MountainGoat

any left...? i'm keen. pm'd

Cool, i missed the plant trading thread days. What's the deal with mix cd trading? Post a CD of your own mix (Dj sets or self-produced or individual tracks from artists) to someone who will also post one to you, or...?

Thanks Zed, arrived all good....

Or wait for new technologies to solve all the problems... If you haven't checked out peswiki before, its inspiring and tantalising.... Heaps of grid-less dreams there. But might be a another few years till they're available for purchase..... http://peswiki.com/index.php/Top_5_Exotic_Free_Energy_Technologies

Thanks statakak, i'll get down to limberlost and maybe get back to you.

Hi, as the title says, i'm looking for durian plants or seeds. Cheers

cheers teo. limberlost, tried to find that place once 'cause i heard they have jade vine... i'll try again.

hey pie, what made you so happy to eat stinky tofu?

thanks for the morning laugh archae. regardless, still looking for some, even if it means i'll be thinking of your analogy every time i eat one....

yes please, thanks

pm'd

pm'd

Hey Anodyne, you've the the nail on the head with a lot of your observations. "It's curiosity, and joy in learning - and you can't teach that, you have to inspire it." Absolutely, in fact the understanding of the term Teaching is false. Teaching doesn't exist, only learning. Information is nothing until a consciousness perceives and processes it, which will always be a uniquely subjective experience. All the power is with the learner in their own education. 'Teachers' can only hope to support (and maybe increase) a child's thirst for learning. "parents/teachers don't seem to realise that they're training their kids to lie". True. This is a huge problem for society! The flow on effects are enormous. I could write for hours on this alone, but won't. I'm glad people know this, thank you. However, it does raise an important point about rewards and punishment. They need to be intrinsic, not extrinsic. Punishment should not exist, it is a paradigm issue. If the learning environment is set up in a way that clear boundaries are set, then choice is key. If the child makes a choice which leads to a boundary violation, that was their choice - so 'punishment' does not exist, it was a personal choice to have that consequence. A subtle paradigm shift, but THE most important understanding in behavioural guidance (not behavioural management). When this has been achieved, the teacher only facilitates the child's choice and they are completely removed from any morality imposition or authority power games. The child is disciplining themselves and developing their own morality. And there is no resentment towards the teacher for their part in the process. At the same time, in my opinion, it is much better to not offer external rewards for achievement (like chocolates). This takes the focus away from the learning process for a certain goal, and the learning often gets lost in the competition. If rewards are offered, it should be to everyone and just because they exist and they are valued and respected. I think that the only time rewards need to be offered is when the content has no relevance to the students, make it relevant and their learning is reward enough. The training kids to lie thing is interesting how it stimulates a fear of authority. I imagine that everyone changes in some small way when they see the police. I do. And this fear for punishment drives most of our actions without conscious awareness of it. For example, why do people park in a car park and not right in front of the doors to the supermarket? Is it because they are thinking of everyone else getting equal access, or because they don't want a punishment (ticket etc..). I think that the overwhelming majority make decisions on an aversion to punishment. I'm sure that if people could actually make the choice to park where-ever without punishment they would eventually settle to parking in car parks anyway (after some time of experimenting with parking where-ever and then realising why car parks are cool) , but because it feels better. This subconscious conditioning puts everyone in a stressed state. Choice through fear, or choice through love. It takes a leap of faith into humanity, but it has to start somewhere....

Cool, nothing like a good purging to inspire an 'unknown object' eating contest. I'm in. 93

Cool Bogfrog, great to hear. The number one thing is to make sure that school is not compulsory. As soon as kids 'have to be there', resistance is created. They subsequently cannot all enjoy being there, which filters on. Make school elective, though with some guidelines/expectations. In order to do this class sizes need to be capped at about a dozen, and the learning needs to be self-directed, with all kids access to technology and resources. This requires more tax for education or more fees for parents... The reason we have kids that can't read/write etc. is mainly due to the fact that for them to take some power and control over their lives (in their tough situations) the simply refuse to learn because they are feeling forced to. If education was non-compulsory we would see a desire to be there, and for those that have no desire to be there all the better. They can do what makes them happy. I know that within a few generations of illiteracy children would chose willingly to learn. Learning is awesome, just look at a young child and how ecstatic they get when they learn a new word or skill. And then fast forward to 16 year olds smoking bongs before class because it sucks. What happened? Their desire to learn has been beaten out of them because what they care about generally isn't taught in school and they HAVE to learn stuff they don't care about. In Australia, they'll send people to your house if you miss more then 20% school and if you don't go, they'll take your parents to court... To learn stuff that you don't care about and is irrelevant. I've got heaps to say on this topic. I am a registered teacher, but have worked mainly as an consultant for NSW DET on extreme behaviours. I have seen the worst of schools, teachers and students. I have very little desire to go back to schools now because the system has it all wrong and I can't keep the facade of "teaching" kids about a false system. Reality is subjective, we've known this for more then 100 years and yet we still treat every student in Australia the same content (national curriculum). Education currently exists as a normalisation and socialisation , and not as any liberating fountain of knowledge. It creates everyone to be very similar, or within a known band of behaviours.

bro, sorry. I just checked the shed, and ants have been into the seed and they don't look viable. I planted about 6 weeks ago, and gave the extra seedlings away yesterday... I'll have a look locally for you and get back to you. But if there's anyone else out there with seed....

Out of season for seed on trees, seedlings popping up now. I collected seed a few months ago, planted most but should still have a few viable (10 maybe), pm me with your address and i'll send 'em down.

Me too. Hey Teo, do you have any other interesting summer greens? I've got brasilian, egyptian, japanese, surinam, ceylon spinaches, cranberry hibiscus, sweet leaf, and moringa if you like. All are growing, some flowering/seeding currently...

if there's any Barringtonia left i'm keen. Thanks

pm'd

So, I'm new to cacti. Planted out a several hundred seeds (various lophs and trichs) and they got smashed by ants. Every seedling within 24 hours... Didn't realise it was ants till it was too late. I live in the wet tropics, and at this time of year I don't need a humidity dome, so they were inside the house on a stand near a window. I've set the few seeds I didn't plant in round 1, this time in raised pots within a water bath to stop the little buggers... Anyway, my question is, are ants an threat to established cacti? If so, any suggestions for minimising the threat, or defeating an infestation without hurting the plant? Cheers

Thanks Señor

Hey Señor, yeah i was checking out diatomaceous earth. Any suggestions in how to use? Do you only use it when a problem arises? I noticed that it needs to be reapplied after rain/watering, so if its used continuously is there problem with nutrient build up?

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/marangaroo/plants-pots/cactus/1070930673 ... anyone in WA?

yes please. pm'd