Build Date: Thu May 1 02:40:45 2025 UTC
The ultimate sin of any performer is contempt for the audience.
-- Lester Bangs
McKenna, 1990s Dying Real Bad
1999-08-15 17:32:18
Damn. Well, sure, of course it was going to happen sometime, but I wasn't really sure that the 1990s were really going to end until I heard that Terence McKenna was super dead sick.
Like, I dunno if anyone else remembers this stuff, but the 90s came on REAL STRONG here in San Francisco, around 1989 or so. It was this really weird, optimistic yet cynical, bad crazy time. There were basically 4 planks to the 90s platform: electronic music, computers, green politics, and Terence McKenna.
Terence is the world's foremost expert in ethnobiology -- in other words, he knows all the best plants to get you fucking HIGH. But unlike a lot of cynical drug advocates, Terence BELIEVES in drugs. He thinks they're IMPORTANT -- that they're a gateway to the IMMORTAL and INEFFABLE world. He thinks that the Shadow People that you meet in Mushroom Land have something to say to you. That all those guys in loincloths with blood coming out of their ears in remote Amazon villages are doing something right.
Anyways, he was the spectacular godchild of early 1990s SF. Like, people would quote him all the time and stuff. Even long after all that THING that made the 90s cool and interesting and important kinda got dashed on the rocks by venture capitalists and W I R E D and whoever, even after that, Super Terence was still making the rounds, telling people about s. divinorum or whatever. He's been putting in the time to make the Dreamtime happen.
Well, now, he's dying. Check out the info at the site below, and take an extra cap tonight in honor of the Mushroom Man, eh? Tell them the Shadow People sent you.
T O P S T O R I E S
California Glory Hole attracts huge crowds
A glory hole at Napa's Lake Berryessa is drawing huge crowds. According to Chris Lee, the general manager for the Solano County Water Agency, the glory hole hasn't been active since 2019, and only restarted operations on Feb 4. (More...)
Republican State Senator busted after soliciting a teenage girl
Republican State Senator Justin Eichorn of Minnesota was arrested for soliciting a teen girl on Monday just hours after he introduced a bill proposing "Trump derangement syndrome" (TDS) as a form of mental illness. (More...)
Parents claim measles is not that bad after having only one child die
The parents of a Texas girl who died from the measles are defending their decision not to vaccinate their daughter. "She says they would still say 'Don't do the shots,'" an unidentified translator for the parents said. "They think it’s not as bad as the media is making it out to be." (More...)
Delusional rich man tries to fire town staff
"I'm mayor now" said write-in mayoral candidate and founder of Pirate’s Booty Snacks Robert Ehrlich after losing the election for Mayor of Sea Cliff, NY. Then he tried to take over the Village Hall and fire everyone. (More...)
Musk claims Xitter security is staffed by idiots
Earlier this month Xitter experienced a massive outage. In an interview, Musk told Fox Business that he believes the attack came from "IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area." (More...)
The Future Ain't What It Used To Be
Ideas have taken horrifying shape and rooted into our modern reality. (More...)
C L A S S I C P I G D O G
Things to Say When You're Losing a Technical Argument
Mr. Bad and Crackmonkey collaborate on a fine Mr. Bad's List. We put together ALL the TECHNOLOGY you ever need to know in order to STUMP your OPPONENT in a technical argument. Use these only when your back is against the wall -- they're definitely desperation tactics. (More...)
It's not like I have a heroin problem, see. I'm just a self-indulgent brat who likes to live beyond her means. When I zip down to my corner Money Mart for a little cash-till-payday loan, I'm really not planning to spend it on drugs. I'll spend it on sushi. Seventy bucks of interest for a two-week $400 loan is perfectly reasonable, if you really need that hamachi. (More...)
During a magnificent sunny day in a fast receding autumn, the Spock Science Monitor reporters once again blew the playa dust off of their computers and covered the 2002 Burning Man Decompression – held every year just east of Portola Hill in beautiful San Francisco. Both an afternoon and evening issues were released to the unsuspecting crowd of freaks attempting to in some small way experience the euphoria of the playa – if but for a brief afternoon far from the desolation of Northern Nevada. (More...)
What the hell is going on with Sony?
Is anyone else as confused as I am with what's happening with the Sony Playstation network hack? (More...)
It was early in May last year when I first heard about Spock Mountain Research Labs. I was working on a story about a Hungarian scientist's new approach to nucleopeptide synthesis when I got a call from my friend Albert. (More...)
