Monday, November 27, 2006

Dr. Pooch

When it comes to the chemistry behind Bolivian Marching Powder, few in the world know more than Pooch. To prove my point, I've pasted a sample chat room exchange below:

[3:09 PM]<nicfit> watch this:
http://cityrag.blogs.com/main/2006/11/how_cocaine_is_.html
[3:22 PM]<rynök düo> what's the cement for?
[3:22 PM]<nickönöv> Neato: binding agent?
[3:23 PM]<nicfit> yea, I think it attracts either the good stuff or
the bad stuff as a way to seperate the two
[3:23 PM]<nicfit> dunno though
[3:23 PM]<nicfit> maybe the chemist knows
[3:23 PM]<rynök düo> iaco?
[3:23 PM]<nicfit> yah
[3:25 PM]<iaco> alkaloids are more soluble by organic compounds than
water, so it's just an extraction method, non-polar
compounds dissolve non-polar compounds more efficiently
than polar compounds do
[3:25 PM]<rynök düo> i have no idea what you just said.
[3:25 PM]<rynök düo> but it gave me wood.
[3:26 PM]<iaco> the cement is probably a catalyst to pull out the good
stuff from the leaf pulp. it's alkaline in nature so
probably reacts and then you get the reacting bits with the
gasoline
[3:26 PM]<iaco> cement is very caustic; therefore, basic on the whole
acid/base scale
[3:29 PM]<rynök düo> damn this shit is complicated. how did people
figure this out?
[3:30 PM]<iaco> i'm sure the first extraction methods weren't this
complex. and then some guy who paid attention in chemistry
class figured out the rest of it

Click here to see the video that started it all.

Monday, November 06, 2006

secret weapon: Pooch

So, some cross-town lamers decided to challenge Pooch and his co-workers to a foosball competition recently (look here for details). They obviously didn't count on the clamminess that is Pooch, as he was allowed to methodically touch every handle on the table in a pre-tournament "warm up" game. The result: a 6-0 win for Pooch's team. Brilliant!

Update available here.