ALBERT HOFMANN, RIP

He not only invented acid, he lived to be 102 and he liked to ride bikes, too. Warning: results not typical!

 

Wiki quickie:

 

Hofmann joined the pharmaceutical-chemical department of Sandoz Laboratories (now Novartis), located in Basel. He began studying the medicinal plant squill and the fungus ergot as part of a program to purify and synthesize active constituents for use as pharmaceuticals. While researching lysergic acid derivatives, Hofmann first synthesized LSD-25 in 1938. It was set aside for five years, until April 16, 1943, when Hofmann decided to take another look at it. While re-synthesizing the LSD, he accidentally consumed a small sample and serendipitously discovered its powerful effects. Three days later, on April 19, 1943, Hofmann deliberately consumed 250 micrograms of LSD before his bicycle ride home. This was followed by a series of self-experiments conducted by Hofmann and his colleagues. He first wrote about these experiments on April 22 of that year.

 

“Through my LSD experience and my new picture of reality, I became aware of the wonder of creation, the magnificence of nature and of the animal and plant kingdom. I became very sensitive to what will happen to all this and all of us.” - Albert Hofmann

 

So long and thanks for all the fish!

 

42

 

More eco conservation in action

Ridn n spiritualized?

Palm Springs Easy Golf Course Livin'

Sweet concert exit find

A used urethral catheter sitting on the side of the road--now that4 s something you don't see at just any concert.

Purple rain or spraying gold?

Sasha and digweed

@lways sick

It's 1989 at Coachella

This happened with my Time road pedals pre recall a few years back. Now Crank Bros joins the pedal failure club. Not a good thing to have fall apart in the middle of the ride. The separation ripped the threads on the composite pedal body, too, so it looks to be busted for good. Glad I didn't get gouged in the shin. That happened last time and didn't feel so good.

ANTONIN SCALIA GANGSTA RAPPER

Never a shy man, Antonin Scalia’s remarks about the ’04 election (synopsis: get over it, it wasn’t political/y’all/so lick my hairy balls) are sure to send a chill breeze shooting across tail feathers here on the left coast.

 

But have you ever seen the Scarface poster in the dude’s office?

 

As much as Scalia’s politics seem to be driven by smugness, ego, intellectual self-absorption and an Are-You-Fucking-Serious? strain of Catholicism that should have died off circa the Inquisition, I find his wit, intellect, and public speaking ability to be impressive. It can be tough to track down audio of Scalia’s ‘public’ addresses where Secret Service rip tape recorders out of people’s hands and destroy film snapped of the dashing dad, but here’s one hot Scalia track if you want to give it a shot.

 

Scalia’s the kind of demagogue Bill O’Reilly would aspire to be if O’Reilly  were smart enough to realize how heavily Scalia outguns him rhetorically and on every other level in addressing the same issues from the same side of the bench as pinstripe Billy.

 

For fun google the following words:

 

scalia tape secret service confiscated tape

 

Find much?

 

 

Backyard Blue Thunder

The chase goes to the highway!

Still going!

Riding in the film production lane POV.

Can't they go block the bike lanes in Vancouver instead?

Film production not content to take over hollywood shuts down bike lanes too

Silverlake blvd and effie bike lane. Gotta keep those film trucks safe during rush hour!

VIRTUAL TIBET

Borrowed from the comments section on the CBR blog here. If you don’t know your Tibetan history, have a read and then pick up a copy of Virtual Tibet, a book every hippy should read before opening his/her mouth and booking time on dad’s Gulfstream 4 to jump into the latest protest hot zone.

By anonymous
. . .

It's time for some truth in this "Boycott Beijing Olympics for Tibet" bullshit.

The Chinese Communist Party is the BEST THING that has ever happened to Tibet in the last 1000 years since Songtsan Gampo had a marriage treaty with the Tang empire in the 6th century. Tibet had since become a serf-society in which 95% of the population were slaves owned by the 5% of powerful monks and landlords. When the CCP stationed itself in Tibet in 1950, after easily defeating the 8000-strong Tibetan miliary run by these serf-masters and landlords, the official Tibetan population was numbered at 1.2 million. The "Free Tibet" bandwagon scream their bloody rhetoric, accusing China of killing 5 million Tibetans. You do the math. China's 1-Child Policy had never applied to ethnic-minorities or farmers, and the ethnic-Tibetan population of 1.2 million in 1950 has now blossomed to about 2.5 million. A birth rate 300% or more, compared with the so-called "ethnic Han" majority birth rate. The average life expectancy of 35 years in 1950, is now 65-70 for the ethnic-Tibetan. China has an overt system of affirmative-action for their ethnic minorities that astonishingly pales our American system. That includes university-entry quotas.

Who are these screaming, crying, and lying "Free Tibet" constituents, asides from Bjerk? They're largely the descendants of the 5% of the Tibetan Conservatives of the 1950's who wanted to maintain status-quo, and not work with the reforms sought by the increasingly-majority Tibetan Liberals favoring the CCP goverment, and pressured the 14th Dalai Lama , with support from the British ss and our very own CIA. It is after all, the COMMUNIST they're going to deal with in their reforms, and it was their land-ownership and essentially a lifetime of free-labor from the enslaved society that afforded them an exhorbitant lifestyle, impossible for the average Tibetan achieve. Tibet maintained status-quo for 9 years since China's People's Liberation Army set base in Tibet in 1950, and it was in 1959 that reforms were finally going to take place to abolish the Conservative status-quo; and that was when the people behind Dalai Lama, the ranked-monks and landowners, his "clique", fled Tibet to live a life of antagonistic exile. Their offspring continue that CIA funded antagonistic existence to this day.

here are some info/videos that will help those blindly riding and tooting their horns on the "Free Tibet" bandwagon to really consider jumping off, and take a less biased, less reactionary, and less medieval approach to "freedom and politics".

Preview of Dalai Lama and his friendly relationship with Mao Zedong in liberating Tibet from slavemasters and landlords:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DvkwkgdTx4

following videos feature private productions and miscellaneous facts to pique your interest in the truth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsoc4-QnplY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9QNKB34cJo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSQnK5FcKas&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8yGahPGQls

BTW: Boycott the 2012 London Olympics for dirty-assed British inhumanities stemming from:

SYKES-PICOT AGREEMENT
BALFOUR DECLARATION
FAISAL-WEISMANN AGREEMENT
and many other politcal intrigues that have devasted and caused so much inter-relgious strife in the Middle East and ravaged our American way of life and security. Free Tibet? How's about "British troops out of N Ireland", "Falklands for Argentina", Not So Great Britain make reparations for the harm you've done to the Middle East and Palestinians!

Too bad for America, the Torch for the best Oympics games ever, did not really grace the American streets. People were literally crying; one woman expressed her discontent as I've seen on the news: "I want to see the Olympic torch! Not no protestors!".

Too bad. For American athletes.

April 14, 2008 3:36 AM

 

On sunday i spent 9 hours whipping my single speed road bike back into shape. Phwew!

This hubba bubba delight got:
-a new chain
-a new cockpit
-a new chainring
-a new cog
-2 new tires
-new pedal system

And, predictably, nothing worked out easily and it took numerous mcgeyver-esque workarounds and needle-in-the-haystack style sifting through the parts bin to make it work. Most annoyingly, had to break the chain 4 times to get chain tension just right.

And after all that, took 'er out for a spin at 9 pm--and the drivetrain slipped. Back to the drawing board, and two days later she's singing an aria when we hit the road while my hands ache from clutching tools for 9 hours straight.

Cockpit overhaul

Swapped out a cracking S-works carbon bar with these Ritchey classic bend aluminum bars and stem. . .which meant readjusting brakes and brake levers which annoyingly require loosening brake cables to access fixing bolt (dumb idea, Cane Creek, why not put fixing bolt access on side like STI levers?). And then every adjustment of lever position required again loosenng brake cables. Repeat 10 times until you achieve ideal position and have arthritis from clutching micro tools. . .

Baby got 700x25 Back

This is one of the slowest feeling tires i own, but after the bontrager carbon post i'd been using on this rig had its adjustment bolt fuse to the saddle rails somehow resulting in an inabilty to remove or adjust the seat, had to get some cushion for my pedal pushin somehow!

1FG

Had to set up new cleats, a painstaking process that you just have to get right. Used Crank Bros Quattro's. Surprisingly smooth although i wonder how they'll work once the pontoons inevitably wear down and the shoe/pedal interface gets sloppy. . .so far i absolutely love them.

The best of NY Times 'Key' Real Estate Supplement

'How much value does that ninth bedroom really add? How about the hardwood floors and wainscotted walls?'

This is the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night and I'm glad they're fighting to find the answers.

Mr. B readin' the papes

Mr. B reading his favorite, the New York Times sports section.

FREE TIBET WEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In case anyone reading this missed 60 Minutes on Sunday, go check out their website.

 

Why will the US participate in the Olympics this summer? Because China has America's ass over a financial barrel.

 

China has a $200 billion sovereign wealth fund that they're using to snap up American financial positions and control of American businesses and financial institutions (much like the Blackstone group and other private equity firms).

 

Additionally, China holds a huge amount of American debt in the form of T-bills. Our massive budget deficit is financed in large part by the Chinese via their ownserhip of T bills.

 

So, as usual, it's a little more complicated than the Free Tibet granola snorters would have us believe.

 

Which isn't to say that the Chinese aren’t behaving in an abhorrent manner, trampling human rights, etc. But it's what all empires do. Just look at how America has behaved the past decade.

 

There's nothing wrong with being morally outraged, but maybe we should clean the mess out of our Depends before we start going after the organ harvesters (oh, you know that China kills political prisoners to harvest organs for transplant recipients in China and abroad in the organ black market right? A former Chinese national testified to Congress about this a few years back. Really fun stuff like flaying skin off of live human beings who didn't get finished off by a bullet in the head. . .read about more fun organ harvesting facts here.

 

Also, anyone pissed off about Tibet would be well served to read Virtual Tibet, a stellar book about the West's fetishization of all things eastern and the yearning to restore Tibet to a past that never existed.

 

And while I support the right of Tibetan monks to get out from under the thumb of the Chinese, it's worth being informed about what exactly happens in Buddhist monasteries before climbing the golden gate bridge to erect Free Tibet signs. Institutionalized pedophilia has long been a part of the Buddhist monk tradition. Read about it here.

 

Namaste y'all.

Coolest jersey ever

Thanks corey k, good on ya!

STUNNER: PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE GETS MAD, CURSES SOMETIMES

In yet more stunning news from the presidential campaign, the press corps digs deep to unearth the astonishing fact that former POW and republican prez nominee John McCain uses bad words and sometimes becomes angry! Now, calling his wife a cunt in front of reporters doesn’t look so good, but I’m guessing that past presidents may have had some heated exchanges with their spouses.

 

What shocked me more than these revelations was Rob Lowe being given space on the Huffington Post to attempt to dead agent his former housekeeper/nanny. I have rarely seen such a perfect example of Hollywood’s utter self absorption. Seriously, you give front page play to an actor having problems with his housekeeper? If that’s news, then send someone over to my place right away. I’ve got a few personal problems that I think I can solve if I’m given a national media platform to go after some people. What do you think Arianna? Up for the Vontz challenge?

 

4.2.08 HOUR OF POWER

Done on the TRX, 5 reps per exercise.

 

10 min. Warmup

Dynamic stretching

 

CORE FOCUS

Postural squat

Low Back

Atomic pushup

Offset atomic oblique crunch

 

Body saw

Oblique body saw

Supine pullthrough

Single-leg prone plank (x2)

Side plank tap

Side plank leg raise

 

Pullup

Abducted Chest press x 2 (each leg)

Low row

Bicep clutch

 

LOWER BODY FOCUS

Roll-up squat jump

Sprinter’s start

One-legged squat

Suspended single leg extension

Ham curl

Hip curl

One-legged hip curl

 

KB snatch

KB clean

 

Side lunge

Rotating crossover lunge

Suspended transverse plane lunge

Suspended frontal plane lunge

 

. . . .

Swimmer pull

Deltoid fly sequence

Offset delt

Preacher tricep

Tricep kickback

 

Why Did Stop Loss (the movie) Fail?

Because Americans all agree the war sucks already, Hollywood. We don't want to pay 40 dollars (avg price two movie tickets in LA) to be told the depressing news that we already know. We can tune into the BBC to hear all about the war--American news has already moved on, because they've realized, as Hollywood hasn't, that there's no more profit to be squeezed out of this clusterfuck.

Give it a decade, Hollywood, then Iraq will be ready for the Oliver Stone treatment. He's just making his Bush movie now because he knows the public isn't ready fr Hollywood's version of reality until reality is a distant and less threatening memory. Oh and when you wait you don't have to worry about being wrong either. When the dishes hae already been done it's not too tough to accurately point out the spots on the wine glasses.

Get Lifted

Yet another badass connie, this time in Silverlake. Love the rims. Great idea for when i have a large Catholic family (it's n the works).