Dan Ellsey's musical performance is the most profound expression I've ever heard from another human being, is it just me?

Yup, it's true, I own a share ... ONE Share in Telkom SA .

Thanks to Richard and Alastair for sponsoring the investment.

This very cool act of generosity following after a group of us donated cash to the Telecoms Action Group (TAG) for the 1 pager in the Mail & Guardian on 19th Jan 2007.

The SA Telecoms Action Group met at Nino's Rosebank on Monday night to fill in the paperwork and have it confirmed by a notary (Mark Harris) and then VOILA - we were endowed with super mass action powers to:

Gain access to AGM's now where we get to participate.

We can then talk about pressing issues like:

1. What yarn to knit the tea cosies out of, in the Umtata District.
2. A play by play, gripping technological thriller involving: [a] what really happens when our vocal patterns are digitised into speech artifacts ... [b] what people will say 1000yrs from now when they replay those artifacts ... [3] how to really "pimp my VOIP up" to sound mega-cool 80's robotlike just to confuse future researchers. (I know I know, too much Futurama)
3. Whether Bakers Shortbread really is the perfect accompaniment with Rooibos Tea or Oumas Buttermilk Rusks rather, to offset the tanginess the tea leaves on the palate.
4. How if you say VOIP at least 50 times out loud in rapid succession, you'll approximate one of those battery operated attack choppers they sell at Toys-R-Us.

Regardless of the plethora of topics at our fingertips, we should be able to keep 'em busy for a while.

I guess this is the form of protest we get to take part in, as "The New Digital Hippies" (we also joined a newly formed Shareholers Education Association, which allows us access to some very smart info on our rights and how to exercise them, to maximise the pain .. er .. to carry our message across with poise and congruence ... and no MaX, I'm never joining Toastmasters :P )

So while I'm waiting for my:

"I'll blog anything for a t-shirt" shirt to come from the printers, I thought I'd take this opportunity to mention that there are still about 20 shirts available from Afrigator if you blog about them and their "Win an Ipod " competition.

Admittedly I'm an avid collector of geek memorabilia and have had some of my geek T's signed by Eric Raymond , John 'Maddog' Hall and Richard Stallman (and dayam was Stallman fussy about signing on anything with the word Linux printed on it .. had to get him to sign a blank T and then print *nix on it .. and all this after his performance at Wits where he ducked underneath the podium, donned headgear and rose up to promote the Church of Stallman)

So here's what I'm proposing to the Afrigator Team:

I think you folks are cool and admire the whole aggregation project. I'd really dig a T-shirt, more importantly, I'd dig one signed by Justin Hartman.

I've spent decent amounts of cash buying shirts from Mozilla and donating to the project, so in that spirit, I'll happily donate R200 towards the Dev Efforts of Afrigator in return for a cool shirt signed by the man!

Do we have a deal .. huh huh :)

What do some of the brightest minds at Apple, Cisco, Microsoft and Oracle have in common? They're probably celebrating Bicycle Day today (covertly or overtly).

Q - Will they be using the Geek Wonder Drug ?
A - My Magic 8-Ball says: "Reply hazy, try again."

On April 19th, 1943 at 16h20, Dr. Albert Hofmann , chemist for Sandoz Pharmaceuticals in Switzerland, deliberately ingested the first dose of LSD. 3 days earlier, he had taken the first inadvertent dose by accidentally inhaling fumes as he worked. Hofmann first synthesized the compound on November 11th, 1938 and years later felt the "peculiar need" to examine it again.

After ingesting 250 µg, (about 10 times a baseline dose) he felt a sense of urgency to return home and described his experience as follows:

"I had to struggle to speak intelligibly. I asked my laboratory assistant, who was informed of the self-experiment, to escort me home. We went by bicycle, no automobile being available because of wartime restrictions on their use. On the way home, my condition began to assume threatening forms. Everything in my field of vision wavered and was distorted as if seen in a curved mirror. I also had the sensation of being unable to move from the spot. Nevertheless, my assistant later told me we had traveled very rapidly."

Dr. Hofmann called for a doctor, who examined him and could find nothing wrong physically other than pupils dilated the size of Argentina.

"Now, little by little I could begin to enjoy the unprecedented colors and plays of shapes that persisted behind my closed eyes. Kaleidoscopic, fantastic images surged in on me, alternating, variegated, opening and then closing themselves in circles and spirals, exploding in colored fountains, rearranging and hybridizing themselves in constant flux. It was particularly remarkable how every acoustic perception, such as the sound of a door handle or a passing automobile, became transformed into optical perceptions. Every sound generated a vividly changing image, with its own consistent form and color ... Exhausted, I then slept, to awake next morning refreshed, with a clear head, though still somewhat tired physically. A sensation of well-being and renewed life flowed through me. Breakfast tasted delicious and gave me extraordinary pleasure. When I later walked out into the garden, in which the sun shone now after a spring rain, everything glistened and sparkled in a fresh light. The world was as if newly created. All my senses vibrated in a condition of highest sensitivity, which then persisted for the entire day. This self-experiment showed that LSD-25 behaved as a psychoactive substance with extraordinary properties and potency. There was to my knowledge no other known substance that evoked such profound psychic effects in such extremely low doses, that caused such dramatic changes in human consciousness and our experience of the inner and outer world."

Hofmann turned 101 years old this January and is still as bright as a button ... er .. dot .. er ... he's just very lucid and productive.

For a detailed account of another scientist's experience with psychotropics, check out Alduous Huxley's 1954 Classic "Doors of Perception" (full version online here ). It gives new meaning to the words: trip, trippy and acid-freak.

If you're looking to experience that: "Whoa! All the surfaces are breathing and Mac's look even shinier" phenomenon, you're more likely to encounter it with a white/black collar professional than with that hippy at Greenmarket sporting worn leather sandals and a faded Kenyan kikoi who's always toting a bag of something that looks like rosemary.

Currently, LSD is classified as a Schedule 9 Prohibited Substance in South Africa, though local and international psychiatric communities are working on legislation to allow it's usage in therapeutic contexts. So don't do the crime if you can't do the time (and don't wanna end up sharing more than your tripped out stories with a cellie named Bubba).

If you're considering a safe and controlled experience with psychotropics (beyond the most commonly consumed ones, like caffeine, alcohol and nicotine), you may want to consider attending the Santo Daime festival at Rustler's this September to "ride the plumed serpent".

Apple's Steve Jobs, mentions taking LSD as "one of the two or three most important things he has done in his life." Whether that contributed to his creativity (remember the line of dalmation spotted and candy coloured macs?) and business acumen, he doesn't say.

And finally, for all the *nix fans:

"There are two major products that come from Berkeley : LSD and UNIX. We don't believe this to be a coincidence." -- Jeremy S. Anderson

Okay, usually the phrase ... "something's happening to me" ... is murmured/ uttered/ screamed/ bellowed" out in movies, sometimes horror flicks, sometimes action movies, sometimes in comedies ... amongst others.

I think my usage of the phrase finds itself slotted loosely in the action and drama genres, though with time and wisdom I'm sure I'll get to place it in comedy as well as documentary :)

Are these changes significant? I think so.

As with most significant changes, I expect to:

• Lose some friends
• Transform some friends
• Gain some new friends

I'd like to say "I'm 'seeing things' more clearly"
though more accurately:
I'm seeing my 'seeing of things' more clearly

and to paraphrase Robert Frost: that is making all the difference