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Tales From The Other Side - Alternative Culture to enlighten a mediocre mood
Alternative Culture and ideas, ready to be injected into your Reality.
Tales From the Other Side is a Blog dedicated to the exploration of alternative culture and viewpoints.
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In Chinatown the other day I bought myself a wad of ‘Hellbank’ notes. I thought the name was just one of those cute mistranslations. However, browsing a bit of reading, I found the truth was quite different.
Hell Bank notes are simply paper money with ‘Hell Bank’ written on them. They are not play money though, and have a specific ritual purpose to be used at funerals. When a person dies, the money is burnt, in a careful way (either folded or put in an envelope, due to the concept that burning real money brings bad fortune). The basic concept is, as within other cultures where paper effigies of consumer products are burnt, that the money can be used in the afterlife.
Hell Bank money is never given to other people, as it is seen as wishing their death.
Hell Bank money got its name from a loose translation of the ‘Underworld’, where the departed are said to go to atone for their mortal sins. The term Hell does not hold negative connotations in China.
It is rumored the term was introduced by Christian Missionaries, and adopted with new meaning as a term for the underworld.
What would happen if Marijuana was legal? Would there be any difference? Would society fall into disrepair? Would people become more peaceful?
Your answer is unlikely to be based, in my experience, on reality, but on pushing a certain point of view. However, I'm here to let you know something quite surprising.
It is Legal.
Not the plant itself, but a product, on sale in Australia, which I've heard described as everything from 'kind of like pot' to 'like I'd had about four cones'.
The product is called Semegra Forte. Apart from the claims made by the writing on the product itself, there is very limited information about it. This will no doubt encourage conspiracy theories, but anyone who's ever taken a natural legal drug will, in my experience, rush to ensure you that you can get just as high legally as illegally.
It is made by a company in India named Sri Bhaskar Ayurvedic Pharmacy, about whom I could find no information, and is apparently based on Ayurvedic medicine. Orissa, the area in India that this product was claimed to have been made in is, however associated with Ayurvedic practices, so this is another area that seems suspicious but legitimate.
What does it do to your body? No idea. The ingredient list is as follows -
Pellitory
Clove
Nux Vomica
Cowitch
Lesser Cardamom
Nutmeg tree
Nutmeg flower
Asparagus abscendens
What this does tell me in my limited knowledge is that the nutmeg element could lead to some liver damage, however certainly not the the same extent as a heavy night drinking.
What does it mean for society, from a moral and realist view, that drugs such as marijana can be legally simulated? Especially when the main arguement against marijuana is that it functions as a gateway drug? Could Semegra Forte too, encourage users to move onto heavier substances? Or does the legitamacy of this process actually encourage responsibility and respect for dangerous substances?
I encouraged readers to share experiences of this product, which are as follows.
REVIEW 1
I bought some "Semegra Forte" a few weeks ago and have used it quite a few times although not as much as I did when I had a bag of weed. It is a beautiful high, similar to weed but from an asthmatics point of veiw- a godsend. I also have allergies and they are not irritated by it.
I wouldn't recommend taking it every day for a long time (I don't care much for addictions) but I think it is a great alternative to illegal drugs and alcohol.
It takes a couple of hours to kick in and even though the packet recommends having it on an empty stomach, I have tried that but I don't worry about that.
I also think it gives you the munchies, but that could just be me!
I havn't noticed any paranioa. It's also an aphrodisiac.
Although I don't condone using substances to escape life I have found that compared to when I would have weed in my house I don't fixate on it like I do weed. I use it no where as often.
REVIEW 2
I have tried this particular substance, and yes - the high was a complete surprise to me, as most of the 'legal' highs do nothing for me at all. So much so that in fact I really preferred it to marijuana.
I wish I knew what the active ingredient in it was, I tend to think it is the nutmeg, possibly a nutmeg extraction, but who knows - either way, they are fantastic.
REVIEW 3
my friend swalloed a semegra forte and he fainted about an hour later. it was not good at all.
REVIEW 4
I have tried 7 pills at once and it didnt work one bit, i had 5 waited an hour and then ate and had 2 later but nuthin happened at all
If any readers have more information on this product I'd love to hear it, as a message or a comment, anonymously if you wish. As I've said, there is desperately little information on this product, and it would be good to counter this.
Many thanks to those who have already contributed.
Please note that Talesfromtheotherside does not condone drug use.
An Addicted Rat
Drugs are not bad.
Say again. Drugs are not bad. Neither though, are drugs good. Drugs just are. They’re little chemical reactions, which influence your life experience. Nicotine, Caffeine, MDMA, Alcohol, Morphine or Codeine – you’d be best to face it – they’re part of life and they’re here to stay.
So, if first we accept that drugs in themselves are neither inherently good or evil, why has society concluded that they are so bad as to be declared illegal? The main reason could be the tests that have been used for drug research. Experiments with rats suggest a direct link between drugs and addiction (I know, surprise! but just bear with me here…) which was summed up by a dude called Avram Goldstein in the following;
“Every addictive drug used by people is also self-administered by rats and monkeys. If we arrange matters so that when an animal presses a lever, it gets a shot of heroin into a vein, that animal will press the lever repeatedly, to the exclusion of other activities (food, sex, etc.); it will become a heroin addict.”
But lets take another look at this; what if it were you? What if we picked you up, took you away from your environment, dumped you in a sterile metal cage and gave you nothing to do but eat and get prodded of by people examining you and take drugs? What’s the chance you’d get addicted to numbing away your pain?
This was the thought of this other dude; Bruce K Alexander. His idea was to redo the experiment – only instead of having all his rats in little metal cages, he only put half in there – each provided with a container of clean water, and one of morphine water. The rest, went to a little rat paradise. The rest, went into Rat Park.
Rat Park was a 18.6 meters square enclosure, that was a rat paradise. It had food, women, nature, pictures, space – anything a rat could want… and it also had drugs. Two containers, just like the cages.
The interesting thing was – while rats in the cages lived in a chemical haze, Rat Park rats didn’t really want to get high – they just wanted to live life, have fun, mess around. They’d try it out sure, but weren’t interested in the chemical obliteration. Even addict rats moved into Rat Park, would begin to get clean. It was a fact: Happy rats don’t want to get high.
Rat Park was a ground breaking experiment that deserved to influence international drug policy. Instead it was ignored – the great human trait of selective hearing had come into play.
Maybe one day we’ll reconsider what we’ve always taken for granted as fact. One day, we might question the modern perceptions that determine the direction of our society instead of following blindly. However right now – we’re not too sure to where the rat race is running – but it certainly isn’t our cozy little rat park.
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The Future (Present?) of Masculinity?
I found this out in Japan. We were having a look through a couple of an(appropriate) men’s lifestyle magazine, when we fell on a full page advertisement for male concealer. I have to admit, I was pretty surprised, seeing the concealer working its wonders, hiding away the man’s stubble.
Not only can men have make up flogged to them, it can be done in mainstream channels, in a medium designed to make men feel like men.
The reason men will wear make up is the reason for many things. The reason rich women like poodles. The reason certain chocolate milks are blokey. The reason Dove is for girls and Snickers is for boys.
The reason men will wear make up is in fact the very same reason that men DO NOT wear make up.
The reason men will wear makeup is this; being a man is about 40% having a penis and about 60% social construct. What we regard as ‘man’ is based on social views biases and accepted conventions. Thus, while there is a pretty penny to be gleaned from changing the nature of this convention, we will see it happen.
Image by RcktManIL under a creative commons Share alike attribution license.
I’m proud to say that I discovered Extreme Ironing before it was cool. It was grade nine, and I was researching for a HPE assignment where we had to make a magazine for a sport
[ Click here to read more ]
Kids are cruel. The fat kid is called Lardso. The Japanese girl is called Fu Kmi. The kid that nobody likes for no apparent reason except that that other popular girl doesn’t like him because he one knocked her over in grade nine is called Fagface.
This kind of, at times systematic, bullying and name calling can have a profound effect on a kids life. Two types of children whom are often targeted by this kind of bullying are those who are overweight, or smelly
[ Click here to read more ]
In the middle of the Nazca desert, Peru, are massive animal shapes. These are known as the Nazca lines, and are the subject of much discussion over their unknown origin. The largest is almost 900 Feet in size. The main confusion over these markings is that while impressive in scope and appearance, there would seem to be no real means for the creators to have SEEN their creations.
[ Click here to read more ]
Two of the actors from Shortbus, a film featuring actual sex
We hear it all the time; OMGs, film X apparently has two actors with, though you can’t see it, ACTUAL sexual intercourse
[ Click here to read more ]
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217 Posts dating from December 2001
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