The Science & Philosophy Thread

[woodnymph]

solar rays are going to melt us by 2013:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-eye-looming-solar-max.html

Over a quick scan, I saw "9 hour power outages" and "auroras"..... maybe by then I'll be holed up in a cabin with solar power watching the auroras without heavy light pollution and a fully charged solar generator  :-X :-X :-X

[woodnymph]

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/crab-nebula-gamma-ray-flares-110106.html

Such as, is found in the Crab


Nebula

[woodnymph]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_sci_space_blob

[woodnymph]

I've also been meaning to share this since last summer, when I first got this plant and it was only 6 inches tall!



It's the Sensitive Plant (also known as a type of mimosa....) They don't generally do well in a Pittsburgh winter, but this one, though getting a bit gangly, is still green and growing! Some ppls might be familiar with it, when you touch the leaves, they turn under and wilt. (and it's the NEATEST DARN THING TO WATCH!) After awhile, they bounce back and are fine. They look like ya kill 'em anytime ya touch 'em though; it's actually a defense mechanism that can scare harmful critters away from eating it. What  happens is the water in the leaves and stem is triggered, upon touching it, to travel down into the roots and base of the plant. And when the water is gone, the plant loses its upright buoyancy... It also closes In the Twiliiiiighttt.... and re-opens At Dawn!

But one of the ladies I worked with at the greenhouses last summer penned the clever marketing line "Touch Me..." on the plant pot, to lure customers... and every day I'd go in and see a few of them on the counter and Touch Me 1 or 2 would immediately be in my head :P Been wanting to post it forever!!

Here's a youtube of the mimosa doin' its thanggg:
Mimosa pudica - Sensitive Plant

Later Edit: So it needs repotted... bad... but I can't find it in me to take it outta the darn pot! I'll just plant something else in it I guess! Like a fragrant herb or something else touchable heh

[Sticky Icky Green Stuff]

that plant is f'ing sweet.  way cool. 

[el_chode]

that plant is f'ing sweet.  way cool.

Admit it - you're wondering what'd be like to smoke it

[Sticky Icky Green Stuff]

that plant is f'ing sweet.  way cool.

Admit it - you're wondering what'd be like to smoke it

I want to pretend to eat it. 

[woodnymph]

that plant is f'ing sweet.  way cool.

Admit it - you're wondering what'd be like to smoke it

I want to pretend to eat it.

Wait til you see what happens to YOU when you smoke it! There's no youtube of that available. EVER.  :-X

AND HEY HEY ALL THE FACES ARE BACK!!!
Now I need to use all of them completely unneccessarily, but for celebrational purposes.  ;D ;D :D :D 8) :dankk2:
P.S. the "Thanks" one is called "dankk" in its html form. ahem

I like when it says it's "Fetching" a preview of your message, too.
The end.

[Sticky Icky Green Stuff]

I debated putting this article in the MMJ music section:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110112111117.htm

[woodnymph]

I debated putting this article in the MMJ music section:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110112111117.htm

Oh man this is awesome... you mighta shoulda

Chiiilllssss........down my spiiiiiiiiiiinnneee......

[darkglow]

I debated putting this article in the MMJ music section:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110112111117.htm

wonder how far off they are from engineering audio files that when listened to cause such a euphoric effect... and then i also wonder how long it will be before it's illegal.

i'll never understand our society's taboo on mind altering drugs meanwhile alcohol advertising is one of the biggest industries in america.

[Sticky Icky Green Stuff]

I debated putting this article in the MMJ music section:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110112111117.htm

wonder how far off they are from engineering audio files that when listened to cause such a euphoric effect... and then i also wonder how long it will be before it's illegal.

i'll never understand our society's taboo on mind altering drugs meanwhile alcohol advertising is one of the biggest industries in america.

there is already people releasing audio that they claim give you the same buzz as certain drugs:

http://www.i-doser.com/storev3/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=188

it's bullshit.  if I were to speculate on how to maximize dopamine release via what the scientist are saying music wise I'd listen to Phish or Classical music with lots of tension.  Tension/Release is Phish's entire jam philosophy for the most part.  when bands peak out it's usually out of tension->release.  Run Thru comes to mind as an example, they yell, then it gets tense and electronic and then they release again with massive wails at the end.  that song gives me chills live almost every time. 

[el_chode]

There are a ton of apps for iPhone and the like that "get you high"

usually they contain the word binaural and have nothing to do with Pearl Jam

[Tracy 2112]

http://stevebass.posterous.com/the-mystery-of-the-box

[el_chode]

NASA test fires its Methane Rocket, which may aid in deep space exploration.

NASA - Methane engine test fire

To me, it is a metaphor for my ass after a night of hotwings and beer.

[woodnymph]

Yellowstone Volcanoooo Practices Deep Breathing:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110125/us_yblog_thelookout/underground-yellowstone-supervolcano-causing-earth-to-rise-in-some-spots


A really cool video along with it, to boot

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh shewt, yeah Tyler don't get me started on all this madness....

i'll never understand our society's taboo on mind altering drugs meanwhile alcohol advertising is one of the biggest industries in america.

Heh that one gets me goin', especially since I've never been a big drinker.....

And Sticky, I wonder about the dopamine release when listening to music in the headphones at night, in between sleep/wakefulness. I'd love to find studies on what effects that has on the dream state(s). It feels like some serious chemicals are shifting around in the dome sometimes when listening to music falling asleep......

[Sticky Icky Green Stuff]

isn't there a chemical that starts to set in when you start falling asleep?  it's suppose to keep you still basically so you don't hurt yourself, roll off the bed, etc.  that shit about sleep paralysis is crazy.  alien abductions, demons, all sorts of shit.  waking dreams or whatever.  It would be awesome to have trippy ass life like lucid dreams but alas too much weed clouds my dream core.  although I did have a crazy quick dream two days ago where I jumped out of the dream and said "why don't we go now?!" mid-wake up followed by a "what the fuck?".  dream states are intense.  alpha waves n shit.  have you seen those lucid dream googles that flash light patterns so when you dream it's easier to realize it?  my friend's grandpa has some, they're supposedly really awesome but it could be bullshit.

[woodnymph]

I actually did a few searches and wanted to post reallllly bad on a few of the "dream"-themed threads that I found on some searches.... but I just ramble a mile a minute sometimes about all that.... *ahem* *trying not to continue said motions*  :-X

I'm at a weird place of mind where I am certain I've had 2 lucid dreams in my life, but I only remember one of them. And they were fairly close to eachother as far as when they happened.

Typing about it now, though, makes me feel like the one I can't remember was just extremely short. Like I was able to 'control' my hand, and then the lucidity was gone.  Something along those lines.

The OTHER one I won't likely ever forget. I was playing a sick game of hide-and-seek of all things, and I was able to grow and shrink and shape-shift as I pleased. I remember camouflaging my entire body to blend in with plants at one point, and I can't forget controlling myself to shrink into almost nothing, at another point. The invincible feeling of being in control is mind-blowing. I feel entirely blessed or in great fortune to even have experienced it once.

These both happened, as far as I recall, during a more regularly psychedelic time frame of my life, and I always question that. (NOTE: I was not ON anything at the time of dreaming!!! I was just "exploring more realms" in general during that period.)  Studying meditation and Buddhism philosophies (not necessarily the dogma of it) has led me to believe that drugs are not needed to go where they are so often associated with taking people. But I'm no spokesperson for it, I'm not the Maharajji, unfortunately! (Though drifting slightly from my goal of not rambling, I would like to mention I dreamt I visited him in the mountains once, and we spoke to eachother in very "normal" ways. He even swore and was pretty vulgar! I guess that was his way of coming back down to the human levels......)

ANYWHO.  I better end it there.

I'm not super familiar with those light patterns (well I haven't tried to read about 'em online just yet), but I can already tell I'd love to experiment with all that.... anything to get back that euphoric feeling!!!  :o

I've read a bit about alpha waves, but it's been a good while... definitely interesting shiite!  Can't recall much about the "falling asleep" chem you mentioned either, though I remember reading something about that.....

For me, deja vu is getting weirder and weirder. I've started to feel like I'm actually putting some of them together with where they "come from" or something.... (and though it hasn't happened a whole lot, it does feel very dream-related)  What another WEIRD-ASS sensation all across your whole body when that shit happens... you get the deja vu rollercoaster feeling like you're sucking into a black hole then it just spits you right the f out....

Love the movie Waking Life

[Sticky Icky Green Stuff]

those dreams sound awesome.  I don't know much about buddism just that the main philosophy behind it is "life is suffering" and suffering is caused by desire.  we can not, not desire thus we suffer, endlessly.  or do we?  waking life is a pretty trippy movie, my friend used to have that on all the time when I went over to his house.   the subconscious is amazing, the entire brain is amazing really.  brain science is my favorite type of science, how we work and why we do what we do. 

whenever I dream these days it's always weird as shit and feels like a real life scenario.  except for one dream I've had two or three times now.  I'm either moving into or staying at some huge 5 story hotel like mansion.  the top floor was haunted.  I was sure of it I remember.  it was like I stayed in the room a couple nights and haunted ass shit happened, but like evil freaky shit.  so I remember peacing out of the 5th floor. neil young playing guitar downstairs but when I looked at him it was a kaleidoscope view.  then after that it's this old style empty room, the paint is faded and it has those old school wood floors and Victorian ceilings. 

the point I suppose is that even though I don't really remember much from the two dreams, the second time I had the dream I remembered the 5th floor in the dream and went up there again and it was haunted again.   It was one of those intensely scary but fun dreams, where you wake up and you try to fall back asleep to see how it ends or something. 

I'm going to go get my dream on right now, hope ya have some good ones. 

Deja Vu is the first strip club I ever went to.  and the only strip club I've ever been taken to by people I worked for (fucking sales people are weirdos, I quit the day I got hired - fuck that bullshit).  It seems like if we are just an illusion like Einstein says or we're a little piece of everything like the hindu's and buddist say it would make sense that we perceive instances of time in weird ways.  Our brains are like processors almost right?  maybe there are effects, there's almost gotta be effects that are messing with our perception of reality.  The blue sky I suppose is an example.  it's not really blue or whatever.  that's kind of a lame analogy. 

it seems like all our consciousness is connected, it's one big thing.  ying to the yang.  black to white.   my friend posted a quote the other day something like "we're giant machines built by DNA to produce more DNA".   haha, it's kinda true.  existence, who knows.  I'm hooked on the multiverse shit and if we integrate into the system of universes or if we're limited to our own.  I'm pretty stoned as a disclaimer. 

[Hawkeye]

Dreams have always been very, very interesting to me.  I have had at least one lucid dream:

The only part of the dream I remember:  I burst into a shopping mall...who knows why I was there or what I was doing beforehand...but as soon as I entered the mall, I felt very "aware."  I was also suddenly very aware of a strong "presence"...something else was in there with me.  Suddenly, I stopped and looked at my hands, as if I were awake.  I could control everything.  And a big, booming voice said "You've figured it out."  And I turned around and there was a "God"-like creature.  He was big and furry and purple with Big-Bird legs and antennae.  And I just felt Euphoric.  And Warmth.  and Love.  It was awesome.

So I started looking into lucid dreaming, seeing if there was a way to stimulate that to happen all the time.  I remember reading that keeping a dream log helps as well as focusing your thoughts before you fall asleep.  I never got around to looking into it all that hardcore tho.  But I really wanted to be able to control my dreams.  And actually be "productive" while I was asleep...whether thinking about a homework problem or...whatever.  I hadn't really figured out in what ways I could be productive, other than thinking through problems.

On a semi-related note:  does anyone here meditate with any frequency?  Any tips/books you could recommend?  I really want to start some regular meditation sessions.  Anyone have any data/info on the benefits?