Smartphones and 3D Technology: A Cool Feature or Lame Gimmick?
Updated on December 15th, 2016 by Quertime Writer in Mobile
Over the past decade, 3D technology has seemingly come into its own. The biggest blockbuster movie releases come in 3D variations, 3D printers are on the rise, and now smartphones have even tried to dabble in this technology as they seek to differentiate themselves from a crowded and competitive marketplace. Although the idea of a 3D smartphone isn't exactly a new notion, the idea of a smartphone that has working 3D features that consumers actually use has yet to hit the market. The real question, however, is whether or not 3-dimensional interfaces and features matter in the mobile phone space. Is this something that could benefit users, or is it a gimmick meant to drive sales and benefit the marketing department of a major manufacturer?
We know that the goal of every major mobile phone producer is to come up with a way to top their competitors, which has resulted in several ridiculous features that aren't necessary, but designed to attract consumers. Although this technology is still in its beginning stages, it is still intriguing—especially if it works. Read on to get a better idea of the true potential of 3D smartphones and whether or not it's a legitimate feature, or a marketing ploy to attract customers.
3D Has a Disappointing Past for Smartphone Users
Once upon a time, both HTC and LG announced that the future was here: The smartphone interface had gone 3D! People were excited about this news, especially since this was during the rising popularity of 3D televisions and movies. Consumers were eager until they got their hands on each of the respective devices and performance fell short of promises and expectations. At that point, they became disappointed with the feature's lack of user-friendly qualities, and poor performance over all. The feature was inconsistent, and often produced hard-to-use interfaces with illegible menus and fragmented applications. Additionally, the quality of images was so poor that it wasn't worth it to use the feature. It wasn't even particularly useful on the home screen, either. Most people turned the feature off since it started to be more of a bother than a cool features.
After Several Years, Amazon is Considering Rehashing 3D Interfaces
The future is here again. Amazon has released a new smartphone that leverages the power of 3D interfaces, eye tracking, and glasses-free immersion in a multidimensional world. Will it matter? Most experts agree that the feature is still largely in the gimmick phase: There are currently no useful applications of 3D outside the movie theater, and virtually all applications available to Android customers are designed for 3D use. That means a poor translation of user interfaces, a disjointed experience, and all of the same negative factors that forced HTC and LG to pull their 3D models. Even if the technology runs smoothly now, the failure of the first-round attempt of 3D smartphones has left consumers cautious of the feature. It will likely take some convincing before smartphone users are spending their pretty pennies for a new 3D phone. Every smartphone company is eager to be the first to taste 3D success, however, this has caused a serious rush on the release of these devices. A premature release likely means that bugs have not yet been worked out yet, which will no doubt result in dissatisfied customers once again.
Carriers Use it as a Marketing Tool
Smartphone developers and companies aren't the only ones who are constantly fighting against competitors for customers' attention. Carriers have become highly invested in the development of 3D technology because it offers them exclusivity, thus attracting more consumers. Carriers like Sprint and AT&T got in on the 3D action several years ago when the first models began to hit the market in hopes that this feature alone would set them apart and give them a leg up on the competition. Since this is cutting edge technology, carriers have been and will continue to use the feature as a marketing draw for consumers, which adds to the gimmick-y nature of 3D smartphone technology.
Could 3D Features Drive the Market Toward 3D-Capable Apps?
Developers tend to follow market trends only in terms of what their applications do and how they interact with the base Android or iOS interface. One smartphone going 3D isn't an impetus to developers to create a brand new application interface that leaps off the screen and into the user's visual field. With that said, Amazon's new embrace of 3D interfaces could be a test case. If people are particularly drawn to this device, developers may take notice and attempt to accommodate users of the phone. If the device isn't a hit, and 3D doesn't become a selling point for the Amazon phone, look for developers to continue shunning three-dimensional interfaces for a long time to come. While the consumers might resist, developers will continue to research and perfect the feature. This technology has been in development for a long time, but no one has truly mastered this feature yet. It's unlikely that developers will give up on mastering the 3D feature until it is perfected, however, consumers could be completely dissuaded at that point due to so many failed attempts in the past.
Promising Technology, But Not Yet a Useful Feature
3D is shiny and new, however, it's not an extremely useful feature for smartphone makers, developers, or users, at this point. So far, it's just a gimmick to gain attention. But this technology is still in development and could quickly take the smartphone market by storm as soon as it is fully functional. For this feature to become main stream, it is going to take time, further development, and a few early adopters to make this new technology a reality. For now, the technology is seen as merely a gimmick as opposed to an attractive feature, but the smartphone industry changes daily, and we could see 3D success overnight when developers finally get it right.
Author: Dixie Somers
Information for this article was provided by the smartphone professionals at Apple Shark who allow consumers to sell used iPhone 3Gs and other models, no matter the condition of the phone.
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Tag: Funemployment Diary
Funemployment Diary, Entry #16: Commence Secret Side Trip!
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I'm in Tampa right now, but I won't be for long. Later tonight, after a quick bite at the Cheesecake Factory (a guilty pleasure of mine), I'm boarding a US Airways flight and heading…somewhere…until Friday. I'll go into more detail later, but it should suffice to say that the local climate calls for a hoodie and the trip may or may not be concerned about changing my funemployed status. I'll be back in Tampa this weekend, when I have a visit to a giraffe farm on the agenda.
Tags Funemployment Diary, Secret Side Trip
Funemployment Diary, Entry #15: Bohol Bee Farm
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My cousin suggested that while we were on the island of Bohol (which I talked about earlier here, here and here), we should visit Bohol Bee Farm, a small agricultural project that combines beekeeping with sustainable farming, ecotourism and support for a local crafts industry.
Since bees and pollination go together, many apiaries tend to either place themselves close to a farm that grows plants or operate as part of one. At Bohol Bee Farm, they grow a number of flowers that bees prefer to pollinate, but they also grow herbs and lettuce.
Romel, our tour guide, gave us samples of the herbs they grew and challenged my nephews to identify them. Among the herbs they grow are cilantro, mint, basil and lemongrass.
They also grow arugula, romaine and other varieties of lettuce here. I was a bit surprised by this, as leafy green salads aren't traditional in this part of Asia. Romel said that they've been catching on in recent years and that we should try their house specialty salad at the restaurant, which is made with the lettuce and other fruits and vegetables grown on the farm.
You can't visit a bee farm without actually getting up close and personal with some bees, so here I am doing just that. Note that I'm not wearing a beekeeping hat or any protective gear.
The bees were pretty mellow, concentrating more on their work rather than us. If you don't bother them, they won't bother you, Romel assured us, especially since these were European bees, which have a reputation for being less agressive than their Africanized counterparts.
There's a lot of hype about Africanized bees that comes from disaster movies like The Swarm, the way they're often referred to a "Killer Bees" and the familiar tropes of good peaceful Europeans versus bad violent Africans as well and the discomfort some people have with interracial dating and marriage. The term "Africanized bee" has little meaning today because there's no generally-accepted genetic definition for what one is and because they're hard to identify — you can only tell the difference through statistical analysis on micro-measurements of their wings (Africanized bees have slightly shorter wings) on a reasonably large sample.
They practice organic farming at Bohol Bee Farm, so they produce their fertilizer through the use of animal manure, composting and vermiculture.
In addition to agriculutre, Bohol Bee Farm has a number of arts and crafts projects where they produce goods made from local materials such as raffia palm, coconut and seashells.
They've also opened up a hotel on the property. The farm is pretty close to the ocean and some good places to go diving (the water's quite clear and warm, and a "shorty" wetsuit is all you need), so they're taking advantage of it.
As with the arts and crafts, they've taken great pains to built the hotel out of locally-available material wherever possible. It's not just green, it's also a good way to stretch their limited budget.
Pictured above is the side wall of the hotel. From a distance, it looks like stones set in mortar. But take a closer look:
They're actually coconut husks!
I have no idea how long they last, but it's a pretty interesting way to set up a facade for a building. It looks much better than simply having a pre-stressed concrete wall.
Looking out from the hotel grounds, you can see the Bohol Sea.
It provides a great view for the restaurant.
The menu offerings looked pretty good, so we decided to have lunch there.
In the farm's spirit of "we make as much our stuff as we can", even the menu was produced by the craftspeople on site.
The salad was one of the standout parts of the meal. It was made with greens, fruits, edible flowers (flowers pollinated by bees are generally edible) and goat cheese, all of which were made on the farm, and served with a honey mustard dressing made with the farm's honey. It was excellent, and we all had seconds.
The other standout dish was their homemade squash bread, a sweet, hearty loaf served with three kinds of spreads: a mango spread, a pesto spread and a honey spread, made with their own honey.
Before I left, I picked up a few items in the gift shop. One of them was bahalina, a wine or arrack made from coconuts. On my home island of Luzon (where Manila is), there's a similar drink called lambanog. Bohol Bee Farm's bahalina is reddish in colour thanks to the inclusion of mangrove bark and has a fair bit of honey in it, making it rather mead-like. I brought a bottle back with me to share with Anitra, and it goes really well with Chinese food.
If you're going to Bohol to enjoy their beaches and diving, make sure to add Bohol Bee Farm to your itinerary. It's an interesting place to visit, a great place to take the kids (they'll even learn a thing or two), they've got a great restaurant with a nice view, and their shop has a lot of crafts and food that make excellent souvenirs or gifts.
Tags Funemployment Diary
Funemployment Diary, Entry #14: Flying Home (if Only for a Day)
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Manila skyline photo by Henno Kruger. Click to see the original.
All trips have to come to an end, and my trip to Manila ended yesterday with my flight home. In total, my trip lasted a little over 24 hours with me arriving at Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on the 4th of July at 8:30 a.m. Philippines time (8:30 p.m. on July 3rd Eastern daylight time) and having cleared customs, grabbing my luggage and hopping into a cab at Toronto's Lester B. Pearson Airport on the 5th of July at 9:15 a.m. Philippines time (9:15 p.m. on July 4th Eastern daylight time). I went to bed last night around midnight and woke up at 6:30 this morning, which I hope means that I'll adjust quickly to North American time.
Terminal 1 is NAIA's international terminal, and one of the first things you'll see is Paris Hilton. Right now, the big billboard that you see after crossing the security threshold at the door (where all your bags, including checked luggage, get x-rayed) is an ad for some new condo development somewhere in the Metro Manila area for which Ms. Hilton is a spokesmodel. She really does get around.
Here's something you'll see if you're flying Cathay Pacific from Manila: a reminder that you can't bring ammunition on a flight to Hong Kong, whether it's as carry-on or checked luggage. The rules seem to allow guns, however; you just can't bring bullets.
This is just plain wrong. Yes, the evidence of millions of flyers every year suggests that packing heat is quite unnecessary for air travel, but there just might come a time when I need to blast some chump, and what am I going to do then, hippie?
NAIA's Terminal 1, which serves all the non-Filipino international airlines, is totally ghetto. In fact, it's infamous for being terrible, having been ranked #1 in Sleeping in Airports' 2011 "Worst Airports" list as well as appearing in Frommer's recent "10 Worst Airports" article. It's poorly organized, sloppily run, terribly lit and plagued with the ambience of a flea market. Don't get me wrong: I like the flea market vibe, but not at an airport.
You could pluck someone from 1985 and drop them in the present-day counters at NAIA and they wouldn't know anything was amiss until they saw someone pull out a mobile phone. There are no advance check-in terminals to speed up the process, and even with a dozen counters, each manned by more than one person in the make-work tradition of the Philippines, it's still slow going.
Luckily, in one of its few concessions to actually being in the 21st century, NAIA has free wifi, and I amused myself by reading an article that attempted to explain why there isn't a word in Tagalog for "efficiency".
This is Asia, so every airport has to provide some kind of place within the airport to smoke. In NAIA, it's a combination whiskey and cigar bar.
I made my way down the long hallway leading to the gates…
…and was disappointed to find that they still hadn't changed the way gate lounges work.
The set of chairs around each gate is cordoned off. You can sit only in the seats near the gate for your flight; you have to show your boarding pass to be let into the cordoned-off area for those seats. Each cordoned-off area has some airport workers acting as gatekeepers (again, more Filipino make-work).
Of course, the washrooms and snack bars are outside the cordoned-off areas, so if you want to relieve yourself or get a drink, you have leave the cordoned-off area, which requires leaving your boarding pass with the area's gatekeepers, and reclaiming it when you return.
Naturally, there are no power outlets in the waiting area. It's all part of the "third world country in the 1970s" vibe that NAIA seems to be going for.
I like visiting the Philippines, but I hate that ghetto airport.
Soon, it was time to board the flight to Hong Kong. It's probably the most travelled-to destination from Manila, which is why it needs a high-capacity jet like a 747, even though it's barely a 90-minute flight, well within the range of a regional jet.
The inflight entertainment system needed a quick reboot.
Much better!
This plane's inflight entertainment system was an older one from the previous decade, before they made the switch to touchscreens. It had one of those old-school controllers with a phone and "TV remote"-style controls on the front…
…and a QWERTY keyboard and game controls on the back:
I tried a few of the games, and they were terribly clunky and pokey, as if I was playing on a bargain basement PC from the early 2000s. Which, in fact, was what I was doing.
Hong Kong's airport may be only an hour and a half away from Manila's, but it's worlds away. It gets consistently good reviews on Skytrax, and with good reason: it's bright, clean, spacious, modern, efficient, full of amenities and comfortable. It also has some spectacular views of the mountains and the harbor.
I love the airport's huge windows:
The central hub is like a high-end shopping mall, and there are plenty of places to get all sorts of food there:
If you're running short of time, there are also restaurants by the gates. "My Nosh" — a great Engrish name for a place — was one of the spots near my gate, but I chose to go to the noodle place across the hall:
I'm a bit of a planespotter, so I spent a fair bit of time just looking out the window and checking out the jets. There are all sorts of airlines that you don't normally see in North America, so it was a bit of a treat. Note the China Airlines jet in the background — that's one of the Airbus A380 monsters.
Once again, it's an Asian airport, so there has to be a smoking room. This one was packed:
Here's the noodle place where I grabbed some lunch, which was thick noodles and char siu pork:
Each of the tables came with a complete set of condiments: salt, pepper, soy sauce, two kinds of chili oil, sugar, sugar substitute, non-dairy creamer and a TV! I caught a bit of a medieval Chinese drama. Couldn't understand a word. but there was a cool chase scene with some soliders.
Here's the Boeing 777ER that took me from Hong Kong to Toronto, non-stop:
It's a 15-hour flight. Luckily, I had reading material on my iPad and there were a number of good options on the inflight entertainment system (this flight had a more modern one with a touchscreen).
Here's the view from my seat (made up of a set of stitched-together photos):
We took off from Hong Kong…
…passed by Taiwan…
…swung east of Japan, after which I decided to finally watch The Hunger Games (not bad)…
…and about fifteen hours later, we landed in Toronto.
I'm back in Toronto as I write this, but not for long. Tomorrow, I'm off to Tampa to catch up with Anitra and be her date for a wedding on Saturday, and shortly afterwards, I have to make a quick jaunt over to the west coast…for reasons I'll reveal soon. I may be funemployed, but I'm certainly not idle!
Funemployment Diary, Entry #13: Touring Bohol
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The Chocolate Hills
The Amorita Resort, where we stayed while we were in Bohol, provides its own tours and guides for its guests. Me and my family — mom, sister, bro-in-law and her kids — signed up and got a guide named Cathy and a tour van to take us around. Our first stop: the Chocolate Hills.
Bohol, with its combination of rolling hilly terrain and being an island sheltered by large islands or island groups, would be a great place to hold an Ironman triathlon. It's got all the challenges for the athletes and for the spectators, it provides a lot of breathtaking views.
Creative Commons image courtesy of Wikipedia. Click to see the original.
It took a while — the better part of an hour — to get from the resort to the hills, but it was worth it for the view.
The Chocolate Hills set Bohol apart from just about anyplace else on Earth. They're naturally-occurring cone- and dome-shaped hills formed by the erosion of the island's mostly-limestone geography. They get their name from the colour they get during the Philippines' dry season (October to May), when the sun dries their vegetation to a chocolate brown.
We're currently a month into the wet season, so our tour guide said that right now, they're more like the Pistachio Hills.
Between the hills are lush green valleys, like the one pictured above. To get a better view, we were taken to an observation point atop the highest hill in the valley. The staircase below took us up to the top:
From there, we got a commanding view of the surrounding hills:
Here's a shot taken from where all those other tourists were posing for photos:
Here's the obligatory self-portrait:
After a little looking around, it was time to head back down to the road where the van was waiting:
Before heading to our next destination, I took one last photo from road level. There was a great view of some of the hills and a lot of the surrounding greenery:
The Tarsiers
Tarsiers are weird little creatures — they're the smallest of all the primates. They're found only on a number of Southeast Asian islands, including Borneo, Sulawesi, Sumatra and in the Philippines, where they live on the island of Bohol.
They're tiny little monkeys with big eyes (each eye is about equal to the size of their brain). The eyes are a product of evolution and their being nocturnal. They prefer to stay in forests with small branches, as they climb only those things that they can wrap their fingers around.
They don't move much during the day, which made it possible to get some pictures of them at their sanctuary. Of the four tarsiers we managed to see, only one was awake, but he was positioned in such a way that it was only possible to get backlit photos of him.
Loboc River Cruise
The Loboc River on a sunny day.
Creative Commons photo courtesy of Wikipedia. Click to see the original.
After the tarsier sanctuary, our next destination was the Loboc River, a slow-moving river and tourist attraction. There are as many as a dozen riverboats taking tourists up and down the river, many of which are floating restaurants. In addition to being part of our tour, it was also our lunch spot.
These boats — basically platforms mounted on two large outrigger boats and pushed by a small tug — carry about fifty passengers, not including the crew and serving staff.
Lunch is served from a buffet and is made up of classic Filipino comfort food: chicken and pork adobo, shrimp, pinakbet (a stew of vegetables including bitter melon, okra, string beans and eggplant), philippine barbecue (grilled pork kebabs), fried chicken and all sorts of tropical fruit.
This was my view from where I ate:
Once again, the obligatory self-portrait:
The boat travels about an hour upriver while the passengers eat, after which it reaches this point and turns around:
On the way back, we made a stop at this floating platform to catch a performance by a chorus of two dozen women, each one playing a ukelele, all performing pop songs that anyone from North America (or steeped in its culture) would recognize:
When we arrived, they were playing The Everly Brothers' classic, Bye Bye Love. We hopped off the boat and onto the platform, caught a few more numbers and then continued downriver:
Seeing our boat, a number of stray dogs gathered nearby on the shore:
They're used to getting scraps thrown to them from tourists on the boats, so they all sat at attention, waiting for their lunch. After a while, about eight or nine dogs had gathered, some scrapping with each other for the best spot on the riverbank:
Next: More beach bummin'
Funemployment Diary, Entry #12: More Beach Bummin' in Bohol
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I am now living in a beer commercial. Those are my feet in the photo above, and just past them are the sands and waters of Alona Beach on the island of Panglao, a satellite island of another island named Bohol, which in turn is one of the islands in the Visayas region of the country where I was born: the Philippines. In the distance are catamarans which take tourists farther out to sea to visit some of the neighbouring islands or go snorkelling, scuba diving or dolphin watching. Above me is the welcome shade provided by palm trees. To my right and out of the shot are a couple of ice-cold cans of San Miguel beer.
The view above is the fulfillment of a promise I made to myself when my view was the one below:
This view is from "my hospital week", when I spent in the ICU shortly after getting separated ("dying of a broken heart" is no longer an abstract concept, as far as I'm concerned). Fever-induced delirium — and hey, I'll admit it, fear also played a role — makes you do things you normally wouldn't, and I remember putting together a mental list of things that I would do if I got out of the hospital alive. If you noticed that I've been living larger than usual over the past several months, you now know why.
One of the items on the list was to visit the Philippines and go to a beach there with my family. My prior situation was such that I'd made peace with the fact that I'd never see the homeland again, but after twelve years, I'm back.
I stayed at Amorita Resort, which is located atop a cliff on one end of Alona Beach. The photo above shows a view of the beach from the resort.
The photo below was taken from the same vantage point, just with the camera panned slightly to the right:
The months of June through September are the lean season for this area; June is the start of the wet season as well as the school year here, so there's elbow room aplenty. For every occupied lounge chair on the beach (which are mere steps from the water, yet quite well-covered with shade), there were two free ones.
There were more boats moored offshore than there were people swimming. It was probably as close as I was going to get to Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's private beach setup (he just bought most of the Hawaiian island of Lanai).
I took the photo above from the same lounge chair where I took the first photo for this article. Amorita Resort is at the top of that small cliff.
As you walk farther down the beach, you'll see all manner of places to eat. Most of them are cheap, cheerful and locally owned — no chains like McDonald's here — serving a mix of Filipino food as well as half-decent approximations of "foreign" food. A couple of places are owned by expats who married Filipinas, moved here and set up shop, so there's a place that bills itself as a bierstube as well as a joint run by a French guy who includes crepes suzette and coupe denmark (which is really just a French fancypants way of saying "chocolate sundae") on his menu.
If dining on sand and patio furniture is too much like roughing it for you, there are other places on the beach that might be more to your liking.
Sunset happens more quickly as you get closer to the equator, and the effect is kind of magical. It's even more so on the beach.
At night, the restaurants turn on the lights and the beach becomes a patio party.
We had dinner at one of those cheap-and-cheerful places on the beach. This one has plenty of freshly-caught fish on display; you could point at one and they'd happily grill it for you. I picked out a red snapper and fifteen minutes later, it came to me simply and perfectly grilled with a bowl of a soy sauce/fish sauce/chopped tomato/chopped onion mixture and a heap of garlic fried rice on the side.
This was my view at dinner:
All in all, a very nice Tuesday.
Funemployment Diary, Entry #10: Seen at the Fitness Center
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The executive apartments where I'm staying in Manila — The Ascott — has a pretty nicely-equipped fitness center. Here's a photo I took of its entrance:
Note the refrigerator to the left of the reception desk. I decided to zoom in to get a closer look:
Nothing tops off a good workout like a pint of Haagen-Dazs!
Funemployment Diary #8: Random Stuff, Then Back to Accordion City
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I'm back in Accordion City (as seen from my seat on Tuesday's flight)…
…but I'm only here until Sunday.
I've been spending the last couple of weeks with Anitra, this lovely lady…
…as part of my summer vacation. I've been enjoying myself, relaxing…
…but also teaching myself how to write apps for the iPhone and iPad…
…and doing some behind-the-scenes hustling:
Click image above to download my resume (107KB PDF).
If you like the grand old American tradition of the all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant, you should try Der Dutchman, who have a branch in Sarasota. It blends the American buffet line and its ridiculous amounts of food with down-home Amish cooking.
We were there to see the Ringling Museum and Ca' d'Zan, the mansion of John Ringling, one of the Ringling Brothers who created the circus of the same name. In a time before the internet, television, film and even radio, circuses were probably the most spectacular and compelling form of entertainment, and it made John Ringling incredibly rich.
It's right on the water, and has some stunning views:
But this view's my favourite:
Ah, the couple self-portrait. Once a tricky thing before phones with cameras on both sides, but still tricky when it's a windy day:
The wind was a little more cooperative with this snapshot:
We made our way to Sarasota's boutique drag afterwards…
…where we had a nice dinner at Cafe L'Europe, complete with Crepes Suzette for dessert. Table-side flambe cooking may be considered to be gauche by some of the snootier people in the foodie crowd, but I think it's due for a comeback.
Photo from Crunchy Granola Suite. Click to see it at the source.
Anitra managed to snag some tickets for the Neil Diamond concert on June 3rd, and wow, did he put on a great show! He was in fine form, his voice was still like the recordings, and he sang and played pretty much non-stop for two straight hours, which included an encore and three reprises of Sweet Caroline (he knows it's a hit and that many in the crowd would have listened to just that song all night if given the chance). I hope I'm as in good shape when I'm 71.
Here's a shot of the venue — the Tampa Bay Times Forum, where the Lightning play — which I took after the show:
It's been a while since I've been to a concert where the vast majority of the audience were older than me. This crowd came in nice cars — Mercedes, Cadillacs and Lexuses — and I don't think I've ever been to a rock concert where so many guys were wearing khaki shorts and Topsiders. And instead of lots of beefy security guys, there were lots of beefy paramedics:
Anitra and I hit a lot of places and ate all sorts of food, from Ted Peters' Smoked Fish to Cally's Sticky Bones barbecue…
…to chateaubriand at Vizcaya to a great birthday dinner for her at Six Tables to the Florida steamer basket at Shrimp and Co. in Ybor:
Gotta love the down-home signs hanging on the walls at Shrimp and Co.:
We also got to hang out with Anitra's friends, and I got to sample sangria-in-a-juice-pouch, something we badly need here in Canada:
After 18 days in Tampa, it was time to head home. There was stuff to take care of at home, and I have to pack for my next trip!
I saw this sign at a construction site on the way to the airport:
One of the perks of flying about as much as I do on Air Canada and Star Alliance is that you get Elite status, which got me bumped to the coveted exit row, with legroom to spare.
So much better than United's "Economy Minus" seating:
We departed on time in clear skies…
Sayonara, Tampa and Anitra. I'll see you both in July.
As I write this, I'm folding up my aloha shirts for my next destination…


Preschool raises morality levels, says study
Thu, Nov 11, 2010, 00:00
CHILDREN WHO have the benefit of preschool are less likely to lie, cheat or steal as adults, a conference was told yesterday.
US educator Dr Larry Schweinhart, who pioneered a long-term longitudinal study into the benefits of early childhood education, said it was an accepted fact that those programmes helped with children's cognitive development.
Such children had higher educational attainment as adults, earned more money and were less likely to get in trouble with the law as a result.
However, Dr Schweinhart said researchers were surprised to find that such children also exhibited higher levels of ethical behaviour in later life and had stronger moral values.
Dr Schweinhart said the modern preschool might have a similar impact to schools from Victorian times which emphasised good manners and taught children how to be proper men and women, although both methods of learning were very different.
Dr Schweinhart is the lead researcher on the HighScope Perry Preschool Study in the United States, which has traced the development of children from impoverished backgrounds who were the subjects of a radical preschool programme in the 1960s.
The research has found that every dollar spent on preschool yielded a return of $16 in terms of increased earning power, taxes and less demand on the criminal justice system.
Dr Schweinhart compared countries which cut back on preschool funding during harsh economic times to starving people who eat their seed corn during a famine.
"We are so focused on looking at the cost, we don't look at the benefits until the lack of a benefit comes and bites us like crazy," he told the youngballymun annual conference in Ballymun's Axis Centre yesterday.
Youngballymun is the early intervention programme which is jointly funded by the Office of the Minister for Children and Atlantic Philanthropies.
Dr Schweinhart recommended those involved in preschool education should have a bachelor's degree or a teaching certificate.
Prof Nóirín Hayes said she expected the imminent workforce development plan from the Office of the Minister for Children will insist that those involved in preschool education have at least a post-Leaving Certificate type of qualification, most likely the Further Education and Training Awards Council (Fetac) Certificate in Childcare level 5.
Youngballymun chief executive Eleanor McClorey said society had "non-negotiable" responsibilities towards children and the economic case for funding preschool education was "watertight".
She said the ECCE scheme must be kept whatever other cuts are made in the budget.
There needs to be a "seismic shift" in the attitudes towards children in Ireland, social campaigner Sr Stanislaus Kennedy has claimed.
She cited a recent report in The Irish Timeswhich found there were 800 unaccompanied homeless children in Ireland. At the "SoulScapes" festival in Kilmallock, Co Limerick, last night, she estimated there were now 1,500 homeless children in Ireland.


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Analysis of Musculoskeletal Injuries Sustained in Falls From the United States–Mexico Border Fence
David R. Burk, MD; Adam R. Pah, PhD; John T. Ruth, MD
Orthopedics. 2017;40(3):e432-e435
Injuries sustained by unauthorized individuals who jump or fall from the United States–Mexico border fence are frequently treated by trauma centers in border states. The authors investigated patterns of musculoskeletal injury occurring in these individuals to improve emergency department assessment and to identify strategies to prevent future injuries. A retrospective chart review was performed for patients presenting to an urban, level I trauma center with musculoskeletal injuries sustained in a jump or fall from the United States–Mexico border fence between February 2004 and February 2010. Frequency of fracture by site, frequency of open fracture, and associated patterns of injury were recorded. The population was stratified by age and sex to identify disparity in injury pattern. Average length of stay and number of surgical interventions were also recorded. During the study period, 174 individuals who had jumped or fallen from the United States–Mexico border fence were identified. The population contained 93 (53%) women and 81 (47%) men with an average age of 31.5 years (range, 11–56 years). On average (±standard error), men sustained slightly more fractures than women (1.77±0.12 vs 1.43±0.07; P=.015). There were no significant differences in the number of fractures sustained between age groups. Average length of stay for patients admitted to the hospital was 3.5 days. Patients underwent an average of 0.75 surgical interventions during admission. Falls from the United States–Mexico border fence are a significant cause of morbidity among unauthorized immigrants. [Orthopedics. 2017; 40(3):e432–e435.]
Falls from height are the fourth leading cause of unintentional injury in the United States.1 Variable patterns of injury may be observed owing to the height of the fall, the nature of the impact surface, and body position.2 In addition, differences in injury pattern between intentional and accidental fallers have also been reported.3,4 However, the height of the United States–Mexico border fence is relatively uniform and the impact surface is somewhat homogeneous, so these individuals intend to land safely on his or her feet. Injured individuals are often transferred to trauma centers in the United States for evaluation and management and are largely or completely unable to assume the cost of their hospitalizations.
Each year, an untold number of unauthorized immigrants attempt to cross the United States–Mexico border. This border extends approximately 1980 miles from San Diego, California, to Brownsville, Texas.5 The US Border Patrol Tucson Sector is responsible for patrolling the 262 miles of international border between the Arizona–New Mexico state line and the Yuma county line. Of that 262 miles, 210 miles has some form of a barrier in place with 71 miles consisting of pedestrian style fencing (Vivien McLoughlin, email communication, January 2017). Unauthorized individuals frequently attempt to scale these fences to avoid detection by US Border Patrol agents and often do so without the use any safety apparatus. A recent report suggests that the incidence of jumping and falling injuries at the border fence are increasing, posing a public health dilemma.6 A thorough understanding of these patterns of injury may help emergency department personnel more accurately diagnose and treat this population.
The purpose of this study was to assess patterns of injury, sex disparity, and length of stay in individuals presenting with musculoskeletal injuries sustained in a fall from the international border fence. To the authors' knowledge, no previous studies addressing patterns of musculoskeletal injury in this population exist.
After obtaining institutional review board approval, The University of Arizona Medical Center Trauma Registry was queried to identify all patients who sustained falls from the United States– Mexico border fence between February 1, 2004, and February 1, 2010. Unauthorized border crossers who presented after falls while trekking through harsh terrain or were admitted for dehydration or other exposure-related diagnoses were excluded. Injury radiographs and medical records were reviewed. The following data were extracted and analyzed: age, sex, fracture location, type, laterality, presence of open fracture, length of stay, and number of operative procedures.
Fractures were classified by the involved bone or pattern of fracture to include the following: metatarsal, tarsal, calcaneus, talus, rotational ankle injuries, pilon, diaphyseal tibia and/or fibula, plateau, patella, distal femur, diaphyseal femur, proximal femur, acetabulum, pelvic ring, clavicle, scapula, proximal humerus, diaphyseal humerus, distal humerus, proximal radius and/or ulna, diaphyseal radius and/or ulna, distal radius and/or ulna, carpus, metacarpal, phalangeal, and rib. Long bones were divided into thirds such that proximal and distal groupings included fractures of the both epiphysis and metaphysis. Dislocations were recorded by involved joint. Vertebral fractures were classified into thoracolumbar spine (T10-L5), thoracic spine (T1–T9), and cervical spine (C1–C7).
Average number of fractures between sexes was compared using Student's t test. Patients were further divided by sex and into 5 age groups: 10 to 20, 21 to 30, 31 to 40, 41 to 50, and 51 to 60 years. The average number of fractures and frequency of open fracture in each age group were then compared with the total population and between groups with a Student's t test (adjusted for multiple hypotheses). The association between fractures types was assessed using a Monte Carlo simulation, where the number of fractures per patient was controlled, whereas the type of fracture sustained was randomized. The significance of the association was assessed with a 2-tailed test that was adjusted for the multiple hypotheses tested.
Admission was defined as a hospital stay requiring a physician admission or observation order. Where applicable, operative reports were reviewed to determine the number of procedures performed to treat each individual requiring formal, operative intervention. Nonbillable procedures and reductions performed by resident orthopedic surgeons in the emergency department were excluded. All statistical analyses were performed using the Anaconda Python distribution (Continuum Analytics, Austin, Texas).
During the study period, 174 individuals who had sustained orthopedic injuries as a result of falls from the United States–Mexico border fence were identified. The study population contained 93 (53%) women and 81 (47%) men with an average age of 31.5 years (range, 11–56 years). The age group distributions were 14 (8%) patients in the 10 to 20 years group, 65 (37.4%) in the 20 to 30 years group, 57 (32.8%) in the 30 to 40 years group, 31 (17.8%) in the 40 to 50 years group, and 7 (4%) in the 50 to 60 years group.
The average±standard error (SE) number of fractures observed in the study population at-large was 1.58±0.07 fractures. Men sustained an average±SE of 1.77±0.12 fractures per individual compared with 1.43±0.07 for women; this difference was statistically significant (P=.015). However, there were no statistically significant differences in average number of fractures between age groups. Overall, fractures of the thoracolumbar spine occurred most commonly, followed by rotational ankle and tibial pilon fractures. In total, 50 open fractures were observed, occurring in 44 patients (25.2% of individuals; 18.4% of all fractures). There were no significant associations between sex and frequency of open fracture. The Table lists the frequency of fracture and percentage of open fracture by site.
Frequency of Fracture and Percentage of Open Fracture by Type
Several associated fracture types were observed, including fractures of the thoracolumbar spine and calcaneus (z=15.82) and thoracolumbar spine and tibial pilon (z=21.08). Fractures of the pelvic ring were associated with numerous fracture types, including the thoracolumbar spine (z=13.3), humerus (z=20.5), and radius (z=13.3). In addition, fractures of the diaphyseal tibia and fibula were associated with fractures of the calcaneus (z=6.81).
Of the patients presenting to the trauma center, 144 (82.8%) required admission for management of their injuries. On average, length of stay for admitted patients was 3.5 days (range, 1–15 days) and underwent 0.75 (range, 0–3) surgical procedures. There was no mortality observed in this series.
The severity of an injury in a fall can depend on the height, nature of the impact surface, and body orientation.7 Reproducible patterns of injury may be observed between individuals who sustain vertical deceleration injuries from similar height and circumstance. Previous authors have described patterns of injuries that occur in those who jump intentionally with suicidal intent and those who fall accidentally.3,4 In the current series, the authors examine several vertical deceleration injuries in individuals who intend to land safely on their feet and continue their journey. To the authors' knowledge, no such series exists to date.
Overall, the injury patterns the authors identified in falls from the international border fence are consistent with patterns found in prior studies of vertical deceleration injuries. In 1948, Ciccone and Richman8 reported the anatomical distribution of 2709 fractures due to accidents related to parachute jumps. Although fractures of spine occurred much less frequently in their series, the proportion of lower extremity injuries is relatively similar. In addition, fractures of the calcaneus, which are typically thought to occur as a result of axial loading on the heels when landing on one's feet, occurred in 16% of individuals in this study group. This is similar to rates cited in the literature.3,4,8 In addition, concurrent fractures of the calcaneus and spine are reported to occur in as many 10% to 75% of patients who fall from height.4,9
The current authors also found a statistically significant association between fractures of the thoracolumbar spine and calcaneus. Surprisingly, they also observed a significant association between fractures of the thoracolumbar spine and tibial pilon fractures, which supports the hypothesis of loading through the appendicular skeleton with subsequent transmission to the spinal column. Fractures of the pelvis are also known to occur during high-energy, vertical deceleration events.9,10 This may explain the association of pelvic fractures with other fracture types observed in this series. The observed association between fractures of the diaphyseal tibia and calcaneus was somewhat surprising and, to the authors' knowledge, has not been described elsewhere.
The average number of fractures sustained by male fallers in the current series was significantly higher than that observed in female fallers. This gender disparity is somewhat unexpected but may represent an important difference in border crossing behavior between genders. Sapkota et al5 have suggested that young, Mexican men are more likely to use dangerous routes and crossing points when attempting to gain unauthorized access to the United States. The current authors believe this variation may be explained by attempts to cross in urban centers where the border fence is highest.
Unauthorized immigrant populations entering the United States receive considerable attention in the lay press. The topic of border security and financial costs of unauthorized immigration are frequently debated among policy experts and the efficacy of federal anti-immigration measures remains questionable.11 This study illustrates the humanitarian and financial crisis faced by trauma centers in the southwestern United States charged with caring for unauthorized immigrants who fall from the international border fence. More than 80% of the individuals represented in this study required hospital admission. The true cost of these admissions is difficult to quantify; however, the overwhelming majority of these individuals are largely or completely unable to pay for their stays and hospitals have no means of recovering the associated expenses once repatriation has occurred.
The current study has several limitations. First, its retrospective nature is associated with inherent inaccuracies of data collection. The authors also assume that individuals crossing the border fence are doing so with intent to land safely on the opposite side. However, human smugglers in the authors' state are known to push, kick, or intentionally drop fence crossers to flee approaching law enforcement agents. Unfortunately, there is no method for separating these individuals from the remainder of the study group. In addition, unauthorized border crossers are transferred to several medical facilities in the authors' area, only the most severely injured present to our level I trauma center. Finally, the current sample size of 172 patients may be underpowered to detect significant differences in injury patterns.
Falls from the United States–Mexico border fence are an important, and often underappreciated, cause of musculoskeletal injury in the southwestern United States. Patterns of injury observed in this population are similar to those reported for other populations of vertical deceleration injury. A significant proportion of these individuals require hospital admission but are unable to pay for services rendered, leaving hospitals and physicians uncompensated. Prevention strategies targeting young, Mexican men and women that discourage crossing the international border fence are needed to decrease incidence of border fence related injury and decrease strain on health care systems.
Rockett IR, Regier MD, Kapusta ND, et al. Leading causes of unintentional and in tentional injury mortality: United States, 2000–2009. Am J Public Health. 2012; 102(11):e84–e92. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2012.300960 [CrossRef]
Warner KG, Demling RH. The pathophysiology of free-fall injury. Ann Emerg Med. 1986; 15(9):1088–1093. doi:10.1016/S0196-0644(86)80134-2 [CrossRef]
Richter D, Hahn MP, Ostermann PA, Ekkernkamp A, Muhr G. Vertical deceleration injuries: a comparative study of the injury patterns of 101 patients after accidental and intentional high falls. Injury. 1996; 27(9):655–659. doi:10.1016/S0020-1383(96)00083-6 [CrossRef]
Teh J, Firth M, Sharma A, Wilson A, Reznek R, Chan O. Jumpers and fallers: a comparison of the distribution of skeletal injury. Clin Radiol. 2003; 58(6):482–486. doi:10.1016/S0009-9260(03)00064-3 [CrossRef]
Sapkota S, Kohl HW III, Gilchrist J, et al. Unauthorized border crossings and migrant deaths: Arizona, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, 2002–2003. Am J Public Health. 2006; 96(7):1282–1287. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2005.075168 [CrossRef]
Kelada A, Hill LL, Lindsay S, Slymen D, Fortlage D, Coimbra R. The U.S.-Mexico border: a time-trend analysis of border-crossing injuries. Am J Prev Med. 2010; 38(5):548–550. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2010.01.028 [CrossRef]
Steedman DJ. Severity of free-fall injury. Injury. 1989; 20(5):259–261. doi:10.1016/0020-1383(89)90162-9 [CrossRef]
Ciccone B, Richman RM. The mechanism of injury and the distribution of three thousand fractures and dislocations caused by parachute jumping. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1948; 30(1):77–97. doi:10.2106/00004623-194830010-00010 [CrossRef]
Lowenstein SR, Yaron M, Carrero R, Devereux D, Jacobs LM. Vertical trauma: injuries to patients who fall and land on their feet. Ann Emerg Med. 1989; 18(2):161–165. doi:10.1016/S0196-0644(89)80107-6 [CrossRef]
Gupta SM, Chandra J, Dogra TD. Blunt force of lesions related to the heights of a fall. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 1982; 3(1):35–43. doi:10.1097/00000433-198203000-00008 [CrossRef]
Amuedo-Dorantes C, Puttitanun T, Martinez-Donate AP. How do tougher immigration measures affect unauthorized immigrants?Demography. 2013; 50(3):1067–1091. doi:10.1007/s13524-013-0200-x [CrossRef]
No. of Occurrences
No. of Open Fractures
Open Fractures by Site
Thoracolumbar 72 0 0%
Ankle 45 14 33%
Pilon 30 12 44%
Diaphyseal tibia/fibula 25 9 41%
Calcaneus 18 1 7%
Pelvic ring 11 0 0%
Plateau 10 0 0%
Talus 10 4 44%
Distal radius 7 0 0%
Distal femur 6 3 60%
Diaphyseal humerus 4 0 0%
Phalangeal (hand) 3 3 100%
Diaphyseal femur 3 0 0%
Proximal femur 3 0 0%
Metatarsal 3 0 0%
Elbow dislocation 2 1 50%
Cervical spine 2 0 0%
Diaphyseal radius 2 0 0%
Acetabulum 2 0 0%
Patella 2 1 50%
Tarsal 1 1 100%
Rib 1 0 0%
Proximal ulna 1 0 0%
Clavicle 1 0 0%
Proximal radius 2 0 0%
Proximal humerus 1 0 0%
Tibiotalar dislocation 1 1 100%
Distal ulna 1 0 0%
Carpus 1 0 0%
Scapula 1 0 0%
Metacarpal 1 0 0%
Total 272 50 18.40%
The authors are from the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery (DRB, JTR), University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, Arizona; and Management and Organizations (ARP), Kellogg School of Management, and Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (ARP), Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
The authors have no relevant financial relationships to disclose.
Correspondence should be addressed to: David R. Burk, MD, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Arizona College of Medicine, PO Box 245064, Tucson, AZ 85724-5064 ( dburk@ortho.arizona.edu).
Copyright 2017, SLACK Incorporated
Received: November 13, 2016
Accepted: December 22, 2016
Posted Online: January 23, 2017
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Home » Topics » Psychiatry Information Center
Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: Applications in Mental Health
Melissa Kalensky, DNP, FNP-BC, PMHNP-BC, CNE
Psychedelic-assisted therapy has been relatively consistent in producing antidepressant and anxiolytic effects. Credit: Getty Images
The United States is experiencing a mental health crisis and psychedelics (ketamine, LSD, MDMA, psilocybin) have emerged as a potential new drug class to add to the treatment armamentarium. Approximately 21% of adults in the US have experienced mental illness in the last year.1 Major depressive disorder alone accounts for $326 billion in economic burden annually,2 with a national average of 22% of adults taking psychotropic medications in March 2022.3
The most commonly available medications for mental health — serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), tricyclic antidepressants, antipsychotic agents — are not always effective in achieving complete remission of symptoms or restoring function. In fact, despite an increased utilization of prescription medications for mental health, the overall rate of suicide has climbed by 35% over the last 2 decades.4 In comparison to the scope and scale of the mental health crisis in the US, the current prescription drug development pipeline is incredibly small.5
Psychedelics as a Drug Class
Initially researched in the 1940s, psychedelics are reemerging as one potential solution in the treatment of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and substance use disorders.5 No widely agreed-upon definition of psychedelic exists, however, drugs with this classification generally are thought to have fundamental properties related to producing hallucinations, as well as providing an experience that expands consciousness.6
At the chemical level, the efficacy of psychedelics is thought to derive from their role as psychoplastogens, compounds that promote neural plasticity as a function of chemical modulation within the brain.7 Psychedelics broadly encompass 3 drug classes: serotonin agonists, serotonin-releasing agents, and N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists (Table).6-11 Classic psychedelics, such as psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), act as serotoninagonists.6-8 Entactogens, such as methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), act as serotonin-releasing agents.7,8 Dissociative anesthetic substances, such as phencyclidine (PCP) and ketamine, act as N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists.7,8
Table. Mechanism of Action and Potential Mental Health Applications of Psychedelics6-11
Drug Chemical Derivation Neurologic Effects Clinical Effects Potential Uses Potential Adverse Effects
Psilocybin8-10 Psilocybe and other types of mushrooms Serotonin agonist at 5-HT2A of pyramidal neurons • Dizziness
• Weakness
• Tremor
• Paresthesias
• Altered consciousness (acute perceptual auditory or visual distortions)
• Altered mood (happiness, dysphoria, anxiety, panic)
• Distorted sense of space or time
• Sensation of having a mystical experience • Depression
• Anxiety related to terminal illness
• ETOH use disorder • Psychosis
• Persistent hallucinogenic perceptions
• Nausea
• Headache
LSD8-10 Ergot fungus Serotonin agonist at 5-HT2A of pyramidal neurons • Dizziness
• Altered consciousness (visual hallucinations, audiovisual synesthesia, and positively experienced depersonalization and derealization)
• Altered mood (subjective wellbeing, openness, fear, or irritability)
• Distorted sense of space or time • Anxiety related to terminal illness
• ETOH and tobacco use disorder • Psychosis
• Modest increases in blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature
MDMA8,9 Sassafras tree Serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline agonist • Weakness
• Fatigue
• Euphoria
• Arousal
• Perceptual alteration
• Enhanced empathy
• Enhanced sociability • PTSD • Elevated blood pressure
• Potential neurocognitive deficits
• Memory impairment
• Sleep disruption
• Acute anxiety
• Short-term depression
• Toxicity / overdose
Ketamine7,9,11 Synthetic NMDA receptor antagonists • Dizziness
• Sedation
• Dose-related psychedelic or dissociative effects
• Short-term cognitive impairment
• Memory loss • Depression
• Refractory anxiety
• PTSD
• Substance use
• Acute suicidality • Potential for abuse
• Increased blood pressure or heart rate
ETOH, ethyl alcohol; MDMA, methylenedioxymethamphetamine; NMDA, N-methyl-d-aspartate; PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder
Potential Applications of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy
As a result of the potential effects on perception (eg, psychosis, fear, increased anxiety, and panic), the vast majority of research involving psychedelics has explored the impact of concurrent administration of various drug formulations within a clinical setting and the application of psychotherapy. Though the term "psychotherapy" is not standardized in either approach or application within the literature, ideally the process of psychedelic-assisted therapy should involve preparation, treatment, and integration phases.7 Minimizing adverse experiences may include screening to identify ideal candidates for psychedelic-assisted therapy, monitoring physiologic and psychological effects throughout therapy by multiple health care providers (medical and professional therapists), as well as providing a session targeted at assisting an individual to process and gain insight from the experience.7
In measuring outcomes, many available clinical rating tools have been found to demonstrate high variability and low sensitivity and/or specificity in the setting of psychedelic-assisted therapy.9 Tools demonstrating the most potential validity in this area may include the Hallucinogen Rating Scale (HRS), Mysticism Scale (MS), and Altered States of Consciousness Rating Scale (OAV), although even these scales have limited dose-response data firmly supporting their use in this context.9
Derived from psilocybe and other types of mushrooms, psilocybin undergoes biotransformation into active metabolites through first-pass hepatic metabolism, reaches peak plasma concentration 100 minutes after oral administration, and has a half-life of 160 minutes.9 Dose-dependent, primarily pleasant changes in mood and perception and production of a mystical experience commonly occur.9 Adverse effects tend to be minimal and transient but can include dose-dependent dysphoria, anxiety, panic, and delayed-onset headaches and nausea.8,9
The most well-researched applications for psilocybin are depression and anxiety; in particular, research has examined use of psilocybin in reducing anxiety and improving mood/quality of life among individuals with advanced-stage cancer.8-13 In a phase 2 randomized controlled trial (RCT) of psilocybin vs escitalopram (n=59) for the treatment of moderate to severe MDD, mean changes in 16-item Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Self-Report (QIDS-SR-16) scores were similar among the treatment arms: -8.0±1.0 points in the psilocybin group vs -6.0±1.0 in the escitalopram group with a between-group difference of 2.0 points (95% CI, -5.0 to 0.9; P = 0.17).14 A QIDS-SR-16 response occurred in 70% of the psilocybin group vs in 48% of the escitalopram group (this difference was not deemed to be statistically significant) and QIDS-SR-16 remission occurred in 57% vs 28%. Though outcomes appear encouraging, it is important to note that approximately 90% of patients screened (891 out of 1000) did not meet inclusion criteria (primarily because of another pre-existing psychiatric diagnosis), most self-referred, and many expressed a preference for treatment with psilocybin, which may have impacted perceived efficacy of the treatment. Five out of 29 patients in the escitalopram group did not complete the protocol requirements, including 4 who stopped taking the medication because of adverse events and 1 who guessed they were taking escitalopram and halved the dose because of perceived adverse events. In the psilocybin arm, 3 out of 30 patients did not complete all dosing procedures.
Studies have demonstrated that psilocybin-assisted therapy may also be effective in treating alcohol and tobacco dependence, with study findings demonstrating reductions in mean drinking days, 50% reduction in heavy drinking days from baseline levels, and improved rates of smoking cessation in individuals who had failed in previous attempts.8
Psilocybin gained FDA-designated status as a breakthrough therapy for treatment-resistant depression in 2018 and major depressive disorder (MDD) in 2019. In addition to these conditions, current clinical trials are investigating use of psilocybin in PTSD, depression in Alzheimer disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anorexia nervosa, and substance use disorders (such as cocaine and opioids).5,12
Derived from multiple plant products (eg, ergot fungus, morning glory, wood rose), LSD has a high degree of biotransformation with peak plasma levels reached approximately 1.5 hours after administration and a variable half-life ranging from 3.6 to 12 hours.9 Initial studies largely looked to validate the effects of LSD (any vs good vs bad effects) with alterations in consciousness — visual hallucinations, audiovisual synesthesia, subjective wellbeing, openness to experience, and positive experiences with derealization and depersonalization — found to last approximately 12 hours.9
Studies have demonstrated improvements in state anxiety and depressed mood in patients with terminal illness treated with LSD-assisted psychotherapy, with sustained effects for up to 1 year and no adverse effects lasting more than 24 hours.6,10-13 In patients with alcohol use disorder, reductions in alcohol misuse and increased abstinence were associated with the administration of a single dose of LSD.10,12 In a study assessing the effects of a single dose of LSD in healthy individuals, the intervention was associated with increased positive life attitude, improved mood, altruistic effects, and life satisfaction at both 1- and 12-month intervals post-treatment.12 Ongoing clinical trials are evaluating LSD in the treatment of mood disorders, migraine headache, and anxiety associated with terminal illness.12
Derived from the oil of the sassafras tree, MDMA consists of stereoisomers that undergo biotransformation at various rates via cytochrome P450 (CYP450; CYP2D6) and catechol-O-methyltransferase pathways.9 The half-life of a single dose is approximately 9 hours but due to a complex mechanism of inhibition, the drug has nonlinear pharmacokinetics that can reduce drug metabolism for weeks at a time with the administration of multiple doses.9 Phase 2 RCTs examining the efficacy of 2 MDMA-assisted psychotherapy sessions in the treatment of PTSD demonstrated reductions in symptoms of greater than 30% in a majority of participants, with some individuals no longer meeting the criteria for PTSD.8,12,15,16 Of note, three-quarters of participants in one of the studies showed sustained remission of symptoms for 3.5 years after initial treatment.8,12,16 In phase 3 a placebo-controlled RCT, two-thirds (67%) of participants who received MDMA-assisted therapy (28 out of 42) no longer qualified for a PTSD diagnosis after 18 weeks and three sessions vs 32% of participants in the placebo group.17
In 2017, the FDA granted MDMA breakthrough therapy designation for the treatment of PTSD.12 Since then, proposed treatment targets in ongoing studies of MDMA also include depression, anxiety related to life-threatening illness, and social anxiety in adults with autism spectrum disorder.9,12
As a synthetically produced combination of stereoisomers (S+/R-) with differing NMDA receptor affinity, ketamine does not appear to produce dose-dependent effects, which is not unexpected given more recent data demonstrating that binding likely occurs at a variety of non-NMDA mediated receptor sites as well.9,11 Women experience a more rapid rate of drug elimination (20% higher) resulting in men reporting more prominent side effects.9 The clinical effects and half-life of ketamine vary by administration route with intravenous administration having the most rapid onset and predictable linear dose-dependent plasma concentration.9
Esketamine nasal spray became the first fully FDA-approved psychedelic therapy in 2019 for treatment-resistant depression when used in combination with an antidepressant.7 The indication was later expanded to include depressive symptoms in adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) with acute suicidal ideation or behavior; however, the effectiveness of esketamine in preventing suicide or in reducing suicidal ideation or behavior had not been demonstrated when the drug went to market.18 The drug's long-standing efficacy in the treatment of depression is marked by rapid onset of subanesthetic doses at 4 hours after infusion and at 2 to 4 hours with intranasal esketamine, sustained efficacy, sustained antidepressant effects with repeated treatment, and up to a 69% reduction of suicidal ideation demonstrated in subsequent studies.11,19
In a phase 3 RCT involving patients with treatment-resistant depression (non-response to 2 antidepressants), patients treated with esketamine plus an antidepressant had a significantly greater change in Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) score compared with those given an antidepressant plus placebo at day 28 (difference of least square means=-4.0, 95% CI, -7.31 to -0.64).20 Clinically meaningful improvement was observed at earlier time points in the esketamine plus antidepressant group, and these results were consistent across various subgroups (age, sex, geography, baseline symptom severity, level of functional impairment, and class of oral antidepressants).
Potential Contraindications of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy
Much of the evidence looking at the indications and contraindications of psychedelic-assisted therapy is primarily theoretical at this point. As such, several populations have been excluded from studies thus far due to concern for physiologic toxicity or the potential of acute psychological distress.9 This has included individuals with a personal or family history of psychosis or psychotic disorder and those with known cardiovascular disease (eg, hypertension, tachycardia, tachyarrhythmias).7,9 Use of concurrent psychiatric medications that may confound results has primarily excluded individuals currently receiving therapy with SSRIs, lithium, antipsychotics, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs).9 No studies to date have been inclusive of pediatric or older adult populations.
Concern for Potential Abuse With Psychedelics
The potential for abuse of psychedelic agents historically has been a topic of controversy. The majority of these drugs are classified as DEA Schedule I controlled substances (and are similarly scheduled in UK and Europe) with no approved medical uses and labeled as having a high potential for abuse.12 Yet, there is no existing data-driven research documenting the potential risks for abuse and/or dependence on psychedelics used in the clinical setting.6,12 In 2010 an expert panel in the UK, the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, reviewed data on 20 potential drugs of abuse to indicate the level of risk for harm to self and others and provided a harm score ranging from 0 to 100, with a higher score indicating an increased risk of morbidity, mortality, and dependence among several other measures.21 Alcohol received the highest score (72), followed by heroin (55), while cocaine was tied to moderate risk (27) and hallucinogens such as ketamine, MDMD, and LSD (15, 9, and 7, respectively) ranking substantially lower.21 Although direct clinical data is lagging, this suggests that existing drug scheduling may be more rooted in historic social biases than actual evidence of abuse potential for psychedelics.5 While we understand from prior evidence regarding the use of street drugs there is a potential for misuse or abuse, little supporting data exists outside of animal studies to determine the true potential for prescription psychedelic abuse, making it most likely to be determined in postmarketing analysis.6,12,21
Potential Risk vs Benefits of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy
Psychedelics present several potential advantages when compared to existing prescription drug therapy. When administered in conjunction with psychotherapeutic support, psychedelics have been relatively consistent in producing antidepressant and anxiolytic effects.12 In contrast to traditional psychopharmacologic options, the onset of action of psychedelics appears to be significantly faster, often providing immediate effects rather than waiting weeks or even months for clinical improvement.5,13 Perhaps most promising is initial data demonstrating a strong dose-response relationship with sustained benefits, such as a single dose of psilocybin reducing depression and anxiety for up to 1 year.5,7 The majority of evidence also demonstrates these drugs are generally well-tolerated with adverse effects that seem to be relatively minor and short lived (<72 hours) postadministration.13
Clinical research remains limited in this area with a small amount of well-controlled studies published to date, many lacking randomization and/or double blinding and most of which have small sample sizes and relatively short duration of treatment and follow-up.5,9,10,13 Most available studies provide minimal insight regarding the dose vs response as it relates to efficacy because the primary initial outcome of psychedelic research to date has focused on determining dosing as it relates to safety.9,12 Almost all studies look at psychedelic use in combination with psychotherapy — in most cases with well-trained and experienced staff — which on its own is traditionally considered a first-line treatment for most mental health conditions and may potentially represent a significant confounding factor.9
Moving forward, cost will be a large limitation in how widely available and easily assessable psychedelic therapies become. Coupled with the cost of administration, the initial month of esketamine treatment ranges between$4720 and $6785, with maintenance therapy continuing at $2360 to $3540 a month thereafter.7 Even with the potential for reduced dose frequency with newer agents such as psilocybin, the administration costs are estimated to be similar (or even more) because of the length of time required for the administration of a single dose (6 to 8 hours vs 2 hours for esketamine).7 Psychedelic drugs that are indicated exclusively for use in conjunction with psychotherapy may be effective but at the expense of limiting widespread use because of financial barriers and clinician availability, which may ultimately worsen already existing inequities in the health care system.
To reclassify psychedelics into the DEA Schedule II and move these agents into clinical trials and clinical practice, many gaps in both practice and research will need to be addressed.22 Because these drugs were recently approved or are early in the FDA approval process, clear clinical guidelines/expert recommendations on the application of research into practice are still forthcoming. Though the clinical impact is potentially promising, treatment involving psychedelics is largely theoretical at this point and thus not included in current professional training models for the majority of mainstream medical, nursing, or psychotherapy programs.
Moving forward clinical drug trials investigating the efficacy of psychedelics will need to more consistently include RCTs with large sample sizes and recruitment of diverse participants; double-blinded research will continue to present a challenge in this area as it is difficult to assign participants to a control group when obvious drug effects are absent.9 One practical consideration researchers may face moving forward is how to effectively uncouple hallucinogenic and therapeutic effects to maximize efficacy while minimizing abuse potential.7,9 Ultimately, the structure of our health care system as it stands now does not support the widespread application of psychedelic-assisted therapy in terms of financial cost and given the paucity of currently available psychiatric care providers.7
Melissa Kalensky, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, PMHNP-BC, CNE, is an assistant professor at Rush University College of Nursing in Chicago.
National Institute of Mental Health. Mental illness. Updated January 2022. Accessed March 30, 2022. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness
Greenberg PE, Fournier AA, Sisitsky T, et al. The economic burden of adults with major depressive disorder in the United States (2010 and 2018). Pharmacoeconomics. 2021;39(6):653-665. doi:10.1007/s40273-021-01019-4.
National Center for Health Statistics. Mental health care: Household Pulse Survey. Updated March 23, 2022. Accessed March 30, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/mental-health-care.htm
It's okay to talk about suicide. National Alliance on Mental Illness. Updated 2020. Accessed March 30, 2022. https://www.nami.org/NAMI/media/NAMI-Media/Infographics/NAMI_Suicide_2020_FINAL.pdf
Belouin SJ, Henningfield JE. Psychedelics: Where we are now, why we got here, what we must do. Neuropharmacology. 2018;142:7-19. doi:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2018.02.018
Heal DJ, Gosden J, Smith SL. Evaluating the abuse potential of psychedelic drugs as part of the safety pharmacology assessment for medical use in humans. Neuropharmacology. 2018;142:89-115. doi:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2018.01.049
Vargas MV, Meyer R, Avanes AA, Rus M, Olson DE. Psychedelics and other psychoplastogens for treating mental illness. Front Psychiatry. 2021;12:727117. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.727117
Tupper KW, Wood E, Yensen R, Johnson MW. Psychedelic medicine: a re-emerging therapeutic paradigm. CMAJ. 2015;187(14):1054-1059. doi:10.1503/cmaj.141124
Sellers EM, Romach MK, Leiderman DB. Studies with psychedelic drugs in human volunteers. Neuropharmacology. 2018;142:116-134. doi:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2017.11.029
Dos Santos RG, Bouso JC, Alcázar-Córcoles MÁ, Hallak JEC. Efficacy, tolerability, and safety of serotonergic psychedelics for the management of mood, anxiety, and substance-use disorders: a systematic review of systematic reviews. Expert Rev Clin Pharmacol. 2018;11(9):889-902. doi:10.1080/17512433.2018.1511424
De Gregorio D, Aguilar-Valles A, Preller KH, Heifets BD, Hibicke M, Mitchell J, Gobbi G. Hallucinogens in mental health: preclinical and clinical studies on LSD, psilocybin, mdma, and ketamine. J Neurosci. 2021;41(5):891-900. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1659-20.2020
Reiff CM, Richman EE, Nemeroff CB, et al; the Work Group on Biomarkers and Novel Treatments, a Division of the American Psychiatric Association Council of Research. Psychedelics and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Am J Psychiatry. 2020;177(5):391-410. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.19010035
Muttoni S, Ardissino M, John C. Classical psychedelics for the treatment of depression and anxiety: a systematic review. J Affect Disord. 2019;258:11-24. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2019.07.076
Carhart-Harris R, Giribaldi B, Watts R, et al. Trial of psilocybin versus escitalopram for depression. N Engl J Med. 2021;384(15):1402-1411. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2032994
Mithoefer MC, Wagner MT, Mithoefer AT, Jerome L, Doblin R. The safety and efficacy of {+/-}3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine-assisted psychotherapy in subjects with chronic, treatment-resistant posttraumatic stress disorder: the first randomized controlled pilot study. J Psychopharmacol. 2011;25(4):439-52. doi:10.1177/0269881110378371
Mithoefer MC, Mithoefer AT, Feduccia AA, et al. 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder in military veterans, firefighters, and police officers: a randomised, double-blind, dose-response, phase 2 clinical trial. Lancet Psychiatry. 2018;5(6):486-497. doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30135-4
Mitchell JM, Bogenschutz M, Lilienstein A, et al. MDMA-assisted therapy for severe PTSD: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 study. Nat Med. 2021;27(6):1025-1033. doi:10.1038/s41591-021-01336-3
Spravato. Prescribing information. Janssen Pharmaceuticals; 2020. Accessed April 15, 2022. https://www.janssenlabels.com/package-insert/product-monograph/prescribing-information/SPRAVATO-pi.pdf
Wang SM, Kim NY, Na HR, et al. Rapid onset of intranasal esketamine in patients with treatment resistant depression and major depression with suicide ideation: a meta-analysis. Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci. 2021;19(2):341-354. doi:10.9758/cpn.2021.19.2.341
Popova V, Daly EJ, Trivedi M, et al. Efficacy and safety of flexibly dosed esketamine nasal spray combined with a newly initiated oral antidepressant in treatment-resistant depression: a randomized double-blind active-controlled study. Am J Psychiatry. 2019;176(6):428-438. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.19020172.
Nutt DJ, King LA, Phillips LD; Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs. Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision analysis. Lancet. 2010;376(9752):1558-65. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61462-6
Marks M, Cohen IG. Psychedelic therapy: a roadmap for wider acceptance and utilization. Nat Med. 2021;27(10):1669-1671. doi:10.1038/s41591-021-01530-3
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La Quinta is considering new rules on short-term rentals, and you have a chance to weigh in
Nicole Hayden
Palm Springs Desert Sun
La Quinta has extended a moratorium that temporarily banned residents from converting non-bedroom space into additional bedrooms as the city continues to consider new rules for short-term vacation rentals.
For at least the next 120 days, residents won't be able to erect a new wall in their living room.
The action comes after a handful of residents in La Quinta began converting living areas into bedroom space – without the proper permits – to make room for more short-term vacation renters, according to Gabriel Perez, La Quinta planning manager.
The city found three homes in the Del Oro neighborhood, east of Washington Street and north of Miles Avenue, that advertised eight rentable bedrooms, but the city only had a record of five permitted bedrooms. While the La Quinta Municipal Code currently does not have any rules that restricts homeowners from adding more bedrooms, city staff and residents said that the additional rooms led to more noise complaints and greater parking congestion in the neighborhood.
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The La Quinta City Council originally approved a 45-day ban in January, extended that with a 120-day ban in February and last week extended it for another 120 days, giving council until September to make final decisions on new short-term rental rules.
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The council is discussing changes to two different ordinances – Title 9, a zoning ordinance that address bedroom conversations, and Title 3, an ordinance that addresses short-term rental rules. The council will host a public hearing on Title 9 on June 5 and another study session on Title 3 on June 15.
The proposed rule changes would apply to additions or modifications made to existing single-family homes. The changes would not apply to new construction.
Proposed Title 9 changes include:
A maximum number of bedrooms allowed based on square feet. A 2,000-square-foot home could have a maximum of four bedrooms; a 2,001 to 2,850-square-foot home could have five bedrooms; a 2,851 to 3,500-square-foot home could have six bedrooms; and a home greater than 3,500-square-feet could have eight bedrooms.
Bedroom space could only take up 35 percent of a home. During the May 15 meeting, councilmembers discussed possibly changing that to 45 percent.
Additional garage space would be required if four or more new bedrooms are created.
Limiting the number of short-term rental permits allowed in each neighborhood
Limiting occupancy to two guests per bedroom
Short-term rentals would be inspected by the city and home owners will be billed for the inspections
Requiring guests to have a parking permit for street parking near the short-term rental
Increasing violation fines. First-time violations would range from $100 to $500; subsequent fines are proposed in the range of $500 to $5,000.
Disallowing residents from renting out tents or RVs on their property
Requiring evacuation maps to be posted in the short-term renal
La Quinta Mayor Linda Evans said she didn't think requiring homeowners to add additional garage space was necessary, as it would require additional building and most homeowners don't let short-term rental guests access their garages anyways. Mayor Pro-Tem Kathleen Fitzpatrick concurred and suggested they drop the garage requirement.
Evans said while the discussion is focused on rules for short-term renters, the city still needs to be conscious that these rules will also impact families who just want to add more bedrooms for their growing families.
Councilman Steve Sanchez said he, too, is leery of too many rules because he is worried about property owner's rights and he doesn't "like bring told what to do."
The rules are an attempt to find balance between residents who want to keep their neighborhoods family-friendly and residents who want to capitalize on the growing business of short-term rentals.
Melissa Labayog, who lives in La Quinta full-time, said while she sees the positive changes that some short-term rentals have brought to the city, she is still against having them in her neighborhood.
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"Neighborhoods look nicer than they did years ago," she said. "But I wouldn't let my daughter ride her bike around or leave her bike in the yard because my neighborhood is filled with strangers."
Lynne Daniels, who has two short-term rentals in La Quinta, said when she rents her homes out she thoroughly vets the renters before OK'ing their stay. Daniels said she works to make sure her homes are not filled with raucous parties, but quiet visitors who just want to enjoy the peace of La Quinta.
City leaders have stressed the proposed rules are just an attempt to remedy everyone's concerns by putting the tools in place for more effective policing of problem rentals. La Quinta currently allow short-term rentals and isn't looking to eliminate them.
In November, the city updated the existing ordinance to allow up to two overnight guests per bedroom and no more than nine bedrooms. The ordinance also has rules for daytime guests. From 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., STRs that are a studio up to a two-bedroom home are allowed up to eight daytime guests while a home with nine bedrooms can have up to 24 daytime guests.
Councilmembers also discussed how best to police the daytime versus overnight rules for STR guests. Sanchez said it would be challenging to show up at 10 p.m. each night to make sure each daytime visitor left. And Fitzpatrick said, she would prefer those visitors spend the night, potentially breaking the STR rules limiting the number of overnight guests, than drive home drunk. The city council, staff and residents will continue to discuss at the upcoming meetings.
Desert Sun reporter Nicole Hayden covers the cities of La Quinta, Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage and Palm Desert. She can be reached at Nicole.Hayden@desertsun.com or (760) 778-4623. Follow her on Twitter @nicoleandpig.


USMNT heads to Qatar for January camp, roster to include 'some surprising selections'
By Emily Olsen and Pro Soccer USA
USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter looks on before their international friendly match against Costa Rica at Avaya Stadium on February 2, 2019 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
The United States men's national team opens 2020 with January camp in Doha, Qatar, followed by its first friendly of the decade Feb. 1 against Costa Rica in Carson, California.
U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter is schedule to announce his roster for the camp and friendly Monday at 2 p.m. ET. It will include some surprising selections, according to a USMNT spokesperson.
The annual camp typically features mainly Major League Soccer players since it falls outside of a FIFA international window and European and Mexican clubs do not often release players midseason.
The United States Soccer Federation has long held its early-year trainings in Southern California. Choosing to change locations this year to Qatar was "with the confidence and anticipation of qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup," according to a statement released by the federation.
"The USMNT will take a first opportunity to experience the football facilities, customs, weather and other logistical and performance considerations in the host nation," the statement read.
The USMNT held similar on-location camps in South Africa and Brazil prior to the 2010 and 2014 World Cups respectively.
The team will train at the Aspire Academy in Qatar's capital city of Doha Jan. 5-25, including closed-door scrimmages, before heading stateside for the friendly against Costa Rica.
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"Our priority is to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, so it's certainly a big benefit to get a head start on experiencing the facilities, environment and culture of the tournament hosts," Berhalter said.
In preparation for the Concacaf Nations League semifinal in June and the start of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying, which kicks off in September, the U.S. will host Costa Rica at the LA Galaxy's Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson.
"The chance to play against a likely World Cup qualifying opponent is fantastic," Berhalter said. "As we continue to develop, it's important to challenge our group against a variety of different opponents. At the end of a January Camp, we want the players to have a chance to put all the work to the test."
See the original story on Pro Soccer USA
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This chatbot allows you to order coffee via Facebook Messenger
Jeeves de Veyra
Posted at Aug 04 2019 05:57 PM
BOTTY is now available at 47 Bo's Coffee branches nationwide. Jeeves de Veyra
MANILA -- Tech-savvy Filipinos are spoiled for many modern ways of ordering products -- through websites, touch-screens, apps, and now, through chat.
BOTTY is a new chatbot-powered ordering system being piloted in the Philippines by Filipino-owned coffee chain Bo's Coffee.
The system was developed in Bangkok by Cary Gee, inspired by the widespread use of the WeChat platform in China for payments, money remittance, and shopping. Gee saw the opportunity and penetration of chat, notably Facebook Messenger, in the Philippines and BOTTY is his attempt to replicate the WeChat experience outside of China. Gee said that BOTTY is now being used in Thailand, Singapore, and Australia.
At first, it may seem gimmicky but after a hands-on experience with the system, there are distinct advantages.
The first is that chatting is second nature to the Filipino. The second is that there is no need to install additional software or additional apps on your device. BOTTY currently works with Facebook Messenger with support for Viber to be released soon. Another plus is the ability to order even before getting to the restaurant or café so that when you get there, there is no more wait for your coffee. The system has even given Bo's the ability for curbside service as customers don't have to get out of their cars to get their orders.
Bo's Coffee founder and CEO Steve Benitez and COO Rachel Fallarme talk to BOTTY creator Cary Gee. Jeeves de Veyra
"We'd like to try to eliminate any friction in the service where people have to wait. So, we don't want a line in the store. So, before you come here, your coffee's ready. It's really enhancing the whole customer experience," explained Steve Benitez, founder and CEO of Bo's Coffee.
BOTTY is also a boon for backend operations as it offers management real-time access to their data and operations. It will also give restaurant operators the ability to create curated personalized loyalty programs for customers based on their order history and favorites.
To use BOTTY, users must first look for "Bo's Coffee Advance Ordering BOTTY" on Facebook Messenger. First time users will be shown current promos and then will be prompted to "Order Now." Users will then be asked for their location and confirm the branch they are ordering from. The restaurant's menu categories will then be shown. After selecting a category, the products under that are listed and the user can then select what to order, the quantity, special instructions and modifications.
For coffee, sample modifications are adding sugar, adding another shot, or not including whipped cream. Users can then add or remove items from the order as desired.
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Upon check-out, users are given the option to pay at the counter or to use any of the integrated payment solutions. After that, users are given a claim code and an estimate how much time is needed to prepare the order. When the order is ready, the user gets a notification from BOTTY to claim the items at the counter.
BOTTY is just one part of the Bo's Coffee digital transformation program. The brand is also working on its app and loyalty program, revamping uts website, and building an online e-commerce platform for merchandise and single origin coffee beans.
Ordering through BOTTY is currently supported at 47 branches of Bo's Coffee nationwide.
chatbot, Facebook Messenger, Bo's Coffee, coffee, tech
Read More: chatbot Facebook Messenger Bo's Coffee coffee tech
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