Anodyne
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Posts posted by Anodyne
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3 hours ago, Crop said:Aren't there rules here about swearing?
Are you kidding? It's so hard to tell, via text... No, there aren't. The rules, and I'm paraphrasing here, but essentially don't they just say "play nice"? Wasn't there even a supreme court ruling a couple years back to the effect that cussing was part of Australia's cultural heritage, and the language used was less important than the spirit in which it was used?
Or to put it another way: you can say "cunt", just don't be one.
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9 hours ago, Sallubrious said:I may have imagined this but haven't they already passed laws along these lines ?
I'm sure I saw cops at a Melbourne rally dragging protesters out of the crowd and arresting them because they had head coverings - balaclavas, bandannas and t shirts etc.
Not sure if it's been embalmed into our law yet. Cops have been doing that for decades though, long before this tech existed. It is partly profiling bullshit (that they figure certain people - eg. those covering their faces - are more likely to be a real threat in some way, eg. wanted terrorists & fugitives), but it is mostly an intimidation tactic, as far as I can tell. You'll notice that they also target anyone using a microphone/megaphone, people who are obviously recording, and so on. I've seen arrest records after protests where the only charge was "resisting arrest", so if they can get away with arresting "ringleaders" on such circular reasoning then I don't believe they actually *need* legal support to harass people. But at the moment it is limited to certain events like rallies & strikes - cops don't get away with the same behaviours (or at least, not the same level) in a supermarket or school fete, say.
In a way this has all been happening for as long as there have been cameras. Just much, much slower. But like the metadata retention scheme, it's at the point now where the speed & volume of the data processed have increased so much from previous generations of tech, that the entire nature of the system & the ways it can be used, is changing. I don't follow social trends so I don't know the proper terms for this stuff, but it's like a phase shift in chemistry - when you reach a certain point the matter isn't just "a bit denser", it is qualitatively different. I believe facial recognition (in the worldwide, real-time-linked sense we've been talking about) is another one of these shifts. In a sense, it has been happening for years, in another it has already happened. But there still might be room for plebs like us to get a say in who gets to wield that power in our futures, and for what purposes. So we should still protest shit like this, and wear bandanas to work some days for no good reason - just because we can. At least for now.
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In a society where the government relies on facial recognition for law enforcement (and other even less salutory activities), how long do you reckon the right to dress as you please will last? If this tech becomes widely used, then covering your face with a burqa, or bandana, or facepaint, or scruffy hair, becomes not only socially-unacceptable but downright suspicious potential-criminal type behaviour (remember that cops only need "reasonable suspicion" to detain & search you). I sometimes wear face-covering garments, for various reasons, and it is interesting to watch peoples' reactions to that - there is some curiosity, but an awful lot of hostility & fear. I would not like to see those prejudices given any more government support.
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Solanum nigrum?
And (if that's what they are - my plant ID ain't so good) in answer to the edibility question...maybe? There seems to be a lot of local variation. But I think the gist of it is that they are usually non-toxic if you eat the berries ripe and any other parts cooked (leaves are eaten as a cooked vegetable in some places).
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Hey Flux, thanks for the links. I have encountered those in my searches - still trying to wrap my head around the second one (and others like it), but I think the gist of it is this: pregabalin/gabapentin inhibit neuroplasticity. This can be either a good thing or a bad thing. It isn't necessarily the same as just saying "lyrica causes brain damage" as that first article implies. If the changes that are occurring in the brain are detrimental (such as those in MS, as the paper discusses), then blocking them can be a good thing. This also applies to the kind of changes that can occur in chronic pain - where your brain has learned to send pain signals and continues to do so long after the physical injury has healed - it is just a matter of some faulty wiring, in essence. In that situation, if you can block those connections from forming in the first place, then you may be able to save people from a lifetime of chronic pain. And since lyrica seems to block those kind of new connections, then it could be very helpful in those circumstances.
Where it all goes sour is when these drugs start getting thrown around to anyone who happens to be in pain, without looking at the whole picture. So if, for instance, you had a severe injury and were given lyrica immediately, it may head off those chronic pain issues at the pass, and they would just never form. (of course, you might still have the cognitive side-effects and withdrawals to deal with, but that's getting off-topic) However if the doctors were slack, or just hopeful, and waited awhile before prescribing lyrica until there were signs of chronic pain - then the story is very different. In that situation, the patient has already formed those faulty connections, and the lyrica is actually stopping them from getting better - it is stopping the neuroplasticity which would allow the brain to change its wiring again, to form healthier pathways. Same story for drug addiction (which of course affects many pain patients) - we are talking about some pretty entrenched neural wiring there, and changing that isn't easy even without the handicap of plasticity-blocking drugs.
But of course, pregabalin is perceived as having "low abuse potential", so doctors are just handing it out in place of opioid painkillers & NSAIDs. I still believe it can be a miracle drug if prescribed correctly, for stuff like neuropathic pain, and possibly in acute care (eg. after severe injury or amputation). But it is being prescribed way more widely than that right now, which seems pretty reckless and short-sighted. I loathe pharmaceutical-company ethics, so I would be fuming about this anyway, but since this all applies to me personally as well, I am extra pissed off. I am going to be a long time untangling the mess that they have made of my brain.
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On 08/09/2016 at 8:52 AM, stonewolf said:I found lyrica to be plain devoid of euphoria....I'm probably an outlier in my response to them.
Actually, from what I've been reading this kind of response isn't as rare as you might think. I don't know what the split is - you might be in the minority - but the internet is littered with exchanges that echo the one between you & sagi above. Some folk don't get euphoria, at any dose. I'm in this group as well - the first time I heard about people using pregabalin recreationally I was very confused. I was taking a bunch prescribed to me after spine damage had me unable to walk & bedridden from the nerve pain, and while thankfully it worked for that and getting back the use of my leg was nice, it didn't get me high. And after learning about that potential, you know that I tried.
Then it seems there is another split between those who get withdrawals & those who don't, and this is not necessarily related to whether or not they find the drug to be fun. I certainly didn't, and I found the cognitive side-effects distressing enough that I stopped taking it cold turkey at one point. This was before anyone had warned me about the potential for withdrawal - but as it turned out I had no troubles. When I had to do it all again recently, I did a rapid-taper over the course of a week just to be safe but again there were no withdrawal issues. Seems that some people just don't get them.
So yeah, while I think it's sketchy as hell the way this drug is being widely prescribed with no warnings about any of this, it does look like the addictive potential might not be as cut-and-dried as it is for some other drugs (like benzos & opioids).
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On 06/09/2017 at 6:36 AM, AndyAmine. said:Taking something that compromises neuoplasticity in someone who is trying to recover from addiction or mental health issues is obviously a risky game to play.
Good point. REALLY good point.
I'm in contact with a few drug-and-alcohol professionals, a few pain specialist types (including the ones who put me on Lyrica) and I have never heard any of them mention this. Given how freely this drug is being prescribed, it seems like something that should be talked about, but I am not having much luck researching the topic. All the research seems to focus on the benefits of inhibiting neuroplasticity in chronic pain patients - none of them seem to consider the possible downsides of doing that to someone's brain, especially since the kind of people who get prescribed pregabalin probably have a better-than-average chance of being depressed &/or opioid addicts, for instance. So if anyone comes across research into (or even discussion of) this particular issue, could you please send it my way? I would be interested to learn more about this.
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8 hours ago, Matt1208 said:Careful not to consume these with alcohol, not always but can end pretty bad
According to this study of some North American specimens, coprine (the alkaloid that reacts with alcohol) was only found in C.atramentarius, not comatus or micaceus. So use caution, of course - species have been known to vary in alkaloid content between continents - but it's likely that this whole "ink caps can't be eaten with booze" thing has been exaggerated and extended to species which don't actually contain the compound. In light of DNA tests showing that the old "coprinus" classification actually included genetically very different species that just happened to dissolve into similar inky puddles, this variation in alkaloids actually might make a lot more sense than previously, when they were thought to all be in the same genus. Also, while combining coprine & ethanol can make you extremely nauseous, it is not dangerous in the sense of causing organ failure or death, like some other fungal toxins. Just to put it into perspective a bit.
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22 hours ago, Micromegas said:what does it mean if a weird clump of shrooms is growing?
The fungi are some kind of Coprinus/Coprinellus - they only grow on dead wood, so they are not harming your plants, just creating better soil. They're also edible, and can be used to make ink & dyes.
I have seen gardens looking like that when plants were put into too-shady conditions. Understory tropical plants still need some sunlight...sure in their natural environment the tree canopy is catching much of the light, but leaves don't block as much light as say... bricks. The shade behind a house is a lot thicker than the shade under trees. Dunno if that's what is happening here, but if it is he might need to rethink his plant selection. The soil looks fine too, not "fine" as in "just alright", but as in "damn girl, that is some fine soil you have there". Whenever I have to dig through soil like that to get to a pipe or something, I carefully remove all that fine black topsoil & set it aside. You could have hidden issues like pH/salinity or overall drainage problems, but black sandy loam is not a bad thing at all. If you live in a really high rainfall area and are going to be digging everything up anyway, then you could add a bit more sand, maybe. But the root structure in that last photo looks fine & healthy - no signs of rot?
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On 11/09/2017 at 4:25 AM, Pedropark said:I am not a professionel at building stonewalls.
That looks beautiful! I'm not a professional either, I barely even rank as "amateur", but from everything I've learned you have done a damn-near perfect job. Especially for dry (no mortar) work, which is extra-tricky to get stable. Nice work!
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This is another one of those that narrowly misses being a clever design. I saw they had diverted the water from the gutter across in the vague direction of the green wall below it and thought they might have designed it so that the wall could be fed by rainwater. As it turns out, the pipe is just open (I gather it was only bent because the plants were now blocking the path a downpipe would've taken), and not even angled sharply enough for the water to hit the plants on the wall - some of the birds nest ferns in the bed below might catch some of it, but mostly it just goes onto the path. While the greenwall is watered by drinking-quality water. Palm, meet face.
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Violet.
I know sweet FA about 'em, but I'm sure the hairy stem would be a clue for those who know their plants better - if you could get some shots of the leaves (it looks like one has been cut off in the top right corner - they are usually heart-shaped to lily-pad-shaped if you're trying to separate them from surrounding plants), that might help narrow it down?
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On 01/09/2017 at 0:59 PM, saylor twift said:i remember when i was in primary school we had Harold the giraffe https://www.lifeeducation.org.au i wish we had it at secondary school.. maybe the paragraph below wouldnt have happened?
the van was something different to the normal classroom setting and it wasnt our normal teacher so it seemed more exciting... this kinda thing should be cruising to every school i reckon..
lol I was just listening to someone from the foundation who created Harold talking about how that was not their finest moment and how that whole "just say no" campaign has been a resounding failure. People working in drug education/harm minimisation are now trying to bring the focus more on well...actual education, rather than just avoidance. Instead of "Just say no", we should have: "Just say KNOW". They talked about how the image of "happy healthy Harold" implies a standard of normal healthy behaviour that compels people to hide their drug use, which in turn leads to much harm. When there is pretty good evidence that social contact helps recovery immensely. So if we would just stop telling people that their habits are socially unacceptable, they wouldn't be so socially isolated, and would have a much better chance of avoiding many of the harms of drug use & addiction. Which I thought was a pretty spot-on analysis.
They also talked about how it is near fucking impossible to get real drug education in classrooms though, thanks to conservative parental types. A few years back some schools in Western Sydney tried it, printing pamphlets with a harm minimisation bent - so rather than "don't use drugs", the message was "how to use drugs safely". It ended in a literal book-burning as angry parents set fire to all the pamphlets they could find. So maybe Happy Harold is as good as you can get, in that context.
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Dicko - I assume one point of trying to hybridise divinorum would be to get a plant that produced viable seed? Since S.divinorum is sterile and has to be propagated from cuttings. That's just a guess though. Other times hybrids are bred to tolerate different climates or pests better, for example an active species with no frost tolerance can be bred with a hardier (but inactive) species to create an frost-tolerant plant that still has some activity (eg. Psychotria "nexus"). This can be useful when trying to grow plants outside of their natural habitat, but you're right - it isn't necessary. If they grow happily where you are, then you can just follow normal procedures, no fancy hybrids required
But another reason to cross plants together is just to see what happens!
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Whoop! Week long trip sounds grand. You legend.
That line-up looks amazing, and I'm also looking forward to finally meeting some of you folks from other states & NNSW who I've been chatting with online over the last bloody 15 years! Long overdue.
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Aw shit, you've gone and inspired me @toast ...my reasons for not going to this thing are evaporating fast, I think I am going to have to do it. There will always be more money, right @El Presidente Hillbillios?
You guys got room for one more? Or do I need to stow away in Darklight's Weetbix compartment?
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Tahitian limes can go really yellow if you leave them on the tree until they fall off, like these guys from my yard. Those are limes on the left, small Eureka lemons on the right. The limes are a little more spherical, thinner skins, smaller "nipples", but yeah they can look very similar.
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Nah mate, you misunderstand me. I didn't stop out of sympathy - being mistreated doesn't excuse mistreating others - I stopped because I recognised the futility. Worlds apart, as you say. I'm ok with burning bridges if they don't go anywhere I want to go anyways. And this grudging paranoic world of yours populated by evil scheming women is one of those places. Hate & violence just breed more of the same - you are welcome to them. If I was going to have an crazy conspiracy theory I'd at least want mine to be a bit more creative...like Burroughs who had a theory that women were inhuman Venusian parasites of some sort... (now there was a bigot with style!)...y'know, something with a bit o' pizzazz!
But as it stands I'll have to settle for my current situation, where the women in my life conspire to be gorgeous & wonderful instead. So for them, and for all the men I know who are equally amazing, here is what I actually came in here yesterday to post:
Don't cha love the first jasmine flower, and the start of those soft sweet-scented spring nights -
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Ok, you can chill dude. Sorry if I misunderstood your crack about "feminaz mother" ...to be fair, you usually don't use sentences or punctuation, so it can be fucken hard to follow what the fuck you are saying... which I was legit trying to do, because the kind of irrational hate you've been spewing is not healthy. It feeds into a cycle of hate & grudges & division & hate & more hate - why even start down that path? I actually was not trying to get into a discussion about feminism - if I wanted to do that, there was that whole "why I hate women" thread to play with - I was just trying to get you to do a reality-check based on some of the stuff you've been writing. Because I don't know you man: all I've got to go on is what you write here, and wishing harm on complete strangers who have no conceivable impact on your life - that is some unhealthy behaviour. Remember that guy who was talking about the end of days a few weeks back? And you & a few others were trying to talk sense to him? That's how this situation - with you talking about scheming women with their conspiracies for "supremacy" - looks to me. That is the only reason I even got involved in this insane discussion. If you just want to pick a fight, I'm out. This path goes nowhere I want to go. And you seem like a good guy in other conversations, so I hope you get past this.
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So she got custody in the divorce, huh?
My condolences buddy - but wishing ill on Russian unionists is not a rational response to that.
Neither is calling me a bigot. Bigotry is where you pre-judge an entire group - such as you judging all "feminists" based on a bad experience with your ex. But I am judging only you
C'mon man, you must've expected someone to call you out eventually - and why do you fucken care what I think anyway?Tell me, would you have been triggered so hard if that article had called those harassed women "unionists" rather than "feminists"? No? And you know what - conservative media understand that, which is why they use the word in the first place... must be fun to write for those publications... just sit around dropping F-bombs and watching those knees jerk.
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Wow, at first I thought this was another "don't cha hate it when..." post that was put in here by mistake or misunderstanding, but it wasn't, was it?
Jeez man, you do realise that your post boils down to "don't you love it when people are persecuted just for asking to be treated equally"? I've seen enough of your posts to know that you have a real bee in your bonnet about "feminists". I don't know what she did to hurt you mate, but hating on an entire movement - one which, regardless of what some idiots have twisted the word to mean these days (i.e. "man haters"), originally were just groups - of women AND men - asking for women to have equal rights to men.
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I mean, maybe you know something that I don't about this particular Russian group that makes them worthy of derision, but I'm just going on surface impressions here.
Laughing at oppressed people being harassed even more... that's kind of sick, dude. Also borderline breaking that no-bigotry rule. At the very least, your hate has no goddamn place in the "good vibes" thread. Why not take it over here instead: Top 5 reasons why I Hate women ? There you can find others explaining, much more eloquently than I could, why "feminism" doesn't mean what you think it means. Or if you prefer to hold on to your prejudices, you could find some flimsy arguments to prop around the schadenfreude so it doesn't show.
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I'm curious if anyone has an answer to Chrissy's question...but I won't be surprised if there isn't one. A common thread through all these forums is an interest in psychoactive & medicinal drugs. And since some people like to do things themselves, they start looking for ways to make these. And the methods they find are:
1. let plants do it for us (and so we get plant forums)
2. let fungi do it for us (mycology forums)
3. do the synthesis ourselves with traditional organic chemistry techniques (chem synthesis forums)
Option 4: synth using biochemistry - doesn't usually get a look-in. And I know that you were asking more about physiology than synthesis CS, but I'm talking about the practical side of things as a reason why these discussions may not be popular. Think about the education & equipment required to pursue each of those paths - it ramps up pretty quick from 1-4, as does the expense of setting it all up in your backyard. Anyone can shove a seed in the ground, but maintaining an array of cell cultures to determine the receptor-binding profile of novel plant (or fish, or dinoflagellate) alkaloids... that is a whole different kettle of psychotropic fish.
If you're just asking for more detailed pharmacological info (eg. receptors activated & enzymes involved in the metabolism of drugs), then the Nexus sometimes branches off into pretty detailed discussions of those things. Mostly about their DOC, but they do allow discussion of other things. The neuroscience-and-pharmacology section of bluelight (here) is also devoted to these topics.
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I'm sure everyone has seen this before: roads, paths & slabs which have been built flat over the roots of a large tree, in apparent ignorance of the fact that trees are sometimes known to grow larger.
That one was especially dim because it had been built not 50m from a park with some paths which have a very nifty solution, which is to use unattached thick concrete planks (I think they are railway sleepers?) where the paths cross the tree roots, so that they can be pushed up individually - without cracking - to form a natural curved bridge.
Everyone wins: the trees, the people in wheelchairs, and the guys who now don't have to get out there with jackhammers in a few years' time to remove the broken path.
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The future of tricho breeding in Australia
in Cacti & Succulents
Posted
also, wouldn't you have to rename a whole bunch of monstrose bridgesii if you started censoring the tricho breeding discussions here? All those dicks...