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This is where I post short articles about things that I discover.
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Credit: Midjourney
September 3, 2023
I have had IFS sessions with one client on multiple occasions with a self-administered psycholytic dose of psilomethoxin (Pm). In addition, I have shared Pm with five people Z, M, W, K1, and K2. What surprised me most from this exploration is that Pm seems to have a built-in exit valve. Or from the opposite point of view, the user only experiences the effects of Pm when focused inside. If you focus outside then you can completely miss the effects.
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August 20, 2023
Universal basic income (UBI) is a social and economic policy concept that entails providing all residents of a country with a regular and unconditional financial payment from the government. This payment is designed to cover essential living expenses and ensure a basic standard of living, irrespective of a person’s employment status or income level. The primary aim of UBI is to alleviate poverty, reduce inequality, and provide a safety net in the face of technological advancements that might disrupt traditional job markets.
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August 13, 2023
Response to letter dated 09 Aug 2023 by Jackson County Commissioners CALL FOR THE REPEAL OF THE PROVISIONS ENACTED PURSUANT TO OREGON BALLOT MEASURE 110 (2020) order 192-23.1
“Since Measure 110 was passed, there has been a dramatic increase in overdose deaths in Oregon. In 2020, there were 585 overdose deaths. In 2021, that number increased to 917.”
It is too early to evaluate the effect of Measure 110 on overdose deaths.
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July 16, 2023
The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague. In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior.
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May 15, 2023
A drawing of an african woman with dreadlocks, in the style of poodlepunk, luminous shadowing, genderless, anime-inspired, handsome
May 3, 2023
Abstract: The use of psychedelics in therapy may benefit both the client and the facilitator, and there is a debate about whether facilitators should have personal experience with the substance. While some traditions expect the facilitator to partake in the same dose as the participants, modern medicine expects the facilitator to remain sober. Facilitator sobriety is important to attend to the risks associated with psychedelic use, while communal use of the substance may increase empathy and compassion.
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February 16, 2023
At the end of 2022, a new psychedelic became available. Psilomethoxin (Pm) offers soothing comfort similar to MDMA, but without MDMA’s stimulant-like effects.
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In 1965, Marc Julia’s group at the Pasteur Institute synthesized psilomethoxin (Pm) from ortho-vanillin extracted from the Mexican vanilla orchid. The molecule was never bioassayed nor preserved as a reference sample, and that is how things stood for decades. The synthesis of Pm is an intricate and time-consuming process, with some chemists claiming that it would take a month.
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December 29, 2022
In nutrition science, the word fiber refers to the type of carbohydrate that the body can’t digest. This definition of fiber is so different from the kind of fiber found in many plants that they might as well be completely different words.
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Coconut coir fibers are obtained from the outermost layer of the husk. They are typically light brown in color, durable, and resistant to water.
Credit: Midjourney
Indeed, these are a kind of fiber that your body cannot digest.
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August 30, 2022
The most ordinary and obvious of experiences, the first person perspective, has puzzled scientists and philosophers for centuries.
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In recent decades, the scientific study of consciousness has significantly increased our understanding of this elusive phenomenon. Yet, despite critical development in our understanding of the functional side of consciousness, we still lack a fundamental theory regarding its phenomenal aspect. There is an “explanatory gap” between our scientific knowledge of functional consciousness and its “subjective,” phenomenal aspects, referred to as the “hard problem” of consciousness.
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June 25, 2022
Just when you thought that science and spirituality were hopelessly irreconcilable, cogntive psychologist Donald Hoffman proposes a very interesting perspective.
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Hoffman, D. (2019). The case against reality: Why evolution hid the truth from our eyes. WW Norton & Company.
Tim Ferriss interview Apr 13, 2022
Lex Fridman interview Jun 12, 2022
The Convergence of Science and Spirituality | Donald Hoffman & Rupert Spira Mar 26, 2023