occidentalis

Yeah this is about what I would say I think it's also worth bringing up the point here that it should really be up to the 'strychnine believers' to support their position with anything more than old drug-lore that there is strychnine in mushrooms or LSD. I have heard it said that blueing in psilocybes is caused by strychnine. This site says the fatal dose in humans is and the LD50 in rats is http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th15%28f%29.htm This suggests that the amount of material (in the case of blotter LSD) capable of being consumed on a blotter would be far too small to have considerable effects... of course the LD50 doesn't necessarily indicate the threshold dose for perceptible effects - but does give an idea.

Yep, all these different plants had a common ancestor - in fact, ALL plants had a common ancestor . DMT is probably found in trace quantities in many plants - Dennis McKenna has suggested maybe even in all plants at least in very low levels. It's very similar to the hormone auxin and related hormones so may serve as some kind of storage system for those compounds. As for chitin... basically there are two directions evolution can go which lead to similarities - convergent and divergent in convergent evolution organisms from separate branches of the evolutionary tree develop the same characteristics to deal with similar environmental pressures (think sharks, dolphins, and penguins - all adapted to fast swimming and hunting under water, yet from three very different groups). This is probably the case with chitin. In divergent evolution organisms originating from the same branch of the tree may retain the same 'ancestral' characteristics which date back to the time when they were closely related even though they are quite different now - ie many types of distantly related plants (and animals) produce DMT.

This is something that concerns me also and personally I can't decide which I prefer - drugs being legally available but illegal to grow yourself, or drugs being illegal but still fairly easy to grow yourself. I guess the first would still be better, because people who grow their own now would probably still grow their own then. Considering the fact that although the alcoholic beverages industry is very powerful, it is still legal to make your own homebrew beer (as long as you don't try and sell it), I don't see any reason why cannabis legalisation could not be undertaken in a similar way. ie, it is legal to grow your own and share it with friends but not to sell it. Personally I can't see why any would-be growers would be unhappy with that outcome.

Yeah well it's definitely about time I updated it then! Thanks for the reminder I think the plant that was in these photos is actually in the care of a friend who I left it with when I went over seas. But here are some photos of plants I grafted in the same batch from March this year:

There's generally no problems sending seeds interstate.

koala should be around tomorrow or the next day

Just a friendly reminder - the general unspoken rule for things like this is "if you have to ask, you won't be told". And that means: if you don't know, then ask by PM or not at all. People may phrase things in certain ways for a reason. can I suggest that a few of the above posts are deleted?

Yeah, I'm not saying that governments do not have any effect on economies. Of course they do. But I don't think that government action is the only determinant of economic conditions and I think when it is, the effects are often felt some time down the track.

We are in the red over 100 Billion because of the labor government's response to the global financial crisis. At least partly because of that spending, Australia managed to avoid the worst effects of the GFC. And the recession we had to have has been shown by more recent, impartial economic analysis to be a recession we really did have to have. I'm no big fan of either big party but I think you have to give credit where it is due. If you look back on history, liberal governments tend to be in power in good economic times, labor governments tend to be in power in bad economic times. Labor governments have several times in history been elected shortly before major recessions. IMO there is a strong correlation here but I don't think it's causation. Whatever background historical processes that drive economic growth and stagnation are the same processes that drive political leaning towards liberal or labor. The bottom line is the two major parties are simply not that much different. I had high hopes for Rudd as an economically conservative and socially progressive PM. Turns out he was pretty much the exact opposite. If voting changed anything, it would be illegal ;).

Sorry people, I have been asked to remove this post as I did not have proper permission to post these files. If you have downloaded them already, please do not pass them on to anyone else. thanks

Arbitrary?

I guess it has been done this way in order to make it sound more musical. Otherwise it would just sound like someone randomly running their hand up and down a piano. Contrived? Here you go, another image that shows more of the notes.

The start of the file may be a little dodgy because I think we accidentally went back and re-recorded over it when the recording looped around. Maybe start looking at it a few bars in. From my limited perspective (almost zero musical theory knowledge), and just looking at the positions of the midi notes in Reason it looks pretty clear after bar 20 or so...:

VelvetSiren - if you look at the score it is obvious that the notes are layed out in a scale - can you tell us the name of the scale?

-

\

-

I bought this book a couple of years ago but I was very disappointed. There are no botanical names given which makes it pretty much impossible to actually go out and find the plants with any confidence, and also makes it a dead end for any deeper research and the level of detail given is often very lacking. The photos are also really nothing special. Thanks for your positive review though jabez, glad you got something out of it! btw if anyone wants to buy my copy, make me an offer ;).

I think I made this clear at the time, but just to ensure - Perth is no longer active. I think the seedring is a great idea but I don't know if having regional chapters is very useful as in my case there simply wasn't enough interest to make it a worthwhile project.

www.wordpress.com

Sounds like you are getting confused between coca and cacao (or cocoa) - Theobroma.

Tribe Earth is no longer. HHH should be able to help. If not, or if you prefer a larger selection, I have bought from here before: http://www.mymateworld.com/ with good success. Postage is a little expensive (and slow) though.

Ronny, I picked However that doesn't quite describe my position. I would prefer not to see any ticket price rise, but obviously the conference must cover its costs and if that means a price rise, then so be it. But before a price rise is considered, I would prefer to see reduction in costs - and in particular the international headline speakers. I think we have enough excellent speakers here in Australia to hold a first class conference, and although that's no reason to exclude internationals, if costs are a serious issue, I think we should look within the community here first. I don't know what the fee structure has been (ie, have international attendees been paid to attend? or just had their flights covered?), so it's difficult for me to comment, but it may be possible to reassess the balance and have subsidised but not entirely paid attendence by international speakers (if they are up for that). Personally I prefer the alternate-year arrangement because I think Australia needs a semi-academic ethnobotany conference as well as a festival type event. My only feedback on the 2008 EGA at Melbourne Uni (I think I have said this to you before) is I would like to see a slightly higher standard in presentation quality - save the fluffy stuff for the outdoor event where there is a little more time to explore the fringes and keep the content of the one-day event more rigorous and on target. That doesn't mean it has to be all hard science, we are trippers and we should keep it creative and unconventional - but I think we can maintain some intellectual standards while we are doing it. I think a post-conference party (of some description) would be great for the indoor event - last year everyone kinda just dispersed and it felt like a bit of an abrupt ending. It doesn't need to be a doof or a big event, just a meetup at a pub or someone's house.

It's very common as a weed in disturbed areas in the Pilbara. Here is an older discussion on the species, although I don't know if it's particularly helpful: http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15378&st=0&p=147328entry147328

I was taking a fair bit of bicarb when I was in northern Argentina as I was using it as lime with my coca. It didn't stop me from getting swine flu! .