A spiritual ass-kicking, courtesy of Ayahuasca — What is ayahuasca? There’s the thing itself, a brew made out of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine, mimosa hostilis root bark and other ingredients. You can look at the chemistry, the way the DMT in the vine is activated by the monoamine oxidase inhibitors in the bark, allowing the DMT to be orally active…

A four-character laugh that doesn’t stand for laughter — “Haha too late I see” “I’m just going to stay in tonight haha” “Haha ok I will too” “You beat me to it haha” “I’m so excited for our camping trip haha” How do you read those? Do you literally say “ha-ha” in your head? …

An essential battle that’s becoming uglier every day — I grew up about as liberal as any kid can. Liberalism represented all that was bright and hopeful about the world: everyone is born the same, every one helps each other, big corporations are bad, globalization is the future, Obama good, Romney evil. Out with old guard and in with…

And the place of spirituality — Awhile ago, a friend sent me the following video: It pissed me off, and then it made me think. What are friends for, after all? The small print I should stop here, and preface this by saying that I’m very much a scientifically-inclined individual. I don’t believe in reincarnation or karmic law…

Facing problems as a web developer, alone — A year ago, I left the relative comfort of a salary job to pursue a career as a freelance web developer. Leaving the “who’s” and “why’s” for another time, the reality of my situation shifted drastically. My previous job, working in marketing at a software company, presented a pool of…