There are thousands of known psychotropic substances available from nature — plants, fungi and WalMart all supply chemical substances that have an impact on the brain and brain function. Chocolate, which comes from an orchid native to Mexico is a good example, though not yet outlawed. The focus today is on Salvia divinorum, another Mexican native said to have LSD-like effects when smoked, eaten or drunk in a tea. Effects last only about an hour, but can be highly subversive to the Establishment, such as uncontrolled laughter or hallucinogenic effects.
Nicknamed Salvia, Sally-D, Magic Mint, Diviner’s Sage (Salvia de los Adivinadores), Maria Pastora, Sage of the Seers, Lady Salvia, Purple Sticky, and/or Sage, this plant and products produced from it have been outlawed in eight states in the U.S., and 16 more states are considering legislation to protect us from this noxious weed. No need to wait for any scientific research, or evidence that it might be harmful in some way — people like it — that is reason enough to outlaw it. Land of the free, home of the rave…
Hey, life is popular. The Encyclopedia of Life found that out when they went on-line yesterday. It didn’t take long for word to spread, even though they launched before their scheduled opening date. With more than 11 million hits in their first few hours, the site soon crashed.
It is back up and running. So far, it has information on something in excess of 30,000 species, out of an anticipated 1.8 million. They could probably double their content immediately by scarfing up all the species covered in Wikipedia — isn’t sharing what the GNU license is all about?
It is certainly a very ambitious project, and like other I hope they succeed, though I have my doubts. The experts whose input is needed are busy folks with their own agendas, who has the time for volunteer work that will doubtless generate more bickering than gratitude? OK, specialists in a particular species might want to ‘curate’ a species page — but are there 1.8 million specialists available? You might get a few hundred volunteers for that obscure Homo sapiens critter, but how many experts are available for each of the more than 8,000 algae species? And the 10,000+ living diatom species? And … etc., etc. Buena suerta.
The Turkey Point nuclear plant in Florida closed down all five reactors today. Some reports claim the problem started with the nuclear plant and spread into the local grid, while others say the local grid had a problem and the nuclear plant went into automatic shut-down in response, as a safety precaution. Within a few hours three of the five reactors are back online.
Whichever way the trouble flowed, it is no big deal — there was no meltdown or breach or anything dramatic. So a couple hundred thousand Floridians are without power — it’s winter time, it is not as if they really need their air-conditioners.
This is another little reminder, however, of how intertwined modern systems are — a minor problem in one can cascade into bigger things. You should always be prepared to go without electricity, gas, food or water for several days. Do you have enough stored away to get you through? I’m not talking about survivalist, eat the poodle type stuff, just a few days to a week’s supply of basics, in case an earthquake, flood, tornado, volcano or man-made disaster comes your way. It happens to thousands around the world every day, and no place is totally immune. It can happen to you, so be prepared like a good boyscout.