Thursday, June 30, 2016

Thursday's 'King of the Road' Adds Some Skateboarding Legends to the Mix

The thing about cross-country skateboarding road trips fueled by booze and debauchery is that they tend to wear people down. On tonight's episode of King of the Road, the exhausted teams get a shot of fresh blood in the form of three skateboarding legends—Bob Burnquist, Tommy Sandoval, and Steve Alba. The Birdhouse team meets up with Burnquist to play around on a five-thousand-foot mega ramp, the Toy Machine boys get some time with Sandoval and his inspirational chest tattoo, and the Chocolate crew does a bit of pool patrol with Alba. Watch a preview of the episode above, and tune into for the full thing tonight on VICELAND.

King of the Roadairs Thursdays at 11 PM on VICELAND.



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Millennials Explain Why They Moved Back in with Their Parents

Still via 'Failure to Launch,' via Paramount Pictures/IMDB

According to a much-hyped Pew report from last month, living with your parents is the new not living with your parents. The percentage of 18- to 34-year-olds who live at home is now the highest it's been since 1940, when the economy was still recovering from the Great Depression.

Sure, there are no breadlines today, and shantytowns aren't springing up outside every city, but the economy is still rough for young people. Unemployment rates have remained high for the past few graduating classes, rent is climbing in cities like San Francisco and New York, and those who took out student loans are forking over an average of $351 a month to pay them back. Moving into your childhood bedroom is one obvious, if awkward, solution.

Living with your parents comes at a certain price, though. The rent might be free, but the lack of freedom and privacy can be suffocating. There's also the stigma—so much so that many of the people I asked to interview for this story declined to speak to me about their living arrangements (including all of the women, who are much less likely to live at home than men in the first place). In most cases, they told me they didn't want to be perceived as lazy degenerates, though they didn't phrase it quite that way.

Other millennials, however, are more than willing to reap the benefits of free rent, free food, and free laundry. What follows are the accounts of several twentysomething men who live with their parents about why they moved back and what it's like to be roommates with their mothers and fathers.

Kenny Sexauer, 23, San Diego

After I graduated, I spent a few months abroad and then I got a job in the Washington, DC area. I was pretty unhappy with the work situation, so I made the decision to leave and move in with my dad while I studied for the LSAT. I've been here for about six months now.

My dad has an RV in the backyard, which has become my domicile. It's a functional vehicle—he takes it on trips sometimes—but mostly it's just out there in the backyard. It's not particularly nice, but it gives the illusion of privacy and independence that I wouldn't get if I were living under the same roof as my dad. There's a little kitchenette with running water and a functional stove. There's a sofa that folds out into a bed and a bed over the cab that I use as storage, plus a full-sized mattress in the back with a separate bedroom. There's also a shower and a bathroom that I could use, but I don't, because I don't want to go through the hassle of emptying the septic tank.

I have a pretty good relationship with both of my parents, but there's more tension with my dad now. I haven't lived with him since high school; even when I came back to visit during college breaks, I would stay with my mom, so he's not used to having me around. Our sources of conflict are really bizarre. Like, I neglect to hang the bathmat up in the specific way that he likes it, which causes this absurd level of anger from him. I'm just kind of like, "The biggest problem is a bathmat not hanging in your special way? I think we're doing all right."

When I first moved in, I kept asking myself: How am I going to frame the RV in a way that makes me not seem like a total degenerate? I try to explain my living situation as a funny, cool thing. Usually people are like, "Oh, cool," and then they come over and see it and they're like, "Wow, I thought this was going to be so awful, and it's really not that bad!"

There have been situations where I have a young woman visiting and it's 2:30 AM and she has to go to the bathroom. Like I said, I don't use the bathroom in the RV, so I have to escort her inside and keep the dog quiet and not wake my dad up. The other night, a girl stayed over and she had to leave kind of early in the morning. I didn't really want to cut through the house, so I took her through my back gate to went around to the front of the house. My dad was watering plants out in the front. And he just waved. My parents are pretty cool about that kind of stuff—it's not a big deal for a girl to stay over—but it's still awkward when you have a 7 AM lawn-watering moment with my dad after spending the night.

I have a firm move-out date at the beginning of August, when I'm starting my first year of law school. I'll be living in a studio, and I'm excited to have my own place. But it's not like my situation now is terrible. I have virtually no expenses, and live pretty much for free. That's nothing to complain about.

John Iwry, 24, Potomac, Maryland

I've been living with my parents for a little over half a year. I started a research job the summer after graduation and was living near campus for a while, but when I started studying for grad school, I moved back home.

The perks are obvious: free laundry, free meals, free rent. We live close to the city, so my friends are a stone's throw away. Honestly, there haven't really been any drawbacks so far. Privacy isn't a problem. I go out and sleep out pretty often, but it's nice being able to return somewhere quiet when I please (being an only child helps).

My parents are really great. In fact, they were a big part of the reason I chose to move back. The odds are high that I'll eventually move somewhere other than where I grew up, and this might be my last chance to spend quality time with the people who raised me.

I know some people hate the idea of moving back because they think it symbolizes a regression back to their teenage selves. That sounds to me like a pride thing. I've heard people say that living at home doesn't give you the independence to come into your own as a person, but that's a cliché. Independence has more to do with your character and choices than with where you live.


Still from 'Step Brothers,' via Sony Pictures/IMDB

Jon Halpern, 24, Pittsburgh

I started my own business as a sophomore in college. By the time I was a senior, I was commuting back and forth every week from Washington DC, where I went to school, and Pittsburgh, where my business partner lived and where I grew up. There's strong entrepreneurial community here in Pittsburgh: Google has two campuses near the area, Uber is doing a lot of work nearby, Apple and Facebook are opening offices here. There's a thriving start-up community here.

For me, I didn't really see a reason to pay rent for an apartment when I had the opportunity to save up money and live at home. I'd rather spend that money on my business than on rent. My dad also happens to be an investor and one of the board members of my company, so living together gives us more time to connect on things related to the company as well.

My childhood house is about five or ten minutes away from our office. I have a younger sister who is in college right now, so she's here for the summer, but the rest of the year it's just me and my parents. I'm still in the bedroom I grew up in, though I've made some updates. I lived in an off-campus apartment when I was in college, so I brought all of that furniture to my bedroom here, to make it feel a little more "adult."

My mom is the queen of laundry. That's one of the big perks. She cooks for me sometimes, too. And I'm pretty close with both of my parents. I don't know if this living arrangement would work if we didn't get along so well.

Honestly, I love the situation I'm in right now, but I do have plans to move out in the next year or so. My biggest priority is continuing saving money and seeing my company grow, but at the same time, I eventually want to have the independence of living on my own. But there's no rush.

DAN STEWART, 25, LOS ANGELES

I moved back in with my parents right after I graduated college in 2014. I was broke and didn't want to live paycheck to paycheck, and my parents live really close to the office where I work.

It's a six-bedroom house so there's plenty of space for all of us. My older sister also lives at home; she's 28. She went to law school at Pepperdine, which is down the street, and she lived at home all during law school—so she's been here for five years now. Subconsciously, her living here might have had an effect on me moving home too, but honestly I'd probably prefer if she wasn't there. I have to share a bathroom with her.

I'm at work all day and then I usually go play ball or go to the gym at night, so I'm not home that much. Most of the time, I do have my privacy, but there have been times where I wished I had more space to myself—like when my girlfriend comes over, or if I want to smoke weed in the house. But it's like, is that moment of privacy worth $1,000 in rent?

In college, it would've been such a nightmare living with my parents. I was really into partying. But even if I did live out right now, I would do the same exact shit there as I do here (minus maybe smoking weed in the living room). If I did move out, I'd probably get a studio, since I honestly don't know who else I'd live with. I just can't stomach paying $1,400 to live in a room when I could live in a house for free.

I do sometimes think, When am I going to move out?and I honestly don't know. I don't have any immediate need or urgency to get out of the house right now. At the same time, I don't plan on being here until I'm 30.

Follow Arielle Pardes on Twitter.



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Smokeables: How to Make a Pipe Out of a Banana

We've all been there—that unfortunate moment when you have weed you really want to smoke, but lack the necessary equipment to get the job done. Most people reach for the apple in this scenario, but a banana can also be easily MacGyvered into a great makeshift smoking device.

On this episode of Smokeables, watch as our resident weed expert Abdullah Saeed explains how you can transform your breakfast into a pipe in just a few quick steps.

Our lawyer asked us to remind you that cannabis is a controlled substance in most of the United States and throughout much of the world. As awesome as Abdullah's banana bowl is, unless you live in a place where marijuana has been legalized please don't try this at home.



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Europe: The Final Countdown: How Young Brits Living in Spain Feel About Britain Leaving the EU

Photo by Paul Geddis

This article originally appeared on VICE Spain

There are currently about 300,000 British people living in Spain. The adorably orange retirees spending their golden years on the Spanish coast might be the most famous of that lot, but there's also lots of young people enjoying the Southern European climate all year 'round. Young people who were able to build their lives in Spain thanks to Britain being part of the European Union.

We spoke to a group of young Brits who live in Spain to hear their thoughts on the results of the referendum and how they see the future.

Natasha Drewnicki from Bristol, England

Natasha moved to Spain straight after graduating from uni in 2008.

VICE: What do you think of the result of the referendum? Did you expect it?Natasha Drewnicki: Waking up to Brexit was a rollercoaster of emotions. I was utterly devastated and I cried—firstly because of the realization that we'd be turning our back to Europe and secondly because of the realization that there are so many stupid people in my own country. It seems many people voted to leave the EU out of revenge, because they felt abandoned by Cameron. The far right preyed on these people. The campaign became so polluted by lies and childish games between political parties that—beyond restrictions on immigration—most Leave voters didn't even know what they were really voting for in the end.

Were you in favor of the referendum?
The whole thing was a farce—just another one of Cameron's poor attempts try to appease the far right. I tried to register a few months ago but was not on the electoral register, when living in the UK—I have lived abroad for most of my adult life. So, irritatingly, I wasn't allowed to vote from Barcelona.

How do you think the Brexit will affect you?
I have a NIE—a Spanish tax identification number—and I'm integrated into Spanish society. I speak Spanish and in two years I'll be eligible for Spanish citizenship. Hopefully, by the time they've triggered Article 50 and they're nearing the end of the two-year negotiation deadline, I'll have started the application process for a passport here. It's an unspeakable relief to me that it could be an option to stay here and in EU territory.

Did you talk about the Brexit with other Brits in Spain?
Yeah, we called June 23 "Doomsday." I spoke to so many strangers on the street—we were united by our sadness and anger, above all.

Heather Cameron from Balloch, Scotland

Heather has lived in Spain for six-and-a-half years.

VICE: Did you anticipate the results of the referendum?
Heather Cameron: No, I'm still in shock. Even when the polls said that it was close, I was sure the 'Leave' camp wouldn't win. I was very complacent—even arrogant, in that sense.

Do you think your situation will change after Britain leaves the EU?
I know they won't send me home tomorrow, but I do feel like I'm not fully allowed to stay. What happens if I get fired? Will the Spanish government allow me to use their public health system or any basic service? If I leave for a while, could I come back? I had questions like that along during the campaign and those feelings became stronger last week. They couldn't give any answers to either camp, and they still don't know.

Being Scottish, how do you feel about the scenario of Scotland possibly staying in the EU?
I'm really interested to see what Scotland does. During the campaign for the Scottish referendum the people who wanted us to remain in the UK warned us that if we left the UK, we'd be out of the EU too. We stayed in the UK and now we're out of the EU against our will. If we have to declare ourselves independent from the UK to be able to remain in the EU, I'll have no problem with that. I've been thinking for a while that Scotland doesn't really have a say in British politics and this referendum just proves it.

Stephen Collins from Derry, Northern Ireland

Stephen has lived in Spain for six years.

VICE: Were you in favor of the referendum? Did you vote?
Stephen Collins: I voted to remain—I wasn't in favor of the referendum at all. It was just one of David Cameron's electoral campaign promises to secure the support of the extreme right within his party. I don't usually vote but I decided it was close enough that I should do my part. As usual, my vote didn't matter much, especially since I come from Northern Ireland. Our future—like Scotland's—is being decided by England without any regard for how it affects us.

Do you think a Brexit will change your situation?
It won't affect me immediately in terms of my legal situation in Spain. As a citizen of Northern Ireland I have a right to an Irish passport, so I can still live and work here as an EU citizen—for now. In the longer term, I'm worried about the state of Europe, and about the effects the decision could have on the Northern Ireland peace process if they decide to enforce the border between the North and the South again.

Farhan Haq from London, England

Farhan has lived in Spain for two years.

VICE: What do you think of the results?
Farhan Haq: It mostly proves how deep the ignorance of the British people runs—especially the older generation. The propaganda used by politicians and the press to push them towards a Brexit vote has been disgusting.

Did you vote?
I did not vote, as I generally don't vote. I followed it and was vocal about my disappointment on social media.

How do you think it will affect you?
I don't think this referendum will change anything, as the new Prime Minister will have to activate Article 50 for us to leave the EU. Based on the fall in the currency markets and the uncertainty it's causing, it will result in a recession for the UK. I think the new Prime Minister will ask for another election and the UK will decide to remain. In the extreme event we do leave the EU, I will need a visa to work and travel within Europe, which will be a hassle. I think the only plus would be that paying my debts off in the UK will happen faster and any money sent home to my family will be worth more.

Rosie Bond from Oxfordshire, England

Rosie's the one on the right

Rosie has lived in Spain for two-and-a-half years.

VICE: Did you expect these results?
Rosie Bond: When it dawned on me that we'd lost, I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. The way I see the world as well as my own future has changed dramatically. I feel like I don't have any control over the situation and that my rights as a European citizen have been snatched away from me. It's made me see Britain in a different way as well—it's not the kind of country I want to be from.

Were you in favor of the referendum?
Not at all. It's too complicated an issue to simplify into a yes/no-question. I also think that the nature of the issue made it easy for Leave campaigners to play on people's fears, prejudices, and nostalgia, while the Remain campaign didn't make it clear enough what we gain from the EU.

Ben Hewison from Newcastle, England

Ben has lived in Spain on and off for six years.

VICE: What do you think of the results?
Ben Hewison: I'm shocked, worried, and just a little embarrassed about the result. I didn't expect the UK to vote Leave at all. But then again, the anger was very palpable—even if I feel it was misdirected, and I find the idea of casting a protest vote in a referendum utterly stupid. It's just foolish to turn in on oneself, to reject cooperation, unity, and working to make things better. I get the anger about the EU, but I was raised to try and change things and not to run away from problems.

How do you think it will affect you?
I have no idea about my situation. I have lived here long enough that I think I should be able to stay, but I'm looking into getting a new European passport if possible—my great-grandmother was Italian, so I'm hopeful.

Mark Dix, from Southport, England

Mark has lived in Spain for 11 years.

VICE: Did you expect the vote to go this way?
Mark Dix: I didn't expect that result and neither did my friends. It seems that even the politicians didn't expect it. Now we're fucked, have no clear strategy, and there's a lot of people Bregretting their vote. We lost the opportunity of showing solidarity with the continent.

Did you vote?
I handed in my vote a bit late at the post office, so I don't know if I voted or not. I stayed up with some friends on referendum night—at a party, celebrating Saint John's night. There were a lot of expats there too and we all agreed that a Brexit victory would be no surprise, since the Conservatives won the two past elections.

Do you know anyone who is happy with the results?
No, but I don't know anyone who voted for the Spanish Partido Popular either, and look who won last weekend's Spanish elections.



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All the Questions 'Game of Thrones' Needs to Answer in Season Seven

Spoilers ahead, etc.

Game of Thrones' sixth season ended with a literally explosive episode that brought a huge number of twists, deaths, and surprises. But in the end, almost all of the main characters who weren't killed sorted themselves into three camps: Team Jon, Team Cersei, and Team Daenerys. Jon has the support of every faction in the North, Cersei rules King's Landing unopposed after killing off all her rivals, and Dany has gobbled up almost every other character and remaining army into an unstoppable force. But peace never lasts on Game of Thrones, alliances are made merely to be ripped apart, and new twists are bound to come up. Here are some major questions to mull over until season seven arrives.

All photos courtesy of HBO

When Will the White Walkers Finally Invade?

Winter is coming... but it's taking its damn time. Game of Thrones's first episode opened with the White Walkers and Ned Stark's ominous warning, yet six seasons later they still haven't reached the Wall, much less invaded Westeros. Given that the show will only have two truncated seasons left, I think safe money is on the White Walkers invading in season seven. However, given all the other storylines that need to be wrapped up, most likely we won't see the White Walkers invade until halfway through the season or possibly not till the last two episodes. The Wall tumbling down would make a pretty killer final shot.

How Will the Wall Come Down?

Like Anton Chekhov said, if you introduce a gigantic ice wall that magically repels zombies and demonic frost elves in the first act, it has to come down in the third. So the question is how? Perhaps Bran will accidentally bring it down when he passes through, now that he has the mark of the Night King on his arm. But it would be pretty silly if Bran was dragged north and trained to be the Three-Eyed Raven just to accidentally knock down the wall.

A more interesting possibility is that the old warhorn that Sam found among the White Walker–killing dragonglass back in season two can bring down the Wall. Perhaps Sam brought it south with him, and perhaps he'll learn about its power in one of the books in the gigantic Citadel library. What evil character would dare blow such a thing though? Perhaps a certain crazy murderous king of Cthulhu-worshipping Vikings, Euron Greyjoy?

Will Cersei Marry Euron?

Throughout the entire show Cersei has fought to rule by her own accord without men telling her what to do, so why would she marry the Westerosi equivalent of Donald Trump? Well, Cersei was just crowned queen of Westeros, a title that a certain Mother of Dragons is coming over to take. By my count, Daenerys has an army of elite Unsullied soldiers, the largest Khalasar of Dothraki screamers the planet has ever seen, half of the Iron Fleet, two of the largest remaining Westeros armies courtesy of Dorne and the Reach, and, oh yeah, three fire-breathing magic dragons.

On the other hand, Cersei has... one zombie knight, some street urchins with kitchen knives, and whatever scraps are left of the Lannister army that spent the last several years fighting a multi-front war. Point being, she needs some allies, ASAP. Euron Greyjoy is a maniac who just wants to watch the world burn, and Cersei is a mad queen who wants to light the flame. Could this be a match made in the seven heavens?

What Will Jon Snow Do When He Learns Who His Real Dad Was?

Jon Snow has already been through a lot. He's been Commander of the Night's Watch, assassinated by his own men, resurrected with magic, and named King in the North. But as the season six finale showed, he still has to learn who he really is: the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. He's lived his whole life thinking of himself as Ned Stark's son. What will he do when he learns—presumably through Bran—that his life has been a lie and he is actually the rightful heir to the Targaryen throne? Perhaps he'll just mope about as he is wont to do, or perhaps he will use the knowledge to team up with (perhaps even marry) Daenerys to get her to bring her dragons north to fight the army of the dead. Yes, Dany is technically Jon's aunt, but remember that the Targaryens married brother to sister for centuries.

What Will Bran Fuck Up?

As I said above, I don't think Bran will be the one to bring down the Wall. However, we know he is going to fuck something up. Bran has been very reckless when time-traveling through the weirwood tree internet, already causing the death of the Three-Eyed Raven and the Children of the Forest by allowing the Night King to burn his mark onto him. Bran seems to believe people in the past can hear him. There's a good chance he will try to tell someone something in the past... only to have it backfire. He'd do well to remember Abe Simpson's advice.

What Will Sansa Fuck Up?

The finale ended with the North triumphant and united behind Jon Snow, the bad guys (south of the Wall at least) finally vanquished. Hooray! Except the show made sure to show Sansa and Littlefinger looking fairly displeased. Will Sansa fuck up the peace in North? She already let countless loyal soldiers die because she forgot to tell Jon about her secret Vale army (though she did say "my bad" in the finale). The creators have hinted that more mistakes and moments of mistrust will come between Sansa and Jon. If she does mess things up, you can be assured that Littlefinger will be involved somehow. I also expect her to kill Littlefinger once she gets over his constant manipulations... but that may not happen until the final season.

Will Someone Steal a Dragon from Dany?

Whether Euron marries Cersei or not, it's a safe bet that he will fight Daenerys and most likely will do it at sea. We haven't had a true naval battle yet, and Euron is going to be pretty pissed that his niece and nephew ruined his whole "woo Daenerys with a giant fleet" plan. But could he also steal one of her dragons? While the show hasn't introduced it (yet at least), Euron Greyjoy in the books owns a dragon-binding horn that he claims to have stolen from the ruins of Valeria. Even if it isn't Euron or a magic horn, it would make plenty of narrative sense to have Dany lose one or more of her dragons before the season is done. Can Bran warg into a dragon?

Will We Be Forced to Watch More Essos Politics?

Dany did it! She finally sailed for Westeros, leaving only her boy toy Daario to keep the peace in Meereen. Arya also made her trip back from stick-fighting camp. Does this mean we're finally done with Essos, which, let's be honest, contained many of the most boring plot lines? Well... there's still Ser Friend Zone, Jorah Mormont, searching for his greyscale cure, and perhaps the show will force us to watch a few more scenes in Meereen. But given how few episodes are left, it is probably safe to think that our time in Essos is almost entirely done.

Who Will Kill Cersei: Arya, Daenerys, or Jaime?

Sorry to rain on the "Yaaaaas Mad Queen!" parade, but Cersei is going to die next season. She's bereft of allies, surrounded on all sides by enemies, and has been on a moral downward spiral for several seasons (and she hardly started out as Mother Theresa). So who will kill her? One possibility is Arya Stark, who has had Cersei near the top of her murder list for many years. So far, Arya has killed a couple people on her list—the others dying at other hands—and the only people left on it are Cersei and zombie Gregor Clegane, since the Hound has been pardoned.

Another possibility is Daenerys, almost certainly the "younger, more beautiful queen" who a wood witch prophesied would cast her down. However, the best bet might be her own brother (and incestuous lover) Jaime. In the books, the witch's prophecy also mentions that she will be killed by the Valonqar, or younger brother. Jaime is Cersei's twin and was born slightly after her. He also killed the Mad King Aerys to prevent him blowing up King's Landing with wildfire. Will he do the same to the Mad Queen Cersei, who has already blown up one part of the city with wildfire?

I guess we'll find out in, oh, about a year.

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The VICE Guide to the 2016 Election: A Group of GOP Senators Is Refusing to Bow to the NRA

This post originally appeared on The Trace.

Senator Susan Collins says she's not giving up on her fight to keep people on terror watch lists from buying guns. "It's not done," Collins told The Trace Wednesday, speaking of legislation she introduced last week to close the so-called terror gap. "We are continuing to work on it. We had a meeting this week."

The moderate Maine Republican drafted a proposal following the Orlando mass shooting that would ban persons on certain terror suspect lists maintained by the FBI from purchasing a firearm. Her bill, which earned 52 votes in a procedural test last week, aims to bridge the gap between Democrats, who have pushed hard for new gun laws in the aftermath of the massacre, and a handful of Republicans who have said they support new efforts to keep possible terrorists from buying guns, but who thought Democratic measures went too far.

Of the bills proposed so far to fix the terror gap, the Collins plan is thought to have the most realistic shot at attracting the 60 votes needed to proceed. Even so, its prospects remain dim. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell opposes the bill, as does the National Rifle Association.

In interviews with The Trace Wednesday, Collins and her band of Republican colleagues reported mixed feedback from their constituents and fellow lawmakers, but vowed to push forward in their efforts to win votes from persuadable senators.

Collins said she was encouraged by an open letter from Generals David Petraeus and Stanley McChrystal and other former senior military officials expressing support for her plan. She also saw momentum for the plan after a version of it was introduced in the House of Representatives by another bipartisan group, led by Democrat Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and Republicans Carlos Curbelo of Florida, Bob Dold of Illinois, and Scott Rigell of Virginia. Curbelo, whose is district near Miami, and Dold, who is from outside Chicago, are among House Democrats' top targets this fall.

Despite bipartisan support—and a dramatic sit-in from Democratic lawmakers—Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan has so far resisted calls to allow a vote on gun regulation bills. And McConnell has become increasingly open in his effort to block a vote on the Collins amendment. "We have got to move on," McConnell said on ABC's This Week Sunday, citing other legislation that requires action.

The opposition from GOP leaders leaves the nine Republicans who joined Democrats in supporting Collins's amendment doubly exposed: Gun rights advocates can bash them for supporting a bill that tightens gun restrictions, while gun safety groups can use the plan's failure to call for a change in power in the Senate. The latter group, and their Democratic allies, are already hinting that even if this narrow terror gap compromise passes, it's not enough to erase vulnerable Republicans' opposition to more robust gun restrictions.

Senator Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, said feedback from his state has not reached the volume it did in 2013 when he joined West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat, on a plan to expand background check requirements. "But, he added, "we've definitely heard from people on both sides."

"Yes," Senator Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican who supports Collins's plan, joked when asked if feedback was angry or supportive. "Both."

The Republicans who support the amendment fall into two categories: Embattled incumbents seeking political cover on the gun issue amid tough reelection fights, and veteran senators eager to assert themselves by enacting compromise legislation. Collins and Flake fall into the second group, as do fellow GOP cosponsors Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, and Dan Coats of Indiana, who is retiring this year.

"I'm a results-oriented guy," Alexander said in an interview Wednesday. "When the subject is should we keep terrorists from buying guns, I want to debate it and try to get it through."

Toomey, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, and Mark Kirk of Illinois fall into the first group. They see a political benefit in supporting a plan, which they can use to deflect attacks on their more orthodox gun votes. McConnell, seeking to keep his majority, has a vested interest in allowing the group to advance a plan, but far less motivation to allow it pass amid NRA opposition.

The Kentucky Republican can duck the gun issue by refusing to bring back up the Commerce, Justice, and Science funding bill, to which the amendment could be attached, a move that a Democratic leadership aide suggested he might take. Republicans are arguing that there is no reason to allow a vote on Collins's plan because it lacks the support it needs to pass.

McConnell himself took steps to facilitate that outcome last week during procedural votes, when he paired the measure with a competing proposal from Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, another endangered Republican. Johnson's bill, which only received 31 votes, would give the Justice Department the power to delay, but not block, a terror suspect from buying a gun.

Johnson's countermeasure likely drew votes away from Collins's plan by providing another means of cover to Republicans who face potentially competitive reelection fights, but who are reluctant to back Collins's plan, including Marco Rubio of Florida and Rob Portman of Ohio.

"Alternatives can be attractive to people who are close calls," Collins said Wednesday.

Rubio told The Trace that he hoped Collins would add due process provisions to her plan, but that "she couldn't get there on some of those issues based on the coalition she had put together."

Collins said Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein and Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders, who missed the vote on the bipartisan plan, told her they would vote for it in the future, which would bump up her support to 54 votes. But Collins declined to comment on whether McConnell is maneuvering` to kill her proposal.

"I am not going to impugn motives," she said.

This article was originally published by the Trace, a nonprofit news organization covering guns in America. Sign up for the newsletter, or follow the Trace on Facebook or Twitter.



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Photos of Berlin's Brutal 'Bike War'

This article originally appeared on VICE Germany

The Berlin Bike Wars are what happens when grown-up punks play around with old bicycles and welding machines. It's a battle between crusts, fought every May atop their own creations at the Carnival of Subculture in Berlin's Kreuzberg district.

Twenty eight-year-old Sev is one of the co-founders of Bike Wars. The Dutchman is a professional welder, who has been lovingly spreading fear, terror, and bruises with his monster bike Pink Assassin for four consecutive years now. I talked to him about the myriad of ways in which Berlin's punks on bikes try to destroy each other.

VICE: What are the Bike Wars, exactly?
Sev: The Bike Wars are a competitive game. You build your own bike and then test how well you built it by trying to run down other homemade bikes. It's just like Destruction Derby—but with bicycles.

What are the rules?
There are different rules for different categories: Firstly, there's the Two-Wheel Battle, which includes normal bicycles. You can change whatever you want on your bike, with the exceptions being that each bike can only have two wheels, it should be driven by two peddles, there can only be one rider per bike, and they can't use any weapons.

The second category is called Tall Bike Jousting. Two people go at each other on tall bikes and the trick is to try to push the other guy off his bike using a lance. The third category is Big Machines. There aren't really any rules here—except that the bikes have to be driven by peddles. You have to try to break the other bikes without hurting the riders.

Is it dangerous?
There are always light injuries, but luckily nothing really bad has happened so far. It's a very demanding sport, though. Competitors are so sore afterwards, that they have to stay in bed for days.

How long have you guys been doing this?
The first Bike War in Berlin took place in 2006. But they've been doing it in New York and Copenhagen for much longer.

Is there any deeper meaning behind it all?
It's purely "come, build, destroy." The idea is that you put a lot of effort into building something really beautiful, but then you aren't afraid of losing it. There's deep meaning to that sentiment, but it's also just supposed to look spectacular.



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High Wire: The Difference Between Being Happy and Being High

This guy is definitely one or the other. Photo via Getty Images/razyph

Many people think of drug use, or other potentially addictive experiences like gambling, as more profane than sacred. Chemical or virtual highs, a lot of us believe, are cheap substitutes for genuine happiness at best—and a delusional trap that can destroy lives at worst. But learning to think clearly about the differences between "happy" and "high" can offer important insight both into how society manages drug use and how people find meaning in their lives.

Consider two wildly divergent characters: a monk or hermit who takes a vow of poverty and spends years in silent meditation, and a homeless person who begs to support a crack habit while doing no harm to others in pursuit of that high. Or, if you think the fact that crack use supports violent gangsters in cocaine-producing countries makes those two excessively different, we can substitute a compulsive gamer living in his parents' basement instead.

The first guy a lot of us might see as holy and dedicated to a meaningful life; the second two we're more likely to regard as sick, or even worthless. None of them, however, are raising children or doing productive economic or artistic work during the hours upon hours that they engage in their obsessions—and all are, in their very different ways, searching for relief from life's stresses.

"It's like the difference between being in mutual love and fantasizing that you're in love." —Alva Noe

On the surface this will seem to some like an absurd or even outlandish comparison. And I am not suggesting by any means that crack or video-game addictions are good or that meditation is bad. But if society doesn't ask why we value one apparently selfish pursuit and reject another, we can't understand the contradictions at the heart of the way governments regulate and prohibit some pleasures, but not others.

Even for those who are not at all religious, values matter, and they structure the way we think about which types of pleasure are acceptable and which are not.

"'Pure pleasure' (as from a drug) and 'meaningful happiness' really are conceptually separable," Brian Earp, a research associate with the Oxford University Center for Neuroethics in the United Kingdom, tells VICE. He adds that a large literature in psychology suggests "meaningfulness is an important part of overall well-being and a life well-lived, even if it sometimes comes at the expense of sheer positive affect."

This is why to most people it's intuitively obvious that the joy we experience at the birth of a child is inherently superior to the pleasure of something like doing heroin—even if many of the exact same neurochemicals, like oxytocin, dopamine and opioids, are involved in both experiences

It's also why people who live in difficult circumstances and help others endure extremely traumatic events can be happier than those whose lives—on the surface at least—are much more comfortable. Meaning and genuine accomplishment matter deeply in creating lasting happiness.

"It's like the difference between being in mutual love and fantasizing that you're in love," says Alva Noe, professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley.

But users of one class of substances—the psychedelics like LSD, mescaline, ayahuasca and psilocybin ("shrooms")— describe their experiences as being meaningful in ways that are quite different from how we typically talk about alcohol and other drugs. In fact, 94 percent of participants in one experiment with psilocybin mushrooms said that their trip was one of the top five most meaningful events in their lives; more than a third said it was number one.

How can a chemical that causes hallucinations produce an experience that many describe as being more important or memorable than reality? And why would one class of drugs lead to such experiences, while the joys linked with others are seen as fake or fraudulent?

One answer could be simple pharmacology: the brain chemicals that psychedelics interact with are those involved in constructing our sense of what's real and what isn't; mess with them, and experience will obviously feel more or less real for simple neurological reasons.

But Noe says that differences between genuine joy and artificial escape shouldn't be framed only in terms of authenticity or pharmacology. Instead, he argues that the critical differences between them have to do with whether they make you more open to the world and more integrated as a person—or shut you down and leave you fractured.

Psychedelic experiences, notoriously, can go either way—tales of bad trips are a dime a dozen. But typically (and this is why there is a renaissance in research on them) even after a terrifying or apparently self-dissolving experience, many people find that these drugs have taught them something important. The fact that the teacher here is chemical is less important than the fact that growth and learning occur.

"A lot of the intuitions we have about drugs are completely irrational and wrong." —Carl Elliott

Indeed, Noe argues we shouldn't let meditators off the hook simply because they believe their pursuit is praiseworthy. He describes one who was said to be so calm that a gunshot could go off and he wouldn't flinch. "I thought, 'And that's supposed to be good?'" Noe recalls. "To be disconnected from reality in that way? I'm not sure that it's really true, but if it were, is it really an admirable thing?"

If we look at whether pleasures allow us to grow and connect—or if they simply take us out of ourselves—we're better equipped to understand their value. Certainly, no one can be always "on," and simply zoning out on something isn't always wrong. But psychedelics are different from other drugs in that they frequently make us face aspects of ourselves we might prefer to ignore. This could be one reason they are rarely addictive: the more habit-forming drugs like heroin, coke and alcohol all tend to allow the user to escape from unwanted thoughts and emotions. Psychedelics, instead, tend to concentrate people on them.

The fact that such highly varied substances are often seen as the same when it comes to public policy—and pop culture—obscures these issues. "A lot of the intuitions we have about drugs are completely irrational and wrong," says Carl Elliott, a professor at the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota.

Indeed, another aspect of how we value pleasures and whether we tolerate self-indulgence relates to the amount of effort it takes to achieve them. Climbing Mount Everest is about as likely to kill you and leave your family bereft as shooting heroin is—but we see the mountain climber as heroic because what she does is hard, unlike drug use.

Weed makes a lot of people high and some people happy; here's an instructional video on how to get extremely baked with a gravity bong.

"One reason why people tend to see effort as being important is that it shows something about the character of the person engaging in the activity," Earp explains. "If you are the sort of person who is willing to put in the time and energy to attain a meaningful experience—as opposed to just going for a quick high—this probably reflects a sort of stability and steadfastness."

Of course, obsessively pursuing a high also requires focus and effort—but it doesn't tend to mark you as a person who, as Earp puts it, values "not just efficiency, but engagement—a real grappling with the nuance of a situation, which can provide different kinds of, and perhaps higher-quality, insights, than those that can typically be gotten 'on the cheap.'"

Americans have probably also tended to be skeptical of unearned pleasure for spiritual reasons—the Puritan in them can't value it without attendant effort or worthiness. And if blessings are arbitrary rather than earned, and feelings are just chemicals moving about in the brain, it's easy to start questioning whether anything matters.

Drugs make people uncomfortable because they raise all these issues: How much self control do we have, really? How can we be more than just our physical bodies if chemicals can change our minds so profoundly?

For over a century now, policymakers in the United States and abroad have ignored these questions when regulating drugs, choosing simply to demonize some while celebrating others. But if we want a better 21st century drug policy, we need to grapple with what drug experience means and not simply assume that a drug is a drug is a drug—and that being high is always worthless and inevitably leads to unhappiness in the end.

Follow Maia Szalavitz on Twitter.



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Twelve 'Game of Thrones' Spinoffs That Would Be Better Than the Original

Summer is only just getting into gear, but for Game of Thrones fans, it's the beginning of the long winter. In the show's previous seasons, it seemed like we were waiting for the story to actually begin. Not this year. With the game-changing, explosive, and unusually satisfying sixth season behind us, and a yearlong wait before us—and, adding insult to injury, a reportedly short seventh season at the end of the tunnel—you may find yourself wishing you could slip into cryonic slumber for the duration.

But it need not be so. Sure, we may have to wait for resolution to Dany's invasion of Westeros, Cersei's no-doubt draconian reign, or Jon's latest hairstyle. But with a world this populated with memorable players, backstories to explore, and six seasons of "tits and dragons" to draw from, it would be a huge waste not to dip into some of the narratives baked into the crust of the main action like a Frey pie. I'm talking about spinoffs. Is there any word more thrilling to the human soul?

Think about it. HBO will have to make up for the post-Thrones shortfall somehow, and without books telling those canny executives what to do, Westeros is rife with potential for a Norman Lear–like empire of tangential programming. Just as All in the Family gave us Good Times, The Jeffersons, and Maude; just as Happy Days gave us Laverne and Shirley, Mork and Mindy, and Joanie Loves Chachi; Cheers gave us Fraiser; Night Court—as we all know—gave us My Two Dads, and The Brady Bunch gave us whatever this is, the ultimate legacy of Game of Thrones might be lunchboxes bearing the familiar logo of Forever Mormont, or grown-up millennials reminiscing about sitcoms like The Brotherhood Without Manners, or Jeopardy questions about Brains Over Bronn.

Below are a tower's worth of elevator pitches conceived to answer burning questions like how Varys and Littlefinger get places so fast, what's Pod's secret, and "How can we see more of the Sand Snakes?" Submitted for your approval.

Forever Mormont

Lyanna Mormont was the breakout badass of season six, and I'm willing to bet audiences would love to follow her through the various wacky situations of ruling Bear Island... especially when a certain ex-slave trader cousin with an advanced case of greyscale shows up and turns her world upside-down. Fortunately for Jorah, Lyanna has the cure—for boredom!

Salladhor Saan by Me

It's The Odd Couple on the high seas with Yara Greyjoy and Salladhor Saan, as a mutiny lands these two fish-out-of-water stranded on a desert island. Now they have to fight—and laugh—their way back to the mainland. Landlubbers beware when Saan, a pirate who loves jokes about pirates, takes a liking to a viking, and by and by Yara overcomes her Ironborn past to sow the seeds of friendship.

Eunuch of Time

One of the big complaints about last season was how Varys and Littlefinger seem to be everywhere at the same time, unbeholden to the laws of time and space. This series explains how, as we begin with Baelish and the Spider as rival scientists perfecting time-travel technology only to wind up at each other's throats eon after eon. Westeros is only one drop in the slipstream as this mix of Quantum Leap and Dallas sees our favorite pair of kingmakers sabotaging each other's ventures throughout the multiverse, urging on catastrophes from the extinction of the giant sloth to the assassination of JFK, courting palace intrigue on a cosmic scale, and altering everything except their own imperfect souls.

Law and Order: City Watch

This King's Landing procedural follows the workaday existences of the City Watch as they struggle to uphold justice from Flea Bottom to the corrupt ranks of the High Septons. We can't all be Lord Commanders, as the beat cops and desk jockeys of the Crownlands go to show nobody is beyond the law of gods and men—whether it's raiding brothels or keeping the Milk of the Poppy trade in check. Plenty of crossover potential with The Night's Watch: Night Watch Days.

The Brotherhood Without Manners

One question remaining after "The Winds of Winter" was, hey, where did the Hound and the Brotherhood go? Well, get hype for Brotherhood Without Manners, which would feature Sandor Clegane, Thoros of Myr, and Lord Beric Dondarrion moving into a cottage in the country and upholding their Marxist principles to the chagrin of stuck-up zombie Benjen Stark as their resurrected landlord. You'd have to have a stone heart not thrill to the lessons this ragtag team of mercenaries learn about each other and themselves as they discover stealing from the rich isn't quite enough to cover the cost of student loans. Bratty big brother Gregor Clegane might even stop take time off from torturing nuns to go bowling.

Maesterpiece Theater

A variety show where the actors amuse themselves at the expense of the audience. Grand Maester Pycelle gives rambling introductions to sketches by Izambaro's Braavosi Players that bring history lessons, slipshod reenactments, and wingnut fan theories to life in rhymed couplets that bring new meaning to the old Dothraki phrase "Shierakigori ha yeraan."

Payne and Gain

What's Pod's secret? Now we can find out, as the squire with something special under his chain-metal briefs presents lifehacks, from staying in shape and keeping our own houses in order, to topical subjects like pleasing your concubines and safely stowing wildfire. If it catches on with a niche audience of empty nesters, Payne and Gain could easily replace Maury as the Laundromat viewing of choice.

In the Red

Exiled from the side of Azor Ahai, the Prince Who Was Promised, the age-cheating Red Priestess Melisandre is ready for death. But is she ready for the Upper West Side? Because that's where she's headed, as she and Missandei of Naath are "moving on up" from advising tyrants to earn a living as a working gals, balancing Mel's struggling Chelsea gallery with Missandei's earnings as a public school VSL teacher. M&M have had strange bedfellows before, but this plucky comedy will remind us that nothing is stranger than getting by on a wing and prayer (to the Lord of Light Comedy).

Brains Over Bronn

For the fresh-faced Murder, She Wrote jet set, a mystery program in which Bronn and his overachieving and hitherto unseen kid sister Æliza-Byth travel the Seven Kingdoms finding lost wyverens and lost-at-sea blacksmiths, all while unmasking the spooky Night's King as the miserly owner of the haunted amusement park. The focus group–tested Æliza-Byth should bring a much-needed tween demographic to the table, as this fledgling detective agency shows us that no council is too small, no Casterly Rock unclimbable, with the right combination of smarts, swords, and a little luck.

Kiss and Martell

An after-hours tour of Westeros, from the delicacies of the Jade Sea to the Valyrian nightlife, hosted by the globe-trotting Oberyn Martell. Refinement is on the menu, as our dashing Dornesman dons his smoking jacket once more to guide our palettes and libidos toward a realm of such pleasures as would make even Joffrey blush.

Snake N' Bake

Everyone's favorite characters, the Sand Snakes, are back and in trouble again, as they build an illicit empire of "dragon grass" in a tragicomic descendent of Breaking Bad and beloved stoner fantasies like Your Highness. Obara just wants to keep the family business afloat, while Nymeria finds there's no antidote for fame. Meanwhile, Tyene wonders why her hands feel so big. Would ideally run as part of the Adult Swim programming bloc.

Samwell That Ends Well

In this destined-for-syndication varsity farce, Sam goes to college at the Citadel and joins a fraternity with more than just maestering on their minds. When Gilly falls in with the sorority across the Reach, the ensuing battle of the sexes will leave us asking, "Who let the direwolves out?"

Recent work by J. W. McCormack appears in Conjunctions, BOMB, and the New Republic. Read his other writing on VICE here.



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How Boris Johnson's Dream of Leading Britain Died

This is it, lads. Photo by Matt Dunham/AP/ PA Images

Conservative politician and former London Mayor Boris Johnson's seemingly unstoppable rise through the ranks of British society has finally been halted. His chances of reaching 10 Downing Street, the realization of a life-long dream, have been denied by Michael Gove—a man who once slipped on a banana on his way to that very address. Just hours after Gove launched his campaign in the race to be Prime Minister, Johnson said of his own prospects: "I have concluded that person cannot be me."

Things were never meant to turn out this way. Teflon Boris—so called because of his inexplicable ability to climb the political ladder despite an ongoing series of fuck-ups that would have sunk any of his colleagues—seemed destined for the top job. It is ironic that the EU referendum campaign, an opportunity which Johnson grasped with both hands, was the point at which the dream began to unravel. So how did it all go so wrong?

In the hours after the EU referendum results were announced, Johnson took time out to write his regular column for the Telegraph. Four months earlier, he had joined the Leave campaign in a transparent attempt to boost his leadership credentials among the Eurosceptic Tory ranks. Now, David Cameron had resigned as Prime Minister and the time had come for Johnson to demonstrate his statesman-like qualities. Having successfully campaigned to secure an end to Britain's 43-year membership of the European project, he wrote: "I cannot stress too much that Britain is part of Europe, and always will be."

We all have coping strategies, and it appeared Johnson's was denial.

Most of us suspected Johnson never really wanted to leave the EU. Having unexpectedly secured victory for the Leave campaign, he now seemed to be pretending it hadn't happened. Unfortunately for Johnson, his claim that Britain's relationship with Europe will be business as usual has been swiftly refuted by Brussels. His own team has since acknowledged that the column was a cock-up, with a senior member briefing the Times that it had sent mixed messages and was "written too quickly" when he was tired.

This was the man now seen by some as Britain's leader-in-waiting. Michael Gove was widely expected to be supporting his bid. Instead, Gove announced his own challenge this morning—essentially destroying Johnson's chances and opening the contest up to a field of candidates. "I respect and admire all the candidates running for the leadership," he said. "In particular, I wanted to help build a team behind Boris Johnson so that a politician who argued for leaving the European Union could lead us to a better future. But I have come, reluctantly, to the conclusion that Boris cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead."

Looking at Johnson's recent record, it is hard to disagree.

Were Johnson to win the leadership battle, one of his greatest challenges would have been to steer the economy through the troubling times ahead. He seemed unfazed by the prospect. On May 22, he wrote a Telegraph column in which he imagined a page from a history book written a few decades in the future, about post-Brexit Britain. "Project Fear turned out to be a gigantic hoax," he wrote. "The markets were calm. The pound did not collapse." It is a view he reiterated this week, but unfortunately one that had already been proven to be completely false. In the wake of the referendum result, the pound plummeted. Markets were rocked, and ratings agency Standard & Poor's stripped the UK of its coveted AAA credit rating. Johnson's policy was to Keep Calm & Carry On in the face of mounting evidence that we are facing economic meltdown.

On perhaps the biggest issue of the referendum campaign, Johnson was out of step with those who backed his calls to leave the EU. In 2013, he described himself as "probably about the only politician I know of who is actually willing to stand up and say that he's pro-immigration" and as London mayor he praised the contribution made by immigrants to the UK. In a leadership bid he would have been forced to reconcile that stance with the fact that many Leave supporters voted for greater controls over immigration—and the more worrying development that the referendum result has led to a reported increase in hate crimes.

Much of the public opposition to immigration has emerged from perceived pressure on public services, such as GP waiting lists and housing. This is not an area in which Johnson has a good record. During eight years as mayor, he spectacularly failed to tackle any of London's most pressing problems—an unprecedented housing crisis, the spiraling cost of living, and increasing inequality between rich and poor. Instead, he left behind a trail of broken promises, on Tube ticket offices, homelessness, and transport fares. We can already see the same approach being taken by the Leave campaign, which since the referendum result has removed all its campaign pledges from its website, including a promise to provide the NHS with the £350 million each week which it claimed was being paid to the EU. Boris's time as mayor would have given his opponents ample ammunition to throw at him.

Then there is Britain's place in the wider world. In the run-up to the referendum, Johnson displayed his error of judgement with comments about Barack Obama's "part-Kenyan" heritage. At times, he has displayed levels of tact and cultural awareness resembling those of Prince Philip at a bachelor party. The referendum campaign dented his image as a lovable buffoon as he appealed to the nastier instincts of the Leave campaign.

One of Johnson's most memorable political moments came during the London Olympics in 2012, when he became stuck halfway down a zipwire. Those images of Johnson, helpless but enthusiastically waving two Union Jacks, were oddly reminiscent of the situation we found ourselves in post-Brexit. Britain's current crisis is another high-wire act that Johnson was unfit to tackle. Now, more than ever, the country desperately needs a leader. We have narrowly escaped being given a clown.

Follow Mark Wilding on Twitter.




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We Asked an ER Doctor All The Ways You Could Die of a Drug Overdose

Photo by Flickr user Bit Boy

The first thing Sam Gutman explained when I asked him about drug overdoses is that the term "overdose" itself is misleading.

"Overdose implies that there's a therapeutic dose that's effective and you've taken more than that, so when you apply it to something like a street drug, there is no sort of effective dose," said Gutman, a BC-based emergency doctor and founder of Rockdoc Consulting which provides harm reduction services at music festivals.

"They're all bad and they're all potentially life-threatening and dangerous."

It's even more complicated because street drugs are rarely pure, he said, and everybody responds to chemicals differently. Plus, people who overdose often have a mix of substances in their body.

That said, families of drugs cause specific symptoms during an overdose. We asked Gutman to explain those symptoms and how they might result in death.

Alcohol

The liver can metabolize alcohol at the rate of about one ounce (or one drink) per hour, but lots of us slam back booze faster than that.

It goes without saying that drinking too much too quickly makes you puke, but that's actually a sign of toxicity, said Gutman.

"That's when somebody might say 'You're overdosing.' Because you're not getting happy and disinhibited and having a good time, you're starting to feel like you want to throw up and unconscious."

At that point, your body loses the ability to detoxify the booze, Gutman explained.

"We run into trouble when that becomes a risk to your safety, so things like, you throw up and aspirate and suck it into your lungs. That's sort of the famous rockstar death, you choke on vomit."

While it may sound like a cliche, Gutman said choking on vomit is actually the biggest health risk when it comes to an alcohol overdose, as well as injuries that happen as a result of falling or driving.

Fentanyl. Photo via Twitter.

Opioids (Heroin, Codeine, Fentanyl, Oxycodone)

There are opioid receptors throughout the body, Gutman explained, and every organ system is affected by the drug. In an overdose, the biggest issue is respiratory depression.

"It slows down your breathing rate to the point where you don't get enough oxygen to the brain... There's not enough oxygen getting into the blood and not enough oxygen getting into the important body systems," he said.

People can then die of respiratory arrest.

With heroin, it's more common for users who inject it to overdose because it's not filtered through the liver—it's going straight into the bloodstream, typically in a more potent dose than you'd be able to get from smoking.

To reverse an opioid overdose, Gutman said the first thing to do is ventilate the person and get air in and out of their lungs, and then use a reversal agent like naloxone, which blocks the body's opioid receptors.

The effects of fentanyl, which is up to 100 times more powerful than morphine, are harder to reverse, Gutman added.

"People are needing ten or more times as much naloxone to reverse it," he said. "They may relapse into respiratory arrest because the narcotic lasts longer than the naloxone does."

Stimulants (Cocaine, Crack, Speed, Meth)

Stimulants increase blood pressure and heart rate, so, perhaps unsurprisingly, they can also cause heart attacks.

"The stimulant will cause the heart muscle not to get enough oxygen and then you get a heart attack," said Gutman. The heart can also stop beating or beat irregularly.

Another sign of a stimulant overdose is seizures from over stimulating the brain or overheating the body.

And then there's good old psychosis.

"Somebody's who's just crazy psychotic, running around, seeing things, or getting aggressive or hallucinating, jumping off a bridge 'cause they think they can fly."

Asked if some stimulants are more dangerous than others, Gutman didn't mince words.

"Cocaine is the worst of them all as far as I'm concerned," he said. "Because people have a false sense that it's safe because it's been around and it's so common but it causes seizures, it causes heart attacks, it causes chest pain, you can get very psychotic and paranoid on it." He also said the bad judgment cause by alcohol mixed with the overconfidence of cocaine can lead to some very poor decisions.

Molly/MDMA

Molly or MDMA is technically a hallucinogenic stimulant, but generally speaking "you really have no clue what you're getting."

"Molly on the street is rarely pure MDMA," said Gutman. "It's very frequently adulterated with other stimulants or other stuff, some of which have more tendency to do bad things like elevate the body temperature or cause seizures."

One of the most terrifying ways you can die while rolling is by drinking too much water, according to Gutman.

The drug triggers thirst in your body and that desire combined with the "folklore" that you're supposed to stay hydrated when on MDMA can lead to a condition called hyponatremia, which is when the salt in your bloodstream gets diluted.

"Your brain will swell and you can die from that," he said.

"The brain is inside your skull and your skull has a fixed volume. If the brain that's inside of that fixed volume starts to swell, it starts to squish out the bottom literally... and injures the brain stem and you die."

You can also die on molly from hyperthermia (when the body overheats).

LSD. Photo via Flickr user Farmer Dodds

Hallucinogens (LSD, Mushrooms)

The overdoses on these drugs usually mean psychosis i.e. hallucinations and paranoia. While not deadly, they can be "very bad," said Gutman.

"Sometimes the effects are long lasting way beyond the actual half-life of the drug. So people can have bad trips and be psychologically affected long-term as a result."

Other (Ketamine, GHB)

Like liquor, both of these can cause the user to pass out and choke on vomit.

K-holing, which typically makes users feel like they're disassociated from their bodies, generally doesn't cause people to die though "you may be scarred psychologically," said Gutman.

Gutman said the problem with GHB is that it's unpredictable and in terms of dosage, there's a fine line between the high that you want to get and a toxic level. "You can be really high one minute and then in a deep coma that can wax and wane. So you'd be in a coma and then semi-conscious and back in a coma."

People will go from a coma to wide awake unpredictably somewhere between three and 12 hours after taking it.

Gutman said at concerts where his company provides medical services, teams will go out and check on people who appear to be sleeping but actually might be heavily intoxicated.

"They'll actually go and wake them up to make sure that they wake up. Cause otherwise you might not know."

Marijuana

JK, weed never killed anyone.

Follow Manisha Krishnan on Twitter.



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How to Live Alone Without Going Crazy

A Getty stock photo of a woman who probably lives alone

I recently achieved a dream I never quite thought I would reach: I now live alone in New York City. My reasons are complicated and numerous, but they boil down to the simple idea that hell is other people, especially when you all share a bathroom.

This was by no means cheap. My new place is a fairly small studio, and the upfront costs of moving there will keep me in the hole for a while—but I knew that going in, and still really, really wanted to be on my own.

Homeownership is not something most people my age can even fathom, so going solo has become the holy Grail of living situations, especially in expensive big cities. If you want to survive in New York and have enough money to enjoy all it has to offer, you should probably be living in a 12-person Bushwick loft named Camp True Love, inside someone's dorm room closet, or under your desk.

But for me, existing in a city where you're either crammed into a subway car, rubbing elbows with coworkers in a germ-filled "open office," or being jostled while walking down crowded streets necessitates having at least some sort of sanctuary. And I'm willing to pay for that privilege.

And apparently, I'm not alone in thinking that. In the book Going Solo, sociologist Eric Klinenberg wrote that in 1950, fewer than 10 percent of American households were single people living alone, and that the phenomenon existed mostly among "migrant men" in the empty expanses of the West. Contrast that to 2012, when half of Manhattan's households consisted of just one person.

Although one Finnish study released the same year as Klinenberg's book suggested that people living alone tend to be more depressed, the NYU professor counters that he found those people to be more actively engaged in civics and ultimately more connected to other people through spending time at cafes or bars, or through use of social media.

And although the number of people living alone keeps going up, the idea of solitude as a path to self-actualization is far from new. It stretches at least as far back as Henry David Thoreau, perhaps the first American to not just move into his own place but also make sure everyone knew how great he was doing.

"The point of being alone isn't to retreat from the rest of the world, it's to figure out who you are and where you wanna go in your life," Klinenberg told me. "That's certainly the way that Emerson and Thoreau thought about it. These days the thing you have to remember is that living alone doesn't mean being alone."

Thoreau didn't have to deal with a housing shortage and rising rents, though. Today, like the guy who lived in a literal wooden box in San Francisco, you have to make some sacrifices to reach this milestone of early adulthood. For instance, I don't have a freezer. Or an oven. Technically, I have enough space to put a couch, but if I did I wouldn't be able to take a step without vaulting over furniture. Although I'm currently fine with the amount of space I have, I do worry that over a long enough timeline, a sort of cabin fever will set in.

Dak Kopec, an environmental psychologist at Boston Architectural College, said that the easiest way to prevent that from happening is to make my at-home recreational strategies as seamless as possible. For example, having to go through multiple steps to achieve a desired outcome is bad, like attaching and detaching cords.

That seems kind of hard to avoid in a very small apartment that has exactly one outlet that's not above a sink. But Kopec said the key was in the cords, and insisted that I'd need to find a way to deal with the clusterfuck that is the power strip under my desk, or that I change up the music that I listen to in order to give the disarray a positive connotation.

"For techno people, the cords have meaning, so the visual effects are lower than to a person with whom the cords have less meaning," he explained. "Less meaning means greater effects of stimulation within the field. In the micro apartment, the goal is to reduce the levels of stimulation in the field by ensuring that all the images there have meanings that are positive."

In other words, if your apartment looks like shit, you will feel like shit.

But while always having the TV plugged in will allegedly help my mental health, it's only been about a month and I've already noticed myself starting to talk to the screen, which doesn't seem good. A New York Times article pegged to Klinenberg's book mentions a woman named Amy who started watching shows while running on a treadmill and speaking to herself in French as a result of living alone. I wouldn't mind learning French, but the article also includes the harrowing story of a bro named Chad, who says that whenever his fiancee goes out of town he starts drinking champagne in the shower at 8 AM, playing Madden for hours, and only subsisting on French bread pizza.

Roommates (or fiancees) seem to exert a normalizing influence: You can't really go full Chad if there's a danger that someone will walk in on you at any time. After enough time on my own, will I become an eccentric with names for the voices in my head? Will I acquire a deeply ingrained weirdness that might prevent me from ever cohabitating again?

"I don't think so," says Klinenberg. "I certainly don't know of any cut-off points. Living alone is an expensive luxury in a celebrity city like New York. My guess is that you're just experiencing some of the luxuries of your domestic liberation and that if you find yourself with roommates or living with a partner sometime soon, you're gonna be just fine. There's no reason why living alone for a long time would make it hard for you to live with someone else in the future."

Follow Allie Conti on Twitter.



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What to Do with Your Life Now That 'Game of Thrones' Is Over

Jon Snow coming to realize he'll have to watch something else now

I have some bad news: Game of Thrones is done for the season and will soon be over forever. This leaves us all with a void—no new episodes on Sundays, no thinkpieces about how the show was offensive or confusing or actually really good, no going to Reddit to figure out what characters' names actually are. And for those who don't watch the show, no talking about how we haven't seen it, which, trust me, is nearly as time-consuming as watching.

So now that winter is almost finished coming and summer is here, we are faced with empty time. After the Euro Cup ends there won't be any sports on except baseball, and no one really likes talking to other people unless it's about Game of Thrones, so what else is there to fill our days? Lots! For instance:

The Game of Thrones Books
Like the show, but made of paper!

LARPing
Like the show, but instead of Jon Snow it's you in a park throwing a tennis ball and yelling "fireball!"

Get into Podcasts
The next big thing!

Old Crime Movies
"Crime movies from the 70s—the ones by Peter Yates and William Friedkin and John Cassavetes and Don Siegel—are not only very sexist, they're incredibly grim and violent, and any character can die at any time. They are also from a different time, so everyone can have a lot of fun being offended by them, which means a lot of internet content." –Mike Pearl

Westworld
HBO's latest big-budget whatever looks ominous as hell and has Anthony Hopkins in it. The perfect show to watch, then read about on the internet!

Maybe Get into Weed Again?
It's legal now in some places!

Video Games

Baseball
Boring, but always on!

Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series
Prepare yourself for the upcoming HBO adaptation by reading the classic sci-fi series, which is like Game of Thrones except there are spaceships instead of dragons, discussions of trade agreements instead of battles, and complete sexlessness instead of smokin' hot incest.

Pets
Dogs are really having a moment!

Check in with Your Roommate, Didn't He Get a New Job or Something? You Haven't Seen Him in a While

The Olympics
Forgot these were happening!

The Night Of
This intense-looking series is supposed to be great, and it'll especially appeal to those people still talking about The Wire. It also provides Anglophiles with yet another chance to explain to us why the British original is better than the American knockoff.

VICE Also Has an HBO Show
Like Game of Thrones but upsetting because it's not fictional!

Learn About Bees

Call Your Mom

Laser Tag
Adults do this too, I think!

Assemble Your IKEA Furniture
Stop eating your dinners off the box your bookshelf came in!

Go to Coney Island and Ride the Cyclone
"It's a classic." –Jonathan Smith

Star Trek: The Next Generation
It's still on Netflix! (Skip the first two seasons though, they're terrible.)

Telescopes
What's really going on in those things?

Share Your Political Views on Facebook
People want to know how you, a semi-regular John Oliver viewer, feel about Trump!

The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt
Dewitt's wildly original novel takes on the idea of genius and child-raising, following a brilliant single mother who tries to raise her son through a homeschooling diet of ancient Greek and multiple viewings of Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai (to give him positive male role models, of course)." –James Yeh

Resign from Your Position as UK Labour Party Leader
What else can you do at this point?

Write Listicles

Orson Scott Card's Books
The man is awful but Ender's Game is still good!

Volunteer
More rewarding than arguing with strangers about who Daenerys will eventually marry!

Baths

Peep Show
The beloved UK sitcom is not nearly beloved enough in the US but super easy to find and watch. Like Game of Thrones but instead of warring noble houses it's a pair of roommates who hate each other and are horrible people!

Get into a New Type of Porn
Watch it until you force yourself to like it!

Steely Dan
Actually good?!?

Long Drives
Just gotta think about stuff!

Caves

Museums

Sign a Petition Shitting on US National Team Midfielder Michael Bradley
Damn that is pretty mean!

Hang Out Under the Highway Overpass
Just to see what's going on down there, not weird!

Roller Blades

Other Peter Dinklage Stuff
The Station Agent is fantastic! In Bruges is really funny! He also made something called Knights of Badassdom! Don't watch Tiptoes though.

Catfishing

Regular Fishing
"Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll never go hungry." That sounds like something the Blackfish would say on Game of Thrones!

Multiple Choice by Alejandro Zambra
"A slim, searing novel in the form of a standardized test, with sections for multiple choice, reading comprehension, and fill-in-the-blank that challenge formal constraints with Zambra's signature combination of brutal honesty, humor, and beauty." – James Yeh

Have an Uncomfortable Conversation with Your Significant Other
Time to tell her you don't want to have Christmas at her mom's house after all!

Learn to Lucid Dream to Have Sex with Famous People

That British Show Where Magicians Try to Fool Penn and Teller
You guys see Now You See Me 2? Magic is cool again!

Social Media

Crepes

Falconry
How badass would this be, seriously!?

Start Drama with Your Friends
Tell Becky that you thought Jane's wedding was tacky, then tell Jane that Becky is a bitch!

Get to Inbox Zero

Talk About the Fact That You're into Orgies Every Chance You Get
It makes some people kinda uncomfortable!

Vote

Work on Your Intimacy Problem

Weiner
When you tell people you're into critically acclaimed documentaries they think you're smart!

Go to Bars and Tell Strangers Long Stories That Are Complete Lies
You're not sure why you're compelled to do this!

Finally Figure Out How to Whistle

The NBA Offseason

Move to the Woods
Can't take it anymore!

The Girlfriend Experience
Remember when this show got a bunch of glowing reviews and attention and how it was supposed to deal with social issues like sex work and being a woman? Then you didn't watch it because it was on Starz? Now you can catch up!

Buy Fancy Soap

Start Over at Season One
In your heart, this is what you want.



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