Curious
Times No. 358
July 20, 2006
I CAN SEE GOD... NO WAIT, THAT’S MY CAT
After decades of seeing hallucinogenic drugs demonized by the
mainstream media, it’s strange to read a variety of reports
last week about the psychological benefits of magic mushrooms.
It appears that researchers have finally discovered what experimental
teenagers have known all along, that shrooms have the potential
to make you very, very happy. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University
in Baltimore found that over 60 percent of volunteers who took
capsules of psilocybin derived from mushrooms reported having
a “full mysitcal experience,” with a third reporting
that the experience was the single most spiritually significant
event of their lifetimes. Even two months after the experiment,
79 percent of the volunteers said they felt an increased sense
of well-being or life satisfaction thanks to the miraculous little
mushroom. However, Dr. Roland Griffiths, a professor of neuroscience
and psychiatry was quick to warn that the drug can also have adverse
effects. "Even in this study, where we greatly controlled
conditions to minimize adverse effects, about a third of subjects
reported significant fear, with some also reporting transient
feelings of paranoia," he warned. "Under unmonitored
conditions, it's not hard to imagine those emotions escalating
to panic and dangerous behavior." (Reuters)
KEEP TRADING UNTIL YOU’RE EMPORER OF THE GALAXY
Who says hair-brained schemes don’t work? Definitely not
Kyle MacDonald, the Montreal man who set out to trade a single
red paperclip for bigger and better items until he finally scored
a house. And now, one year and 14 trades later, MacDonald is the
proud owner of a two-story farmhouse in Kipling, Saskatchewan.
Check out the full report at OneRedPaperclip.com,
where Kyle kept a record of the trades that led to his ultimate
prize. The 14 trades went something like this: red paperclip,
fish-shaped pen, handmade doorknob, coleman stove, 1000W Generator,
one neon Budweiser sign and a keg of beer, snowmobile, all-expense
paid trip to Yahk, B.C., cube van, recording contract, one year
rent paid in Pheoniz, Arizona, one afternoon with Alice Cooper,
KISS snowglobe, a role in a movie, two-storey farmhouse. Success!
TIME TO SLEEP WITH EACH OTHER’S WIVES
And now, from the “Strange Tales of Parallel Lives”
files comes the story of Darryl R. Peebles, an American man who
decided to Google his name and found another Darryl R. Peebles
living in Tasmania, Australia. After making contact by email the
two men discovered that they lived remarkably similar lives. For
starters, both were born in 1949, both have three childen, both
had children born in the years 1975 and 1977, and both men enjoyed
performing magic, ventriloquism and music. A year later the two
men met and discovered that they were practically the same person.
“It is as through we have known each other forever,”
said Darrly 1. “Our minds and our personalities are so much
alike. It’s as if we were brothers.” (Reuters)
JUST
BECAUSE YOU’RE NOT PARANOID DOESN’T MEAN THEY’RE
NOT OUT TO GET YOU
A study from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London
shocked researchers who found that levels of paranoia among the
general population are even higher than anyone estimated. According
to their study, as many as one in three people suffer from paranoid
or suspiciuos fears. Researchers came up with these numbers: over
40% of people regularly worry that negative comments are being
made about them; 27% think that people deliberately try to irritate
them; 20% worry about being observed or followed; 10% think that
someone has it in for them; 5% worry that there is a conspiracy
to harm them. I wonder if these numbers are a bit higher than
normal because the researchers secretly followed people around
and taped their phone conversations in order to study their levels
of paranoia... (BBC)
YOU COULD TRY TO READ MY MIND, OR I COULD JUST TELL YOU HOW
MUCH I HATE YOUR STUPID COMPUTER
A team of British and American scientists is in the process of
building the world’s first mind-reading computer. They claim
that their “emotionally aware” computer will be able
to read your thoughts by analyzing your facial movements. “The
system we have developed allows a wide range of mental states
to be identified just by pointing a video camera at someone,”
said Professor Peter Robinson of the University of Cambridge in
England. (MSNBC)
ALIENS CONTROL THE PLANET (I THINK)
What happens when academic eggheads try to legitimize alien conspiracies
theories by writing painfully dry research papers? Titles like
this: Responding to Extraterrestrial Infiltration of Clandestine
Organizations Embedded in Military, Intelligence and Government
Departments. I really wanted to read this article, because the
title loosely translates as "Aliens Run The Secret Government,"
but I couldn't get passed the stuffy writing. Cure your insomnia
at Exopolitics.org/Study-Paper-4.htm
I-READ-IT-ON-THE-INTERNET-SO-IT-MUST-BE-TRUE FACT OF THE WEEK
Laboratory rats that are forced to run mazes all day have dreams
about running those mazes while they sleep.
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