chilli

Yeah, definitely stay away from XP with that CPU unless you've got at least 512mb RAM. BTW, if you dodn't already have them, and you don't have an ASIO soundcard, get the ASIO for all drivers from the net for free... they work great as a budget solution.

OK, so looks like I basically killed this thread with my wacko dream...

Man, I LOVE Calvin & Hobbes! Sadly, its one of the few things I find truly comforting, along with my wife and... um, that's all. Watch this space for more strips...

Yeah, Crime and Punishment is pretty ugly, which is why I said: Existential definitely, but chutzpah is a new term for me... *rifle, rifle* My dictionary says it's yiddish for 'shameless audacity: cheek.' What is existential cheek/audacity? Julian, I'm curious... are you equating 'negative' with 'bad'? BTW, Wandjina, I still have that copy of the Idiot, and a very worn (as in, no cover) copy of Brothers Karamazov... two for the price of one (nothing) if you're interested.

OK, I was supposed to write up a bio of Dostoevsky for you Wandjina, but then I spiralled into a bit of a slump and I'm really sorry I didn't get back when I said I would. Well, OK, here's the basics: He was born in Russia in 1822, and died in 1881. He was the son of a reasonably wealthy landowner, and aspired to be a writer from a young age. Russia was still under a feudal system when he was born, but the peasant uprisings which occurred while he was still young resulted in the death of his father at the hands of his serfs, although there are some who question this. When he was young, and a still mostly unrecognized writer, he got involved with a group of radicals who got together to read material that was censored by the Russian state. He got caught with a few others, stood trial and was sentenced to death by firing squad for treason. What follows is perhaps the best known and possibly strangest event of Dostoevsky's life: he was taken to the execution yard with another prisoner, and they watched as the corpses of the last priseoners were removed, then he was blindfolded and tied to the post. The firing squad took their position, and were about to be given the order to fire when someone rode in to tell that the Tsar had granted a reprieve from the sentence of death, and mitigated it to ten years hard labour in the Siberian prison camps. Basically, the whole thing had been pre-arranged, and the brush with death was supposed to be the punishment I suppose. He spent his time in Prison, where he converted to Christ and began to see the whole of life in a new light... a perspective gained by having come so close to death. He gained a new respect for human beings, and the tragedy of existence. The entire saga left a permanent mark on Dostoevsky, and it is prominent in many of the themes of his novels. One of my favorite Dostoevsky quote is from his epic novel, The Brothers Karamazov: "Love all God's creation, the whole and every grain of sand of it. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love." It is hardly all sweetness and light though: many of his novels are dark and brooding, and are almost always tragic. Part of his gift is the way that he presents themes of darkness and light in such a symbiotic way, and always infused with a cynical, manic humour. He examines the human mind and heart in explicit detail, and has been hailed as the true father of modern psychology by some. His characters deal agonize over all the big questions, and rarely come to any conclusive answers. His stories are not glamourous or idealized, except by way of exaggeration: it is as though you took real life, sped it up and jiggled it a bit, and then looked at every detail at once under a microscope while holding your breath. Or something... Basically, yeah... I'd say go for the Idiot or Crime and Punishment to get an idea of what you're dealing with. Even better, here is a link to an excerpt from one of my favorite passages from The Brothers Karamazov, being a discussion between two of the Brothers Ivan and Alyosha: http://www.online-literature.com/view.php/...rs_karamazov/35 OK, so that should be enough to see whether you care or not, but don't forget Calvin and Hobbes too... but don't bother with the older collections, just the new bigger sized one's like There's Treasure Everywhere, It's A Magical World and The Days Are Just Packed. OK, so better late than never? *gulp*

I don't have much time on the net these days, so sorry if this is brief... Can anyone send me some Pachanoi pollen? I am in NZ, and have two flowers that look like they're going to open soon... a few people have offered, but haven't been able to sort anything out yet... please PM me if yes, and I'll send addy details... usual 50/50 split for any seed I get applies. Cheers

Sorry Botanika, I meant to put a :D after that line about the illuminati... but for the record, if they are who they claim to be then they're pretty much just evil... unlike freemasons, who definitely have quite a mix, but it's more like all the good ones are on the lower levels... My granddad was 33rd degree, and he was pretty evil. BTW, I'm going to answer your other posts soon, but I want to give a well-thought out response, rather than a knee-jerk reaction, like this one.

I think Devance is saying "lets ask the mothers whether we should wipe out most of humanity." If you asked my mum she'd probably say yes :D BTW, botanika you sound like the illuminati or something...

LOL yeah I wasn't thinking of sprinkling the crystals on my cacti... OK, so full strength doses occasionally is OK then? The rest of the time, what would you recommend for mature plants... half strength? How regularly?

LOL, sorry Wandjina, I just kind of assumed you were a guy as well... I guess if you're name isn't something obviously feminine like Barbie or Petal Of Life, I conclude you must be male. I'm also sorry for not getting back RE: Dostoevsky, but I've only been into the internet cafe for short bursts... I'm getting the plane back to Perth tonight for holidays, so this week I promise.

So can you use full strength Miracle Grow on trichs? I have been tempted, because I've had great results with other cacti in the past, but I've only heard of people using dilute mixtures, usually half-strength.

Plus, I have heard that they will pup more quickly and proliferately if it is cut when actively growing... can anyone confirm / deny this?

Hey Botanika, so is the powder you are using just dried and powdered flesh? I wonder if this works just as well as concentrating the alkaloids by boiling down, and makes it easier to drink? it just seems like you'd have to get down such a large quantity, and that it wouldn't be absorbed as efficiently...

I wouldn't worry too much about a PC, especially if you are going to be boiling and straining the powder. If you are usuing fresh material, I think its worth chopping quite small, then freezing and thawing 2 or 3 times in the pot you are planning on using to boil it down (so you don't lose any green goop). If you do this, and use enough lemon juice, I've found most of the alkaloids are extracted in two or three 1-2 hour boiling sessions. BTW, yeah what a dummy I am Torsten... all this time I thought distilling was boiling it down, but then again I dropped out of school in year 9...

Okaaay... so you like quotes

All this talk of masturbating over pictures of cacti is very disturbing.

Ha ha, that's cool, but for the record I didn't mention anything about Torsten being manipulative, and I don't know him from a bar of soap, so I can't say whether he's a hypocrite or not. All I said was that something he posted seemed hypocritical... there's a difference between saying that and calling him a hypocrite, as he may have said it unthinkingly, or it may not be characteristic of him. I'm sure he can handle the criticism, and hopefully he doesn't consider sycophancy very flattering.

Hey, check out these cacti I just bought... the big one with 7 pups was $30, and the group of six, ranging in size from 30cm-75cm was $70! Taking into account that I'm in NZ, that's about $90AUD for a brand new Pedro family, now holding court in my backyard (although they may end up on the roof Benzito). These babies are pupping all over the place, and another one that is arriving soon is about to flower... Sorry, just excited... seriously, cactus is so cheap over here... maybe I will stick around for a while longer than planned, it will be sad to see these guys go... On that note, if mr B.Caapi is reading this... can you get in contact with me regarding the deal we talked about? I don't know if there's something wrong with my computer, but I've PM'd and emailed you a couple of times... It's cool if its not going ahead, I just need to know in the next few days so I can work out what little money I have left after buying these! Thanks.

Excuse me, but WTF??!! Nothing you just wrote is obvious at all... Maybe try retyping it when you're not drunk :D .

I've never tried dried powder, but from reports I have read, it seems that the alkaloids are absorbed more thoroughly and more rapidly with cactus tea than with dried plant material... partly because the alkaloids are already out of the cellular material, and partly beacuse you can get a much greater concentration per volume. Also, check out tst.tantra's post RE: distilling and decanting the final product, it doesn't change the taste, but it sure improves the texture... my advice if you try this method is to distill it before it gets too thick, as the sediment settles out much more quickly.

Wow... awesome flowers... hey faslimy, PM me about some pollen from those babies!

Well Devance, seeing as you only quoted Torsten without adding anythings yourself, I can only assume you are trying to defend Torsten by showing where his comment differs from what I said, but you didn't quote him in entirety. In fact the part of his post I was referring to is this: "I know very little about the bible, but from what I have read, it contains things that are designed to induce fear and submission rather than love peace and fulfillment. If that is what people need then fine, but I think we as the human race cannot move forward until we release ourselves from these shackles and take FULL responsibility for all our actions and their consequences. I think monotheistic religions are the biggest step backwards in human evolution. Some might argue that they tempered a brutal and immoral society, but I wonder how they can say that with the immense amount of brutality that is around these days. Once we dismiss that notion there is little positive that monotheistic religions have done for us. It's time to move on. And while the bible does not equal a particular religion, it does form the basis of several of them." Not only does he admit to a basic ignorance of the Bible, he then goes on to offer his opinions on its content. Fair enough, he includes the qualifier "from what I have read," but it strikes me as someone having seen the movie "Romeo + Juliet" attempting a critique of the works of Shakespeare. Do you have any quotes you can copy and paste in repsonse to my other comments regarding prejiduce, intolerance and hypocrisy?

Thanks for the answers, everyone... Is there a greater chance of getting seed depending on what pollen is used? Eg. would crossing with Juuls make it less likely to get seed than crossing with another Pach? Also, what is the overall likelihood of getting seed, and would it be inreased somewhat by having another flowering plant... the reason I ask is that there is still another one of these babies for sale that also has some flowers beginning to appear, and I am considering buying it... BTW Rev, did you get my PM? I'll be heading to Perth in a week, and would love to get something definite sorted before then, because I just keep spending my money on these damn cheap cacti. Oh well, it could be worse I suppose... Oh yeah, one more thing... from what I've read, i gather that its possible to use different pollen on different flowers on the same plant? If so, it will make deciding which pollen to use a lot easier... I will just use one of every kind I can get!

This Pach I just bought has these flowers appearing on it, even though it is quite small: about 85cm high... From what I can gather, if I stick some pollen in there there's a chance it may set seed, which I would like to do. Does the pollen need to be from another variety, or just another cactus? Does anyone have some pollen they can send me before these flowers open? Of course, half of any seed I get would be yours, and these are some very healthy specimens. Oh yeah, and can anyone tell me how to actually do this, or point out a link that talks about it? Any estimates as to how long before the flowers appear? Thanks.

Hey Wandjina, On second thought I think I might suggest 'The Idiot' rather than 'Crime And Punishment.' I usually recommend Crime and Punishment as an introduction to Dostoevsky, because most people find it quickly engaging and fast moving, but all the typical themes of his other novels are there to some degree. I would suggest the Idiot, because even though it's a little more slow going at first, it is a much warmer book, with quite a few more comedic elements than Crime and Punishment, which is gritty and dark throughout. I'll still get back with a spiel on Dostoevsky himself in a couple more days. BTW, if you want, I can send you a scuffed old copy of The Idiot to get you started.