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June 28, 2020

How to Make Millions with Your Ideas

How to Make Millions with Your Ideas by Dan Kennedy is one of the marketing books that one supposedly should have read. I found it somewhat informative, but mostly because I projected my own experience and ideas on what is being said.

It does a good job of presenting different ideas, but a lot of them are of that time (mail order business). That doesn’t mean that some of the lessons or inspiration isn’t valid.

One good nugget from the book is the lesson that starting with an idea, and making that come to fruition, may be harder than selling something (in a specific area) that is already successful somewhere else.

I’ve made some more notes in Obsidian.

June 22, 2020

To Fathom Hell or Soar Angelic

This review was first published on Blossom Analysis.

To Fathom Hell or Soar Angelic is a fictional book about starting a psychedelics research project/revolution, written by Ben Sessa.

Is there hope in psychedelic medicine? Can we dream bigger than just numbing patients (and doctors)? That is the underlying question in this fictional book by Dr. Ben Sessa. After reading the book you may take home some hope, some tingling of the possibility that MDMA, LSD, psilocybin, and other psychedelics could help people become whole again. But if nothing else, you will get to know two, somewhat broken, men (the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) who start a psychedelic revolution.

Review

“To fathom hell or soar angelic just take a pinch of psychedelic” – Humphry Osmond

Using a fictional book to describe a brave new world where psychedelics make a new introduction is an unique way of exploring this possibility. The book hovers between the esoteric and science-driven, between dream catchers and psychotherapy.

The world that is sketched could be best positioned at around the turn of the century, a moment in time where very little research had been done on psychedelics (since shutting it all down at the end of the 60’s). The way it’s revived, in a barn and with plenty of reference to The Psychedelic Experience by Timothy Leary et al., was quite interesting.

The book, and the research mentioned, may best be seen as a proof of concept, an introduction to psychedelic therapy (it features several sessions with MDMA, LSD, psilocybin). The double-blind, placebo-controlled experiments are left for a future moment to transpire.

The critique of the ‘normal’ system is evident in Sessa’s description of current psychotherapy. He paints it as a system in which patients come back for years, don’t solve their underlying problems, and get dosed with SSRIs that don’t do much if anything. Oh, and the protagonist is fantasizing about killing his patients (don’t worry, it doesn’t turn into Hannibal). The alternative, psychedelic (psycho)therapy, is offered as a way out of this loop.

From my perspective, the alternative is presented without enough evidence and rigor (the double-blind studies that are left for the reader to imagine happening sometime in the future). After seeing positive results, the two psychiatrists are heralded as heroes in a presentation for their colleagues. It’s a fantasy that many in the psychedelics field may have, but unfortunately many have been burned too much before to have that level of hope (although it is likely to be justified in this case).

At the end of the book, things get turned up to 11. The second psychiatrist (Joseph Langley) is dying and in a flurry of science-y sounding words, they run tests and strange things happen. One is left to ponder what this means or why it’s related to psychedelic science, but I was none the wiser.

Other Works by Ben Sessa

Ben Sessa has also written The Psychedelics Renaissance, summarizing where we stand with research and sticking much more to facts this time.

June 16, 2020

Ginger Drink

To start the ginger drink (with a ginger bug), and to keep it alive, do this:

  1. Add a cup of water (230g) into a medium-sized jar (1,5x cup of water at least)
  2. Add 3 tsp grated (in food processor) ginger
  3. Add 2 tsp sugar
  4. Stir (multiple times per day)
  5. Repeat 2-4 daily, until it starts to fizz (close jar if needed)
    • Total ginger ~250g, total sugar ~150g

To make a ginger drink:

  1. Juice 30g ginger (or blend really-really well, can juice with garlic press too, but 30g is a lot) into a large jar (2 litres+)
  2. Add 1-2 juiced lemons
  3. Add 1.6 litres of water
  4. Add 150g sugar
  5. Add 15g of ginger bug (restock your ginger bug if needed)
  6. Taste-test!
  7. Let it ferment (1-7 days) until fizzy enough
    • Put it in the fridge when (almost) fizzy enough, so it ferments slower

Inspiration/tips:

June 16, 2020

Hummus

This is the basic recipe, see possible changes below:

  1. Soak 150g raw (dried) chickpeas for at least 8 hours (e.g. overnight)
  2. Cook for at least 30 minutes (replenish water if needed) (add baking soda TO TEST)
  3. When done, drain and run cold water over them
  4. Put them (XXX grams?) into a food processor, together with
  5. 5 tbsp tahini
  6. 2 tsp lemon juice
  7. 10g salt
  8. 1 tsp garlic
  9. 1 tsp chili flakes (Ottolenghi)
  10. Add cold! water to the same height as ingredients
  11. Blend for at least 10 minutes!

Orange version:

  1. Add rass el hanout (and/or kurkuma)

Fresher version:

  1. Bake garlic & paprika (bell peppers) in oven before, with royal amount of olive oil over them (don’t add garlic powder)

Bean alternatives:

  • Mix chick peas with lentils, black beans, white beans, etc
  • (haven’t tested if any of them taste better, but variation doesn’t hurt)

Recipes to try:

  • https://cookieandkate.com/best-hummus-recipe/
    • Hmm, add a little baking soda to water when cooking chickpeas (so they become softer)
    • Hmm, cold water
    • Possibly add a bit of olive oil (good tasting one?)
    • Ground cumin
    • Variation: fresh leafy herbs
    • Variation: kalamata olives
    • Variation: sun-dried tomatoes
    • Garnish: olive oil, sesame seeds, chopped fresh parsley
June 16, 2020

Whole Wheat Bread

1. Mix together in a bowl, make blob:

  • 300 grams – whole wheat oat flour (volkoren tarwemeel)
  • 100 grams – oat flakes (haver vlokken)
  • 40 grams – crushed flaxseeds (buy in bulk packaging)
  • 40 grams – seeds and/or nuts
  • 10 grams – yeast (also buy in bulk)
  • 10 grams – salt (with iodine, not sea salt)
  • 250 grams – lukewarm water
    • dough should be soft but not too sticky, add more whole wheat if needed

2. Let it stand for 20 minutes

3. Spread it out on baking tray (powdered with oat flour), fold two sides together (left-right), then roll from another side (top or bottom)

  • Make about 3 cuts on the top so it can rise without breaking
  • Cover with hand towel

4. Let it stand for 40 minutes

  • Start oven (220 degrees) at 30 minutes into waiting time

5. Put in oven for 30 minutes

  • Let it cool under a hand towel afterward

Variations/tips:

  • Make two blobs (so you can freeze one of them, about 30 min after the end)
  • Add some raisins to the mix (or other dried berries-type things)
  • Make with (partly) white flour for more fluffy (less fibre-rich) bread
June 11, 2020

Manifesting Minds

Originally published on Blossom Analysis

Manifesting Minds is an anthology of articles from the MAPS Bulletin and is edited by Rick Doblin and Brad Burge. It contains the highlights of articles written until 2014, which are grouped per theme. The book does a great job of offering different perspectives, but for specific information one can best search on their website itself.

Quick Take

The essays are divided into eight categories. They are the following:

  1. Arts and Creativity
  2. Coming of Age
  3. Science and Medicine
  4. Therapy
  5. Sexuality
  6. Spirituality
  7. Ecology
  8. Technology

The essays range from articles written about the topic, to interviews and recollections of experiences. One learns about doing 2C-B with your children, doing (macro) doses of psychedelics and their relationship to extreme sports, and the connection between meditation and psychedelics.

Amongst the many authors are the luminaries like Ann Shulgin, Ram Dass, Aldous Huxley, but also lesser-known voices and perspectives like that of one of the MDMA trial participants.

As mentioned in the intro, the book provides some insights, but one could also find these by searching the MAPS Bulletin website.

One quote that stood out to me is the following in the interview with Aldous Huxley, speaking about a psychedelic experience:

“You remember something extraordinary having happened. And to some extent you can relive the experience, particularly the transformation of the outside world. You get hints of this, you see the world in this transfigured way now and then-not to the same pitch of intensity, but something of the kind. It does help you look at the world in a new way. And you come to understand very clearly the way that certain specially gifted people have seen the world. You are actually introduced into the kind of world that Van Goh lived in, or the kind of world that Blake lived in.”

June 4, 2020

Wall of Storms

Wall of Storms by Ken Liu is the second installment in the dandelion trilogy (preceded by The Grace of Kings). It’s another epic story that entices emotions, uncovers plots, and keeps on surprising with the large level of creative innovation.

In this mini-review I wanted to touch upon two aspects. The characters, which are very well done. And the story structure according to the 8 steps of the hero’s journey.

The Characters

The main protagonist is Kuni Garu, you get to know him as a kid in the first book, and experience him as Emperor Ragin (people get new names sometimes, which is somewhat confusing) in the second book.

The great thing is that the characters all have their own personality, shaped by the earlier history in the book. Their strengths also show their weaknesses and most of them are strategic thinkers with great theory of mind. They think about what others think about them (many times over).

This not only includes thinking about what the person directly in front of you thinks, but also what the others there think, or what the general population will think (in the long term).

The book is highly political, but then more in a Game of Thrones-way then in a left/right party politics way. All I can say is that I was really captured by the considerations that all the characters had, the flaws that you got to see, and outcomes of their actions on the world.

Story arch

  1. A character is in a zone of comfort,
    1. Kuni Garu and the gang are in peace, they rule the country
    2. Luan Zyu is a noble without titles
  2. But they want something.
    1. Succession needs to be planned far ahead / want to keep the piece
    2. Wants to do the most interesting thing
  3. They enter an unfamiliar situation,
    1. Intrigues, world outside of Wall of Storms
    2. Teaches Zomi and/or ventures outside the Wall of Storms
  4. Adapt to it,
    1. Squash rebellion? And/or teaching kids to grow up
    2. Survives, is at other island
  5. Get what they wanted,
    1. Things are in balance/united
    2. Finds new people
  6. Pay a heavy price for it,
    1. Has to give own life in the end, deaths/temporary peace from others
    2. Dead, guides other people to Dara
  7. Then return to their familiar situation,
    1. But family wins partly, people are united, daughter is (temporarily) empress
    2. Student had learned much (Komi, could also do her arch someday!)
  8. Having changed.
    1. New situation with other people, learned to innovate quickly
    2. Zomi is more wise now

May 28, 2020

DMT: The Spirit Molecule

First published on Blossom Analysis.

DMT: The Spirit Molecule by Rick Strassman offers his account of a large scale study on the effects of DMT on the human brain and psyche. The book gives a detailed account of the research, how it came to be, the difficulties in getting it started, and the outcomes. Strassman puts an emphasis on the experiences of the participants and tries to fit them into categories and explanations. Although he makes several disclaimers that he ‘takes the experience at face value only as a thought experiment’ he often shines through that the second part of that sentence had been dropped.

Quick Take

From my perspective, the book is a great resource if one wants to understand what is involved with doing psychedelic research. Without a doubt, he has been responsible for restarting our interest in psychedelic research and paved a path through the regulatory jungle. The latter chapters where he decides not to further pursue research with psilocybin and LSD can be seen as a delay in developing the field, or possibly a blessing because of the non-optimal circumstances of room 531 where they were doing their research.

The experience described by the participants ranges from feelings of euphoria to episodes of terror. They see fractals, beautiful colors, and alien figures. As mentioned in the introduction, I think Strassman went too far in characterizing these experiences as ‘real’, or as being on another plane/place/universe that DMT lets us tap into. Is there not a better explanation to be found in the brain functions that get changed by adding a substantial amount of DMT.

By analogy, if we add caffeine, a lot of us become more alert and focused. If you add MDMA, many feel a warm embrace and safe. How things work in the brain specifically is currently being studied. But that doesn’t preclude one from stating that there are brain structures that let us identify faces, others that let us instinctively respond to patterns that seem dangerous (e.g. the shape and/or movement of a spider). What if DMT activates or brings to consciousness these parts of our brain. And, maybe even more plausibly, what if DMT evokes a dream state (many volunteers showed rapid eye movements (REM), like that in our most dream-prone sleep phase).

All that being said, it’s a great book to read and learn about what DMT does and how it has been studied in the 1990s. Much more research has been done since and the author of this post is less familiar with that. One could say that in general, the psychedelics-as-medicine framing has become much stronger (with very positive trials for psilocybin and MDMA in Phase 2 and Phase 3 of FDA approval). Who knows if DMT will have a significant role to play here too.

May 21, 2020

Stretching Plan

This sub-page of Fitness, documents my plan for stretching.

Morning (before breakfast)

Warm-up, namely:

  • Joint rotations from fingers to toes (wiggle, wiggle)
  • 10 squats
  • 10 standing cross-body toe touch
  • 10 jumping jacks
  • 10 reverse-lunges

Dynamic stretches (decrease over time), namely:

  • Arm circles (4×10)
  • Arm swings front to back (4×10)
  • Leg swings, front (4×12 per side)
  • Leg swings, side (4×12 per side)
  • Leg swings, back (4×12 per side)
  • Standing bend to front / lean-back (15x)

Before sports

Warm-up (same as above)

Dynamic stretches (same as above)

Weightlifting specific stretches, namely:

  • Pass-through with pvc (10, lx5, rx5)
  • Cossack squat (10x l-to-r-to-l)
  • KB/barbell on knee stretch (2×10 per side)
  • Slow ATG squats + reach (10x, can hold onto rack)
  • Rotator cuffs (1.25kg)
  • Slow mountain climbers (10x per side)
  • Thoracic extension (1 min total)
  • Snatch progression (3x per position)

After sports (4x p/w, Mo/We/Fr/Su)

Isometric stretches (one per body part, choose from list):

How to: 5sec tension, 3sec rest, 5 reps, 30sec end, rest 1min, x3 sets

Start with shorter (end) time of tension, increase over time

  • Shoulders: lay face down, arms forward stretched, raise thumbs up OR
  • Shoulders: lay face down, arms 90 degrees, raise hands
  • Shoulders: stand, hold pvc pipe at shoulder width, move overhead
  • Shoulders: stand, hold pvc pipe behind back, hands up/down get closer
  • Trunk/Back: foam roll on back, PNF tension OR
  • Trunk: stand, move upper body sideways OR
  • Trunk: sit or sit on knee, twist sideways
  • Abdomen: lay on front, move upper body up OR
  • Abdomen: same, but grab feet too
  • Inner thigh: middle split PNF hold OR
  • Inner thigh: sumo squat OR
  • Inner thigh: sit on knee and hands, raise one leg sideways (pissing dog) OR
  • Outer thigh: lay on back, one leg across, with band OR
  • Outer thigh: sit one knee bend forward, other leg behind, bend over OR
  • Outer thigh/Hip: sit with legs in 90degrees, lift back foot
  • Front thigh/Hip: one knee forward, other leg back, stretch hip forward OR
  • Front thigh: stand, fold one leg backwards, pull back (upper body can go forward)
  • Front thigh: sit on knee and foot, move hips forward OR
  • Front thigh: stand, pull foot backward (lean forwards) OR
  • Front thigh: sit on knee and foot, pull foot backward
  • Front thigh/Hamstrings: middle split PNF
  • Hamstrings: stand or sit, grab foot, pull it towards you OR
  • Hamstring: lay on back, pull feet towards face OR
  • Hamstring: stand, foot on table, tilt upper body forwards / back leg backward OR
  • Hamstrings/Back: Sit and pull upper body forward (pancake)
  • Calf/Ankle: KB/barbell on knee stretch OR
  • Calf/Ankle: bend over, grab foot, pull it towards you OR
  • Calf/Ankle: stand on stairs, one foot, push heel down OR
  • Calf/Ankle: stand on stairs, one foot, push knee forward

Relaxed stretches (optional):

How to: 30 sec in deep position, can repeat after 60 sec rest (180 sec better?)

  • Shoulders: sit on hands and knees, hands forward, chest down
  • Calf/hamstring: sit, pull toes towards face
  • Inner thigh: lay in split position with support OR
  • Inner thigh: lotus position (not with hands)
  • Hamstrings: stand/bend/lay and pull foot towards face
  • Front thigh: stand and pull knee backwards OR
  • Front thigh: sit on knees, butt on foot, lean backward
  • Back: foam roll
  • Ankle/Hip: deep squat
  • Ankle/Hamstring: Cossack squat

Walk it off (5 minute walk)

Non-sport days (afternoon)

Dynamic stretches (same as above)

Relaxed stretches (same as above or follow-along)

May 19, 2020

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout is a great book that I thought I had already summarized here, but apparently not.

It lays the groundwork of what marketing is, positioning. Find a space in the market, nee, in the mind of the consumer.

There are ways to modify this, but only a few ways. You can’t be better and hope/believe that you’re going to win the market. You have to position yourself as the challenger brand, make a new submarket, and some other variations are possible.

But even the same product, in a different market (cars and beers are often used as examples) don’t fair well when introduced somewhere else.

The curse of line extension is one that I think I/Queal should be most wary of, be good at doing one thing, but don’t try and broaden it too much. The consumer will only remember you for doing one thing (quick drinkable meals vs providing all quick meals?)

Ok, enough rambling. I will, one day, do a more structured summary. Probably when I have crystallized my ideas around the new business enough that I can say I’ve followed the guidelines here.

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