A new study published online today in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry shows that vintage absinthe of the pre-ban era did not, as has often been speculated, contain high levels of the neurotoxin thujone. The actual thujone levels in the 13 vintage absinthes tested were, on average, on a par with modern brands. Most fell under the current EU limit of 35mg/l, and some even fell within the highly restrictive US limits of 10ppm.... As Nathan-Maister says: "In other words, the entire historical demonization of absinthe is based on a false premise ' that it is a thujone-rich drink. It isn't."

Oh. You mean a drug was demonized by society for essentially no good reason? How shocking and novel.

Just for fun: Bass OFF! Best bass jam, smooth or skankin'?

Sean Andrews:

Jaco Pastorius

Oh yeah, Indica Trichome Project -- best band name EVER.

Space, time and language either have no meaning or become ridiculously distorted. It can seem as if you are travelling through time or seeing into the future, as if you are living multiple lives or not living at all. And you feel something coming, something huge with you at the centre, because there is a massive messiah complex in there as well.

The article portrays just as graphically the sordid depths to which someone with such an obsession can sink.

One evening, about a year ago, when I was supposed to be watching a friend's band play at our local, I found myself naked, writhing on my kitchen floor, racked with abdominal cramps and self-loathing, and praying.

Pete Doherty's friends have been selling his possessions while he is in prison.

The Babyshambles rocker's closest pals have reportedly sold items - including paintings he did with his own blood - to fans in pubs around North London.

A source revealed to Britain's The Sun newspaper: "Pete's mates, people he really trusts, have been flogging some stuff to get some cash - including some of the horrible paintings he did using his own blood."

"The person selling those, one of his closest friends, was begging for no one to tell Pete. Then the next day he was back trying to sell something else."

New drug research suggests that teens may get addicted and relapse more easily than adults because developing brains are more powerfully motivated by drug-related cues. This conclusion has been reached by researchers who found that adolescent rats given cocaine -- a powerfully addicting stimulant -- were more likely than adults to prefer the place where they got it. That learned association endured: Even after experimenters extinguished the drug-linked preference, a small reinstating dose of cocaine appeared to rekindle that preference but only in the adolescent rats.

1.) Willy Wonka motion picture soundtrack - 'Oompa Loompa'
2.) Sublime - 'Boss DJ' (live acoustic)
+ Pete Namlook (as Air) - 'Trip #10'
3.) Jungle Brotehrs featuring The Black Eyed Peas, Sense Live & Alex G - 'Down with the JBeez'
+ Ming & FS - 'Electro Space Modulator'
4.) Pete Rock & CL Smooth - 'Straighten It Out'
+ Prefuse 73 featuring Rec Center - 'Living Life'
5.) The Roots - '? vs. Rahzel'
6.) KRS-ONE - 'Uh Oh'
7.) Krome & Time - 'The Slammer'
+ Aurora - 'Voice of Buddha'
8.) Outkast - 'B.O.B.'
9.) Crystal - 'Let it Roll'
10.) The Police - 'Walking on the Moon' (DNB bootleg)
11.) Omicron - 'Tranquility Base'
+ Mixmaster Mike & DJ Disk (live)
12.) Omicron - 'Caterpillar to Butterfly'
+ Fingers Inc. - 'Can You Feel It?'
13.) Paul Oakenfold vs. Afrika Bambaataa & Soul Sonic Force' - 'Planet Rock' (Swordfish mix)
+ Plastikman - 'Helikopter'
14.) ???????????????? (DO YOU KNOW THE NAME OF THIS TRACK????)
15.) Grooveyard - 'Watch Me Now'
16.) Cevin Fisher - 'Freaks Come Out'
17.) Afrika Bambaataa & Soul Sonic Force - 'Looking for the Perfect Beat'
(Brutal Bill extended mix) + Polygon Window (Aphex Twin) - 'Quoth'
18.) iio - 'Rapture'
19.) Banco De Gaia - 'Eagle' (Small Steppa mix)
+ Afrika Bambaataa speaks
20.) Art of Noise - 'Something Always Happens' (Doc Scott mix)
+ Guru - 'Living in This World'
21.) Woob - 'Emperer'
+ Cyborgasm - 'Deep Inside Your Body Erotic'
22.) Woob - 'Amoeba'
...Lp3 signing out.

Montreal: Allan Memorial Institute, McGill University, still in operation since opening in 1940. MKULTRA experimental centre. Mass grave of children killed there north of building, on southern slopes of Mount Royal behind stone wall.

Although some of the horrors of this program are already well-known, these revelations indicate that there is much, much more that remains classified: this information has come to light only through archaeological investigation, and it will be interesting to see whether the First Nations are successful in their quest for an independent inquiry into North America's genocidal (recent) past.

John Coates, a research fellow in neuroscience and finance, and Joe Herbert, a professor of neuroscience, sampled the saliva of 17 traders on a stock trading floor in London two times a day for eight days. They matched the men’s levels of testosterone and cortisol with the amounts of money the men lost or won on the markets. Men with elevated levels of testosterone, a hormone associated with aggression, made more money. When the markets were more volatile, the men showed higher levels of cortisol, considered a “stress hormone.”

But, as New Scientist asked, “which is the cause and which is the effect?”

According to the researchers’ analysis, the men who began their workdays with high levels of testosterone did better than those who did not.

Spike TV was given exclusive access to follow a group of Special Agents and Task Force Officers in the DEA Detroit division as they risk their lives daily in the ongoing battle against illegal drugs. The series follows Special Agents as they work cases ranging from street level dealers all the way up to international drug traffickers. Get a first-hand look at what it is like for Special Agents to go out on undercover missions and pose as drug dealers and be there when the DEA busts down doors as Special Agents execute drug raids that put their lives directly in the line of fire. The series also takes a look at the complex relationship that Special Agents have with informants, revealing the strange kinship they share with these criminals who see themselves not as arch enemies, but rather as opponents in "the game" of the illegal drug trade.

Here's Savage's reaction to seeing ads on the street for the show:

Your front row seat to the most dangerous job on the street? Try your front row seat to the most the most unnecessary job on the street. Want to protect these saintly DEA agents from harm? Legalize drugs, tax the shit out of ‘em, and reassign these DEA agents to the jaywalking beat.... Here’s hoping that Spike will have the guts to show the police blowing the head off a year-old baby if their camera crews should happen to capture that on video.

Of course, sadly, the Spike TV demographic seems unlikely to care too much. Comments on the Spike promo site for the show (there are three, to be fair) are all fairly enthusiastic. (Apparently "Woody" is a particular fan favorite.)

Meanwhile, with Showtime into season three of Weeds, and AMC's strike-shortened first season of Breaking Bad in reruns, the nascent genre of "drug war TV" seems to be making in roads. The complex portrayal in The Wire has garnered kudos; documentaries like HBO's Addiction Project push the human side of the story even more into the spotlight. With the History Channel foisting A Psychedelic Odyssey on the world, it seems like an increasing amount of nuance is emerging in popular culture's depictions of various aspects of the situation. So in a sense, it seems kind of inevitable that someone eventually decided to produce a "cops and robbers" show about the DEA. They're major players; they're a part of the story.

From Amazon jungles to the American Plains, British mental wards, Swiss labs, New York mansions and Grateful Dead shows, the history of hallucinogenic drugs is as fantastic as the visions the drugs produce. Wade Davis, is a modern-day anthropologist, author ("The Serpent and the Rainbow") and protege of one of psychedelia's most intrepid forefathers -- Richard Evans Schultes. Davis traces Schultes' life's work as one of the greatest botanist-explorers of the 20th century and reveals an illustrated history of the world's most mind-altering plants and substances in: PEYOTE TO LSD: A PSYCHEDELIC ODYSSEY, premiering Sunday, April 20, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on The History Channel