ballzac

BTW, most of the information in that link is incorrect (as far as I know). Here is a link that I think is a lot more accurate http://library.thinkquest.org/C003763/pdf/origin06.pdf I think requiring cells is a fairly arbitrary difinition and it is the only one according to this source that viruses don't posess. Like it says, it is a matter of great debate and a grey area. If we met concious beings from other solar systems, whose bodies were not made up of cells, I would like it if we still considered them lifeforms. I would also like to think that any machine that displays all of these traits apart from being made up of cells would eventually be thought of as living. -Zac

Are they meant to be sentences 'dude'?

I personally would not put up with the negative effects of a cold, even for a spiritual experience, but if it is worth it for you, then there is nothing wrong with it. Even the most enjoyable entheogens have negative side effects. Are you sure it was JUST a cold. Maybe your immune system was lowered by a flu virus, thus enabling the cold to come on so quickly. You would still experience the cold, but another virus might be responsible for an hallucination inducing fever. Just a thought. -Zac

Well...It depends on what definition of life you use. Viruses do not move under their own power, and they reauire a host to survive, but they multiply, utilize a food source, and adapt. "Virtually all authors who have considered life from the point of view of molecular biology have regarded the property of self-reproduction as the most fundamental aspect of a living organism." —John D. Barrow and Frank J. Tipler, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle "What is the characteristic feature of life? When is a piece of matter said to be alive? When it goes on "doing something," moving, exchanging material with its environment, and so forth, and that for a much longer period than we would expect an inanimate piece of matter to "keep going" under similar circumstances. When a system that is not alive is isolated or placed in a uniform environment, all motion usually comes to a standstill very soon as a result of various kinds of friction; differences of electric or chemical potential are equalized, substances which tend to form a chemical compound do so, temperature becomes uniform by heat conduction. After that the whole system fades away into a dead, inert lump of matter. A permanent state is reached, in which no observable events occur. The physicist calls this the state of thermodynamical equilibrium, or of "maximum entropy." —Erwin Schrodinger, What is Life?" I don't think Schroedinger's definition in anyway rules out viruses, but that again is a matter of opinion. The scientific community is still very much divided on whether a virus is alive or not, but it is all just a matter of semantics. We know what a virus IS, we just differ on definition. That is, it is various peoples opinions on the definition of life that differs, not their opinions on the mechanics/biology of the virus itself. As for the question of keeping a cold alive. I have no idea. Try smoking lots of cigarettes, eating poorly, and living on the street.

another one

okay, okay. I give up.

This still all sounds like a bunch of unrelated stuff all joined together into sentences. What are you talking about? If any one of the sides of any equilateral polygon/polyhedron shortens, it will no longer be equilateral. A triangle will become scalene or isosceles. How did buckyballs come into it? As far as I know, the carbon-carbon bonds (i.e. every bond) in a bucky ball, produce pentagonal spaces in the framework not triangular. Would be interesting to know the angle? WHAT angle? The rest I'm not even gonna try to figure out what you're trying to say. Maybe if I was on acid I would think you were saying something that actually makes sense, and I was just not in a state to understand it, but I'm not, and I can recognize gobledygook when I see it.

I Know that shamans of old would probably laugh at neo-shamanism and the shamanic experiences of non-shamans.... I had an experience in which I died and was not reborn, but instead, undeaded! This experience took me to the very darkest recesses of my mind and forced me to face issues that have been purcolating below the surface (mainly relating to the sexual abuse my girlfriend suffered when she was a child) I was very careful in the title to put inverted commas around the first word, because I don't want to be throwing that word around like it has no meaning, and I am not exactly an expert on shamanic theory. This is the culmination, and conclusion, of my dxm research. I'm speechless

What the hell are you guys on? Are we talking about a tetrahedron? If so, then as one edge increases or decreases in length, so must the other five in order for the vertices to remain equidistant. All the other stuff I have no idea what you guys are talking about. Is this some secret code? Because it doesn't sound like physics. What did that have to do with the coriolis force? If we're talking physics and this isn't a metaphor that has gone COMPLETELY over my head, yes it does. It's been proven time and time again that matter is just energy 'frozen' in spacetime. Because the same quantity of matter will always liberate the same quantity of energy when annihilated, E=m. Or, to put it in a less cumbersome way (because an enourmous quantity of energy is liberated from the destruction of a tiny quantity of matter) E=mc^2 But...It sounds like you guys are talking about something completely different. You're posts all seem almost unrelated. So tell me, Is this a secret code or something? Anyway, to repeat myself in a way, Amulte was essentially right when he said that no edges/sides can be shortened. This is true of the sides of all polygons, and edges of all polyhedrons.

As far as glow sticks go, I actually think if you are tripping mainly for fun on a substance like LSD (as opposed to looking for a spiritual experience), they can be kinda fun. And the visuals are often very obvious with the high contrast at night (I can see trails coming off them when I'm straight!). I have juggling balls that have high intensity LEDs in them, and they can look amazing. I also have a contact juggling ball that reacts to UV light with an intense purple glow. But hey, contact juggling always looks best with a plain crystal ball. The one thing I don't understand is why glowsticks have caught on with the extacy culture seeing as MDMA is not really visual. I prefer sitting around a barbie with close friends and just chatting most of the time on E, just as I do when I'm straight. Come to think of it, that's probably what I'd prefer when I'm on psychedelics. Although something trippy that glows can be cool on psychedelics in any setting, be it a glowstick, a bike light, a cigarette, or a blank sheet of paper. But yeah, I don't think many people use glowsticks as a tool on the path to enlightenment -Zac

Thanks. I'll accept your answer as being correct pending further personal research.

Also, I personally shun the concept of a 'bad trip'. This was a hellish experience for me, and I have had hellish experiences on lsd too, but they served a purpose for me at the time which could not be served by anything else. As long as the experience does not trigger a mental illnes, or disturb you enough that you choose to end your own life, I think all trips, both confronting/difficult experiences, and pleasant experiences, are good trips. It is often the diffucult experiences that we learn the most from.

I think my reason for this was more that I don't know enough about shamanism to make this claim. I don't want to inadvertantly say something that I am not meaning to say. To use an extreme example, someone might get a tatoo of a swastika because they like the design, not realising what it signifies in post wwII society. I'm not sure I know exactly what I think. But I believe that these states of mind are far more than just a simulation of mental illness. I believe there is some fundamental truth that is inherent in them. Maybe it is just the realisation that reality is not set in stone. I have actually been there before too. The only difference this time is that my current girlfriend wishes to overcome it and take responsibility for the way she feels NOW. My ex on the other hand would take the role of the victim in every situation in life and would also force other people to suffer to make her feel better about her own suffering. Eventually I had to decide in that relationship that I could't keep telling myself it wasn't her fault for the way she is, because it was destroying me. Most abusers have been abused themselves and it is never an excuse. I am glad this topic sparked some interest. I actually thought I might never get ONE reply!

Woah, I must've been tripping balls! Much as I think I've been doing too much of this shit lately, I think it has been the cause of great changes in my life. I'm looking forward to a good year next year.

I don't know very much about this subject, but... Spores ARE legal, but the ownly way a spore ring can survive is with the cultivation of the fungii. I doubt THAT in itself would be enough evidence for prosecution, but it MIGHT be enough to obtain a search warrant. It's an exciting prospect though -Zac

That's cool If you are selling them quite cheaper than other companies, I might actually be interested in buying one at some stage. Keep me posted. -Zac

I used a commercial one of these once on a very mild lsd trip, and I had very profound hallucinations. There is a shareware one here http://www.innerworlds.50megs.com/downloads.htm I have not made the glasses yet, so I don't know if this one works or is as easy to build as it looks. They are meant to give you hallucinations even without drugs, but I have never used them while sober so I would not know. I used the flasher program on this website while on a dxm trip and had crazy hallucinations and the brainwave generator (pcm mind) would be excellent for this too. Has anyone out there also had success with this sort of device? Maybe you could post links to other ideas for 'tripping toys' if you know of any. Lucid dreaming glasses are something I have never used that I would be interested hearing about also. Also everyday object can be used with great effect. I used to use a red, flickering bike light (in total darkness) while on lsd to illuminate objects, particularly peoples faces, and the way things look under that strobing, pure-red light is out of this world. Any thoughts or comments on this subject? -Zac

Awwww. That kittenwars site is so cool. It's good to see they're not wearing sunglasses and shit. I HATE that. Kittens are cute without accoutraments (sp?).

Oh, by the way. If you use the glasses attached to you parallel port and run it via qbasic or any other dos program on an NT based OS, you will need this: http://www.direct-io.com/index.htm?http&&&...IO/download.htm It took me ages to find out why I couldn't get mine to work. -Zac

Thanks for the links. I was actually hoping this would generate more discussion about tripping toys in general. Maybe I should've titled the thread 'tripping toys'. But yeah, I made these glasses http://www.hackcanada.com/homegrown/wetware/brainwave/ with high intensity LEDs, yellow on top, green on the bottom, and red on either side, although I'm gonna change the yellow ones to blue at some stage (I have them in a DIL chipsocket so they're easy to change). I used them the other day with the program brainstar2, when I had a really bad, dry cough and set it to rem inducer at high hz and it was unbelievable. One of my mates had a bag of three nangs with the glasses on and fell asleep instantly, it was like he was entranced. My girlfriend and I had to stop him from falling out of his chair. Anyway, like I said, I would be interested in hearing about what other people use as tripping toys for various drugs, even things like a snugglepillow for comedowns and Es. Cheers. -Zac

Double post :$

My mate came over again today, and in the light of day, he said he was wrong the night before and it wasn't baileyana. I don't think it's mearnsii either. Anyway, I'm not really that fussed about knowing. I don't even really know why I posted this except that I was fucked. It should suffice to say that I shouldn't be let near my computer in that state.

I'm very intoxocsate right tnoew, so I will appoloogise in adbanse fo ths post if it doesn't make sense or anyth8ing. I have an A. Baileyana and one of my mates who is a horticulrurlist came obeer last night and I asked hime what our acacias that grow where our hedge burnt down are. And they are in the back garden too. They have pipinnate leaves and sead pods. But I have never seen them flower. Mu mate said it could a Baileyana but just not getting enough sun and is immatture, but I am skeptrical. It does not have an7y bluishness on it like my baileyana does, And I would expect it to flower brightly as it gets a decent amoung of Melbourne sun. I don't think this poxst means anything. Just ignore me! ...wait...hold on. That DID make sense. lol ...wait. There's no question. Does anyone know what this might be? (the plant that is). I know it's vague, but this thing grow like a weed so it's probably common. P.S. I'm feeling a lot better now, but I think I'll leave the above as is. It adds a bit of flavour!

Okay. Thanks for the info I've had a bit of trouble finding it in nurseries. I might have to order it. Cheers -Zac

Being smoke free has made my life so much better. I used to smoke tobacco (tailors while out, and tailors emptied out into a bong while at home). I quit temporarily a couple of times, and then one time I started again I didn't start the ciggies again. I've always liked bacci-bongs better, and It greatly reduced the amount I was smoking because I would go the whole day at work without smoking and wouldn't smoke at pubs or anything. Not that it's illegal, but it's not socially acceptable to smoke from a bong and you'd get a lot of negative attention from cops if you walked down the street ripping baccies! Plus, even if I was at home, I would only go through a couple of decks a week, whereas with ciggies I'd go through that in a day. I was also smoking marijuana for a lot of this time, and continued to smoke pure green bongs after I quit tobacco. Eventually I gave up the green too, which I found a hell of a lot harder than giving up tobacco. I find that tobacco only has psychological withdrawel symptom (which may very well have a physical trigger) but marajuana has physical and psychological withdrawel symptoms (including profuse sweating, possibly mild fever, unusual body odour, and insomnia). Anyway, back to the point. I don't mind people smoking around me, and I kinda like the smell. I am not TOO worried about the passive smoking thing because although tobacco contains more carcinogens than many other substances, I don't think it is that much worse than being around an incense stick or near a barbeque. Clubs are different however. After eight hours at a nightclub, I invariably have black shit in every facial orafice. I often get sick after clubbing too. I believe that this degree of passive smoking is worse than smoking itself, because even when I WAS a smoker I would notice these problems as much as I do now. Australian laws are very strict and I think it's a very good thing. As long as a persons right to what he/she wants in his/her own home is not compromised (as it has been with regards to many other substances , I am fine with smoking restrictions and always have been, even when I was a smoker. Restaurants generally adhere to these new laws, but clubs generally find ways to get around them and even when the rules are in place in a club they are rarely satisfactorally enforced. I might add, that my girlfriend quit smoking tobacco too (she still accasionally smokes green, but she has never smoked it very often, so it isn't a big problem for her) and she feels nausious when anyone smokes around her even in open air from a distance where all you get is the odour and not the smoke itself.