000 ED room visits in US hospitals. While the first cocaine epidemic in the USA was in the 1880s, cocaine has greatly grown in popularity since the 1970s, with the estimated U.S. cocaine market exceeding $70 billion in street value in 2005 a greater revenue than a corporation such as Starbucks. The multi-billion dollar War against Cocaine has been waged at the military level in foreign countries since the 1980s with no noticeable affect on supply, while drug violence long the border of Mexico mostly over the cocaine and methamphetamine trade is killing more than 5000 people a year.
13. Methamphetamines. Physically and psychologically addictive. Highly toxic. The highly lucrative illegal underground market of the USAs most-popular legal drug (Ritalin and Adderall are legal methamphetamines the USA consumes 85% of the worlds prescription speed.) Sometimes called white-trash cocaine, methamphetamine abuse is reaching epidemic proportions at many levels of American society with over 93,000 ED room visits in 2009. Crack cocaine and methamphetamine addiction have long been associated with both forced and voluntary prostitution in every country that they appear in, while the violence associated with Mexican drug cartels fighting for control of a cocaine and methamphetamine market valued in excess of 50 billion dollars is currently responsible for over 15,000 fatalities a year.
(And finally, our Societys chosen legal inebrient)
14. Alcohol: Considered a psychoactive depressant. Highly toxic and physically addictive. The United States Center for Disease Control estimates that medium to high consumption of alcohol leads to the death of approx 75,000 people a year in the USA. While the last three compounds on this chart Cocaine, Methamphetamine, and Alcohol are the only three compounds most likely to reinforce the Ego to the point of physical violence, alcohol is the one your most likely to do yourself physical harm on due to self-loathing. Alcohol is the most common extenuating factor for homicides, rapes, beatings, and suicides, not to mention vehicular fatalities. Alcohol is arguably the least sophisticated drug in both its production and its crude inebriating effects. The first alcoholic beverages can be traced back 9000 years to Neolithic times, which is why I like to call it our stone-age drug. Paradoxically, (or perhaps because of its ancient origins) alcohol it is the only 100% legal drug on this list in the vast majority of countries around the world.
My conclusion from ranking these various compounds by their unique Mystical Value and comparing their relative toxicity can thus be expressed quite simply (as):
Orocs Law: The more a compound disrupts the Ego (the sense of I), the physically safer (less toxic) that compound will be, while the more a drug reinforces and inflates the sense of Ego, the more physically harmful (toxic) that compound will be.
After my presentation a number of the enthusiastic audience asked me if I had ever written anything about this Mystical Value Scale and I had to confess that I had not, but that some time in the future I would try to. But in all truth, I would probably have stored it away in the back drawers of my very messy mind had not the former Chief Advisor on Drugs to the British Government published a very interesting report in the respected Lancet medical journal that was released just a month later (Nov 2010) and made world-wide news. In this report by the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, every common drug in British society was scored by a panel of social health experts on the harm it created including mental and physical damage, addiction, crime and costs to the economy and the community, thus basically ranking the public health effect of the various drugs. The maximum harm score was 100 and the minimum zero. When the results were tabulated, the most harmful drug was alcohol (72), then heroin (55), crack-cocaine (54), methamphetamines (33), cocaine (27), cannabis (20), ketamine (15), and MDMA (9), with LSD (7) and magic mushrooms (5) being ranked as the least harmful substances to British society! (Neither DMT or 5-MeO-DMT were on the list). The esteemed authors also wrote that our findings lend support to the previous work in the UK and the Netherlands, confirming that the present drug classification systems have little relation to the evidence of harm.
Based on this highly scientific report, my observation about the related toxicity of my Mystical Value scale would seem to have been validated, with those drugs that most eradicate the effect of the Ego being deemed (by public health experts) the safest. Non-addictive and of low toxicity, psychedelic drugs offer no threat to your physical health, and yet they are considered by our Society to be extremely dangerous and are amongst the most illegal substances on the planet.
The word drug incidentallywhich means (in this context, according to the Websters dictionary) a chemical substance which enhances physical or mental well-being is a ridiculously misleading and almost meaningless word if you think about it, since nearly everything we eat and drink can be considered a drug. Nitrous oxide, a gas, is a drug. Coffee, tea, sugar, and chocolate are all drugs. Even McDonalds french-fries under this broad definition could be considered a (highly addictive) drug. Now, as much as I love chocolate, coffee, and even I hate to admit it the occasional McDonalds French-fry, I see little purpose in comparing them in any way, shape, or form, to LSD, DMT, or 5-MeO-DMT, which are far more likely to completely change your consensual reality then they are enhance your physical or mental well-being. But the very use of a word/term as broad as drugs (drug law, drug war, illegal drugs, dangerous drugs etc) to describe and legally regulate (DEA) such a ridiculously broad range of compounds is in its self a verbal smokescreen designed to help limit the distinctly society-changing possibilities of psychedelic-entheogens.
If I may diverge for a moment, it is my personal opinion that the first psychedelic revolution in the United States (1963 Saturday 6th December 1969) failed ultimately due to the mass influx of a variety of distinctly non-psychedelic drugs into the chaotic and highly exploratory youth culture of that time. Psychedelics when used in high-dosages have proven to be safest when used in a thoughtful and controlled set-and-setting, but as the Youth revolution took hold many teenagers were exposed to super-powerful entheogens like LSD-25 and STP (DOM) in what can only be described as a cavalier and Dionysian manner. Considering the fact that an average hit of LSD in 1968 (400-500mg) was 5 times stronger than a hit of street acid (80 to 100mg) today, and that first-timers LSD users were frequently encouraged to take two hits if they wanted to see Tim Learys promised white light, with little thought to their set-and setting, then it is easy to see how a large number of young hippies feared acid as much as others revered it. (You still witness this same phenomena today many of the 20 somethings that I talk to at festivals seem to love DMT but are terrified of LSD having already experienced a trip too long and arduous for them and they probably ate a quarter of what their parents did for their first time in the 60s!). This tendency to push all experiences to the limit (the Prankster ethic) opened the backdoor for the more seductive and much easier rides of first heroin, and then cocaine. (Which when it was first introduced was not thought to be addictive.)
Disregarding the potential (and well-documented role) that the CIA played in the introduction and distribution of virtually all the illegal drugs that became available, by failing to recognize the essential difference of psychedelics/entheogensthat they are best used carefully in a sacred manner with trusted guides and not wildly in recreation amongst crowds of strangersand then by lumping the wide-variety of compounds that followed into a singular Drug Culture that fails to distinguish between the wide variety of experiences that this vast family of so-called drugs can produce, the Alternative culture that had been inspired by psychedelics and the chance for change, ended up settling for uppers-and-downers and the Status Quo, as heroin, cocaine, and amphetamines became the most popular illegal drugs of the last thirty years of the 20th century. (And the use and abuse of legal prescription drugs sky rocketed).
It is interesting now with more than 40 years perspective to realize the fact that our Societys so-called Drug Culture has increasingly turned away from the 60s psychedelic ethos of the mystical destruction of the Ego (and consequently the social structures that the Ego creates) towards a range of compounds that actually reinforce the concept of the Ego (and thus maintain the existing social structures that Ego has built). It could be argued that the last thirty years of the twentieth century that came after the failed psychedelic revolution of the 1960s were the most egocentric years in human history, as television and a global communication network have relentlessly promoted the cult of the Ego as the highest human ideal to the post Vietnam generations of techno-capitalists, with the constant accumulation of individual wealth and power seen as a Darwinian function inherited from our hunter-gatherer days. This obsession with the role of the Individual has resulted in 5% of the worlds population now controlling 50% of its wealth, as multi-national corporations controlled by a handful of families continue to strip the globe of its resources to line the pockets of shareholders and board members in those industrialized nations whose military are effectively the World Law, a treacherous and seemingly unstoppable situation that is threatening life on this planet as the military-industrial complex lurches increasingly erratically through the last of its days. The cult of the Individual Ego has now grown so predominant, we have a societal case of what I call extinction denial where the fate of the individual has become paramount, best expressed in the concept You better get yours while you can.
A radical reassessment of the effect of capitalism and consumerism on both the human condition and our planet is clearly required, but what can bring about a change in a viewpoint that has been steadily being programmed into us by the very technology whose reckless use we need to reassess? According to the Dalai Lama achieving genuine happiness may require bringing about a transformation in your outlook, in your way of thinking, and this is not a simple matter and I believe this applies to us as much as a Society as it does to each of us individually. But what can any of us really do other than reorganize deck chairs on the Titanic? What action can actually have a chance of bringing about a fundamental transformation in the way Humanity perceives and values Life on this planet?
In July of 2003 when first introduced to the super-entheogen 5-MeO-DMT, I underwent what I now believe to be a classical mystical experience of transpersonal unity with the Source of Being. This event had a profound effect upon my world-view since I found myself changed from an agnostic scientific-rationalist to believing in the existence of a God far greater than I could have ever imagined, all in the space of a single 40 minute drug-induced trip. The result for my subsequent search for answers on how such a radical transformation could have occurred is contained in my book Tryptamine Palace: 5-MeO-DMT and the Sonoran Desert Toad. (Park Street Press, 2009), and within the pages of that book I make the claim that this discovery of a spiritual element to the Universe, and the realization that God not only CAN exist but exists as the mystics have always insistedas a part of you, is the most exciting realization that a human being can make. More than eight years have now past since I myself made that unexpected discovery, and while I still agree that is ultimately the most exciting discovery possible, I must concede it is not always the most practical, a dilemma that mystics have known and have suffered for since the beginning of time. The personal discovery of Godany kind of God or Buddha-State, for they are all streams of the same Cosmic rivercan never be scientifically proven and inevitably any entheogenic realizations or enlightenment can only offer the same proofs as any other spiritual system the sticky dual-problem of personal testimony and faith.
I have however come to realize that while entheogens can never prove the existence of God (rather one can only experience God-Consciousness through the use of them and thus form your own opinion), true-entheogens can be used as the most powerful tools of exploration available for investigating some of the most perplexing philosophical questions that humanity has managed to conceive, especially those concerning the role and reality of Consciousness, and its human-shadow, the Ego. As our Society and technology begins to progress beyond the Newtonian-Darwinian paradigm, we are coming to scientifically realize that nothing in the Universe exists as an individual point in space-and-time, since the emerging quantum view of the Universe states that all things are linked and connected thru a matrix of fields of energy that far surpass the energy of physical matter, matter is merely the froth on the wave of reality if you like, while our consciousness, the vehicle of this discovery, far from being an accidental by-product of chemical reactions produced within the matter of the brain as purported by the old paradigm, increasingly seems to be a part of an infinite field of consciousness that both permeates, and creates, the Universe itself. I can also personally testify that thru the use of entheogens one can actually experience a moment outside of time and space as pure Consciousness, with no idea or memory of who you are or where you came from, and in that instant the realization arises of the interconnectedness of all things, that all is truly Onethe transpersonal experience as Stanislav Grof calls itand that this is quite possibly the most profound human experience available, a speculation that the recorded history of all varieties of mysticism would seem to support.
Which brings about the about the very interesting possibilityas suggested by the psychologist Julian Jaynes in his increasingly influential book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mindthat the modern highly-individualized human Ego that has been so venerated in the 19th and 20th centuries may be a comparatively recent development in both human history (and perhaps the history of the Universe), and that the voice in our head that we now all constantly hear, a few thousand years ago would only arise only in times of severe crisis and danger. (And was often thought to be the voice of the Gods). The non-denominational spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle in his modern classic A New Earth argues that our highly refined sense of I has come from the development of our technology-driven Society, since the narrowing of our mental focus away from the transpersonal has allowed us to develop our fantastic technology, but at the expense of disconnecting us with another deeper layer of consciousness that we share with all other things in the Universe. We can no longer see the woods for the trees so to speak, as we have become prisoners of our own inflated sense of self.
As our scientists start to discover the outer realms of Quantum Consciousness, and our psychologists and spiritual masters begin to return our attention to the idea of a Cosmic or Absolute Consciousness that both unites and transcends all religion, with the role that the Individual Ego plays in our Society coming under increasingly critical scrutiny, then it would seem clear the lesson that the careful use of entheogens can teach virtually any of us. It is a scientifically verifiable fact that entheogenic compounds can cause a human ego to be disrupted or even momentarily wiped away, and that when this happens, to paraphrase the poetic words of William Blake, the doors of perception are cleansed, and all things appear to man as they are, Infinite. Throughout the recorded history of Humanity there has been no experience considered more profound or more valuable then the singular realization that All is indeed One, and now as the scientists have begun to catch up with the mystics on realizing the simple undeniable fact that all systems are linked, and that the very idea of the sacredness of the individual is somewhat absurd, we now need to reform our governments, our religions, our financial institutions, our schools, and most importantly ourselves, to this fundamental Universal Truth.
In a world where we have been programmed by the constant sounds and flashy moving images of our rapidly developing modern technology since we have been born, the ancient schools of meditation and contemplation have had little chance to reform the Ego or the society that our love of technologythe human child of the Egohas built for us, since we have long since forgotten that the death of the Ego is a desirable goal. Deepak Chopra once wrote that synchronicity is the universe showing its intention, and therefore I do not find it strange that mescaline was first synthesized the year that Rntgen discovered radiation, or that Albert Hofmann had a strange dream to reinvestigate a compound that he had put on a shelf many years earlier, thereby instigating a chain of events that would cause him to discover LSD-25s remarkable psychoactive qualities while the Manhattan Project was months away from igniting the worlds first atomic bomb, arguably humanitys most egocentric invention. Lysergic Acid (LSD) is a remarkable 20th century invention in the fact that it is the only entheogen that a competent chemist can make a million hits of in an afternoon, and its mass-production qualities (for a mass-production society) should not be under-valued, since it has been responsible for reintroducing the mystical/shamanic concept of the death-and-rebirth of the Ego into our Society at a time when it is most desperately needed. An entheogenic moment outside of space of time can cause a lifetime of egocentric programming to come tumbling down like a house of cards, an illumination almost impossible to ignore, and it is for exactly this reason that our Governments so fear them. If we build the foundations of the Entheogenic Revolution the 2nd Psychedelic Revolution upon the basis of a constant awareness of the influence of the Ego, and seek out a deeper connection with the Mind of the Universe that we all share in a process of liberation theology, then we have a chance to rebuild our tribes into a true World Family that will find a way through the troubling times to come. For if there is one thing that is for sure, it is that none of us will make it alone.
James Oroc
References: DMT Site&Psychedelic Adventure
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Meet The Racetams: Powerful Family of Nootropics – MilTech
Posted: at 5:56 pm
Racetams are a group of synthetic Nootropics which are known to be among the most popular compounds used for cognitive enhancement. This family includes many types of popular compounds such as Piracetam, Aniracetam, Oxiracetam, and many other variations. Each of the compounds found in this family of Nootropics are related through their common Pyrrolidone nucleus, which is a type of compound know as a Lactam. Each member of the Racetam family has its own unique qualities, and is known to provided uniquely different experiences. Racetams are generally regarded as being best stacked with a Choline compound, to help maintain levels of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine during use.
First, its important to recognize that much of what is known about Racetams, and Nootropics in general, is related to anecdotal evidence. Piracetam, one of the most-popular Nootropics, is reported by many to offer a calming and holistic-enhancing effect. This focused calm is described by many as being experienced in the form of being more fluid in conversation, more socially-relaxed, and able to retain new memory better. Other Racetams, such as Oxiracetam are regarded more as mental stimulants, and are less affective towards overall mood and emotion. These compounds offer a rush of mental energy that many find preferable to other slightly comparable compounds like caffeine.
Two of the primary neurotransmitters thought to be affected by Nootropics in the Racetam family are acetylcholine and glutamate
There is a distinct lack of clinical data to offer explanation on how exactly Racetam compounds are able to affect such experiences in the mind. It is generally accepted that these molecules act by the modulation of certain neurotransmitters, though much of that premise has been assumed from anecdotal accounts. Two of the primary neurotransmitters thought to be affected by Nootropics in the Racetam family are acetylcholine and glutamate. Acetylcholine is used in a wide range of applications including muscular movements, memory formation, attention, arousal, and even motivation. By acting on these types of neural pathways, its believed that the Racetam family can contribute considerable cognitive-boosting effects when taken.
Most of the research on Racetams comes from the original research done by a Romanian psychologist known as Dr. Giurgea. Through his attempt at discovering a neurological relaxing agent acting on the GABAergic neural pathways, he discovered Piracetam. While this compound didnt demonstrate the relaxing and sleep-aiding benefits he set out to discover, it did show remarkable cognitive enhancing properties. Beyond this research, much of the data surrounding the benefits of Piracetam, Aniracetam, and other Racetam compounds stems largely from anecdotal evidence from shared personal experiences.
There is some clinical data that suggests Racetams may offer beneficial neuroprotective, and properties, and have been shown to benefit some patients with dementia
Much of the modern clinical research done regarding Racetam compounds has been conducted on rats and in vitro neural samples. One study found that Piracetam was able to inhibit severe cramp-like seizing of the muscles to do medically-induced reactions or genetic deformity, known as a Dystonic reaction 1. In another study, Piracetam, Oxiracetam, and Aniracetam were all shown to positively modulate AMPA receptor sites within neural tissue samples 2. AMPA receptor sites are areas of the brain which are able to make use of Glutamate, one of the most prevalent neurotransmitters and responsible for quick synaptic responses.
Aniracetam is a cholinergic compound, and is regarded to be a positive modulator of AMPA receptor sites throughout the brain. This Nootropic compound not only positively modulates AMPA receptor sites, but also acts to maintain sensitivity levels of the AMPA receptor sites as well. During periods of positive stimulation, AMPA receptor sites begin to become desensitized, thus affording a less profound effect as time increases. Many users of Aniracetam regard it asenhancing communication ability, creating a more collective sense of thought, and also allowing for more fluid discussion and recollection of complexity. Aniracetam should be regarded as a mood-affecting compound, with the ability to create a more positive outlook in most. Aniracetam is a popular choice among Nootropics enthusiasts that are not able to experience effects from Piracetam, but want more of a social experience than that offered by Oxiracetam.
Piracetamhas been noted by users to induce a deeper sense of memory recall, better learning, and an increased sense of social ease. Many of these experiences are underlined by the general sense of being on a peak energy level, which can be unsettling for some. One interesting aspect of Piracetam is that may be integrally dependent on adrenal function to exhibit full effect. One study found that the removal of adrenal function (adrenalectomy) completely eliminated the memory-enhancing effects of Piracetam in mice 3. This research suggests that the effects of Piracetam might be able to be more fully optimized when stacked with compound such as Phosphatidylserine, which has been shown to help maintain adrenal balance during period of physical stress such as exercise 4. This would suggest that the use of supplements such as Phosphatidylserine with Piracetam might help increase the magnitude of Piracetams effects. Piracetam is regarded as the first Nootropic compound every to be synthesized with the intent of affording cognitive enhancements. Its long history among users has lead most to regard it as completely safe, although less potent than many other compounds.
Oxiracetam is a bit different from other members of the Racetam family chemically-speaking, but is still centered about a Pyrrolidone molecule. This Nootropic compound is one of the few Racetams that has a fair amount of clinical data to support ideas of how it may function, and the benefits it may offer. Oxiracetam positively modulates AMPA receptor sites similar to Aniracetam and Piracetam, but is thought to increase the overall release of glutamate and acetylcholine. This type of increase in activity ultimately works to increase the overall metabolic rate of neural pathways. Oxiracetam offers many benefits, but one of the most-notable is its ability to help treat the neurodegenerative effects of dementia. One study found that Oxiracetam was able to significantly increase the quality of life for patients that were suffering from dementia 5. Oxiracetam has more clinical data to support the ideas of its benefits and action, but would still benefit from further investigationas would most Nootropics.
All the Nootropic compounds found in the Racetam family share a similar chemical structure, and tend to offer similar benefits. While each compound differs in the exact nature of how it may affect the brain, most users tend to report a moderate increase in learning ability, memory retention, and overall sociability. There is some clinical data that suggests Racetams may offer beneficial neuroprotective, and properties, and have been shown to benefit some patients with dementia. The compounds in this group are regarded by many as being the original Nootropics, and have been used fondly by many throughout the years. Piracetam is the oldest member of this family, and has the most established account of its applications and effects. Newer members such as Aniracetam have been known to exhibit more energetic and potent effects, and are often preferred by many users.
The Racetam family is full of unique and energetic members
Many of the compounds found in this family of Nootropics have been experimented with recreationally for decades, while others are just now being fully recognized as offering potential benefits. The lack of clinical data suggests that caution should be used when experimenting with any of these compounds. That said, the internet is full of anecdotal accounts of these compounds which paint them as relatively safe. Any compound that is taken with the intent of altering brain function and mental perceptions should be done so with a heightened intentbeing cognizant that negative effects will pass eventually. Having your balance of perception shifted can be unsettling if youve never experienced such shifts, and for those new to these types of compounds its very much recommended to start small, and work your way up. The Racetam family is full of unique and energetic members, each with the potential to afford you great benefit when used effectively.
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America’s Islam trance – WND.com
Posted: at 5:55 pm
Its not that unusual for an Islamic society.
After all, the usual features are all on display the Muslim call to prayer, the teaching of Islam in the nations schools to the exclusion of other religions, preferential treatment afforded Muslims by government and the courts, news coverage reflexively portraying Islam in a positive light, the rapid growth in mosque construction and also the disturbing cultural phenomena of female genital mutilation, honor killings and so on.
Except this is not Saudi Arabia or Egypt were talking about, or any of the worlds approximately 50 Muslim-majority countries.
This is the United States of America. Not America as it might be one day if current trends continue, but as it is right now today.
Thats right. While North Korea threatens to nuke the U.S. mainland, while the left (including most of the media) continues its infantile post-election meltdown into madness, while President Trump endeavors to remedy the torrent of national and international problems unleashed by his predecessor Barack Obama beneath the radar and largely out of view, America is inexorably becoming ever more Islamized.
While a few brave souls have been sounding the alarm over the progressive inroads Shariah Islam is making into American culture, schools,colleges, religion,medicine,law, government and even the military, perhaps the most important question that needs to be addressed at this point is, why?
Why, when Judeo-Christian America has been hands-down the most successful nation in history indeed why, when Americans are blessed with a crystal ball called Europe in which they can clearly see the disastrous future awaiting a once-Christian civilization that recklessly embraces Islamic expansionism would we continue down the same suicidal path that has led to Europes virtual suicide?
There are several reasons, some obvious, some less so.
Lets start with the obvious: Power-mad Beltway Democrats obsession with importing multitudes of voters in hopes of attaining a permanent progressive voting majority, since statistically the vast majority of Muslims in America vote Democrat. Big businesss selfish desire for cheap immigrant labor. Liberal-left Christians naive compulsion to welcome Muslim refugees, not simply to help the needy and downtrodden, but to prove to others and to themselves that they are good people and not racists, Islamophobes or xenophobes. And of course, Muslim Brotherhood-front organizations like the Council on American-Islamic Relations go-to tactic of exploiting Americas expansive First Amendment religious freedom protections to aggressively advance their Shariah-supremacist agenda.
WND READERS CAN HELP finally expose CAIRs subversive and dangerous agenda, once and for all, by contributing to the legal defense of WNDs Muslim Mafia author in a historic legal case soon coming to trial. Read more here.
But there are othernot-so-obvious, but ultimately more fundamental, reasons America is bending over backward to welcome the growth and influence of an ideology openly dedicated to dominating us.
To understand the forces truly at work here, we need to focus for a few moments on the most basic, core, bottom-line issues of life: Unlike previous generations of Americans who grew up under the strong moral umbrella of Judeo-Christian values, tens of millions of todays Americans and indeed virtually the entirety of our nations elites have essentially abandoned the biblical understanding of right and wrong, good and evil, morality and immorality, life and death that served for millennia as the moral foundation of Western Civilization.
Lets get specific: What we cryptically call the left which for the last two to three generations has shaped American life, politics, culture and government simplycannot operate without violating all of the Ten Commandments. Replacing Americans traditional Judeo-Christian reverence for life and higher law is the lefts substitute religion, which violates Gods commandments even as it celebrates its false gods of reproductive rights (Thou shalt not kill), sexual freedom (Thou shalt not commit adultery), wealth redistribution (Thou shalt not steal) and so on. Moreover, as I document in The Snapping of the American Mind, because of this rebellion against reality, the left has succeeded, whether intentionally or not, in pushing millions of decent Americans right over the edge into widespread dependency, debauchery, family breakdown, crime, corruption, addiction, despair and suicide.
This inversion of Americans traditional core values, which causes us, for example, to glorify and celebrate immorality, perversion and mental illness (like troubled people amputating healthy body parts and pretending to be the opposite sex) while reviling and punishing virtue (like the Christian county clerk jailed for conscientiously objecting to signing a marriage license for two homosexuals) is the same inversion of values that inspires us to enthusiastically import into our country as many people as possible who are steeped in a religious and political ideology dedicated to crushing our own.
Its as though were living in a hypnotic trance, in a dream state, wherein we are moving in slow motion toward certain destruction. A few of us see the danger and shout warnings, but to no avail. No one seems to hear us, or else if they do hear they dont comprehend the peril and instead attack us and call us terrible names or worse.
Bizarre alliance
Lets take a closer look now at the bizarre alliance between two seemingly incompatible utopian ideologies the progressive left and expansionist Islam currently undermining America at every turn. After all, those on the Democratic left are continually defending, excusing and running interference for Islamic supremacists in America, not to mention welcoming into our countrythousands of Muslims from the most radicalizedregions on earth. Why would they do that?
The alliance between the left and Islam can best be explained by the overarching reality that both share a common enemy, Christianity. Thus does the left warmly sidle up to Islam, which, truth be known, were it in charge would destroy the left, throwing members of some of the lefts main constituent groups off buildings or hanging or stoning or otherwise executing or enslaving them.
Both since the Marxist left and Shariah Islam both detest and fear Christian civilization more than each other, they therefore are natural, albeit temporary, allies in their shared aim to defeat a common enemy. (After all, America temporarily allied with Stalin to defeat Hitler.)
Andrew C. McCarthy is the former federal prosecutor who convicted the notorious blind sheikh and other jihadists for waging a terror war against America, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He explores the strange alliance between Islam and the left in his 2010 book, The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America.
Zeroing in on the disturbingly symbolic yet pregnant-with-meaning spectacle of President Barack Obama scandalously bowing waist-deep to Saudi dictator King Abdullah bin Abdul Azziz, McCarthy asks the obvious: Why would the leader of the free world grovel before a corrupt Muslim potentate?
Because, writes McCarthy, Saudi Arabia is the cradle of Islam. More specifically, it is the bottomless purse and symbolic crown of a movement which aims at nothing less than supplanting Western political, economic and cultural values. The subversion of those values is Obamas fondest wish: the work of his presidency, the Hope behind the Change. The president was bowing to a shared dream.
Setting aside as equally irrelevant both Obamas Muslim affiliation as a youth in Indonesia and his professed Christianity as an adult, McCarthy observes: The faith to which Obama actually clings is neocommunism. It is a leftism of the most insidious kind: secular and uncompromising in its rejection of bourgeois values, but feverishly spiritual in its zeal to tear down the existing order, under the banner of its all-purpose rally-cry: social justice.
Neocommunists need not adhere to a formal religion, explains McCarthy. Instead, they tend to infuse causes like environmentalism, privacy and secularism with religious fervor. For most leftists, though, religion is a useful tool. It is never a straitjacket because neocommunists consider themselves no more bound by the strictures of creed than by the constraints of tradition.
Still, one wonders, how could the lefts consuming utopian obsessions possibly mesh with the equally uncompromising demands of Shariah Islam, bent on world domination for 14 centuries? The former federal prosecutor of terrorists explains the strange dynamics allowing this alliance:
Nihilism is the key. Todays hard left is defined by what it is against: the United States, free-market capitalism, and any foreign policy premised on defending American interests or promoting individual liberty. Only this part of the agenda is concrete, leaving neocommunism elastic enough to strike alliances with any movement that shares it. What neocommunists are for, by contrast, is a set of abstractions social justice, equality, redistributive rights, the rule of law, and, of course, our values. The details of those can be worked out later, once the more pressing imperative of undoing the existing order has been realized.
In other words, says McCarthy, to the left, change is not designed to create a new system. Its purpose is to destroy the old one. What comes next is negotiable. Thus, he explains:
That is why neocommunism aligns so seamlessly with revolutionary movements catalyzed by religious fervor. What comes next for a millenarian movement may not be negotiable, but before the new can be imposed the old must be swept aside. That calls for collaboration among all factions that need to depose the established order, even if their ultimate designs dont perfectly mesh.
Theres another critical dynamic that explains, at least in part, the cravenly pro-Muslim trance state of the leftist media, academy and culture: Terrorists provide powerful public relations cover for non-violent moderate Muslims seeking the same ultimate end as jihadists for America to become Islamic. As McCarthy explains:
Just as the Soviet collapse has been a boon for the left, the ferocity and overreach of Muslim terrorists has been a dual boon for Islamism. So atrocious has been the bloodbath wrought by al Qaeda, its affiliates and its imitators that it has enabled more methodical Muslim extremists to operate under the radar. Repeated terror strikes, culminating in the death of nearly 3,000 innocents and the surreal demolition of the seemingly impregnable Twin Towers, shock Americans and their government into a myopic determination to prevent additional mass-murder attacks.
In this climate of fear, the calculating but apparently non-violent Islamist compares favorably with the uncompromising, blood-soaked Islamist terrorist. He is thus regarded as cause of hope indeed, as a moderate by government and opinion elites. This, despite the fact that his agenda is essentially the same as the terrorists: Only their methods differ, and even those differences are shades of gray.
We are just scratching the surface here. I invite you to join me in exploring this crucial subject much more fully in the current eye-opening issue of Whistleblower magazine, titled HOW ISLAM IS SECRETLY TRANSFORMING AMERICA.
WND READERS CAN HELP finally expose CAIRs subversive and dangerous agenda, once and for all, by contributing to the legal defense of WNDs Muslim Mafia author in a historic legal case soon coming to trial. Read more here.
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Robert Miles obituary: Trance DJ behind hit chillout music track ‘Children’ – The Independent
Posted: at 5:55 pm
Robert Miles, who has died from cancer aged 47, was the DJ and music producer behind the Nineties trance smash hit Children, a favourite chillout tune for clubbers at the time and ever since.
He was born Roberto Concina in 1969 in Fleurier, Switzerland, to Italian immigrants Albino Concina and Antonietta Lauro. He spent his early years in Friuli, Italy, where he began playing piano, aged ten. Three years later he was already DJing at friends house parties. Miles began working as a club and pirate radio DJ in the mid-Eighties, using the stage name Robert Milani. He later anglicised the name to Miles, in anticipation, he said, of the musical journey ahead of him.
Children, the track for which he is best known, had its genesis in his garden studio during 1994 as an instrumental tune, featuring synthesiser and acoustic guitar, and was released the following year. The songs title was Miles response to the ongoing war in Yugoslavia and its child victims. He later recalled the reactions to the first club outing for his composition:
I was anxious to see how people would take to this piece. The following Sunday morning I opened my DJ set with Children, feeling both scared and excited... I lifted my gaze and saw a sea of hands reaching up high and a smile stamped on every face... A girl approached me in tears. 'What music is this?' she asked me. I don't think I shall ever forget that moment, when I realised that my feelings had been conveyed through my music. My dream turned into reality.
In an era before music streaming and YouTube, the sales were initially slow. But the tune was gradually picked up by radio DJs across Europe. On BBC Radio 1 Pete Tong made it his Essential Tune of The Week for three weeks in a row. The single sold an initial 350,000 copies, had already sold more than 5 million copies worldwide within two years going platinum in several countries and continues its success in the age of online music.
As a chillout track, played by DJsat the end of the night and giving clubbers a chance to wind down before making the drive home, the tune is credited with saving lives. And in pioneering the genre of dream house, "Children"led the way to the trance music that has since entered into mainstream music consciousness.
Childrenwas featured on his debut album, Dreamland (1996), and won him best international newcomer at the 1997 Brit Awards. Miles moved for a time to London and continued in a more experimental vein, releasing four further album titles, including 23am (1997) and Organik (2001), to critical acclaim. In 2012 he launched the radio station and music community, OpenLab, broadcasting from Ibiza.
His friend and former DBX label head, Joe T Vannelli, said of him I will miss the fights, brawls, criticism, judgements but especially your talent in finding sounds and melodies unparalleled.
Roberto Concina (Robert Miles), DJ and composer: born 3 November 1969; died 9 May 2017
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Robert Miles obituary: Trance DJ behind hit chillout music track 'Children' - The Independent
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Run cyberpunk with these big cans! – Manila Bulletin
Posted: at 5:54 pm
Published May 15, 2017, 12:05 AM
By Jonathan Kevin Castillo
I have spent long hours listening to music and Serial, Writing Excuses, and Night Vale podcasts, with different Sony headphones. And each of those devices were armed and ready to blast you to skies with the best audio Sony can deliver.
The MDR-1A had been my favorite from Sony for a long time, followed closely by the MDR-10RNC and the MDR-ZX330BT. And now looking holding the Sony MDR 1000X, I wish I had this instead way back when I took two to three hour commutes from home and to the office every day. Its not just another wireless headphones with noise-canceling features, this is a different kind of beast altogether. When it comes to a wireless noise-canceling headphone, the MDR 1000X has pushed aside every top choice Ive had in my head.
The MDR 1000X has style. As in line with other Sony products, the MDR 1000X is carved out to make you look good. It has this cyberpunk-ish appeal that reminds you that this is the future.
Of course Sony has been in the music business for a long time, so it goes without saying the MDR 1000X has excellent audio quality. Despite set in the mid-range line, Sony did not cut any corners to deliver a rich and full sound. What Sony boasts here is the Sense Engine technology, which allows the MDR 1000X to give you that impressive noise-canceling environment and at the time offers ways in how to remain alert in the outside world.
In the normal Ambient Sound Mode, even with the MDR-1000X locked on your head with the volume rocked high, youll still be able to hear the sound of the rumbling of vehicles. What happens here is your music fires up in the background, keeping you alert of your surroundings. Then theres the Voice mode in Ambient Sound, which has the headphones adjust frequencies so you will be able to hear sudden announcements.
You can also place your head over the side of the headphones, just like the gesture when trying to intently listen to someone, and automatically the sound will drop low enough for you to hear any announcements or if someone suddenly asks you a question. It sounds nice on paper but youd wonder if the volume actually drops low enough for you to actually hear whats happening, and the answer to that is yes. The music doesnt go away completely but it fades enough for you to have a quick conversation.
The right housing is touch-sensitive. Swipe forward and back to switch tracks, up and down for volume, and double tap for pause. This is also one of the most comfortable headphones and stays on in a snug fit. And for battery, youve got nothing worry about, the MDR 1000X will last you at least the entire day and carries over to the next.
The Sony MDR 1000X is an outstanding headgear that goes well in style and your surroundings.
Tags: noise-canceling, sony, Sony headphones, Sony products, wireless headphones
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Cyberpunk Horror Game Observer Launches on PS4, Xbox One … – GamingBolt
Posted: at 5:54 pm
Bloober Team, the folks who brought usLayers of Fear before, will be bringins us the cyberpunk horror gameObserver this summer,Bloober Teams Rafal Basaj confirmed. The game will be launching on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
The game seems to take some cues from theBlack Mirror episode about augmented reality, asking players the question- what would they do if their fears were hacked? The game is supposed to be a lot more cerebral and psychologically manipulative than other horror games on the market. I hope it plays with players expectations of fear, rather than being explicit about what they should be afraid of to begin with. In my opinion, thats where most horror games on the market fail.
It sounds like an intriguing, fascinating game- but not one that I am sure I would have the gumption to play (Id probably chicken out). What about you? Is this something youd be interested in picking up?
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Cyberpunk Horror Game Observer Launches on PS4, Xbox One ... - GamingBolt
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Quick Look at Shareholder Yield For EDAP TMS S.A. (NasdaqGM:EDAP) – DARC News
Posted: at 5:54 pm
The EBITDA Yield for EDAP TMS S.A. (NasdaqGM:EDAP) is 2.39%.The EBITDA Yield is a great way to determine a companys profitability. This number is calculated by dividing a companys earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization by the companys enterprise value. Enterprise Value is calculated by taking the market capitalization plus debt, minority interest and preferred shares, minus total cash and cash equivalents.
Another useful indicator to assist in detmining rank is the ERP5 Rank. This is an investment tool that analysts use to discover undervalued companies.
The ERP5 looks at the Price to Book ratio, Earnings Yield, ROIC and 5 year average ROIC. The ERP5 of EDAP TMS S.A. (NasdaqGM:EDAP) is 12090. The lower the ERP5 rank, the more undervalued a company is thought to be.
Looking further, the MF Rank (aka the Magic Formula) is a formula that pinpoints a valuable company trading at a good price. The formula is calculated by looking at companies that have a high earnings yield as well as a high return on invested capital.
The MF Rank of EDAP TMS S.A. (NasdaqGM:EDAP) is 9855. A company with a low rank is considered a good company to invest in. The Magic Formula was introduced in a book written by Joel Greenblatt, entitled, The Little Book that Beats the Market.
Piotroski F-Score
The Piotroski F-Score is a scoring system between 1-9 that determines a firms financial strength. The score helps determine if a companys stock is valuable or not. The Piotroski F-Score of EDAP TMS S.A. (NasdaqGM:EDAP) is 6. A score of nine indicates a high value stock, while a score of one indicates a low value stock. The score is calculated by the return on assets (ROA), Cash flow return on assets (CFROA), change in return of assets, and quality of earnings. It is also calculated by a change in gearing or leverage, liquidity, and change in shares in issue. The score is also determined by change in gross margin and change in asset turnover.
The Gross Margin Score is calculated by looking at the Gross Margin and the overall stability of the company over the course of 8 years. The score is a number between one and one hundred (1 being best and 100 being the worst). The Gross Margin Score of EDAP TMS S.A. (NasdaqGM:EDAP) is 15. The more stable the company, the lower the score. If a company is less stable over the course of time, they will have a higher score.
The Price Index is a ratio that indicates the return of a share price over a past period. The price index of EDAP TMS S.A. (NasdaqGM:EDAP) for last month was 0.98419. This is calculated by taking the current share price and dividing by the share price one month ago. If the ratio is greater than 1, then that means there has been an increase in price over the month.
If the ratio is less than 1, then we can determine that there has been a decrease in price. Similarly, investors look up the share price over 12 month periods. The Price Index 12m for EDAP TMS S.A. (NasdaqGM:EDAP) is 0.73887.
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Quick Look at Shareholder Yield For EDAP TMS S.A. (NasdaqGM:EDAP) - DARC News
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Gallery: Ilnur Zakarin’s Canyon Ultimate CF SLX – BikeRadar.com
Posted: at 5:52 pm
This article was originally published on Cyclingnews.com
After dramatically crashing out of the Giro d'Italia during 2016 while fifth overall, Ilnur Zakarin lost out on what would have been the biggest result of his career. The GC specialist has returned to the Giro d'Italia in 2017 with his eyes clearly on a bigger prize.
The 27-year-old Russian rode a Canyon Ultimate at the recent Tour de Romandie in 2017, but also has a choice of the Aeroad model for flatter sprint stages and the Speedmax for time trials.
The eye-catching red and black bike is complemented with a SRAM Red eTap groupset. The wireless electronic groupset operates without cables, with the battery and motors individually located in each of the derailleurs.
The only cables on the groupset run to the front and rear brake respectively and ensures for a tidy and clean looking cockpit.
Zakarin opts for a standard drivetrain combination of 53/39 chainrings, an 11-28 cassette and 172.5 cranks. The crankset is paired with a Quarq power meter.
Zipp provides the 303 wheelset, which is complemented with 25mm Continental Competition ALX tubular tyres.
Click or swipe through the gallery above for a detailed look at the Russians bike.
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Gallery: Ilnur Zakarin's Canyon Ultimate CF SLX - BikeRadar.com
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Syracuse ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ group’s recommendations flush with racial political correctness – The College Fix
Posted: at 5:52 pm
Syracuse Diversity and Inclusion groups recommendations flush with racial political correctness
Syracuse University has released an updateon its Chancellors Workgroup on Diversity and Inclusion, and it includes a full 18 politically correct (and magnificently institutionally contrite) recommendations.
Because, after all, thats what Diversity and Inclusion workgroupsdo.
Some of the recommendations like the establishment of aDiversity and Inclusion Council are complete, while the others remainin process.
One of the latter,for example, is #4: Offer free tutoring for all undergraduates to address inequities and to support and retain undergraduates from marginalized and underrepresented groups. This item notes there will be [f]ree one-on-one tutoring for historically difficult courses will be introduced in fall 2018.
Since it addresses inequities, does this mean its a two-fer that historically marginalized populations will get the tutoring for historically difficult courses?
And heres more:
8. Require attention to diversity and inclusion as key components of all faculty and staff evaluations. Require an expanded statement on diversity and inclusion in all syllabi Status: In Process
The provosts office will revise the annual curriculum vitae update form to include a question asking faculty members to share how diversity and inclusion issues were included in their teaching, research and service. Future discussions about including diversity and inclusion in reviews of faculty performance will be given attention.
The Office of Human Resources created a set of guidelines to distribute in schools, colleges and units, and senior HR business partners have been giving advice and counsel to the schools, colleges and units to include diversity and inclusion efforts in their daily work. To emphasize diversity and inclusion, formal training programs were led by the Office of Equal Opportunity, Inclusion and Resolution Services, HR and the Office of Faculty Affairs. Department of Public Safety Officers were given Implicit Bias training.
11. Improve New Student Orientation to further understandings and forge relationships across racial, ethnic, religious and other lines. Establish a Syracuse Reads Program that feature books that foster a sense of understanding and inclusion Status: In Process
The program will include books like Ta-Nehisi Coates Between the World and Me and readings will be succeeded by small group discussions aided by diversity educators. Beginning September 2017, the Office of Learning Communities will conduct a student learning outcomes assessment to determine how effective the program is. At the end of the 2017-18 academic year, the Office of the Provost and the Office of Residence Life will determine how to expand and sustain the program after examining the assessment by the Office of Learning Communities. The program is intended to fall in line with the chancellors Academic Strategic Plan and the Syracuse Core 4+4 program.
If #8, in particular, doesnt disturb you, it probably should. AsThe College Fix noted a month ago, the Oregon Association of Scholars reported that [m]ore than 20 colleges have a stated requirement that faculty must show their commitment to the ideals of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Many of these schools include links to online resources which show how to keep the white students from dominating all classroom discussions, reflect a commitment to queer visibility, and teach students not to thoughtlessly reproduce the standard white and Western model of legitimate knowledge.
It would be quite entertainingto see that physics professor pouring over innumerable diversity supplements attempting to figure out how to upgrade his commitment to queer visibility.
Other Syracuse recommendations of note include acknowledging that the schoolsits on Native land at all major public events and flying the Haudenosaunee flag wherever the American flag is flown on campus, updat[ing] the Campus Access Map to include all-gender bathrooms, and creat[ing] a Diversity Portal to inventory and calendar diversity/inclusion programs and activities at the university.
Read the full article.
MORE:Universities require scholars pledge commitment to diversity
MORE:Oath of Inclusion considered at Case Western Reserve U. because diversity
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