Alexandro Garcia Lands Art Saucers on 3rd Eyes

Guerror del arco iris, 1990 

Uruguayan Alexandro Garcia saw something in the sky that changed him permanently. Attempting to describe his UFO experience impelled Garcia to develop his natural gift for drawing and painting. With no formal training, he built his chaotic style upon piece after piece etched with common pens, pencils, and on any available paper, such as the back of an almanac. With time he began to elaborate his style, bringing forth eye-poping colorscapes, convoluted geometries, and visions of psychedelic Other-worlds. His collections are considered in the vanguard of so-called "outsider art" [whatever, that label is hegemonic] 

[Via Synaptic Stimuli, this flickr photostream, and the Christian Berst Galerie d'Art]. 

[Click each for full effect] 

En Algun Lugar, 2008

Energias, 2008

Armonia Estelar, 2009

70s Thai Orchestra [Maybe Not from the 70s, Maybe Not from Thailand]

Psychedelic, country jam-band style molam (or mor lam; a traditional genre of Lao song, literally meaning "expert song" or "expert singer"). Nothing more is known for certain about the album: who recorded it, how many performers there were, whether it was for profit or private use. It's a bit of a mystery. It might actually be a record called Siamese Temple Ball, but there's debate and general confusion whether or not this is true. Personally I hope it is, because the liner notes of that record have this to say for itself: 

Flight comes to Thailand in the Year of the Rat. Siamese Temple Ball provide the lilting soundtrack for a chemical journey. Schoolgirls dance bashfully for the expectant throng. Life continues at a comparatively slow pace away from the rigours of fierce sun-light. 

[which was then followed by the label's description]

In the tradition of Sun City Girls, Ya Ho Wha 13, The Spacious Mind, Taj Mahal Travellers, Mu, Word of Life, Group 1850, and Ghost, Siamese Temple Ball give maximum pleasure for thirsty brains. [label source]

Yeah, that describes 70s Thai Orchestra pretty well. Get into the complex interchange of the phin pya, the electrified khene, and some wicked-ass thumping percussion (haha, hyphens). It's a big party that took place who knows how many years ago. I'd recommend cranking it and inviting a few friends over to groove the hell out.

70s Thai Orchestra

Portugal Leadin' the Way!

An interesting, if imperfect, example of how drug policy could look around here, considering that the U.S. is home to 5% of the world and 25% of its prisoners. 

Infographic via the honorable and ever-vigilant Narco Polo.

Comes complete with the research [Greenwald (2009)]

An article in Time, good for facts like "Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used Marijuana."

Portugal's success story in Scientific American, good for all pop sci reporting.

an Official report from the Beckley Foundation (the most carefully weighed argument I've read so far)

 a RAND Europe paper written in 2002 discussing the transition to decriminalization.

And of course, the Wiki

5 Science Experiments with Your Own Brain

Offered with a rather loose interpretation of "experiment", really this is more of a rainy Saturday activity when you're stuck inside with your mind (and out of crafting supplies). The one dotingly called The Ganzfeld Procedure is a real doozy. I'm a fan of the artist's rendering of the resulting hallucinations and the Purkinje lights. Seems somehow faithful.

Via the Boston Globe of all places.

Mindstorm: Schizophrenic Episode Simulation

There is a more involved version of this same video that incorporates 3D glasses and simulated olfactory hallucinations. All the same the video does a good job of conveying the experience of the positive symptoms (i.e. ones that are 'added', phenomena that are present but should not be) of schizophrenia. From the website:

Hallucinations are some of the most flagrant and disruptive symptoms that people with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders can experience. Approximately 70% of people with schizophrenia experience auditory hallucinations (e.g., hearing voices) and 25% experience visual illusions or distortions.

Related:
-Mindstorm's Homepage
-NIMH overview of Schizophrenia
-Virtual Hallucinating Device Drives Police Insane for a Day

Oliver Sacks on Charles Bonnet Syndrome

"Charles Bonnet said, 250 years ago -- he wondered how, thinking of these hallucinations, how, as he put it, the theater of the mind could be generated by the machinery of the brain. Now, 250 years later, I think we're beginning to glimpse how this is done."

Watch the TED talk right here:



More info on the syndrome
More on Oliver Sacks