JULIE NEWMAR: NOT A ROBOT

And was murdered by her drunken cat, apparently.



DISCLAIMER: In case you were wondering, no, she’s not dead.

True stories about real people,

This is dF

I WANT SOME NEW KIND OF KICK

ITEM: There’s a new kind of recreational mind-altering drug that the kids are into these days that has parents across America alarmed: MP3s!

And by MP3s I mean: “i-Dose” music tracks that supposedly get you high.

And by “America” I mean: Oklahoma.

The science behind i-Dose –binaural beats – has been around since 1839, and the i-Dose MP3 concept has been around at least a few years. So it’s hardly new. But then neither is heroin. And if there are three things that scare Mom and Dad the most, it’s drugs, obscure science and the Internet. So, you know, ZOMG.

As you might expect, I’m not all that impressed. There’s a lot of independent research into how binaural beats can affect yr brainwaves (and in positive ways), but not a lot that backs up the claims by i-Dose that it’s just like doing smack, much less that listening to i-Dose tracks will lead kids to real drug use.

But then I’ve never bought the Drug Hysteria argument that 3.2% beer leads to heroin, so I would say that, wouldn’t I?

As for the people posting YouTube videos claiming it works, it makes me think of an old Franka Zappa lyric:

That was back in the days when you used to
Smoke a banana
You would scrape the stuff off the middle
You would smoke it
You even thought you was getting ripped from it

And whether it works or not, or whether it’s the idea that young people want to alter their consciousness (which is also nothing new) that scares parents, you’d think that getting high by listening to music would actually be a nice and acceptable alternative to doing actual drugs. If Junior needs a kick, better this than a crack habit, yes?

But so what? Logic and reason have never played a central role in the War On Drugs, so why start now? We live in an age where the President can’t even stop for ice cream in Maine without some people reading some sinister racist message into it, for God’s sake.

Which is why TV news departments like News9 OK City can get away with alarmist hack jobs like this.

Who’s ready to get high,

This is dF