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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.

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Tales From The Other Side - April 2008

Rat Park

April 8th 2008 12:53

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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Posted By: Brenton - Category: Drugs

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Weekend Links are Your Celebraty Crush

April 5th 2008 13:47

1. Drawy Thingy Maker.
2. Enabling socially conscious Web Browsing.
3. Article: Why I let my 9 Year old Son ride the Subway Alone.
4. The Darth Vader Soundboard.
5. Library Porn
6. Portrait of a Saudi Business woman. Portrait of a Saudi Businesswoman.
7. A video game based on the Dafur crisis.
8. My New site (!!!)
9. Calm intelligent opinion and discussion on MDMA
10. Heh Heh Heh

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Posted By: Brenton - Category: Weekend Links

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Extreme Ironing

April 2nd 2008 13:51

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.

I decided to make mine on extreme sports. Searching terms on the Internet, I would hunt for something interesting to write about. And then… I found their Webpage HERE.

Extreme Ironing is one of those wonderful curiosities that reminded us of the strangeness of people. The depth of passion that one could feel for a thing for no other reason than because it was in some way theirs.

If you’re still wondering what it is, I assure you, there is little need for confusion. It is what it sounds like; a profoundly silly fusion of Extreme Sports and Ironing. As the site quotes, it “combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well pressed shirt.” Extreme Ironing activities regarded as official include, but are not limited to;

Climbing large mountains and ironing on top of them;

Ironing underwater;

Beach Iron Flinging;

Freestyle Ironing (a test of creativity – including such events as trampoline ironing).

It is tempting to COMPLETELY dismiss extreme ironing, but for the fact of, despite all the nonsense, ironing clothes while suspended in mid air by a wire between two cliffs, while not exactly sensible, is neither exactly easy.

It lives long, lives hard and looks sharp. Here’s to Extreme Ironing.

Image by Wikiworld Comic Licensed under a Creative commons attribution Share alike license.

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Posted By: Brenton - Category: Pop Culture, Subcultures

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Nazca Lines

April 1st 2008 06:59

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.

WHY?
There are a number of theories as to why the Nazca lines were built. The one I hold most stock in is that they’re creations of some religious significance. In the area in which they were made, Solar Eclipses are not unheard of, and it has been theorised that these images may be designed to be viewed not by man, but by ‘The Eye in the Sky’.

A variation on this themes is that the lines were walked along, in a kind of religious practice similar to the practice of Labyrinth walking.

Nazca Whale with more modern Graffiti nearby, emphasised in red

Another theory would be the obvious concept of Artistic merit or beauty, though it’s difficult to imagine why one would make such an incredible piece of art, when nobody could possibly be able to see it, but we’ll revisit this briefly when we look at the Hows.

There’s also a theory that the markings were made on account of Extra Terrestrial life, though there is fairly skint evidence to this effect. One drawing that comes up regularly in relation to this theory is one referred to as 'The Astronaut', which has a resemblance to a spaceman.

The Astronaut; - cited on occasion as evidence of extra-terrestrial life

HOW
One theory, again, my favorite, is that the lines were made simply through good mathematics. The Area would be graphed into squares, the image drawn on graph paper, and the image converted to its epic scale.

There is a theory though, that the creators would have in fact been able to view their creation through the aid of Hot Air Balloons that would have been used to ensure the quality of production. This could also lend a little more weight to the idea of the images as art designed for human eyes.