I’ll take both. : )
Actually my favourite method of forcing caffeine past the blood-brain barrier is through direct absorption into the cerebral-spinal tissue via my awesome ‘Trepan yourself at home’ kit a wandering shaman sold me from the back of a hovering jalopy.
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Until they make mocha-flavored electricity, I think I’ll pass.
(No, you may not implant electrodes into the taste centers of my brain.)
http://shaddack.twibright.com/projects/hw_TDCS/ - here, help yourself. (And, if you have ideas, please suggest some way to gauge the effectiveness in at least semi-nonsubjective way, I need a test protocol beyond “feels good/bad” which is too prone to placebo effect. Also I have to solve the issue of electrode skin irritation.)
(Todo: more portable design with integrated battery (trivial, a single Li-ion with USB charger chip will do, just get enough round tuits), microcontroller control via ADC-feedbacked PWM, on/off keying at defined frequency (some experiments suggest it has additional effects). Tuiiiiits!)
Fuck cultural acceptance, we’re here to blaze the trail. The plebes that are so disapproving of new tech will be just happy using it a mere decade from now and they won’t remember the gazes they had for the pioneers Back Then. Like it was with cars, with cellphones, with bluetooth earpieces, and soon will be with augmented-reality displays. Screw them and their petty opinions, they are ephemeral.
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I have defeated my caffeine addiction, several times.
It is nice to be off off of it, although it takes about two weeks to kick the headaches, but I have never slept better. But it always seems to draw me back. Perhaps sleep is overrated?
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. The US airforce issue dexies to ALL their pilots (they call 'em go-pills). Speed is not my cup of speed, but HOLY HELL YOU CAN WORK LIKE A MACHINE WHEN YOU HAVE A BIT.
Better living through chemistry, I say. I watched From Russia with Love last weekend while on shrooms and, WOW… that movie is 50x better when you’re high.
Plus, I think I would quit tomorrow if I couldn’t have office crack (coffee). Everyone reacts differently, but I firmly believe it’s what you’re used to. I can drink a 500ml can of energy drink and go to sleep within 15 minutes if I needed to (though I usually drink the stuff when playing CoD).
PS: Hi @DrKiki I heart when my favourite interwebz properties connect! BTW… and this is for @maggiek and the whole BB crew as well: Off topic question - when pharmaceuticals are past their expiry date, are there any ones that SHOULD NOT be taken due to spoilage, or is it the case that the medicine merely becomes less effective was it passes its expiry date?
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Right on! There are two things that I think are a complete waste of time and I only do them because survival depends on it: Eating and sleeping. Of those two, sleeping consumes the most time so if I could get rid of that…
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Not if you taper off. I did four weeks of blending in more and more decaf - no problems at all.
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One of the more useful “go-pills” is modafinil.
Now, where to get an off-the-books source, from the look of the molecule the synthesis would be a bitch…
My guess is that it is serious with antibiotics, and “depends” with everything else. Some things just lose activity, others could degrade to toxic products, especially if improperly stored. (And then there are the supplementary materials - excipients, binders… - that can quite influence the pharmacodynamic behavior and that could also degrade and change properties.)
My another guess is that you could significantly (but I am not sure how predictably) prolong the expiry date by storing the pills in a fridge or even a freezer; a rule of thumb is that chemical reactions tend to go half as fast with every 10 degrees C decrease (and vice versa - that leads to fun things like thermal runaways that can make the whole lab or process plant laugh LOUD). Beware of things where there is a liquid phase; these are often suspensions or emulsions and freezing them usually separates the phases. With all-solid stuff, my guess is that you cannot do much wrong with going as dry and cold as your storage equipment allows.
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My wife is one of those people… Though, she tends to be over sensitive to many chemicals – if some medication says “May cause excitability, especially in children. Marked drowsiness may occur.” she will get the excitability reaction. I will probably get the drowsiness reaction (a double espresso in the evening will put me to sleep).
Hey you guys…I’m not about to give up my cold-brew for any damn brain machine!!!
It’s not either-or, you can have both! 
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I’m about a month off. I just couldn’t handle the crashes, and was stressing too much about maximizing. My energy spikes and troughs have leveled off, and I don’t even think about it anymore. I feel like my bursts of energy at work didn’t always come with productivity, and that my body being a little sleepy doesn’t mean I can’t think or work.
Naps, tho. Now there’s a drug I’ll never give up (they give you energy AND immersive narrative hallucinations!).
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The bad trips can be pretty scary.
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Modafinil/Provigil is readily available for shipping from overseas (e.g. India) pharmacies. Quality control is tricky, though. Prices vary wildly, and if you buy the cheapest available you’ll probably wind up with God knows what random stimulant. There are websites that review overseas pharmacies; consult them carefully and don’t be cheap.
Or so I’m told.
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A lot of them just go inert, but you shouldn’t count on it, and there’s no hard-and-fast rule. Google for the specific product.
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