Weekend Thoughts - 7.18.15

Image by Propaganda Times, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:

1. This description of how meditation practice and a plant-based diet has affected the physical and spiritual development was fascinating to me. The article is titled Our DNA is Evolving... Big Time and it is definitely worth a read. I'm a bit skeptical on the DNA part of it, but I'm interested in the overall topic.

2. I think this article about dopamine deficiency and mental health is pretty solid. It covers the role of dopamine, symptoms of low dopamine, and foods and activities that boost dopamine levels. Check it out, especially if you or someone you know is experiencing fatigue, apathy, lack of motivation, or inability to concentrate.

3. There was a "study" about drug use at festivals that took the form of several infographics that I linked to a few months ago. Shortly after that, VICE's Thump published an article that criticizes the study and is definitely worth reading. I had originally shared the study because I found it to be entertaining, and although Thump's article is a few months old, I wanted to offer up this contrary information.

4. Anyone following the Bill Cosby Rape saga is probably aware that Cosby testified in a 2005 court proceeding that he obtained Quaaludes in order to give them to women he wanted to have sex with. You may be wondering what exactly Quaaludes are, so here is a story on the rise and fall of Quaaludes to fill you in.

5. While reading through Zendo Project's AMA on Reddit, I came across this awesome guide to drug combinations from Tripsit. And while I have the chance, I must implore you to consider donating to Zendo Project's Harm Reduction Indiegogo Campaign.

6. Since I am perpetually on the hunt for healthy, cheap, easy recipes, I was extremely happy to see No Meat Athlete post an article on 12 Cheap, Healthy Meals that Taste Way Better Than They Should this week. Can't wait to go through these recipes and find out if there are any personal staples lying in wait for me.

7. I'm a big fan of Jeff Sanders' 5AM Miracle Podcast and enjoyed this post on his blog today about creating an Evening Routine to ensure that you get to bed early so that you can wake up early! This is something I am currently working on and I thought it might be useful to share with the Think Wilder community.

That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.

Weekend Thoughts - 5.9.15

Image by Erik Eckel, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Saturday y'all! I've got a well-rounded selection of links for you to read this weekend. 

1. Something that is hitting hard for me right now is the myriad controversies in nutrition science. Questions like "What is healthy food?" and "How much of it should I eat?" have been ricocheting throughout my brain this week. Quartz has a thought-provoking article on how the cult of healthy eating has more in common with religion than science. The piece's author, Alan Levinovitz, argues that nutrition science is difficult to research effectively, and he cautions his readers to not fall prey to healthy "fad" diet claims. I admit that I have tried many different types of "healthy" diets, to varying degrees of success. I make sure that I never put complete faith in any particular diet, and instead use the experimentation phases as a method for testing the diets for myself. However, I agree with Levinovitz's main argument - finding a truly healthy diet backed by substantial and trustworthy scientific evidence seems nearly impossible.

2. This Sriracha Avocado Chickpea Salad recipe from Healthy Slow Cooking looks scrumptious! After all, it's got three of my favorite things - Sriracha, avacado, and chickpeas!

3. New research has come out showing that there may be bacteria from fecal matter in beards. The findings essentially show that there are bacteria in beards that resemble bacteria found in the human gut. This may be because beard hair is coarser and can trap germs and grease more effectively. First of all, as a man with a beard, I have no plan to shave my beard. Second, I have to wonder if this is more germ and bacteria fear-mongering that will result in overall decreased immune function, rather than the reverse. After all, over sterilization is a thing.

4. One of my favorite video games, Portal, is being turned into a hyperdimensional pinball game. Pinball is one of my favorite arcade-style games, so the combination may prove to be entertaining. For those of you not familiar with Portal, it is a first person shooter game that has mind-bending puzzles in 3D space. Highly recommended. I may actually purchase the pinball version of the game - it's only going to be $2.99 for consoles, Mac, and PC, and $1.99 for mobile devices. The game will be released on May 25th.

5. A fellow Reality Sandwich writer, Bernardo Kastrup, was featured on one of my favorite podcasts last week: Lorenzo Hagerty's Psychedelic Salon. The topic is incredibly intriguing and this was an exceptional episode of the podcast that I just have to share. Bernardo describes the concept of a cosmic nervous system in great detail that resonates with me on several levels. Here is an excellent summary by Lorenzo:

"Today Bernardo Kastrup returns to the salon with more metaphysical speculations. Supplementing his recently released book, "Brief Peeks Beyond," he touches on the so-called hard problem of consciousness faced by materialists. In his examination of the dominant materialistic world view, Bernardo reveals the forces behind our value systems, which in turn determine our behavior. He ends with some very concrete suggestions for five things each of us can do to make the world a little better. However, my favorite section of this talk comes when he suggests that cosmic consciousness at-large may actually be experiencing what we humans call multiple personality disorder."

6. As an Apple fan, I enjoyed this brief piece titled One day they'll understand Apple on Ken Segall's Observatory. He argues that pundits that don't understand Apple's behavior in the present must look to its behavior in the past, as Apple is one of the most consistent companies in the technology industry. I agree with Segall's message here.

That's all for this edition of Weekend Thoughts. See you next time - and until then, keep thinking wilder.  

Weekend Thoughts - 3.29.15

Image by Davide Restivo, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Happy Sunday, y'all! Although we are a couple weeks into the Spring season, it is still chilly in my neck of the woods. I am definitely looking forward to consistently warmer weather, which should be just around the bend. I have gathered some of my favorite articles from the past week and compiled them into the following list of links. Hopefully this will become a regular staple post that you can look forward to each week. Without further ado, here is what captured my attention the past week.

1. "How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later" by Philip K. Dick, 1978 —via deoxy.org. PKD wrestles with two of the major themes of his novels: "What is reality?" and "What is the authentic human?".

2. Passphrases That You Can Memorize — But That Even the NSA Can't Guess — via The Intercept. If you're worried about your stored data being stolen by the NSA, this article explains how to use Diceware to generate a passphrase that can survive the NSA's trillion-guess-per-second cracking attempts while still being simple enough to remember.

3. The 10 Key Attributes Top Earning Freelance Bloggers Share — via Leaving Work Behind. One of my favorite freelance blogging blogs covers the most important skills that successful freelance bloggers need to thrive in the blogosphere.

4. Quick and Easy Chickpea Scramble — via Choosing Raw. This scrumptious recipe from Gena Hamshaw places the humble chickpea in the spotlight in a simple scramble featuring veggies, turmeric and other spices, and nutritional yeast.

5. I Did "Psychedelic First Aid" at a Festival in Costa Rica — via Fest300. A experiential description of the work that The Zendo Project (a group based in Santa Cruz, California, that provides a safe space for people having difficult psychedelic experiences and other emotional or personal challenges at festivals) performed at the 2015 Envision Festival.

6. The Lost Will and Testament of Javier Grillo-Marxuach — via The Grillo-Marxuach Experimental Design Bureau. One of the writers of the television show Lost writes down his recollections of the early days of writing the show. The piece is a nice walk down 4815162342 Lost Memories Lane, if you know what I mean.

That's all for this week's Weekend Thoughts post. I hope you have enjoyed the articles and I look forward to feeding you more next week.