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fyzygy

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Posts posted by fyzygy

  3. Posted

    I don't think anyone here is denying the holocaust, or sympathising with the Nazi regime. 

    It's very difficult trying to separate "facts" -- e.g. Coronavirus exists -- from their over- and mis-representation. Facts are always mediated, often with an unhealthy dose of moralism, and thoroughly interwoven with political/ideological assumptions and hidden agendas. I sympathised with the original poster because the contemporary media landscape (mainstream and social media) is infuriating, alienating, and fundamentally hostile to anything beyond its limited purview, a cynically calculated, dumbed-down version of (social, historical) "reality." But enough of my opinion (everybody's got one). 

  4. Posted

    18 hours ago, Cubism said:

    It's amazing that fascism can be inherited by the very victims themselves of fascism. 

     

    I think we're *all* liable to totalitarian thought and behaviour, the products of internalised oppression. I'll leave it at that.

    • Like 1

  6. Posted

    The best documentary I've seen on the holocaust is the 9- or 10-hour film (in 2 parts) called Shoah. In it, the industrial mass transit system (i.e. railroads, with their clockwork schedules etc.) is briefly discussed as one of the enabling conditions of the Nazi extermination programs. 

    The German folk were primed for dictatorship by the pre-existing structures of patriarchal religion, according to a chapter in an out-of-print book, The Misery of Christianity. 

    Neither of these factors is exclusively "German" in origin or application. Western culture more broadly, is implicated in various programs of extermination (and of mass-extinction, in the post-WWII period). The United States, clearly, is no exception. 

    My only objection to holocaust commemoration is that it serves to function as a "get-out-of-jail-free card" for the Israeli state and Hebrew religion, both of which conduct some fairly atrocious business as a matter of course -- in my opinion. 

    Only an imbecile would maintain that the Nazis held a monopoly on totalitarianism, or racist oppression. 

    As John Pilger says of the war in Ukraine, nothing coming from the western media should be taken at face value. 

     

    I do hope this thread doesn't degenerate into another flame war. 

    • Like 2

  9. Posted

    A rogue snail just ate all my best seedlings, the ones with their first true leaves. It ignored all the rest -- I'd already noticed that snails didn't seem to bother them, which had given me a false sense of security. Oh, and snails aren't as averse to mint as some would have you believe (I put my pots out in the peppermint patch overnight). Just a quick heads-up. 

    • Sad 1

  12. Posted

    Does anyone know how/why cannabis impairs REM sleep (for better or worse) and is there a workaround? I'd like to understand this phenomenon better. Would herbs like Calea zacatachechi counteract this effect? Or would cannabis tend to negate the effects of Calea z.? Is apparent dreamlessness an effect of habitual/chronic cannabis use, or would even occasional use impair the quality of REM sleep states? 

  13. Posted

    On 17/01/2023 at 9:48 PM, Ishmael Fleishman said:

    selected spots

                    ^ aureoles, presumably? 

    I've tried a different hormone/product in the past, specifically formulated to promote pupping, and it did ... nada. (I can't remember the name, it comes in a godawful lanolin base).

    Pruning the tip is the only surefire method I know of to stimulate production of new pups. Slab grafting works too, on a smaller scale. 

    Interested to hear how your experiment goes. 

    • Like 1

  16. Posted · Edited by fyzygy

    46 minutes ago, Justler said:

    Is there any more information in the book relating to this?

    Some varieties are known for being too weak; others too potent; some that lead to insomnia; some that cause impotence; some that have an almost hallucinogenic quality; some that remain commercially viable for up to 7 days after harvest. And so on, all with unique Kenyan names. It's a great book, the best on khat I've come across. Refreshingly, it's not written from a law-enforcement or drug-policy perspective. It's more an ethnographic study of growers, retailers and users in quite some detail. Some info about alkaloids, including some lesser-known ones, vitamins, etc. 

     

    By "varieties" not so much botanical varieties, more like "brands" of miraa, across a wide range of price points. So yes, there is some "marketing" involved in the Kenyan culture. I think material from mature trees fetches a higher price. Here are some named "varieties" listed in Kenyan (genetic diversity, if any, remains a bit opaque, although mention is made of a rare shrubby form?): 

     

    Alele
    Algani
    Black Power
    Colombo
    Gathanga
    Giza
    Kangeta
    Kathata
    Liboi
    Lombolio
    Machenge
    Makata
    Mashushu
    Matangoma
    Mbogua
    Murutubu
    Ng’oa
    Ng’oileng
    No. 14
    Nyeusi
    Scud
    Shurba ya karama
    Shurba ya nkinyang’a

     

    The ebook is available from libgen.is and probably elsewhere. $509 is a bit much for a paperback. 

    • Like 1

  19. Posted

    Thanks jahliveforever. Mancozeb sounds ... positively evil. At least on Wikipedia:

     

    A major toxicological concern is ethylenethiourea (ETU), an industrial contaminant and a breakdown product of mancozeb and other EBDC pesticides. It has potential to cause goiter, a condition in which the thyroid gland is enlarged and has produced birth defects and cancer in experimental animals. ETU has been classified as a probable human carcinogen by the EPA.[5] Mancozeb has been shown to have significant negative effects on beneficial root fungi - totally preventing spore germination at levels far below recommended dosage levels.[6]

     

     

  20. Posted

    9 hours ago, Justler said:

    This blog from Darren at Herbalitics might shed some light on your situation: Mealy Bugs as a Vector of Trichocereus Disease.

     

    Thanks Justler. I had noted that page, but I'm not 100% positive it's the same thing. If you look at my picture, alongside the larger crater-shaped cankers, there's some smaller scabbing that more resembles the root-mealybug effect. Those smaller scabs aren't much of a concern, personally. The larger, deeper ones look (to me) qualitatively different. Heating the rootball to a specific temperature is beyond my capabilities, but I might devise a saponin drench as a precaution (I've got plenty of soap aloe to experiment with).

     

  21. Posted

    Thanks Glaukus. I've never come across this before. Yes, when I google images of those diseases, both can look similar to what I've got here. 

    All of my incoming plants are loosely quarantined (separate pots, physically segregated from the collection). I actually got a few cuts from the same vendor, but it was just this one that showed symptoms. Lack of vitality first of all, followed by 1 or 2 orange surface spots that spread, and deepened over time. 

    What I ended up doing was cutting the tip (about an inch above the highest blemish). Assuming new growth from base (i.e. pups) would also be infected. 

    I'm guessing the potting medium should probably be destroyed, rather than recycled?

     

     

  22. Posted · Edited by fyzygy

    A cutting I recently received was blemish-free, but in a matter of weeks developed a few orange spots. These seem to have progressively worsened (i.e. deepened), and spread. What is this plant disease? And what should be done to eradicate it? Thinking I should cut it right back. 

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