EightySeven

From what I've read T. Terschekii is supposed to be an exceptionally frost tolerant trichocereus species.

@Spiky Mc Cactus Face When you say living life as 'one big happy lie' are you talking about deliberately deceiving people in order to appear more desirable, or are referring to avoiding knowledge in an attempt to ignore the hard truth's of reality? Because i consider it ethical to deceive people who do not behave rationally. But I consider intentionally living a life of ignorance as anything but blissful; not only does knowledge help one manage the many challenges encountered throughout life, it also allows us to understand the dichotomy of control. Which further enables us to calmly accept the things that we are powerless to change.

I tend to agree that alcohol (ethanol) as a drug is way more prevalent in society than it should be. I understand that it's an effective social lubricant; but when people feel they need the drug to express themselves openly, it becomes nothing more than an unhealthy psychological crutch. I'm fine with occasional use, but the prevalence of drinking culture throughout the civilized world is a major problem. It's not hard to discredit drinking culture considering an Australian survey found that alcohol killed 5,554 people and hospitalized 147,132 in 2010. I would love if the government appointed a body to brows the literature and find, test and eventually allow the free-market sale of safer alternative substances for recreational use. We're living in the information age and people are drinking themselves to death on a substance which may have been first produced as far back as the neolithic period. It would be nice if the Overton window shifted to a place where such ideas could be attempted in reality.

Just so you guys know I don't live my life as if it were deterministic, obviously rape is a bad thing and any action which causes human suffering must be avoided if possible. This rape argument is an appeal to emotion and is therefore fallacious in nature. I don't think the universe cares whether an action is immoral or not, it is what it is. Nice responses by the way.

I'm not sure what your argument actually is? I don't think that the existence of suffering (as a consequence of rape) constitutes an argument against determinism.

As a determinist I consider consciousness as being nothing more than a delusion created by our minds as a result of evolutionary pressures. We all know that consciousness can be altered by things like medication, health and death; furthermore we currently have brain scanners which can predict our decisions before our so called 'consciousness' mind can make them. It's hard to stomach but I personally believe we are all just expressions of an infinitely complex universe and that consciousness is nothing but a reductionist term used to help explain the human condition. So no, I don't think that consciousness is a fundamental property of the universe.

Hey Guys, I would like to obtain a Barbados Gooseberry (Pereskia Aculeata) cactus, is there anyone in Australia or preferably WA who would be willing to sell me either seeds or cuttings of this plant? The plant is not considered a pest in WA so I don't understand why it is so difficult to obtain here. Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Thanks for the advice Psychotraits, but i'm not specifically interested in whether these mushroom's are psychoactive or not. Apparently both mushrooms are of the Gymnopilus genus, but people often use the name purpuratus as a blanket term to describe a whole bunch of different purple/maroon Gymnopilus species. I'm itching to discover what the correct species names of these mushrooms would be, if they are both indeed different species? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

I'm not sure what you mean?

So I stumbled across two maroon/purple mushrooms that share many similarities but are strikingly different. What are they? I suspect specimen one to be a Gymnopilus Purpuratus but what is the other? Any help would be appreciated, thanks. http://imgur.com/RS0FIAN http://imgur.com/dnNTtyY Habitat: This specimen was found growing on a moist, decomposing Paperbark log in wetlands found south of Perth city, Western Australia. Gills: The specimen has crowded, waxy yellow gills with rusty orange spore patches. The gill attachment is clearly adnexed. Stem: The stem of this specimen is quite firm and has a pale pink coloration that becomes more red near the cap. The stem itself is hollow, but thick and fibrous, the base of the stem is noticeably thicker. Cap: The cap of this specimen is 60mm in diameter and has a uniform dark maroon coloration. The caps margins are in-rolled. Spore print color: Rusty Orange. Bruising: No noticeable bluing. Scent: The Mushroom has no discernible scent. KOH test: The cap goes dark almost jet-black with the application of a %10 Potassium Hydroxide solution http://imgur.com/ZANoH1g http://imgur.com/oV6O0x0 http://imgur.com/f4bIGrE Habitat: This specimen was found growing on a moist, decomposing Paperbark log in wetlands found south of Perth city, Western Australia. Gills: The specimen has crowded (slightly less than specimen one), waxy yellow gills. The gill attachment is slightly decurrent. Stem: The stem of this specimen is quite firm and has a uniform reddish brown coloration. The stem itself is hollow, but thick and fibrous, the base of the stem is noticeably thicker. Cap: The cap of this specimen is 50mm in diameter and has a a lighter red/maroon coloration that fades to a transparent yellow at its margin. The caps margins are plane and weather worn. This specimen has a cap which is very moist and is notably sticky to the touch. Spore print color: Rusty Orange. Bruising: No noticeable bluing. Scent: The Mushroom has no discernible scent. KOH test: The cap of this specimen also turns jet-black with the application of a %10 Potassium Hydroxide solution