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☆ VC Ford Smith used psychedelics and biohacking to pull himself out of a deep depression. Here's why he's backing more startups in the space.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

His experience inspired him to focus his investment firm on backing psychedelic startups. But VCs, including Smith, are still betting big on startups in the space that seem especially promising. It wasn't until he tried psychedelics — including Ayahuasca, a plant-derived hallucinogenic drink, and iboga, an African root bark — that his mental health finally improved. Energized by his own experience, Smith reworked his cannabis-focused VC firm Ultranative into a one-stop-shop for psychedelic startups. Smith and Ultranative are far from the only investors pumping money into psychedelic startups.

Persons: Ford Smith, wean, South America —, Ayahuasca, Ultranative, Smith, didn't, Lyme, psychedelics, Rick Doblin, he's Organizations: innovating, Venture, Anonymous, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, pharma, FDA, PsyMed Ventures, Lionheart Ventures, Iter Investments, Neo Kuma Ventures, Therapeutics Locations: Austin, South America, U.S, Oregon, Colorado, psychedelics, Texas, Los Angeles, Massachusetts

☆ Fact Check-False Pope Francis quote about euthanizing to fight climate change
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Pope Francis did not say that people with disabilities and alcoholism should be euthanized to fight climate change, contrary to posts shared online. The posts include the headline: “Pope Francis Says Alcoholics, Autistic and Disabled People Should Be Euthanized To ‘Fight Climate Change,’” which belongs to an article published by The People’s Voice (archive.li/Q2vMJ) on July 28, 2023. “We must accompany death, not provoke death or help any kind of suicide,” Pope Francis said at a general audience on Feb. 9, 2022, in reference to terminally ill patients in Italy. “We confirm that this is fake news,” said Trevor Chueu, a representative for the World Economic Forum, in an email to Reuters. Pope Francis has not called for people with disabilities or alcohol use disorders to be euthanized.

Persons: Pope Francis, “ Pope Francis Says, “ Pope Francis, Francis, ” Pope Francis, “, ”, Trevor Chueu, Read Organizations: People’s, Reuters, World Economic, “ Locations: Italy

☆ Wall Street starts fretting about US debt again after months of easy stock-market gains
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Joseph Wilkins | George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Stocks have racked up easy gains over the past few months thanks to AI and cooling inflation. But investors are suddenly worried about debt again after Fitch slashed its credit rating for the US. The last time this happened was 2011 – and the S&P 500 took six months to recover its losses. Get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in business, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley — delivered daily. In response, the S&P 500 dropped 6.5% and took a further six months to recover its losses.

Persons: Fitch, –, It's, Stocks, AJ Bell's, Laith Khalaf, Fitch's, Ray Dalio Organizations: Service, Poor's, House Locations: Wall, Silicon, –, Washington –, Canada

☆ Jelly Roll’s ‘Save Me’ and the Music of Addiction and Recovery - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-23 | by ( Crispin Sartwell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

In a country riddled with crises — the opioid epidemic, mass incarceration, the mental health crisis and gun violence among them — Jelly Roll’s music is an expression not just of musical tastes, but also of a desperate national hunger for healing and recovery. Disclosure: Jelly Roll’s music makes me cry, too. I lost a brother and two stepbrothers to addiction and mental illness: Bob was killed in a drug-motivated shooting in 1984. These are the sorts of experiences that Jelly Roll is bringing to the charts: very common devastating experiences of betrayal and survivor’s guilt and despair that, despite their prevalence, are not usually made public. And as the ABC News Studios documentary “Jelly Roll: Save Me” makes clear, he is still struggling.

Persons: Rollmania, Bob, Adam, Jim, Jelly Roll’s, Morgan Wallen’s, Wallen’s, ”, “, David Allan Coe, Nan Goldin Organizations: ABC News Studios Locations: Nashville

☆ Ukraine's counteroffensive is facing off against Wagner's successor group, Storm Z, on the outskirts of Bakhmut
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Ukraine's counteroffensive is running into Wagner's successor group, Storm Z, in Bakhmut. The group is mostly conscripts, reservists, and convicts, The Washington Post said. Storm Z, however, doesn't consist of mercenaries like Wagner, which defined itself with a culture of extreme violence. Ukraine has said that Storm Z shows extremely low combat capability, according to a press release translated by Pravada. Wagner troops declared victory in Bakhmut — a once-bustling city now a ghost town left in ruins — in May.

Persons: Storm Z, Wagner, Pravada, Bakhmut —, Yevgeny Prigozhin's Organizations: Washington Post, Service, Ukraine, Storm, Wagner Group, Main Intelligence, Ministry of Defense, Russian Locations: Bakhmut, Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Russian, —, Russia

☆ ChatGPT’s responses to suicide, addiction, sexual assault crises raise questions in new study
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

And regulators could help monitor that such responses offer accurate and reliable information and resources. They’re underutilized already,” said John Ayers, an author of the study and a behavioral scientist at the University of California, San Diego. He said that now, while ChatGPT is still in development, is the time for public health experts and regulators to join forces with the chatbot’s developers to help curate responses to medical questions. The chatbot provided resources in two responses to a question about addiction, two responses for questions related to interpersonal violence and one response to a mental health-related question. “ChatGPT consistently provided evidence-based answers to public health questions, although it primarily offered advice rather than referrals,” the researchers wrote in their study.

Persons: They’re underutilized, ”, John Ayers, ChatGPT, “, –, ” Ayers, ” ChatGPT, “ ChatGPT, Ayers, Dr, Mike Hogarth, Sanjay Gupta, David Asch, Asch, ” Asch, he’d, Deidre McPhillips Organizations: CNN, JAMA, University of California, UC San Diego, Anonymous, Mental Health Services Administration National, Prevention, UC San Diego School of Medicine, Eating Disorders Association, CNN Health, University of Pennsylvania, Penn Medicine Center, Health Care Innovation Locations: San Diego, United States

☆ A porn 'Zoom-bomber' hijacked an online conference with a Federal Reserve governor
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A virtual meeting with a Federal Reserve governor was canceled after being "Zoom-bombed", per Reuters. The intruder showed porn images on the call, which had more than 200 participants. The hacker displayed the images a few minutes before the conference was due to start. In another incident in 2020, trolls joined Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and told participants in recovery that "alcohol is soooo good." The rise of Zoom meetings and subsequent Zoom-bombing during the pandemic led the company to place a 90-day freeze on new features in April 2020 while it focused on bolstering the platform's security.

☆ Exclusive: The FBI's McGonigal labyrinth
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +28 min

She never saw McGonigal pay. "The notion that Mr. Deripaska is some proxy for the Russian state is a blatant lie," Ruben Bunyatyan, a spokesperson for Deripaska, told Insider by email. McGonigal was not charged with espionage, and although there is currently no evidence that McGonigal committed espionage, an FBI source told Insider that the investigation is ongoing. At the FBI, McGonigal racked up a string of big cases and promotions. "He said he needed to make more money," Guerriero told Insider.

☆ Vanguard's global investment expert explains what traders are doing to kick off 2023 and how markets are reacting to the Federal Reserve's policy tightening.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Today, I'm sharing my conversation with Fiona Greig of Vanguard's Investment Strategy Group. Fiona Greig, global head of investor research and policy for Vanguard VanguardFiona Greig is the global head of investor research and policy for Vanguard's Investment Strategy Group. This suggests a "stay the course" posture, meaning yes there's been volatility, but the longer term outlook they have for the stock market is stable. There's some lower expectations for stock market returns in the short term, but we see pretty clear expectations and optimism for returns in the next 12 months, and even 10 years. The firm's strategists said these companies pay out a healthy dividend and can offset stock market losses in a slow-growth economic landscape.

☆ Billionaire investor Ray Dalio slams the US debt ceiling – and compares politicians who support raising it to binge-drinking alcoholics
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bridgewater Associates co-CIO Ray Dalio has slammed the US debt limit as "a farce". "It works like a bunch of alcoholics who write laws to enforce drinking limits," he said. "We all know that there is no real debt limit because what is called a debt limit never actually limits the debt," the Bridgewater Associates CIO wrote in a LinkedIn post published Wednesday. Congress has acted 78 separate times to extend the debt limit since 1960, according to the Treasury Department. Read more: A US debt default or even a near-nonpayment could plunge the economy into recession, top Goldman Sachs economist says

☆ Ketamine is being sold as a depression wonder drug. For some, it's making everything worse.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Anna Silman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +42 min

The infusions at the ketamine clinic in his West Texas hometown were a Christmas gift from his grandmother. About five years ago, more and more of my friends started using ketamine recreationally. IV ketamine treatment centers charging $400 to $2,000 an infusion popped up all over the country. "Ketamine used as directed in an appropriate clinical setting very rarely leads to any dependence," Mindbloom says on its website. Like Nadia, most of the people I interviewed said when they started using ketamine, they didn't think it was possible to become dependent on it.

☆ I lied on my résumé and got the job that kickstarted my entire career. I don't regret it, but I wouldn't do it again.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Fortesa Latifi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

She had no experience, so when a music video producer role came up, she faked her résumé. When I was 29, I got a job producing a music video for a country music star, based on a résumé I sent in that showed I was tailor-made for this job. I brought a proposed budget for the music video that I had almost completely copied from a budget I found online. Lying on my résumé worked out for me, but I wouldn't do it in 2023Even though my résumé was an exaggeration, I did a great job producing that music video. Having that credit to my name helped me get my next job, producing a pilot for VH1, which snowballed into other opportunities in my career.

☆ Solomon Peña, New Mexico GOP candidate, visited homes of Democratic politicians to dispute election prior to shootings, officials say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Deon J. Hampton | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

A failed New Mexico state House candidate visited the homes of local Democratic leaders to vehemently dispute his election loss weeks before he allegedly orchestrated a series of shootings at the residences, elected officials said. “Peña came to my house right after the (November) election. Police spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos said at a news conference early Monday evening that Peña alleged his defeat was the result of election fraud. Peña lost his state House challenge to incumbent Democrat Miguel P. Garcia by 5,679 to 2,033, or 74% to 26%. He took his case to three county commissioners and a state senator — some whose homes were targeted in the shootings — to no avail, Gallegos said.

YouTube star Andrew Callaghan apologized and said he’d be seeking treatment Sunday after two women came forward accusing him of sexual coercion and sexual assault. Callaghan, an independent journalist known for YouTube shows “All Gas No Brakes” and “Channel 5,” spoke for over four minutes in a video on his Instagram page. He told followers that he had some “serious work” to do on himself in light of the allegations against him. “Also, not to blame alcohol, but I truly believe that alcohol was a contributing factor to my poor decision making. “I thought that, you know, going home from the bar alone made you a loser,” he said Sunday.

☆ Comedian Andy Dick accused of public intoxication, failing to register as a sex offender
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Tim Stelloh | Tim Stelloh Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

Actor and comedian Andy Dick was accused Friday of public intoxication and failing to register as a sex offender, authorities said. Jail records show he was booked just before 1 a.m. and released roughly two hours later. An attorney who represented Dick in the case, Daniel Kapelovitz, called the case “totally bogus” and said at the time that his client is often falsely accused. In a separate case, Dick was accused of groping a ride-share driver in April 2018 in West Hollywood. As part of the case, Dick was required to register as a sex offender and complete 52 Alcoholics Anonymous sessions, among other terms, according to the Times.

☆ I started a distillery and spend a lot of time selling my spirits directly to consumers inside liquor stores. Here's what I've learned about how you buy booze.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Jen Glantz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

My co-founder and I started a distillery company in 2017, to revive authentic flavor in spirits with local grains. Here are some of my biggest takeaways from spending hours getting to know shoppers inside liquor stores. My co-founder and I started Fox and Seeker Distilled Goods, a distillery company, in 2017, with the main goal of reviving authentic flavor in distilled spirits using only local grains. Since we're a relatively new brand, I spend Thursday through Saturday in different liquor stores promoting our spirits. Because I spend more than 15 hours a week inside stores, I see a lot.

☆ United Airlines to pay $305,000 to a Buddhist pilot who refused to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

United Airlines will pay $305,000 to a Buddhist pilot who refused to attend AA on religious grounds. United agreed to accommodate staff from non-Christian faiths in its program in the future. A step to regaining the certification in United's HIMS occupational substance abuse treatment program involves attending AA meetings. United rejected his suggestion of using the Buddhism-based peer support group Refuge Recovery as an alternative, the commission said. To resolve the lawsuit, United will pay the pilot $305,000 in back pay and damages and reinstate him into its HIMS program while allowing him to attend a non-12-step peer recovery program.

☆ Matthew Perry book on rehab and addiction shows the importance of keeping at it
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Keith Humphreys | Keith Humphreys Is The Esther Ting Memorial Professor Of Psychiatry At Stanford University School Of Medicine. He Is On Twitter At | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

“Friends” star Matthew Perry startled many of his fans by announcing that he had been to drug rehab 15 times and spent some $9 million on getting into recovery. And if you’ve tried to beat an addiction 14 times, does a 15th try really make sense? From left, Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, and Matthew Perry in a scene from "Friends". If recovery attempts involve seeking professionally provided addiction treatment, especially those delivered in high-end residential programs, repeated attempts can be financially ruinous. Some other good news: Because of federal legal reforms enacted over the past 15 years, health insurance is much more likely today to pay for some or all of addiction treatment.

☆ The One Where Matthew Perry Writes an Addiction Memoir
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Elisabeth Egan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

I had eight doctors going at the same time,” Perry said. And then I go to this place, and I’m going to take five because I’m going to be there longer. For the record, Perry isn’t a huge fan of secrecy as it pertains to Alcoholics Anonymous, where he sponsors three members. After his extended stay in a Los Angeles hospital, Perry started tapping out his life story on the Notes app on his phone. Sunshine”) before but, “writing a book I had not really thought of before,” he said.

Persons: ” Perry, “, “ I’ve, don’t, ”, Perry isn’t, pickleball, Perry, Sunshine ” Organizations: Anonymous Locations: Palisades, Los Angeles

Bogenschutz and his team specifically set out to test whether or not psilocybin, in addition to sessions of therapy, could cut cravings and help people with alcohol use disorder stay sober. Earlier research from institutions around the world has indicated that psilocybin has the potential to treat a variety of addiction disorders, including alcohol use disorder, opioid use disorder and addiction to smoking. Jon KostasWhen he began the psilocybin trial at age 25, he was consuming almost 23 drinks in a single bender. At the beginning of the first dose sessions, participants were given eye masks and headphones that played classical music. Bogenschutz said the rule of thumb with alcohol addiction treatment is that about one-third of patients who seek treatment will get better.

☆ ‘Groundhog Day’ movie: The Buddhist lifehacker film
▼ + stars: | 2016-02-01 | by ( David G. Allan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

The 1993 film "Groundhog Day" starred Bill Murray. “So I proselytize it without practicing it.”And what an entertaining Buddish proselytization “Groundhog Day” is. ‘Groundhog Day’ is all about karmaOne of the central tenets of Buddhism is that we must continue to reincarnate until we find enlightenment. And many references and motifs that recur in the film support the notion that “Groundhog Day” is Christian rather than Buddhist. ‘Groundhog Day’ is about hopeWhatever spiritual takeaway the film holds for you, it’s an undeniable call for hope.

Persons: “, ”, Edna St, Vincent Millay I’ve, Baltimore’s, Bill Murray, Phil Connors, It’s, Harold Ramis, alberto mier, Danny Rubin, Ramis, Phil reincarnates, Rita, Phil’s, Sisyphus, ” Albert Camus, Camus, Heraclitus, it’s, Phil doesn’t, Phil, Jesus, There’s, “ I’m, Reinhold Niebuhr, Chekhov, Samuel Coleridge, ” It’s, Ralph, It’s George Bailey, ” Phil, Larry Darrell, ., . Somerset Maugham, ” Darrell Organizations: CNN, Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum, Sony Pictures, Zen, Chicago, cnn, Anonymous, . Somerset Locations: he’s

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