Agamemnon

I find a decent piece of fresh peeled hoodia really improves the mood and if followed by kava, really enhances and compliments each other. Can work in the garden all day and stay focussed yet relaxed, energised and at the same time receptive, sensitive and aware. Hard to explain but definitely a good place to be!

I think Ive found an Oz source too.... will let people know where once Ive confirmed ID

Fantasmagorical!!

From a BBC world article http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from...ent/6530453.stm Yemen's khat habit soaks up water By Alex Kirby BBC News, Sanaa Some blame khat for stifling Yemeni development Sitting high up in the rocky mountains of northern Yemen, the country's capital Sanaa is finding that its dwindling water supply may not be able to sustain the ancient settlement. I had almost walked right past the low doorway in the souk before I realised. Then I stopped, peered into the gloom, and spotted it - a camel, sporting leather blinkers the size of small searchlights, circling the chamber, a wooden arm linking it to a central stone pillar which rotated as the animal tramped stolidly on. It was a simple mill for producing sesame oil - and it would hardly have looked out of place at the time of Christ. If you want local colour, then go to Sanaa. The entire old city is a Unesco World Heritage Site, complete with tall stuccoed houses whose perforated walls use the winds for natural ventilation. In a country where almost half the people live on less than two dollars a day, you find your fun where you can There is the small square which covers the site of the 6th-Century Christian cathedral, though nothing now remains of its ebony and ivory pulpit or its crosses of silver and gold. In the narrow lanes of the market you are pressed to buy a bag of dull golden crystals and your senses succumb to the smell of burning incense. To the Romans, Yemen was, after all, Arabia Felix, the home of frankincense and myrrh. They still make novel souvenirs. Venture further, beyond the Old City's 30-foot-high (9-metre-high) clay walls, and there are plenty more reminders that Sanaa is one of a kind. There is the Military Museum, an eclectic assembly of old weapons (including a camel-mounted cannon), old motor cars, and relics of the British colony in Aden. A chillingly topical touch is an illustration from the 1950s of an execution, the bloodied scimitar still in the swordsman's hand as the convict expires. Perhaps that explains why the museum is run by part of the interior ministry - the moral guidance department. Sanaa is at least 2,500 years old. It claims to be the world's oldest inhabited city, though Damascus disputes that. But it is living on borrowed time. For once climate change is not the presumed culprit. It is not natural causes at all - it is human behaviour. However you do the sums, they just do not add up. There are nearly 20 million Yemenis - and the population doubles every 17 ye The country imports most of its food, largely because it has too little water to feed itself. Yemenis have about one-fiftieth as much water per head as the world average. And, to confound confusion, insupportably large amounts of water go on a non-essential crop - khat. Khat in today's Yemen is what smoking was in Britain a generation ago. Everywhere you go you find men with cheeks bulging bizarrely as they get their fix. It is a shrub whose leaves, when you chew them, can induce mild euphoria, excitement, hallucinations and even constipation. It is increasingly popular in Yemen. While a few years ago men would spend a couple of hours a day on their habit, many now chew happily away for seven or eight hours. Within the last five years or so khat use has become much more accepted among women. One young professional woman told me she chewed it perhaps once every three months, as a way of socialising. More often, she said, would be too much. She blames the drug for what she says is Yemenis' failure to better themselves. Moralising apart, khat is having a baleful effect on Yemen. Of the country's scarce water, 40% goes on irrigating khat - and khat cultivation is increasing by 10% to 15% a year. You cannot blame the farmers. As one says, growing khat earns him 20 times as much as growing potatoes. You probably should not blame the chewers either. In a country where almost half the people live on less than US$2 (£1) a day, you find your fun where you can. Relocation plans The minister for water and the environment, Dr Abdulrahman al-Eryani, is an agricultural engineer - and he is a worried man. There are concerns about khat's effect on Yemeni society "The Sanaa basin is using water 10 times faster than Nature is replenishing it," he told me. "And before long there won't even be enough to drink. I am not an optimist. I think many of the city's people will simply have to move away. "The solution I am proposing is a very clear policy - a voluntary one - of reallocating people from here down to the Red Sea coast. We could use renewable energy there to desalinate sea water. And it would be cheaper than trying to provide enough water to Sanaa. "This is not the first time that Yemenis have had to move to avoid disaster. It's happened many times in the last few thousand years, when Nature allowed the population to increase rapidly. This time, though, there are political frontiers in the way of an exodus." The minister, himself a chewer, thinks weaning Yemenis off khat will be like breaking the tobacco habit. "In time it won't be cool to chew," he says. "But time is what we don't have." One of the ancient Arabic names of Sanaa translates as The Protected City. It looks as though the protection is running out.

Hmmm not...WW2 troops. The weapons they carry are post WW2. Anyway, Just goes to show you how much the British Government didn't look after their servicemen. That's disgusting. Fair enough if they had all the facts about what they were ingesting..Im sure some of our community would have put up their hands to volunteer straight away, but I'm guessing these dudes werent briefed fully on the possible effects which would make for a VERY scary trip! :blink: The poor bastards were unwitting guinea pigs for the military/industrial complex.

Still, you gotta feel sympathy for the guy. Obviously his old man really got up his nose....but i suppose things go better with coke! :lol:

Has anybody found an Australian source to purchase fresh rhizomes from? I can think of lots of potential combos with this plant too!

I wonder if the Iranians are going to follow worlds best (or is that worst?) practice and detain them for at least 5 years without trial like the good ol USA????

Yep, Radio National has some excellent programmes. You should try to get into "The Night Air" too on sunday nights. Lying in bed listening to freaky collages of sound recordings of all ages and styles is something which will subtly seduce your intellect and take you and your collected memories and perceptions to places you hadnt imagined! Well worth a listen. Last night's was on Rhythms of life. Download the podcast from http://www.abc.net.au/rn/nightair/default.htm

There's a good documentary about him called "A day in the afterlife" produced in 1994 by Arena films (1 hour 34 minutes) which you should be able to download off a torrent. He was born a twin, but his sister (the other twin) died after only 6 months old. This had a profound effect on him all his life and contributed in large part to his edgy grasp on life and preoccupied his darkest hours. He stipulated that he was to be buried in the same grave as his sister. A very complex genius was our Philip....

Yes I know... these are amazing times we live in. An alcoholic in Jesus denial who has a brain damaged by excessive alcohol and cocaine use who just happens to be the President of the United States through a rigged election count process. He then kills over half a million Iraqis in his family lust for oil and now contemplates an attack (possibly nuclear) on Iran. Some tip that this will occur on the christian ritual of Easter...how ironic! Anyway, now is your chance to toy with this deranged individual the same way he toys with our world..... http://www.planetdan.net/pics/misc/georgie.htm just a hint..click, drag and throw Dubya when he gets stuck. I found this very cathartic. Just wish they would bring one out for Gollum aka Grandpa Johhny Howard.....enjoy!!!!

As reported on MSN news...WTF!!!! :wacko: Israeli ambassador found drunk and naked Tuesday Mar 13 08:52 AEDT Israel has recalled its ambassador in El Salvador after he was found drunk and naked with sex toys lying nearby in the yard of his official residence, Israeli media reports said on Monday. A foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed that the ambassador, Tsuriel Raphael, was recalled but offered no details. "The ministry sees his behaviour as unbecoming of a diplomat," the spokeswoman said. Israeli media reported that local police found Raphael in the yard of the official residence in San Salvador. The reports said he was drunk, naked, and bound and gagged with a rubber ball in his mouth and sex toys lying near him. The foreign ministry spokeswoman said the incident took place two weeks ago. "As soon as the episode was brought to attention of the foreign ministry it reacted and the ambassador was recalled to Israel. He is going to remain in Israel," she said. Israel would seek another ambassador in El Salvador, an Israeli official said. -------------------- Today is only yesterday's tomorrow

Sorry wrong place to post! re-posted in chill space!

South America has been "raped" serially by the North American corporations for so long! :devil: I am heartened that finally some South American countries have wrested back control of their culture and destiny and spoken the truth to power! The U.S. government atrocities have come back to haunt them time and time again. When will they learn that the 'quick fix' of throwing money and bribes and coups just doesn't work. President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is a champion for the indigenous and downtrodden. Why is it not acceptable to the U.S. for Venezuela to take control of its own resources in its own sovereign way? Clearly multinationals run the U.S. government and their tentacles reach into our own everyday lives.

Just letting you all know Ive put up 10 tabemaemontana orientalis seeds on swapn sell if ur interested.

Naw, thats now at 'rip off' stage price now....

You'll certainly get a "bang" for your buck with those!

Holy shit! Look at the mass flowers!

They are regularly on sale on swapnsell if you cant find a trade.

Yeah, my collection is battling on valiantly. My big lophs were the first to get priority dry shelter! Mind you, the B.caapi's are surging so much I expect to get tapped on the shoulder by a another light warp speed growing vine branch ...they love the big wet!

Aw, what the heck! I'll post a pic of myself, cause I just look like everybody else...but lately you know, there's been a lot of strange looking people in the cities and thats why Ive retreated into the country....

Yes, watch those ants. Its true they will aerate the soil, but Ive found on a couple of my Psy. Viridis that they farm aphids to such an extent that the growing tip is stunted and dies. What I do is get a bottle of beer, remove twist top, drink beer (important and non-wasteful step) and use the top upside down as a container for ant-rid. Place edge of crown top so that it touches the trunk of plant to facilitate main ant trail access and witness the fatal feeding frenzy....hah ha ha!

http://www.psychopump.org/ A site which contains among other things, mp3 books and doco downloads of interest to our community. (reposted from chill space to this thread)

Recently I posted an experience I had with a pair of tawny frogmouth birds which choose to frequent my backyard and who in my opinion/intuition have a guiding connection with me. Anyway, yesterday I was in my garden and looked up and saw one of my friends in a dead African mahogany tree which I had planted years ago but which had been attacked by borers. Rather than chop it down, I used it as a climbing frame for one of my Aya plants as well as a tree climbing cacti. So I thought it particularly poignant..here in the branch roosts this bird with oh! so piercing eyes....a master of camouflage...there in a dead tree which looks as though its alive with leaves, but the deceptive camouflage is that the sacred Aya vine provides those leaves...and the moon flowering cacti creeps ever upwards...... So of course, from death comes life, comes life comes death, in a encircling continuity and balance ..as natural as Gaia herself and the infinity she is embedded and part of. If you dont believe me just look into my friend's eyes.... Sorry, for some reason you will have to click on the link below to see the tree climbing cacti http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v521/aga.../2007Jan139.jpg[/img]

Greetings fellow ethnos Living in a relatively isolated regional area, I am having trouble sourcing a reasonably priced organic bulk green tea product which is available to purchase online. The supermarkets have tea bags, tea bags , tea bags and chock ful of Chinese herb..God knows whats in it!!! Apart from the obvious health giving properties of green tea, I find it an excellent base for exploration of ethno "additives" in all its myriad and countless forms....thanx!!