Cheese can be as addictive as morphine

I especially put this one on for you Kirst :)

Dr Neal Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine, says cheese is addictive because it contains small amounts of morphine from cows' liver. In his book - Breaking the Food Seduction: The Hidden Reasons Behind Food Cravings and Seven Steps to End them Naturally - he explains why people are hooked on products like cheese, meat, sugar and chocolate.

He says: "There's a biochemical reason many of us feel we can't live without our daily fix. Cheese, for example, contains high levels of casein, a protein that breaks apart during digestion to produce morphine-like opiate compounds, called casomorphins. These opiates are believed to be responsible for the mother-infant bond that occurs during nursing. It's no surprise many of us feel bonded to the refrigerator."

Dr Barnard says his research could help overweight people currently suing fast food restaurants, by proving the food is addictive like tobacco. This 'genius', or motivational therapist, developed already well-known techniques...but specifically, his secret is in a three-week diet and lifestyle program to help people kick their 'addiction' by changing their eating habits, exercising and sleeping well...what a genius!

[thanks again to ircspy.com and ananova.com]

emails Hurt IQ more than Spliff

Workers distracted by phone calls, e-mails and text messages suffer a greater loss of IQ than a person smoking marijuana, a British study shows. The constant interruptions reduce productivity and leave people feeling tired and lethargic, according to a survey carried out by TNS Research and commissioned by Hewlett Packard. Boycott Hewlett Packard.

The survey of 1,100 Britons showed:

• Almost two out of three people check their messages out of office hours and when on holiday.
• Half of all workers respond to an e-mail within 60 minutes of receiving one.
• One in five will break off from a business or social engagement to respond to a message.
• Nine out of 10 people thought colleagues who answered messages during face-to-face meetings were rude, while three out of 10 believed it was not only acceptable, but a sign of diligence and efficiency.

The mental impact of trying to balance a steady inflow of messages while getting on with normal work took its toll, the UK's Press Association reported.

In 80 clinical trials, a psychiatrist at King's College London University, monitored the IQ of workers throughout the day. He found the IQ of those who tried to juggle messages and work fell by 10 points -- the equivalent to missing a whole night's sleep and more than double the 4-point fall seen after smoking marijuana.

"This is a very real and widespread phenomenon," Wilson said. "We have found that this obsession with looking at messages, if unchecked, will damage a worker's performance by reducing their mental sharpness. Companies should encourage a more balanced and appropriate way of working." He said the IQ drop was even more significant in the men who took part in the tests.

"The research suggests that we are in danger of being caught up in a 24-hour 'always on' society," said a spokesman for Hewlett Packard. "This is more worrying when you consider the potential impairment on performance and concentration for workers, and the consequent impact on businesses."

[thanks to ircspy.com & CNN]

420 Explained...

<Thanks to ircspy.com news for this article>

If you smoke herb, tree, sherm, floyd, grass, cheeba, the chronic, wet, weed or plain old marijuana, you probably know about the magical number 420. Most of us aren't aware of its legendary points and myths of origin, until now.

Myth #1 : 420 is the police call-in code for "Possession of Marijuana" or "Drug Bust in Progress" or "Hippie Smoking Herb".

Check cobras.org for all your cop related call-in number codes. The call codes are pretty universal and 420 is not there.

Myth #2 : "Come Together" by the Beatles is 4 minutes and 20 seconds long. And if you know the lyrics, you know they were high as hell when they wrote it.

The Fab Four might have smoked a bit of shake back in the day, although the song is 4 minutes and 16 seconds long.

Myth #3 : April 20th is Earth Day, so ya gotta perpetuate the celebration and smoke a bit of Mother Earth, maaan!

Check the calendar - Earth Day has been on April 22 since 1970.

Myth #4 : THC (Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol), the element in weed that makes you high, has 420 chemicals in it.

The number of active chemicals in THC is around the 300-315 mark, depending on the strain of bud.

Myth #5 : Dr. Albert Hoffman, the discoverer and synthesizer of LSD first dropped acid at 4:20 p.m., April 19, 1943.

Well, actually yes, he did. His notebooks can verify that. And if you wanna get all technical, he first tripped three days prior--by accident. Acid and weed are two completely separate drugs (only the U.S. Gov. considers these two the same).

Myth #6 : When the Grateful Dead toured they always stayed in room #420 of whatever hotel they were at, duuude!

Dead biographer and historian for 20 some-odd years (and author of A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead) Dennis McNally has gone on record as saying this is ridiculous...

Myth #7 : April 20 is National Pot Smokers Day.

That's true, but it's only because of all this 420 horseshit! Haha.

Myth #8 : April 20 is the last day you should plant your seeds.

This makes no sense - you can grow anytime, and anywhere.

Myth #9 : The number comes from the children's nursery rhyme "Sing A Song of Sixpence," which is all about drugs. It says, "Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye. Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie." Get it?

There is no tie-in except for the number and the word "baked." Go to writingresources.com for the real story on the bird-pie thing.

Myth #10 : In the H.P. Lovercaft short story "In the Walls Of Eryx," the protagonist talks of a hallucinatory plant with "shaggy stalk, spikey leaves" and the ability to seemingly stop time. When the slowed-down time in the story is checked, it's 4:20.

This is the coolest-sounding, coincidental myth, but the story has time checks throughout.

To conclude: High Times editor Steve Hager, the pot periodical wrote a history in 1998, which found that the 420 phenomenon started in San Rafael High School in California, in 1971. A dozen stoners who hung and smoked together heard of a secret patch of homegrown growing nearby. They decided to meet at 4:20 at the campus statue of scientist Louis Pasteur to begin their search for the secret field o' weed. They never found it. But they started incorporating the time and number 420 into their language to slyly talk about smoking in front of teachers and parents. They then told two friends who in turn told two friends and so on and so on....Further documentation is at 420.com.

Source: newhavenadvocate.com

I Love Friday's

Finally Friday has arrived. Had my 2 lectures this morning and been working for cell-life this mornin. Tonight we going to go to the Reservoir Dogs/Squirrels Way Digs party. It's that one they had last year. Sponsored by SoCo and PLUSH is performing. Gonna be shweet. Maybe hit a little spleef, some booz and wander over there. Apparently it's just like those house parties you see in American movies. Not sure on the rest of the weekend. Enjoy yours!

Welcome

Hey guys, this is my blog. Still not a 100% on how it works but will learn. Hopefully can add pictures and all that jazz and make it shweet. The best thing is that you guys can post comments or blogs to the site for me and all to read. Lets see how it goes