Sadly, Dr. Hofmann passed away on Tuesday, at a ripe old age. NYT Obit here.
And, just to be clear, I haven't spoken this much about Albert Hofmann in a short space of time before in my entire life. I'm not, like, obsessed with Dr. Hofmann. But he (and Cary Grant and Tim Leary) all have convinced me that, if you take a lot of the stuff, you may live a long life and look relatively young while you're doing it.
(Once again, this is not advocacy; it is simply a non-scientific observation based on a very small sample.)
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Fascinating (speaking as an anthropologist, anyway)
Check out this blog entry and its comments on BoingBoing today!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
LoC
On this date in 1800, the Library of Congress was established, with an initial outlay of 5,000 smackers. I want to write up some sort of personal homage to the LoC, where I used to go to study when I was a grad student in DC ... but not now. Soon.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Squeaky
He's going to Cat Heaven today. Ol' Squeakster will go to curl up in some eternal comfy lap of love, and end his troubles. I'm gonna miss the old guy. Darn it.
Roy Orbison
He would have been 72 today. He died 20 years ago. He always seemed much older to me, for some reason ... maybe it was his voice. It seemed so eternal, somehow. One of those voices that makes the back of your neck prickle when it hits certain notes, as though the vibrations of his vocal cords are in harmony with some life force within you. Yeah, that's it.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Speaking of Albert Hofmann ...
... which I was doing below ...
There was a documentary on the History Channel over the weekend, presented by Wade Davis, about Richard Schultes, who was a pioneering ethnobotanist. I met Wade Davis briefly years ago at a celebration of Dr. Schultes's career. I thought (for a very short time) of becoming an ethnobotanist myself, but then it turned out you needed to know stuff, like plant chemistry. Makes sense. Anyway, I have an abiding appreciation of Dr. Schultes's work, and Wade Davis's too.
The documentary is called Peyote to LSD: A Psychedelic Odyssey and it reruns next Saturday at 5:00 (EDT).
Andrew Weil, William S. Burroughs, Alan Ginsberg, etc. were all influenced by his work. He was really something. Golden Books (!!) even published a kids' book of his called Hallucinogenic Plants. Oh, how I would like a copy of that. I saw one once, held it in my hands, so I know it's true. It's the Holy Grail of unbelievable publications. Someone, somewhere on the Intarnebs has uploaded some .jpgs of some of the pages, as I recall.
Disclaimer: I am not endorsing the use of anything. This post is for informational purposes only. Do whatever you want; no skin off my nose.
There was a documentary on the History Channel over the weekend, presented by Wade Davis, about Richard Schultes, who was a pioneering ethnobotanist. I met Wade Davis briefly years ago at a celebration of Dr. Schultes's career. I thought (for a very short time) of becoming an ethnobotanist myself, but then it turned out you needed to know stuff, like plant chemistry. Makes sense. Anyway, I have an abiding appreciation of Dr. Schultes's work, and Wade Davis's too.
The documentary is called Peyote to LSD: A Psychedelic Odyssey and it reruns next Saturday at 5:00 (EDT).
Andrew Weil, William S. Burroughs, Alan Ginsberg, etc. were all influenced by his work. He was really something. Golden Books (!!) even published a kids' book of his called Hallucinogenic Plants. Oh, how I would like a copy of that. I saw one once, held it in my hands, so I know it's true. It's the Holy Grail of unbelievable publications. Someone, somewhere on the Intarnebs has uploaded some .jpgs of some of the pages, as I recall.
Disclaimer: I am not endorsing the use of anything. This post is for informational purposes only. Do whatever you want; no skin off my nose.
Crabby about ads
OK, I know this is not deep, but I watch a hella lot of TV, so it gets to me after awhile.
So, like, there are these ads for some hotel -- Marriott Renaissance suites or something -- that seems to be telling you that it's the preferred hotel of circus performers. So, really, go crazy! You might as well. The ceilings are maybe 20 feet tall, the curtains are on indestructable tracks that cross the entire ceiling, and they're strong enough to hold an adult. In the case of the ad, it's some zombi-fied woman in her bra, who has a big black stripe down her abdomen, who gets some sort of autoerotic kick out of tangling herself up in the fabric and pushing off from the wall. So, hell, if she can do it, why not your six-year-old? Or maybe you and your husband. Looks strangely mind-numbing, so tie your kids to the drapes and push 'em around. That'll calm 'em down.
And then, yeah, you can do hand stands and eat fruit off your foot. If you're into that kind of thing.
Next door, the elephant trainer is teaching Jumbo how to use the remote check-out.
So, like, there are these ads for some hotel -- Marriott Renaissance suites or something -- that seems to be telling you that it's the preferred hotel of circus performers. So, really, go crazy! You might as well. The ceilings are maybe 20 feet tall, the curtains are on indestructable tracks that cross the entire ceiling, and they're strong enough to hold an adult. In the case of the ad, it's some zombi-fied woman in her bra, who has a big black stripe down her abdomen, who gets some sort of autoerotic kick out of tangling herself up in the fabric and pushing off from the wall. So, hell, if she can do it, why not your six-year-old? Or maybe you and your husband. Looks strangely mind-numbing, so tie your kids to the drapes and push 'em around. That'll calm 'em down.
And then, yeah, you can do hand stands and eat fruit off your foot. If you're into that kind of thing.
Next door, the elephant trainer is teaching Jumbo how to use the remote check-out.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Rick Moranis's birthday
I learned this version of the Star-Spangled Banner from watching this when it first ran (maybe 1983 or so??), and never forgot it. It still cracks me up!
Another dark day in the world of advertising
Who in their right minds ever thought, in a million years, "John McEnroe. Now he is a viable spokesperson for breakfast cereal! People are going to want to eat the breakfast cereal that John McEnroe endorses!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)