Archive for April, 2008

Albert Hofmann, Inventor of LSD - Dead at 102

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

[UPDATE] - It has been confirmed. The email from Rick Doblin (head of MAPS) has been published here. In addition, Erowid has updated their site here. Here’s the contents of the message from Mr. Doblin:

“Albert died at home at 9 AM Basel time from a myocardial infarction, quick and relatively painless. Two caretakers were there with him at the time. The only people who were told were people from Burg, the village where he lived, and Peter and others were surprised the word of his death had gotten out so quickly. It’s the age of the internet…

Albert had been increasingly thinking of death these last few months. He had stopped leaving his home, where he said he could feel the spirit of Anita, his wife who died December 20, 2007. He didn’t come to the World Psychedelic Forum a month ago, but did entertain some visitors at his home. We spoke on the phone the day after the Basel conference and he was happy and fulfilled. He’d seen the renewal of LSD psychotherapy research with his own eyes, as had Anita. I said that I looked forward to discussing the results of the study with him in about a year and a half and he laughed and said he’d try to help the research however he could, either from this side or “the other side”.”

[UPDATE] - A comment left in an article on boingboing about the subject states that confirmation has been obtained from Rick Doblin, head of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)

According to a post made by a reddit.com contributor named t4inted:

Albert Hofmann, the father of LSD, passed away last night.

Here is the quote:

“This isn’t in the news yet. I’m from Basel and Hoffmann lived close (in Burg). My friends mother helped to look after him, he died last night (of old age probably, he was 102).

You might not belive one source you don’t know and who has no way to back up his claims but it’s true. It will probably go public soon.”

I hope that I get to update this page later and say it was a hoax.

But if it is true, then we can only hope that he is dancing and happy.

Thanks Mr. Hofmann. You changed human kind forever.

Shots Fired in Iran Send Oil Prices Up Just in Time for Stimulus Packages

Friday, April 25th, 2008

News sources are oozing today with the news that a cargo ship contracted by the U.S Military Sealift Command (source) fired shots upon Iranian vessels.

Apparently there were warnings to the boats that they were getting too close. Then, according to Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet, there were bursts of machine-gun fire and rifle warning shots. All of this occurring just 50 miles off the coast. Cmdr. Robertson then added:

“The small boats left the area a short time later. They were able to avoid a serious incident by following the procedures that we use.”

A serious incident? Sheesh. (source).

Because of this incident, there has been a $3 per barrel increase in the price of oil. However, Iranian navy sources in Tehran have denied that the incident even occurred. It’s hard to imagine that an increase in oil prices would miraculously occur after an event which didn’t happen.

Not to worry folks! Nothing to see here! The mainstream media, not always wanting to be the bearers of bad news, decided that the most important news for this week is the stimulus package rebates that (apparently) started going out on Monday.

U.S. CONTRACTED VESSELS ARE FIRING BURSTS OF MACHINE GUN FIRE AT IRANIAN VESSELS

STIMULUS PACKAGE
$$$$$$$$$$$

There goes the neighborhood.