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For those who like to drink and Bake at the same time. Simply breathe into your desktop breathalyzer, and if you are at a certain BAC or above, you gain access to this category. Anyone reading or browsing ideas in this category will know the author was inebriated at the time of posting, and can therefore
(possibly)
look at the idea from the perspective of the poster. Have a contest to see who can Bake with the most clarity at the highest BAC.
By the way, I'm currently into my 3rd shot of 80-proof vodka and 2nd shot of 60-proof curacao. I'm feeling numb and slightly tingly all over, and a little light-headed. I've also had to backspace and retype many sentences in this post, and I can only hope that the final product looks as good to the rest of you as it does to me at this point.
Inspired by [theleopard]'s annotation?
http://www.halfbake...In_20Their_20Booths
[hippo, Oct 16 2007]
The standard that should be assumed on participation
http://www.dot.wisc...ving/calculator.htm
No real need for expensive USB technology. [4whom, Oct 16 2007]
For [the leopard]
http://www.moderndrunkardmagazine.com/
a little light reading until your vision goes all blurry [k_sra, Oct 16 2007]
Connection between alcohol and insomnia
http://serendip.bry...2/web1/edamore.html
The "wake up in the middle of the night, can't get back to sleep" effect after falling asleep drunk is really prominent for me. If you're drinking alcohol to help you fall asleep on a regular basis, you may be making things worse for yourself. [jutta, Oct 16 2007]
The Bells
http://www.online-literature.com/poe/575/
[21 Quest, Mar 29 2009]
highdeas.com
http://highdeas.com/
Like halfbakery, but for stoners. [jutta, Apr 22 2009]
[link]
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It looks good, [21 Quest], but it also looks similar to at least one previous idea about a device to stop people from posting at all if they're embarrassingly drunk. Not that you are, obviously.
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I suppose this one is more constructive.
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Do you think that, if a group of bakers are using this facility at the same time, one of them should be the 'designated thinker' (like a 'designated driver'), to see them all safely home afterwards? |
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One could have this as a metacategory marked by adding a unique term, similar to OoolongfTTB (on the H/B side of things). The USB brethalyzer sounds fine but it would be good to know quite how it works. |
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I like the BAC scoring thing, despite the obvious health implications of promoting alcohol abuse by turning it into a competition, but that's booze for you. As soon as humans discovered that excessive consumption of booze makes you fall over, perhaps in ancient Egypt or Greece, there have been raucus 'standing up' competitions amidst the rowdy chorus of warriors and philosophers alike chanting, "Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!"
(Or at least the Egyptian/Greek equivalents.) |
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I'm working on finding that category. |
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Would be nice to see a buns per BAC graph. so [+]. |
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(-) I'd rather be spared drunken ramblings altogether.
I don't want to host all the drunks "in one place"; I want them entirely off my site. |
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I like the idea of a special category you can only enter after a bottle of absynthe. A mystical fantasy world of rambling fools, bizarre logic and emotional introspective philosophy; a World where no sober eyes may explore, nor judge.
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Plus it would keep the drunks in one place, which would please [jutta] no doubt. |
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//the delusion that destroying your brain has anything dark, desirable, mysterious, creative, philosophical//
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As long as you know I was being tongue-in-cheek in my last anno... |
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Erdõs won the bet, but complained that mathematics had been set back by a month: "Before, when I looked at a piece of blank paper my mind was filled with ideas. Now all I see is a blank piece of paper." After he won the bet, he promptly resumed his amphetamine habit. |
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fffffaaaaaargen geeefkt yerfuggen ghaaar gerrofffff |
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/fffffaaaaaargen geeefkt yerfuggen ghaaar gerrofffff/
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//the delusion that destroying your brain has anything dark, desirable, mysterious, creative, philosophical//
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I hate to advocate for the Devil here, but when you consider that a great many of our most precious and highly-regarded artworks, including poetry by Edgar Allen Poe and paintings by Van Gogh (sp?), were created under the influence of such mind-altering substances as absinthe and cocaine, that's a rather difficult position for you to defend. |
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That's still a lot of chemical-induced brilliance, though. I'm not suggesting drinking any more than people already do with this idea. All I'm suggesting is giving those who are drinking already an outlet for their newfound creativity without feeling bad about possibly polluting the site with really awful ideas. Honestly, though, I don't really think ideas being posted by drunks could be much, if any, worse than many ideas posted here on a daily basis. I swear, some of the ideas I've posted... if I hadn't posted them myself, I'd swear the author was drunk or stoned. AND I WAS SOBER!!!
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I guess one point I'm trying to make is that posting while under the influence may not be as polluting as many would think, and might even raise the standard of quality for ideas being posted here. Ok, maybe that's pushing it a bit, but who knows? It may bring out a little Poe in all of us. |
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I was referring to Edgar Allen Poe, with an "e" at the end. Sorry if I caused offense, dearest po ;-) |
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// I hate to advocate for the Devil here, but when you consider that a great many of our most precious and highly-regarded artworks, including poetry by Edgar Allen Poe and paintings by Van Goh (sp?), were created under the influence of such mind-altering substances as absinthe and cocaine, that's a rather difficult position for you to defend.
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Van Gogh devoted his life to painting; he wasn't just brilliant and talented; he also worked hard at it. To reduce him to the influence of the drugs he took, or to his mental illness, really does him a disservice. |
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I don't think so, and I don't really mean it that way, but the fact is that he produced a great deal of his most famous works while under the influence, and I'm not the first person to mention it, there was a whole special program on the History Channel about the subject, wherein many of today's leading experts on the subject attested to it. Hell, he sliced off his own ear and gave it to a hooker while hopped up on absinthe. He was an addict. Who but the man himself can say what inspired his works? But it's a well-known fact that he was under the influence while creating them, and many just as hard working people as him have tried their hand in the art business and failed. |
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And millions more have taken lots and lots of drugs and have failed at just about everything else, too. But don't let that discourage you. Hey, if you just kill enough of your braincells - if you just kill the *right* ones, you might win the lottery. |
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I'm not into drug abuse (hell, I've never touched even a cigarette, let alone the mind-altering variety. Aside from alcohol, the only drugs I've ever taken are prescription painkillers, and only when prescribed!), and I don't usually drink much in one sitting, usually just enough to get a very slight buzz since it helps me fall asleep and tastes better (and works faster) than sleeping pills. But many of our most-celebrated artists and philosophers WERE into drug abuse and were heavily addicted, and I do believe that their drug or drink of choice at least played a part in inspiring their work, work that you cannot say with any certainty they could have produced without it. |
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Isn't it more likely that people who have a lot to say, who are under a lot of pressure - perhaps because they have a mental illness; perhaps because they aren't accepted by society; perhaps because their emotions ring a little brighter and sharper than in most of us - that these people would both tend to produce art and tend to self-medicate, and that some of them do both?
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And that thus the drug abuse no more could be said to "inspire" the art than people carrying umbrellas causes the pavement to be wet?
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Speaking of our most celebrated artists and philosophers: We don't have those, actually. We don't celebrate artists and philosophers. We celebrate celebrities - actors and actresses and models, mostly, right? And while we seem to enjoy hearing about their various bouts with addiction, we really don't tolerate them as a precondition for their good work. People weren't eager for Graham Chapman to get properly drunk so he could get on with his work, or express relief that Kate Moss is snorting cocaine again, lest she lose her skeleton-like figure. (Disclaimer: I have no idea whether Kate Moss is snorting cocaine or what she weighs these days.) |
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It's possible, granted, but I'm not sure how likely it is. I think it was most likely a combination of their raw talent, inner turmoil, and substance of choice that led them to create the masterpieces they did. Of couse, all we can do is speculate, but the fact that they had mind-altering substances in their system at the time must be taken into account. One example I think fits perfectly into this discussion is Poe's poem "the Bells" (or maybe "The Ringing of the Bells"? I can't remember the exact title). I've gotten shit-faced drunk before and I swear I heard a ringing in my ears. Being hopped on something as potent as absinthe, which Poe was well-known to drink lots of, would only intensify the effect. Add to that the hallucenogenic properties of thujone, a chemical found in absinthe, and that poem sounds to me a lot like something that could be inspired only by the drink. Plus my favorite word ever found in a poem that describes the feeling precisely that he made up, "Oh, the tintinabulation of the bells!" |
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That Thujone thing is a bit of a myth, actually. Absinthe didn't contain as much of it as people thought for a while, a recent result that the history channel apparently hasn't caught up with yet. (*My* main source of history, the cooking channel, has.)
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Lots of rather boring things can trigger Tinnitus, anything from Lyme disease to aspirin to vitamin B12 deficiency. I'm not going to start celebrating Lyme disease for its contribution to Western civilization. |
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Wikipedia states that it's a myth as well, but I wonder if it's true because I've also heard that the EU (European Union) has legalized absinthe again on the precondition that the government regulates the thujone content. |
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I'm thinking that drugs let you see the world in a different perspective. Psychoactive drugs do affect your mood, behavior, alter your consciousness and your perception of reality, so I could easily see a hallucination or a drug induced dream state inspiring an artists work. Wouldn't it be some sort of chemicals in your brain that inspire any sort of thought? |
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"Mind has erected the objective world out of its own stuff. Mind could not cope with this gigantic task otherwise than by the SIMPLIFYING device of excluding itselt - withdrawing from its conceptual creation." -- Erwin Schrodinger
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And, so, in efforts to end this numbing simplification, people take drugs. Maybe. Anyways, I always thought this a more noble, albiet naive, motivation for drug use.
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Anyways, I like the challenge of trying to hide my drunk. [-] |
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Drugs can bring on acute concentration, a clarity of vision, and a sense of vibrant being that can be an awe-inspiring experience (all of these experiences of course can be had for "free" without chemical stimulation). Some of Van Goch's work almost rattles out of the frame with its dangerous sense of existential awareness - but I don't think this is a drug/booze thing - there is a similarly essential vibrancy in many of Picasso's works - a man who loved life, but who isn't renowned for his excess.
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To be an artist (or, I suppose, a philosopher) means being sensitive to the truth of things, to be able to see the essence of things. Someone who sees things without the comforting filters that most of us wrap around ourselves is going to be emotionally unprotected against the worst of what life can throw at them. And it's that emotional fragility that can lead someone to begin to think they need a chemical crutch to lean on. Only it's a twisted Escher-style crutch that ends up leaning on us.
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So like [jutta] said about pavements and umbrellas, that two things are correlated does not mean that one thing is necessarily responsible for the other. |
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which came first the chicken or the alcohol? i don't think drugs get to take any credit for artistic merit, other than steering an already talented person into a certain frame of reference. a good writer, for instance, is already a good writer. drugs or alcohol will just turn him into a drunk or drugged good writer. until he collapses into his own vomit in the street, that is.
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now one *could* argue that artistic people are somewhat more prone to addictive states of altered reality, because of the "artistic clarity" it affords, or some rot. i'd buy that for a quarter, but only because i happen to be fairly artistic, myself, and do feel that occasional pull to the dark side.
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also, alcohol keeps me up. like coffee. so i try not to drink it right before bed. |
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If I drink too much I can't sleep, my head'll start spinning and feel like it weighs a ton as soon as it hits the pillow. On the other hand, if I get just a very slight buzz, I pass right out as soon as I lay down. |
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Ok, how about those frogs that have the psychadelic poisons in their blood. All I'm saying is that if I were a frog, I'd probably enjoy a freely visionary landscape on a daily basis. They don't have things like the bakery, afterall. |
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//They don't have things like the bakery// you know that for a fact? |
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I'm not trying to justify anything. I don't have anything to defend, I was merely pointing out that alcohol consumption and drug abuse contributed to the creation of many things that are held in high regard today. I'm not saying it gives *me* greater clarity or inspiration, alcohol blurs my thoughts and muddy's my mind, I admit that, and it's why a lot of alcoholics drink, because it helps blur your memory. That's not why *I* drink, and the main reason I have a hard time sleeping at night is that I take my dogs for a long walk every night before I go to bed, I walk at a brisk pace and the adrenalin keeps me awake for a long time. I have to get up early for work, so I can't afford to stay up late, but I have to walk my dogs so they can do their business before being cooped up in the house all night. A little alcohol counters the effect (adrenalin is a stimulant, alcohol a depressant) and makes it possible for me to fall asleep faster. I don't feel any dependency, on nights I don't have to work the next day I don't usually drink at all, I stay up reading until the adrenalin wears off, I get tired and then I go to sleep and wake up late the next day.
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That's not to say that I'm not slightly addicted (Is there a way to know for sure if you are?) but I don't drink dangerous amounts. My usual drink of choice is a single cup (not a very big cup, either) filled 25% 60-proof orange curacao (that's almost exactly 2 shots), the rest cranberry juice (which is alcohol-free), grenadine (which is alcohol-free), and maybe a little raspberry mixer (also alcohol free). For those of you who don't know how alcohol content is measured, the "proof" is twice the percentage. Which means that a drink that is 60-proof is 30% alcohol. So, 25% of my drink is 30% alcohol, so if I've done my math right that means the total alcoholic strength of my drink is about 7.5%, which about 50% more than most beers, which are typically 5%, and the cups I use are about the same volume as a single beer can. That's usually the most I drink in one sitting.
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This idea was for a new drinking game, like bouncing quarters. People don't get drunk to play drinking games, they play drinking games to make getting drunk more fun and take their mind off whatever it is that's stressing them out and making them want to drink in the first place. People who want to drink are going to drink, this just gives them something else to do and keeps them off the street. |
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There was a time when I thought drunken blogging was a good idea, but it usually gets fishbones and [mfd]'s faster than most things. It's best to stay off the halfbakery when drunk. |
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I have a feeling that, if every drunken idea was recorded, about 60% would be about drunken ideas. |
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Make it so the USB breathalyzer diverts people who log on drunk to a parallel website, for drunks, run by drunks, and call it something like "the Halfcrockery", the home for all those ideas you come up with when you're soused. Put a logo in the top left corner showing a shot glass half empty (or is it half full?), and have funny taglines appear on a random rotation so the drunken sots feel at home. Some classic lines come to mind, like "I'll drink to that" or "I'd rather have a free bottle in front of me than a pre-frontal lobotomy" or the ever-popular "I'm not as thunk as drink'll peep I am". |
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This really is a fascinating read. I"m glad it
resurfaced. |
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(-) for the idea, for reasons already stated by others.
Just to take issue with jutta over the comment that //We celebrate celebrities//. I'm not sure that we do actually. Celebrate them, that is. My perception of the never ending string of press articles & TV programmes about people who are famous for being famous is more akin to medieval folk gathering in the village square to watch the man with the dancing bear, pausing on the way to throw a few rotten vegetables at the unfortunate in the stocks. |
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DrBob I sort of agree with you. However I think
that youth sometimes attempts to emulate these
"sort-of- celebs" and to celebrate their desperate
attempts at stardom.
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I'm not sure if the gawkers in the square actually
want to be the "dancing bear" in other words. |
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Well yes, there's probably more money and less stress in being the dancing bear's agent really, isn't there! |
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We were talking about Nick Cave the other day and I mentioned how great it was that some crazed genius (you are welcome to disagree on this term) with a problem has managed to clean up without losing his creativity. It's not uncommon for artists to lose that spark when they're not in that headspace. I'm not saying that drugs give you creativity, but there's often a correlation for some reason.
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It's a complex subject and it only gets murkier if you try to explore it. |
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Wags that's what I was finding so interesting.
Jutta's comment above was very thought
provoking for me. It's such a mirage of dynamics
that seem to come together in the perfect
moment in the perfect time in the right person
that something really brilliant gets born. With or
without chemical additions.
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I liken to listening to a Mozart bit of musical
genius to that. I do. |
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