#also it's more difficult when none of my main chatting friends have that same hyper fixation otherwise i could brainstorm :P

[night-dragon937]

oh how i miss writing shamelessly thinly veiled vent fics wrapped in hurt/no comfort character studies

however it's been over two years since we've written fanfic (over two years since we've written AT ALL) and we've become acutely critical of anything we write so i don't think that ball is going to start rolling anything soon :P

[docsingal]

“Backstory” about what brought you to the cannabis Industry

Thank you so much for doing this with us! 

In the summer of 2017, I was going to a wedding and like so many women, got my hair colored. After I hit my forties, a few gray hairs crept in so I went to my regular beauty salon with my favorite stylist and followed a routine I had gone through dozens of times before. A few hours after I got home, a rash broke out on my neck and scalp. At first, I didn’t think anything of it. But as the itching and redness increased, I realized I was having some sort of allergic reaction. It spread to my arms, legs, chest, and back. As a doctor, I try to consider my own health concerns clinically. However, even from a medical perspective, the rash and inflammation were getting worse remarkably fast. I spent weeks consulting with many colleagues who were talented doctors, all I had was a vague diagnosis: “multiple chemical hyper-sensitivity.” And they prescribed a cocktail of drugs. As a doctor who had avoided prescription drugs for most of my life, I was distressed to be on so many of them.

I decided to attack the problem from the other side—eliminating the potential cause of my skin problems. I tossed out almost everything in my bathroom. No perfumes, no dyes, no chemical additives. I slowly got better. But my skin was peppered with scars and lesions from the constant scratching and trauma. Around the same time, my husband was being treated for chronic and severe Crohn’s disease and started using CBD to alleviate his symptoms. He got so much better that he was able to reduce his medications. Intrigued, I thought that CBD might offer relief for my own skin condition and started researching the compound. One of my husband’s friends owns a high-end beauty product development laboratory, with a reputation for using premium, pure, non-toxic ingredients. We met with him and discussed creating a skin serum with extremely pure CBD. Finally, after a lot of experimentation and research, we settled on oneformulathat really helped soothe my skin.  A big bonus was it also made my skin looked amazing. We decided to create a company around these serums, Aethera Beauty. Along the way, I had done so much research on CBD and its skin care benefits that I decided to write a book called the “CBD Skin Care Solution” which is being published by Llewellyn Worldwide for a summer 2020 release.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

At Aethera, our team of experts and chemists take pride in only using the highest quality CBD and other well-studied active botanicals to create our line. We partner with a lab which allows us to havemultiple chemists helping with product development. We didn’t take any short cuts and researched numerous CBD suppliers. Every product went through multiple trials and iterations before becoming available for consumers.

As a medical doctor, it was important for me to know exactly what goes into every bottle of product and track it all the way from sourcing of the raw materials to the bottling of the products. We are non-GMO, phthalate- paraben-, and sulfate-free, and vegan.

What was really interesting to me is how much consumer confusion there is in the space.  When we did competitive analysis, we noticed thatmany CBD products actually don’t state dosage or have very low dosage. Quite a few products are still coming from small craft brands that sell direct to consumer or don’t use proper Ingredient decks.  

Early on, especially in this business, we realized the importance of “trust but verify”. It is critical to ask for a Certificate of Analysis (“COA”) as well as do your own independent testing of suppliers. A COA is documentation that describes the results of product testing to determine the actual potency or amount of CBD and, when applicable, THC in the product. Legitimate manufacturers run these tests as part of the product quality assuranceand make the COA available upon request.

The COA will also list significant amounts of any other ingredients, including other cannabinoids, and any potential allergens or contaminants. One of the most significant pieces of information you can take away from a COA is whether the lab meets ISO 17025 standards of testing. These are considered the high-bar standard and reputable labs use them as a baseline.

 Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

It’s funnier now than it was at the time, but getting credit card processing set up was a bit of a process, with one rep form a company authorizing our account and another cancelling it, sometimes within days.

 Do you have a funny story about how someone you knew reacted when they first heard you were getting into the cannabis industry?

I have had a few friends, when they heard that I was developing a CBD beauty line, think that I have access to some amazing, really pure version of marijuana. I get constantly asked for samples for them to smoke or ingest. I try to explain that CBD is non-psychotropic and doesn’t get you high, but a few felt that “I was holding out” in order to “keep the good stuff for myself.”

 None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

Because Aethera is a JV with a high-end beauty product development laboratory, I get a lot of support from their in-house team. Our VP of marketing has had a long career in the beauty industry and most recently ran the Prestige Beauty business for Beauty.com. It’s been a real pleasure to work with another woman entrepreneur and executive, especially one who has worked in the digital space since its infancy.

But overall, the collaboration with all the women on our collective team has allowed us to create products that work for different ages with different skin types and skin concerns.

Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?

I am very excited for my book to come out and to have the opportunity to tour and chat with people about my CBD learnings – and to hear their stories.  One-on-one time with consumers is the best way to know where there is still confusion and what we need to do from an education standpoint to make sure people understand what CBD is and its therapeutic potential.

 Ok. Thank you for all that. Let's now jump to the  main core of our interview.  Despite great progress that has been made we still have a lot more work to do to achieve gender parity in this industry.  According to this report in Entrepreneur, less than 25 percent of cannabis businesses are run by women. In your opinion or experience, what 3 things can be done by a)individuals b)companies and/or c) society to support greater gender parity moving forward?

 1)      Irrespective of a company’s size, it is incumbent to include gender equality and diversity at the core of its mission. As reported in studies by both Harvard Business Review and Mckinsey and Company, profitability as high as 33% across industries have been associated with simply increasing female share in the C suite.

 2)      Education, cross-training and mentoring women by women in the cannabis industry will be paramount to achieve sustainable success, as many companies globally are experiencing. I recently attended the annual conference held by Women’s Grow and was energized myself by the tremendous outpouring of support for women at all levels – from seed to sale. Access to such groups for its network of women for women cannot be well underscored.

 3)      Funding in the cannabis industry especially with the current Federal restrictions is a significant challenge. Large majority of anything cannabis are self-funded and increasingly cost prohibited. My projections are as companies recognize the value added of diversity and gender parity, they will gain the edge in innovation and profitability.

  You are a “Cannabis Insider”. If you had to advise someone about 5 non intuitive things one should know to succeed in the cannabis industry, what would you say? Can you please give a story or an example for each.

 1)      Banking – Before you start, make sure you tell your bank EXACTLY what you are doing. Don’t try and hide the fact that you are selling cannabis and be very specific whether you are selling Hemp, CBD or THC. The financial industry has not caught up with the Hemp Bill of 2018, many banks will shut you down if they find out that you are selling cannabis. We had to go through 3 banks before we found one that was willing to work with us.

2)      Payment Processing – Also, similar to the banking issues, this is something you should get sorted out before you start. While there have been strides made in the last couple of months, it is very tough to get the right payment processor and you might have to go to a “high-risk” credit card processor that will charge you a much higher fee as well as subject you to many complicated hurdles.

3)      CBD expensive – It is an expensive product and can cost thousands of dollars for just a kilo. You will burn through a lot of product before you come up with a formulation that you really like.

4)      Cannabis is a tough medium to work with – In its purest form, CBD can have a very sticky, overpowering smell.  I remember smelling one of the initial CBD distillates from a vendor and almost got sick from the strong smell of weed! You will need to budget for multiple test batches because it can be difficult to get the right luxurious texture and smell. We needed to try out many different active ingredients to work with the CBD to ensure our product was on par with, or superior, to other prestige non-CBD brands in the beauty space.

5)      Buy American - Experts generally consider domestic hemp sources more reliable than foreign sources. That’s because there are currently no regulations on how foreign-source hemp is grown, processed, or tested prior to importation. Consumers Reports recommends buying only from states that have legalized cannabis because those states are more likely to have regulations on the books that control the quality and claims made around hemp-derived CBD (and other cannabinoids). For instance, they limit the type of pesticides that can be used on the plant, because the plant is grown solely for consumption purposes.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the cannabis industry?

1)      Innovation – Because the industry is so new, it also creates unique business opportunities and new discoveries are coming to light, as scientists continue to study cannabinoids. The medical potential is undeniable, but medical research takes time and careful analysis. I strongly believe that the best is yet to come in cannabis research and product development.

2)      Opioid Addiction Treatment (Pain management) –As Chief Medical Officer of a hospital where many of my patients suffer from opioid addiction, I am excited about recent studies thathave found cannabis to be useful for treating opiate addition in chronic pain sufferers. Our inability to tolerate pain has resulted in our culture’s unhealthy dependency on painkillers. Although our ancestors have used cannabis as a safe, effective painkiller for thousands of years, we are just starting to scratch the surface of medical cannabis for pain. In a related trend, many studies have shown real promise and success for using CBD to slowly detox from and eventually be free of opioid addiction (and other addictions as well, such as alcoholism).

3)      Limited Side Effects –One of the reasons why CBD creates so much excitement in doctors and researchers is that unlike many new drugs and treatments, the risk of side effects with CBD is extremely minimal. Evidence so far suggests that the potential for addiction or overdose with pure CBD is minimal.

 Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

 1)      Lack of Regulation- A 2017 Journal of the American Medical Association that analyzed 84 CBD products sold by 31 different online companies found that 1 in 5 contained marijuana components.  Other studies have shown that many the claims of CBD concentration in products are much lower or non-existent versus what brands have claimed on their packaging. We support more regulation in the space and third-party verification of CBD potency.

2)      Lack of Clinical Trials–While research on the benefits and action of CBD in topical formulations as well as ingestible forms is ongoing, there are still not enough clinical trials. That experimentation is in its preliminary stages and there is a long way to go. We are only just starting to learn how CBD and THC interacts with the human body. Also, most relevant studies have taken place within the last two decades—a blink of the eye in terms of scientific inquiry. In addition, we need to see more clinical trials into plant-based cannabinoids in order to determine its full range of medical benefits.

3)      Lack of Education- As with any ingestible or beauty product, I would be skeptical of overblown marketing claims. I would recommend that consumers read labels closer than you do marketing materials and advertising. And ask questions! The CBD product marketplace is crowded and growing right now. One easy way for companies to distinguish their products is to oversell benefits. A natural anti-inflammatory property might be embellished to become an “advanced wrinkle fighter.” Be critical of any statement not grounded in scientific reality.

 What are your thoughts about federal legalization of cannabis? If you could speak to your Senator, what would be your most persuasive argument regarding why they should or should not pursue federal legalization?

 I support federal legalization of Marijuana. Marijuana continues to be treated like a street drug at the federal level and unfortunately, the classification is overly broad, and—until very recently—it included hemp and non-intoxicating components such as CBD. In the United States, these legislative assaults essentially have killed any research into the medicinal value of not only marijuana and its psychoactive components, but also the more benign compounds found in hemp. Legalizing cannabis means it can be funded for research. That means exciting new discoveries are coming to light, as more scientists study what was once stigmatized and forbidden.

 Today, cigarettes are legal, but they are heavily regulated, highly taxed, and they are somewhat socially marginalized. Would you like cannabis to have a similar status to cigarettes or different? Can you explain?

 I don’t believe that cannabis and cigarettes should be treated in a similar fashion. There is ZERO clinical data that supports cigarette smoking as a way to improve health. I have personally scoured the medical journalsand have discovered thousands of studies showing the positive effects of cannabinoids. Cigarette are purely recreational with deleterious health benefits while cannabis has been used for thousands of years for its medicinal qualities.

Cigarettes taxes are also structured to be regressive which means that low- and middle-income taxpayers pay more of their income in these taxes that upper-income families. I support more ways in being able to get cannabis to the people that need it the most.  

 Can you please give us your favorite  "Life Lesson Quote"? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Be Kind to yourself” a quote that I often recite to both friends, family members and even patients. As women, I believe that we are often very good at showing love and kindness to others but less so to ourselves. One important element of this quote is letting go of judgement of yourself and showing yourself more compassion. Many women are juggling work, family and a myriad of a thousand other things. There is always more to be done and we need to let go of what we think we should do and try and accept what is. We need to be kind to ourselves when we make mistakesand forgive ourselves when we have done the wrong things. One of the exercises that I do every day, is to take out time in the morning for self-care. Whether is being reciting Sanskrit mantras or spending 20 minutes meditating before going to work, I find these exercises help grounds myself and enables me to offer kindness to not only myself but also to others.Be kind to yourself is for me an attestation of self-acceptance and love.

 You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amounts of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

 I would create the “Medicine Cabinet Movement” which would be a spring cleaning of everyone’s medicine cabinet to eliminate as many pharaceuticals as possible. Of course, this would be done in conjunction with trained, holistic minded medical professionals.

As a physician, I am tired of the outlandish claims that big pharma has made to consumers and their pervasive marketing blitz that makes it seem that it is normal to take a pill for every imaginable symptom or problem.  Then, they push pills to treats the symptoms created by these very pills. Most pills create a toxic imbalance in the body and I personally recommend to my patients, whenever possible, to use fewer drugs, not more.

We have created a culture of sickness and a business out of reactive healthcare as opposed to preventive care. I am a proponent of focusing our limited health care resources on prevention of disease rather than reaction and turning to to nature for solutions when it is medically appropriate.

My personal and professional mission is to provide holistic wellness, incorporating best of Eastern and Western medical tools. Again, this brought me todevelopment of Aethera Beauty with focus on non-toxic formulations featuring hemp-based CBD and other botanicals. I firmly believe our modern scientific studies in cannabis will continue to unlock inherent benefits known by our ancestors of thousands of years ago. Visit https://www.docsingal.com/

[forndodaper]

VICA Communicator

The argentinian economy is quite a piece of fun. I have been thinking in a VUCA Machine for a long time, let's say 2 years. It is basically an Enigma Machine with some more things.

A VICA Communicator is a machine designed to be used by The Federal Government of The Good Country of Jaxe, and by its businesses, from all sizes. It provides The National Government with useful data to manipulate the economy every two weeks. Stressing the mechanism, it can be used to manipulate the economy every hour.

VICACom is something similar to a writing machine, with an encryption mechanism. It has got a place to change the cipher, so unlike the Enigma Machine the VICA Communicator can be changed from cipher in seconds. It can send, or read, or both send and read, messages. It also has got a port for a fiber optic cable, for quantum communications. It also has got a satellite antenna, and a short-wave radio antenna. And of course a battery port.

It has got a keyboard with all spanish letters, and also and most important a couple of symbols and quick answers.

The VICA Communicator is designed to this mechanism:

1) The Jaxer Federal Government ask for a determined information. For example: ¿The last tax increase, has got damaged your company a lot?.

2) The Office for Economic Intelligence of every Company then has got the quick answers:

A) Yes.

B) No.

C) Maybe.

D) So so.

E) We do now know.

F) Absolutely.

G) Not at all.

3) Additional information can be added on the MS Mode (Modo Satelital / Satellite Mode). It uses a kind of internet, separated from the DARPA Network / US Internet, to send basic messages. It can use numbers and letters. All comments goes to an online database, where from a website you can see comments and post one. While you are writing, a similar comments shows to you, so you do not repeat the comment. Like when you are typing on Google. The more a comment is selected, the more higher it shows; so the government can quickly prioritize a common issue. Or at least the most common issue. When on MS Mode, it is recommended to use the official website and not the VICACom.

4) All answers goes to a database in the respective mode. Enigma answers goes to the Enigma Database. MS Answers goes to the MS Database. Quantum Answers goes to the Quantum Database. Critical Situation (short-wave radio) goes to the Critical Situation Database.

In general terms, it is preferred that The Jaxer Government uses the Enigma Mode on all its VICA Operations.

Also, all databases are cleaned every week from the search algorithm, but all answers are stored.

So, that's what I thought. It could allow The (Argentinian or Jaxer) National Government to quickly know what is needed. For example, on a future administration that has got to handle 70, 70, 70, 70, 30 (70% inflation, 70% poverty, 70% qualified emigration (Brain Drain), 70% obsolesce (30% investment, when 100% is the minimum to maintain machines and factories in good state), and 30% unemployment) the VICA Communicator can be useful. Very.

For example:

We are thinking of a jump from 21% taxes to 50% taxes. ¿Is that very hurtful to your company?. 50% of all taxes from business are going to be destined to grants and subsidizes.

And the company can answer:

A) Yes.

B) No.

C) Maybe.

D) So so.

E) We do now know.

F) Absolutely.

G) Not at all.

So, that's it. This way the government can actually chat with companies.

By the way, I definitely invested efforts on this type of machine seeing the terrible, horrible, BRUTAL TERRORIFIC HORRORIFIC MONSTRUOSIC management & administration troubles with the Alberto's Administration.

If me, or someone, is going to found Jaxe, then he/she/they/it definitely needs Economic Intelligence, in less than 48 hours. So I think it could be a nice way.

The last thing: Meanwhile VICAComs are produced, The National Government can upload a website to replicate the mechanism.

Also, the ciphers change every month. This is to evade C.I.A. and specially N.S.A. interceptions*. I think the U.S. Intelligence is the main threat. They read every WhatsApp message or every Google search, specially from businesspeople and politicians. An American Operator or Analyst needs to ask a supercomputer what is The Argentinian Business Community thinking, and the supercomputer will respond him/her/they/it... with the correct and useful and precise answer/information.

So what I am trying to do with the ciphers, is re-direct the messages that businesspeople send to policymakers with VICAComs.

If, for example, INVAP or Techint needs something, and they need it quick, they do not send a WhatsApp to the President. They send an 4-times-encrypted message to the Department of Instant Economic Intelligence. This is low level communications.

For example, if a tax increase suffocates INVAP, or a new legislation complicates Techint Operations (contracts), they can send a Yellow Alarm to the D.I.E.I. (Departamento de Inteligencia Económica Inmediata). So The Federal Government paralysis INMEDIATELY the new legislation. The C.I.A. will see that Jaxe has got some trouble with something, but will not know what is causing it.

If the INVAP Director or someone, send a WhatsApp to the President saying: Mister President, your new tax increase suffocates us; and if INVAP is trying to sell, IDK... aircraft to Italy or Australia or Brazil or IDK... Nigeria... then the C.I.A. will immediately tell Lockheed Martin about their competitors status. So Lockheed Martin, or Boing, will act consequently. This is specially relevant with Worldwide Nuclear Contracts, and Regional Radar Contracts. Under my administration, or at least by my algorithms, INVAP Defense is not supposed to provide assets to any foreign nation. Any. I used the Lockheed Martin case because I don't know what US Companies sell nuclear reactors, and I don't want to Google them right now.

Anyway,

with a VICACom, that is not designed to chat, just to send a quick message (not a full conversation, like the purpose of the Enigma Machine), with a VICACom the government can avoid fucking it up. Like the Alberto's Administration constantly do. Every day. Almost every 6-8 hours...

I don't know, and I don't think, a future administration of mine or my political party or someone at my ideology, I don't think they will make a mistake. Or at least not a catastrophic error. But just in case... there is the set of Black, White, Red, Orange, Yellow, Apple Green, Green, Cyan, Light Blue, Blue, Dark Blue, Violet, Fuchsia, Pink and Grey buttons. Just in case.

For a constant communication, there must be a machine, like the Enigma machine but much better... I'm working on it. My calculations is that I will finish it in 2028 and start deployment for The Jaxer Political Party at 2029. This will difficult American & British Political Operations on Argentina and worldwide (for Jaxe). I mean, it will difficult any country's operation... it is just that The United States of America has got a super wow cool hyper extra mega super duper great awesome beautiful intel network here... and I don't think we're going to be friends. So I better prepare.

That machine also is ready to change ciphers, so a same machine can be used with different electromechanical engines, and join them to an electronic computer, and so on. So you can mix ciphers and stuff. You can change the cipher of the machine, like you change batteries from a notebook. Or you can add a battery after a battery, and have a new cipher. You can add 16 ciphers. 1000. 10000000000. But most importantly you can mix two or three of them and make a new cipher in seconds. You just need that somehow your buddy will knew the new cipher.

I want everyone to get this: Imagine a 1.945 writing machine, with a keyboard with letters, numbers and some rectangles from different colours. Picture a box behind it, that says CIPHER 4-B-8-J. Now picture you add a new box behind the box, that says CIPHER 6-2-6-8-H-A-F-H. There you got, a new cipher. You can also change the 4B8J cipher, and use the 6268 before, and then the 4B8J. And you got a new cipher. Every cipher is designed to be mixed with a new cipher mechanism above it, under it, next to it, behind it, in front of it, etcetera. Like LEGO blocks, but on all directions. You can also write with a cipher, change places, write again, replace with a new cipher-box, and write again. And if you add codewords, like replacing I don't know... President with potatoes...

You just need to add, replace, change from places, boxes.

Another thing that I was thinking is that to annulate the pattern analysis, I was thinking of a grid. This is a new cipher, that goes behind the box like a normal cipher but has got a keyboard on it. You can still add a box in front of it, between the cipher and the machine.

This new grid has got always the same pattern.

I - YOU - WE - THEY, etcetera

NEED - WANT - SAW, etcetera

SOMETHING, A BOX, A THING, SOMEONE, NONE, etcetera

RED, YELLOW, BLUE, etcetera

AT, IN, UNDER, NEXT TO, etcetera

SOMETHING, A BOX, A THING, SOMEONE, NONE, etcetera

FINISHED, CONTINUES

So...

"Mister President, your new tax increase difficult INVAP operations".

HE

DOES

BULLET

NONE

TO

A COMPANY

CONTINUES

(another message)

HE

NONE

NONE

NONE

NONE

NONE

FINISHED

Then you write "INVAP" with a cipher, or a set of it. Or at least you someone manage to let The Pink House it's you.

So:

"Mister President, your new tax increase difficult INVAP operations".

"HE DOES BULLET NONE TO A COMPANY CONTINUES"

"HE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE FINISHED"

"INVAPABCDEFGHIJKLMNP"

It would look like

A8N0 K1N6 D0K5 F8H6 K2J8 F9K5 Ñ3N7

(changes rotors, or re-configures the cipher)

9402 1859 1658 0183 9571 9275 1857

(change rotors, or re-configures the cipher)

IkIpQnIfPqMfUekiFYWh

If somehow, and probably will, the N.S.A. cracks my super cool 15-18 year old (I designed my algorithms before the machine)... then they will not know what it is about. They may guess.

If you combine it with an unknown sender, or an unknown station (instead of the message going out from INVAP installations), and with codewords (instead of HE HE being president, it could be in the third section APPLE TREE and in the fourth section RED), then I think we can evade a little.

Also I'm scared about the chinese, but I don't think/guess they will have the means/the assets to target The Jaxer Political Party as the Americans do......... but I'm still scared of some stupid Jaxer Political Party Staff sending Tier 4 - Strictly Secret and Confidential Information through WhatsApp... or sending nudes/buying drugs on Instagram... I see it coming. I just see it coming... it will happen... I know it.

Anyway. That's the VICACom Machine... hopefully I will have some Cold Machine Stuff (My Enigma Machine) in two or three years... it is just that I have got trouble learning electronic things... and I can't create a proper cipher... or CPU...

*The N.S.A. will eventually read the messages. The idea is that the U.S. Intel Community reads them after, I don't know, three months. So they can not sabotage our efforts. They will know what we did, but just not in time to react and sabotage our policies.