outlandish

@Javfly33 Of course you shouldn't recommend kratom, the balance of evidence does not come out in its favour. Nor should belladonna or wormwood be recommended... When you look at coffee and holistically consider the risks and benefits, there are some risks, but they seem to be outweighed by the benefits. It's difficult to measure a net risk/benefit, but most meta studies come out in favour of tea and coffee. But the main sticking point to me is this: When you look at large studies that compare the longevity of coffee/tea drinkers vs non, the coffee/tea drinkers come out ahead. That's a pretty good high-level measuring stick, since lifespan is the function of so many thousands of health factors. BTW the "dependency" issue is overstated. It's not at all like the kind of dependency you'd get from kratom, nicotine, alcohol or benzodiazepines. I usually quit twice a year, and it's no big deal - the first day I'm a bit grumpy and sleepy, then a couple more days of being sleepier, and after about 4-5 days total you forget about it. Don't confuse the caffeine dependency with a real addiction. @Javfly33 no I haven't read that book. It looks heavy on the fluff and designed to sell copies in the airport bookstand, more than being a real medical analysis. I flipped through the preview on amazon, I'd be more inclined to read a meta-study than that kind of book tbh.

This has been previously posted here: Locked so we can focus on one thread. Looks like a cool show!

An excellent three part radio series looking at the relationship between the Hollywood movie industry, and the military, from the early days of WWII, to modern times: https://www.cbc.ca/radiointeractives/mythsonscreen

@Preety_India that sounds like an oversimplification, but there are definitely elements of truth to that statement. I really recommend listening to this series. It gives a very honest and nuanced picture of the story of how Hollywood has been used to prepare and rally Americans for war, and the blurred lines between art and propaganda.

You have mixed feelings, and you're ultimately going to have to make up your own mind of course. Maybe you already have made up your mind with the actions you have taken. It will be hard to mend the injury with your GF if you decided to get back with her, there will always be this doubt in her mind that you're happy to be with her when she can't have biological children with you. I don't think literally donating to the sperm bank would be very satisfying, but everyone's different. Yes, I think unless you're the stereotypical attractive successful male, you probably won't be an accepted donor. So that would leave more informal "sperm bank" options, which might not be very satisfying either. Personally, I think having kids for the purpose of passing something of yourself on, is a bit narrow, but that's probably what motivates a lot of people to have kids in the first place. When you have kids, it's like this amazing situation where you have these amazing little love beings who you channel so much love into, in a way that's way beyond what you thought was possible. But all that is really hard to describe and imagine before you actually have kids, so there's not much point in trying to spoil the surprise. For me, I wanted to have biological kids too, and I'm very happy to have them, but now that I do have them I totally understand how people can have the same experience with adopted kids. I even get how people can have it with other people's kids, nieces and nephews, or even broader categories of groups of children, or not even children, just helping people become better and grow, or even some kind of abstract project. It's different for everyone, and with each expanding circle of abstraction it's a little less obvious. Form me, having my own biological kids is the most obvious direct route to it, we're wired for it, but as humans we can transcend that and give in so many different ways. If you do decide you're OK with not having kids and being back with her, you're going to have to thoroughly change and be able to show her your change of heart, which will take time if it's going to be genuine. So that means you shouldn't rush right now.

Unless her parents are total deadbeats, I would recommend that you talk to them. It will be a hard conversation, but possibly one of the most important things that someone has done for her. Yes, she's technically an adult, but she's in the grey area and needs her parent's guidance. They will likely be able to reach her in a way that you can not.

@Chris365 I've had 5-MeO-DMT in HCl salt form that looks like that. It's pretty impossible to tell from a photo for sure, you should definitely get in touch with the vendor and ask them.

Sorry but you're a being a bit confrontational in your tone, and I'm not here to take assignments from you. You can endlessly come up with "but what about this, what about that" .. yes science will never have all the answers, naturally. We can only ever do the best we can with the knowledge that we have. I'm not trying to convince you, or anyone, to drink coffee or tea. You should find what works best for you. I'd just like everyone to be aware of what the research actually says, because the popular demonization of vegetal caffeine drinks (coffee, tea, mate) is grounded more in puritanical ideas than in actual evidence. Caffeine-drinking habits, on average, improve health outcomes for most people. Doesn't mean it will for you, and doesn't mean that stimulation/energy is desirable for you personally. There are many valid reasons any one person might not want to partake. However, for most people, when taken in moderation, it's a very healthy habit. I'm gonna go make an espresso.

@Scholar I've posted so many links to studies and resources around caffeine in this forum, so I'm a bit little tired of the routine. Honestly, just look on Dr. Greger's site nutritionfacts.org and search for caffeine, coffee or tea. He has a great high level analysis of the research that's out there. It's very clear and honest, for anyone that doesn't feel the need to get into the nitty-gritty. He's constantly consuming, digesting, and presenting a layman's summary of the literature for us. But if you really want to dig into some papers: General: From a 2015 meta-study in pubmed: "..the vast majority of contemporary sources not only emphasize a lack of detrimental effect, but also suggest a beneficial effect of coffee intake" Abstract is here, full text here. Longevity: "Coffee drinking was inversely associated with mortality, including among those drinking 8 or more cups per day and those with genetic polymorphisms indicating slower or faster caffeine metabolism." abstract Mental health: "Moderate caffeine intake (< 6 cups/day) has been associated with less depressive symptoms, fewer cognitive failures, and lower risk of suicide" Abstract Cardiovascular Disease: "Moderate coffee consumption (3–5 cups per day) was associated with lower CVD risk, and heavy coffee consumption (≥6 cups per day) was neither associated with a higher nor a lower risk of CVD." paper I'm not trying to convince any one person that they should consume caffeine. Health and diet are super complicated. You can't be prescriptive towards any one individual about something like this. Actually, some people are being really prescriptive on this forum about not drinking caffeine, which is why I keep jumping in on this. When you look at the population scale, consumption of coffee and tea boosts longevity, decreases cardiovascular disease, reduces rates of many cancers, and even reduces rates of suicide. It's pretty hard to argue against that. So while it may not be a good fit for you, on average, for most people it turns out to be a healthful habit. So suit yourself, but there's no good health reason to tell others not to drink it. tldr; If you like drinking coffee/tea and you're not going overboard (less than 5 cups a day say), it's not bad for you; it's probably good for you. Keyword: Hormesis.

The negative effects are literally all anyone talks about. People have been saying coffee and tea are bad for you forever, except the problem is the balance of actual evidence doesn't support the position. The idea that coffee and tea are good for you is something no one wants to hear, because it's completely counterintuitive that an addictive drug could, ironically, actually be good for you. I used to buy into it too, until I started actually researching it and not just going on the word of mouth you read on forums like this one. By all means, experiment with not drinking coffee and tea. If it suits you and you feel better without it, then don't drink it. But don't be mislead by false puritanical ideas that it's "better" to not drink coffee and tea. Quit if it suits you, drink it if it suits you. If you do choose to partake, you can do so guiltlessly knowing that you're not destroying your health or some such nonsense.

It's probably safer than Adderall, and definitely safer than meth, but I'd try to avoid it if you can. It's addictive and can cause long term neurological damage and reshape your brain's reward centers.

They won't cure it for you, but they might help give you the power to overcome it yourself.

Caffeine consumption extends lifespan and reduces risk for all kinds of chronic disease. You might want to reconsider ditching caffeine. You all know about Dr. Greger, the plant-based diet guy? His website is a really good digest of what the research actually says about nutritional topics. Check out the section on caffeine.

I don't think there will be a drug that will help you get rid of this depersonalization/derealization, at least I don't know of one. I do find that the experience of many psychedelics in the medium dose range can be very associative and grounding. Whether you can bring this into kind of experience into your real life is up in the air, and not guaranteed. I wouldn't recommend it as a treatment because it could go the wrong way too, depending on your personality and psychedelic aptitude. But I know that personally, I usually come out of these medium-dosage experiences more connected to my reality, my family, friends, life. It's not so much a long term pharmaceutical fix for depersonalization, as a grounding, insightful experience that can change your perspective on life, or remind you of what's important, who you are, what your purpose is in life. By medium, I mean like 40-100ug doses of LSD, 1-2g mushrooms, that kind of thing.

No!! What a shocker and tragedy. Very sad news. The world has lost a great deal of wisdom with this man.. RIP Kilindi

I can't really say if it's safe or not to plug, but I would recommend you try sniffing it instead. I'm not a fan of smoking (vaporizing) it, but many people like that ROA. I'm not really sure - do you know what temperature that vaporizer brings the substance to? If that device is designed for vaping weed, it might not work well for 5-MeO-DMT, as I understand the 5-MeO-DMT has a much higher vape temperature than THC.

Ehrlich reagent will tell you if it's an indole, so it will work for all of those LSD analogues that you mention. It will differentiate your LSD from MDMA, cocaine etc. But FYI there are very few drugs that are potent enough that an effective dose can be delivered on a blotter tab. The drugs that I'm aware of that could fit on a blotter tab (aside from LSD and it's relatives) are: nbome-series, nboh-series phenethylamines, the DOx series phenethylamines, Bromo-DragonFLY and some other obscure phenethylamines in that area, possibly some benzodiazepines like etizolam, possibly some of the very potent opioids like fentanyl and it's relatives. The Ehrlich reagent should differentiate LSD from any of those. Drugs like cocaine and MDMA are not nearly potent enough for an effective dose to fit on a blotter, so you don't need to worry about those at all. MDMA doses start at around 50mg and go up to probably 150mg+, not sure how much coke people take but it's even more. LSD is 1000x more potent, with effective doses starting at 50ug. This is why LSD can be dosed on blotter. You can only fit max a few hundred ug of a substance on a blotter tab. Practically speaking, the nbome and nboh series, and DOx series are the only ones you need to look out for afaik, and thankfully those seem to be less common these days than they were 5 years ago. The nbomes in particular may be dangerous, while the nbohs are suspect and DOx are probably much less dangerous, but just last an incredibly long time. tldr; if you use the ehrlich reagent and it indicates that you have an indole on the blotter, it is safe to presume it's legitimate LSD or one of it's close relatives like AL-LAD, ETH-LAD, 1p-LSD, 1cp-LSD, ALD-52 and so on.

Exactly yeah, that impression is fuelled by people actually spouting nonsense like 5G causing coronavirus symptoms. So we need to keep our ducks in a row, and be real about these things if we actually care about them.

I think we are mostly in agreement. I completely agree that we need to be cautious with unrolling 5G, from what I understand it's running at a much higher power than 4G (note that all cell frequencies are using microwave EMF, the question is how much power at these wavelengths is safe for humans and other creatures). It deserves much more study and tests before we go and make it a permanent part of our human environments. There are also reasonable concerns with the 5G hardware manufacturers all coming from China, which could be mandating surveillance backdoors in this hardware. My contention is that we should steer clear of associating 5G with COVID-19 because there's really nothing but tinfoil-hat armchair conspiracy theory there. Trying to tie the two together just harms valid COVID-19 health messaging, and it even harms the valid concerns with 5G by making it all look like "that conspiracy nonsense".

It's heartbreaking.. Joe Biden is so uninspiring. But the left really has to get out there and vote for him anyways. He's less bad than Trump, and the only one now who has any shot at toppling that toddler.

Yes, agreed that there are numerous factors that can improve health, and can give you a slight edge in defending against viruses. But focusing on the minute edge you could hypothetically gain from some health tweaks is missing the big picture of the problem. I've brought up this analogy already, but let's just pretend you had a friend or family member who was living a hard life on the street as an intravenous drug user, in the midst of an HIV outbreak. They couldn't seem to get their life in order and get out of the rut. What would you emphasize if you were able to give them some health advice - ask them to stick to clean needles, or would you tell them to avoid 5G? Which piece of advice would give them the best shot at surviving? Obviously, clean needles will be at least many orders of magnitude more effective than avoiding 5G. In fact it will completely prevent infection. COVID-19 is very similar - we know exactly how to prevent infection and the spread of this disease - hand hygiene, avoiding physical contact, wearing masks. 5G is completely irrelevant in this picture.

@TrynaBeTurquoise @LfcCharlie4 your common sense here is misleading, and no doctor or epidemiologist would agree with following "common sense" over evidence when it comes to the COVID-19 crisis. There is no evidence that 5G, glysophate, or GMO increase risk of COVID-19. Furthermore, there's no evidence than any of these things weaken the body's immune system. Just because you have a feeling about it, doesn't make it so. The relevant risk factors, as health professionals have elucidated, are age, obesity, major underlying health issues. Of course no one should roll the dice with infecting themselves, or catching it and infecting others, so the most critical things are really boring: hand hygiene, social distancing, masks in public. Saying that we need to avoid 5G, glysophate and GMO food in order to protect ourselves from COVID-19 is irresponsible because it places emphasis on irrelevant factors. It's missing the forest for the trees. Not even the trees, but the bogey-man in the woods. If you really want people to not get sick from COVID-19, the overwhelmingly important thing to do is to avoid exposure to the virus, and avoid exposing others to the virus. There's very good reason you won't hear heath professionals telling you to stay away from 5G and GMO foods. It's not some kind of coverup, it's because there's nothing there. Remember that when the world was ravaged by the Bubonic Plague, the Spanish Flu, Cholera, there were no such things as GMO, 5G or glysophate. HIV was brought under control in the industrialized world with testing, clean needles, and condoms, not by telling people to avoid GMO. Cholera isn't defeated when people take some supplements to boost their immune system and stay away from 5G towers, it's defeated by isolating and treating the sick, sanitation, and water treatment. Again, there definitely are problems with 5G, glysophate and GMO that deserve discussion, but trying to link them to COVID-19 is baseless and irresponsible.

@LfcCharlie4 @TrynaBeTurquoise please point to any scrap of research that supports what you are saying about how 5G, glysophate, or GMO exacerbate the COVID-19 pandemic. Until then you're just running your mouth and confusing matters. You're working on a chain of suppositions, none of which are grounded in fact or research. On the other hand, we already have piles of research about how this disease is actually transmitted, and infects, how the virus works, and how to prevent infection and transmission. Listen to the experts on this matter, there's no need to complicate it with imaginings about GMO, 5G and so on. This thread from Peter Kolchinsky (virologist) will give you a far deeper understanding of how the SARS-Cov-2 virus works: Listen to the doctors and scientists who actually study this stuff

@TrynaBeTurquoise I did read your post properly, you said glysophate and GMO exacerbate the problem (of COVID-19). But they don't, there's just no evidence to say it does, and claiming so is misleading. I'm sorry my tone is a bit riled up about this, but I feel it's an important issue, and I'm seeing a lot of bullshit brewing up all over social media about this, and the last thing I want is for this little community to become another "infection point" for bad info. We need to focus everyone's mind on the real, strong causes and risks with this disease, and not indulge far-fetched conjectures based on no evidence. You can split hairs and say everything is interrelated, nothing exists in a vacuum. Yes, this is true to some extent, but we really need to be laser-focused on what's relevant and practical in this matter. We know very clearly how infection occurs, and who is at risk. We know how to stop transmission of this virus, and who is at greatest risk. These are the only things we need to focus on with the pandemic, getting distracted by 5G and GMO just muddies the waters. Those are very separate issues, they don't have any more relevance when it comes to COVID-19 than what time I did a fart this morning. What we do know for sure is that the virus is transmitted by droplets in the air, it can survive a long time on surfaces, is very risky to the elderly and immunocompromised. Stay home, wash hands, wear a mask. It's a great time to turn inwards and practice so many of the things we talk about on actualized.org!

No, they don't interact with each other. There's not a shred of evidence that they do, and the idea doesn't even make any sense. The only thing they have in common is roots in sinophobia. In the case of 5G, perhaps we do need to be concerned with privacy issues from the hardware manufacturers, and with the high power used by the network causing problems with our bodies. But we really need to stress, none of this has anything to to with COVID-19. Likewise, GMO foods and glysophate have their own problems, but again, absolutely nothing to do with COVID-19. There's no evidence or reason to think there would be a relationship. Don't confound them. We need to be very clear on what the cause of COVID-19 is, how it's transmitted, how pathogens work. Human lives are at stake, this isn't a time to fuck around with far-fetched conspiracies. It's dangerous to entertain this conspiracy theory because it casts fog in the public's understanding of this pandemic. The only way we're going to defeat this is by staying laser focused on stopping the pathogen from spreading in the community, and by identifying infections and isolating (and treating) them. There's a time and place for having a bit of fun with a conspiracy theory, but now is not that time. Don't be a fool. Stay home, wash your hands, use a mask when you go in public. Be smart, stay safe.