Greetings humans.
Some may know me from blacklight as Tsathoggua/Limpet Chicken, some may know me from the ye olde hive days as Lestat.
My depersonalised personal info, such as is unclassified and nonhazardous for human(oid) consumption, and my fields of interest:
I'm a fairly young, as reclusive lab gremlins go I guess, below 30, older than 18, did some limited secondary school biology, chemistry and physics (albeit most of the physics went in one ear and just as rapidly out of the other, poking a few stray hippocampal neurons here and there on the way, inducing an equal and opposite reaction of recoil retrograde to the direction of impact), although said science classes weren't very good, I did up to GCSE standard, scoring, without wish to boast, so I was told, the best grade in the fields the school had ever had.
The classes themselves as I say, were not particularly thrilling, it was a special school for autistic kids, (as was my previous school which was classical/kanners autism centered), and they didn't push me hard enough, nor would they permit me to take the higher-tier GCSE science paper, which really pissed me off at the time, regardless of the fact that at the time I would have arseraped the examiners (metaphorically speaking
), but the two science teachers I had, I got along well with, although I was quite the utter bastard to a good many of the other teachers who I got along much less well with in my hedonically inclined, incredibly antisocial pre-teen to teenage years, used to hang around the lab after school was out chatting and discussing botany and chemistry theory and experiments, although I spent more time in actual class ferreting through the teachers textbooks and hazardous material information cards than paying attention to the lessons.
Got kicked out of school and allowed back to take my exams in the end, due to too much hellraising, smoking various common plant products, legal (age dependent) and otherwise, some healthier than others and a drunken rampage or two.
Personal-wise, I am a highfunctioning autie, and proud of it, prone to hyperlexic expression and autistic activist when the time and opportunity permits, who for some unknown (and probably unknowable) reason, has been completely fascinated since late toddlerhood about mycology, which was my first introduction into the scientific fields, I remember having at that age, maybe 5-6yo a scrapbook, full of photos of the fungus-forays I took my father out into the woods on, well, he did the actual taking, I did the foraying and teaching, first photographing, identifying, sporeprinting, then scrapbooking the various hauls of fungi I appropriated, then as I got a little older, cooking for dinner (breaded and fried giant puffball, fried larch bolete (Suillus sp.), wild oyster fungi, cep, and in the past, shaggy ink cap (Coprinus comatus) being firm favourites, although I lost my taste for the latter)
Interests include chemistry of all flavours, although I am not, I will admit, a particularly expert chemist, I am just a dedicated one, not a talented one, largely an autodidact (or should I say, autiedidact
, being spesh I am certain has a large part to play in that), botany, and neurobiology, with specific interests in psychoactive substances, and of late, also in cognitive neuroscience and nootropic drugs.
Also of late, I am beginning to devour Ebooks on genetic engineering, although this interest is in its infancy, and much equipment needs to be built, and study needs to be firmly implanted into my skull before I am ready to pursue it to the degree I wish, with a view to transgenic organisms tailored to produce such compounds as I may wish, and possibly also to detect the presence of target compounds using fluorescent marker genes linked to a gene whos encoded enzyme/protein needs said target compound as a substrate to function.
One thing I do refuse to do though in the course of my studies, is use animals in any way whatsoever that there is even the slightest possibility of causing suffering, taking of small skin/dermal tissue samples, of DNA, or blood samples, or doing something such as expressing a compound via an animal source, such as proteins from transgenic animal milk or cultured tissue, that I am willing to do, but anything like animal activity-guided bioassay, if it isn't already known to pose no real risk of suffering for the animal involved, tox screening, LD:50 determination, or the in my opinion abominable practise of inducing pain to test analgesics, drilling holes in heads, or the odious lab techie euphemism 'sacrificing', that shit just will not fly in any lab I run. Absofuckinglutely not.
Although some day, as practise, breeding some phosphorescent lab rats or fish would be fun, if the in vitro work can be done without inflicting distress.
Other bits and pieces:
Currently I am striving to fix a nasty memory problem, which seems to have been getting slowly worse to a degree, although I am told, reassuringly, by my little sis, that it isn't getting massively worse very quickly, is still debilitating, characterised by a lack of attention span, marked impairment of short-term and working memory, and also very large deficit in consolidating memories from short to longterm, I'l lose what I was saying midway through a sentence sometimes, or wait for somebodys reply, and have to ask what I was talking about, or put things where they shouldn't live, deodorant in the fridge, milk in random cupboards and such shit, it all gets made a ton worse by lack of sleep or stress.
I think it was in part cause by an illadvised love affair several years back with barbs, ended up chowing my way through a fuckton of barbital and being forced to withdraw in the joint with completely inadequate treatment, several weeks of ensuing delirious incoherency after I ODed, got narked on for posession by some upstart paramedic snitching fuck, and some stuff in my posession, long forgotten about from my childhood, unrelated to my scientific pursuits and labware, were used as justification for chemophobic nazi-ism (although I never was charged with any drug offense, despite the large and well equipped personal pharmaceutical arsenal at the time)
Of course I only found out later that at least some barbs are capable of non-covalently forming a pseudo-irreversible, or at least very stable longterm complex with AMPA type glutamate receptors, stabilising said receptors in a glutamate-bound, desensitised state, thus impairing LTP and the accompanying learning and memory capacity that this kind of synaptic plasticity is vital for.
Now I am on the way to rebuilding my life, that period is over and done with, although its changed me, and left its marks below the surface, my memory is utter shite at the moment, although I finally managed to get my helpful, but somewhat frustrated GP, who is pretty good, but is out of his depth when the neurochemical machinations are broken down and used to justify a suggestion for possibly intervention thereaways, at least when it gets into much detail, to refer me to a memory specialist (who I saw once a year or more ago, once, and who then immediately discharged me, with a blank journal in hand and a bucketload of resentment)
Just recently started taking huperzine A, a cholinesterase inhibitor derived from a species of chinese clubmoss, and thus far, minor muscular fasiculation here and there occasionally and unpleasant but not physically threatening elevation of heart rate aside, has been an absolute lifesaver, for the motivation problems, and short term memory/brain fog, and it even helps with the depression accompanying my current gloom and doom mood at losing my memory, perhaps due to its NMDA antagonism?
Ok, thats me done, its good to be here, I like it thus far, friendly vibe to the place.
Consider me the lastest worker wasp to the colony.
Some may know me from blacklight as Tsathoggua/Limpet Chicken, some may know me from the ye olde hive days as Lestat.
My depersonalised personal info, such as is unclassified and nonhazardous for human(oid) consumption, and my fields of interest:
I'm a fairly young, as reclusive lab gremlins go I guess, below 30, older than 18, did some limited secondary school biology, chemistry and physics (albeit most of the physics went in one ear and just as rapidly out of the other, poking a few stray hippocampal neurons here and there on the way, inducing an equal and opposite reaction of recoil retrograde to the direction of impact), although said science classes weren't very good, I did up to GCSE standard, scoring, without wish to boast, so I was told, the best grade in the fields the school had ever had.
The classes themselves as I say, were not particularly thrilling, it was a special school for autistic kids, (as was my previous school which was classical/kanners autism centered), and they didn't push me hard enough, nor would they permit me to take the higher-tier GCSE science paper, which really pissed me off at the time, regardless of the fact that at the time I would have arseraped the examiners (metaphorically speaking
), but the two science teachers I had, I got along well with, although I was quite the utter bastard to a good many of the other teachers who I got along much less well with in my hedonically inclined, incredibly antisocial pre-teen to teenage years, used to hang around the lab after school was out chatting and discussing botany and chemistry theory and experiments, although I spent more time in actual class ferreting through the teachers textbooks and hazardous material information cards than paying attention to the lessons.Got kicked out of school and allowed back to take my exams in the end, due to too much hellraising, smoking various common plant products, legal (age dependent) and otherwise, some healthier than others and a drunken rampage or two.
Personal-wise, I am a highfunctioning autie, and proud of it, prone to hyperlexic expression and autistic activist when the time and opportunity permits, who for some unknown (and probably unknowable) reason, has been completely fascinated since late toddlerhood about mycology, which was my first introduction into the scientific fields, I remember having at that age, maybe 5-6yo a scrapbook, full of photos of the fungus-forays I took my father out into the woods on, well, he did the actual taking, I did the foraying and teaching, first photographing, identifying, sporeprinting, then scrapbooking the various hauls of fungi I appropriated, then as I got a little older, cooking for dinner (breaded and fried giant puffball, fried larch bolete (Suillus sp.), wild oyster fungi, cep, and in the past, shaggy ink cap (Coprinus comatus) being firm favourites, although I lost my taste for the latter)
Interests include chemistry of all flavours, although I am not, I will admit, a particularly expert chemist, I am just a dedicated one, not a talented one, largely an autodidact (or should I say, autiedidact
, being spesh I am certain has a large part to play in that), botany, and neurobiology, with specific interests in psychoactive substances, and of late, also in cognitive neuroscience and nootropic drugs.Also of late, I am beginning to devour Ebooks on genetic engineering, although this interest is in its infancy, and much equipment needs to be built, and study needs to be firmly implanted into my skull before I am ready to pursue it to the degree I wish, with a view to transgenic organisms tailored to produce such compounds as I may wish, and possibly also to detect the presence of target compounds using fluorescent marker genes linked to a gene whos encoded enzyme/protein needs said target compound as a substrate to function.
One thing I do refuse to do though in the course of my studies, is use animals in any way whatsoever that there is even the slightest possibility of causing suffering, taking of small skin/dermal tissue samples, of DNA, or blood samples, or doing something such as expressing a compound via an animal source, such as proteins from transgenic animal milk or cultured tissue, that I am willing to do, but anything like animal activity-guided bioassay, if it isn't already known to pose no real risk of suffering for the animal involved, tox screening, LD:50 determination, or the in my opinion abominable practise of inducing pain to test analgesics, drilling holes in heads, or the odious lab techie euphemism 'sacrificing', that shit just will not fly in any lab I run. Absofuckinglutely not.
Although some day, as practise, breeding some phosphorescent lab rats or fish would be fun, if the in vitro work can be done without inflicting distress.
Other bits and pieces:
Currently I am striving to fix a nasty memory problem, which seems to have been getting slowly worse to a degree, although I am told, reassuringly, by my little sis, that it isn't getting massively worse very quickly, is still debilitating, characterised by a lack of attention span, marked impairment of short-term and working memory, and also very large deficit in consolidating memories from short to longterm, I'l lose what I was saying midway through a sentence sometimes, or wait for somebodys reply, and have to ask what I was talking about, or put things where they shouldn't live, deodorant in the fridge, milk in random cupboards and such shit, it all gets made a ton worse by lack of sleep or stress.
I think it was in part cause by an illadvised love affair several years back with barbs, ended up chowing my way through a fuckton of barbital and being forced to withdraw in the joint with completely inadequate treatment, several weeks of ensuing delirious incoherency after I ODed, got narked on for posession by some upstart paramedic snitching fuck, and some stuff in my posession, long forgotten about from my childhood, unrelated to my scientific pursuits and labware, were used as justification for chemophobic nazi-ism (although I never was charged with any drug offense, despite the large and well equipped personal pharmaceutical arsenal at the time)
Of course I only found out later that at least some barbs are capable of non-covalently forming a pseudo-irreversible, or at least very stable longterm complex with AMPA type glutamate receptors, stabilising said receptors in a glutamate-bound, desensitised state, thus impairing LTP and the accompanying learning and memory capacity that this kind of synaptic plasticity is vital for.
Now I am on the way to rebuilding my life, that period is over and done with, although its changed me, and left its marks below the surface, my memory is utter shite at the moment, although I finally managed to get my helpful, but somewhat frustrated GP, who is pretty good, but is out of his depth when the neurochemical machinations are broken down and used to justify a suggestion for possibly intervention thereaways, at least when it gets into much detail, to refer me to a memory specialist (who I saw once a year or more ago, once, and who then immediately discharged me, with a blank journal in hand and a bucketload of resentment)
Just recently started taking huperzine A, a cholinesterase inhibitor derived from a species of chinese clubmoss, and thus far, minor muscular fasiculation here and there occasionally and unpleasant but not physically threatening elevation of heart rate aside, has been an absolute lifesaver, for the motivation problems, and short term memory/brain fog, and it even helps with the depression accompanying my current gloom and doom mood at losing my memory, perhaps due to its NMDA antagonism?
Ok, thats me done, its good to be here, I like it thus far, friendly vibe to the place.
Consider me the lastest worker wasp to the colony.
and I also ended up suffering chest pains, the normal 1000mg capsules work wonders for me! After noticing these effects I Googled to see if I was the only one and found there actually has been studies that prove this to be factual! Before even looking at the study I could have stated for certain in my case, it is effective at improving my short term memory. I would recommend including that into your rebuilding process! As you cant go too wrong it is great for your heart and lowers cholesterol, anyway,
