When the going gets weird, the weird turns pro.

the union argument

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:40:49 GMT

Something has really been eating at me for a while now.

About this time last year a big fight broke out here in my journal over, well, a number of things. One thing in particular was that I got chewed out for being critical of labor unions. Ultimately, what I said was that I believed that unions were flawed and required reform. For this, I was essentially accused of being a cold-hearted, right-wing extremist. Eventually I was even told by my ex-girlfriend (we were still together at the time) that people on my friends list had contacted her and told her that my "anti-union rhetoric" was the modern day equivalent of using the word "nigger" in open conversation. They warned her that what I was saying was proof that I was becoming "psychologically unstable" and "dangerous". My ex left me shortly thereafter for being "psychologically unstable" and "dangerous" and one of the examples she cited as proof was what I had to say about unions; that I was "anti-union".

I am sick and tired of carrying around this memory of false accusations. As someone who has been the victim of a lot of prejudice in their life, I have been and am furious at being accused of bigotry for what I said.

First of all, I'm not anti-union and I said as much when the original argument happened. Second of all, and most importantly, the complaints I had about unions all had one common and integral theme:

PRESERVING THE RIGHTS OF THE WORKERS.

FACT: Unions often drive up wages higher than necessary and drive the number of jobs down which, in turn, keeps many workers from making a living with perfectly good skills and talents because businesses are prevented from hiring them even though they would like to. Many people, including economist and Nobel Prize winner, Milton Friedman, have provided a wealth of evidence to prove this.

FACT: Entertainment unions have taken artistic freedom out of the hands of artists who are forbidden from participating in the entertainment industry unless they pay union dues; you have to pay for the right to create your art. I experienced this first hand while making student films in college where I had my name stripped from the credits because I refused to pay union dues while producing films that I would never see financial profit from.

FACT: Strikes, while initiated with the best intentions, are often survivable only by workers already successful and well-established enough to last out the strike while the far less-established newcomers to the workforce -- people that cannot afford to be unemployed -- are effectively hung out to dry. Furthermore, striking prevents fledgling workers from building a foundation in their chosen career field when they are barred from doing their jobs during the critical stages of early development in the workforce. Evidence of this can be seen in the many young screen and television writers who were forced to abandon their careers when they couldn't afford to wait out the 2007-2008 Writers Strike.

With that said, I think unions are a good thing and I'm glad we have them. I think the workers' right to strike when being treated unfairly is a good thing and I'm glad they have that right. However, it doesn't mean the system doesn't have flaws (only a few of which I have detailed above) and it doesn't mean that that those flaws should be swept under the carpet as "acceptable loses" as they have for so many decades now.

Much anti-union rhetoric comes from fat cats who only want all the fat cats to get fatter at the expense of the hard working men and women that do the hands-on work that drives industry forward. People like greedy corporate exectuives and their cronies. I don't support that at all. In fact, I detest those people and their selfish attitudes. Therefore, you can see why I am so deeply offended by having been lumped together with those detestable people. Especially considering that what I do stand for and am standing for here is giving every worker a fair chance to make a living doing what they're good at doing.

With my criticism of unions I am standing up FOR the workers, not against them. And for this noble stance I'm accussed of supporting greed and being a bigot?!

FUCK YOU. Fuck all of you who made these ugly accusations against me. Fuck all of you who interferred with the relationship between my ex-girlfriend and myself by presenting these accusations to her, whispering your bullshit in her ear during such a vulnerable time in our relationship. And fuck all of you of accusers for wearing your so-called liberalism and enlightment on your sleeve -- you are ignorant and closed-minded and you need to shut the fuck up.

None of you are on my friends list anymore so it's doubtful you will read this, but I've said my piece and now I think I can let this go.

nerdiest website address ever?

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:36:48 GMT

This is awesome:

http://3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592.com/

bigger than hay-zeus.

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:16:04 GMT

"beatles" searched on Google returns: 54,100,000 hits.
"jesus christ" searched on Google returns: 45,000,000 hits.

Over 40 years later, it's finally official -- The Beatles: more popular than Jesus.

Other things more popular than Jesus:

"jews" searched on Google returns: 50,900,000 hits.
    (oh, the lulz.)
"united states" searched on Google returns: 87,600,000 hits.
    (hmm, really.)
"sex" searched on Google returns: 88,400,000 hits.
    (enh, well, after all, who doesn't like sex?)
"cake" searched on Google returns: 90,100,000 hits.
    (enh, well, after all, who doesn't like cake?)
"shit" searched on Google returns: 102,000,000 hits.
    (enh, well, after all, who doesn't like.. wait; what?)
"drugs" searched on Google returns: 138,000,000 hits.
    (drugs; what you turn to when Jesus isn't listening. which is more often than not, apparently.)
"hollywood" searched on Google returns: 155,000,000 hits.
    (This is where I would make a joke about The Passion of the Christ if I had one.)
"anime" searched on Google returns: 187,000,000 hits.
    (...wtf? really?)
"manga" searched on Google returns: 268,000,000 hits.
    (......okay, this is getting a little weird.)
"japan" searched on Google returns: 651,000,000 hits.
    (fuck Pearl Harbor; we're in some SERIOUS SHI--)

...

"god" searched on Google returns: 461,000,000 hits.

Japan: more popular than *G O D*.

Starting learning kanji, motherfuckers.

TGIF. Peace out.

horrible memories

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 07:13:39 GMT

People that think all cops are good are like the people who followed Hitler into the Holocaust. If you are one of these people, please kill yourself.

back in the zone

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:43:01 GMT

The past few weeks have had their ups and downs, but have resulted in the following new material.

"Dreamcatcher"

"The plight of the redman." This is meant to symbolize what America did to destroy the native peoples that were here before it. What's cool is this was failed project on my hard drive for years and suddenly it came to life this month.

"Mechanisms of War"

I managed to pull this off in just over 24 hours. It's also one of the darkest things I've done.

"Last Dance with Lady Liberty"

One version of the end of days. Humanities last moments on a another post-Earth planet out there somewhere in the galaxy.

"Boddhisativa"

For all the stoners in the room.

Hope you enjoyed looking at my stuff. Comments and critiques are welcome and appreciated as always.

hmmm...

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:11:31 GMT

This has been stuck in my head all day:

"freedom today / righteousness saved / from the whores behind Babylon"

Did I come up with that or did my brain lift it out of some song? The lyrics to a lot of stuff I listen to isn't on the web so I can't be sure. Maybe it rings a bell for one of you.

bill hicks: he's available for children's parties, btw

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:44:44 GMT

Here's a classic Bill Hicks' routine on malls, pop music and Jimi Hendrix. It's amazing how everything he said in the late 80s/early 90s still rang true 10 years later, still rings true today and will probably still ring true in another decade.

I'm mostly posting this for the Jimi Hendrix impression at 3:50. Key words here: "This guy had a dick." Lol, love it!

technology bad for the brain?

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 07:35:17 GMT

If this is true, it might explain why I've developed increasing symptoms of ADHD over the years.

Multitasking Muddles Brains, Even When the Computer Is Off
By Brandon Keim Email Author | August 24, 2009 | 3:00 pm | Categories: Brains and Behavior

Some people suspect that a multitasking lifestyle has changed how they think, leaving them easily distracted and unable to concentrate even when separated from computers and phones. Their uneasiness may be justified.

In several benchmark tests of focus, college students who routinely juggle many flows of information, bouncing from e-mail to web text to video to chat to phone calls, fared significantly worse than their low-multitasking peers.

Other studies have focused on multitasking’s immediate effects — children doing worse on homework while watching television, office workers being more productive when not checking email every five minutes.

“We wanted to ask a different question,” said Clifford Nass, a Stanford University cognitive scientist. “What happens to people who multitasking all the time?”

In a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nass and Stanford psychologists Anthony Wagner and Eyal Ophir surveyed 262 students on their media consumption habits. The 19 students who multitasked the most and 22 who multitasked least then took two computer-based tests, each completed while concentrating only on the task at hand.

First, they had to remember the briefly glimpsed orientations of red rectangles surrounded by different numbers of blue rectangles. In the second task, they were asked to categorize a random string of words, and then to do it again without categorizing words that were preceded by a beep.

In a third test, a different group of 30 high- and low-multitaskers were asked to identify target letters on a screen. As the test was repeated, they had to remember whether letters had also been targeted in earlier trials.

In every test, students who spent less time simultaneously reading e-mail, surfing the web, talking on the phone and watching TV performed best.

“These are all very standard tasks in psychology,” said Nass. “In the first, there’s lots of evidence that if people do poorly, they have trouble ignoring irrelevant information. For the second task, there are many demonstrations that this is a good reflection of people’s ability to organize things in their working memory. The third task shows how fast and readily people switch from doing one thing to another.”

As for what caused the differences — whether people with a predisposition to multitask happen to be mentally disorganized, or if multitasking feeds the condition — “that’s the million dollar question, and we don’t have a million dollar answer,” said Nass.

Wagner next plans to use brain imaging to study the neurology of multitasking, while Ness wants to look at the development of multitasking habits in children.

“The causality question is enormous here,” he said. “There’s a lot of social pressure to multitask. You’re getting tweets, e-mails, IMs from multiple people at once, and the web offers unbelievable opportunities for text and video. It may be thrust upon you.”

add me

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:31:44 GMT

I added these links to my profile for all the social networking presences I have online and figured I'd put it in an entry too. If you're on any of these sites/services and want to add me, click away!

music, music, music...

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:00:38 GMT

For frail_as_smoke, suggestions for new music to try out, much of which is off the beaten path. These are in no particular order.

Classic Rock/Hard Rock
Mountain: Climbing!
Jimi Hendrix: First Rays of the New Rising Sun
Jeff Beck: Truth
Blind Faith: [self-titled]
Tommy Bolin: Teaser
The Cult: Pure Cult, The Singles 1984-1995
Traffic: Heaven Is in Your Mind (Mr. Fantasy)
The Bob Seger System: Ramblin' Gamblin' Man
Faces: Good Boys When They're Asleep
The Drive-By Truckers -- Southern Rock Opera

Alternative Rock
John Frusciante: To Record Only Water for Ten Days
Killing Joke: Laugh? I Nearly Bought One!
The Dandy Warhols: Come Down
Mansun: Attack of the Grey Lantern
Suede: [self-titled]
Blur: Parklife
The Big F: Is

Indie Rock
Frank Black: [self-titled]
The Breeders: Title TK
Burning Brides: Leave No Ashes
The Like: Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking?
MGMT: Oracular Spectacular
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead: Source Codes and Tags
Cat Power: Moon Pix
Catherine Wheel: Chrome

Metal
VAST: Visual Audio Sensory Theater
Probot: [self-titled]
Judas Priest: Sad Wings of Destiny
Type O Negative: Bloody Kisses
Shotgun Messiah: Violent New Breed
Sevendust: [self-titled]
Sebastian Bach: Angel Down
Nikki Sixx: The Heroin Diaries
The Tea Party: Transmission
Mindless Self Indulgence: You'll Rebel to Anything
God Lives Underwater: Life in the So-Called Space Age
Pain of Salvation: Remedy Lane

Stoner Rock
Fu Manchu: King of the Road
Kyuss: Blues for the Red Sun
ASG: Win Us Over
Dozer: Through the Eyes of Heathens
Greenleaf: Agents of Ahriman
Los Natas: Ciudad de Brahman
New Keepers of the Water Towers: The Chronicles
Solarized: Neanderthal Speedway
The Sword: Gods of the Earth
Wolfmother: [self-titled]

Psychedelia:
Hawkwind: Space Ritual [live]
The Brian Jonestown Massacre: Take It from the Man
13th Floor Elevators: Psychedelic Sounds
The Warlocks: The Phoenix Album
Spirit: Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
Wellwater Conspiracy: The Scroll and Its Combinations
Vanilla Fudge: [self-titled]
The Flaming Lips: Hit to Death in the Future Head
Alexander "Skip" Spence: Oar
Spacemen 3: Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs to
Neutral Milk Hotel: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
The Soundtrack of Our Lives -- Behind the Music

Techno/House
DJ Rap: Learning Curve
Felix da Housecat: Kittenz and Thee Glitz
Peaches: The Teaches of Peaches
Juno Reactor: Shango
CJ Bolland: Eletronic Highway
Praga Khan: Pragamatic
Astral Projection: Another World

Rap/DJ/Funk
Handsome Boy Modeling School: So, How's Your Girl?
Funkadelic: Maggot Brain
Deltron 3030: [self-titled]
Bombay the Hard Way: Guns, Cars & Sitars
Kid Koala: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Genius/GZA: Liquid Swords

And if you dare...
Can: Tago Mago
Amon Düül II: Phallus Dei
Red Sparowes: At the Soundless Dawn
Tortoise: Millions Now Living Will Never Die
Quarkspace: Drop
Godspeed You! Black Emperor -- Lift Your Skinny Fists
Monster Magnet: Tab...25

I missed some genres like punk, reggae and country, but I started getting carpal tunnel from all the typing. :)

The vast majority of these are on Last.fm with full albums and full tracks if you want to sample them. And if you really want something in MP3 form just let me know as I have all these in my collection and can easily upload them to the web.

seven interests meme

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:29:33 GMT

I got this from angisdrunk. The way this works is that I make a post of seven interests on my LJ interests list and explain why they're on the list and what they're all about. Then you can leave me a comment to pick seven of your interests and you make a similar post. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Here we go...

ween: Probably my favorite band ever. I've always loved the introduction that AllMusic Guide gives them: "Ween was the ultimate cosmic goof of the alternative rock era, a prodigiously talented and deliriously odd duo whose work traveled far beyond the constraints of parody and novelty into the heart of surrealist ecstasy." They've played almost every type of rock music imaginable, switching gears up to a dozen times per album and playing the music as good as anyone in these genres -- often better. And they're so irreverent and zany and out there. Their live shows are epic too.

surrealism: I just have a thing for the surreal. Sometimes reality is just too mundane for me and I need an escape to the realm of the surreal. This includes surreal art -- enjoying the works of others and creating my own. But my interest also has to do with the nature of dreams. I believe they are a surrealistic code of sorts that allow us to understand the real world better by letting the constraints of reality warp and slide thus exposing things we wouldn't and couldn't normally see, but should.

pornography: Like most pubescent boys I had the habit of stealing my dad's porn. In my case, this was a lot of material from the Golden Age during the late 70s and early 80s. I.e. the period during which Boogie Nights takes place, a favorite movie of mine by the way. I've been fascinated with porn ever since, especially feature-length stuff with real stories. This interest probably should be "history of porn" since it's the older stuff that interests me. Now porn is just another part of the run-of-the-mill film industry and it's mainly nothing but eye candy at this point.

lucid dreaming: I've always been fascinated by the dream world; it's like another plane of existence that compliments the real world. I believe our dreams are important and are trying to tell us things. But a lucid dream -- being able to control the dream world -- is the most amazing thing because it's like being handed the reigns of the universe. Sadly, I haven't had a lucid dream in a long time (and rarely remember my dreams anyway) and this interest is likely to get nixed next time I need to make room for other new interests.

eddie izzard: One of my favorite comedians. I love that he doesn't tell jokes or even have a routine exactly; he has ideas he wants to talk about with the audience and he flows from one item to another making hilarious insights with the greatest of ease. He's largely improvisational too and each show on a single tour is noticeably different than the others. He's also very meta and, for example, will do things like sometimes stop after a bit of improv fizzles and mime writing on a piece of paper and say "..never do that joke again." I also respect him for being an open and proud transvestite and for having the guts to typically perform in drag during shows.

chaos: Some may mistake this for a juvenile flirtation with anarchy, but that's not what I'm about. I believe the universe is chaos and it's our role as conscious beings to rage against it and bring order whenever possible. In that sense, chaos is the yin to our yang. Without it our lives would be mundane and meaningless. Also this interest has to do with celestial photography because looking out into deep space is a window into pure chaos. And it's infinitely beautiful and humbling at the same time and that really impresses me.

asg: This is a band I discovered in the past year or two that is based out of North Carolina. Like Ween they are genre defying, but in it different way. There is consistency from song to song, but their brand of rock is quite unique and can't be pigeon-holed into one genre or another. They're like a blend of stoner rock, alternative metal, psychedelia and even a bit of punk rock. They're also very melodic metal which is something I really go for in terms of music. I'm really surprised they haven't caught on in the mainstream as their music is accessible and each album has been significantly better than the last. They're due for a new one so it'll be cool to see if they finally break through this time around.

...

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:39:33 GMT

"There was madness in any direction, at any hour. You could strike sparks anywhere."

August 23rd, 2009

What a crazy fucking day.

creativity returns

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 05:58:32 GMT

Since I've had little luck creating new pieces this week, it finally occurred to me today that I should go back and improve upon old stuff. In one day I redid three pieces into fresh new works! I'm really pleased with the results and I feel like I'm coming out of that creative funk I was in. Anyway, here we go:

Growing Young, mk II	Growing Young (original)
Megaprime Generator, mk II	Megaprime Generator (original)
Road to Cubensia, mk III	Road to Cubensia (original)

I feel like they're truly finished now. Then again I felt like they were finished before.

Also, the snake featured in Road to Cubensia was made in Poser which I just started using. It's a freaking amazing program. *Really* hard to use though. Mostly because I'm a noob at it, but it certainly is one complex piece of software. I've also got Bryce and Carrara to play around with for making sceneries, but I'm trying not to overload myself with new toys or I'll get all overwhelmed and muddled again.

Twitter, Greasemonkey, etc.

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:19:30 GMT

I tweeted this yesterday: "If only Twhirl would do the things that @troynt's Twitter Script for Greasemonkey does. That would be the best of both worlds." Oh yes, I've been sucked into Twitter like lint into a vacuum cleaner. And I used to totally trash it as just being more "Web 2.0" timewasting. I'm such a hypocrite, lol.

Also, btw, I definitely *do* recommend Twhirl and/or @troynt's Twitter Script for Greasemonkey -- they're awesome, check them out. In fact, if you haven't ever used Greasemonkey, check it out too. There's so many ways to make your favorite web pages do things and look the way you want but that the site developers either haven't done or won't do. A great one is the LJ Ads Butler which gets rid of the advertisements for those of you using Plus accounts.

On that note, anyone have any suggestions for interesting people/groups/things to follow on Twitter?

visions

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:54:02 GMT

I found some really sweet digital art and digital-influenced art over at this zine/community site called ImagineFX. I would love to create on the same level these people do...

"Sunset" by jfliesenborgh	"Lithium" by fpicini	"Test-room" by ivo
"H2O" by RawSunlight	"Reactor" by xoco	"Mecha" by Kimagu

The thing is, I know what software they're using to make this stuff and the general gist of how they make the software do what they want, but I'm just still at the tip of the iceberg in terms of knowledge and ability. Not that I'm depressed or disappointed at my skills, I'm actually kind of excited to see what I learn. And there's a whole freakin' galaxy of stuff to learn.

On that note, the site has a whole slew of tutorials and workshops. So I'm off to read and see what new tricks I can add to my bag.

A Long Way from Om

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:23:57 GMT

I've got like a dozen Photoshop projects going, but I'm stalled on virtually all of them. I've wasted so much time this week on ideas that haven't worked. Hours and hours spent executing different ideas only to wipe the slate clean of crap not even fit for the reject bin. Oh well, it's all good practice at least.

In the meantime, I did come up with one little thing I like. It's like my current emotional state visualized:

"A Long Way from Om"

"from now on, things are gonna change..."

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:51:51 GMT

Did you know that Dave Grohl put together a QOTSA-style metal super group called Probot? He compiled an album's worth of material with tons of guest musicians and put it out about five years ago. It has it's ups and downs, but I have always loved the song "Dictatosaurus". I think it's loosely about the Allies taking Europe back from Hitler in WWII. For one it references D-Day. I love the way the chorus goes, it's really melodic and it soars almost gloriously and yet the meaning of the words is pretty ominous -- i.e. we're coming to kick your ass, motherfucker.

"Dictatosaurus"

all set
systems on and ready
move forward
level reads ok
click, drive
prepare to break away
one target
today is d-day!

soaked in lies and fears
after all these years
when the sun will rise
the monster's gonna die

from now on,
things are gonna change
'cause we know why and how
who you really are

from now on,
things won't be the same
'cause we know what you're doing
and we know where you're hiding
we know everything

next step
engage all procedures
code, enter
signal loud and clear
star-shell
sparkling high in the sky
all together
we'll make this dream come true

raised in blood and tears
after all these years
as the sun goes down
a new world comes along

from now on,
things are gonna change
'cause we know why and how
who you really are

from now on,
things won't be the same
'cause we know what you're doing
and we know where you're hiding
we know everything

I don't know why I'm posting this, I just felt like it. How 'bout we say it's because it's Wednesday? Kay? Kay.

Epic

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:26:25 GMT

I have been waiting for years for someone to put this on the web. In 1994 we celebrated the 100th anniversary of film as a medium and in commemoration of that event this nine-minute short film was put together of highlights from that century.

Seeing all these great movie moments condensed and concentrated into less than 10 minutes, fired off at rapid succession, great quotes and great moments rising to the surface amongst the blur of passing time -- it is truly awe inspiring to me. Perhaps it's because I've always been a fan of classic film, but I think it's really because movies are our dreams realized. And there's something magical about that.

Come watch your dreams unfold.

Even today, so many years far removed from being a prospective film student, hardly ever watching my DVDs or ever setting foot in a theater, I still long to be a filmmaker. How wonderful it would be to make dreams into reality, to set you down and tell you a story like you've never been told before.

health care

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:23:39 GMT

The health care debate in this country has gotten out of control.

Out. Of. Control.

People in this country are DYING because they can't get health care. SOMETHING has to be done.

And instead of an informed debate we have protesters outside of town hall meetings holding up pictures of Obama's face superimposed over Adolph Hitler and scathing remarks about how Obama is a socialist hell bent on turning America into a socialist state and even one weeping woman wailing on a microphone about how she's scared and she wants her country back?

What the fuck is wrong with you people? Are you really this FUCKING STUPID?

I'll say it again: People in this country are DYING because they can't get health care. SOMETHING has to be done.

Take me for example. I have pre-existing conditions (depression, anxiety) and I take four medications for my conditions. This makes me effectively uninsurable by private health care. I've now applied to every major health care provider available to me and I have been denied because of my pre-existing conditions and the number of meds I take.

I'm fucked.

So what am I supposed to do? What are the millions of Americans in my position supposed to do? Huh?! You fucking protesters seem to have all the answers, so TELL ME WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO DO.

No sympathy for my situation, huh? Well, how about that of young Deamonte Driver as reported by the Washington Post via the Huffington Post:

"Take the story of a 12-year-old boy named Deamonte Driver who lived in Prince George's Country, Maryland, a few miles from the nation's capitol. As reported in the Washington Post by Mary Otto, in 2007 Deamonte Driver died of a toothache. Here's what she wrote: 'A routine $80 tooth extraction might have saved him. If his mother had been insured. If his family had not lost its Medicaid. If Medicaid dentists weren't so hard to find. If his mother hadn't been focused on getting a dentist for his brother, who had six rotted teeth.' Instead the bacteria from the abscess in Deamonte's tooth spread to his brain and killed him."

THIS IS DISGUSTING.

You know what, I want my America back too. I want the America where ALL OF US have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Instead of right now where we're just casting people off into a gutter of illness and disease without giving them a chance to live at all.

...and one more thing: we had to put up with the fascism of the Bush Administration and all you fucks waving the American flag like everything was okay and now that we're seeing a chance for real progress we have to hear your dogshit? Fuck you. FUCK YOU. DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE.

DIVIDE BY ZERO OVERFLOW ERROR

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:47:32 GMT

OH SHI--

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:01:53 GMT

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

medical cannabis vs. Marinol

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:17:41 GMT

Finally, some quality coverage on the myth that Marinol makes cannabis obsolete.

Does the Pot Pill Work?
The Government Says a Pill Called Marinol Offers the Same Benefits as Medical Marijuana. Is it True?
By Brian Montopoli

(CBS) "Medical marijuana," the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says, "already exists."

They don't just mean in California. A pill known as Marinol has been legal and approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use with a prescription anywhere in America since 1985.

It's active ingredient? Dronabinol, better known as THC, the primary psychoactive element of the cannabis plant.

"Marinol provides standardized THC concentrations, does not contain the other 400 uncharacterized substances found in smoked marijuana, such as carcinogens or fungal spores, and is not associated with the quick high of smoked marijuana," said Neil Hirsch, a spokesman for Marinol manufacturer Solvay Pharmaceuticals.

But Marinol is not the same thing as traditional, smokable marijuana. It is a less complex substance lacking both some of the good components found in traditional marijuana (such as cannabidiol, which has been found to have anti-seizure effects) and the bad or not-yet-fully-understood components (among them potential carcinogens) that can also come with the drug.

Ken Trainer, a 60-year-old Massachusetts resident who has battled Multiple Sclerosis for 25 years, said he has long been smoking marijuana to deal with the regular tremors he gets in his arms and legs.

"If I smoke a joint, the tremors go away most times before the joint is gone," he said. "It makes my life a little easier." Marinol, by contrast, "didn't really do much of anything for me," he said.

56-year-old Des Moines resident Jeff Elton, who was diagnosed with gastroparesis six years ago, had a similar experience when he was prescribed Marinol to deal with his chronic nausea and vomiting.

"I felt no relief, I didn't feel ill, I felt nothing," he said. "It might as well be M&M's."

Elton said he switched to marijuana, which he smokes through a vaporizer - a device that heats the active ingredients into a vapor instead of burning them. He said it allows him to keep down his food and regain some of the weight he lost while on Marinol.

"[One] problem with Marinol is that it's orally administered," Dr. Mitch Earleywine, an associate professor of Clinical Psychology at the State University of New York at Albany, said in an email. "Therefore, it takes longer to work than cannabis inhaled from a vaporizer. (Usually 90 minutes at best rather than 15 seconds - a meaningful amount of time to the nauseated.)"

"It's harder to control dosage, too, so folks end up discombobulated or without symptom relief," he added. "In addition, folks who are vomiting can't hold down the pills." Earleywine also said that a dose Marinol costs three to five times as much as a comparable dose of medical marijuana.

Defenders note that Marinol is not meant to be a cure-all: It has been approved specifically for treating nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy and for treating anorexia associated with weight loss in patients with AIDS.

"When the whole push for the smoked product came along, it was often for those two indications," said Dr. Herbert Kleber, a professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University and the former deputy drug czar under President George H.W. Bush. "And in general, I've not seen any need for the smoked form of marijuana for those two indications. Marinol had already been shown to be quite effective for those two things."

"Are there actions in the whole plant that you don't get from just the Marinol? I would be surprised if there wasn't," he continued. "The problem is that most of the data about the potential medical actions of the smoked form are anecdotal."

Research into the effects of medical marijuana is ongoing: The University of California, San Diego, for example, boasts a Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research engaged in "focused controlled clinical trials on the efficacy of cannabis in patients diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, cancer, seizures or muscle spasms associated with a chronic debilitating condition, or any other serious condition providing sufficient theoretical justification." (The director of the UCSD program, Dr. Igor Grant, was out of the country and could not be reached for this story.)

The Los Angeles Times, which offers a nice overview of the current research, writes that "a growing body of research supports [medical marijuana's] medical usage, but some of it is cautionary." Marijuana has been found to be effective in counteracting severe pain, nausea and loss of appetite, though questions remain about the drawbacks, among them possible respiratory damage and increased cancer risk.

Dr. Kleber, who said he has prescribed Marinol to a patient and found it to be effective, points to what he characterizes as a significant advantage of the pill over traditional marijuana: "People don't abuse it."

"Marijuana addiction is becoming common and as a result I'm seeing an increasing number of people who have trouble stopping marijuana," he said. "Contrary to popular beliefs that there is no marijuana withdrawal, there is marijuana withdrawal. It's very clear cut."

The calculus, then, isn't quite as simple as the Drug Enforcement Administration suggests: Marinol and medical marijuana may share an active ingredient, but they offer somewhat different benefits and different drawbacks. Proponents of medicinal marijuana say it's disingenuous to hold up Marinol as a direct alternative to the more traditional form of the plant.

"I just don't understand how they won't let me smoke a joint, but they're more than happy to write me out prescriptions for anything that I want," Trainer said.

It's that simple -- Marinol has it's uses and cannabis has it's uses. And yet Marinol can be legally prescribed (US DEA Schedule III) and cannabis is completely illegal (US DEA Schedule I). I'm not saying cannabis should be totally legal -- though it should be noted that California Governor Schwarzenegger said we should start at least discussing the concept of legalization -- I'm just saying at least put an end to the hypocrisy and reschedule cannabis. Now. The atmosphere of lies and fear surrounding cannabis has gone on for too long. Enough is enough.

spider

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 04:26:07 GMT

So this huge ass spider has been hanging around the light outside the back door for the past few days. It spun a web over the weekend that was about the circumference of a basketball -- not the biggest web I've seen, but pretty creepy.

Tonight I went out back and IMMEDIATELY came face to face with this sucker. It strung up a web the size of a *beach ball* RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE DOOR. The web is anchored to the gutters, the grill under the light, a chair halfway across the deck, and the door frame itself. I almost walked right into the thing. It scared the shit out of me.

So I took pictures. Unfortunately, the flash is broken on the only camera in the house so I had to over-expose the images to make them remotely viewable. Except the last one where I used the porch light to light up the web, it's not half bad.

Shooting through the doorway about six feet away.

Standing about two feet away almost in the doorway.

I wanted to take a picture of the spider itself up close -- it has a peanut-sized body and a leg span of a half dollar -- but the thing kept getting pissed and actually ATTACKED THE CAMERA at one point when I was only a couple inches away. I have serious temporary arachnophobia right now. I think this bitch is going to get Raid-ed in the morning.

the keeper and the clusterfuck

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:38:16 GMT

Here's some more photomanipulation for your viewing pleasure. I did both of these last week. The first one, which I really like, I did in a single morning. I think that's the fastest I've put together something that I was happy with and felt was "good". It's not perfect (it's a little too "busy" for one thing), but I think it's pretty solid. As per the title of this post, this one is the "keeper".

The latter picture is a different story. It is definitely the "clusterfuck". I spent days working on this, trying to force certain imagery to happen, and I just never was able to get it to work in the end. It's not a total loss, so I filed it away on my hard drive for archiving purposes. The main reason I'm posting it here is to show what sort of material I chuck in the reject bin.

Growing Young

Broken Arrow

edit: Reposted so the effing links actually work.

tomorrow's just another name for yesterday

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 02:16:03 GMT

I've got the chorus to the song "World Without End" by Solarized stuck in my head:

the day turns into night
and every night brings another day
but way down deep inside
babe, you know that I'm still the same
forever isn't far away
tomorrow's just another name for yesterday

Tomorrow's just another name for yesterday. Hmm.