Flip
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Posts posted by Flip
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I'm sorry as I realize that this is a aussie board
however there are many "yanks" over here and this should be of general interest to all.
Give an inch - they take a mile.
quote:
H.R. 1528, Defending America's Most Vulnerable: Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act of 2005, is one of the worse drug war bills that Congress has ever considered.Among other things, HR 1528:--Virtually eliminates the ability of federal judges to give sentences below the minimum sentence recommended by federal sentencing guidelines, essentially creating a mandatory minimum sentence for every federal offense (including both drug and non-drug offenses).--Expands the federal “three strikes and you’re out” law to include new offenses, including mandating life imprisonment (with no possibility of parole) for anyone convicted a third time under the RAVE Act.--Mandates a 10-year minimum sentence for anyone 21 or older that gives marijuana or others drugs to someone under 18 (i.e. a 21 year old college students gives a joint to his 17-year old brother). A second offense would be life in prison.--Expands what is considered to be a “drug-free” school zone to include almost any place in an urban area, and increases penalties for selling or distributing drugs in that area. (The result will be enhanced penalties for people in inner cities, while people in rural and suburban areas get less time for the same offense).--Mandates a 5-year minimum sentence for any person that commits a drug trafficking offense near the presence of a person under 18 or in a place where such person resides for any period of time. The sentence is 10 years if they are parent. (I.e. a mother that sells her neighbor a joint will get a 10-year minimum sentence, even if her kids were at school at the time).--Creates a new offense for persons who witness or learn about certain drug offenses that fail to report the drug offender to the police within 24 hours or fail to provide full assistance to the police in tracking and prosecuting the offender. Offenses that would get someone a 2-year minimum sentence, including failing to report a neighbor that is storing or selling drugs when that neighbor has kids, failing to report anyone that gives a joint to someone under the age of 21, and failing to report a college student that is selling marijuana on a college campus.--Mandates a 5-year minimum sentence for any person that offers, solicits, encourages, or induces a person enrolled in drug treatment, or previously enrolled in drug treatment, to purchase, possess or receive drugs.The full text of H.R. 1528 can be viewed by going toentering “HR1528” in the search box, checking the “enter bill number” circle under the search box, and clicking “search”.
If you're a american citizen I urge you to sign up and contact your representatives regarding this bill.
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I believe that publication is a bad idea.
The more disorganized and lower tech we appear the better.
Believe it or not, these boards are the number one source
of information for the "anti-drug" authorities.
We can't give the impression of potentional success.
It's very likely that they're not only daily lurkers but also thread
starters and posters as well.
I'm sure someone's reading this and thinking about their next promotion.
It's a double edge sword... indeed.
Therefore :Discretion is the key
If we say that the goal of any cacti crossings is for something dubious
it's not smart at all.
We should talk about robustness and health of the plant vs "contents"
or continue to refer to journal papers for data.
like some people tried to earlier.
But most importantly any such project should keep itself low key.
I can imagine someone saying this is a international conspiricy to "manufacture".
(imho) Any project should be as decentralized as much as possible.
This will be both for our individual's safety as well as for other reasons
(This includes posting all overt information on any board or fourm)
quote:
A question I often ask myself is, Does the exploration and developmentin these cacti promote the stigma that Lophophora has received in the USA?
If I understand your question, The answer is YES!
All such "stigma" is directly related to the anti drug efforts.
There is a direct correlation between popularity" and efforts to crush it's source.
in a sense,
by publicising Trichocereus sp.. cacti -we're advocating their illegality.
From what i understand, L.W. plants are currently endangered in the United States
and should qualify for federal protection but are unable to get such status
due to their history of use and continued harvesting by the reckless.
The authorities would love for them to go extinct in the USA
Conversely this only increases the demand, mystique and status
among the druggie status set.
quote:
How can the community (so to speak) protect themselvesand these cacti in the face of an uncertain future?
Look at what happened to the hive.
Much talk and info traded there... then people got too comfortable and talked too openly.
wtf?, publishing photographs of their labs?!?!
they got busted and the case was backworked to incrimidate
the hive and its operators.
such evidence was surely used to help incrimidate strike
by (at the very least) tarnish his character in court.
Further back in time, look at what the Central American indians did.
Look at how mexican mushroom use survived.
They (shamans) kept quiet and masked themselves
in the facade of the oppressors manner and "religion".
Those that made themselves known were tortured, killed
and everything else, either burned or destroyed.
The cacti will be safe as long as people aren't stupid,
running at the mouth and appear to be upstanding citizens.
Again, Discretion is the key
It would not hurt (imho) if people on all the web forums
understood and stopped talking quite so much
(present company excluded).
guess whos included?
Such talk and marketing is (imo) pushing the illegality
of certain plants in the USA and elsewhere... forward.
Aussies or americans should not require any examples...
If people stopped buying (quick fixes) from different shops
or commodification of plant products (plant items for sale)
and staried personal gardens instead ...
the pressure would be greatly lessened / the likelyhood of criminalization.
One serious upside would be the increasing of the likelyhood
of locating a very healthy and robust cultivar to trade among collectors.
and wouldn't that be nice...
[ 17. May 2005, 00:53: Message edited by: Flip ]
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2x oops
[ 11. May 2005, 18:53: Message edited by: Flip ]
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Might this be this due to the T. Pan greater gene count? (memory?)
It was mentioned in another thread that there were different number (pairs?)
within the different cacti.
If thats the case I would tend the think off the bat that a San Pedro mother
would be better (complete set / higher gene count?)
and make up for anything that may be lacking in the cross
but according to Rev's observations it's the other way around...
I'm searching for that thread again and do some follow up when I look into it.
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Well it's certainly not a San Pedro.
It'll come more into it's own as it grows.
Till then it looks more like my T. Peru's (bridg-iod)
that I grew from seed a few years back
and not the plants that MSS identified as classic KK242s.
[ 06. May 2005, 20:08: Message edited by: Flip ]
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America is a Capitalistic Nation.
Those that are in the position, "Capitalize" upon those that aren't.
Nowdays, we have corporate capitalism that uses the
american government and military to achieve it's corporate goals.
(Hence a posable 9-11 theory.... )
Still, I don't feel too bad about whoever goes over there "to work"
This bi-national individual was living in a "well to do" neighborhood
in California USA
His cooperation further enables the aims of the bush administration,
even if he was "just accepting a paycheck."
Also we really don't quite know what he was doing there
Since not all the statements being made by this administrations officers are truthful.
[ 04. May 2005, 23:44: Message edited by: Flip ]
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Sorry to hear tthat there is no good news
(deep breath)
You may want to start quietly asking around who has
mescaline in about a month or two...
They're VERY likely to be your people.
it'll likely be impure (off white, tan/brown)
they'll be selling it to their circle of friends
and I'll bet you my paycheck they'll be growing new tips.
Again, I'm sorry to hear about all of this
it's bugged me and I've been thinking of how people can
better safeguard valuable collections
I guess the first line of defense is Discretion.
[ 01. May 2005, 10:00: Message edited by: Flip ]
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Good News
however we'll be needing something that can destroy the spores
that are "resting" on the skin of the cacti
either that or a combo fungicide and germination media that
will trick and make vulnerable the fungus after "germinating" from it's spore phase.
that does not significantly harm the plant in the process.
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well honestly I think it's the other away around
they've got a LONG history with each other
the saudi's have been bankrolling the bushes for decades.
If in doubt I suggest you catch one of the documentaries about bush, 9-11
and the whole set of affairs that americans "aren't" dealing with.
GW is really nothing more than a pawn
the Vice prez has more going on...
he met with the prince the day before in a closed session.
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Best to avoid this by cultivating plants from seed.
Or if you go have to trade cuttings wash and spray to disinfect.
you don't wish to contaminate your clean plants with this.
it'll turn your cacti ugly.
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quote:
posted 20 April, 2005 13:29I just had a slightly related thought...What did the churches use for Church wine in the US during prohibition?
To answer the question
there was a specific exemption made for the christain/chatholic services made within the law
Since most of the push for prohibion came from the pulpit
one would figure they would have such provisions.
This did allow a few wineries to "survive" (as such)
and not forced into the vinager production market.
you should see the public service /propiganda films that survive
they're actually funny in a right wing religious...
tooo bad I'm seeing such simularities with todays moronicly catered crap.
[ 25. April 2005, 21:18: Message edited by: Flip ]
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I am VERY SORRY to hear about what happened.
Please take heart that this is not the end
Those that are that so disrespectful and selfish will dig their own graves.
HARSH BAD TRIPS not withstanding.
I've had plants and other assorted things taken in the middle of the night as well.
It strikes very deeply, for something like this to happen.
In my case, I'm sure that the potted Sago Palms theft was motivated
by a quick profit afforded by it's sale.
as we're the other items
In your case, I tend to also think...
That it's a friend of a friend that has a interest in profit over cultivation
working with at least one other are your culprits.
No interest in cultivation but extraction and profit.
Perhaps retaining the tips (they would be hard to prove as yours).
I'm sorry to say that, but you may also look at the local dealers
vs just cacti or entheo people.
someone (and their friends) that has a bit of extraction know how
and a history of selling drugs for profit / gratification.
Perhaps you can ask your neighbors (if you live in a slightly urban area)
to see if they witnessed anything.
can you follow the dirt tracks (from the uprooting)
and see if you can gain some info from footprints, tracks and or ANYTHING
that might help ID these people
I hope that you recover what it yours to care for.
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Aside from being the lowest risk and cheapest route
individual backyard cross breeding of preferred strains
It's also the most time consuming...
For now, just for talking purposes:
1)
We all collectively encourage everyone (including noobies)
to raise all cacti from seed, so that we can establish a broad base
of genetic material to sample from.
Preferably seed coming from the wild populations and preferred plants.
2)
People keep track of their cacti (seed/trade source)
years of age and environmental factors.
to avoid duplications and wasted time/energy.
3)
For a rough (quick and dirty) screening of preferred traits
4)
Identify and obtain living samples (read cuttings)
of these standouts.
5)
Cross breeding and re-evaluation.
6)
Repeat # 5 again and again.
[ 24. April 2005, 14:10: Message edited by: Flip ]
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I've had the same things happen to some of my cuttings that I've got as well
as well as those made on different plants and species.
(if memory serves)
It still seems to be a infection at the site and resulting breakdown products.
within the green areas and not at the (white core)
I still say that it's a bacterial deal and not a fungal
The way to settle this is to put it under a microscope!
Clean blades or not
I believe that the major factor is the water available for the culture.
As my dry air (summer cuttings) tend not to develop this
unlike some of the winter cuttings.
Such bacteria are likely to be living upon the skins of these plants waiting for such openings. (every common)
OR it's just a natural reaction from the plant that doesn't indicate additional harm is being done.
[ 23. April 2005, 22:15: Message edited by: Flip ]
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This is likely the result of a severe sunburn.
young seedlings are translucent and can be damaged all the way through
but too strong and direct sunlight
as well as heat ( depending)
Best to let the cacti have reduced light and water from the bottom up.
It may take awhile (months) for a healthy lime green to return.
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It sounds like a bacterial infection
best to expose site to dry moving air and see what happens.
It should be able to fend it off.
Whatever you do do not believe
that a paper bag and darkness
are the best things for a cutting!
They are not mushrooms being carried home.
[ 23. April 2005, 20:59: Message edited by: Flip ]
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once a genetic sequence is found and verified
then it can be inserted in a variety of plants and animals.
How about a goat or cow that produces "whatever" in it's milk?
or a bacteria in a culture broth that spits out "more whatevers" back into it's culture?
These are the possibilities of Genetic Modification.
it's the old adage; "Knowlege is Power"
Cross breeding and slection is a tried and true method (granted)
However GM can give results rather quickly compaired to the
multiable generations required otherwise.
We just need the resources and know how to acomplish these goals.
Currently there is the whole debate about the GM "super strain' of coca
that produces 4x the amount of actives and is resistaint to US sponsored herbicidial spraying.
[ 24. April 2005, 14:07: Message edited by: Flip ]
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Your blistering is caused by the breaking of the outter skin
and the resulting "scar" that results in the underlying tissue.
It's common to see on cacti that have been shipped and "prodded" by other cacti's spines.
Insect damage can also cause this.
it's a healthy response to the damage. no worries.
worry if infection sets in and the tissue becomes discolored (darkened) and "soft"
but for christ's sake please refrain from poking and pinching Okay?
in such cases, the best medicine is dry air and sunlight.
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While there are some inter species hybrids that have been proven valuable
One that comes to mind, is the Mule
-as a cross between a (f) horse and (m) donkey.
Unlike the above (which are both in the Genus Equus) ,
Lophophora Williamsii and the Trichocereus Pachanoi are in different Genus.
making the likeyhood of crossing success- more difficult.
However,
Since all the Trichocereus are all self-sterile
they must generally cross breed with another cacti from the same "species" or genus.
examples being, T.Pan x kk242 and juules x (n) have shown to produce viable seed.
To answer your question re: briinging out certain traits
that any resulting offspring may be able to produce
these two Wiki pages should help. Genetics overview and Mendelian inheritance
But first there must be (imho) a bit more in the identifying of preferred
cacti strains from which selective cross breeding can be best accomplished.
With time there will be some GM toying with the sequences
that go into producing this or that from different living things can be a bit more commonplace
[ 24. April 2005, 14:04: Message edited by: Flip ]
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you may just wish to repot deeper into the mix.
I'm weary of most cacti mixes that I've seen offered
these plants can take much more water than other "cacti"
look in the forums for recommended mixes
and it won't hurt to let any newly received plant to "rest" a week
to heal up from shipping or transplanting before watering.
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Brugsmansia were classified as "tree daturas" based largely upon chemistry
and the likeness of their flowers.
The Plants we're reclassified by the late Dr. Tim Plowman
(who passed in 1989).
He was the heir apparent to Harvard's Richard Evans Schultes
He was "the worlds authority on the enthobotany of Coca and Erythroxylum".
The book "One River" by Wade Davis paints a good picture of this field researcher.
Sadly after his death almost all of his rare collected plants we're tossed into the compost pile.
Many came from areas that have now been logged and are lost forever.
I know of one living brug clone that was saved from the composting
and bears his name - having appeared in the allies (OTJ) catalogue.
RE: Datura
Best do your research...
there's a reason why it's not popular.
we have several species native to the area and
Every year or so another dumb kid or "hippie" dies
from experimentation or from a prank / vicious joke.
"Choose your allies wisely..."
[ 01. March 2005, 11:13: Message edited by: Flip ]
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That might be a bit of a problem here in the USA
As part of the whole endangered species status,
it's likely to require specal licencing of some sort
to keep such animals (even if the intent is to breed).
add to that the whole evil drug aspect....
and you'll get the idea it's may be dangerous to try
and do the right thing.
it's not like you're going to be able to keep these guys quiet at night...
the entire neighbothood will know...
not to say that it's not worth a try.
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apothecary,
quote:
Uh, the reasoning behind putting cuttings of all kinds, not just cacti in reduced light is so their growth cycle slows down.
well by that logic, it would also inhibit the ability of the cutting to form roots.
wouldn't it? then there's no advantage.
quote:
It isn't as visible with a cactus, but if you try taking a cutting of another plant and leave it in the same lighting conditions as its mother plant, it'll simply continue growing rootless until it dies.
well, that doesn't quite make sense.
Perhaps, you're thinking the likelihood that any broken branch
falls to the ground with (less light availability) as the rooting tigger. Otherwise the conditions are going to be the same
for the mother and the "clone". If a plant has evolved to be able to root from a cutting/leaf (as often is the case) under these circumstances then that theory is incorrect.
I can't see how your reasoning makes sense.
I always thought that any cutting is placed in a brightly lit, protected (humid) environment
so that it it could still be protected from greater evaporation
from it's leaves then it was able to offset. all the cuttings I have made don't continue to grow developing leaves... they abort.
I believe the availability of water going into the plants system is the major factor here..NOT LIGHT.
quote:
There is nothing the plant can do about that, if it recieves light, it has to convert it to energy.
don't you mean it converts light (energy) and stores in a chemical form useable by the plant?
Also, it requires h20 molecules to complete that process
check the photosynthetic pathway... you'll see.
the process will halt if one of the steps is broken.
quote:
The only way it will root is if you slow down that energy conversion cycle to give the root mass a chance to re-establish its ratio to stem/leaf mass.
Huh?
I thought we we're talking about stimulating a cutting into rooting... there is no root mass to talk about.
also
Are you saying you're trying to halt it's ability to capture energy and produce food for itself so that it can expend it's limited resources and produce roots? (this sounds of shroomery logik?)
wouldn't it be better to continue to let any cutting produce food for itself and apply that to root production?
So long as it's not water starved (read wilting) you're not stressing the plant more than required.
maybe thats why it's customary to place most softwood cuttings
into water until rooting occurs.
quote:
The cactus will form its roots from where the fresh wounds harden (I wish vascular plants would do this sometimes, it'd save me money on rooting powder [that's what rooting powder does if you didn't know]) and simply pup, perpendicular to the ground
I think that your first point is misattributing the fact that a cutting
tends to root at the end of the plant, that just so happens
to be where it was separated from it's mother plant.
in vascular plants (including cacti) there is two way traffic
the inner layer carries water and "raw materials" up from the root system. The outer layer transports synthesized materials down.
According to my reasoning (stated in posts in another thread)
hormones that stimulate root production are carried "down" the length of the plant. They stimulate rooting because they gather
at the terminal end of the vascular pathway.
Rooting at the gravitational bottom can be explained by the interruption of the vascular transport system and "pooling".
vascular plant do self propagate (rooting from cuttings).
rooting power is a hormone mutagen.
it actually changes cell structure, it's doesn't "activate" dormant root cells, but changes cell types. The callous caused by rooting powders/hormone are different than a healing over of a wound.
they're tissues that have been mutated and trying to re-organize themselves.
due to a cacti/succulents structure
I've said that external application of rooting hormone
causes more harm than good on our cacti.
quote:
If the cactus isn't in just right conditions mid/post-rooting, its growth pattern will mess up for a while until everything is straightened out.
no matter what. making a cutting seriously affects the branch cut. The immediate loss of water and overall "shock" has to have a reaction.... and as I've said before all my cuttings have aborted new leaf growth asap.
I think that the main thrust of the topic was how to minimize
the effects and etiolation.
sorry about the long post, thanks for reading
.. I'll edit it down in a hour or two...
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Interesting thread.
Three things come to mind here
1) Being the packaging of health insurance with employment.
2) The other having to do with workplace culture.
3) Government and capitalistic pragmatism
Aside from business insurance
(required depending upon national /local laws and risk)
Individual employee coverage got their foothold
as a pitched added incentive when luring prized workers.
Also, working collectively, a larger businesses could
negociate a bulk discount from a health insurer.
- to everyones benefit
This became a standard practice in the business world
Thus removing the pressure for real governmental health case
for it's citizens.
In turn, to maximize profits the insurance companies eventually
conducted cost risk assessments on the workforce...
leading to the situation we have here.
Rkundalini,
RE: social engineering nightmare
all these concerns are currently counterbalanced by the
realization that to each individual, over scrutiny is indeed
a double edge sword. Majority opinion tends to "win" in
these cases as part of a companies identity and "culture"
What tends to happen is that some companies and businesses
tend to attract and hire like minded people that fit into their established culture.
Take IBM and Apple computer for example:
one highly "uptight" and conservative ..
(as a example IBM's dress code involved sock garters )
while apple is much looser and creative without a dress code.
Eventually these cultures can become assets in the marketplace
or not, allowing one to survive and prosper or not.
just like other societies.
In this case, smoking is proven to be a dangerous habit.
and that causes serious health problems that the insurance companies
would have to shell out millions for.
They're just maximizing their bottle line.
imho,
I believe that the US government is coming down on smoking
because the money gained from taxes isn't enough to cover
the uninsured various costs resulting from smoking.
Just one of the downsides of being able to treat
cancer vs letting people all die quickly as in the past.
side note:
rkundalini,
In the united states the "right to offend" is in Serious Jeopardy.
This whole neo-conservative (read fascist) nation I live in
is seriously in need of an liberal enema.
If this continues it'll lead to something like Genomism.
then we'll all be genetically enhanced robots or totally screwed.
[ 19. February 2005, 09:27: Message edited by: Flip ]
trich. I.D (help)
in Cacti & Succulents
Posted
I am not advocating being paranoid,
just awareness of several things and long term goals.
I do disagree with some peoples penchant of
Waving a freak flag around and shouting "Screw the man"
is seemingly very attractive to certain people
that type of behavior is only a childish rebellion... imnsho
all that they accomplish making themselves a very easy target.
but all of that is for another thread.
lets just say that there are ways to communicate and talk about things
that are superior to being so surface level.
Freedom of speech does not equate to freedom from intelligence
please lets move forward...
can everyone agree that the best thing to do is find
and cultivate cacti from healthy stock?
I also suggest that we each encourage the growing of cacti
from the good seed whenever we can.
from that seed grown plants the strongest and healthiest
are crossbred with others with the goal of producing a cacti
that has these qualities (in no certain order):
1) a vigorous grower,
2) reliable rooter from cuttings
3) penchant for branching and pups
4) easy to flower (different colors) and produce seed highly viable seed
5) Resistant to fungal and bacteria infection
6) Producing a high level of chemical defenses
(to ward off insect and pet damage).
7) Highly attractive (perhaps spineless)
How do those sound?
anyone care to add to this?
[ 13. May 2005, 20:13: Message edited by: Flip ]