Big George

OK, my trusty ol winfields are dancing around the $85 to $95 mark week to week, while petrol hovers around the $1.20-$1.60 mark depending on whether you buy it Tuesday or not... So we've all seen the ad's on the web, duty free cigarettes for anything from $10us to $30 a carton so I decide I will chuck $15 to $40 australian dollars at a test order and see what happens. The deal is they post you less than 200 at a time (or 1 carton) and therefore you don't have to pay any taxes. I have been searching and stumbling through the websites that offer my vice for sale, and it seems that I cannot find one that is prepared to make a sale to me. Either they can't or won't deal in Credit cards and require an E-Check (sp) OR they only deliver to the UK or the USA. Paying via E-Check is not feasible because I don't have a checking account, or even a cheque account, and secondly, it seems to work like direct debit with e-check, ie. you give THEM your check account number and fill in a form on screen and that is your e-check. Sorry, I ain't giving my account numbers out to shady companies doing shady cigarette deals anonymously. I'd obviously prefer to pay via paypal if I can, but second choice would be Visa card because I can get my money back if I am scammed. Has anyone bought cigs online duty free, and what was your experience?? I just wanna buy something successfully, don't care what, as long as it isn't horse shit and isn't $90 a carton.

If they started giving out mdma pills then we would have some serious social consequences. People would be friggn happy, make love and enjoy music a lot more. They did try giving the stuff to troubled couples in the 80's but I think it worked too well. As for the whole debate about the gov supplying rather than the dealers. Their argument is very predictably going to be along the lines of "There is no safe level of dosage for these drugs, the only safe dose is none at all." blah blah. The counter argument is to point out that the legal drugs that are available in the medical world often have very severe side effects, etc etc... Can't remember where I heard this but the question was asked "Why do people take (illegal) drugs?" and "Why are they illegal anyway?" The answer was "Because they WORK!" Hehehe.

The hairy men analogy had a point though. When you see something like a nice pair of boobs, your brain links the new image to a stored one and unlike a computer that stores the actual image or data on that object, your brain stores the emotions and highlights of previous encounter with boobs. Things come flooding back like smell, taste, touch, warm squidgy feeling in your hands, etc. Not size, specifications, weight, etc. Same with music. Something very important to me with music, is listening to it properly. The way it was meant to be heard. A decent amp, speakers, subwoofer make all the difference to the reaction and feelings that bubble up within me when I hear music. If I hear it on the 2 crappy speakers in my van, I am really only hearing about 40% of the sound. When you put some good music on a good sound system, where you can actually FEEL the bass moving through you and you can hear EVERY part of the sound, then that's the way the artist or composer meant you to hear it. My mum told me she played Tubular Bells to me when I was inside way back in the 70's. To this day I love that album, but it must be the original 1973 record that she played at the time. If you listen to the last song on side 2 you will find the answer to this whole riddle. "Buggered if I know, YES.. Buggered if I know. And that's all we've been so far, from experts in 14th century painting, literature, green grocers, and recently revived members of the public. BUGGERED IF I KNOW!...." Hehehe. Funny bastard.

I have found that exact pressure point in my wife's ankles. You need to squeeze the inside of the ankles gently while keeping a firm grip. What I do is get her to lay on her back naked, and I grab her ankles with my thumbs on the pressure point. Then I raise her feet straight up in the air and stimulate her belly button with mine until she screams "O" Seems to work ok for me. Who needs the fandangled shit when you can get the same result without it. Makes you wonder how they came up with the design for Harley handlebars. Hehehe.

Here's my take on things... The rhythm thing is something that triggers certain memories and chemicals in the brain that seem to match your heartbeat to some degree. Perhaps it's a regression of being in the womb, safe and comfortable, or just the rhythmic beating of the music puts the body in some kind of sync with it'self. As for the chording, harmonic progression aspect.. I strongly suspect it's a chemical thing. Certain aesthetically pleasing sounds, can trigger hormones and chemicals in the brain that give pleasure, such as endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, etc.. You get addicted to these chemicals and therefore when you hear something nice, you go back for more. I also reckon there's a certain level of healing ability to be found in listening to music that triggers these things in YOU. Some music does this for some people, while the same thing to others sounds like a caucophony of shit. To me, Pink Floyd seem to hit some fantastic combinations of sound that just make my mind MELT. Other people might disagree. This is a very interesting topic... Another thing that is really fascinating is where it actually comes from. I once heard that people can only paint/draw/create things they have seen or heard at some stage of their lives, whether inspired by nature or the shape of a babboon's ass. There are some muso's who say the music is given to them in their dreams, like Michael Jackson. He wakes up with something in his head and he goes and records it. I have at times heard tunes in my head that I do not know where it comes from, hear music in my sleep that is better than anything i've ever heard before. But buggered if i can make it real. I've tried everything. To expand... Why does a woman's body look like the most beautiful thing to a man, while a (hairy man's) body looks grose to the same guy... They are all bodies / people. Then there are gay ppl who find things appealing the other way around... To me, all women look beautiful (at some stage of their lives... ) whether they shave their legs or not.

What is the difference between the old Nothash and the new nothash?

As long as there's no religion involved and we don't have to take a special pill to hitch a ride on the spaceship. ;)

What a great idea! I've had the same thoughts myself previously. It would take a lot of hard work and co-operation to make it work, but it would be very rewarding to those involved. Good luck with it mate.

I wouldn't worry too much. Depending on which state you're in... In NSW we have to buy a fkn green slip to cover 3rd party injury in a car accident. It adds $300-$600 a year to the cost of owning a car and you can't get rego without it. But the upside is that you have nothing at all to worry about if you have the equivalent of green slip. She sues the insurance company, they take her to court and sue her ass for wasting their time and she pays court fees and all sorts of shit. No problem either way. Scum like her are why they told us a green slip would cost $99 back in ~1990, and it now costs 5x as much. Take some photos anyway.

We should... Put up some more pictures!

A good trip / bad trip has a lot to do with your state of mind before you start, and your general level of contentedness with life as a whole. The state of mind you leave with to begin your trip, sets the tone for the whole scene. Long term use of pot, in my experience, leads to paranoia, which is not the right state of mind to be opening your mind up to the universe to entertain and enlighten for 12 hours. Short term, infrequent use of pot is generally ok, and keeps it fun. Having ridden the paranoia bus once or twice and going on trips thru the universe, I really don't recommend mixing the two. I am talking 3+ weeks either side, and especially not simultaneously. If you want to mix, the letter e might be a great start to a trip, maybe drop the letter e first and the trip 10-20mins later you are sure to be in the right state of mind for a good trip. If doing this with friends, I recommend you park your butts in a cocktail lounge and pay someone lots of money to keep bringing you various multi-coloured, expensive, tasty drinks... :D My advice is to lay off the smoko for 6 months to let the paranoia thing go completely. Your friend's head will return to normal, but your body needs to clear it out and the mind needs to heal. I can not think of a worse state of mind to be in, ever... un-necessary paranoia is a really awful thing.

You'd be almost better off installing another alternator on the land cruiser and carrying around a few spare batteries. Torsten, I hope this technology revolutionises the solar panel industry, however it seems to be the oil and energy companies who gobble up all these new technologies when the research guys need the funds the most, and then you never see it go any further. It basically gets bought by a company like BP, AGL, Chevron, etc... early on in the show, and they either shelve the idea and file it under "Do not open this filing cabinet until 2025 or we run out of oil, whichever comes last..." OR they make it prohibitively expensive, and anybody wanting to do the right thing has to fork out $40,000 to make their home run on solar power, giving them a 50 year break even point. The poor bugger who invented it, gets to pay off his research debts and becomes a TAFE teacher for the rest of his life. I am optimistic, I really believe that we can make solar panels that are 5x more efficient than they are now. But history has it's lessons for the future as well. Currently, wind power has the upper hand for small power requirement setups, wattage for dollar / space required.

Hehehe... I have never picked a wild mushroom, mainly because I have no idea what is what and i'm too scared to. But... I travel the mountains daily, and if these pics are what to look for, these things are EVERYWHERE. Sometimes, it's hard to not step on them coz there's so many. Sorry. There's some really good spots along the railway line at Leura, blaxland rd and falls rd wenty falls... East Blackheath... and while your there, park your car somewhere along the road on the way to megalong valley and check out the rainforests down the southwest side of mt blackheath. Some very nice scenary in these parts. Shit, they're friggn EVERYWHERE guys. That said, I still wouldn't eat one of these mushrooms these days. I had a little too much perspective ~10 years ago and enjoy having a clear head. Someone should really start a thread here on what to eat for fun, what to eat for yum, and what to leave in nature. REALLY! It might save someone's life.

So he's ordering "Scratch & Sniff" pictures? Maybe something printed on blotting paper???????

Maybe the photos are really BIG :D