July 9, 2021
Tripping in LSD's Birthplace: A Story for "Bicycle Day"
After consuming magic mushrooms in Basel, Switzerland, I ran into Albert Hofmann, the chemist who catalyzed the psychedelic era.... In his writings, Hofmann occasionally divulged misgivings about having brought LSD and psilocybin into the world. In a letter in 1961, he compared his discoveries to nuclear fission; just as fission threatens our fundamental physical integrity, he said, so do psychedelics “attack the spiritual center of the personality, the self.” Psychedelics, Hofmann fretted, might “represent a forbidden transgression of limits.” [more inside]
The Unscreamables: Short Films Rising from the Frothing Chaos
In under thirty minutes, Scream It Off Screen (previously with website and YouTube channel links website features an image of the event's host in a milk bath - should have mentioned that last time, honestly) will stream their next short film contest of chaos, with the audience voting on whether each of fifteen completely randomly selected short films plays to completion, and which of those that fully played wins the Big Nasty Prize of $101.01. But this time, click 'more inside' for a full list of past winners (and second, third and notable next places where listed on the website and Facebook page), with links to watch them wherever possible - all no more than fifteen minutes long. (Warning: films may include blood, violence, non-sexual nudity and who knows what else.) [more inside]
“It’s gonna be a bitchin’ year! 66! A bitchin’ year!”
To celebrate his 65th Birthday, actor Tom Hanks took a 60-minute turn on the Internet wheels of steel at lovely little oldies/classic rock web radio station Boss Radio 66 (“That Ichiban Sound!”).
How might a friend talk to a country about your attitude to race?
A piece in Cambridge University's American Political Science Review, Activating Animus: The Uniquely Social Roots of Trump Support is unpacked on Twitter (or ThreadReaderApp) from the version framed in the language of the science journal: there are swathes of the population who aren't loyal to a party but are loyal to White Christian America, who flocked to 'Make America Great Again'. As a friend, how do we talk about "white Christian supremacy versus a fully multi-racial democracy" that would throw away democracy itself? From the tweets: "It draws our attention away from the faction and forces us to 'both-sides' democracy v. anti-democracy." "As long as they can hide behind party labels they are protected by 'bipartisanship' and the both-sides implications of 'polarization' research. It's time to bring this faction out of the protection of party labels and the veil of political civility, and into the discussion."
Why libertarians embraced fascism
Adam Smith to Richard Spencer: Why Libertarians turn to the Alt-Right [SLMedium, 2018] To understand why libertarians are so susceptible to white supremacist ideas, we have to look at the history of it, specifically within the United States. The fact is that libertarianism has always been a refuge of racism and implicit support for authoritarianism, despite direct contradiction to their supposed ideology.
You're not getting by - you're going
A clever Starbucks partner has used white-out to creatively edit and add realism to a corporate message to staff.
Many Amazing Possibilities Shown
Zaila Avant-garde wins Scripps National Spelling Bee
Zaila Avant-garde is the first African American winner of the Scripps Spelling Bee. She won it after correctly spelling the word "murraya" correctly. She is also the first champion from Louisiana. [more inside]
picking tired tongues from the pristine floor
Great Works by Oscar Mardell consists of thirteen poems [four of them here], each about a different freezing works in Aotearoa New Zealand. Satirising the colonial-pastoral mythologies through which the local landscape has often been interpreted, the collection gives due attention to an industry which, in spite of its centrality to the nation’s economic history, has remained conspicuously absent from its art and literature. [CW: slaughterhouses]
How many politicians have we seen in the news who never got that lesson?
Sex educator Justine Ang Fong has been hounded out of her position [NYT] at Dalton, a Manhattan private school, by corporate shill, Richard Berman. [Alternate link]
Spin machines: the curious history of video games on vinyl
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