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The Corroboree

Ace

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Posts posted by Ace

  3. Posted

    Probably a little too small a cutting to tell. Give it a year or two of hearty growth with more mature spines/skin and she will be easier to ID if it is one of the common clones (eileen, bruce, etc). Got quite a nice red coloured spine about her though - perhaps that can help with ID?

  4. Posted

    How long has a Minister/Premier got to respond to a member of the public, been a month now

    As long as it takes really. It would more likely be the Department behind the Minister doing the drafting of the response, the Min just signs it off when it reaches his office. Any longer than 4 weeks of receipt will usually require a 'I apologise for the delay'. There are internal deadlines of course, but hold ups in policy areas, etc can stretch them. In many cases 4 weeks is still pretty quick, by time it goes from min's office to dept, to policy areas within dept, back to drafting officer, then to clearing officer, then back to the min's office. All it takes is the min to reject the draft and the process starts again. But that's quite rare.

    Should be soon though man :)

  5. Posted

    Thanks for posting BushTurkey. Exactly what I had envisaged, but interesting to see the ways they tried to address it. Not a mention of cigarettes. It's also interesting to see their views on the dangers of grass. The link between cannabis and mental illness in those 'susceptible'. Doesn't put much faith in all those hundreds of thousands of $ being spent on finding problems with grass, does it? Essentially, it says that they still have no solid evidence (otherwise they would have happily slid it in with the response rather than a vague 'link' between the two) and that they only have gut feelings still. I would be curious to see a second letter sent to them asking them to elaborate on the scientifically proven dangers of cannabis usage, how it compares to other drugs, both legal and illegal, and why cannabis is still treated like it is heroin.

  8. Posted

    Agreed with Nickldo.

    Jabez, it's pretty big to make such claims man. I can assure you, not all of the people who are trying to help with the intervention are 'brainwashing christians'. My mum and several close friends (all very non-religious types with only good in their hearts) were some of those who put their hand up to try their best in what is nothing other than a dire situation. Murder, rape, physical and mental abuse, lack of schooling, ignorance, misunderstandings, alcoholism, and so many similar things are worth fighting against. I agree that the policies behind it all are still lacking, but anything is surely better than nothing? If the leaders of our country are unable to put an end to all the misery that is faced in daily life, who the hell will? Should we let kids (we are talking toddlers here, too) continue to be raped by drunks, hips displaced and broken then beaten to a bloody death? If that were happening right next door to you today, would you do something about it??? I can understand that you are against certain things, but let me assure you, it isn't racist to try to put an end to this sort of thing.

  10. Posted

    Send them something prior to your or with your letter - A brochure, free ticket, T-shirt, anything that might catch their attention more than others - using such tactics can only help...

    Such tactics get no further than any other letter. Most Ministerials go to the Minister's office then get distributed to the appropriate Department for response, then a draft sent to the Minister's office for signature. If the matter is something that requires a lot of policy information, sometimes the letter will be forwarded to the Department for response.

    Additional papers like brochures and posters will simply be filed along with all other paper work. Tshirts and the like would have to be thrown out/destroyed because if the Minister or any departmental staff were caught wearing the shirt and other people who had written to him and not sent a shirt may feel they were treated differently because of the gift.

    If you truly want to force change, do it through a very well thought out letter with science, life experience and SANE arguements throughout (like Cisum's). Crackpots are often treated as crackpots, whereas genuine souls are treated that little more attentively because they reach the respondent at the other end.

    Some office's have people who open and briefly read their mail before forwarding to the PERSON you are actually trying to reach...no good yelling obscenities at Dorothy the secretary as she will simply put your letter in the out tray with the others that get a computerized template response and quick signature from the PERSON at the end of the week.

    All Ministers have an office with several staff who read correspondence to distribute it to the appropriate areas. Ministers generally dislike templated responses and will usually go for a detailed response. However, that comes down entirely to the Minister's preferences, not however the complainant's letter was written. But yes, more flies with honey.

    You are kidding yourself if you think one letter in your meagre existence will help your cause, unless is a DIAMOND among the rough and you get past their proof reading secretaries.

    Policies change through the masses asking for change (at least in theory), so yes, every letter counts. And every letter should be getting a response, unless it is the millionth from that writer and the matter has already been addressed (even if it was a 'sorry, your request is against policy and as such will not be actioned'), in which case it'd be NFA'ed.

  11. Posted

    Fantastic letter Cisum - the first half worthwhile one I've seen. Do you mind posting the response when it comes? Dont expect one too soon, they can take months. It all depends on how many times they need to be forwarded to the correct area, then arranging for policy areas to provide a response to the points raised. And all Ministers have different methods of responding, some are very friendly and address every single point raised, others provide a very generalised response. Very keen to see how this turns out.

    Bush Turkey, that's just a standard interim response saying it has been forwarded to the area responsible for a response. I always wondered where cannabis legislation would fit.

    Keep us posted!

  14. Posted · Edited by Ace

    Hi guys,

    Just got a late night urge to do some grafting. Must be that time of year! If anyone has around 10-20 pereskiopsis tip cuttings (although will take mid sections), I am happy to part with either a smallish peruvianus or scopulicola pup (both are around 20cms, from memory). Not entirely sure about the ID on the peruvianus, it doesnt have the bluish skin and the spines are plain white, thinking it may be cuzco (or whatever the KK242 ones are called...). If PC pachanoi is more your style, I can part with a pup of that instead.

    PM me if interested. Thanks! :)

  15. Posted · Edited by Ace

    Chrial, I think that link would be best avoided - not only did they misspell the species name ('difusa' should be diffusa), but both photos in the link are williamsii :P

    Your second photo (the mature clumps) are definately williamsii, and so is the young singular button in the first photo. The reason why they look so different is because williamsii tend to start with just 5 ribs and will stay that way until their 'adolescent' stage, when they begin to develop more ribs. In their adult stage (your clumped photo), they have anywhere between 8 and 13 well defined ribs, each with well defined areoles (see the prominent lines under each tuft of hair). Ribs are usually quite straight, however there are many plants with a beautiful spiralling pattern in their ribs.

    Diffusa (refer to the photo in Post 3, right hand image, and the image in THIS LINK, which shows both very mature and rather immature heads), on the other hand, have 'diffuse' (or undefined) ribs, until very old age. Only in very old age will they develop 'ribs', however they have a pattern more akin to a pinecone, rather than the bold individual ribs of williamsii.

    This is a reason for the recent thoughts about dividing the Lophophora family into 2 sections - Williamsii and Diffusae. Williamsii is quite unlike the other species in the family. The other three species, diffusa, fricii and koehresii all have similar traits and could be placed into the 'diffusae' section. This is discussed in further depth in the Kaktusy Lophophora Coultar handbook, if you are able to get a copy (it was online a while ago).

  18. Posted

    Why the hell would anyone cut the taproot off a Lophophora?

    I've definately heard talk of it. I think the only reason was to avoid rot by encouraging finer roots, but as mentioned, this is avoided through correct watering technique :)

    I've seen pics of the taproot inflating rapidly with water and literally splitting the pot, how awesome is that.

    Wow! Do you still have the pics/links?

  20. Posted · Edited by Ace

    Although the second does have the lighter skin colour/texture that looks similar to diffusa, the areoles do not look typical for a diffusa of that size/age - diffusa tend to look more 'dumpling' like and less 'chunky' (for lack of a better word).

    For a side by side comparison see this pic. Williamsii on left and diffusa right.

    lophophora_williamsii_and_diffusa_habitat_photos.jpg

    For what it's worth, I had one that looked pretty much identical as the on in the right in Pacha's post. From memory it was SAB stocked williamsii seed. As a result, I'd say both are williamsii, with a possible hybrid in the one on the right (likely to be williXdiff or diffXwilli). ID would only really be confirmed (or at least as much as possible) from flower colour. Either way, she's a nice looker!

    Edited for clarity

  21. Posted

    Hit the SE for plenty of detailed info on watering schedules, feeding recommendations, indoor growing, etc. Your initial death would almost certainly have been from lack of drainage - an absolute must when growing lophs. Even with minimal watering, being near a window would not have been sufficient to keep her dry. Lophs have a thick tap root which is very sensitive to rot. Some growers believe it is best to cut the tap root short to encourage finer roots to form in the hope of minimising root rot. But that's overkill if one just uses a sandy potting mix with good drainage and occasional watering. Always err on the side of underwatering - they can go for months on end without any and then just swell back up when they get a drink.

  22. Posted · Edited by Ace

    Sorry to hear Harry! Good to see the little dude has his dad's interest in cacti :P Good to see you around here again too :)

    I would have gone with tweezers too in the first instance. Maybe wait until he's having a snooze (if possible when he's full of glochids...), then try to remove them. Not sure what else would do the trick?

    Edit: my wife just gave the suggestion of soaking in water (bath time!) to soften/loosen the micro-barbs and surrounding skin. Apparently it's good for splinters that are too deep to retrieve too.

  23. Posted

    I've been doing my own head in trying to think who it might be.

    Definately sounds like a collector who was after rarities rather than trips. I would word up all those at the cactus club (perhaps with a bulk email, a forum notice, etc) that a substantial amount of highly treasured cacti have been stolen. It is more likely that the dodgy bugger/s will feel guilty as shit about it and might increase your chances of having them left on your doorstep one night. At least worth a shot. Perhaps just make it clear that you are after their safe return rather than getting even - at least that way they would be more inclined to come clean (if they have any conscience at all), even if it is anonymously. And next time people have a gathering or whatnot, there will be a lot more eyes looking for a dirty prick with a collection that rapidly increased. People will happily squeal on a theif, especially when they know how loved they were.

    Fuck I feel for ya Kanj :(

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