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The Corroboree

Darklight

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Posts posted by Darklight

  1. Posted

    And remember kids, UV light is harsh on the eyeballs. Wear safety glasses with a UV rating whenever you're playing with it. Burned eyeballs are no fun, and it doesn't take long to do damage

    I am the voice of bitter experience on this, I have managed to get UV shredded eyeballs twice- first time playing with some TLC visualisation ( it'll only take a minute ) and losing track of time, and the second time from UV bounce off a stainless work surface when doing some UV mutation work ( goggles are best, UV sunglasses don't always provide protection against UV coming from underneath your face )

  2. Posted

    Not sure how it goes in WA, but here in NNSW there has been a long history of ppl foraging for cubes behaving badly.

    If you see someone on your rural place you don't know, looking for cubes is the second last worry on your mind. Other candidates for people who shouldn't be there are household ripoffs, people who are likely to pinch farm machinery like pumps, pudding thieves ( crop snatchers ), clueless rude types who are going to take up an hour of your time whinging that property is theft so they're going to camp with their mates on your boundary fence, man ( when they could have come to your door and asked ) -and if it's the season, cube hunters

    Any of these people could also be performing any and all of the above functions despite their protestations. They could all be Facebooking their mates about this awesome new spot they've found heaps at. And leaving gates open for livestock to get out is a common error that is just plain rude and dangerous

    So yeah, no surprises that landholders get stroppy. How would you feel if I skulked around the back of your place for a few hours with some mates, especially if your missus and kids are there on their own? Show a bit of respect and check with the landholder wherever possible, you'd be surprised how many are amenable

    Sorry to hijack thread. I'm with Obtuse re foraging at night and the accuracy of UV lights with ID. Hunting for glowing mycoflora is hell silly fun, but yeah, you do need to remember that there are some seriously venomous nocturnal snakes around as well. We have roughscales here for that, and a few of the more shy yet slightly venomous ones too

    • Like 3

  3. Posted

    Our country's ridiculous lack of perspective when it comes to our own history is fucked right up

    When I was a kid I was taught from a book that said Captain Cook 'discovered' Australia, and there at the top of the page was a pic of some wigged out Pommy bloke walking off a boat towards a bunch of dark skinned people who were already camped.

    Every day I hear stupid shit, like "Autralia's worst serial killer is so-and-so" when, to date I think the record was some bloke called Billy Fraser in QLD who killed scores of Aboriginal people during the resistance in the 19th century we never hear of. There were prolly ppl worse than him, maybe on both sides, but the killings were both govt. sanctioned and remote

    More recently we've forgotten the lessons of history from 50 years ago- the stupid ugly of the McCarthy era, reds under the bed, yellow peril, the control of information flow by the government for our own good, and the sheer dumbarse revelations of the Hilton Hotel bombings. And now we're in for a new crop

    Hardly surprising then that Australians are easy to manipulate and play wedge politics with. We're taught to do it from a young age. By the time we vote it's innate

    • Like 3

  4. Posted

    Last time I checked (admittedly, a few years) there had never once been a terrorist attack within australia.

    I can't decide if this is correct or not. Do you think the actions of the British against the original inhabitants count as terrorism, or as acts of war, or both? They managed to carry that on for quite a while

    But lately, yeah. I think the hysteria is because most of us don't have anything to compare it with in our own experiences, so we rely on a drip feed from an hysterical media largely bent on keeping us distracted, stupid and scared

    Possibly if this had happened in the US, it would never have made the news because the alleged perpertator was locked up in a shipping container somewhere and no-one knew why. Maybe this is a case where our comparatively low population and relative suspicion of authority makes it harder to keep quiet

    Not having a dig at you Auxin, the suceptability of our population to complete spun bullshit alarms me too

  7. Posted · Edited by Darklight

    Bummer it didn't work

    But thank you so much for posting a concise writeup of your negative results here.

    Writeups of negative results are as deadset important as positive results and will doubtless help others in the future

    I wish every single publication had to have a written account of stuff that didn't work, science would be much faster

    Every now and again you find a publication where you can read between the lines and almost follow the thought processes of the researchers, I've read a couple that were like torrid film scripts

    • Like 3

  9. Posted

    Nope, I've never thought that... Seriously, what's wrong with micropore tape if you want something cheap/abundant?

    If you're using micropore tape as a filter, it's not a bad option as long as you autoclave it once it's on the lid. Haven't had many hassles with it

    Do replace it every so often

    The only thing working against it is it attracts paper mites. If you have a ton of paper/ cardboard in your work area already, the added risk of micropore tape filters is negligible

    However- I'd seriously advise against using micropore to close petries, especially those you keep for a long time, and especially those in the fridge. Once it gets old it does start to go fungusy and manky, and when you peel older tape off yout lovely sterile container clouds of spores can be released into the air. I've seen it here- never again

    • Like 1

  12. Posted

    The most delicious gourmet mushy is whatever you grew or found that's ready * right now*

    Bonus points if you inoculated it, forgot about it, and then found a bunch of it ready to harvest when you were walking around the yard

    Hows the smile on yr face when you get surprised by a really lovely addition to tonight's tucker?

  13. Posted

    I wish I knew more chemistry, I love the research posts here and have based some of my own work on the responses people have given purely from interest and passion

    Every time there is a sexy research post on SAB, another tinfoil hat explodes

    • Like 4

  14. Posted · Edited by Darklight

    There's a bit of literature starting to build on saponins as CNS therapeutics in general.

    Oh- interesting! I don't understand like 99% of the above. But I had a GC/MS workup done on one of my fave .au plants that I find really livens me up ( and kicks hangovers in the arse- Cissus antarctica ) and they found a bunch of novel saponins in it. Was wondering if they could be responsible for the tonic effect

    Mind you there was a bunch of other un-ID stuff in there as well. Common with native plant workups.

    Love your work. Every time I see a sexy pharmacological or research post here I am so heartened

    • Like 1

  15. Posted

    Youse are all pretty much on the money

    If you don't have a TC lab, find one to do it for you, will prolly cost as much as setting up benchspace at your place

    Pick only unblemished pods. Make sure you leave the stem on or wherever the stem leaves the pod will be prone to fungal attacks

    Then sterilise and open in flow hood

    • Like 1

  16. Posted · Edited by Darklight

    I am so looking forward to seeing so many of you there.

    Melbs crew are great fun and EGA ppl are lovely

    If you're new, or nervous about attending, please don't be. Plant meets are brilliant and unbelievably friendly. Good things happen at IRL plant meets that wouldn't otherwise happen online

    Last one I was at, apoth scammed me ( :wink: ) into taking on a student for a week in the tissue culture lab, something I normally would never do. And he was one of the best students I ever had

    • Like 3

  17. Posted

    i'm not a bogan but i think jacqui lambie would make a great prime minister of australia,

    i mean, the threat of flea ridden ebola suicide bombers blowing them selves up at the foody spreading their bloody ebola juice everywhere is very real

    and our security forces are doing nothing, NOTHING

    Best post ever.

    Have you ever noticed on the news during floods and fires the people that are out in the floodwater rescuing a kid or going through a window to save an old lady has a mullet and is wearing thongs and a flanno? When the going gets tough, the bogans get going. You don't see hipsters doing that shit.

    Spot on. And if you're a bogan incog, I'm one with you.

    They only call us bogans until they need to move house, and after that we're their 'really good mates who have a ute'

    Altho the image of you freeballing in satin footy shorts is faintly disturbing. You've given it a lot of thought, eh

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    Borrow some ducks. Then give them back before they start to drive you crazy. Or eat them

    Seriously. I had ducks for a few years, it was at least 8 years before the ticks, meat ants and leeches moved back into the yard in nuisance amounts

    • Like 5

  21. Posted

    The reporting around this has to be some of the dumbest I've ever seen, seriously.

    Some sources claim 'Snapchat' contains 'bath salts'. Neither of those compounds are defined chemically. Hell, they are barely defined except as terms thrown around by the media.

    I'd be happier with their accuracy if they clarified that a range of new synths were being sold as bath salts in the US a couple of years ago. But no, because of stupid we now have a meme that novel synths actually are bath salts and it stands uncorrected in published articles.

    Why can't the press just get it right and say " Pills decorated with the snapchat logo have caused a spate of hospitalisations and we recommend avoiding them "

    And the saga continues, alongside the stupid and inaccurate

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-06/homes-raided-in-connection-to-snapchat-sale/5793596

    • Like 2

  22. Posted

    I have been told that tissue culture on acacia is the 'holy grail' of the industry in Australia. It is currently not in practice as they are far too stubborn and simply refuse to propagate this way.

    I got this information at a job interview 6 months ago at a tissue culture lab. We had a lengthy chat about acacia propagation and they stated one of the main reasons they called me in for a chat was cause I had propagated floribunda by cuttings.

    IF SOMEONE KNOWS HOW TO PROPAGATE ACACIA BY TISSUE CULTURE PLEASE DO LET ME KNOW!

    Are you sure? Are you sure you're sure? Heaps of Australian Acacia species are piss easy to do via TC. Maidenii, acuminata, floribunda and I think obtusifolia. No wuckas

    Phlebs, in my own experience and that of another lab, are not easy. I've never seen them done in TC. That doesn't mean it's not possible, it just means no-one's found a way. You could be the one to find it. It happens

    Are you sure your interviewer wasn't speaking of a particular Acacia species, cultivar or variety? Or via a particular TC route such as somatic embryogenesis instead of axillary culture?

  23. Posted

    Rigger, you seem like a nice bloke and I do hope you stick around. I can even understand your impulsive and passionate posts that you back down on or explain after you get called on them, I've made a ton of these myself ( I miss CS and shroomy and waterdragon, they took the piss far far better in an argument and made it fun ).

    But here- as anywhere- if you make incorrect statements in areas where you have much less expertise than other people commenting- you will be called on it. This is doubly true on legal issues where loose management-type statements can impact people's freedom because it gives them incorrect impressions

    Someone once said somewhere else, the Law does not deal in The Vibe

    And it is becoming imperative that we all know how to read and understand the actual legislations

    • Like 1

  24. Posted

    I thought the term Mandl paint was a typo, never seen it before now.

    https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101108033235AASDanj

    Turns out it's an iodine paint.

    And the recipe:

    Name: Iodine 1.25% and Potassium Iodide 2.5% in Glycerin, Human, Veterinary Formula Number: 2531 Synonyms: Mandl's Paint; Compound Iodine Paint, BPC; Mandl Paint Components: Iodine
    Potassium Iodide
    Water, Purified USP
    Peppermint Oil
    Glycerin

    Is Spring again. Seeking definite female carob trees for trade only

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