Come on, Jimmy, Come on, Jimmy, suck it down for Sally!

I am going to download these. I enjoy soothing, ambient sounds. I wonder if they come in "Geoffrey".

Oh great, not another panic over electronic music. Here comes the RAVE Act again! And just how do these parents reconcile this with all of the New Age music that they listened to back in the '80s?

I do a lot of ambient music myself, and I can tell you that the biggest hazard from listening to it is falling asleep. And of course that's not always a bad thing, especially for those of us who have trouble sleeping. Yes, it's true that flashing lights and repetitive sounds can sometimes seizures in epileptics. But, the thing is, those people already have a problem -- I'm not making fun of them, just pointing out that they know already that there are certain kinds of stimuli that they have to avoid. Lots of psychological experiments were done on this back in the 1960s, and they never succeeded in producing any kind of mental disturbance in people who weren't already diagnosed as epileptics.

It doesn't surprise me that there's a kids' underground that advertises it as being like a drug. I recall Pop Rocks being touted the same way by the underground, and before that, there were candy cigarettes. These didn't lead to massive hard drug use, any more than that "Lulu had a steamboat" song resulted in everyone joining death cults. Kids like to feel grown-up and daring. We used to mix Sprite with orange juice and then pretend to be drunk. I'll admit it is slightly disturbing to see the words "heroin" and "crack" come up, but I guess that's the literary currency today.

I'll have to take a listen to the stuff this evening -- can't stream audio at work. I'm guessing that what I'm going to hear is badly assembled clips done with Fruity Loops by some 13-year-old.

I don't remember if it was on this site or another one, but someone pointed out that every time something new gains popularity, there are people who are going to scream about it ruining our youth and bringing down society in general. Rock & roll, television, the internet, hula hoops, whatever.

And yet here we are, bumbling along as usual.

This new thing? No big whoop.

"They sell audio files ("doses") that supposedly mimic the effects of alcohol and marijuana."

So what's the big deal? We've been listening to the Doobie Brothers for years.

I can't believe I'm the first one to make that joke here...

Really, though, this latest bit of hysteria has to qualify for the Stupidest Thing I've Heard This Week, and believe me, I get to hear some stupid stuff.

Speaking of the Doobie Brothers, does anyone else remember the song they used to sing during one of those Romper Room type kid shows?

Well, I do! It was meant to show kids how to do the right thing with do-bee's and don't bee's, and it went a little something like this:

Buzz, buzz, doo-bee-do
Buzz, buzz, doo-bee-do
That's all there is to it. that's the way you do it
The doo-be, doo-be, doo-be dance!

My goodness, they were encouraging little potheads even back then.

OK yeah this is waaaay stupid. But I listen to Kim Kommando and find her always reasonable. What I read she's really saying that whether this "binaural" crap is real or not, it does give you an opportunity to talk to your kid about why many people are so eager to try out anything that they think will get them high (be it music or drugs or glue or spray paint), and whether they want to be those sort of people. Flame away, but I have a 15 year old son and any reason to talk about these topics is welcome - even if it's to jointly make fun of others!

If this *really* worked then, sure, we'd have to pay attention. Gods forbid one of these come on when you're driving and have your iPod playing on shuffle and make you trip your ass off. We really don't need the world to morph into the set of Inception while behind the wheel, do we?

Where it could become absurd is if they then outlawed any audio equipment in the car. DUMB! But probable. NPR is the only thing that keeps me from killing someone when I drive; I argue with the people on the shows, not the people on the road.

So this is nonsense, agreed.

But DO PLEASE LET ME HIGHLY RECOMMEND/URGE/DEMAND you pick up the early 1990s novel science fiction novel, Snow Crash.

It was amazingly great then, it is getting slightly dated, but it did predict and change much of our future. Predict and change in that Google Earth and Second Life were created in response to, or as homages to Snow Crash.

It is getting slightly dated, but it is a wonderful novel. And for some fun, the unabridged audiobook version of this is one of the better audiobooks you can listen to, especially the first chapter.

And yes, reprogramming brains via secret audio or visual inputs plays a giant role. But there is a far more complex and intriguing explanation given.

And let us all beseech any higher authority or deity you may believe in that Hollywood never attempts to turn this into a movie.

Snow Crash was indeed a very good read. As for making it into a movie, Don't Put Ideas Into Their Heads, jerry! Oops, too late.

How'd have thought it would get so bad that it would no longer be safe to not leave your house?

But on a more serious note, does anyone else find the irony of anti drug religious people given most major religions were started by drug induced experiences?

Er, I think that movie was called Max Headroom... And actually, it's been a pretty common sci-fi theme since the 1950s.

Jerry - it's on my list!! I am working through Ian McDonald's Desolation Road right now.

But in all fairness, parents, don't check out completely either. You DO need to worry. Or else this will happen:

http://gawker.com/5589103/how-the-internet-beat-up-an-11+year+old-girl

PS: Did anyone hear of Encyclopedia Dramatica before? AWESOME.

Nothing is new, Cousin Dave. Nothing. It's still a good story. I enjoyed Max Headroom too, but f-f-ffor tot-totally diffifififerent reasons.

Snowcrash one of my top ten fav sci fi novels.

You talking about blipverts from Max Headroom. Next will be heads exploding all over the place.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blipvert

@gretchen - if she'd done what she did off the net, she'd have been beaten senseless at school.

And she'd have learned.

Now, she's just another internet verb.

It can get rid of my gray hair?? Oh, man, I gotta get me some of that! (just as soon as I stop laughing)

My friend posted this on fb yesterday and I almost peed my pants! As for teachable moments, this is a fine example of "Look what the american media does to distract you from the real issues and put all kinds of stoopid in your head." Thanks Mom! Super mentoring!

Speaking of stupid and abcnews.

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/atheists-conduct-de-baptisms/story?id=11109379

Yes, binaural (or "stereo" as the kids say) sound files can alter your mood. But there's a more serious threat to your chilluns, and it's called Dihydrogen Monoxide, and it just might kill your family:
http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html

Check yoself before you wreck yoself.

F.

My biggest concern would be that my kids would waste money on some shitty electronica that they could have made for themselves on a PC.

Back in 1985, in OMNI magazine, an article on future military tech suggested stereo phones in helmets. Left ear playing 300 Hz, Right ear at 330 Hz, the brain would percieve the difference of 30 Hz, attune to this inaudible frequency and... go to sleep. It was silly, because soldiers in the field can go to sleep at any time without such an aid, but it's a familair tech.

(And yeah, all my friends tell me to read Snow Crash.)

Along the line of Thag Jones's post, you might want to so a search for the 'hemi-sync' technology of the late Robert Monroe. (And Monroe's books are quite interesting -- out-of-body work... )

CDs of 'hemi-sync' (which is tradmarked under some spelling I think) go for around $20 at new age conventions, and they can indeed induce different states of consciousness, including helping you sleep.

High school kids are often easily excited, shall we say... I think the hysteria is just that.

"Practially every one of the top 40 records being played on every radio station in
the United States is a communication to the children to take a trip, to cop out, to
groove. The psychedelic jackets on the record albums have their own hidden symbols
and messages as well as the lyrics to all the top rock songs and they all sing the
same refrain: It's fun to take a trip, put acid in your veins."

Anyone interested in this sort of thing should also check out a comic called Doctor Sleepless.