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The Corroboree

Marcel

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Posts posted by Marcel

  3. Posted

    Tulsi wood is used to make japa beads in India. I've had a little go at carving the thick woody trunk of regular basil too.

    Would love to make a flute out of something spiritually significant one day.

  7. Posted

    Composting has become one of my favourite pastimes. I love balancing out the moisture content, and the textures and smells... What I like about open bottom bins is that worms from the ground can work their way up from the ground into you compost. My bins are crawling with the beautiful things. It's almost like a worm farm! Every handful has, like, over 8 or 10 worms! I throw in all my kitchen scraps (we're vego so there's no meat) and we have a few parents from my son's school bring us bags of their kitchen scraps in the morning when we're dropping kids off at school. Sweet deal.

    Many organic cafes are happy to set something like this up too, if you could be bothered going around to pick up their scraps everyday.

    Egg cartons are awesome for a little bit of fibre. I will sometimes empty a bag or two of composted cow shit when the bin's half ready, and mix it all about.

    I too was a little confused and didn't know where to start until I read Compost by Ken Thompson. It's a quick and enjoyable read (I read it in an hour or two) and very informative. I especially like his approach which isn't all about strict ratios and ph readings every second day, etc. It's a pretty simple process and quite meditative and intuitive to boot.

  10. Posted

    There is a process called Tyndallisation whereby you boil something several times, over a period of several days.The theory is that bacterial and fungal spores can survive boiling, but once they've germinated they are substantially more vulnerable to lower heat. Basically, spores are triggered into germination after one boiling session, then killed by boiling the next day, then boiled once more on a third day.

    You could use your Fowler's for this if it can be put on a stove top. There are some positive reports of tyndallisation over at the shroomery. It takes a long time, and it's not quite as reliable as pressure cooking, but it's an option for those without a PC.

    A Fowler's canner will not sterilise your grain. They're made for preserving foods with high acid content (or have had acids such tartaric added), and even then, they won't have the shelf life of a PCed jar of food or grain or whatever.

  11. Posted

    wrong-way.jpg

    Wow. Incog, you sound even more sleep deprived than I.

    Anyway, you know I was just joshing. In the assholes of our friendship, there will never be a wrong way.

    Green lights for all!

    green-light.jpg

    And as far as what the asshole was made to do, or not to do, I think it's irrelevant. You don't need a biological justification for your love; if it feels good and lovin', put it in there, damn it!

    (By the way, my grandmother's maiden name was Carp... Are you thinking what I'm thinking?)

  12. Posted

    That's just me. I try to ask this question before undertaking anything, really. It's probably a bit obsessive by most people's standards, but in this day and age of massive environmental destruction I don't think it's unreasonable. My thinking is that movies generally are environmentally destructive, from the nature of the amount of money that goes in to production (where is it all going?) and jetsetting around the world for promotion and filming, to the amount made by the stars and companies involved, to the fact that I probably have to hop in to my car to get to the nearest cinema. I know a few people involved in this industry, and I know the environment doesn't count in their philosophy much, so I generally avoid going to movies unless they are very good.

    Which is probably the main reason why I probably won't go to see The Dictator, actually ;)

     

    Good man. Sounds like a reasonable approach to life to me.

  13. Posted

    I remember the Ali G show when it was first on in the UK. The Borat skits made me laugh so hard I thought I was going to die. I think the first time I saw it, when a workmate showed me, I literally pissed myself. They reminded me so much of my Eastern European parents and relatives. It was so anarchic and brilliant. And then he did the US series, which was ok. And the Borat movie didn't work. And the Bruno movie was no good at all. And this one, from the advertising, looks forced and tired already. And yes, there seems to be a nastier, less political and more offensive edge to this caricature than his previous incarnations.

    I'm not going to see it.

    What's with the environmentally conscious angle? What is it in the movie that's not eco-friendly?

  18. Posted

    Also I've never had a smore. The Asian food store near me has ripoff graham crackers and legit Hershey bars, I should get on that.

     

    Just hold a Wagon Wheel over a toaster. Same shit.

  20. Posted

    True, but God is a convenient excuse for religious people's opinions. Secular communities have to be responsible for their own opinions and actions because they don't claim to have access to the mind of God, and I think this must affect the extent to which they evaluate their own opinions before pushing them on others.

     

    Let's not kid ourselves. There's always an external Other to blame in secular society: the government, the economy, the Jews, the liberals, the conservatives, the druggies, the Masons, climate change, Big Pharma, communists... Need I continue? The party doing the blaming generally has the same absolutist resolve that a religious believer does, and what's more, she or he has the rhetorical advantage of not resorting to metaphysical agents (which is only an advantage in our present age, really).

  23. Posted

    That's fucking hilarious. I've been laughing like a mofo for the last 20 minutes. Never thought I'd live to see the day that I miss living in an American ghetto. On my days off work, I used to spend a lazy arvo in the Brooklyn botanical gardens which was next to a big and neglected high school. I'd watch kids sneak out and hide in the gardens and make out and they'd often start conversations with strangers, including me. American kids are so different to Australian kids. They are confident and open and never too shy to talk to people with which they know they have nothing in common. Even when they're saying something dumb and ridiculous, you often get this punchy and peppy joy for life shining through. The same sort of thing that the Ghetto Hikes blog has.

    Thanks for the share, d00d.

  24. Posted

    Boys, boys, boys... No need to drive all the way to the Blue Mountains and beyond! Once we get a bit or rain under our belt, Sydney will be aglow with sub activity. I won't be giving away any specific locations (so don't PM me anyone! :) ), but suburbia is your friend. Especially when suburbia backs onto bushland. I live on the beach in metropolitan Sydney and there are at least 4 patches within 5 minutes of my house. There's another bunch near my mum's place in the inner-west. Some of these are producing already, even with these warm temperatures and without any rain all month. And when you have a bunch of local patches, then you can re-visit several times throughout the season and take all the photos you want of mushrooms at various stages of development.

    Open your street directory and scan around for the green parts near your street, and hit them, one at a time, on your way home from work, on your way to the shops, etc.

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