Adventures Through Inner Space. “Let’s say you’re a buttoned-down organic-chemistry jockey at Merck. One day

you tweak a molecule ripped off from a Peruvian native medicine, and you wind

up with a powerfully psychoactive compound. Instead of squelching anxiety,

instilling a reliable boner, or giving young minds that magic amphetamine edge,

the drug helps you touch the hem of God — or at least something a lot like the

hem of God. At times it hurtles you into a blazing hieroglyphic phantasmagoria

more sublime and gorgeously bizarre than anything on the demo reels of

Hollywood FX shops. On other occasions it leads you to the lip of a fundamental

insight into the dance of form and emptiness. And though later attempts to

communicate your insight founder on the shoals of coherence, the experience

still leaves you centered and convinced that ordinary life is fed by deeper springs.” An enthused paean by Erik Davis (Techgnosis) to resurgent psychedelic research these days. Feed via AlterNet

No Bark, Strong Bite: The Drug War and Elections 2000. Six of eight ballot initiatives to reform drug enforcement passed: sentencing reform in California; asset forfeiture reform in Oregon and Utah; and medical marijuana provisions in Nevada and Colorado. Legalization of marijuana in Alaska went down, as did a combination sentencing reform and asset forfeiture reform bill in my state of Massachusetts (which had unfortunate wording that would have allowed drug dealers as well as those arrested for simple possession to avoid criminal conviction and incarceration by choosing a treatment option).

The Ultimate Cereal Guide for Geeks. “Hard-working computer geeks know nothing delivers bursts of

instant energy with such caloric efficiency better than

sweetened cereal. Joab Jackson gives his review of the best

and worst cereals ever to grace the late-night lips of

malnourished programmers.” He follows the lead of Neal Stephenson, who sang the praises of Cap’n Crunch in the Cryptonomicon — rating five other cereals (have you noticed how many kinds there are out there on the market shelves these days??), he finds none stack up to the Cap’n. Baltimore City Paper via Alter.Net

Americans Uneasy About ‘Designer’ Kids. “A poll of 1,015 Americans reveals that although most feel it is

okay for parents to choose to have a child who can “give cells”

to a sick sibling, they largely oppose allowing parents to choose

to have an attractive or gifted child. Most also feel parents

should not choose whether to have a boy or girl.”

Managed Care Patients Denied Heart Attack Care. “Researchers have confirmed what critics of

managed care health plans long have suspected: heart attack

victims insured by such programs are less likely to get the

treatment they need.” Reuters

“His new translator

tells you what you

need to know about

the philosopher —

and why you need

to know it”: Being Martin Heidegger. “Why is there something instead of

nothing,” asked philosopher Martin Heidegger, and he

asked it again and again throughout his life. But,

considering his at times nearly incomprehensible response to

his own question and his affiliation with the Nazis during

the 1930s, there are more than a few who have since

plaintively wished, “Why couldn’t there be nothing instead

of Heidegger?” Salon