You speak as though insanity isn't a predictable outcome of decades of speed use and abuse. I also have limited sympathy for those who cook their livers with booze. No enabling.

I suspect he had gotten over his cravings for popularity when he started writing novels about pink lasers putting thoughts into his head?

'Confessions of a Crap Artist' is also good. Though a partial retelling of that other one who's name escapes me. The guy who almost wiped out the earth then lived among the survivors.

'Counter Clock World' was interesting, in a 'Martian Time-Slip' kind of way..

I think the 5 volumes of his collected short stories was a good book purchase. Roog was a great short story about an insane dog.

His most approachable, mainstream work.

'A Scanner Darkly' is his masterpiece.

Unless you follow his pseudo religious last 3 books.

There was no CGI in 2001.

That was all done with models and old school special effects.

Moxy and guile? No.

It's a 20+ year old scam. He likely had a friend working for the store who clued him in on Apples cluelessness.

If he had scammed 34 individuals of this kind of sum, the cops would have taken 34 reports and done _nothing_. But the feds have buildings full of cops dedicated to protecting the banks.

He was batshit for years before death...speed will do that to you.

Read his last three novels (if you can get through them). He would have been happier with a nice piece of carpet fuzz then a million dollars.

Caffeine flushes out of your system relatively quickly. Unless you stay caffeinated 24/7 your morning coffee continues to wake you up beyond what you normally would be.

Last time I completely quit smoking pot I was called into the boss's office.

'What's been going on for the last six weeks or so?'

'Nothing special'

'We've noticed you don't tolerate the idiots so well anymore, you can't tell them to think and expect results. Can't we just go back to the way it was?'

In that case I was using pot to cope with a shitty job and coworkers. The right solution was to move on. But I can honestly say; 'I've had the boss tell me to start smoking pot again'.

There's your problem. Sugar in the coffee. Didn't your parents/teachers warn you?

Should be Irish Whiskey.

The mythical; 1 glass of wine with dinner alcoholic?

Some definitions of alcoholic are incredibly broken. Do alcoholics really have a 75% spontaneous recovery rate? (75% of college students that would test as alcoholics spontaneously start to drink responsibly when their lives become more responsible!)

Some people are on earth to serve as a warning to others.

To others: Don't make the life choices this person made!

To them: Better luck next reincarnation.

For the record: I do know 1 person still working at a pizza joint, pushing 50. He's a drunk and a coke head. Drunk was first.

You talk to kids honestly. Or you lose your credibility, at which point it no longer matters what you say.

There are more completely sober people who can't think coherently then there are drugged up people it total.

But are you railing against 'The Baptists'?

They honestly believe that your body will acclimate to any drug.

Don't talk to them about half lives etc. They just _know_ that you body will acclimate and you will need the drug to feel normal. On faith apparently.

It's a belief that instantly tells you 'Mormon'.

Good thing 'the guy' has a lucrative offer from Oracle...but in your case, unlikely. $100,000 isn't a lot of money to Oracle sales. Not enough for them to buy the purchasing agent.