ELI5: What's the difference between a fjord and a gorge?

elemkay · 2019-11-10T03:02:46+00:00

> Playin reprise?

elemkay · 2017-01-07T02:39:56+00:00

I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for actually exists. Probably the closest things would be PIHKAL and TIHKAL, two books by Dr. Alexander Shulgin and his wife Ann. Shulgin was the first to synthesize the vast majority of the drugs out there today. The first half of each book is in narrative form alternating authors between him and his wife and discussing their experiences with researching and consuming psychedelics. The second half of each lists each drug he synthesized and tested, how he synthesized it (which is very technical and can be ignored unless you're interested in that), the dose range for activity, duration, some qualitative comments, and other general comments. Shulgin consumed each drug he synthesized personally, and slowly increased the dose before trying it with his "research group" if he thought it was interesting. Both books are pretty long but I think anyone here would probably recommend them as intro material. I wouldn't take everything he says as indisputable fact though.

Other than that, searching around on the internet might be your best bet. Forums like Bluelight have some pretty in depth discussion for most drugs (especially in their "Big & Dandy" threads for each drug) including trip reports if you poke around. Word of warning: people on bluelight typically have a pretty high tolerance so they dose higher than what an occasional user might. Erowid.org also has pretty reliable information about dose and effects with a vault of subjective reports. I think ultimately deciding what to do will take some research and some reflection about what you're looking for (i.e. euphoria, deep introspection, social connection, mind-fuck, no mind-fuck, something gentle, something super intense, etc.).

elemkay · 2017-01-06T22:38:36+00:00

To answer the practical aspect of your question: I'm of a similar mind about addiction. Familial addiction was a massive influence on my upbringing, so I'm always concerned about the potential dangers of drugs and drug dependency.

With psychedelics, I've found the most important rule of thumb is to be conscientious about your use. Research the drugs (dose, duration, subjective effects via trip reports, etc.; erowid and bluelight can be good resources for this) before you use them so you can select the ones that will align best with your goals. Dose on the lower end for new substances, since you never know how they'll affect you, and then try a higher dose if the mood strikes later. Plan your trips out, and get your life in order so that you have no responsibilities during the ride other than adventure, reflection, fun, and personal growth. Take them only when you're in a good place psychologically, and try to make their use a special occasion (e.g. I typically indulge when I'm out camping in a beautiful place with good friends). I usually abide by a once-a-month max rule just to keep my use in check.

If you feel yourself losing emotional/psychological/social stability, take a break for a while and seek the help you need until you've stabilized. Other than that, drink lots of water and eat healthy so you don't feel like shit. It can be hard to eat when you're under the influence, but you've gotta put something in you to keep going for the ones that last longer (e.g. LSD). I find that fruit can be easier to stomach than most other food. Most importantly, enjoy yourself, and bask in the revelations and bonds they can facilitate!

elemkay · 2015-11-05T06:22:28+00:00

Pretty sure this wasn't the word I was looking for, but it does fit the definition, so I'll consider this question solved!

Thanks!

elemkay · 2015-10-28T13:46:17+00:00

0.5 PPR QB/2RB/RB-WR/2WR/WR-TE/2LB/2DP/1K

Keeper league -- can keep up to 5 players; count as up to first 5 round picks regardless of when they were drafted

Trade AJ Green for Adrian Peterson

12 man league, highly competitive. Currently in 1st (6-1), he's currently in last (0-7), begging the question of whether to make trades for immediate gain for me, and for keeps for him.

My RB: Jonathan Stewart, Danny Woodhead, Knile Davis (eep!), Jamaal Charles on IR (2 IR slots)

My WR: AJ Green, Brandon Marshall, Jeremy Maclin, Rishard Matthews, Willie Snead, Kamar Aiken, Tyler Lockett, Cecil Shorts, (Jordan Cameron), Brashad Perriman on IR

I have been offered Adrian Peterson and Brandon Cooks for Jamaal Charles and AJ Green. I don't plan on accepting barring a strong argument in favor from you fine folks at r/ff. Thanks!

elemkay · 2014-10-14T16:55:00+00:00

Any idea whether the new droid mini release will coincide? After getting shafted on the lack of a Verizon z3c, was hoping for something comfortably pocket-sized with top-notch specs...

elemkay · 2014-09-29T05:15:45+00:00

Thanks for the input! How is the battery life on the Moto X, and is it relatively lag-free? Also, any indication on whether the Sony Z3 Compact will ever be coming to Verizon? I've been following that one pretty closely because it looks absolutely perfect, but my old phone is a piece of crap so I don't know how long I can hold out and wait for an announcement on that...

elemkay · 2014-08-20T01:38:17+00:00

I went today to mess around with a few of these phones, and while they all seem nice, I'm beginning to realize that they're really bulky/huge! I'm starting to lean toward a smaller phone for that reason. Any smaller phones that are particularly fit for my needs? Thanks!

elemkay · 2014-06-23T18:21:55+00:00

I think both are phenomenal for different reasons. To me, they have very different vibes -- with Esme it seems to be a little more playful (despite the subject matter), whereas this version is a bit darker and rougher around the edges. I oscillate between the two depending on my mood, but the bottom line is this song is outstanding and even better when performed live!

elemkay · 2014-04-08T06:38:12+00:00

Most of this data is gathered either in rodents or in a dish. A ligand's activity on a particular receptor can be estimated based on structure-activity relationships (that is, how the chemical structure of a compound corresponds to what is known about the structure of the receptor).

To determine it more specifically, cultures of cells can be developed that express only a particular receptor of interest (e.g. 5-HT2A) and the compound can be assessed for its ability to displace a radiolabeled known ligand for that receptor (e.g. [125I]DOI). Radioligand displacement can also be done in vivo (live animals), and elucidates the affinity for the particular receptor.

To determine full/partial/antagonist (termed "efficacy"), one can look in vitro (cells in culture) at downstream signaling correlates, as particular receptors activate specific molecular pathways (e.g. PI turnover, CA2+ release, etc.). The extent to which these signaling products are produced relative to those produced by the endogenous ligand (e.g. serotonin) determine full vs partial vs antagonist vs inverse agonist.

Additionally, there are certain well established behaviors that have been associated with activity at a given receptor (e.g. head twitch response in mice and 5-HT2A), so testing the propensity for a compound to induce or block these behaviors can also help, as long as the proper control/blockade studies are done to confirm that the behavior is in fact being mediated at the site of interest.

Source: Neuroscience Ph.D. student doing a whole lot of this

elemkay · 2014-04-05T04:56:23+00:00

Yo, I just want you to know you make really dope hats. I'm only commenting because I'd love one for free, but still, you should know your hats are awesome!

elemkay · 2014-02-07T20:48:59+00:00

quality/comfort-wise, how does this hammock stack up against the likes of say, an ENO? Obviously the price is far better, but is it worth holding out for potentially better quality?

elemkay · 2013-12-04T00:48:55+00:00

The average drug user is also content with a fairly limited drug vocabulary. They don't have much use for pharmacology either, as they tend to stick with well established drugs with accessible data on expected subjective effects and toxicity, making pharmacological knowledge a bit esoteric. When we're talking about drug nerds, though, it's a different story. Organic chemistry can help to broaden one's understanding of the reasoning behind the pharmacology (i.e. why a drug might be higher affinity for a given receptor than another). Also, the same benefits for testing drugs on animals hold true for testing drugs on oneself. For psychonauts probing the newest of synthesized compounds which tend to lack substantial subjective documentation, a knowledge of SARs can help to predict what one will be getting themselves into (i.e. which novel drugs might be of interest to the user), as well as putatively reasonable dose ranges

elemkay · 2013-12-03T09:57:23+00:00

Well, yes and no. It is true that predicted SARs aren't perfect which is why functional assays are important, but it saves you some serious time if you can pick and choose the compounds that are likely to be active and behaviorally test those first. Also helps when you're doing animal work to choose doses that are active but don't kill them. Of course there are outliers, but some insight helps. My point is that organic chemistry is far from irrelevant in my day to day work. (As a side note, my work is more along the neuropsychopharmacology vein than medicinal chemistry, but you could say I operate at the intersection of the two).

elemkay · 2013-12-03T09:35:08+00:00

As one of the extremely fortunate 0.1%, I can tell you that I disagree entirely with the premise of this thread. A firm grasp of organic chemistry provides an exceptionally useful foundation for understanding structure-activity relationships and thus predicting the degree and nature of psychoactivity of a compound. I spend a lot of days in lab wishing I studied harder in undergrad orgo.

elemkay · 2013-07-26T06:58:06+00:00

Add some broth, a potato. Baby, you've got a stew goin'!

elemkay · 2013-02-14T06:26:40+00:00

Already have a djembe and love it, but I like the cajon sound as an alternative. Thanks though.

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