Sir Jeans

I don't think "nothing" is a thing that can be subject to either existing or not existing. Thus, I do not think it makes sense to speak of its lack of location, form, property etc. These kinds of statements don't seem applicable to "nothing", because "nothing" is not a thing, it or entity that could have or lack anything. As soon as you treat "nothing" like it is a thing, you end up with this sort of paradox: And that's why I agree with this: Because I don't think "nothing" is a thing that could either exist or not exist. It is just a lack of things. And (hypothetically) there can be places where there are no things. So you might say that there is nothing in such a place, but that's just a manner of speaking and means nothing more than that there are no things there. Of course, I have no idea as to whether anything I'm saying is actually consistent with the nature of the universe. I'm just speaking hypothetically. After having said all that, I think that Chilli has really got it nailed:

I did not do this. I referred to nothing as somewhere where no thing exists. Not "a thing", but the absence of all things. I don't see why there couldn't be an area of space that contains no thing. Nor do I see any reason to think that it is problematic for that area of space to have dimensions - it could be exactly 100 x 100 x 100 km. It is inside this area that no thing is contained, and talking about this area is not incompatible with nothing being within it. That is, unless I'm mistaken in some way?

I think that everyone should have at least a few T. Pachanoi in their cactus collection. And you're in luck, because I just happen to be selling cuttings of T. Pachanoi at the moment!!! Haha, nothing wrong with a little shameless self-promotion every now and then! In all seriousness though, there are so many different varieties of cacti - I usually just grow ones that I like the look of. A few of my favorite columnar cacti are: T. Pachanoi (of course!) T. Peruvianus Myrtyllocactus geometricans (beautifull color and one of the few cacti that will give you that classic form with branches like you see on old western movies) Pilocereus (for the same reasons as above) Cool cacti with more rounded forms include: Lophophora Williamsi Mammillaria Bombycena (amazing spines, and flowers for a very long time) Various Astrophytum (there's some really amazing varieties out there - I have an "ornate bishops cap") Echinocactus Grusonii (the classic "golden barrel" cactus) Notocactus Magnificus (another very nice barrel cactus with less vicious spines)

EDIT: ALL SEEDS NOW GONE! Seeds are from the plant pictured below. Not sure about its exact name, just that it is mammillaria of some sort. Very cool cactus that produces beautiful (purple I think) flowers. Seeds were freshly harvested from fruits from the below plant about a week ago. They were scraped onto tinfoil and allowed to dry. This has resulted in them becoming stuck to the tinfoil, so its up to you to deal with this! You'll get minimum 10 and probably lots more seeds. The first 5 people to email me a postal address will get them. If interested, please also post a message here in this topic, so that others can see how many are left!

I've just now posted the seeds, which is a bit later than I initially expected. So, you should receive your seeds next week some time. I hope you are all able to germinate them!

By far the most effective way to depress anything is to give it a job. What is the best/ most effective way to make a fully liberated pyrite particle within a high basicity float circuit feel better about things? Other than changing its employment status?

For nothing to exist does not mean that there is a thing called nothing that exists somewhere. Rather, it means that there is somewhere where no thing exists. Furthermore, I see no reason to think that talking or thinking about this state of nothingness makes it into somethingness. When we speak of "nothing", we are throwing around the label we use to describe it - "nothing" - That label is something (if only in the minds of those who use it). But the somethingness of the label does not imply that the thing the label describes is also something. That's how it seems to me anyway.

One more question - how often does one apply coconut milk? Once only? Once a month? That's how often I fertilize my cacti in growing season.

Seems like there are a few different formulas available - http://www.scotts.com/smg/catalog/productCategoryLanding.jsp;jsessionid=38CCBDBCEE058C07C86E14D7DE7D5491?itemId=cat50010&navAction=jump Are you using the all purpose one? I'm intrigued by the coconut milk idea too! Definitely going to give that a go real soon! I found this topic on the matter for those who are interested: http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=28323

I love this idea, very elegant. I actually thought of this myself when I was a kid (although I can't rule out the possibility that I heard it from someone else). Not sure if this idea fits with science, although i'm guessing (naively) that science is probably not advanced enough to be especially informative on the matter (we don't even really know what time is, right?).

Alright! All the seeds are now gone! Everyone who pm'd me will be sent a batch. I'll send them either tomorrow or on Wednesday, so you should either receive them later this week or early next week. If anyone especially wanted some of these seeds and is terribly disapoined for missing out, feel free to pm me in a few weeks to see if I have any more. The mother plant looks like it has another fruit or two on the way.

I tried to do something similar regarding the efficacy of using rooting hormone on pachanoi cuttings. However, all the cuttings were slightly different weights and sizes, which would complicate my attempts to weigh them after a year or so and determine if there were any real effecs. I eventually decided to abandon the project. If you go ahead with it, you'll need to think about how you'll quantify the performance of your plants. You could always just judge by looking at them, but this isn't very precise. More precise would be to measure their height from the soil line, but this isn't very precise either. If you were really serious, you could dig them up after a year or so and then weight them. Perhaps you could even weight the cleaned and removed roots separately by cutting them off. You could then simply re-root them as though they were cuttings. If you were REALLY serious, you might want to take precise measurements of the weight of the plants before you start fertilizing them, so that you could express their weight after one year (or whatever period) as a percentage relative to their original weight. If you do decide to go about this very seriously, and if you want, I could run some statistical tests on your data. This would reveal insights as to whether the differences between groups are statistically significant or not. However, these tests won't be very reliable if you only have 4-5 plants in each group. if you could raise it up to 10-15 that would be better. Anyway, perhaps I'm being a bit overzealous! Just thought I'd offer, as I find this issue interesting. Do keep this post updated!

You don't reckon its going to get worse and spread?

I planted about 20 healthy pachanoi cuttings a few months ago. They are all well rooted, and I've been using the new pups that they have produced as graft sites. I have done three such grafts so far. The first one that I did looks fine. However, the second and third ones don't look so good. This is the most recent one I did from three angles - it was done 7 days ago, and has gradually developed these bulging discolored areas: I have used the same method with all my grafts - I spray the skin of both the stock and the scion with 100% isopropyl alcohol, as well as the box cutter blade that I use. I then make the cuts as fast as possible and join the stock and scion. I put weight on top and leave it there for about 5 - 7 days. All this is done inside my apartment, next to a window that provides ample indirect sunlight. It is the start of the growing season for cacti where I live, and all the plants were showing new growth. The following photos are of an older graft I did - 2 weeks old. After noticing that same problem, I attempted to cut out all the unhealthy looking tissue. There seemed to be black stuff in the flesh just under the skin, and the flesh itself was brown. Before I made the cuts, I noticed that one of the worst affected areas was weeping a clear liquid - it had lots of tiny beads of moisture on it, like it was perspiring. After cutting all this out, I dusted the cuts with sulfur powder. That was a week ago now, and the cut surfaces have become discolored again, although they are no longer bulging or spreading. Note that there also appears to be some disease on the top of the main cutting (not the pup I grafted onto - see top photo). This is a recent development, and is quite concerning! So, what is going on here? Is this a fungal problem? Is it perhaps some kind of allergic reaction that the cactus is having?? More importantly, what do I do about it? Should I try to cut more of it out? Is it likely to spread and possible kill the scion and/or stock? Any help at all would be greatly appreciated, since I don't know very much about plant diseases. These grafts were meant to be practice runs before I tried grafting some much more valuable cacti onto my other pachanoi plants. Until I know what's gone wrong with the above grafts, I'll be very reticent to go ahead with this!

The author of the next post will get the last remaining batch...

Yeah I think you could be right. Perhaps there was some residue left on the skin (maybe it hadn't fully evaporated), and when I made the cuts, this came in contact with the tissue that was adjacent to the skin and damaged it. This would explain why the most affected areas are at the edge of the skin. Seems like a pretty extreme reaction! Should I leave it be, or attempt to remove the damaged tissue?

Definitely a hook. Just like Captain Hook. How long should a man's legs be?

I really like the others too - do you do the vocals on "Brave"? What about the guitars on "Fluffy Jet"?

Very very nice! I do a bit of writing and recording every now and then myself. Its always nice to listen to other peoples work, especially when they have obviously put a lot of effort into polishing it! What did you use to create this?

Hmmm, very interesting. I found the stuff about omega 3 especially interesting - definitely going to go buy a big bag of walnuts today! Cheers for sharing, shortly!

UPDATE: Bottom piece of pachanoi is now only 42cm long.

These T Pachanoi cuttings are for sale: Both photos are of the same cuttings. The two photos show that the top three are fairly scarred and discolored on one side. Because of this, I am selling them cheaper than I normally sell pachanoi cuttings. The top three are 50c per cm. The bottom one is 65c per cm. From the top to bottom the lengths of the cuttings are 75, 68, 67, and 72 cm long. Happy to cut the cuttings into smaller pieces. Because of the discoloration on one side, these cuttings would probably be best planted lying down. In fact, being left lying down is the reason why the became discolored in the first place. I also am still trying to sell my cleistocactus strausii, and have yet to receive any interest except for the following message that someone sent me: "LMAO it looks like a peen" Details are here: http://www.shaman-au...=0 Any offers considered for this one. Come on guys, this is a great cactus! Someone buy it!

To ensure good drainage, you could try planting them in an elevated position. I'm thinking that you could put down a few inches of coarse gravel, and then put a big pile of cactus soil on top of that. It could be like a raised vegetable bed, and could be enclosed by wood or bricks or something. If it gets rained on a lot, all the water would drain down through the soil, and then out to the sides through the gravel. Ive never tried this, but its an idea I had a while ago when thinking about planting cacti in the ground.

If you believe this is a worthy cause, please take the time to sign this petition! It only takes a minute: http://www.avaaz.org/en/bolivia_stop_the_crackdown/?cl=1290021664&v=10466 "The only thing necessary for evil to flourish is for good men [sic] to do nothing." - Edmund Burke

I am so happy to see this! The internet is just about the most valuable thing we have it, and it must be protected!