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MORG

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Posts posted by MORG

  1. Posted · Edited by MORG

    Awesome! Love those little blue #9 guys!

    #4 looks like a Yellow Stainer perhaps. Agaricus xanthodermus They are edible but I can't ID for sure from photo.

    #5 is an Armillaria species.

    #6 is some kind of Scleroderma?

    #12 is Amanita ananiceps

    Bruce Fuhrer's latest is the best fungi guide for SE Australia I think. But the more books you have, the better! They're woefully inadequate given the state of knowledge on our native mycoflora.

    The #3's do look alot like subs from the top. But the white gills and translucent stems say no. Also, the way those stems fracture in that brittle way is not like subs which tend to remain somewhat attached after breakage.

    Was it Sherbrooke Forest?

  6. Posted

    I'm an atheist and I'm with Gerbil.

    You are the infinitesimally unlikely product of a sequence of events billions of years long. Every single one of your long chain of ancestors has survived to reproduce and by tracing them back into deep time you are linked to every organism that surrounds you.

    You are one of the very few lucky ones, because most people are never born at all. You are one of the lucky ones because you are the universe looking back on itself, a consciousness with the ability to ask the question "Why?".

    This is where, within a naturalistic worldview, I find belonging and connection to something far greater and a grateful affirmation for the joy in just living.

    Absorb a landscape vista. Examine a flower. Gaze at the stars. Stand in the rain.

  7. Posted

    The results cannot be refuted scientifically because there is no evidence to discuss!

    A) Googling Dr Pjotr P. Garjajev and Dr. Vladimir Poponin provides nothing but a couple of self-referencing websites, one of which is the source for this article. They might not even exist.

    B) An ISI Web of Science search of peer-reviewed material for these authors reveals nothing. They might not exist.

    C) A search for people named "Garajejev" on the RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE website returns no results. They don't exist. http://www.ras.ru/en/index.aspx

    D) There are no references to ANY published science of any kind in that article. There is no data. There are no methods. The experiments and the authors might not exist.

    This is the "Phantom-scientist effect", where things that sound vaguely scientific are emitted from a vacuum of thought, evidence and critical thinking.

    If you can show me a) you actually exist, then B) you actually did this experiment then maybe we'll talk about the results.

    And I only had to read the first paragraph to smell the stink on this...

  8. Posted

    The housing situation here really is shit. I've been looking for 3 weeks and unless I want to live with weirdos, live in other people's filth or pay through the nose I really have very few options.

    I thought it was worth putting something out here on this network just in case someone knew of accommodation that might suit. I'm considerate, clean, open minded, easy to live with and social. A real catch on the housemate front if you ask me :P

    I'm a postgrad student on a scholarship so can't afford much more than $160 a week.

    Thanks for any help people.

  9. Posted

    It's written in a hipster style which I found frivolous and judgmental at times but I'll lap up a good account of anyone's authentic Sapo experience.

    The magazine has other articles of interest for people like us so check the archive.

    "In the Amazon rain forest, there lives a very special frog called the Phyllomedusa bicolor, otherwise known as the Sapo. Traditionally, the Mayoruna tribe uses this frog’s gooey secretions to gain superpowers that transform them into killer hunting machines. First they tie the frog up and scare it into releasing its venom (generally via the sophisticated method of poking it with sticks). Next the natives burn little holes in their arms and rub the venom into the wounds. Then they shit and vomit for half an hour, and then they (ostensibly) experience a sharpening and heightening of the senses and an ability to go for days without food or water. This helps them target their prey (which are monkeys, by the way—they eat monkeys).

    Naturally, after learning about the Mayoruna and their magical frog, we sent our resident mind-alterer, Hamilton Morris, to go forth and try this miracle drug."

    http://www.viceland.com/int/v16n5/htdocs/the-sapo-diaries-872.php

  10. Posted

    Sorry mate. Never saw this thread, haven't been around much lately.

    Regretfully, I'm between houses, otherwise I'd invite you to crash without doubt.

    Wish I was going to that gig too. Fucking LOVE Massive Attack, just can't justify the $$$ right now... Ah, the student's dilemma.

    Love.

  13. Posted

    Always wanted to work in a nursery for a bit. But when I applied for casual jobs as an undergraduate science student with major botanical leanings I was flatly refused. They would only consider hort students. Pff, hort is just applied plant science. And I totally agree, it is something that is picked up practically more than anything else. Probably why I still suck but learn so much every time I dip my foot in!

  14. Posted

    I'll try to keep my words above 3 syllables then.

    The subjective experience of transcendental universal truth by its nature lies beyond the boundaries of linguistic description.

    If this subjective experience therefore is incommunicable, irretrevable from the personal, absolutely isolated from any other mind, then what is it worth? What distinguishes your subjective revelations from the incommunicable occurring in 6 billion other minds?

  16. Posted · Edited by MORG

    Morg, you can view a members name history when you click on his profile page.

    Thanks EG. You can stalk me any day.

    And good post Chiral! Funny fucker.

    I totally agree. Things change. Cycles cycle. Things fall apart. Things are rebuilt. Time wearies and renews. To wage against this is to be a conservative.

  18. Posted

    You're looking at a potential PhD worth of research right there. Ambitious and I encourage you.

    If you're serious about disentangling the genetic and environment influences on alkaloid production you should consider a common garden experiment. It is really the only effective way to look at this. If you want to go deep, breeding experiments and common garden will allow you to calculate heritability coefficients (the extent to which a trait is inherited versus environmentally controlled). There are textbooks written on quantitative genetics, all about determining the genetic/environmental interaction on phenotype.

    I don't know much about growth rate/generation time in Sida to know if this is at all feasible for you.

  19. Posted · Edited by MORG

    Yeah, keep us posted as things change.

    Just made a very indulgent saffron martini using some old tincture and Bombay Sapphire. By jingoes it was incredible. And smiley. I'm very keen to refine and relive this drink so would like to kick in if there becomes space.

    Let us know how the sample goes for you!

    Waiting with exotic, spicey breath.

    M

  20. Posted · Edited by MORG

    I'm not a chemist so not much use to you in regard to the practical here.

    What you intend to do is very interesting though. I am becoming more and more interested in plant secondary metabolites and I have found through recent reading that there is a strong bias in the literature towards a very narrow sample because of a focus on biosynthesis and molecular biology.

    A fundamental step in studying the evolutionary and ecological role of alkaloids I think is to study them at a population level. This is so rarely found in the literature. Characterizing variation within and between populations are very worthy observations to make.

    Good luck!

    And I should add: Studying weeds makes perfect sense in terms of ethics and logistics!

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