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So, We Found Out That Joe Rogan Is Smoking Marijuana Again

It was always meant to end. When Joe Rogan and three of his comedy buddies decided to go sober for the entire month of October—meaning no alcohol and no marijuana—they did so knowing November would always come.

Rogan, though, is a known cannabis activist and enthusiast, often touting its social and cognitive benefits to users. His time away from marijuana has caused Rogan to become more introspective about its place within his life and others. He went as far to admit he’d developed a mild dependency on the drug.

“I think there are real creative benefits to marijuana,” he said on episode #1032 with guest Colin Moriarty. “There’s states I think you achieve when you smoke pot that are unattainable without pot. I think pot makes me more introspective, it makes me nicer, it makes me calmer, it makes me have a better sense and understanding of the importance and value of community, it makes me more sensitive to the things I’m saying. I don’t think pot’s bad.”

But on the most recent episode of the podcast, featuring Owen Benjamin, Rogan finally indulged in everything he’d been denying himself. He cracked open a bottle of William Wolf bourbon and “then sparked up a doob,” as he said.

“It feels good, I missed it,” Rogan said after his first hits. “I tell you what, though, I enjoyed being sober. Not that I needed to be sober, not like I was a junkie with a problem. But it’s nice to take a reset. I’m going to do it every year. I’m going to do sober October every year. You heard it here first.

Ahead of his return to consuming marijuana, Rogan did admit to being “a little nervous.” He worried the weed might hit him like a “freight train” with his tolerance being down.

But he seemed fine on the podcast. Nothing dramatic happened. Instead Rogan returned to his normal, marijuana-consuming self.

“It’s always good to take time away from everything, just to get a better baseline,” he emphasized on a podcast.”

Even though marijuana is now at an all-time approval rating in the country, Rogan believes we maintain a naïve cultural understanding of the plant. As mentioned, his time away caused him to examine the place cannabis has in our society and Rogan still believes we have a ways to go.

“We have a very infantile approach to what marijuana is because of all the prohibition bullshit that people went through from the 1930s on,” Rogan said. “There’s this weird propaganda that marijuana is the devil’s weed and it’s terrible for you. When there’s a lot of cultural and societal benefits to achieving those states of mind. They really make people nicer. It calms you down.”

For Our Veterans: How Cannabinoids Soothe PTSD Symptoms

More than five million people are suffering from some form of PTSD. Symptoms vary and can include depression, severe anxiety, panic attacks, flashbacks, nightmares and more.

Research is pointing to cannabis as a strong weapon in the treatment of PTSD. A study published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, showed that administering synthetic or man-made cannabinoids (compounds of cannabis) to rats that suffered traumatic events, prevented the behavioral and physiological symptoms of PTSD. These compounds signaled the part of the brain most associated with the collection of traumatic memories and events.

The experiment involved introducing rats to trauma, by the means of electric shock. After the shock, some of the rats were given the synthetic cannabinoid compound while others remained untouched to compare the effects.

Days following the exposure (or lack thereof) to the cannabinoids, the rats were exposed to reminders of their trauma; the rats were reminded that they were electrically shocked. Lastly, the rats experience an extinction procedure that mirrors an exposure therapy, which is supposed to help cope with post-trauma symptoms.

Once the experiment concluded, researches found that the rats exposed to the synthetic cannabinoids did not show PTSD symptoms after they were exposed to the trauma reminders. And as you can guess, the rats that did not receive the synthetic cannabinoids experienced PTSD symptoms including: changes in pain sensitivity, heightened startle response and slower brain activity.

The treated rats were also better off than a group of rats that suffered trauma, but were given the SSRI antidepressant sertaline (Zoloft), which has been used to treat PTSD. In other words, the compounds found in marijuana were still the more promising treatment than what’s currently available in the market.

Researches of this study concluded that the brain’s response to trauma essentially changes when administered cannabinoids-the good kind of change that those suffering from PTSD can seriously benefit from.

5 Tips That Will Keep Phone Sex Hot And Not Weird

Our smartphones and the ease of texting have made us all hate phone calls, not really seeing the point in them or why they’re worth the hassle. Why should we talk on the phone if we can text? Texting gives you the chance to do other things, unlike talking on the phone, where you actually have to pay attention to what people are saying and have a full conversation.

While phone calls are a little annoying, they can also be fun. It’s nice to let go of your phone and to pay attention to what’s in front of you, or you know, over the phone line. Especially when it comes to a significant others and with long distance relationships. Let’s help you make the best out of phone sex with these 5 tips that’ll turn you into a phone sex master:

Do It With Someone You Trust

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If you’re having phone sex with someone you should at least trust them. Talk to them and explain why you want to have phone sex instead of sexting. No matter your situation with your partner, whether you live with them or they live thousands of miles away, it’ll help build trust between the two of you.

Discuss Your Fantasies

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Bride.com reports that talking about your fantasies with your partner can help you both figure out what you guys are into. Describing a fantasy over the phone relieves some of the pressure you’d feel if you were to do it face to face.

Be Descriptive

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Pay attention to the details and try to engage with your imagination as much as you can. You’re talking over the phone, so there’s no need to be that realistic. Take advantage of this and try to get your partner to be as responsive as possible.

Don’t Freak Out If It’s Awkward

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The first time you do it, it’ll probably be awkward, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. Laugh and try to get back on track whenever you’re feeling stuck.

Practice Makes Perfect

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If you didn’t think that the phone sex was very sexy and all you ended up doing was giggling uncontrollably, that’s okay. Keep trying and you might find yourself surprised with your partner’s (and your own) creativity.

Cypress Hill Wants Credit For Normalizing Marijuana To Mainstream

You should already know Cypress Hill’s long-standing connection to marijuana. The hip hop collective hasn’t exactly tried to hide its love of cannabis. Cypress Hill’s B Real has also ventured into the cannabis industry himself, opening his medical marijuana dispensary Dr. Greenthumb and hosting a marijuana talk show web series show called The Smokebox.

Now one member of the group claims that Cypress Hill had a major influence in moving marijuana into the mainstream. That would be Sen Dog, who spoke with the Washington Times in a recent interview to promote his tour.

“I like to think that Cypress Hill had something to do with changing that culture and that mentality,” Sen Dog told The Washington Times. “Not just us, but Cheech and Chong as well as other guys who have taken up the cause.”

He states the group helped normalize marijuana for audiences. To Cypress Hill, marijuana is “just a little herb,” and should be treated and classified that way. Otherwise you’re probably insane in the membrane.

“I’m glad to see all these changes going on in America as far as people educating themselves on the whole cannabis issue because it’s about time,” Sen Dog said. “They were treating it like a hard-core narcotic. People are … turning around laws that have been in place for decades.”

Formerly Of Blink-182, Tom DeLonge To Build A Spaceship And Discover Aliens

Tom Delonge cares more about aliens than he does music. It led him to quit Blink-182, the band he helped form, and instead focus on aliens and conspiracy theories. For his efforts he’s been rewarded. February 2017 he was named the UFO Researcher of the Year.

But DeLonge has higher aspirations through his organization To The Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences. Their goal, essentially: To crowdfund building a spaceship. The organization has raised nearly $2,500,000.

“Hello, my name is Tom DeLonge from the Blink-182. I have brought together an elite team from CIA, DOD and the FMR Director of Advanced Programs at Lockheed Martin’s SkunkWorks,” DeLonge wrote in a Facebook post announcing the project. “We are aiming to build this ElectroMagnetic Vehicle to Travel instantaneously through Space, Air and Water by engineering the fabric of Space-Time.” Our company is called To The Stars… and you can INVEST in our plan to revolutionize the world with technology that can change life as we know it.”

We still aren’t entirely sure what that means, though. Is DeLonge’s team going the Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos route and building their own spaceships? Or will To The Stars work with government agencies to produce better space fleet?

DeLonge, who as president and CEO of To The Stars, had this to say in an additional statement.

Via Stereogum:

The public interest in the outer edges of science and the understanding of phenomena has always been suffocated by mainstream ideology and bureaucratic constraint. We believe there are discoveries within our reach that will revolutionize the human experience, but they can only be accomplished through the unrestricted support of breakthrough research and innovation.

We’re not exactly convinced but we’re in. Sign us up, Tom.

*Update March 19, 2018: This past week To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science presented the first official video evidence released by the US government designated as credible that unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) are real.

The Best Memes & Internet Reactions To Stranger Things 2

“Stranger Things 2” had an awesome second season, or sequel, as the show runners have referred to it. It managed to keep all the great things that made it great during it’s first run – the ’80s, Eleven, the cute kids, the ’80s – while also adding some depth to the narrative, giving great story lines to less important characters such as Dustin, Lucas & Steve. This all resulted in a more adult, larger, and scarier season, that had it’s fair share of humor, heartbreak, and drama. 

No one experienced this more than the internet, who binged 9 hours of programming over the course of a weekend (who are we kidding, it was only a day). We can all agree that the true winner here were, as always, the memes. We’ve sorted out the best internet reactions out there and put them into helpful categories so you can peruse as you like. If you haven’t caught up with the show, leave!!! There are a lot of spoilers ahead!

Binging The Show Like An Animal

Steve Being The Absolute Best

The Many, Many Love Triangles 

Hopper Being Cute & Dumb

Last But Not Least… Bob (& Mews)

Can Marijuana Help With The Symptoms Of Lyme Disease?

The CDC estimates that every year some 300,000 may be exposed to Lyme disease, the handiwork of the Borrelia burgdoferi spirochete (which is more detail than necessary, but Borrelia burgdoferi spirochete is so cool I just had to namedrop it).

Lyme is transmitted by ticks. The telltale sign is a bull’e-eye-shaped rash that spreads from the infected bite. If that’s missed—which is often the cas>e—later symptoms include flu-like symptoms, swollen joints, weakness, and confusion. Partial, and mercifully temporary, facial paralysis (Bell’s palsy) can sometimes occur.

A course of antibiotics should take care of old B. burgoferi, so end of story. Nothing to see here, and nothing for a cannabis-centered publicatin>on to take notice of.

Except, in a number of patients, Lyme disease symptoms linger far longer than they ought to—for years even. The Centers for Disease Control call this condition post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome<!–a>. Most of us don’t have that much air in our lungs, so we call it chronic Lyme.

Since you can’t take antibiotics forever, this is where cannabis treatment enters the story. Weed, as we all know by now, can sooth inflammation; promote relaxation and sleep, which can fortify against chronic weakness; and combat the depression that often accompanies an ongoing illness. It might even kill B. burgoferi on contact.

At least, this is what is claimed by those who endorse medical cannabis as a chronic Lyme treatment. On the other hand, there is absolutely no clinical evidence of its effectiveness against Lyme. And there is absolutely no urgency to change this situation, because in the opinion of many physicians, chronic Lyme a name without a disease to go with it.

Or, to put it another way, the symptoms of Lyme correspond closely with those of a more general malady called “life.” Dr. Paul Lantos, the most visible debunker of chronic Lyme .pdf”>observes that up to 20 percent of the general population experiences chronic pain, and only about half of us live pain free. Among the tired and achey, depression is also common. Put those all together, and—voilà—you’ve met the criteria for chronic Lyme.

If that chain of logic is too squishy for you, here are a couple of numbers: 50 to 88. According to Lanto’s review of 1902 cases, that’s the percentage of people referred for chronic Lyme who never even had Lyme disease in the first place.

Lest you think he’s some kind of bully who is dismissing real suffering, Lantos accepts the designation post-Lyme disease syndrome. However, he believes that it is “more properly thought of as a means of categorizing this patient cohort, rather than describing a clinical diagnosis.” In other words, something is afflicting these people—it’s just not Lyme disease.

<p>What that something is, is the question at hand. Then we can think about cannabis.

 

The whole chronic Lyme debate is as depressingly acrimonious and unedifying as the anti-vax controversy. But if you want to dive in, here are some of links:

<strongPro:</strong

Con:

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Inside Dudeism, The Religion Inspired By ‘The Big Lebowski’

Dudeism is a religion inspired on Jeff Bridges’ character, The Dude, from The Big Lebowski. Have you seen the movie? The Dude has become a cultural icon over the years, a sort of Marilyn Monroe for the modern American persona. Even if you haven’t seen the movie, you’ve probably seen Jeff Bridges as The Dude, in all of his flip flop and bathrobe glory.

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Although the movie was a box office flop during it’s release in 1998, by the early 2000’s it had become a cult classic, screening in small theaters in Los Angeles and New York and having Lebowski fests, where dozens of Dudes would gather together to play bowling, smoke weed, drink White Russians and discuss and dissect the movie. The Big Lebowski is as quotable as a movie can possibly be, and even with all it’s silliness and weirdness, you can’t help but find some truth and meaning into The Dude’s lifestyle and creed.

Dudeism, also known as The Church of The Latter Day Dude, was officially founded in 2005, and has ordained over 220,000 “Dudeist Priests” from all over the world through their website, which is surprisingly well built and legit. Dudeism has a ‘Take It Easy’ Manifesto and it’s pick of the Great Dudes In History, which includes Snoopy, Quincy Jones, and Jennifer Lawrence.

While Dudeism in its official form has been organized as a religion only recently, it has existed down through the ages in one form or another. Probably the earliest form of Dudeism was the original form of Chinese Taoism, before it went all weird with magic tricks and body fluids. The originator of Taoism, Lao Tzu, basically said “smoke ’em if you got ’em” and “mellow out, man” although he said this in ancient Chinese so something may have been lost in the translation.”

Dudeism has appeared on ABC segments, on several commercials, and on a documentary that’s still in the making. While it may sound very silly, these people consider that Dudeism is not a joke but a lifestyle, where what matters is the here and now, and your attitude towards life. If you’re still unconvinced, here are some of The Dude’s greatest lines and moments. You can check out their website here.

So, Scientists Are Building An Artificial Intelligence ‘God’

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The Singularity is a term people use to infuse terror whenever they’re talking about the future of technology. It’s a scary word, because it talks about the moment – impending or not – when computers will finally be smarter than humans, rendering us irrelevant and unnecessary, and ultimately, transforming the way our world works. Singularity is the stuff of science fiction, and it’s scary because every year it feels more plausible.

Anthony Levandowsky doesn’t seem to share our fear of the technological singularity. A multimillionaire and genius from Silicon Valley, Levandowsky has worked for Google and has developed brilliant technological endeavors, including a self driving truck he sold to Uber for a lot of money. Among his creations, he’s also found time to develop a religion called the Way of the Future. Wired reports that the purpose of this religion is to “develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on artificial intelligence”. Supposedly, this religion will also look for ways of improving society through the understanding and worship of the Godhead.

While some experts like Ray Kurzweil claim that the Singularity won’t be the end of us, instead opening up opportunities for humanity, others scientists like Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking claim the opposite. 

Via Vanity Fair:

With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon. You know all those stories where there’s the guy with the pentagram and the holy water and he’s like, yeah, he’s sure he can control the demon? Doesn’t work out.”

Levandowsky hasn’t talked openly about his plans with Way of the Future, but his proposal of wanting to create, revere, and understand a Godhead suggest that he either doesn’t know what he’s getting into or he really does. Sadly, no matter how informed we are, this is a topic that will mostly be determined by the experts and by those who are involved in the industry. All of us, non-tech people, will be left looking on from the sidelines, waiting to see what happens.

Amazon Key Wants To Enable Deliveries & Delivery People Into Your Home

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Amazon has been investing a lot of their time and resources into the development of in home appliances that improve your lifestyle and security. Their next endeavor, Amazon Key, is looking to simplify package deliveries by giving delivery men the ability to deliver packages without the need of a signature or without having to leave purchases unassisted at doorsteps. 

Amazon Key consists of an app, a camera, and a lock. Once you buy their service you’ll allow the company to install a new set of locks and a camera on your doorstep, which you’ll be able to monitor through your app. With this service, you’ll enable Amazon employees to drop off packages inside your home without needing a signature. On November 8, the service will be launched in 37 cities within the U.S.

The service will be provided for Prime members exclusively and it’ll cost 250 dollars for initial installation. Once Amazon Key is installed, you’ll receive a notification when your package is about to be delivered, establishing a four hour window where you’ll Amazon Cloud Cam will be active and ready to record the drop off. When the delivery man arrives, your door will unlock and you’ll be able to watch the delivery in real time or to watch the recording afterwards.

Amazon has tried to make their service as safe as possible by establishing a secure and encrypted lock system for your doorstep. The company also claims that the footage captured by the camera only lasts for 24 hours and that it can only be viewed by you. The main downside of the service – and it’s a big one – is the fact that you’ll be letting a stranger into your home. Even if employees are forced to get thorough background checks, does the company deserve so much of your trust? 

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