Hivemind Times Issue #42

Welcome To The Hivemind Times!

Citizens of the great city of Hivemind, I have for you your weekly dose of reading. Who out there only reads this and nothing else during the week? There’s gotta be one of you freaks. Anyway I am still hungover from Movement I think, either that or I’ve successfully shattered my ego. That is neither here nor there or any of your business so let's just focus on the fun of the Hivemind Times.

Ro has returned with some movie content, Cronk and Quinn are sure to pump this thing full of some sort of chaotic energy, Huntley dropped a playlist to end violence, shit maybe Grant will even make an appearance. 

As always thanks for reading and stay in school or whatever PEACE OUT FUKKKAAAS.

- Riley & Graydon

WEEKLY PLAYLIST

In these seemingly impossible times it’s ever so important to just try and keep some peace in your life. This quintessential peacekeeping playlist comes from a good man, an honest boy and a true nonviolent activist, Huntley. So please cross your legs, pour some tea and explore the root of those bad feelings and purge them allowing for the tilling of the soil of the mind to give birth to the harvest of serenity and good feelings.

CRONK’S UPDATE

Hello Samaritans,

The past week I finally sat my ass down and watched Pulp Fiction and it was cool. I started thinking about all the movies I haven't seen so here is my list of things I really need to watch and why I haven't watched them yet.

All of the Fast and the Furious Movies

“You like cars and you haven't seen Fast and the Furious?” Shut up, the truth is I might now never watch these. I know I really should though, these movies really made western car culture include more than American cars. The Eclipse, the Supra, I think GTRs were made cool too? Idk maybe one day.

Quinton Tarentino’s other movies

I guess Pulp Fiction is the only one I have seen, I have heard great things about Inglorious Bastards and Once Upon a time in Hollywood. I will def watch these soon. Though I kinda dont fuck with quinton Tarentino as a person, his weird fetishes, coke problem and his beef with david lynch really makes me not wanna like his movies but I know i will enjoy them.

The Godfather Trilogy

I fucking love mob shit, Sopranos Goated, Good Fellas goated. Honestly I haven't watched the Godfather because It's the last big mob thing and I need something to look forward to. I will 100% watch these but the time has to be right. 

Lord Of The Rings

It's just too goddamn long.

Buffalo 66

I have no idea even if this movie is good, but everyone says it's high art. I will probably watch this really really soon. My introduction to Vincent Gallo was Entourage's depiction of him just being an insane director that made one good movie and then lost it. I'm really excited for this. 

Entourage Movie

Speaking of entourage, I need to watch this fucking movie. I know entourage is a show for millennial creeps but its depiction of the early 2000s is fucking awesome and i got way too involved in the story. Entourage is like a Gossip Girl for gross men. Gossip Girl is also an amazing show that I have watched front to back like 5 times 

Im gonna end this here cause this discord chat is waiting for me to get on call of duty. Let me know what movies I should watch. Peace.

- Cronk

MOVIE REVIEW

Hi, my name is Ro Ramdin and Graydon has asked me to recommend/review some movies for y’all, so here I go.

If you’re looking for a theatre going experience this June and consider yourself a fan of the subversive, sometimes uncanny comedy of I Think You Should Leave - Andrew DeYoung’s Friendship is a no brainer.

The film’s premise is unimportant if you’re a fan of the comedic stylings of Paul Rudd or Tim Robinson (especially the latter, whose sketch roots run deep through the many ludicrous social interactions in the film), both of whom take on a lead role familiar to their previous performances but elevated to dizzying heights.

I cannot remember the last time I heard a movie theatre laugh this hard, this often, and with such variety in the context of laughs - some in discomfort, some recognizing the familiar comedic stylings of Robinson, and some acclimating themselves to what will inevitably be a cult classic they’ll show their friends for the next decade. Multiple times I rushed my hand to cover my mouth because a laugh so ugly and loud escaped I was concerned about disturbing the surrounding audience.

Kate Mara and Jack Dylan Grazer also turn in truly bizarre, genre-defying performances that add to the surprisingly intricate and clever schematic of the film - Mara’s character is poe-faced throughout, and Grazer’s character seems boring on the surface but alludes to an utterly absurd interiority over a series of character-informing bits that supply the character with much appreciated complication. Pay some money and go see a comedy that’s actually funny for an audience of comedy fans.

As for films I watched for the first time this month and adored - Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas, Tomas Alea-Gutierrez’ Memories of Underdevelopment, Alan J Pacula’s All The President’s Men, Terrence Mallick’s Days of Heaven, Robert Altman’s 3 Women, Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue, Claire Denis’ White Material, and Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket.

Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz was my only five star rating this month; an incomparable and truly singular work that demands seeing to believe - it redefined what an autobiographical film could accomplish for me.

None of these films were released in the 21st century, which serves as a good reminder that there’s a vast expanse of cinematic art waiting to be seen if you go outside of your comfort zones and explore the canon of critics or friends you trust.

XOXO, watch some movies!

- Ro 

QUINN’S CHEMISTRY CLASS

Sarin: A Fun and Healthy Gas

I was at the Movement Festival in Detroit with the whole Hivemind team this weekend and I’m still recovering but I’m gonna attempt to teach you about a pretty cool nerve agent (nerve gas) called Sarin. This will mostly be a summary of the wiki, NCBI, and CDC articles on Sarin and some random facts I know about it just from internet rabbit holes I’ve gone down. 

The chemistry behind it is a little too complex for me to explain succinctly enough for the newsletter. And by that I mean, I don’t feel like researching the synthesis for an hour until I understand it enough to talk about it. I've forgotten a lot of the deeper topics I learned while studying for my degree, but I will lightly touch on it. Usually the chemistry I talk about here is pretty entry level reactions anyone can do at home but this is some serious organic chemistry. This will mostly be on the biological effects and history of Sarin.

What is Sarin?

Sarin (known as GB in military documentation) is part of the G-series of nerve agents, named so because they were all developed in Germany. It is an organophosphorus compound, meaning it is an organic molecule containing at least one phosphorus atom. For those reading who are not chemistry inclined, an organic molecule just means any molecule containing carbon, usually containing at least one carbon-carbon or carbon-hydrogen bond. Organophosphorus compounds are mainly used in pest control as insecticides, but a number of them are extremely toxic nerve agents. 

Sarin is one of (might be the most) the most toxic nerve agents in its class, exposure of 1 to 10 mL or 100 to 500 mg on the skin can be fatal within minutes to hours (hopefully minutes). It can also deliver a lethal dose through the eyes, nose, or mouth. Although it’s called a nerve gas it also has been delivered in liquid form. It is colorless, odorless, and volatile in liquid form. It is infamous because of its use as a chemical warfare weapon in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

How does it Work?

The way it works is by inhibiting the ability of acetylcholinesterase to bind with its active site within the synapse of neurons. Put more simply, acetylcholinesterase normally binds to a molecule in a neuron but the Sarin binds with the molecule first, so the acetylcholinesterase can’t. Acetylcholinesterase is a neurotransmitter that breaks down acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is released when a muscle neuron is stimulated and tells the rest of the muscle neurons to also stimulate. 

In a normally functioning body, the muscle contracts, releases acetylcholine, then the acetylcholinesterase breaks it down so the muscle can relax. When the Sarin blocks the acetylcholinesterase from breaking down the acetylcholine, the muscle cannot relax. Sarin stops EVERY muscle and organ from relaxing, this includes all of your skeletal muscles, heart, bowels, the diaphragm, tear ducts, and whatever the drool muscles are. I’m just going to copy and paste the symptoms after exposure from wikipedia because they are brutal.

“Initial symptoms following exposure to nerve agents (like Sarin) are a runny nose, tightness in the chest, and constriction of the pupils. Soon after, the victim will have difficulty breathing and will experience nausea and salivation. As the victim continues to lose control of bodily functions, involuntary salivation, lacrimation, urination, defecation, gastrointestinal pain and vomiting will be experienced. Blisters and burning of the eyes and/or lungs may also occur. This phase is followed by initially myoclonic jerks (muscle jerks) followed by status epilepticus–type epileptic seizure. Death then comes via complete respiratory depression, most likely via the excessive peripheral activity at the neuromuscular junction of the diaphragm.

The effects of nerve agents are long lasting and increase with continued exposure. Survivors of nerve agent poisoning almost invariably develop chronic neurological damage and related psychiatric effects. Possible effects that can last at least up to two–three years after exposure include blurred vision, tiredness, declined memory, hoarse voice, palpitations, sleeplessness, shoulder stiffness and eye strain. In people exposed to nerve agents, serum and erythrocyte acetylcholinesterase in the long-term are noticeably lower than normal and tend to be lower the worse the persisting symptoms are.”

History of Fun Gas

Sarin was originally developed in 1939 at IG Farben, a German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate, while doing research on pesticides. Very surprisingly, even Hitler thought it was too inhumane to use as a chemical warfare agent and ordered it not be used in WW2. The first documented use of Sarin as a weapon was by Chile’s intelligence service in 1976; however, it was only used in a number of single target assassinations. 

The first large-scale use of Sarin as a chemical warfare agent was in 1988 by the one and only, Saddam himself, on the city of Halabja in Iraq. It killed around 5000 people, almost all civilians, absolutely horrific thing to think about. Later that year it was used by Iraq against Iran four times in military operations. It was outlawed along with many chemical weapons by the UN in 1997. It was used many times after this in warfare almost exclusively by Syria or Syrian rebel groups and once by Iraqi insurgents on Iraq.

How to Make it at Home

Just kidding. You really think I would give away the secret to my main source of income? That is all for today. I hope you enjoyed learning about Sarin and this inspired you to learn about other nerve agents. It is a pretty interesting subject, there are a lot of them and not all of them work the same way.

- Quinn

SPORTS

Premier League Transfer News

As the transfer window opens this Sunday I have felt the need to cover what I have found most relevant to the league, whether it be a big six club, or a transfer I really like for any team. I figured with the first article, I’ll just keep it to the biggest names being thrown around, and then going forward get way more nitty gritty with the analysis. For this first article though, I’m just gonna talk about Arsenal, then every week after we’ll open the floor for me to talk about everyone.  

As reported yesterday by Fabrizio, Arsenal have opened initial concrete talks with Benjamin Šeško. This is the make it or break it season for Mikel Arteta. Trophies or bust. My thoughts on signing Šeško are positive but this can not be the only attacking player we sign this summer. 

There’s so much talk surrounding Šeško possessing the potential to be the best striker in the world one day, and I feel Arsenal is taking their opportunity now so we don’t run into another situation like we had with Isak now at Newcastle. Arsenal needs WIN NOW signings, and while Šeško is still very raw, I still don’t think this isn’t a great signing should he be Arteta’s man. 

In my opinion we still need a LW, a RCB, and obviously a back up GK (I still can't believe we loaned GK who was cup tied) . For LW, early names were thrown around about signing Rodrygo from Madrid. This would be a statement signing, although over the last few weeks it seems that information has died down a bit, if that is a player that is available this summer we need to be there. That’s roughly all I've heard so far with potentially Arsenal incomings. It’s gonna be a busy one this summer in the Premier League. I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you all about it every week.

- Grant

MERCH