Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

blog.mycology.cornell.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 192 posts

Re: I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

#41

Post by Thorrez »

fortran77 wrote: post #30
arkades wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found interesting that he closes his post with an excerpt about how safe mushroom picking is, and how adverse outcomes only happen to ignorant fools who know nothing about mushrooms and don’t bother learning. In an article that opens with “here is a list of things I know and books I read, and here’s how I poisoned myself anyway.”

And instead of thanking the doctors for their heroic effort, he credits his woo-woo "visualization" techniques.

That was in the section wondering why he survived but the other 2 people in the same hospital didn't. Would those 2 people have gotten different doctors or gotten less effort from the doctors?

Re: I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

#42

Post by cm2012 »

kwasson wrote: post #37
cm2012 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No mushroom exists in the world that can poison you through touching it. Even licking. Your body has to digest it. Edit: I'm currently at -5 but this is a fact. http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/wong/BOT135/Lect17a.htm http://www.mushroomexpert.com/studying.html#odortaste https://www.reddit.com/r/mycology/comments/2ps3q5/are_there_...

There is one mushroom called the Poison Fire Coral that can poison through touch. It just made the news rounds for being found for the first time in North Queensland. https://www.jcu.edu.au/news/releases/2019/october/deadly-fun...

Cool, so there is an exception of 1!

“If found, the fungus should not be touched, and definitely not eaten. Of the hundred or so toxic mushrooms that are known to researchers, this is the only one in which the toxins can be absorbed through the skin,” said Dr Barrett, a mycologist from the JCU Australian Tropical Herbarium (ATH) who specialises in the study of fungi.

Re: I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

#43

Post by zipwitch »

egdod wrote: post #11
gbronner wrote: post #4

I'm curious if parents still admonish their kids not to eat wild mushrooms. The first time I was with a family friend and watched him pick and eat wild mushrooms, it was as if I'd discovered a new strain of magic. Today, I'll eat chicken mushrooms if they look exactly like the ones I've seen before. Otherwise I'll pass. I sort of feel like those killer whales that have to be taught by other whales that fish are food,…

> I'm curious if parents still admonish their kids not to eat wild mushrooms. Absolutely. Really, eating anything you find in the wild is risky unless you’re completely sure what it is. (Wild strawberries are pretty easy to identify, for example.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mock_strawberry

They fooled me once. I picked and ate one, noticed it didn't taste right almost immediately. Once you look more closely, the fruit is quite obviously different in shape and texture, but the leaves are near-perfect and the fruit is the right color.

It certainly gave me a quick and fortunately danger-free reminder that there's a world of difference between "hey that looks like..." and "yes, after careful examination, this is...".

Re: I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

#44

Post by [deleted] »

Thorrez wrote: post #41
fortran77 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And instead of thanking the doctors for their heroic effort, he credits his woo-woo "visualization" techniques.

That was in the section wondering why he survived but the other 2 people in the same hospital didn't. Would those 2 people have gotten different doctors or gotten less effort from the doctors?

[deleted]

Re: I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

#46

Post by amatecha »

LeonB wrote: post #40
cm2012 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, even if.

Source please.

There is literally only one known in the world (as linked above) - "poison fire coral" which is described[0] by a researcher as such: "Of the hundred or so toxic mushrooms that are known to researchers, this is the only one in which the toxins can be absorbed through the skin"

[0] https://www.jcu.edu.au/news/releases/2019/october/deadly-fun...

Re: I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

#47

Post by DuskStar »

dmurray wrote: post #19
throwaway2048 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are essentially no general hard and fast rules like that when it comes to mushroom hunting, there is no substitute for knowing how to positively identify specific species, where specific species should be growing, and knowing what distinguishes them from similar poisonous species.

I don't see why this could possibly get downvoted, it's absolutely true. If you do have a "hard and fast" rule in mind, it may work in your region but not in other places.

Besides the trivial rule of "pick no mushrooms", of course.

Re: I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

#48

Post by amatecha »

jpuderer wrote: post #7

I am surprised this mistake is possible. Inky caps don't look anything like Amanitas of any kind, IMO. I am assuming that the author doesn't drink alcohol, otherwise Inky Caps aren't so great either (though not generally fatal).

They look a lot more similar when they are a bit earlier in the life cycle, I think

Re: I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

#49

Post by tapland »

Thorrez wrote: post #41
fortran77 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And instead of thanking the doctors for their heroic effort, he credits his woo-woo "visualization" techniques.

That was in the section wondering why he survived but the other 2 people in the same hospital didn't. Would those 2 people have gotten different doctors or gotten less effort from the doctors?

"I found out that of three people admitted in 2006 to Strong Memorial with Amanita poisoning, I am the only one to have survived; 66% died."

The death rate for Mushroom Poisoning in the US was apparently something like 2.9 per year since year 2000.

He's really just discounting the 99.something% who survive for effect because two died in the hospital he was at. If that is even true.

Re: I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

#50

Post by linuskendall »

hcarvalhoalves wrote: post #45

> I found out that of three people admitted in 2006 to Strong Memorial with Amanita poisoning (...) Three people poisoning themselves in the span of one year in a particular region sounds like a lot .

Where I am from (Sweden) many, many people make mushroom picking a regular habit. However, most who do are aware of what mushrooms are safe, which ones to take extra care in identifying (definitely all white ones) and which ones to never pick. Wild mushrooms are perfectly safe as long as you have some knowledge about it. We were taught by parents and on school trips.
Post reply on HN