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I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006)

blog.mycology.cornell.edu

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

#111

Post by felixyz »

antisemiotic wrote: post #96
dmitrybrant wrote: post #81

I grew up in Russia, and like in many other Slavic cultures, mushroom foraging was a time-honored family affair. Some of my fondest memories are of picking mushrooms with my grandmother, who taught me all I know about identifying them. I still forage them all the time here in the States. I'm sorry, but it continues to baffle me how someone can mistake an Amanita for a Coprinus (or Agaricus). To my eyes they're as dif…

I think it really helps to be taught by someone who knows what they're doing. Where I live (Poland) it's common to have this knowledge passed down in families. I wouldn't dare to pick up anything based on a picture in a book.

There are apps that lead you through a series of questions (pores/gills, cap shape, etc) to try to identify a mushroom. App + book + internet for anything that is remotely uncertain is a pretty good avenue if you don't have anyone to teach you. And yes, it's crucial to inspect every single mushroom before eating it and discard anything that one isn't 100% sure about.

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

#112

Post by jjeaff »

Alex3917 wrote: post #89
dmitrybrant wrote: post #81

I grew up in Russia, and like in many other Slavic cultures, mushroom foraging was a time-honored family affair. Some of my fondest memories are of picking mushrooms with my grandmother, who taught me all I know about identifying them. I still forage them all the time here in the States. I'm sorry, but it continues to baffle me how someone can mistake an Amanita for a Coprinus (or Agaricus). To my eyes they're as dif…

> It's a shame because these kinds of stories create unnecessary fear in Americans about picking things from the wild, when there are so many great tastes and experiences right there at your fingertips. To be fair, until we have better tools to diagnose and treat the tick-borne illnesses that are prevalent in the US, it still isn't the safest hobby. This year I finally got sick of worrying about Powassan virus et al.…

Depends on where in the US. Lyme's disease from ticks is very rare in some parts of the US.

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

#113

Post by xenonite »

Alex3917 wrote: post #94
SapporoChris wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Odds are pretty low of getting a tick borne disease. I would assume they're even lower if you take precautions. About 60000 incidents a year. Powassan virus 33 incidents ( https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/data-summary/index.html ) I would speculate that more than 33 people manage to kill them selves road biking each year, but I confess I'm just guessing.

60,000 reported cases, which means more like 600,000 estimated cases. You can definitely vastly lower the risk if you take all the right precautions, but most people I see don’t even have their pants tucked into their socks.

And even if I ask a doctor to remove a tick he discourages a test of the dead tick, because „nothing would turn up anyways“. This supports a high rate of unnoticed cases.

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

#114

Post by ridaj »

mizzao wrote: post #68
ridaj wrote: post #64

In France, you can bring your wild mushrooms to any local pharmacy, and they will ID them for you as a free service. Seems like it would be a useful service to US foragers too!

How do all these pharmacists get trained in mushroom identification?

It's part of the curriculum. The most important thing for them though is to focus on mushrooms in their region not having encyclopedic knowledge... Still, some will refuse to provide this service if they don't feel confident.

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

#115

Post by varjag »

Alex3917 wrote: post #85
tzs wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At least in the U.S. and Canada, there are no mushrooms where if a healthy adult nibbles on them to taste them and then spits them out, they will be anywhere close to the LD50 LD50 is the dose that kills 50% of a test population. I don't think I'd try something if the only assurance I had that it was safe is that it is not anywhere near LD50.

> I don't think I'd try something if the only assurance I had that it was safe is that it is not anywhere near LD50. Ever drink coffee or alcohol? Keep in mind I'm definitely not saying it's safe, only that you're not going to die from acute toxicity.

Sure, if you ever consume an LD50 of alcohol you have a 1 in 2 chance to die.

Most people never drink a comparable amount though.

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

#116

Post by antisemiotic »

felixyz wrote: post #111
antisemiotic wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it really helps to be taught by someone who knows what they're doing. Where I live (Poland) it's common to have this knowledge passed down in families. I wouldn't dare to pick up anything based on a picture in a book.

There are apps that lead you through a series of questions (pores/gills, cap shape, etc) to try to identify a mushroom. App + book + internet for anything that is remotely uncertain is a pretty good avenue if you don't have anyone to teach you. And yes, it's crucial to inspect every single mushroom before eating it and discard anything that one isn't 100% sure about.

Hm, I was already starting to think about some sort of portable chromatography kits to identify toxins in the field, but I guess your solution works too.

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

#117

Post by rkachowski »

The author seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the bible (referencing individual psalms by number), wears a cross around his neck to hospital, practises all kinds of eastern religious meditations (recommends "Awaken the Healing Light of the Tao" in the midst of describing himself in a diaper on a CAT scan machine). On top of this he works as a particle accelerator operator at cornell. And still eats some of the mushrooms he previously identified as growing next to some clearly poisonous mushroom colony.

At the end of the article he questions whether it was an act of god or meditation that saved him, yet concludes that realistically it was not taking the time to identify the mushrooms correctly which caused the whole process. Yet starts the article with the comment that he was somehow in an altered mental state from a "Aligning the Three Tan Tiens" exercise which left him feeling invincible. Surely if you belive that god or meditation was the cure, you would have to believe that they could also be the cause - especially in this case when you're doing the "nothing can kill me" meditation before picking mushrooms.

It's a weird half baked half-rational half-esoteric thought process that staggers me. Religion and science are always a controversial mix, but this is an extreme example.

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

#119

Post by Simon_says »

hinkley wrote: post #98
jimueller wrote: post #71

Sorry, but this is just so irresponsible. I'm sure I'll be corrected, but it almost needlessly resulted in taking a liver away from someone that needed it not as a result of their own stupidity. Oh, and then while in an emergency room on the brink of death questions why the alternative medicine some friend found online was never used.

He doesn't even seem that mollified to have done something stupid. Narcissist?

Probably just a regular idiot.

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

#120

Post by AlphaGeekZulu »

Mushroom foraging was common in my family and the ruleset was quite simple – we learnt this as children:

- you have to know a mushroom, that you want to eat, by 100%. You not only have to know the appearance in all possible states (young/old, colour variations, environmental context) but also you have to know the lookalikes and how to differentiate. The point here is: NEVER follow any generic rules (like avoid mushrooms with this or that feature), but reliably identify the type you want to eat!

- to learn to absolutely positively identify a mushroom therefore takes a lot of time. In my childhood I learnt about a dozen edible types, that I would dare to eat. And this knowledge only applies to the geographic region I lived. The same mushroom might have other lookalikes in other regions.

- if there is the slightest doubt, do not eat it.

- when picking, make plausibility checks. For example: does the sample fit to the environment?

- if you have trouble to differentiate a potentially edible mushroom from its lookalike, avoid both.

- if there is the slightest doubt, do not eat it.

- as long as you are learning a new type, do not eat it. If you pick one to examine at home, keep it separated from the others. Buy samples from the market for comparison.

- when you are sure that you have learnt a new edible type and that you can absolutely identify it, pick one. Double check with the books, when at home. Ask someone else for reassurance, if possible.

- When still sure: prepare one very small sample together with the other mushrooms and only for one member of the family (in my case, that would usually be my father). Observe for reactions for at least 24 hours. If everything is fine, repeat with a somewhat larger ratio the next time. Do so one more time and if everything is still fine, that type would be approved for family use. As a child, it was always a little exciting, not to say creepy, when father tried a new type. But never anything happened of course.

- Some mushrooms only become edible with certain preparation. Make sure to know them. My family would usually avoid those.

- if there is the slightest doubt, do not eat it.

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