So, as I sat here, sipping my latte, I came across this site.
Here is the web of a spider who has eaten flies that were drugged up on LSD:


One on mescaline (what the heck is mescaline? I think I'll go google it in a minute)


One on hashish (that's marijuana, right? I suppose it's a good thing I don't know for sure)


And last but not least, my favorite, caffeine. Mmmmmmm, I just took a nice long drink from my iced vanilla latte from Starbucks!


So, basically, I'll think and perform better on LSD than on caffeine. Sweet! I wonder how long it took the spider that was on marijuana to build that web. He probably would have rather eaten. Granted, he needed his web to catch things to eat, so I suppose the web was built out of necessity. Poor spider, he just had the munchies. I bet the meany head researches didn't even throw him some more high flies either. Granted, at that point, the spider probably didn't care much. I think I'm putting way too much thought into this.

I killed a spider today. My kids are deathly afraid of them. Cole screams like someone is killing him if he sees one that is moving. He reassures himself with the mantra "It's just a common house spider," if it's a daddy long legs. Do other people call them that, or is it purely something my parents taught me? Thinking back, I can't recall anyone else ever talking about those spiders, so I really have no idea. It's kind of a funny name and I really wouldn't be surprised to find out that normal people don't actually call them that. However, if it's any other kind of spider, he just freaks out and gets paralyzed with fear. Poor baby. I keep getting him to try to face his fear by squishing one, but he's not going for it and he tells me I'm a mean, bad mommy if I force him to go near one. LOL

Okay, so I looked up mescaline and found this:

A solution of 20 g 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyde, 40 mL nitromethane, and 20 mL cyclohexylamine in 200 mL of acetic acid was heated on the steam bath for 1 h. The reaction mixture was then diluted slowly and with good stirring, with 400 mL H2O, which allowed the formation of a heavy yellow crystalline mass. This was removed by filtration, washed with H2O, and sucked as dry as possible. Recrystallization from boiling MeOH (15 mL/g) yielded, after filtration and air drying, beta-nitro-3,4,5-trimethoxystyrene as bright yellow crystals weighing 18.5 g. An alternate synthesis was effective, using an excess of nitromethane as solvent as well as reagent, if the amount of ammonium acetate catalysis was kept small. A solution of 20 g 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyde in 40 mL nitromethane containing 1 g anhydrous ammonium acetate was heated on the steam bath for 4 h. The solvent was stripped under vacuum and the residual yellow oil was dissolved in two volumes of hot MeOH, decanted from some insolubles, and allowed to cool. The crystals formed are removed by filtration, washed with MeOH and air dried yielding 14.2 g. of bright yellow crystals of beta-nitro-3,4,5-trimethoxystyrene. The use of these proportions but with 3.5 g ammonium acetate gave extensive side-reaction products even when worked up after only 1.5 h heating. The yield of nitrostyrene was, in this latter case, unsatisfactory.

To a gently refluxing suspension of 2 g LAH in 200 mL Et2O, there was added 2.4 g beta-nitro-3,4,5-trimethoxystyrene as a saturated Et2O solution by use of a Soxhlet extraction condenser modified to allow the continuous return of condensed solvent through the thimble. After the addition was complete, the refluxing conditions were maintained for another 48 h. After cooling the reaction mixture, a total of 150 mL of 1.5 N H2SO4 was cautiously added, destroying the excess hydride and ultimately providing two clear phases. These were separated, and the aqueous phase was washed once with 50 mL Et2O. There was then added 50 g potassium sodium tartrate, followed by sufficient NaOH to bring the pH >9. This was then extracted with 3x75 mL CH2Cl2, and the solvent from the pooled extracts was removed under vacuum. The residue was distilled at 120-130 °C at 0.3 mm/Hg giving a white oil that was dissolved in 10 mL IPA and neutralized with concentrated HCl. The white crystals that formed were diluted with 25 mL Et2O, removed by filtration, and air dried to provide 2.1 g 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine hydrochloride (M) as glistening white crystals. The sulfate salt formed spectacular crystals from water, but had a broad and uncharacteristic mp. An alternate synthesis can employ 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenylacetonitrile, as described under beta-D.

So, if I wanted to and had the supplies, I could make it, but still don't know what it is LOL According to that same page:

Mescaline is one of the oldest psychedelics known to man. It is the major active component of the small dumpling cactus known as Peyote. It grows wild in the Southwestern United States and in Northern Mexico, and has been used as an intimate component of a number of religious traditions amongst the native Indians of these areas. The cactus has the botanical name of Lophophora williamsii or Anhalonium lewinii and is immediately recognizable by its small round shape and the appearance of tufts of soft fuzz in place of the more conventional spines. The dried plant material has been classically used with anywhere from a few to a couple of dozen of the hard tops, called buttons, being consumed in the course of a ceremony.

Okay, so now I know it's a psychedelic. Does that mean it makes you see things? Does everything seem all Austin Powersish? Groovy, baby.

So, I'm wondering if I've ever heard of mescaline, but only know it by a different name. For example, hashish...I think that's marijuana. Marijuana is the name I know it by (if they're the same thing...I'm so behind on my drug lingo *sob* LOL) So, is there a more common name for mescaline that would make me go, "Ooooooh, that's what it is."

I found pictures of the cactus you can get the stuff from:
San Pedro cactus:

Peyote Cactus:

Maybe I need to go take a drive into the desert!

According to drugeducation.net

Mescaline provokes pupil dialation, dizziness, vomiting, tachycardia, sensations of warm and cold, swatting, headaches. Some of the visions under the effect of mescaline can cause nightmares that can give birth to some psychosis to the consumers.

That brings back a fond memory for me...although I suppose it was kind of mean. When I was a freshman in highschool, one of my friends was out of her mind on LSD. So, I thought I would have some fun with her. I went up to her and started poking at her forehead with my index finger. She asked, "What are you doing?" I told her I was drilling a hole in her forehead with my finger. She started freaking out, asking me to stop. I told her, "Wow, it's getting really deep, ewww, I think I can see your brain!" She started freaking out even more. Then, I removed my finger and gave her a disgusted look and said, "Oh my God, there are worms coming out of the hole!!! Oh my God, I'm so sorry!!! I didn't think there would be worms....EWWWWW, that's just nasty, I can't believe how many worms there are!!!!" She completely lost it, started screaming and running around the classroom, holding her hand over the "hole" in her forehead and was crying and saying, "I don't want worms coming out of my head!!!!!!" Is it mean that I still get a giggle out of it?

Same friend...different incident, same drug. I went up to her and started waving my hands back and forth really quickly in front of, but to the sides of her face. I started saying, "You're running through a forest, there are trees all around you, can you see the trees?" She said she could. I said, "You're running through the forest...faster and faster and faster...you're trying to get away from someone" She started getting a freaked out look on her face. "You're running and running as fast as you can...running and running and running and SMACK you hit a tree!!!" When I said "SMACK" I smacked her in the center of her forehead. She literally fell straight backwards onto the ground and was completely dazed because she seriously thought she had hit a tree. Then she remembered that she was running away from someone in the forest and started to freak out because she was afraid hitting the tree caused her to lose precious time and now the person she was running from was going to catch up to her. Yeah, I still get a giggle out of that one as well. I'm kinda mean.

So anyways, the more I read about mescaline, the more I think it's just a drug I've never heard of and it may not have another, more common name. Odd.

Here's a pretty picture of what LSD is made out of:

I'm learning all sorts of things about drugs tonight. Why I am filling my head with useless knowledge is beyond me, but it's kind of interesting.

So anyways, there are my random thoughts for the night. Who knew that reading my blog would be so educational? Off for some more caffeine!