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Clara Mae Gregory
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For me, the news came in late. It wasn't good news to my ears..... I cried.
My family has been through this. Our daughter twice.
Contrasts
Written 2026-08-27Haven't been on FB much. It’s harder keeping up with everyone. We are back at the lake. God Bless you all.
Pray for this world, China and Nepal.
https://youtu.be/OoDxmHphIC0?feature=shared
Save as a bookmark (requires login) Write a comment (requires login) Send as email Print textI cried when I heard the sad news.
Damn. RIP Dolly
Written 2026-08-26I do wonder if she was another victim of the covid vaxx.
https://youtu.be/q0hEz4ON0cg?is=bFR0buNTy4dUC7CM
Save as a bookmark (requires login) Write a comment (requires login) Send as email Print textGoldsboro's original hippies and the Heartmath peeps were a few of the recipients of the Christmas sassafras of '72 treat
Subject: Our Brain Cells
Written 2026-08-25Lee "Dink" Bridgers was one of my very first, casual friendships (1970)from the hippy crowd of our community. I also knew the folks behind the HeartMath (snake oil]. I will get to the point- do drugs destroy your brain or is your brain altered? Can the altering lead to ultimate brain destruction? Alcohol is probably the biggest offender of the brain. However, I know many that engaged in destructive behaviors that were brilliant and went on to have very successful lives in their uniqueness. Dink is one of those peeps. But he is a rare exception for most of the others seriously ruined their health and are now dead. Dink lived in the Netherlands, too, and has told me some of his very dark experiences he had while there. Evil is very real, my friends. I won't disclose what he shared, but it is horrific and on going.
Dispelling the stereotypical myth of mindless addicts and other drug users:
(Also a huge Frank Zappa fan)
👇
Lee (Dink) Bridgers-Musiek is an independent author and artist with a BFA degree in painting from the University of North Carolina, a BFA and a terminal MFA degree in fine art film, video and performance from the San Francisco Art Institute. His multi-media artwork has been collected by museums and individuals, shown, heard and experienced at educational institutions and an assortment of independent venues scattered around the world. In the late 70s and 80s Dink built and repaired guitars for the stars, fronted a cabaret rock band and independently produced and published music on his own record label. In the late 80s and 90s he worked as a film studies lecturer and film and video production school director, creating and operating media arts education centers in Colorado and North Carolina, supporting the efforts of independent media artists with instruction, equipment and manpower. He has produced countless unique and personal fine art pieces in multiple motion picture formats, featuring interactive performance elements and audience participation. Dink pioneered the use of consumer equipment and digital video effects in fine art while producing video documents for university departments, non profits such as the Sierra Club and artists such as Allen Ginsberg (Harry's Home by Lee Bridgers/Musiek is archived in the collection of the Smithsonian Institute). He founded Dreamride LLC, a mountain bike film and fantasy service (see the cycling segment in IMAX Everest) and wrote an internationally popular Moab guidebook (Mountain Bike America: Moab) that placed him on the front page of the Salt Lake City Tribune. The book included many short stories about local residents and Lee received death threats and kudos from local business owners and rave reviews from sports and literary magazines. ABC's Good Morning America aired a ten minute segment featuring Lee and his business, Dreamride in 1998. Lee has been featured in Sunset magazine, several sports publications and Art Business in America magazine. Over the past twenty years his stories, photos and essays have been published in news print (The Canyon Country Zephyr), magazines (Mountain Bike Action and others), text books (To the Extreme, University of Illinois Press) and on line (HelloHorror.com, Sideshowworld.com, Dreamride.com/stories.html). There is an excerpt from a chapter entitled THE HOUSE ON HIGHWAY 13 from Lee Bridgers' upcoming second memoir about family life in the Haight Ashbury, entitled MINDSWEEPER, in the January 2015 issue of HelloHorror online magazine. Downloads of Dink Bridgers and Mindsweeper recordings are currently free at DKBRIDGER.COM. Lee Bridgers Musiek videos are available to be viewed on YouTube. His paintings and sculpture can be viewed by appointment at the Dreamride Gallery in Moab, Utah.
The "House On Highway 13" by Dink addresses some of those locals of the Heartmath Hippy Cult. What a coincidence! Doc Childre, along with his crowd, were the originators and founders of "HeartMath". Before this, he had been busted locally for drugs and was a key player in that miserable drug scene that has hurt this community and the entire country so bad. Heartmath was formally founded in 1991 and established on a serious level in California (but it is a pseudoscience that began in Goldsboro many years prior): Childre established the organization to explore how the heart communicates with the brain and influences emotions. And he is astute in "playing and manipulating the system. He developed evidence-based tools, techniques, and technologies (such as heart rate variability biofeedback) to reduce stress and boost emotional well-being.Author: He has written or co-written several books on the topic, including The HeartMath Solution and Heart Intelligence.The problem with his evidence based claim is that it was conducted by his own in-house people and when you understand the concepts, you can apply them without paying extravagant aounts of money for his monitoring gadgets. They prey on the military and school systems. They are dishonest businessmen with science backgrounds.
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SASSAFRAS
Culture History
Written 2026-08-24Personal confessions from my, real-life American past. Try not to judge me too harshly. I quit the drug scene by age 19, where many others did not and they're all dead.
In December 1972
The gas was cheap. And because it was cheap, it gave my youth the luxury of freedom. I could roam and go many places easily. At age 17, I had started college that year, in summerschool classes at Mars Hill University, skipping what would normally have been my senior year in high school. Amazingly, my college dormitory roommate is still one of my best friends. [I even have a recent, open invitation to come visit her and stay at her place]. She also once helped in saving my life during this period. She's a liberal, spiritual, now widowed lady-living on the US Virgin Islands. Terri and I would go to music venues every chance we had. It was the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at a concert where we met John. He was a head shorter than me, fit, blonde, tanned, cute and very intelligent, a student from Jacksonville, Florida. He liked me and we casually dated for a few months through visits in each other's communities [UNC Asheville & UNC Chapel Hill]. But the relationship was short lived- he wanted more out of the relationship than I was willing to give and we parted ways as friends. He was a chemistry major with connections to the drug makers. He turned me on to a drug that had been legal for a brief while called "MDA".
And for my 18th birthday, John fronted me an amount that could have profited me a huge sum of money. But....that wasn't my game and I had no greed. That December during the Christmas season break, Terri and I rode around town visiting folks that would appreciate the sharing of the gift. In certain circles, I made history and was the talk of the town, nothing I would brag about today.
But as far as the drug world goes, this was fine quality, fresh and pure MDA. The world became more colorful and sparkling and humans felt peaceful and loving emotions towards each other while under its influence. It is the only way I can describe it.
Indeed, it was very pure and we injected it using new, sterile disposable syringes stolen from the university's infirmary. Truly, for a time, many people that you would never guess, did their drugs using this method. I could have been a nurse- I never missed. Now, this reflection of my own past horrifies me. I'm shocked at myself- that I could ever do those things. Yet, I did.
[ This dude on FB also verifies these realities of that era that almost resulted in my death:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EdZCmSyiA/ ]
Later, another drug evolved from it called "MDMA", commonly known as "Molly" or "Ecstasy". Some may be shocked to learn it is now being used "medically"to treat PTSD. The two drugs are similar but not the same and often confused. It is also a drug, along with the MDMA, being bounced back and forth from legitimate to illegitimate in Psychiatric Healthcare. Many drugs purposed for Healthcare are often just under a protective umbrella for the CIA and other nefarious organizations, in my humble opinion. Some are even sponsered openly among various governments, including our own in the USA.
The psychoactive drug MDA (3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine) was circulating as an illicit street drug ("the love drug") in my home state, North Carolina, during the early 1970s, though it was FEDERALLY
controlled.
Background on MDA in the Early 1970s
Illicit Status: MDA was made a federally controlled substance under the U.S. Controlled Substances Act in 1970, meaning it was no longer LEGALLY "on the market" COMMERCIALLY or PHARMACEUTICALLY.
Local Availability: Despite federal scheduling, underground and recreational use of MDA PERSISTED ACTIVELY THROUGH the COUNTERCULTURE and COLLEGE SCENES in North Carolina—including areas like Chapel Hill, Durham, and other parts of the Research Triangle—during the early-to-mid 1970s before eventually being largely superseded by MDMA (ecstasy) in later years. Is it now being revisited as a legitimate psychiatric drug for some patients?
The answer is yes- and it is global.
According to AI gathered information, pure
"MDA" (3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine) was first synthesized in 1910. It had ENTERED THE U.S. MARKET VIA PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH and CHEMICAL SUPPLY HOUSES as an ANORECTIC, ANTIDEPRESSANT, and EXPERIMENTAL COMPOUND before shifting to illicit recreational use. MDA itself is not currently approved or widely revisited as a prescription psychiatric medication, THOUGH ITS CLOSE RELATIVE MDMA HAS undergone extensive clinical evaluation.
Invention and History of MDA: first synthesized in 1910 by German chemists Carl Mannich and Willy Jacobsohn.
1930s–1960s: Pharmacologist Gordon Alles and pharmaceutical firms like Smith, Kline & French explored MDA for applications including Parkinson's disease, depression, and as an appetite suppressant (sold under the trade name Amphedoxamine).
1950s: The U.S. Army also tested MDA as part of classified chemical and incapacitating agent research (code-named EA-1298).
How MDA Reached the U.S. Market
Pharmaceutical Development: Smith, Kline & French and other entities investigated MDA legally as a prescription diet pill and therapeutic agent in the mid-20th century.
The Underground Scene: By the mid-1960s, MDA leaked from scientific supply channels into the psychedelic underground, earning the moniker "love drug" for its empathogenic effects.
Outlawed: Due to rising recreational use and safety concerns, MDA was classified as an illegal controlled substance in the United States under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970.
Is MDA or MDMA Being Revisited in Psychiatry?
MDA vs. MDMA
Distinction: While MDA is largely dormant in modern clinical pipelines due to higher neurotoxicity concerns in animal studies, its close cousin MDMA has been heavily researched.
Current Status of MDMA:
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy has been extensively studied as a breakthrough treatment for severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Regulatory Hurdles: Although clinical trials showed significant symptom reduction, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declined to approve Lykos Therapeutics' application for MDMA-assisted PTSD therapy in 2024, requesting further safety and efficacy data. Research continues, including clinical evaluations sponsored or initiated by institutions like the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
MDMA is used legally for specific medical therapy in Australia, which permits authorized psychiatrists to prescribe it for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Globally, both MDMA and MDA are primarily consumed as illicit recreational club drugs, though Switzerland allows tightly controlled compassionate medical exemptions.
Medical Use
Australia: The Therapeutic Goods Administration reclassified MDMA to allow specialized psychiatrists to prescribe MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for treatment-resistant PTSD.
Switzerland: Authorities have historically permitted exceptional, highly restricted medical use of psychoactive substances under special ministerial approvals.
Other regions: Most nations limit MDMA strictly to authorized clinical research trials rather than general medical availability.
South China Morning Post
Recreational Use
Global Prevalence: MDMA (commonly called ecstasy or molly) and MDA are used informally at music events, clubs, and parties across Europe, Oceania, Asia, and Latin America.
Legal Status: Recreational use, possession, or distribution remains illegal internationally under the UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances. While places like Portugal have decriminalized personal possession of all drugs, they do not legally permit recreational sale or MDMA-based therapy.
Euda.europa.
MDMA – the current situation in Europe (European Drug ...
Jun 5, 2025 — MDMA produced in Europe is trafficked to regions such as Oceania, Asia and Latin America.
Which country uses the most MDMA?
Australia and New Zealand consistently report the highest prevalence rates of MDMA (ecstasy) use globally as a percentage of the population. Meanwhile, Ireland and the Netherlands record some of the highest individual usage rates and survey metrics in Europe and worldwide, while the Netherlands and Belgium serve as the primary global production hubs.
High-Use Regions and Countries
Australia & New Zealand: Rank at the top globally for the highest proportion of the population using MDMA.
Ireland: Frequently scores near or at the top of international surveys (such as the Global Drug Survey) for annual user rates.
The Netherlands: Has the highest annual adult prevalence rate in Europe (around 4.8%) and acts as the central source for Western consumption.
Key Market Factors
Production vs. Consumption:
While countries like the Netherlands produce the majority of the world's supply, consumer demand peaks heavily in Oceania and parts of Western Europe.
Wastewater Data: Municipal sewage analysis shows high concentrations of MDMA residues in cities across Belgium, the Netherlands, and Czechia.
MDA is sometimes called "sassafras" or "sally". It is a synthetic drug that acts as a powerful stimulant and mild psychedelic. It causes euphoria, increased energy, and heightened empathy, but produces stronger visual hallucinations than MDMA.
Yes, chemically soluble crystal or powder forms of pure MDA (3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine) can be dissolved and injected, but it is not the common method. Equally true is that injecting MDA or any drug carries extreme, life-threatening medical risks that far exceed oral ingestion. But it is all risk taking behavior and I was bold, curious and ignorant. I thought it was safe when I saw it seemed safe by those that taught me how to do it to start with.
I was a real fool, initially exposed to the real deal before MDMA basically took its place. But there was the danger of the fake concoctions that wasn't MDA or MDMA at all. When John and I parted ways, so did that rare and pure MDA supply. It was January after return in back to school that we got our hands on some bad stuff alleged to be MDA. Terri was spared when she saw the immediate bad effects the stuff started having on me so she didn't do any of it. I had a really bad reaction and became overheated, extreme sweats, changing heart rhythms and then I wanted to just curl up and go to sleep after the accompanying nausea subsided. Terri and another friend spent the next three hours walking me up and down the halls of the 3rd floor while most were sleeping, with periodic dousings in a cold shower, drinking water as much as I could manage to get down. I threw up once and finally pulled through, becoming alert out of a groggy state and strong enough to finally walk on my own unassisted.
From that day forward I vowed to myself never to touch drugs again and I shunned the people involved with them. I knew I was given a second chance and I learned my lesson. I may have been confused about Jesus Christ, but I have never been doubtful of our creator-ever. I prayed and gave it to God for healing and HE DID. That is why I am not addicted person or dead, now able to account for the experiences I have had and I know God is very real.
And
"PHARMAKEIA"
IS VERY REAL.
More than most can understand.
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HELL NO. You can do it. Leave me out of your great and noble plans for the globe's human race.. You are all gullible fools.
"We Can Do This"
Written 2026-08-24Every time I see anothers' post stating "we can do this", I want to puke. On a related matter, I recently read the Clintons' Body count is well over 200......these peeps are all murderers. ALL
They want to destroy us one way or another.
I love Dr. Campbell.
He tells the truth. Britain and China especially were complicit in these biological warfare manipulations. These covert labs are still operating too, in new locations.
I am not a guinea pig. Are you?
It was not a pandemic. It was a war. Every person on the planet was either a perpetrator, a victim or a witness. People were forced or intimidated to take an experimental shot under threat of exclusion, job loss and isolation. You needed papers to leave your home. You were forced to wear useless masks. People need to go to prison along with the mad, "I AM SCIENCE" Dr. Fauci.
They are going down! Have patience
👇
https://youtu.be/FoG7SKtP-LY?is=zGb_podke16_NXt8
Save as a bookmark (requires login) Write a comment (requires login) Send as email Print textMuch better than a Mr & Mrs. Nobody's disappearing act. Burn it down.
It's nobody's business. Gossip gets stacked against those that are gone.
The Choice
Written 2026-08-21From the album "Leap" by Cabinet
"Eleanor"
https://youtu.be/SEJjBBeWHhw?is=5BMKhIr_zE-b0Elw
[with lyrics]
https://genius.com/Cabinet-eleanor-lyrics
Save as a bookmark (requires login) Write a comment (requires login) Send as email Print textAI is not infallible. It's a tool to use with scrutiny. It can be directively helpful to other sources and resources (that AI uses) when providing it analysis of information relevant to the queries.
Why I do not "rely" on "AI"
Written 2026-08-15It seems some peeps treat AI as if it is some kind of fool-proof crystal ball to predict the future. These types usually look for simple answers to complex, deep beliefs.They might view code and data as a magic source of absolute truth. This happens when human faith mixes with new technology.
Why It Happens
The Oracle Effect:
People trust computers more than other humans.
Search for Certainty:
Hard questions about life and politics cause stress. AI gives fast and calm replies.
Deep Patterns:
Large language models sound wise because they repeat what millions of writers said before.
What AI Actually Does
Predicts Words:
AI guesses the next best word based on math patterns. It does not think or feel.
No Real Belief:
A machine has no soul, faith, or political view. It just copies text patterns from the internet.
Reflects Humans:
The answers mirror human ideas. The AI acts like a large mirror of public thought, not a prophet.
AI models learn from huge sets of human text using a multi-step process.They read words, guess the next word, and adjust their internal math to improve their guesses over time.
Training Steps
Data Collection:
Systems gather books, articles, and websites to create a massive text library.
Tokenization:
Computers break sentences down into small chunks called tokens.
Pattern Matching:
Models study the text to see which words usually appear together.
Pre-training:
The core system builds a broad map of human language rules and facts.
Fine-Tuning:
Engineers guide the model using human feedback so it gives safe and helpful answers.
Key IdeasPrediction:
The main goal is always to predict the next best word in a sequence.
Weights:
Math numbers change inside the model to make correct guesses stronger.
Feedback:
Human guides grade the answers to fix mistakes and bad habits.
Save as a bookmark (requires login) Write a comment (requires login) Send as email Print textThe beginning, retrieval, salvage, edits and evolution of poetry expression.
When I Began to Write
Written 2026-08-12It was at age 13, in middle school, when I began my creative writing spawned from English class assignments. I discovered I liked writing. I was also told for the first time by my teachers that I had exceptional skills in that area and should pursue it. Later, in high school, I did. I began my first journal, followed by a 2nd in college and both were lost in a flood that totally destroyed our home in 1999. My first poems were handprinted in a calligraphy style accompanied with my artwork that illustrated them. They were very autobiographical and personal. I began writing poems after the tragic death in a hunting accident of a classmate I had a crush on named Dwight. Eventually, I joined some poetry sites and eventually ended up at Poetbay. Before Poetbay, I was a member of a site called Pathetic. While at Pathetic, I could recall and salvage some of my original poetry. Some I could only partially recall and ended up becoming a revision. Today I was reviewing the remnants at the old site and came across one of those revisions and I did not like it. Then, it was like the amnesia lifted and my original poem came back to me! Except for the last 4 lines, which I can only partially remember. The context is key. For me, this poetry functions like a diary. I was 17 years old when I wrote the original " It Wasn't Just Yesterday" which many years later evolved into a version called "Just Wasn't". I never viewed my poetry as "good", just expressive--- in time my poems developed from prompts and challenges and I incorporated "big" words because I got tired and bored with the "small" words that everyone could easily understand. And it just seems I naturally gravitate to alliterate, just as much as I love lyrical rhyming. I like cliches and metaphors too, lol, even though I sometimes obsess in their usage. And then....there is the rhythm and flow, the syllables and sounds, and concepts to capture....but now I circle back: The poem "It Wasn't Just Yesterday" is not a total fabrication. It is based on genuine emotions. Events in my life at the moment in time stirred up a depression, such that I didn't want to go on living. I wasn't truly suicidal The forecast of my future was unknown and seemed hopeless and bleak. My first boyfriend after moving to Goldsboro after Christmas in 1969 eventually crossed over and turned into a junkie and a thief that shocked my core. He lived on my street a few blocks down and his dad was in the airforce too. We broke up when his dad got an assignment in England. Jimmy wrote me many letters and as soon as he had graduated he came back to the states. He tried to hide it at first, but he had started using heroine while in England.It broke my heart. [This love story didn't end here and one day I may reveal the whole story.Suffice it to say, I declined living with him at the beach during my separation period. He retired, started imbibing in cocaine and died from a massive heart attack while driving on the interstate heading to Raleigh. Dead Old boyfriends I never have to worry about. He didn't like my decision but we still remained friends. Drugs destroy.
Pharmakeia.] So, this poem was written when we broke up for good and before I was accepted at Mars Hill University and my dad was completing his last tour in Viet Nam. The poem's last lines originally painted a picture of a funeral grave-- it was symbolic of a metaphorical death rather than my actual, literal death as seen in a vision. I am just amazed my memory came back and I could remember the original. I am hoping the last original lines come back to me. I had to recreate it and it is not quite reflecting the exact original.
■■■■■👇
Just...Wasn't
Just wasn't yesterday
that I began to fade away,
melting into the
pale gray walls,
overcome by rules and laws.
There is no escape
from a loneliness
that becomes my drape.
I am shrouded in sorrow
casting dread on tomorrow.
I want to kiss them all goodbye
and go to the place where
my pain can't cry.
But Hell is here...
and so am I.
12/20/2011
Posted on 12/21/2011
■■■■■■■■■👇
"It Wasn't Just Yesterday"
It wasn't just yesterday
That I began to fade away
And melt into
The pale gray walls
Overcome by rules and laws
And for me
There's no escape
Loneliness becomes my fate
Some time ago
My dreams were made
Now slowly they've began to fade
Only tomorrow becoming today
Can save me from my own decay
You, yourself, and me, am I
Is it so, or is it lies
Only truth can make me free
Are you what you pretend to be
It was only just yesterday
That I was buried in my grave
Sadness created from all I saw-
I never learned a truth from all
Tomorrow was never-
It came too late
Melanie Arnold [1972]
Aka Ckara Mae Gregory
Save as a bookmark (requires login) Write a comment (requires login) Send as email Print textThe answer to that question is: It depends on the Health Status of that individual.
Is it cheaper to pay cash and not carry insurance protection?
Written 2026-08-09Of course there is room for debate and many will disagree, but for us, it works out and has been cheaper when one can pay the bill up front. Wade's recent injury and consequent treatment was approximately $2,300.00. But when one can pay the whole bill up front, most Americans do not realize there are discounts that then kick in, even more so for an elderly person. Some areas even have special, private grant programs available for those that qualify [our daughter secured one of these when she almost lost an eye a few years ago after Hurricane Helena bombarded the mountains of North Carolina. It paid for everthing]. We were surprised that they had more than one discount. The final billing amounted to $700.00. We find it better to avoid the insurance companies and for us, it has proven to be cheaper and better to pay cash, preferably in full.
Most folks are not aware of this and become slave to their insurance payments at the expense of living a healthy, happy life.
Of course, there are exceptions.
And there are choices. Not everyone is riding in the same boat. Some have yachts while some a raft. Some nothing at all except making their body a float. Medical needs vary and are of different types. Buying insurance should fit the consumers' needs and desires.
In America, the good news today is the ER's now function better and aren't overwhelmed by illegal immigrants. 3 doctors actually said this is because of deportations while working on my husband's recent groin injury. They are glad and so was my spouse.
Save as a bookmark (requires login) Write a comment (requires login) Send as email Print textSome days are just.....downers
Written 2026-08-08I haven't felt the urge to write as of late. Perhaps it is due to the fact that my mate is struggling with a serious injury he incurred in a freak accident while getting off our boat after taking our 3 grandchildren out for an exhilarating tubing ride. Such is life, with all its ups and downs. When sliding off the side, rather than use the ladder, part of his bathing suit liner caught on something. It flipped him as well as causing a tear in his testicle requiring 7 stitches. He was lucky in more than one way. It could have been worse. Fortunately, he arrived at the ER before it got busy and was seen immediately. He got a discount on the bill. It cost us $700 of which was paid up front. He was checked yesterday and they decided not to remove the stitches yet and there is concerns regarding infection. They have referred him to a wound specialist on Monday. I choose to stay out of the lake because Wade could not go swimming after injuring himself. Also, I had to do all the work myself of breaking down our campsite and loading up. It was hard but I did it.
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