In case you were wondering why I’ve not written anything decent for ages, it’s because we’ve been planning our wedding, which finally happened on Saturday (May 29th, 2010). I thought I’d put a couple of photos on here today because a few of you seem to actually give a shit, and also then there’s less chance of me forgetting any future anniversaries.

If you've ever had a decent night out in Birmingham, you may recognise that as The Custard Factory

During the ceremony

Us in some "arty" doorway

Also, since I’ve still not written a Music On Drugs post, you might like to give some of the music we used in the ceremony a listen. Links to YouTube open in a new tab/window.

Before The Ceremony:

• Zero 7 – Destiny
• Delerium – Silence (the ORIGINAL version!)
• Tori Amos – A Sorta Fairytale
• Nick Drake – Place To Be
• Amillionsons – Need You Tonight (Not on YouTube, but it’s an electro-chillout “rework” of Judy Tzuke – Stay With Me Till Dawn. Here’s Amillionsons – Misti Blu though, to give you an idea what they sound like.)
• Four Tet – Everything Is Alright
• Air – You Make It Easy

Jo Walking Up The Aisle:

Zero 7 – Pop Art Blue

Signing The Register:

• Fleetwood Mac – Songbird
• Frou Frou – It’s Good To Be In Love

Us Walking Out:

Lamb – Gorecki (started at 2:27)

Secular weddings are awesome!

(Image credit: Photos of my Wedding)

Everyone’s a winner who entered last weeks Science Joke Competition! Not in the sense that everyone wins a prize, but in the sense that maybe, just maybe, we’ve inspired someone, somewhere to do something vaguely scientific. So who did win a prize? …

The Winner

Potter

The Runners Up

James

psiphi

Fantastic! Remember though, if you’re not from the UK and you want to claim your prize, you’ll have to send us a couple of quid to cover the postage. We’ll sort all that out later. I’ll be in touch soon, probably, although we are getting married in 6 days, so there might be a bit of a delay… :^|

I’ve got to go and write my speech now, so I’ll leave you with this brilliant sketch from That Mitchell & Webb Look:

Following some rather depressing blog comments, I reckon it’s about time we had another competition in the name of science!

What Can You Win?

The winner will get a super awesome double size bottle of Blue Lagoon, a new liquid herbal high, and a 10g bag of Mexican Dream Herb. The two runners up will just get the Dream Herb.

What Do You Have To Do?

I want to hear the best science joke you’ve got. There’s a few to get you started at the end of this post. Obviously, I don’t expect you to write some new comedy gold, but at least have the decency to tell a joke in your own words and not just lift it from the first google result for “science joeks lol”. Post your entries in the comments below this post!

Who Can Enter?

If you’re in the UK, this competition is for you. If you live anywhere else, you can still win the stuff, just as long as you’re willing to PayPal me the postage costs. Usual rules apply, like being over 18, not mentally unstable or pregnant.

When Will The Winners Be Picked?

Over the next weekend probably. Who knows when exactly… depends when I’ve got 5 minutes. Get off my case already! Jeez.

This post is now the place to comment on the JWH-018 Toxicology article.

Not that there are any points, but bonus points for backing up what you say with peer reviewed research. Please keep the discussion scientific. You can talk about dodgy vendors if you must, especially if there’s a bad batch going round, but please don’t link to them or turn this into a customer support thread. If you want to talk about individual smoking mixtures, please do so Here.

Ok, go:

I’m creating this post so you lot can discuss smoking mixtures. Feel free to talk about the pros and cons of different individual products, but don’t talk about the vendors themselves. Comments like ‘This shiz I got from buydrugslmao.com is suhweeet” will be deleted.

Ok, go:

No, this post won’t be a detailed guide to clandestine hexamethylene triperoxide diamine manufacture, sorry! Instead of terrorism, today’s post will focus on a great harm reduction technique called bombing (or parachuting for us in the far-less-extreme UK).

The Problem:

You have a bag of a drugs. That bag of drugs can be snorted, or it can be eaten.  Unfortunately, your nose wasn’t meant for hoovering up monster lines of chemical. Apart from the physical irritation to your delicate mucous membranes, vasoconstrictive drugs like cocaine or mephedrone will restrict bloodflow in the vessels lining your nose, which could lead to ischaemia, or the damage of tissue as a result of poor blood perfusion. If that wasn’t bad enough, pretty soon, your nose might start pouring with snot or just feel bunged up when the drug wears off, as the blood vessels open back up to compensate – your nose isn’t blocked with snot or drugs necessarily, but by these vessels filling up with blood, which closes off your nostrils, making it harder to breath.

Suppose at this point, you still have most of your massive bag of drugs left – what do you do? Perhaps the most instinctive thing to do is reach for something to unblock your nose, such as a decongestant spray or some “Vaporub” type stuff, so you can continue your hedonistic nasally-orientated pleasure-binge. It might surprise you to learn that this won’t help out your stinging nostrils as much as you think. These kind of products work by constricting those same blood vessels that were constricted earlier, adding to the ischaemia. If that wasn’t enough, continued use of these kinds of products could give you rebound congestion – as soon as you stop using them, your vessels open back up to compensate and before you know it, you’re adding an extra “b” to every word you say ended with a bilabial phone.

That’s just the physical side of things. Snorting drugs does get them into your blood faster, sure, but this also makes whatever you’re snorting more addictive. With our old friend mephedrone, snorting certainly can be fun, but it’s much easier to have “just one more line” another ten times in the same session than if you ate it.

The Solution:

If your bag of drugs also works well when eaten, eat that shit! Obviously no one wants to be chucking fistfulls of disgusting powder into their mouths, which is where our friend the bomb comes into play.

Step 1: Get Your Shit Together

You will need:

• Rizlas (or whatever brand of rolling paper is most prevalent where you’re from)
• A bag of drugs
• Something to transfer the drugs from the bag to the papers

Step 2: Take A Single Paper

Step 3: Tear Off The Excess

You don’t need much, probably about an inch or so.

Step 4: Transfer Your Drugs To The Paper

Safety first! If your drug of choice requires only a few miligrams, or you’re generally unsure how to eyeball a dose, weigh it out first, then transfer it to the paper.

Step 5: Pick Up The Paper

Get the paper to fold naturally, as though you’re about to roll the world’s tiniest joint packed with chemicals.

Step 6: Pinch The Paper

Pinch one end of the paper, so you can hold it at an angle and tap the powder into the pinched end.

Step 7: Pinch T’Other Side

Repeat step 6 with the other side, so the powder takes up as little room as possible.

Step 8: Pinch Both Sides

This step should get your little pile of drugs in the centre of your paper. Don’t be afraid to compress it a little so it stays in place. The last thing you want is stray drugs working themselves free and onto your taste buds.

Step 9: Begin To Form A Tail

No, don’t actually grow a tail. Just pull together the pinched ends of the paper, so the drugs are at one end and the free bits are together at the other.

Step 10: Form A Tail

Pinch all the excess paper into one clump between your thumb and finger.

Step 11: Complete The Tail

Now roll the tail betwixt your thumb and finger to tighten it. Feel free to lick your fingers first to help it seal, but not too much, or you’ll be left with a wet powdery mess.

Step 12: Marvel At Your Creation

Now it’s time to stick it to the infidel! Erm, I mean, take your drugs safely.

Nice work!

(Pictures provided by methuselah969)