Evidently this is Crop Circle week here at Forteania, which is odd given how I don't really find the phenomena all that interesting. I know different strokes for different folks. Anyway, as a follow up to last nights post; here is an interesting BBC news story that I found via an AboveTopSecret thread.
'Stoned wallabies make crop circles'
Australian wallabies are eating opium poppies and creating crop circles as they hop around "as high as a kite", a government official has said.
Lara Giddings, the attorney general for the island state of Tasmania, said the kangaroo-like marsupials were getting into poppy fields grown for medicine.
She was reporting to a parliamentary hearing on security for poppy crops.
Above: The work of wallabies that are "tripping" on Opium?
Look, I'm all for non-paranormal explanations to supposed paranormal phenomena. Just take a look at my recent post about the supposed Belgian Triangle UFO photo Hoax. But I think that alternative explanations need to be at least some what reasonable. I mean this almost sounds like a joke.
I understand that it might be possible for “stoned” wallabies to create some of the simpler Crop Circle patterns that have been seen from time to time, but others I doubt. I would be more willing to buy into the microwave theory I discussed last night for some of the more intricate designs. Besides, while this could explain away the Australian Crop Circles it would still leave the ones seen around the world. Unless of course the wallabies are going on extended “trips”.
I'm excited to read the book first, but I was pretty happy that I stumbled upon this earlier tonight. For more information check out the movie's website.
I took the day off from work because I was 'sick', so Ashley and I decided to go back to our local Barnes & Noble store. The last time that we went there it resulted in our failed search for Messie the Lake Murray monster, which you can read about here in case you missed it. While there I decided to look for two books that I need to read so I can remove them from my reading list. As I mentioned on my Twitter account, I am finishing up Ivan T. Sanderson's Invisible Residents. And since I am so close to finishing it I thought I would go ahead and pick up one or both of the books I want to read next. One is Steve Volk's Fringe-ology, the other was DMT The Spirit Molecule by Rick Strassman MD, recommended to me by Greg Bishop.
The first book I went to look for was Fringe-ology, because so far DMT The Spirit Molecule has always been in the same exact spot (the new age section go figure). So I found a customer service person and asked her to look up Fringe-ology, after a few minutes of searching for it in the computer she was sad to tell me that they (once again) didn't have it in stock. That makes the third time in as many weeks that this Barnes & Noble has still not gotten this book in. So I did what any rational adult would do in this case, I bitched about it on Twitter.
@countduckula
Also why the hell isn't there a single book store in my area that carries Steve Volk's 'Fringe-ology'? The one time I don't want an ebook
I don't mind ebooks, you see? But for one reason or another I really wanted 'Fringe-ology' in a physical copy. But no, nobody wants to help
Well after griping a bit about that I decided that I would locate the Strassman book. Luckily I was able to find it and so with that I sat down and began to listen to some music while I looked at some random Tumblr's. Of course looking at the Strassman DMT book reminded me of a story that Daily Grail had linked on their site. They had linked to a YouTube video where Alex Jones, surprisingly, went off on a rant about ….... DMT! (Yeah like you couldn't see where this was going). As I hadn't gotten a chance to watch the video I was pretty excited, Alex Jones is always good for a laugh. Not because I don't at least entertain as possible some of the things that he rants and raves about, its just that I have a hard time buying into the whole NWO/Illuminati thing (sometimes). Unfortunately for me however the original YouTube video that the guys over at the Daily Grail had put up had been removed by user. Since I still had Twitter up and running, I figured, “What the hell? Why not put the call out to someone in the Twitterverse”.
@countduckula
Speaking of research into psychedelics, evidently Alex Jones had a little rant about them the other day. Unfortunately I missed the video
And now it seems to have been removed from YouTube, can anyone direct me to the video so I may watch his latest shenanigans?
About the time that I put that call out to Twitter, I notice that Steve Volk had responded to my tweets
about my inability to find his book! Which I thought was pretty cool of him all things considered. So we talked for a few minutes on Twitter about his book, publicity, and the hardships of tracking it down. Eventually he wished me luck in locating the book and hoped that I would enjoy it. It was at this time that someone from Twitter (HolyGhostTrance) replied with the a copy of the YouTube video of Alex Jones's DMT rant. Here is that video for you to enjoy as well.
After all of this had occurred it was time for us to pack up so I could head to class. On the way out we ended up buying the DMT book and also William Gibson's Neuromancer. So that brings us to the end of my Twitter Thursday adventure. I was able to locate one of the two books that are on my 'To read' list. And had a wonderful day spent out with Ashley (and not at work). If there is a moral to this story I suppose it is best summed up in this tweet.
@countduckula
Apparently if you wish to find something on the Internet, all you have to do is ask Twitter
That's all I have for tonight Twitter, I have to go finish Invisible Residents so that I can start on DMT The Spirit Molecule. Until next time, have a great night!
A few months back I read two very fascinating books on the subject of psychedelics; Inner paths to Outer Spaceby Rick Strassman (and others)and Supernatural by Graham Hancock. Both books bring to the table the idea that through the use of psychedelics, humans beings are able to access other realms of 'reality' (there's that loaded word again) and perhaps gain new insights. Some years ago studies had actually been performed in the United States on the therapeutic uses of psychedelics for the treatment of all manner of conditions. But like most reactionary institutions these substances, especially LSD, where outlawed in the United States. And so they have been until recently. (The notably exception to this being Dr. Rick Strassman's work with DMT in the early 90's).
Over the last few weeks news articles have been appearing on a variety of websites indicating that the taboo on the use of psychedelics, or the sometimes preferred term of entheogens, is perhaps being lifted. And that we may soon see medical research again head down this path. I for one am quite excited about this prospect. On the medical side, the research that was done seems to indicate that the substances have the capability of; helping alcoholics stop drinking, helping terminally ill patients deal with anxiety, or helping people with OCD handle their compulsions.
All of these are great and reason enough, I think at least, for the US to allow research back into to the medicinal benefits of these substances. However this is not the only reason that I find these substances fascinating. No there is a much more Fortean reason for that. During his research with DMT, Dr. Rick Strassman had participants that were reporting what sound similar to alien abduction experiences. The participants would often report being taken to white rooms in order to be examined by alien beings. The examinations would some times end with some sort of insight being given to the individual. This is really fascinating, but as with most of these topics we are left with more questions than answers.
If, as Dr. Strassman speculates, we produce DMT internally; can the alien abduction phenomena be written off simply as yet another function of the human body? I don't know the answer to that unfortunately, but let's play a little 'What if?' game for just a moment. Suppose that the alien 'Other' that interacts with us from time to time is aware that we have DMT inside our bodies. And they know that DMT can cause humans to have psychedelic experiences. So what if when they wish to interact with us, and in order to keep the experience just outside the realm of 'reality', they induce the DMT experience and then use this to do whatever it is they are doing to us? I don't know if this is the case or not, but I do think that it can make for some interesting speculation. Obviously this couldn't explain all abduction events, as some have physical traces. Unless of course the 'Others' use a combination of physical and psychedelic tools to interact with us for their own purposes.
To learn more about some of the research that has been done into these topics I highly recommend checking out the two books I mentioned earlier; Inner paths to Outer Spaceand Supernatural. Both are extremely fascinating books that I think you would enjoy. Also to read more about some of the recent murmurings about psychedelic research follow this links for recent news articles on the topic.
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