Dropping My Daily Stool Sample

No Plugs tonight
But I did get through the back log of web stuff I had to do.

Your are listening too . . . .
Christmas of Love from Little Isidore and the Inquisitors, also from How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Addiction
Malach went to a great seminar put on by a friend of his from the Department of Mental Health on some of the new studies of drug addiction.  Over the past 5 years or so, scientist and Doctors have strongly theorized the difference between addiction and abuse.  There seems to be a genetic link to physical addiction with everything from alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs.  This would also explain why in some families there are a mix of addicts and non addicts.  Malach’s family, much of my family has addiction issues, and you all know my brother is an recovering alcoholic, so is my father, and both have done a pretty amaxing job at it.  Malach did basically all the same stuff that his brother and father did, except for cigarettes, and at times, in copious amounts.  But I never became physically addicted to anything, never got physical cravings for the stuff, never had to “chase the high”, never had to drink or drug to feel “normal”.  And the genetic model explains why.

With recent advances in PET Scans, and MRI’s, we can now see what happens to the brain on these substances, and why addition occurs.  In some subjects, taking that first drink, toke, etc, cause a strange brain chemical change.  All our bodies have dopamine, and dopamine levels rise and fall depending upon mood, activity (dopamine is most active during orgasm).  Dopamine is our bodies happy pill.  When people with a certain predisposition get that first high, their Dopamine spikes up to level beyond the highest the body produces, and all drugs do that; heroin, alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana, cocaine, LSD.  With an addiction predisposition, after that intial high, the dopamine levels fall below normal, and stay there, causing the person to want to do the drug again to reach that dopamine level.  The body in turn enacts CREB protein cycles that effect the way drugs bring you up, hence you can never reach that first initial high.  You have to do more and more to get to a certain level.  You have changed your body chemistry, and get caught in a vicious cycle.  When you come down, you come really down, and you dopamine levels don’t return to normal.  You body craves the dopamine, and begins to crave that drug, but of course the CREB makes it so that you require more of the drug just to reach certain level.  Sooner or later the drug won’t even get you to that level, and you just need it to “be normal”.  At that point you have so drastically changed you brain chemistry that your get detox issues, and that is why it take years to recover. 

Very interesting stuff.  Now don’t get me wrong, anyone can eventually turn into an addict if they work hard enough at it.  Genetics is not the only factor either, but it seems to be the one that is leading more quickly to addiction. 

The Celtics
Well now, 14 in a row, they are off to the best start in franchise history . . . think about that, the Boston Celtics, winner of 17 NBA Championships, dominating the 60’s with 10 of them, this team has the best starting record of any of them.  This team is better than last years.  Are they better than the ‘86 team?  Perhaps . . .

Blagojevich
Serously dude, you make MA politics look safe.  Seriously, we got our Diane Wilkerson, Chuck Turner, Billy Bulger, but I don’t think any of them ever tried to sell a Senate seat.

Oh and by the way
I am alive, and we have power, not sure about Moog or Colonel Colonel though.  While all this crazy crap was going on in Central, Western, and Northern MA, her is Southeastern MA it was 60 degrees and pouring, yes, about 60 miles difference between a pouring rainstorm but warm and crazy icing.  That’s New England for you.

So, now a lot of these people won’t get power until after the weekend, and they are talking it getting down into the teens . . . I got heat and electrcity if you need a place to stay. It is about 30 right now.

RIP Bettie Page
A timeless beauty.

Malach’s Video of the Day
Sheik Yerbouti Time!

I am Malach and boy do I miss Mark Sandman.