methylphenidate

The compass points the wrong way

HongPong — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 00:50:52 -0600

Ah shit: Sarkozy calls for UN-led 'new world order':

The United Nations should avail itself as an instrument for a "new world order of the 21st century," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday in his first address to the General Assembly. Sarkozy, who won the presidency this year on a strong reform platform to modernize France, urged the world body to embark on programmes ranging from equal wealth distribution to fighting corruption in his speech full of references to France's past revolutionary ideals.

Jacobin Commie! Yikes!! The Neo Con New World Order etc. w00000!!11!!!

An ugly scenario: World War III: What World War III May Look Like - by Philip Giraldi - a former Intelligence officer:

The United States uses a neutron-type bomb against the main Iranian nuclear research center at Natanz, which it had already bombed conventionally and destroyed. It vows to bomb again if Iran continues to resist. Iran is defiant and fires another wave of Silkworms at U.S. ships, sinking one. Suicide bombers hit U.S. targets in Iraq and Afghanistan. Russia and China place their nuclear forces on high alert. Pakistani militants take over parliament, aided by radical elements in the army and the intelligence service. India launches a preemptive strike against the main Pakistani nuclear centers at Wah and Multan, where the country's arsenal is believed to be concentrated. Pakistan has hidden some of its nukes elsewhere, however, and is able to strike back by bombing New Delhi. World War III has begun.

Someone said recently that this stuff with total NSA surveillance and paramilitary Blackwater insanity looks like Baron Hausmann's reorganization of Paris: the creation of new forms and institutions that aren't really helpful against Islamic terrorists, but quite useful against violent domestic insurrections. Haussmann built those big Parisian avenues so that revolt organizers couldn't blockade parts of the city. Saddam took a page from this when rebuilding Baghdad...

Seems too true. And all the damn compasses keep pointing that way. The fascist shift, the real deal.......

Classic colonial powers in Iraq:

Here is the legal framework on that. More from Prof. Juan Cole:

A big feature of the literature on decolonization is the delight leaders such as Gamal Abdul Nasser and Ruhollah Khomeini took in abrogating laws bestowing 'extra-territoriality' on colonial personnel and even just civilians from the metropole, while in the subject country. Now extra-territoriality is back with a vengeance; and, of course, no colonial enterprise can be run without it. One can't have persons of the superior race hauled before a native judge; bad show, old boy, to let the wily oriental gentlemen get the upper hand that way.

The argument about whether Cheney/Bush went into Iraq over petroleum is not interesting. Of course they did, one way or another. The question is what exactly they thought they were doing about Iraq's petroleum. I would argue that they threw public resources (perhaps as much as two trillion dollars worth when all is said and done) to secure profits for private companies.

Fake terror threat manipulates Congress to further spy powers: The insanity continues as Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) claims that "bogus" intelligence claims were bandied about by the White House in order to get the extension of spy powers. Here you have a legislative example of the classic fear "staged war on terror" dynamic. It's all right here.

When did the dissing of generals start? Right wing noxious fumers like Jonah Goldberg have been ripping on generals since quite a while ago: VAPAHS!!!

Hence, in any case, conventional wisdom will always be happy if Republicans More Happy With the "Democratic" Congress than Democrats.

Dan Rather: the video producer, Mary Mapes, who got nailed by some kind of repackaged info bomb, thinks Dan Rather's big lawsuit is courageous. Mary Mapes: Courage for Dan Rather.

The Drugging of our children: Someone made a video, mainly about ADHD and pumping the kids' heads full of psychotropic social control agents. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's by someone named Gary Null (Google Video), who seems to have some other weird offbeat medical videos on Google Video.

AT&T going to tap the Internet & scan to catch your bad movies: Slashdot carried the story that:

Save the Internet writes "Ars Technica is reporting that the MPAA is trying to convince major ISPs to do content filtering. Now, merely wanting it is one thing, but the more important point is that 'AT&T has agreed to start filtering content at some mysterious point in the future.' We're left to wonder about the legal implications of that, but given that AT&T already has the ability to wiretap everything for the NSA, it was only a matter of time before they found a way to profit from it, too."

The chic TASER police state: Andrew Meyer was that kid at the Kerry rally tagged for no particular reason (though of course it's not safe to suggest elections are rigged in Florida, let alone mention secret societies!) Creepy embrace of tasers by the establishment media. Bill O'Reilly was really creepy about the whole thing. Emil Steiner in the WaPo says creepy stuff too. Protest for Tasered Student Continues. More creeps - a connection between ominous neocons and violence-loving O'Reilly: A marriage made in Hell. Media Matters - Beck said he "enjoy[s] watching" Taser videos; O'Reilly rolled out "Don't Taze me, bro!" bumper stickers. Stunning future ahead for Taser.

We have our own police state issues around here. PrisonPlanet has a new web page devoted to classic police brutality incidents. The new Pain Ray Gun "Silent Guardian" which basically is a microwave weapon that hurts a lot. Let me share a bit of probably-classified wisdom about microwave weapons: they are perfectly defeated by aluminum foil. Tinfoil hats at the ready!!! (Apparently, ISBN numbers are intellectual property nowadays too - no sneeking into your university bookstore to steal those serials and order 'em online! Yikes) Police Culture In the US. America’s Police Brutality Pandemic by Paul Craig Roberts. Veterans Disarmament Act To Bar Vets From Owning Guns if anyone says they have PTSD. Underground militia here we come, before the blue helmets sez ya crazy!

Great moments in Homeland Security: Because if you're not a terrorist, no problem (via here):

Zakariya Reed, a Toledo firefighter, said in an interview that he has been detained at least seven times at the Michigan border since fall 2006. Twice, he said, he was questioned by border officials about "politically charged" opinion pieces he had published in his local newspaper. The essays were critical of U.S. policy in the Middle East, he said. Once, during a secondary interview, he said, "they had them printed out on the table in front of me."

Better yet: Alex Jones guys discover the horrible! Denver Sheriff's Office Helps Private Companies Take Blood And Saliva At Checkpoints. Nice! Ex-FEMA Leader Says Feds May Overreact. Michael Brown expects crazy feds. Shit!

Blackwater looks like the TASER International Comintern: At least those shady bastards are on the map right now. They're gonna get pegged by their own Zapruder film, hopefully. Here's an overview video from Jeremy Scahill, who was really good recently on MSNBC Countdown:

Bad economic news & views: "Greenspan Working To Destroy US Economy", at least suddenly talking down with great shock the excesses of Wall Street. Greenspan's Oil Claim in Context - by Dilip Hiro and Tom Engelhardt. Really helpful.

Financial Times reported:

Fresh economic shocks on the scale of the current credit squeeze will occur if US house prices continue to fall, one of the country’s leading housing experts warned on Wednesday. Robert Shiller, a Yale university economist, told a US congressional panel that he feared “the collapse of home prices might turn out to be the most severe since the Great Depression”.

Fears of dollar collapse as Saudis take fright. The Saudis Call Bernanke's Bluff. Foreign reserve currencies quietly getting ditched. Krugman asked if this is the Wile E. Coyote moment (where he looks down and falls through the air). (On a side note, the NY Times has made its editorial stuff free again - and the old article archives going back many years. They want to sell more ads now. Sweet!)

Why the dollar is taking another beating now. First World Government junk bonds on the way. Suddenly, the British pound looks vulnerable. West ‘complicit’ in Third World corruption. How the Bush economy worked.

Looks like a good book: Naomi Klein's The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

On a more funny note: Chinese buy into conspiracy theory. yes the hokey tale of the Rothschilds has become a hit Chinese book, read by all apparatchiks, nomenclatura and bureaucrats of note!

If it's all coming down, the operative question might be: If Humans Are a Virus, Then What Is the End Game? Worth considering I suppose.

Discrediting the North American Union: Reason Magazine calls NAU agenda "a Xenophobic Fantasy". I wish. I found these weird MnDOT documents, there is a real something big out there. Of that much I am certain, and it has Minnesota manifestations.

How about those loose nukes: Simple Error My Ass, says Larry Johnson, a former CIA guy.

Mideast tensions: Israeli rightwing Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu claimed some credit around the suspicious Israeli airstrikes on Syria. It's worth noting that this was certainly a kind of hegemonic shifting, a frame bump in the discourse of international politics. War strikes become the norm, and Netanyahu is positioning himself to bask in the glory. Syria’s Illusory Nukes: More Propaganda.

This stupid prancing shit with Ahmadinejad: Grow Up. Hell yeah. Newt Gingrich: Bush Should Blow Up Iran's Natural Gas Insfrastructure. A good point:

Gingrich said: "I can't imagine why they put up with this. I mean, either General Petraeus is wrong and the military spokesman's wrong or the current policies we have are stunningly ineffective. ... We should finance the students. We should finance a Radio Free Iran. We should covertly sabotage the only gasoline refinery in the country. We should be prepared, once the gasoline refinery's down, to stop all of the gasoline tankers and communicate to the Iranian government, that, if they want to move equipment into Iran - into Iraq - they're gonna have to walk."

What was legal beagle Greta's response to this bloodthirsty, illegal and immoral suggestion?

She said, "That actually seems rather simple and easy to do." The sheer insanity of this is mind-boggling.

Gingrich's open call for sabotage of Iran's gas industry lends more credence to my theory that Iran's natural gas infrastructure, including recent construction on a pipeline to India, is the real target of the Bush administration, not the nuclear plants.

That's why they've over-hyped the nuclear issue. Seek the money to find the hidden agenda. The target is gas, not the atom.

Better yet! Think Progress: Durbin: Lieberman-Kyl Amendment Is ‘Dangerous,’ ‘Puts Us On Record’ In Support Of Iran War. Fuck he's right!!! It's another batshit insane blank check thing. Iran promises missiles will fly if US attacks. UK Times throws out major neocon propaganda, but still: Secret US air force team to perfect plan for Iran strike.

Senate Neocons Provoke Iran. Dress Rehearsal for War. For more,Informed Comment always good. Michael Scheuer, formerly known as CIA's "Anonymous," has one on Why Does Norman Podhoretz Hate America? about the "Islamofascist" bullshit. Quite good.

Iran's Ahmadinejad, public enemy No. 1? shorter: "Demonizing the Iranian president and making his visit to New York seem controversial are all part of the neoconservative push for yet another war" by Juan Cole.

The Russian oil company LUKoil gets West Qurna oilfield development. Good thing American soldiers liberated the contracts to such field by fiat of the gun. What it may cost to stay in Iraq (to secure Russian oil contracts, which may or may not become petrodollars).

Michael Ledeen vs Michael Ledeen: Sell arms to Iran vs. Iran is a warring enemy of America!! Neocons have all this evil innuendo about crushing the liberals, but they themselves are the treasonous bastards since they were selling weapons to Iran during the Iran-Contra Rockstar Geopolitical Party of All Time.

Old news: Greg Palast on Alex Jones in 2002 - old stuff but it mainly checked out. Venezuela, Florida elections, Saudis and Pakistanis in 9/11.

Last bits: The unmasking power of the freedom of speech and dialogue - on the Columbia academic situation. It's really ugly scene with Peter King on mosques, really bad: Extremism in religion is not against the law.

Interesting from dailykos: Hadrian's Forum: Catiline and Rome's "Housing Bubble"; Roman Progressives, Part 1.

A town uses social networking for the Edwards campaign. Sounds like Matt Bai wrote an interesting book on the blogger roots blasting against the Democratic Party establishment.

Some crazy freakin' conservatives have a song about how much God hates America right now. This kind of masochism is how they are starting debates now. WHY SHOULD GOD BLESS AMERICA?!? These people WANT to KNOW!

Ok. ok...

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Psychopharmacology = w0w! These carbon rings get ya stoned! Imitrex migraine med made from Magic Mushrooms? Trippy!

HongPong — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 20:37:00 -0700

Over the weekend I got a pretty rough (and intensely visual) migraine while I was finishing the Politics in Minnesota legislator profiles. I called up a friend of mine who has an interest in biochemistry, asking if they have figured out what the heck a migraine actually is. I certainly attribute this migraine to too much coffee and cigarettes, since when I moderate these substances I don't get the damn things. I rarely have cigs except when things are stressful.

Anyhow this led me to take a look at biochemical websites, and - gasp - the structures of illegal drugs. My friend told me that since migraines are somehow related to serotonin, the prescription migraine medication Imitrex (sumatriptan) is actually a somewhat altered psychedelic mushroom variant.

I went to go check this out. This Canadian website had a ton of useful biochem info for Imitrex (and everything else), including receptors, gene sequences and various genetic racial differences in affected alleles.

Indeed we can see that big Pharma wanted to use the weirder serotonin receptors activated by hallucinogens like mushrooms: Imitrex is the first image. The second two are the major components of magic mushrooms via Erowid, and finally serotonin:

Indeed, my very basic chemistry knowledge indicates that everything except the red sprong is the same between mushrooms and Imitrex. Actually i think the N-S-02 structure isn't even that different from psilocybin. (wikipedia notes that Imitrex can give you heart attacks because its main purpose is vasoconstriction of dilated arteries)

While it is certainly not well-understood why mushrooms generate hallucinations, it's believed they activate certain odd serotonin receptors - perhaps the same ones that thrash around when I get a migraine. The visual effects of a migraine - the "halos" of shimmering incongruence that made it impossible for me to read the computer screen for a full 36 hours - are perhaps not that different than the wobbly weird look of intense mushroom trips.

Only LSD has been isolated as an agonist for the 5-HT6 serotonin receptor, according to the Wiki. I found that LSD itself (lysergic acid diethylamide-25) was actually created by Dr. Hofmann and Sandoz while they were making variants of ergot to treat migraines:

In 1918, Arthur Stoll isolated ergotamine, which was introduced by Sandoz (now Novartis) under the trade name Gynergen in 1921 and marketed as a safer and more reliable form of the medieval midwife's nostrum. Controlled trials in the 1930s showed it to be effective in relieving migraine headache.

Also during the 1930s, two U.S. chemists succeeded in identifying the common nucleus of the ergot drugs, which they named lysergic acid. With this information, it became feasible to synthesize the ergot compounds, a project undertaken by Albert Hofmann in Stoll's laboratory at Sandoz, among others (2). In 1935, Sandoz chemists succeeded in synthesizing ergonovine, which was developed as methylergonovine (Methergine) and widely used to control postpartum hemorrhage. Further efforts to isolate the various alkaloids occurring naturally in ergot led to the development of a preparation of ergoloid mesylates (Hydergine) for treating dementia. In 1943, Hofmann synthesized dihydroergotamine (DHE), marketed for the treatment of blood pressure and later shown to be highly effective for migraine.

Migraine drugs

In the course of Hofmann's trial-and-error synthesis of lysergic acid derivatives, the 25th compound, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25), failed to show any therapeutic promise in early testing on animals. In 1943, five years after it was first synthesized and tested, Hofmann decided to synthesize LSD-25 again for further testing. While completing the synthesis, he was overcome by strange sensations, which later developed into mild euphoria accompanied by pleasant visual hallucinations.

Surmising that he had somehow absorbed or ingested some of his newly synthesized compound, Hofmann proceeded to test the substance on himself by taking what he believed to be a minuscule dose--0.25 mg--and was rapidly plunged into what can only be described as a very bad trip. Like the natural ergot from which it was derived, LSD proved to be too potent, risky, and unpredictable to have a medical application.

In the course of exploring the ergot family, Sandoz chemists went on to discover yet another important antimigraine drug, methysergide (Sansert). Used for daily preventive therapy rather than abortive treatment of migraine, methysergide is a serotonin antagonist, whereas ergotamine is a serotonin agonist. Interestingly, "unworldly feelings" or hallucinations are among methysergide's possible side effects (3).

Likewise, it is interesting to survey and compare the chemical structures of amphetamine, methamphetamine and MDMA (ecstasy), morphine, heroin, ketamine, and all the other favorites. I thought it was kind of funny that esoteric drugs like salvia divinorum's active parts actually look really weird. So let's survey a few.

Salvia's parts:

We're drawing all this material from the valuable yet rebellious Erowid psychoactive chemistry index. There's even a nifty side-by-side comparison engine. For example, check out amphetamine VS methamphetamine, reflecting on that extra polyatomic ion's effect:

And here's MDMA - ecstasy - which essentially has a speed half (on the right) glued to a hallucinogen half.

DXM and Ketamine: dextromethorphan hydrobromide, a cough suppressant that provokes nasty hallucinations at high levels, and burns holes in your brain called Olney's Lesions. Ketamine is a more powerful (and apparently related) disassociative and anasthetic:

Nicotine: (S)-3-(1-Methyl-2-pyrrolidinyl)pyridin, industrial toxin/stimulant beloved by global capitalism.

LSD: 9,10-Didehydro-N,N-diethyl-6-methylergoline-8ß-carboxamide / D-lysergic acid diethylamide

Caffeine and alcohol

THC: Tetrahydrocannabinols / Tetrahydro-6,6,9-trimethyl-3-pentyl-6H-dibenzo[b,d]pyran-1-ol, which of course have many strange and therapeutic neurotransmitter effects that medical researchers aren't allowed to determine (thanks, schedule One):

Let's get into Opiates: (Please!) It's interesting that heroin was invented to let the painkiller part of the molecule slip through the lipid barrier. Lipids - ie fat membranes - slow down non-lipid-soluble drugs. First is codeine, then heroin.

Absinthe - Thujone - the green dragon:

Cocaine:

I don't write this to celebrate these substances, as of course many of them have destroyed many lives. Namely alcohol and tobacco, mostly. But we don't usually think about the chemistry of drugs, and even though it's hard to visualize, these materials really do work on the atomic level. It's funny how some carbon rings are more political than others, and of course it's funny that cutting-edge pharmacological research basically just recuts mushrooms to treat migraines.

Now that's what I call weird science. Somewhere, Dr. Hofmann is laughing. (late addition: Hofmann's research on Mexican and South American traditional magic drugs)

Bigger, Stronger, Younger..

Chairman Mao — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 11:58:23 -0600

Fourteen years ago, when I was first introduced to the mind focusing chemical Methylphenidate, there wasn't a whole lot known about it's long term effects. It had been around for quite a while, but users tended to shift substances after an extended period of time. At age 7 my prescribed dose was 5mgs twice a day, which was and is not very much. Over the years my dose steadily increased until my maximum dose of 40mgs time-released at age 19. However, the reccomended introducion dose has risen to 18mgs time released for seven year old, with a maximum dose of 54mgs for the 6-12yr old range, and 72mgs maximum for the 13-17yrs old range. Twelve milligrams over the previous maximum dosage.

Rxlist.com
:"
There is no body of evidence available from controlled trials to indicate how long the patient with ADHD should be treated with CONCERTA®. It is generally agreed, however, that pharmacological treatment of ADHD may be needed for extended periods.

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