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The Corroboree

Darklight

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Posts posted by Darklight

  2. Posted

    Wouldn't miss it for the world. EGA just keeps coming up with awesome local talent

     

    I say this every year- but I'll say it again. EGA gatherings are fun and warm and inclusive. If you haven't been before and worry you won't find anyone to yak or hangout with- you so totally will

     

    Also Yeti I still owe you for doing that coffee run for me at the last one, let's catch up this time properly

     

    Quote

    Also, as I keep getting asked, There going to be another massive EGA botanical Raffle :worship:

     

    Me and a mate have shiny planty art toys to donate this time

    • Like 2

  3. Posted

    Heya lovely bloke! Good to see you round

     

    Yeah, I was thinking about medicinal Amarylladaceae a while ago and came to roughly the same conclusion- too complicated by weird toxins for my non-chemist brain, so I gave up

     

    They do seem to have some fascinating aspects, but I'll wait for the smart ones like you to crunch all the numbers and molecules before I start planting them with the intention of medicinal use

    • Like 1

  5. Posted

    Aw crew... Jess and I just watched this for the first time, which neither of us would normally ever do, but it was a lab day here and we wanted to see how it all went from the viewer's perspective

     

    It was super fun and not a bit nerve wrenching to be a part of it, we had so much ground to cover, and the EGA crew is always great to work with, so professional and inclusive and bloody thorough as well

     

    But even from the other side of the screen I was proud to be a part of that webcast. It was a pleasure meeting the panellists I hadn't met before the event, hell there are some seriously talented and experienced people in the scene these days, the panel are just a representative group put together for the evening. I reckon the vid showed Australian mushroom science, and Psilocybe science in particular, as a complex topic worthy of real consideration from multiple perspectives- social, cultural, environmental, clinical, academic and legal

     

    I cant thank you guys enough, EGA are really showcasing the maturity of the Australian psychedelic scene in a balanced way that's accessible for everyone- whether they're trippers or not. Whether they're rich or not. Whether they're listed on the stock exchange or not... oh fuck sorry I just went off on a tangent lol

     

    Thanks to Nick and Lee and Liam who really went above and beyond behind the scenes and who also make scientific contributions in their own right ( which I'd love to hear more about )

     

    And thanks to Torsten for frantic last minute tarzanning around at his place so the NNSW interwebs would behave after the satellite connection shat itself about 30 min before we started. That was some serious Chuck Norris work right there and fuck it was cold outside

     

    Also the comments were brilliant. I too would snort Freud's ashes, but only if I could confirm by sequencing that they were, in fact, Freud's ashes and we had decent chain of custody documentation for them so no ash substitution was possible before they reached my nasal cavities.

     

    If you're thinking of taking part in an EGA presentation or submitting some work for distribution via EntheoTV, yeah, I would definitely do that. Go for it. The EGA team is gold

     

    • Like 5
    • Haha 1

  6. Posted

    16 minutes ago, SayN said:

    What would greatly help with the AZ clotting concerns is a little more info about the outcome of patients that suffered the problem.  Presumably most made a recovery...?

     

     

    I'd also like to see a greater breakdown on co-morbidities. Age, obesity, smoking, other chronic diseases etc

     

    But I guess we won't see that data from a significant sample size for a while

  7. Posted · Edited by Darklight
    Spacing went weird, fixed now I hope

    Long rant follows- apologies WC

     

    I'm over 50 and hanging out for Pfizer- or more data on long-haul responses to AZ

    I'm not vaccine hesitant- I'm fussy for good reasons

    Complex reasons. Last March 2020 I had a bit of a flu in regional QLD- they weren't testing for COVID unless you were directly linked to the Ruby Princess, but there were a couple of small outbreaks in the region. But there were a few other influenza strains round, and I was going to the gym rather a lot-- isolating and heading out only at times the workout areas weren't crowded ( this was pre- lockdown but I was being cautious ).

    Was pretty fit, BMI 24 and from memory whatever flu I had wasn't too bad. Week's bed rest and I threw everything I had at getting better as the main worry was needing the ER if there was a local COVID outbreak

    Coupla weeks after, serious nerve issues began. Started with what appeared to be ear infection, spread to neck/ arms/ hands nerve burning and serious inflammation. Lost the use of my hands most days, had to attempt what passed for sleep sitting up for 3 months- the pain was incredible. Brain fog. Lost hearing in one ear. Occasional loss of vision. No heart or lung issues thank fuck. Massively reduced working hours on casual contract, but my lovely bosses kept me on while I struggled

    Regional QLD health is shit. Absolute shit. My employers had warned me when I signed on, but nothing prepares you for the rank level of incompetence at the time you need it. The services are there, but the staff I was interfacing with at GP and ER level were beyond hopeless ( specialists were great- when you could get them ). It took six months to get the ear infection component recognised and dealt with. I couldn't even get an antibody test for COVID after repeated requests

    Took to treating the whole thing by symptom- have been restricting diet, keeping up exercise, steroids, pilates, LDN, prebiotics and pregnenolone and in the last 5 months I've slowly been seeing improvement

    It took six months of hard work to be able to use forceps and a scalpel for a couple of hours a day. It's taken me 14 months to even get to the point of doing 10 min gardening a day. And I am so grateful for that ten minutes.

     

    Healing is a full time job.

     

    Given that flu-like viruses can occasionally cause a range and varying severity of these post-viral symptoms, at +12 months I can't attribute the post-viral nerve and inflammation issues to COVID. Officially the diagnosis is post-viral inflammation, more specialist appointments pending.

    Preliminary data on the various long haul COVID groups I'm on is showing a 40:40:20 spread for symptom change post Pfizer- 40% experience good reduction in symptoms post vaccine, 40% have no change in symptoms and 20% symptoms increase. The data is *very* preliminary, largely anecdotal, and there's not much info on post AZ responses yet. And the majority of the people reporting anecdotally do not have exclusive nerve damage- reported post-viral responses were largely pulmonary and heart in the early days and the neural/nerve reports are becoming more frequent only now

    Dunno if I even had COVID.

    But if I did, and whatever the virus was I can live with the risks of an 80% neutral/positive outcome from the Pfizer vax, wait for data on AZ responses, and/or hang out for more data generally. No way would I risk these symptoms worsening without significant assessment of my options

    Being in a zero- COVID area, and having the privilege of being able to isolate easily, there is at this point no rush for me to get the vaccine- yet.

    Any of the SARS type virii can cause these post viral symptoms and COVID especially is resulting in a really high rate of life-limiting multi-system long-haul damage. The spread of COVID, as a possibly new and a novel coronavirus, is going to have significant health and economic impacts on human health for decades

    If anyone tells you COVID isn't a thing, punch them in the mouth.



     

    • Like 4

  8. Posted

    Dropped in and saw the start of your talk, but didn't stay cos the tent was chockers and we were getting rained on.

     

    Missed a chance to pour over your book with you, was wanting to show my colleague your work, we'll try again next year ( don't go into town much, us all out here )

     

    Geez you had a good crowd tho, were you happy with how things went?

     

    MG this year was interesting, there were a lot more people in the town hall for the speakers this year and an org I spoke to said many had actually been there all day and were taking notes

     

    I loved the increase in diversity of the stalls, the demographic seemed slightly older this year ( hard to say tho ) and Saturday seemed nice and chill. Crowds seemed down for COVID uncertainty and the rain.

     

    Cops, as always, heavy handed at the start on the RDTs ( someone said on FB that by Sun some lighten up a little and smile occasionally ) but there were plenty of deso drivers and commercial lifts into town for some pretty reasonable rates.

     

    Hope you had fun as well as a great talk

     

     

    • Like 3

  11. Posted

    On 16/02/2021 at 7:48 AM, Buttsack said:

    Wanna crawl any further up his arse? lol

     

    It would be most incongruous if I *didn't* reply to your stupidity. I've known the bloke years longer than he's had the forums. You probably don't understand what it's like to have long term friendships; in that event try to extrapolate possible scenarios via google

     

    On 16/02/2021 at 7:48 AM, Buttsack said:

    "Torsten's forum"

    Wanna elaborate on that?

     

    He owns the domain. For most of the decades it's been around he's paid for and managed the site. Occasionally a few people kick in funds, some most generously

     

    Is this simple enough for you?

     

     

    On 16/02/2021 at 7:48 AM, Buttsack said:

    "start your own pages and forums"

    I don't think you understand how forums work, it's not the owner who makes them what they are, it's the users, and if the owner kicks out users willy nilly people do find other places or make them.

     

    Which explains the unmitigated proliferation and long term survival of the hundreds of other ethnobotanical forums online today /sarcasm

     

    Goodbye

     

     

    • Haha 1

  12. Posted

    7 hours ago, trucha said:

     

    A preprint of the version that did go to press is available at https://cactusconservation.org/resources/cci-publications/

     

     

    Trucha, that index is a veritable smorgasbord of articles, not just the one you quoted above :worship:

     

    Last I saw you speak at EGA outdoors some years back you seemed to be having a fair bit of a hard time keeping your work going?

     

    Now I see the output from your group, with your name on so many peer reviewed publications *and* open source. Am utterly impressed by your resilience, attention to detail and dedication. Thank you so much.

    • Like 2

  13. Posted

    And yet Buttsack, here you are, on Torsten's forum, spitting the dummy after having a dummy spit at him on the FB page he runs as well. And you're not banned here so you get to blather some more. He's been very patient with you IMO

     

    If your SAB related existence is as bad as you say, fuck off, start your own pages and forums. When you've done this for a couple of decades and dealt with all the issues you will possibly be taken more seriously

  15. Posted

    Sounds good

     

    If you are starting from spores though, remember you can't add hydrogen peroxide to your media. Hydrogen peroxide kills spores

     

  16. Posted

    2 minutes ago, john said:

    Many thanks for the clear response. I just prepared some agar from a health food shop boiled with water - nothing else.

    I will try H2O2 as suggested in the mix next go. Mine have started to grow but are moving very slowly after 2 weeks. Maybe I 'm

    used to rapid growth in the tropics.

     

    K- so you have made what's called water agar

     

    It's not really nutritious at all and any growth you get could be resulting from residual nutrients in whatever it was you inoculated it with. That could be why growth is slow

     

    A general purpose agar is something like Malt Extract agar

     

    There are a million recipes for Malt Extract agar, often just varying the amounts. One that's worked for me for a variety of species is:

     

    20g/L light malt extract ( brewing supply shops sell it )

    100mg/L garden lime ( Bunnings )

    100mg/L potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate ( some people omit this )

    20g/L agar ( health food shops )

     

    A litre of agar is heaps! Like, about 40 standard petri dishes worth. So work out how much you actually need and change amounts accordingly

     

    If you want to add 3% hydrogen peroxide at 2-8ml/L, do that after you have cooked your agar and the container is at a temperature which can be held comfortably in your hand

     

    Malt Extract Agar is really nutritious. Lots of species like it- so do lots of contaminants.

     

    Not all species are happy with you adding hydrogen peroxide, but many will overcome their distaste for it and grow after a couple of weeks

     

    Good luck!

    • Like 2

  17. Posted

    13 hours ago, john said:

    I am starting out with shroom growing. I see a lot of recipes for

    agar. I have mycelium  growing in straight agar. Should I use a mix?

    When peroxide is used is that just for sterilizing or is it included in the agar mix. 

    sorry to be so ignorant.

    john S / Nimshie29

     

     

    Hi john

     

    Welcome to the wonderful, frustrating, fun world of growing mushrooms :)

     

    The agar question is a helluva lot to unpack. There are a bazillion recipes for 'agar' ( which is really only a generic word for whatever gelling agent is used to solidify the semisolid stuff in a petri dish, but the common use now includes whatever else is in the mix ). Confusing as fuck IMO

     

    Most people just use what's convenient for them that works, hence all the different agar types. Some types are specific to species, some are general, some used to deter competitors to get a cleaner culture etc

     

    Are you using only agar and water- your OP refers to straight agar- or is there other stuff in there, malt extract, dog food, vegemite, lime etc

     

    H2O2 ( hydrogen peroxide ) kills spore of bacteria and fungi without killing most mycelia- up to a point ( it can be overloaded, degrades if you keep the agar plates for too long, and shouldn't be added until your agar has cooled to the point where you can hold the container by hand )

     

    3% hydrogen peroxide is usually added 2-8ml/L when your agar has cooled and is ready for pouring. It can negate the requirement for pressure cooking your agar and is also handy if you don't have a sterile cabinet or still air box to work in. I've poured H2O2 agar in the open in my kitchen and had good success with it. I usually carry some plates of it with me if I'm taking samples from mushrooms I find on bushwalks

     

    You don't need H2O2 added to agar, but there are some situations which it really helps. Some species don't like it much and some take a while to establish on it

     

    Hope that clears things up. Good luck!

     

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 2

  18. Posted

    On 03/11/2020 at 5:25 PM, prier said:

     My journey into plants basically started here so I figured this is a good place to announce I now run my own nursery.

     

     

    Hey Prier- that's awesome news, congratulations!

     

    Was really looking forward to seeing you at EGA this year, I've been coveting some of your lovely cacti offerings there for a long time and a catchup with you is always lovely

     

    Took me a minute to find your ebay store, but there you are:

     

    https://www.ebay.com.au/usr/whompingwillownursery

     

    You'll rock it! Coupla decades experience in cactii will serve you well :worship:

     

     

     

     

     

  19. Posted · Edited by Darklight

    On 08/08/2020 at 8:46 AM, sagiXsagi said:

    my father has started to seem hesitant to go to swim, he seems to be having a harder time to navigate and move his limpbs in water... 

     

    Sorry to hear about your dad mate, but it's beautiful you think of him so highly

     

    My dad's had Parkinsons for a long while, as have a few others I know, I've been following the research and their progress for a while. Unfortunately none of the people I know with Parkinsons are interested in support outside their direct relationship with their GPs ( who mostly don't know much about Parkinsons )

     

    But swimming's one of the best things your dad can do, if he's having trouble can you get him to wear a flotation device? I know there can be a bit of pride about wearing one in a public place... but swimming's so good for stages of PD. In Australia I've seen water exercise used as a recognised form of therapy for PD and it did work for my dad as a part of slowing his Parkinsons progression

     

     

    Quote

     

    I might seem like an idiot to be asking 

     

    No, you seem awesome and loving. I wondered about those compounds too back when Dad was diagnosed. I think you're right about potential deficits after use. Am not a physician and there are people here who are better qualified than I to explain the mechanisms

     

    There are some biological compounds I'd look at first before directly going for the pure stimulants

     

    Mucuna pruriens seed could be a good place to start if he's not already on meds ( buy it in, or only grow the hairless subtype )

     

    CBD is approved in Australia for treatment of some PD symptoms. Not sure about THC, but CBD is definitely on the list and I've heard ( and only heard- not seen yet ) good things of it for this. Not sure about legality/ accessibility where you live. Is most likely to be well tolerated alongside other medications

     

    Ibogaine root bark has been reported to reduce symptoms of PD too. There's a bunch of glowing reports on that if you google ( I do not trust glowing reports on Google much, but low dose ibo is awesome and I'd personally give it a go if I ever got a diagnosis) - but if you're recommending it to anyone else- particularly if they're already on other medication- I'd take real care to find a sympathetic primary health care professional and a good clean source of ibogaine root bark

     

    Was most interested to hear psilocybin/ mushrooms mentioned above, now I'll have to do some reading :)

     

    All the best for your and your family's journey.

    • Like 4

  20. Posted

    21 hours ago, lindsay said:

    recipe- 1 gram of chelated iron per 100 grams of dry grains.

    mixed into the cooked grain before sterilization.

     

    Whoa- lovely work, seriously impressive. Definitely warrants further investigation at other sites

  23. Posted

    I've got an old Olympus ECEBi microscope and I love the damn thing. However it's a little dusty inside, and I'd like to do some spore identification with it, so I need crisp vision at high magnification

     

    A few mates have the same base model or a variant thereof. They were super common back in the day

     

    Yep, they're from the 70s or something, but they're well made. I love well made things :)

     

    Having trouble finding someone who will clean it- not just the outer, but the gubbins inside, which seems dusty

     

    Have spoken to a few professionals about it who have said it's a fair bet they're not worth looking at, and the average hourly rate ( including part thereof ) for a professional clean is about $200 an hour- that would also cover the evaluation, even if no work was done

     

    Bit lost with what to do about this. I'd also like professional advice on storing the damn thing so it doesn't suffer from fungus, which seems to  get into a lot of scopes in NNSW

     

    Anyone have actual experience with getting this done? Not just links- but actual experience?

  25. Posted

    Yep, I wouldn't throw fungicide or glyphosate on it. Ick.

     

    Have a crack at throwing a fair whack of Aglime on it. Raising the soil pH might discourage that species and encourage a different one. Whether it's one you like or not is another matter

     

    If you have heaps of local used oyster mushroom straw  or other local spent mushroom spawn I'd throw that on top of the aglime.

     

    I haven't tried this, it's just something that's inline with basic mycological and biological processes. Inhibit the thing you don't want, encourage the thing you do

     

    And saguaro is right, there will be spores aplenty, and mushrooms will always come up when conditions are right for them and not their competitors

     

    Yellow stainers prolly occupy an important niche, don't wipe em out

     

    Let us know how you go

     

     

    • Like 2
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