Fuck it dude, lets go bowling! That seems to be my answer to all of the problems of life anymore. St. Patrick's Day is always a strange time of year for me, it's almost like my new years because I remember what I do on this day very well and always find myself comparing the me of now to the me of 1, 2, or 3 years ago.
I canceled my trip out west, it's just not the right time for that. I'm trying to be selfless, and a few of my friends are doing really well despite the economy and everything else going on, and I feel very good for them. If it I dwell on it for too long though I start to think of myself and twist and warp into selfish thinking about when am I going to strike gold again. Sometimes I wish I could permanently remove some of the thoughts that wonder into my head. Maybe Chicago isn't the answer for me, or maybe it's just the lock to the key that opens the door to my answer.
I connect more and more with the wanderers of life. Maybe my problem is I'm trying to settle down, but I'm just not the person to do that. When I was depressed last year it was for the same reason, but I wasn't settled down in Chicago I was stuck up in northern Michigan. Maybe location isn't the answer, but the process of living. I'm thinking about taking a trip up north it could help me alleviate some thoughts and feelings about things. I wish I had a travel companion. I've always wanted to go to Tangiers and India and all these mystique places, but I don't want to go there alone. It might be time to give up the single life for at least a while and test the waters not dared spoken of. I don't know if I'm ready for that, but I do love a great adventure and even better a great challenge.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
What If Psychoactive Drugs Explained Religion?
I have recently come to a theory that some may find absurd, but I think could explain a lot for discovering truth about ourselves and help progress society.
I have been researching the brain, and more specifically the effects of psychoactive drugs on the brain. One reason psychoactive drugs have an effect on us is because psychoactive chemicals/drugs simply synthesize neurotransmitters that our brains already have in them. Psychoactive drugs like LSD, Peyote, Psilocybin, and Cannibis intensify neurotransmitters to neurorecepters in the right temporal lobe of the brain. It's the temporal lobe of the brain we use to be able to identify the 'self' as well as our 5 senses. Intense signals sent to the temporal lobe cause a change in consciousness because consciousness is created by the electrical pulse sent from transmitters to recepters in the brain, and so by changing the amount of pulses sent from transmitters to recepters changes ones consciousness. That is a pretty radical thought that our consciousness is changed by taking chemicals that in the case of dopamine or seratoin are already made and found in the body.
Here's where it gets fun:
76% of people given LSD or Peyote for scientific testing identify feeling the presence of someone or something else next to them. The presence is always described based on culture. When LSD or Peyote is given to Native Americans they claim to see/feel spirits and other animistic mystical beings. When given to Roman Catholics, catholics claim they see, talk to, or feel the Virgin Mary. When given to Protestants they claim to feel the presence of God. What's interesting is LSD and Peyote only intensify signals to neurorecpters that already exist in the brain, so one could have a mystical or religious experience without drugs and believe that they are feeling the presence of God or some other mystical force. By giving people psychoactive it intensifys the receptors that identify the 'self' and thus greatly increase in identifying a 'self' that is not us, but we feel such as feeling the presence of God. The reason for that is, when our consciousness is changed by chemicals in our brains it alters our state of mind and state of being, so our senses become much more sensitve and colors seem more vivid and music seems to come alive, and that allows applies to the sense of 'self' and we expand our feeling of self and as scientists say "kill the ego" and most people believe they feel another presence besides their own.
If you tell religious people that you can emulate a religious experience through psychoactive drugs, and your religious experiences were caused by a change of chemicals in your brain and not by some supernatural power what would people do? Governments make psychoactive drugs illegal because they can positively shed new light on old world beliefs and would us progressively improve society. LSD explains the reason why religion exists. The belief in God is a feeling of another presence that a lot, but not all people get from time to time because of nature chemical changes in their brains, and drugs only amplify those changes and cause what people call religious experiences to be sees and felt as real by those who takes the drugs. People will naturally get experiences feeling more than oneself and depending on your culture will explain how you identify it. So if religious people feel another presence they explain it as being God or whatever spiritual entity they choose because religion is part of their culture, and they don't understand what is actually going on in the brain.
When I've taken LSD I definitely felt a presence existed in close proximity to me that was not my self. I definitely feel that what I felt is what religious people would call the presence of God, but I know it wasn't God it was just a change of my consciousness. I actually think that feeling of another self that people get is connecting to the collective sub-conscious that exists all around us, but we can't normally tap into because our brains can't focus intensely enough on those electro-magnetic forces that surround us that is the collective sub-conscious.
Some more interesting facts about LSD:
Some studies in the 1950s that used LSD to treat alcoholism professed a 50% success rate, five times higher than estimates near 10% for Alcoholics Annonymous
Albert Hoffman who first synthesized LSD did studys showing that the drug helped reduce migraine headaches, could be used to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder due to LSD's stimulation of the 5-HT2A recepters in the brain, and when given to schizophrenics it had positive effects of stabalizing a person diagnosed with schizophrenia because of the drug's ability to facilitate relief of various emotional episodes.
I believe LSD and most psychoactive are illegal because the government does not want people to be altering their state of mind and purposely changing their conscious because it makes manipulation and control of the masses much harder. In fact most governments use drugs as a way to control their populations by regulating drugs, hence the war on drugs and why 50% of people in prison are in prison for violentless crimes. In the 1980's the World Health Organization thought about putting valium in public water supplies with the idea that it would decrease violence, luckily it didn't happen, but an interesting fact about LSD is the government gave LSD to unknowing participants to see what would happen and it's from those experiments that came the idea that LSD can cause you to go insane, which is non-sense. LSD has no more of a permanent effect on the brain than that of caffeine, but people are told opposite and it's the continued manipulation of the American people by the U.S. government.
Ever notice that drugs that are bad for you are legal (alcohol, nicotine, prescription drugs) but drugs that don't potentially harm you at all and can help open minds and hearts to new possibilites and new beginnings are illegal (LSD, Peyote, Psilocybin, Jimsonweed, DMT) and not only illegal but seen as very dangerous.
I have been researching the brain, and more specifically the effects of psychoactive drugs on the brain. One reason psychoactive drugs have an effect on us is because psychoactive chemicals/drugs simply synthesize neurotransmitters that our brains already have in them. Psychoactive drugs like LSD, Peyote, Psilocybin, and Cannibis intensify neurotransmitters to neurorecepters in the right temporal lobe of the brain. It's the temporal lobe of the brain we use to be able to identify the 'self' as well as our 5 senses. Intense signals sent to the temporal lobe cause a change in consciousness because consciousness is created by the electrical pulse sent from transmitters to recepters in the brain, and so by changing the amount of pulses sent from transmitters to recepters changes ones consciousness. That is a pretty radical thought that our consciousness is changed by taking chemicals that in the case of dopamine or seratoin are already made and found in the body.
Here's where it gets fun:
76% of people given LSD or Peyote for scientific testing identify feeling the presence of someone or something else next to them. The presence is always described based on culture. When LSD or Peyote is given to Native Americans they claim to see/feel spirits and other animistic mystical beings. When given to Roman Catholics, catholics claim they see, talk to, or feel the Virgin Mary. When given to Protestants they claim to feel the presence of God. What's interesting is LSD and Peyote only intensify signals to neurorecpters that already exist in the brain, so one could have a mystical or religious experience without drugs and believe that they are feeling the presence of God or some other mystical force. By giving people psychoactive it intensifys the receptors that identify the 'self' and thus greatly increase in identifying a 'self' that is not us, but we feel such as feeling the presence of God. The reason for that is, when our consciousness is changed by chemicals in our brains it alters our state of mind and state of being, so our senses become much more sensitve and colors seem more vivid and music seems to come alive, and that allows applies to the sense of 'self' and we expand our feeling of self and as scientists say "kill the ego" and most people believe they feel another presence besides their own.
If you tell religious people that you can emulate a religious experience through psychoactive drugs, and your religious experiences were caused by a change of chemicals in your brain and not by some supernatural power what would people do? Governments make psychoactive drugs illegal because they can positively shed new light on old world beliefs and would us progressively improve society. LSD explains the reason why religion exists. The belief in God is a feeling of another presence that a lot, but not all people get from time to time because of nature chemical changes in their brains, and drugs only amplify those changes and cause what people call religious experiences to be sees and felt as real by those who takes the drugs. People will naturally get experiences feeling more than oneself and depending on your culture will explain how you identify it. So if religious people feel another presence they explain it as being God or whatever spiritual entity they choose because religion is part of their culture, and they don't understand what is actually going on in the brain.
When I've taken LSD I definitely felt a presence existed in close proximity to me that was not my self. I definitely feel that what I felt is what religious people would call the presence of God, but I know it wasn't God it was just a change of my consciousness. I actually think that feeling of another self that people get is connecting to the collective sub-conscious that exists all around us, but we can't normally tap into because our brains can't focus intensely enough on those electro-magnetic forces that surround us that is the collective sub-conscious.
Some more interesting facts about LSD:
Some studies in the 1950s that used LSD to treat alcoholism professed a 50% success rate, five times higher than estimates near 10% for Alcoholics Annonymous
Albert Hoffman who first synthesized LSD did studys showing that the drug helped reduce migraine headaches, could be used to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder due to LSD's stimulation of the 5-HT2A recepters in the brain, and when given to schizophrenics it had positive effects of stabalizing a person diagnosed with schizophrenia because of the drug's ability to facilitate relief of various emotional episodes.
I believe LSD and most psychoactive are illegal because the government does not want people to be altering their state of mind and purposely changing their conscious because it makes manipulation and control of the masses much harder. In fact most governments use drugs as a way to control their populations by regulating drugs, hence the war on drugs and why 50% of people in prison are in prison for violentless crimes. In the 1980's the World Health Organization thought about putting valium in public water supplies with the idea that it would decrease violence, luckily it didn't happen, but an interesting fact about LSD is the government gave LSD to unknowing participants to see what would happen and it's from those experiments that came the idea that LSD can cause you to go insane, which is non-sense. LSD has no more of a permanent effect on the brain than that of caffeine, but people are told opposite and it's the continued manipulation of the American people by the U.S. government.
Ever notice that drugs that are bad for you are legal (alcohol, nicotine, prescription drugs) but drugs that don't potentially harm you at all and can help open minds and hearts to new possibilites and new beginnings are illegal (LSD, Peyote, Psilocybin, Jimsonweed, DMT) and not only illegal but seen as very dangerous.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
I Could Have Died Last Night
So I went out last night with some friends of mine who I haven't seen in quite a while. We went to the usual waterhole we use to patron when we saw more of each other in years past. I ordered a Sam Adams draft a couple beers into the night, and to my shock there was a prize at the bottle of my beer glass, which was pieces of jagged glass. The initial reaction from me and my friends was that of horror. I didn't notice the glass at all until I got to the bottom of my beer, and saw pieces of something which kind of looked like ice, but on closer inspection was actually jagged glass. My friends are yelling lawsuit! lawsuit! while I'm demanding satisfaction from the manager of the establishment. I get apologies from three different people who work there who claim to be sorry, but you know aren't because they really don't care as long as they don't get fired and my bar tab was free, but I was still really ticked off. I could/would have easily died if i swallowed any of that glass (they were big and sharp pieces, not like little tiny particles), and when my friend says to the manager you have to be more careful if want to avoid potential lawsuits and negligence is not an excuse for bodily harm, the manager's simply reply was, "That's why we have great lawyers." The simple fact that the guy was a jackass about it and showed no emotions or sympathy towards the situation just infuriated me. So it was quickly decided to go elsewhere.
I was initially hoping that maybe someone was trying to kill me, but putting jagged glass in my drink. It would sure spice up my life and make things more interesting, but oh well.
At multiple friends requests I saw the movie Watchmen today, and I have to admit it was much better than I thought it would be. I stopped reading comic books like a decade ago, and besides the Dark Knight I don't care about the hype for comic book movies, but I have some friends who were fans of Watchmen and told me it was up my alley and I have to agree. The characters have real depth to them, and it is very well written. Some of the effects I found cheesey and could have done without and I might have done the casting differently, but the story it tells is pretty good. I would recommend it to anyone who likes films that make them think (which I think a good film should do). As far as Watchmen goes, I think for the sci-fi/comic book/super hero world it probably had the most relatable characters I've ever seen in that genre before.
Now it's raining out, with tornado warnings and I feel ill.
I was initially hoping that maybe someone was trying to kill me, but putting jagged glass in my drink. It would sure spice up my life and make things more interesting, but oh well.
At multiple friends requests I saw the movie Watchmen today, and I have to admit it was much better than I thought it would be. I stopped reading comic books like a decade ago, and besides the Dark Knight I don't care about the hype for comic book movies, but I have some friends who were fans of Watchmen and told me it was up my alley and I have to agree. The characters have real depth to them, and it is very well written. Some of the effects I found cheesey and could have done without and I might have done the casting differently, but the story it tells is pretty good. I would recommend it to anyone who likes films that make them think (which I think a good film should do). As far as Watchmen goes, I think for the sci-fi/comic book/super hero world it probably had the most relatable characters I've ever seen in that genre before.
Now it's raining out, with tornado warnings and I feel ill.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Savage Adventures in Chicago
I feel at my most Kerouac today. I'm at the apple store bored out of my mind right now, feeling like a true traveler and permanent wanderer. I think its time to head north to Lincoln Square. It is a beautiful day, and hopefully an adventurous evening.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Here's To The State Of Rick Warren (Lyrics)
"Here's to the churches of Rick Warren.
For underneath his pews the devil draws no line.
He's not a friend of civil rights and he ain't no friend of mine.
The fat covering his heart, covers a hate that he can't hide.
The calendar is fooled, when it states the christian time.
Here's to the land you've torn out the heart of,
Rick Warren find yourself another country to be part of.
Here's to the economy of Tim Geithner.
Where the dollar means nothing, and its value is even less.
Those who want fiscal reform are just seen as a pest.
Deficits are mounting into a larger and larger mess.
Where banks control everything is what Timmy believes is best.
Here's to the land you've torn out the heart of,
Tim Geithner find yourself another country to be part of.
Here's to the laws of Eric Holder.
We're a nation of cowards is what he has to say.
He's a supporter of equal rights unless you're white or gay.
Look at what they did in California, they won and got their way.
But you can't stop freedom, we will get equal rights in the USA.
Here's to the land you've torn out the heart of,
Eric Holder find yourself another country to be part of.
Here's to the government of Sarah Palin.
In the swamp of her bureaucracy there's always bogging down.
She doesn't care for democracy, she wants to be fitted with a crown.
She's an imposter with no values and better not to make a sound,
Because the speeches of Gov. Palin are the ravings of a clown.
Here's to the land you've torn out the heart of,
Sarah Palin find yourself another country to be part of.
Here's to the public schools of Nancy Pelosi.
Where they're teaching all the children they don't have to care.
The seeds of ignorance are present everywhere.
Every single classroom is a factory of despair.
Nobody's learning such a foreign word as fair.
Here's to the land you've torn out the heart of,
Nancy Pelosi find yourself another country to be part of.
Here's to the state of Rick Warren.
Where you descriminate against people just because they're gay.
You use morals to justify the hateful things you say.
Turning America into a christian theocracy you think is ok.
When church is separated from state, your reign of tyranny will end on that day.
Here's to the land you've torn out the heart of,
Rick Warren find yourself another countryto be part of."
- William Covert
For underneath his pews the devil draws no line.
He's not a friend of civil rights and he ain't no friend of mine.
The fat covering his heart, covers a hate that he can't hide.
The calendar is fooled, when it states the christian time.
Here's to the land you've torn out the heart of,
Rick Warren find yourself another country to be part of.
Here's to the economy of Tim Geithner.
Where the dollar means nothing, and its value is even less.
Those who want fiscal reform are just seen as a pest.
Deficits are mounting into a larger and larger mess.
Where banks control everything is what Timmy believes is best.
Here's to the land you've torn out the heart of,
Tim Geithner find yourself another country to be part of.
Here's to the laws of Eric Holder.
We're a nation of cowards is what he has to say.
He's a supporter of equal rights unless you're white or gay.
Look at what they did in California, they won and got their way.
But you can't stop freedom, we will get equal rights in the USA.
Here's to the land you've torn out the heart of,
Eric Holder find yourself another country to be part of.
Here's to the government of Sarah Palin.
In the swamp of her bureaucracy there's always bogging down.
She doesn't care for democracy, she wants to be fitted with a crown.
She's an imposter with no values and better not to make a sound,
Because the speeches of Gov. Palin are the ravings of a clown.
Here's to the land you've torn out the heart of,
Sarah Palin find yourself another country to be part of.
Here's to the public schools of Nancy Pelosi.
Where they're teaching all the children they don't have to care.
The seeds of ignorance are present everywhere.
Every single classroom is a factory of despair.
Nobody's learning such a foreign word as fair.
Here's to the land you've torn out the heart of,
Nancy Pelosi find yourself another country to be part of.
Here's to the state of Rick Warren.
Where you descriminate against people just because they're gay.
You use morals to justify the hateful things you say.
Turning America into a christian theocracy you think is ok.
When church is separated from state, your reign of tyranny will end on that day.
Here's to the land you've torn out the heart of,
Rick Warren find yourself another countryto be part of."
- William Covert
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Riding The Storm Out
It was raining today, such weird weather.
If there's one thing I've learned in my life it's the more people involved in ordering a pizza the more impossible it is to order a pizza.
How is it that religious people are always the victims while they are also the persecuters?
If there's one thing I've learned in my life it's the more people involved in ordering a pizza the more impossible it is to order a pizza.
How is it that religious people are always the victims while they are also the persecuters?
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The Rise And Fall Of Indie
I can't take it anymore. The word indie has been so altered from what it means so much, that I just can't take it anymore. Indie was originally used in music as in Independent and non-major lable music. DIY or Do It Yourself, that is what indie is meant to be. Then indie got applied to books and film, and I have no problem with that because there are independent films and independently published books so it still fits in the mantra and philosophy of Do It Yourself and being anti-major distrubution.
What I can't stand is when someone says I'm indie. What does that mean? What are you independent of or from? Isn't everybody indie then? Maybe it's some kind of counter-culture thing to say and be and the non-conformists are indie, but when law students and business majors call themselves indie and they act no different than the trendy want to be philosopher who uses "hip" words and acts anti-social and works at Belmont Army then who is indie? I think the term was been used way past its means, and indie needs to go back to what it means and refers to which is art.
People are not indie. Clothes are not indie. Just because your tight jeans and v-neck looks really cool and "hipster", guess what it's made in china and bangladesh and it's not indie! If you like to go to major brand stores and national chain businesses like Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, American Apparel, Borders you are not indie! You want to be indie, then do it yourself. Make your own damn clothes, or at least design them and get them custom made, then I would say you have a better grasp on what it means to be indie. As a musician who makes independent music all I can say is that most people would not survive trying to do everything yourself. I've designed my own shirts, recorded my own music, designed and distributed my own albums, booked my own shows, and it's hard work. It's not easy to have a DIY ethic, and I see all these people who claim to be indie when they don't even know what it means to be indie. Even having said and done that I still don't consider myself indie. I considered myself an independent musician because I play indie music and have a DIY ethic, but as a person I'm not indie.
It seems everyone is indie anymore. Why can't people be themselves. No one is naturally indie, because indie is not a term that describes people, it describes art. Indie music, and indie films became marketable so then people have a desire to be like those who make indie music and indie films and indie books and then people start calling themselves indie, but when people say they're indie all they are doing is vicariously living through someone else and someone else's art really.
If someone really is indie, or what it indie means as being independent and having a Do It Yourself attitude then someone who is independent wouldn't label themself as such and thus categorizing who they are. It's a contradiction to call yourself indie. It's like using the term freedom fighter, it's an oxymoron, it doesn't make any sense and doesn't have any relevance being used in society.
I will still use indie to describe independent music, film, design, and books, but I just wish people would stop describing themselves as indie, because no one is. The term has been bastardized, and it makes me sad because indie is kind of like emo now where so many different people use it in different contexts that no one knows or can define what it means anymore. I don't blame the people who use the word indie for ruining it, I blame the capitalist blood-suckers who marketed indie and made it trendy to the masses.
Marketing and capitalism ruins everything eventually.
What I can't stand is when someone says I'm indie. What does that mean? What are you independent of or from? Isn't everybody indie then? Maybe it's some kind of counter-culture thing to say and be and the non-conformists are indie, but when law students and business majors call themselves indie and they act no different than the trendy want to be philosopher who uses "hip" words and acts anti-social and works at Belmont Army then who is indie? I think the term was been used way past its means, and indie needs to go back to what it means and refers to which is art.
People are not indie. Clothes are not indie. Just because your tight jeans and v-neck looks really cool and "hipster", guess what it's made in china and bangladesh and it's not indie! If you like to go to major brand stores and national chain businesses like Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, American Apparel, Borders you are not indie! You want to be indie, then do it yourself. Make your own damn clothes, or at least design them and get them custom made, then I would say you have a better grasp on what it means to be indie. As a musician who makes independent music all I can say is that most people would not survive trying to do everything yourself. I've designed my own shirts, recorded my own music, designed and distributed my own albums, booked my own shows, and it's hard work. It's not easy to have a DIY ethic, and I see all these people who claim to be indie when they don't even know what it means to be indie. Even having said and done that I still don't consider myself indie. I considered myself an independent musician because I play indie music and have a DIY ethic, but as a person I'm not indie.
It seems everyone is indie anymore. Why can't people be themselves. No one is naturally indie, because indie is not a term that describes people, it describes art. Indie music, and indie films became marketable so then people have a desire to be like those who make indie music and indie films and indie books and then people start calling themselves indie, but when people say they're indie all they are doing is vicariously living through someone else and someone else's art really.
If someone really is indie, or what it indie means as being independent and having a Do It Yourself attitude then someone who is independent wouldn't label themself as such and thus categorizing who they are. It's a contradiction to call yourself indie. It's like using the term freedom fighter, it's an oxymoron, it doesn't make any sense and doesn't have any relevance being used in society.
I will still use indie to describe independent music, film, design, and books, but I just wish people would stop describing themselves as indie, because no one is. The term has been bastardized, and it makes me sad because indie is kind of like emo now where so many different people use it in different contexts that no one knows or can define what it means anymore. I don't blame the people who use the word indie for ruining it, I blame the capitalist blood-suckers who marketed indie and made it trendy to the masses.
Marketing and capitalism ruins everything eventually.
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