From Chaos... Comes Order

Would you believe them if they said Freedom is Constraint? 

"Route to Creativity: Following Bliss or Dots?"  
1999-09-07 by NATALIE ANGIER from "New York Times" [http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/07/science/route-to-creativity-following-bliss-or-dots.html]:
To the roster of favorite oxymo rons that includes ''jumbo shrimp,'' ''military intelligence'' and ''healthy tan,'' a new report proposes a tart addition: ''artistic freedom.''
By the reckoning of three Israeli researchers, nothing imprisons the mind more thoroughly, nothing stifles inventiveness and artistry more brutally, than too much freedom, too much wiggle room for the imagination. Instead, they argue, the real source of productive creativity may lie in art's supposed bugaboos: rules, structure, even the occasional editor or two.
In an essay in the current issue of the journal Science, Dr. Jacob Goldenberg, Dr. David Mazursky and Dr. Sorin Solomon of Hebrew University in Jerusalem describe an algorithm, or formula, for creating new advertisements that is surprisingly simple, yet unnervingly effective. When they fed the algorithm into a computer, it generated advertising concepts judged more original and appealing than equivalent advertisements spawned by a group of humans who were told, in essence, to ''follow their bliss.''
The computer program demonstrates graphically what many creative people know intuitively: the land of the imagination is a country like any other, with laws, rituals and a tireless police corps that must be obeyed if one hopes to retain citizenship there.
Creativity, by this measure, is not some mystical, inchoate process, beyond analysis and delineation, but rather is composed of a series of distinct subroutines, which can be rallied repeatedly to churn out ideas that seem the opposite of routine.
The notion of creative thinking as amenable to parsing and replication is both cheering and disheartening: cheering because it means that just about anybody can learn to do it at least passably well, and disheartening for showing, once again, that even genius is so much meat in motion.
For their part, the researchers were interested less in philosophical matters than in practicality, in coming up with better techniques for stimulating creative thinking. They focused on advertising as a business that demands chronic novelty.
In their report, they describe experiments in which they deconstructed renowned advertisements and found that they often followed specific formulas, which they term templates. One of the commonest templates they found is the so-called replacement template.
For example, they considered a Nike ad, in which a group of firemen are standing around in a rescue pose, looking up as though someone was about to jump from a burning building into their net. In lieu of a net is a giant Nike sneaker, with copy boasting of how the new Nike walking shoes are ''very safe places to land.''
In this advertisement, the sneaker replaces an object whose most salient characteristic is ''cushioning.'' Indeed, the life net cushions a person from death itself.
Similarly, a series for Bally shoes shows various objects that symbolize freedom -- a beach, clouds in the sky -- in the shape of a foot, the implication being that the wearing of Bally shoes frees the wearer from cares, the rat race, bunions.
The researchers then translated principles of the replacement template into a simple program, and had a computer create a concepts designed to pitch different products. The computer did not generate real ads with all the visual flourishes, but simply came up with descriptions.
The researchers also asked people outside advertising and untrained in the replacement algorithm or other creativity techniques, to generate hypothetical ads for the same products. When shown to judges, both advertising professionals and outsiders, the advertisements from the computer were invariably ranked higher in creativity and originality than those from the laypeople. In fact, the computer's ads were rated with genuine ones from major magazines, and virtually on par with ones that had won major awards.
In one case, the computer, asked to design a campaign promoting the coming of the World Cup tennis tournament to Jerusalem, conceived of the notion of picturing a domed mosque with the texture of a tennis ball. The untrained humans could come up with nothing more thrilling than an image of the ancient walls of Jerusalem and ad copy announcing the tournament.
When asked to hawk the on-time performance of an airline, the computer program suggested an image of a cuckoo clock, with the emerging cuckoo in the shape of a plane. A human proposal: a picture of a family running through the airport while one of the parents screams: ''Let's run, this airline is right on time.'' (And no O. J. Simpson in sight!)
Dr. Goldenberg and Dr. Mazursky, who are in the school of business, and Dr. Solomon, of the physics department, designed the program to counter a hoary principle in creativity theory that the most original ideas are born of utter freedom, a shifting of paradigms, a circling of the square, a streaming of consciousness, a squelching of the internal editor. Instead, they argue, their work on templates indicates that constraining options and focusing thought in a specific, rigorous and discerning direction may yield comparatively fresher results.
''To suspend criticism and think any idea is possible or good may ultimately be destructive to creativity,'' said Dr. Goldenberg. The researchers emphasized that their work has scant relevance to the science of artificial intelligence, and that they have no interest in proving computers to be potentially more creative than humans, HAL with a beret and ponytail. Instead, they are seeking to mimic the way people solve problems or create ideas, and then describe the process thematically. When taught the algorithms, they said, lay humans will match and often outperform the machine.
''Humans can criticize themselves, and computers can't,'' said Dr. Mazursky. ''As Oscar Wilde said, imagination is imitative -- the real innovation lies in criticism.''
The researchers also said that the algorithms they designed for advertising would not necessarily work outside the domain of advertising.
''We are not studying just creativity, but creativity in specific contexts,'' said Dr. Mazursky.
Some people in the creativity business found the new paper enlightening and amusing, and said it jibed with the premises of their approach to changing the mind's light bulb.
''Limits can be powerful motivator,'' said Roger von Oech, a creativity consultant for businesses and author of the best seller ''A Whack on the Side of the Head,'' published in its third edition last year by Warner Books. ''If you're given a really tight deadline and a small budget, you'll probably be more resourceful than if you have a ton of time and a limitless budget. Skyscrapers weren't invented by people with a lot of land, but by those who had to figure out how to build more offices on tight and incredibly expensive real estate.''
Mr. von Oech paraphrased Stephen Sondheim, who said that if someone asked him to write a song about the sea, he would be at sea himself; but ask him to write a ballad about a woman in a red dress in a lounge at three in the morning and falling off the bar stool in drunken sorrow, and he is inspired.
Mr. von Oech says that in his corporate seminars and training sessions, he gives his clients very specific tasks. Most of them are centered on humor, his belief being that, as he puts, ''there's a close relationship between the ha-ha of humor and the ah-ha of discovery.'' For example, he asks people to come up with offbeat mottoes for themselves or their companies, and he has stimulated some beauties. From the Bank of America group: ''Bank of America: Where you're never alone until you need a loan.'' From Microsoft: ''We're arrogant, and we should be.''
But other creativity researchers called the new Science paper something of an artful dodge. ''It wasn't very profound, and it didn't thrill me,'' said Dr. Mark A. Runco, editor of Creativity Research Journal and a professor of child and adolescent studies at California State University in Fullerton. ''For one thing, I'm not sure it was a fair test. Who are these judges of creativity? People aren't very good at judging creative ideas. Not even creative people are good at it.''
The poet Goethe, Dr. Runco pointed out, thought his study of optics to be his most important contribution to humanity, but today people read his poetry, not his science papers. Beethoven judged as his greatest composition a piece of music that practically nobody listens to anymore.
Nor was it fair to have given the human subjects complete freedom without any structure or template, he said. ''I can't think of anyone who would think that a completely open task or environment would be most conducive to creativity,'' Dr. Runco said. Instead, he explained, most researchers in creativity studies are seeking to understand the balance and interdynamics between structure and openness.
Joyce Wycoff, the founder of Innovation Network, a professional association of creativity consultants, and author of ''Mind Mapping'' (Putnam, 1991), believes the key to creativity is ''structure, but structure with permeability.'' Another essential factor, she said, is energy. ''People are never out of ideas,'' she said, ''but they may run out of energy.'' And in this arena, alas, the computer will always have us beat.

Insights into public research into psychic abilities

"Psychic: Discovering Your Psychic Potential and What To Do with It"
Hosted by Craig Weiler and David Metcalfe, 6 Sessions, Starting January 15
[http://evolverlearninglab.com/products/psi], from "Evolver Learning Lab" [onlinelearning@evolver.net]:
Explore your psychic potential with leading researchers in the field of parapsychology and anomalistic science.
Despite what debunkers would have you believe, many respected scholars, scientists and researchers feel that we’ve moved beyond proving that psi exists. Now it's time to start thinking about how to integrate psychic functioning into our daily lives. Are you ready to learn to live with psi?
How can you access your psychic potential?
What can you do to make your intuitions more reliable?
How can you use your psychic potential in everyday life?
If psychic potential exists in everyone, why do skeptics say there’s nothing to it?
In this unique course, you will reach a deeper understanding of your own psychic potential, discover what makes the psychic experience distinct, and benefit from the experiences of researchers and high functioning psychics who have paved the way for a new paradigm in consciousness.
Craig Weiler, of the Weiler Psi Blog, and David Metcalfe, Reality Sandwich contributing editor and “Psi in the News” columnist, have gathered together some of the leading thinkers in the field of of Parapsychology and Anomalistic Science to help you understand, integrate and learn to use the most recent research in this new frontier of psi. They include:
* James Carpenter, president of the Parapsychological Association and author of the groundbreaking theory of psi, "First Sight"
* Julie Beischel, PhD. Co-Founder and Director of Research at the Windbridge Institute, whose work investigates the therapeutic value of mediumship and the mysteries of discarnate communication
* Dan Booth Cohen and Emily Volden, pioneers of Systemic Constellations, a new form of therapy that assumes that consciousness is nonlocal
* Chris Carter, author of the authoritative book, "Science and Psychic Phenomena: The Fall of the House of Skeptics"
* William Bengston, author of “Energy Cure,” his memoir of researching hands-on healing in a rigorous, scientific environment
Through in-depth discussions of the latest findings, we’ll clear up the misunderstandings that have arisen due to the skeptical sub-culture’s tenacious efforts to defend an outdated understanding of science. In this course, you will discover what contemporary research has to say about the physiology, psychology and social importance of psi experiences and how that applies directly to you and your daily life!
You’ll gain a better understanding of your own psychic potential by discovering exciting new theories on how psi really works.
You will be part of the discussion, able to ask your questions on camera, just like a Skype call. If you happen to miss a live session, you can view a video recording at any time. These sessions will be filled with provocative information, clear instruction, and practical advice from teachers who are among the world's leading experts in their respective fields.
Learn about:
* Working therapeutic programs that utilize psychic intuition and theories of non-local consciousness
* Fascinating experiments in non-invasive healing techniques
* War stories from the battle to keep research on psi objective to foster scientific progress
* Insights into the characteristics of high functioning psychics
* Research that explores the reality and social function of mediumship.
Join Craig, David and their guests, and explore what it means to live in a world where psychic abilities are a fact. Gain a new sense of human potential from some of the leading figures on the forefront of the next scientific and social revolution.
Over 5 weekly sessions, you will gain an essential grounding in all aspects of psychic ability. This is a fascinating way to gain a deeper understanding of the complex processes that allow you to navigate beyond space and time.

SCHEDULE -
January 15: "First Sight" Theory of Psi
Guest: James Carpenter

Psychic ability has always been deeply mysterious, often producing counter-intuitive and some seemingly contradictory results in the laboratory. Even people with psychic ability often find it difficult to explain how it comes about, and nearly impossible to figure out what exactly is going on.
Join James Carpenter in exploring the groundbreaking theory of psychic ability from his book, “First Sight.” In this session you’ll be introduced to his meticulous research and important concepts that get to the heart of what psychic ability is.
“First Sight” refers to the theory that psychic ability is “on” all the time but that it is not necessarily used during ordinary thought processes. Different factors, such as level of ambiguity, personality type, mode of thinking and type of problem being addressed all affect whether a person is likely to access their psychic ability. It is a complex but intuitive process, one that Jim has worked out in fascinating detail.
James Carpenter, PhD, is a clinical psychologist (Board Certified, ABPP) and parapsychologist. He has over 30 years of active experience as a psychotherapist, educator and researcher. His involvement in parapsychology dates back to his undergraduate days at Duke in the mid-'60's when he became associated with the Parapsychology Laboratory there. He has published numerous articles and book chapters since.

January 22: The Energy Cure
Guest: William Bengston

William Bengston’s studies on healing mice with incurable cancer was nothing short of amazing. Here was laboratory proof of miraculous healing. And some of the healers were skeptics!
Join William Bengston as he talks about how he came to be a healer and shares some tidbits about his technique. In this session you’ll be introduced to his research, some of the obstacles along the way and the remarkable results he’s achieved.
Bill's "Energy Cure” is as fascinating for what it doesn’t cure as what it does. Not everything can be healed, which gives some fascinating insights into the mind/body connection. His clinical observations over the course of years of healing have led him to conclusions that are sure to provide food for thought.
William Bengston is a professor of sociology at St. Josephs College in New York, U.S.A. He received his Ph.D. from Fordham University, New York, in 1980. His "day job" areas of specialization include research methods and statistics. He has publications in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, and Explore. In addition, he has lectured widely throughout the United States and Europe. Bill has been a member of the Society for Scientific Exploration (SSE) since 1999, and currently serves as President of the organization.

January 29: Systemic Constellations
Guests, Dan Booth Cohen, with Emily Volden

Dan Booth Cohen and Emily Volden are practitioners of Systemic Constellations. This approach to therapy uses non-local consciousness to understand relationships, past and present, both damaging and beneficial and use that information for healing and well being. The constellation refers to ourselves, our relations and our ancestors, (some of whom may be in the distant past) all of whom have had a role in shaping who we are. We may be carrying the emotional burdens of slavery or war generations later, or be carrying on a tradition of healing that extends back hundreds of years within the family.
Join Dan and Emily as they present this unique system that has proved useful in helping thousands of people. By understanding how we are connected to so many people in so many ways, we can expand our understanding of what our non-local consciousness is really like, and what the ramifications of it are. This helps us understand our own experiences better, which reduces second guessing of our psi experiences. It makes them more “real.”
Dr. Dan Booth Cohen has been involved in Constellation work since 2000. He is certified as a facilitator and trainer by the German Association for Systemic Constellations (DGfS). He has published numerous articles and book chapters about Constellations. Among these are Family Constellations: An Innovative Systemic Phenomenological Group Process From Germany (2006).

February 5: Dealing with Skepticism
Guest: Chris Carter

There have always been skeptics and there always will be skeptics. Like it or not, they are the part of the big picture. We encounter them in our daily lives and we encounter them on line; they are quoted in newspapers and they rule Wikipedia. They can also be found in the sciences poisoning the well against research in parapsychology. Who are these people and why do they spend so much time and effort denying something so obvious?
Understanding skeptics can clear away the negativity that they generate and free us to no longer be disturbed by them. It is not enough to simply avoid them, we have to understand why they do what they do and learn to gracefully rebut them. The era of the skeptic is fast drawing to a close and we all need to do our part to speed that process up.
Not all skeptics are the same. They are people and people are complicated. But there is definitely a personality profile and they also have pressure group organizations and their own set of salacious scandals. It’s eye opening to see how the skeptics operate. Join Chris as we explore what makes a person a skeptic and how to deal with it when you encounter it.
Chris Carter received his undergraduate and master's degrees from the University of Oxford. The author of Parapsychology and the Skeptics, Science and the Psychic Phenomena: The Fall of the House of Skeptics, and Science and the Near Death Experience. Carter is originally from Canada and currently lives in Venezuela.

February 12: The Message of Mediumship
Guest: Julie Beischel

One of the most contested areas of anomalistic science is the realm of mediumship -- particularly claims of communicating with those who have died. Since the dawn of civilization, mediums have played decisive roles in the cultural conversation, yet the process of mediumship remains unclear and uncertain. The pioneering and controversial work of Dr. Gary Schwartz has caused some scientists to recognize that mediumship may hold the key to a deeper understanding of human consciousness and how relationships often affect us beyond the veil of death.
Is there any way to verify mediumistic claims? Is there any therapeutic value to mediumship and potential after-life communications? How can we assess a ‘good’ medium from a ‘bad’ medium when we don’t even know, really, what mediums are doing?
Julie Beischel’s work with the Windbridge Institute has sought to answer these questions, and to open up new areas of inquiry into this perplexing phenomena. Join us as we discover what we know, and don’t know about mediumship, and how these understandings can help us to better understand our own relationship to mortality.
Julie Beischel, PhD, Co-Founder and Director of Research at the Windbridge Institute, holds a BS in Environmental Sciences (1996) from Northern Arizona University and a PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology with a minor in Microbiology and Immunology (2003) from the University of Arizona (UA). Dr. Beischel served as the William James Post-doctoral Fellow in Mediumship and Survival Research and Co-Director of the VERITAS Research Program at the UA. When the funding for mediumship research at the UA ended and that research program closed, Dr. Beischel moved the research and the screening and training of prospective research mediums to the Windbridge Institute in January of 2008.

February 19: The Psychic Personality
Featuring Co-Host Craig Weiler

When we think of psychic ability, we normally think of professional psychics, but the truth is that many people are psychic who have never given a reading, done a healing or a remote viewing. Most people who are psychic just have occasional experiences that indicate that something is different about them. They are right. Depending on the measure you use, there is roughly between one and three truly psychic person for every hundred people.
It is amazingly helpful to understand the personality traits that go along with being psychic. I have received hundreds of comments on my blog from people whose lives were improved by understanding what was going on and how they were different.
Psychic ability is not distributed randomly in the population. Some people are way more psychic than others and certain personality traits contribute more to psychic ability than others. The traits that make people psychic also affect their outlook on life and their ability to choose certain careers, their love life, their ability to make friends and a host of other things.
Some of the traits psychic people are likely to have are being highly sensitive to emotions, environmental factors and physical stimuli. Being an intuitive, feeling person as measured on the Myer Briggs Type Index. Being introverted, not liking crowds, avoiding confrontation, creativity and many many more.
Join Craig as he presents the research of the handful of scientists who have explored this topic. He will also touch on how this changes the debate and the social implications of having and identifying psychic personality types.


About Our Hosts -
Craig Weiler is a writer, speaker and longtime blogger on the science, the skepticism and the psychics. A graduate of U.C. Berkeley, Craig is finishing his book on the TED controversy while running his small successful construction business.
Craig is a psychic person, but easily absorbs and writes about science and social issues as well as spiritual ones. Plain spoken and straightforward from years of experience at running a business as well as public speaking, Craig takes the complicated details and presents them in an understandable fashion. Craig has had an eclectic mix of interests over the years including acting, filmmaking, painting and writing and also built his own house.
Craig began his spiritual path during the New Age movement, teaching and practicing psychic healing, but found that it wasn’t a good enough business. He does not follow any particular teachings, rather he explores a very westernized mixture of science and spirituality.


David Metcalfe is a researcher, writer and multimedia artist focusing on the interstices of art, culture, and consciousness. He is a contributing editor for Reality Sandwich, The Revealer, the online journal of NYU’s Center for Religion and Media, and The Daily Grail. He writes regularly for Evolutionary Landscapes, Alarm Magazine, Modern Mythology, Disinfo.com, The Teeming Brain and his own blog The Eyeless Owl. His writing has been featured in The Immanence of Myth (Weaponized 2011), Chromatic: The Crossroads of Color & Music (Alarm Press, 2011) and Exploring the Edge Realms of Consciousness (North Atlantic/Evolver Editions 2012). Metcalfe is an Associate with Phoenix Rising Digital Academy, and is currently co-hosting The Art of Transformations study group with support from the International Alchemy Guild.

Beware, Thee, of the "fake psychic"

A mind whose gift is the ability to convince the gullible to part with their money, is nothing more than the personification of a self-interest profit.


"Fortune-teller cases seem to be on the rise"
2013-11-09 by Claire Suddath from "San Francisco Chronicle" [http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Fortune-teller-cases-seem-to-be-on-the-rise-4971084.php]:
A 65-year-old woman named Michele Zlotkin walked into a sparse, peach-colored Boca Raton, Fla., storefront that advertised psychic readings. It was just over a year ago and she had recently retired from teaching elementary school. For the first time in 40 years, she didn't know what she wanted to do with her life. She wasn't married, didn't have children, and her elderly mother lived in New Jersey.
"I thought, well, I have to start a new life," Zlotkin says. "So when I passed this store that said 'Spiritual Healer' and 'Psychic' on the front, I stopped in, thinking they could help."
Zlotkin had been to see what she calls "spiritual healers" before and had always found them comforting. "I sat down and talked to this guy named Trinity and I don't know what happened, but the next thing I knew, I was going to his place more often than I should've gone." Over the next six months, she would give $130,000 in gift cards, watches and cash to Trinity, who told her he was using them to get her recently deceased father out of purgatory.
It's tempting to write Zlotkin's story off as yet another misfortune of the superstitious or overly gullible. A search of newspaper records turns up similar arrests and trials dating at least as far back as the 19th century. According to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, over the past 20 years the percentage of Americans visiting fortune tellers and psychics has remained steady at 15 percent. Clearly not all those people would buy a $28,000 Rolex for a psychic who worked in a strip mall, as Zlotkin did. But hundreds of such incidents happen annually, and few psychics are ever prosecuted.
Recently, the number of cases seems to be climbing. In January, charges were dropped against an Orlando psychic after she returned $100,000 to a client who'd paid her to remove a curse.

$25 million scam -
 In September, a 62-year-old psychic named Rose Marks was found guilty in a Florida court of running a $25 million scam out of storefronts in Fort Lauderdale and Manhattan; during the trial, best-selling romance novelist Jude Deveraux testified that she paid Marks $17 million over nearly 20 years. Less than a month later, a Manhattan psychic named Sylvia Mitchell was found guilty of stealing $138,000 from clients who visited her Greenwich Village shop. She faces up to 15 years in prison.
At the low end, fortune telling starts with a simple palm reading. For a few dollars, a fortune teller will trace the lines on your palms and give a vague description of your past. You've had troubles, the psychic tells you, something isn't going your way. Meanwhile, the psychic is watching you for clues.
"They're very good at cold readings, by which I mean reading the body language of a stranger who's walked in off the street," says Bob Nygaard, a retired police officer in New York who is now a private investigator specializing in fortune-telling scams.
Nygaard is quick to point out that there's nothing inherently wrong with a palm or tarot card reading. In fact, fortune telling is protected under the First Amendment as free speech. Plenty of benign psychics will give you a glimpse into your future - however inaccurate that glimpse might be - and then send you on your way. Nygaard isn't worried about them. "I'm talking about people who run confidence schemes," he says.
Fraudulent psychics will endure a long succession of customers paying just the basic fee for the novelty of having their palms read, knowing that eventually someone will walk into the fortune-telling storefront who'll be psychologically pliable enough to be taken for a ride. Most victims of fortune-telling scams are emotionally vulnerable and socially isolated. They're often struggling with a personal heartache, such as divorce or bankruptcy. They're someone like Tiffany, a young IT contractor in Texas who'll give only her first name because she's embarrassed to admit that from 2007 to 2009, she gave $40,000 to a psychic she found on Craigslist.

Magical properties of crystals

Crystalline minerals conduct energy, and hold energy, making these mineral structures among the finest materials for magic tools.

"Accidental discovery dramatically improves conductivity"  
2013-11-14  [http://news.wsu.edu/2013/11/14/accidental-discovery-dramatically-improves-electrical-conductivity/]:
PULLMAN, Wash. – Quite by accident, Washington State University researchers have achieved a 400-fold increase in the electrical conductivity of a crystal simply by exposing it to light. The effect, which lasted for days after the light was turned off, could dramatically improve the performance of devices like computer chips.
WSU doctoral student Marianne Tarun chanced upon the discovery when she noticed that the conductivity of some strontium titanate shot up after it was left out one day. At first, she and her fellow researchers thought the sample was contaminated, but a series of experiments showed the effect was from light.
“It came by accident,” said Tarun. “It’s not something we expected. That makes it very exciting to share.”
The phenomenon they witnessed—“persistent photoconductivity”—is a far cry from superconductivity, the complete lack of electrical resistance pursued by other physicists, usually using temperatures near absolute zero. But the fact that they’ve achieved this at room temperature makes the phenomenon more immediately practical.
And while other researchers have created persistent photoconductivity in other materials, this is the most dramatic display of the phenomenon.
The research, which was funded by the National Science Foundation, appears this month in the journal Physical Review Letters.
“The discovery of this effect at room temperature opens up new possibilities for practical devices,” said Matthew McCluskey, co-author of the paper and chair of WSU’s physics department. “In standard computer memory, information is stored on the surface of a computer chip or hard drive. A device using persistent photoconductivity, however, could store information throughout the entire volume of a crystal.”
This approach, called holographic memory, “could lead to huge increases in information capacity,” McCluskey said.
Strontium titanate and other oxides, which contain oxygen and two or more other elements, often display a dizzying variety of electronic phenomena, from the high resistance used for insulation to superconductivity’s lack of resistance.
“These diverse properties provide a fascinating playground for scientists but applications so far have been limited,” said McCluskey.
McCluskey, Tarun and physicist Farida Selim, now at Bowling Green State University, exposed a sample of strontium titanate to light for 10 minutes. Its improved conductivity lasted for days. They theorize that the light frees electrons in the material, letting it carry more current.

Contact:
 * Matthew McCluskey, professor of physics, Washington State University [509-335-5356], [mattmcc@wsu.edu]
 * Marianne Tarun, physics post-doctoral research associate, [509-335-5653], [mariannetarun@wsu.edu]

Atoms share light across vast distances

"Distant artificial atoms cooperate by sharing light, international research team shows"
2013-11-15 from [physics.verticalnews.com/articles/10870404.html]:
Calgary CA - An international team of scientists has shown for the first time that atoms can work collectively rather than independently of each other to share light. Quantum physicists have long discussed such an effect, but it has not been seen before in an experiment.
The team included scientists from ETH Zurich (a leading university in Switzerland) who performed the experiment and theoretical scientists from the Universite de Sherbrooke in Quebec and the University of Calgary in Alberta.
The researchers showed the sharing of light or "photon-mediated interaction" between artificial atoms confined to a one-dimensional quantum system.
Their paper, "Photon-mediated interactions between distant artificial atoms," is published this week in the top-ranked journal Science.
"It's an unobserved effect that has been discussed for decades, and we see it with excellent agreement between theory and experiment," says co-author Barry Sanders, professor of Physics and Astronomy at the U of C and iCORE Chair of Quantum Information Science.
The two artificial atoms "showed a coherent exchange interaction, something not seen before for distant quantum systems in an open environment," says lead author Arjan van Loo, a PhD student in the Quantum Device Lab at ETH Zurich.
Realizing fundamental quantum interactions between individual quantum systems in one dimension is crucial to advance quantum-based devices.
"Systems like ours are expected to be useful for routing quantum information along quantum communication lines (one-dimensional waveguides) on devices used for quantum information processing or quantum communication," says co-author Andreas Wallraff, professor of Solid-State Physics at ETH Zurich.
This research shows that "man-made electrical circuits can now be engineered in such a way to exhibit behaviour that is not possible in 'natural' quantum systems," says co-author Alexandre Blais, associate professor of Physics at Universite de Sherbrooke.
Getting artificial atoms to work collectively could lead to control of microwave fields in superconducting circuits with benefits, including ways to protect quantum information against "noise" or damage to the signal, says Sanders, director of the U of C's Institute for Quantum Science and Technology. "I think what we've shown is going to be critical for future applications."
The key to the team's approach was to do the experiment in one dimension rather than in three dimensions where the interaction between atoms is weak and declines significantly with distance.
"In our experiment, we surpassed these limitations by specially engineering the critical properties of our artificial quantum systems," says co-author Arkady Fedorov, a postdoc at ETH Zurich, now at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, when the experiment was done.
The researchers confined two artificial atoms to one dimension using a waveguide (similar to confining light in an optical fibre), which greatly increased the possibility of the two systems interacting and enabled the researchers to measure this interaction.
Using superconducting circuits, the team was able to put two artificial atoms alongside the waveguide and then send a microwave field through this one-dimensional waveguide.
At a distance of approximately two centimetres - much larger than typically expected for quantum systems - the two atom-like systems formed a type of weakly bound molecule, due to the exchange of photons ('particles' of light).
"We also observed how the superconducting circuits either synchronize to emit radiation much more efficiently displaying superradiance (a very bright source of radiation), or how the circuits trap radiation, turning the two systems dark, as they do not emit photons anymore," Wallraff says.
The Canadian theorists used the "Mammouth" supercomputer, part of a national high-performance computing platform coordinated by Compute Canada, to solve analytical equations, and "also worked a lot with the experimentalists to understand intuitively the physics going on," says co-author Kevin Lalumiere, a PhD student in Physics at Universite de Sherbrooke.

Bio-energetic fields

Entheogenic oil extracts and chakra points

Chakras & Spinal Column

Tantra: Akasha, Dwyashtapatrambuja, Kantha, Kanthadesha, Kanthambhoja, Kanthambuja, Kanthapadma, Kanthapankaja, Nirmala-Padma, Shodasha, Shodasha-Dala, Shodasha-Patra, Shodashara, Shodashollasa-Dala, Vishuddha, Vishuddhi

Vedas (late Upanishads): Kantha Chakra, Vishuddha, Vishuddhi

Puranic: Vishuddha, Vishuddhi

Preparing Alcohol

This recipe for HoboCore Cider is straightforward and simple to overstand, even for one who has no knowledge of chemistry.
Be Aware, Thee, Alcohol is a psychosis-inducing narcotic which high risk of addiction... the following is provided for medical research purposes only.
Please click on the image for better resolution.

"Peruvian Torch"

also known as Trichocereus peruvianus

"How to recognize a short spined T. peruvianus"
by Michael S Smith, posted 2007-12-17 to [http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15744&p=162601]:
Here's a little something I wrote at The Nook (here) regarding the so-called "short spined T. peruvianus" and which I thought might be of interest to those who aren't members. Sorry if a repeat of ideas already familiar. I put it here as I think this "species" is in fact just a form of T. pachanoi.
I've talked about this elsewhere in maybe some more depth, but let me see what I can do to clarify the issue of the "short spined T. peruvianus" again.
The name "short spined T. peruvianus" is a name I made up myself when I got the plant in the following photo from Cactus Corral (CC). At the time CC was trying to get rid of a lot of its larger plants and I believe this particular clone was then sold to California Cactus Center (CCC) who quickly started selling the identical clone, also calling it its original name of simply "T. peruvianus."

When I got the plant it was simply called "T. peruvianus," and because I didn't want to change the species name, but find a way to differentiate it from what was generally called T. peruvianus at the time, I called it the "short spined T. peruvianus." At the time the following sort of plant was the most common one being referred to as T. peruvianus.

Now I've argued quite actively that the plant above isn't T. peruvianus, but rather more along the lines of T. cuzcoensis. Since then plants similar to the one immediately below have been in my estimate properly regarded as T. peruvianus.

So now you can see that this last plant, the proper T. peruvianus, and the one in the first photo, the "short spined T. peruvianus," aren't the same with just a difference in the spines, and it took a bit more thinking for me to figure it all out.
At the same time as the really spiney plant in the second photo was being called T. peruvianus the following plant was consided an accurate representation of T. pachanoi.

Currently though I don't think this plant immediately above, commonly referred to as the "Backeberg clone" or "Predominant cultivar" (both names whose origin resides in K. Trout), is an accurate representation of T. pachanoi as I haven't found it represented at all in the ranges known for T. pachanoi. The plant in the following photos are a good representations of what I believe T. pachanoi to be:
T. pachanoi "Kimnach":

T. pachanoi from Matucana, Peru:

T. pachanoi from Wildflowers of Heaven:

T. pachanoi from South Bay nursery:

From this you can see that T. pachanoi is not the same plant as the so-called "Backeberg clone" in fourth photo, but you can also see that the "proper" T. pachanoi has some natural degree of variation. So in the end I think the plant in the first photo, the so called "short spined T. peruvianus" is nothing other than another variation of T. pachanoi as they are represented in Ecuador and Peru, but since this "short spined" plant is somewhat distinct in its formation, particularly regarding the spine formations, there is probably enough to simply say it is a "clone" and make an attempt to only apply the name to those which are this particular clone. Unfortunately is what we have is a lot of people calling whatever variation of proper Ecuador/Peru T. pachanoi the "short spined T. peruvianus" because they still consider the so-called "Backeberg clone" an accurate representation of T. pachanoi, this when it clearly is not.
I think any plant being called the "short spined T. peruvianus" should....1) be the proper clone, and....2) not be thought of as T. peruvianus at all, but rather as a particular form of the variable T. pachanoi.
I've argued elsewhere that there appears to be a nice intergrade of the quite spineless and relatively non-glaucous T. pachanoi you can find in Ecuador and northern Peru and the long spined very glaucus T. peruvianus of central Peru. I think that mans interests in these plants had carried T. pachanoi south and that it has had ample opportunity to interbreed with central Peru's T. peruvianus to create intergrades. As for these intergrades, well I think we commonly call them T. macrogonus. But since the name T. macrogonus on many points seems invalid (something Trout and I have both agreed up) the most we can do if we want to stick to the names considered acceptatable is try to divy up what degree of spination and degree of glaucusness puts any particular plant either in T. pachanoi or in T. peruvianus. I personally lean more towards maintaining T. peruvianus as being more locallized in central peru and of a particular form while considering T. pachanoi much more variable, from nearly spineless to having spines of some length. Therefore I am more inclined to calling more plants, even if of wide variability, T. pachanoi than T. peruvianus.

Look alikes for the San Pedro cactus (Trichocereus pachanoi)

Be Aware, Thee, for the Trichocereus look-alikes!
This compendium of Trichocereus look-alikes includes many sold at nurseries or online, as well as some rarely seen for sale but which are included nonetheless, in case you see one for sale as a "new, rare, different kind of Trichocereus", most of which have NOT been evaluated for safety or mescaline content.
Click-on or download the photos for better detail. This list will be edited as content as found.

Over thousands of years, the civilizations of the Andes and Chaco regions of South America developed cactus for agricultural, ornamental and medicinal purposes, with various nations holding their own cactus in high esteem for the pilgrims on the road. Many cactus were developed from a common ancestor only a few thousand years ago, so similarities abound, and controversy exists over species classifications.

The defining feature for the San Pedro cactus is in the flowers, which begin as tufts of hair from which sprout stalks which burst open with a flower. The flower is in bloom for only 2 or 3 days. Here's an example from Thee Temple's cactus garden (2013-07), showing a flower about to bloom:


San Pedro Fruit -
(photo shows the final part of the cycle as the red seed pod (fruit) lay open the black seeds to be picked by birds)
San Pedro produces fruit, similar to the red fruit produced by Cereus Peruvianus cactus. It is safe to eat raw, without consequence, and is sweet. San Pedro fruit grows there after the flower is gone, but only if the plant has been pollinated. It is egg shaped, green and bumpy with fine white threads. It will become red colored as the pod ripens. Across the world, San Pedro is grown from clones of a few plants, most of which are not self-fertile. Additionally, many places outside of the Andes and Chaco regions lack the appropriate natural pollinators, including large moths and certain bats.



Trichocereus look-alikes -

Browningia altissima (Gymnocereus Altissimus)


Browningia pilleifera (Gymnanthocereus pilleifer; Gymnanthocereus macracanthus)


Browningia utcubambensis

Browningia hertlingiana
photo originally from [Boga.Ruhr-Uni-Bochum.de] [archive.org]:


Stenocereus (Ritterocereus) Griseus

Heliabravoa (Polaskia) chende

Polaskia chichipe

Seticereus chlorocarpus

Subpilocereus repandus

Stenocereus Griseus

Pachycereus

Myrtillocactus geometrizans

azureocereus spp.

Stetsonia coryne

Borzicactus


Corryocactus brevistylus (Colca Canyon Cactus; Cruz del Condor), alongside some Sancayo fruit of the cactus. (photos from [Cactaceae.be/habitat1.php?taal=en] [archive.today] [archive.org])
 

Pilosocereus

Helianthocereus

Azureocereus

Cereus Peruvianus

Pilosocereus arrabidae (of Brazil)


Pilosocerus quadricostatus (of Brazil)


Cipocereus minensis (of Brazil)

Mescaline extract

Produced with the Trichocereus cacti, such as:
* "San Pedro" (Trichocereus pachanoi)
* "Peruvian Torch" (Trichocereus peruvianus) [link]
* "Bolivian Torch" (Trichocereus bridgesii; Echinopsis lageniformis)
Be Aware, Thee, for the Trichocereus look-alikes, for they may harm thee! [link]
Be Aware, Thee, Mescaline is a psychosis-inducing chemical, though not fatal, and unlawful ingestion is not recommended. The following is provided for medical research purposes only.


"Easy Three-Step Mescaline Citrate"
A relatively benign procedure for non-chemists originally posted 2008-01-13 by "user 04281969" at [http://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/7875294]:
With this tek, I wanted to present a simple, straightforward recipe that one could follow as if he were making cookies. If you want to change it up, you're going to have to do some reading. Look through more teks to know how to calculate the amount of acid you need to add.

Materials needed:
1) Peruvian torch or San Pedro cactus powder
2) Lye (use gloves and ventilation)
3) Xylene (use gloves and ventilation)
4) Glass gallon jug with lid or stopper
5) Glass funnel
6) Glass jars
7) Citric acid
8) Long dropper pipette
9) Glass turkey baster
10) Measuring cup and teaspoon
11) Square Pyrex dish and fan for evaporation


Step 1 - Extraction: (Base / Non-Polar)
Mix 1-cup (300 grams) lye into 3 quarts cold water, stirring constantly. Let cool. Pour into jug.
Add 2/3 cup (100 grams) powdered cactus to the jug. Mix well.
Add ~1 quart xylene to the jug. Shake and roll to mix well.
Mix occasionally over the next 24+ hours as the lye breaks down the cactus.
Allow enough time for separation into layers before proceeding to the next step.


Step 2 - Salt: (Acid / Polar)
Prepare acidic solution by diluting ½ teaspoon (2g) citric acid into ½ cup (120ml) distilled water.
Collect top xylene layer from the jug using the baster, putting the xylene into a new jar.
Add approximately one-fifth of the prepared acidic water to the xylene jar.
Put the lid on the xylene jar and shake it up a few times. Wait a couple minutes to settle.
Collect bottom water layer using a long dropper, putting the water into the evaporation dish.
Return xylene to the cactus solution and mix for another 24 hours.
(Optionally, you can add 1 Tbsp lye to the jug after the third extraction.)
Complete 5 extractions over 5 days to use all of the water.


Step 3 - Evaporation:
Pour liquid into a flat-bottomed glass dish under a fan in a low humidity/mild temp environment. After a few days, scrape the residue from the dish and powder using a razor blade. The powder will continue to dry over the next few days. Makes 3-10 doses depending on potency of cactus and dosage desired.

I put the mescaline-containing water from each extraction into a small jar overnight and allowed the crystals to precipitate out. I then removed the old water, and added clean water to the crystals and swirled it around to get them out of the jar. I then collected the crystals in the collection dish and evaporated.



When the precipitated mescaline citrate crystals are collected and separated from the water (like I did this time in order to get good crystals for the pictures), I am sure the dose will be more standardized. The reason the citrate doses can vary is because if you are quick and sloppy with it, you can go heavy on the citric acid to make sure you get all the mescaline out of the cactus that there is to be had, and evaporate it all, not just the crystals that precipitate out. This will leave you with extraneous citric acid and all the extra alkaloid salts. It will not harm you, but some of that is just added filler that will alter dosage.
Because the theory of crystal formation involves the most concentrated compound crystalizing first, the resulting product from this is fairly pure mescaline citrate. To acieve the same purity of the mescaline salt from the typical technique involving total evaporation of all alkaloids, you would need to dissolve and recrystallize, regardless of the acid used. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recrystallization
BTW, putting the collection jar into the fridge for a couple of hours will really make the crystals start coming out like snowflakes. Here's a picture.

And yes, the picture in the previous post was the pile that came from 100g. There's more alkaloid-rich water that the crystals came out of that I haven't evaporated yet, but that won't look as good I'm sure.
Also worth mention is the fact that the collected crystals dry much more quickly than the whole acid water/mescaline & alkaloid mix. There's no waiting 2-3 days as with evaporating the entire solution. When the water is gone, it is completely dry. And, no thick syrup involved (as can be the case if the acid level is too high).



Words of caution
Any time you open a can of xylol, it's going to stink.
Do it all outside if possible.
And don't underestimate the lye fumes, either. It's best to mix that stuff into quart jars and wait until they cool. (Or wait 3X if you only have one quart jar to mix the lye and water in. You could do it in the jug, but it can actually damage the glass and make it brittle.)


¿Questions? and Answers:
¿Aren't mescaline sulfate and hydrochloride both much more potent than citrat?
Answer: Since citric acid is food safe, this is the safest recipe to release to the public. I bet you could choke down another 50 milligrams. I just feel it's safest for people to make at home by themselves. No chlorine fumes, no sulfuric acid burns, etc.

¿For the salting step, it would probably be easier to freeze that water layer, then pour off the solvent wouldn't it?
Answer: I suppose, but with long (9") pipetes, you can get it done in 5 minutes instead of 5 hours. BTW, just because citrate is a larger molecule, don't think you will end up with less mescaline. You'll just get more product to work with.

¿About how much cactus would be 100g?
Answer: 100 grams is a healthy 2/3 cup.

¿Can evaporation be done indoors?
Answer: Yes you can evaporate indoors, it stinks though.

¿What is your recommended dosage?
Threshold - 124 mg
Light 124 - 248 mg
Common 248 - 372 mg
Strong 372 - 620 mg
Heavy 620 - 868 mg


"Mescaline Dosage"
compiled by Erowid [http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/mescaline/mescaline_dose.shtml]:
Every individual reacts differently to every chemical. Know your Body - Know your Mind - Know your Substance - Know your Source. Erowid's dosage information is a summary of data gathered from users, research, and other resources and should not be construed as recommendations. Individuals can respond differently to the same dosage. What is safe for one can be deadly for another.

Oral Mescaline HCl Dosages
Threshold 100 mg
Light 100 - 200 mg
Common 200 - 300 mg
Strong 300 - 500 mg
Heavy 500 - 700 mg

Onset : 45 - 60 minutes
Peak : T + 4 hours
Duration : 4 - 8 hours
Normal After Effects : 2 - 4 hours

FORMS of MESCALINE :
If an acid extraction is performed on mescaline containing plant material, different forms of mescaline are produced, depending on the acid used. If hydrochloric acid is used the result is mescaline hydrochloride. If sulphuric acid is used, the result is mescaline sulfate. If citric acid is used, the result is mescaline citrate. And if acetic acid (vinegar) is used, the result is mescaline acetate. Each of these forms has a different molecular weight and therefore dosage...as well as having a different level of solubility in water (the more soluble it is in water, the more mescaline will be extracted from the plant material in an aqueous extraction).

The two most commonly produced synthetic forms of mescaline are mescaline hydrochloride and mescaline sulfate which have very similar dosages.
Mescaline sulfate is 11% heavier than mescaline hydrochloride, meaning it takes 11% more mescaline sulfate by weight to get the same effects as a certain amount of mescaline hydrochloride.
178 mg mescaline HCl = 200 mg mescaline sulfate.

If an acid--base--solvent extraction is done on the plant material the result is freebase mescaline. Freebase mescaline is 15% lighter than mescaline hydrochloride (and 25% lighter than mescaline sulfate), thereby requiring 15% less material by weight for the same dose as mescaline hydrochloride.
However, most (if not all) extractions end with the freebase being turned into a salt. If the extracted mescaline is not converted to a salt and the solvent is evaporated, it can readily form a salt with the carbon dioxide in the air, forming Mescaline carbonate (molecular weight unknown?).

Mescaline is found in many types of cacti, most prominently in peyote (lophophora williamsii), San Pedro (trichocerus pachanoi) and the Peruvian Torch (trichocerus peruvianus). The mescaline content of the various mescaline containing cacti varies greatly between individual samples as well as between species. Following is an estimate of the mescaline contents of these three species.
Although there has long been a myth that Trichocerus peruvianus is "10 times" stronger than T. pachanoi, there is not much data to support this view. Many reports indicate that peruvianus may be somewhat stronger than pachanoi, but this is hotly disputed among cactus experts. See A Look at the Mescaline Content of T. peruvianus and T. pachanoi [http://www.erowid.org/plants/cacti/cacti_article1.shtml].
Lophophora williamsii - 300 mg / 27 g dried material
Trichocerus peruvianus - 300 mg / 15 to 100 grams dried material (.3% - 2.0%)
Trichocerus pachanoi - 300 mg / 15 to 100 grams dried material (.3% - 2.0%)


"Calculating Mescaline Dosages"
by Bo [http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/mescaline/mescaline_chemistry1.shtml]
Let's start with the basics:

mescaline (freebase) = C11H17NO3.
C 11 * 12.011
H 17 * 1.008
N 1 * 14.007
O 3 * 15.999
-------
total 211.261 grams per mol mesc

This would be mescaline as the freebase; an oil at STP.
As the stable, solid forms, there are two common ones: the hydrochloride (HCl) salt and the sulfate (H2SO4) salt. It possible that someone has made, say, mescaline acetate, but it's not something I've ever seen. They're on their own.
With the hydrochloride, a single mescaline molecule is paired with one HCl molecule to form the salt.
so, some more masses:

Mescaline Hydrochloride:
mesc 1 * 211.261
H 1 * 1.008
Cl 1 * 35.453
-------
247.722 grams per mole mesc.HCl

Sulfate: In the sulfate, there are two mescalines per H2SO4. To complicate things slightly, the sulfate exists as the dihydrate, meaning there are also two H20s per unit cell. You end up with: (mesc)2.H2SO4.(H2O)2

mesc 2 * 211.261
H 6 * 1.008
S 1 * 32.068
O 6 * 15.999
-------
556.632 grams per mole of (mesc)2.H2SO4.(H2O)2

But you want that in terms of one, not two, mesc molecules. So divide by two:
278.316 grams per mole mesc sulfate [mesc.(H2SO4)1/2.H2O]

Conversion factors based on the above, for equivalent amounts of mescaline:
100 mg mesc sulfate = 89.0 mg mesc hydrochloride = 75.9 mg mesc freebase

So, with the two salt forms, there's only about an 11% difference. If someone gets confused between one and the other, the mix-up is not going to cause major havoc.

"How to use the energy of a holiday in your magical workings"

2013-07-09 posted at [http://www.magicalexperiments.com/how-to-use-the-energy-of-a-holiday-in-your-magical-workings]:
I always find holidays to be interesting, not only for the dynamics of human behavior that come forth, but also for the presence of the holiday, the energy that courses through it and builds to a quiet but steady hum of tension. The 4th of July is no exception. The tension starts the day before as people get out of work early and start driving to visit family or to buy food or to get fire works. The day of the holiday the tension rises through the day until people celebrate the fourth with firecrackers, with parties, with all the excesses people bring to such matters. And then there is what the day means.
For the 4th of July, it’s a day of creation, the celebration of the birth of the U.S. It’s also a celebration of the concepts of Freedom, liberation, and other assorted values that a person might associate with this holiday. And to me it makes everything that happens a ritual of sorts, not necessarily religious, but holy nonetheless to the people who celebrate it. Typically when we think of holiday magic, we think of magic associated with religious holidays, but I don’t think we should limit ourselves to any given holiday and I also think that if you are doing magic on a given holiday you can tap into the energy of that holiday. Going back to the example of the 4th of July, there is a lot of energy that goes into that holiday, a lot of emotions, a lot of tradition, in a way and so why not tap into that, if it’s something you feel inclined to tap into?
You could tap into the 4th of July for creative or healing magic. Alternately you could also tap into it for more destructive magic. It really depends on what you want to do with it, but the point is that the holiday brings with it something that can be tapped into. Each holiday we celebrate has its own energy, it’s own tension and associations as well. Valentine’s day is a holiday about love and lust, while Christmas is a holiday of both greed and giving. Thanksgiving is a day of thanks and a day of gluttony, while Memorial day is a day of remembrance and honoring the dead. Labor day honors work and people who work, and those are just the major secular holidays. But although those major holidays are secular there is something to be drawn on. So if you want to draw on the energy of a particular holiday look to what the holiday represents, both to yourself, and to people in general. Then plan your ritual for the day of the holiday.
If you were to use the 4th of July, for example, you might time the ritual to begin when the fireworks began, using the sounds of the people and the fireworks going off as part of a ritual accompaniment. With Thanksgiving, you could use both the food preparation and the serving of the meal as part of your ritual. If you want to draw on a holiday, you want to  tap into the energy of the day by integrating the actual rituals of that day into your own rituals. I think that with specific holidays you may want to use specific types of magic. Sex magic would be useful on the 4th and Valentine’s day, while candle magic might be useful on Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Memorial day.
Think about what practical magic techniques you might use for a given day and ask yourself if those techniques are in character with the holiday. That can help you determine if what you’ll do will help you draw on the energy of the holiday or if it’ll distract from the energy of the holiday. After all if you want to draw on the energy of a holiday then you want to do activities that complement the holiday.

Sephiroth's allegory for a life's journey

My heart feels this is where ego

My love says this is where ego. Consciousness first rather than the other way around.