I Survived the “Destroying Angel” (2006) • Hacker News Board

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

#131

Post by saiya-jin » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 8:51 AM UTC

peanutz454 wrote: post #95

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…

> when there are so many great tastes and experiences right there at your fingertips. As someone who has cooked with exactly one kind of mushroom (button) I find this intriguing. I thought all mushrooms taste more or less the same. I may have eaten something at a restaurant, but don't remember anything unique.

Button are the most bland 'tasting' mushrooms, but you can find them in any shop because they are easy to grow in artificial conditions. There are so many quite strong tastes in the mushroom world, that some were/are used as spice. But its same as with forest fruit - those growing in wilderness have much stronger taste.

The strongest ones I would say are morel and of course truffles which are used for finest (and most expensive) delicacies, but many others which are more common are great too.

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

#132

Post by AlphaGeekZulu » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 8:59 AM UTC

saiya-jin wrote: post #127

AlphaGeekZulu wrote: post #120

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 mushro…

Yeah something along those lines, apart from testing new stuff (god knows how long some toxins take to manifest or how strong they are, why risk life/health for few bites). We knew around 10+ of types that grow around us and all their variations, didn't touch anything else. It is a wonderful activity, hike in dense forests for hours, coupled with treasure hunt that you can eat afterwards (or dry for later). Great for…

"[...]apart from testing new stuff (god knows how long some toxins take to manifest or how strong they are, why risk life/health for few bites).[...]"

In our case, the procedure - of course - was not to approve the edibility of an unknown type of mushroom, but to approve the reliability of our identification of a well known and documented type. Somewhat over-cautious maybe, but better so.

"[...]It is a wonderful activity, hike in dense forests for hours, coupled with treasure hunt that you can eat afterwards (or dry for later). Great for kids too.[...]"

Yes! I miss it a lot. Mushroom foraging came to a complete halt after the Chernobyl desaster.

"[...]The worst people are those that collect all mushrooms they see and then they study them at home.[...]"

Or that would rip the mushrooms from the ground instead of cutting them properly...

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

#133

Post by Insanity » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 9:03 AM UTC

nothal wrote: post #123

rkachowski wrote: post #117

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 th…

I found it on the whole endearing. Through the author's religion we saw his valuation of his friends and family as well as his whole life. I think it's certainly within reason that people can believe contradictory 'truths' and I'm sure you do as well.

I'd make that point even stronger, humans don't tend to analyze their every thought with extreme care and I'd say _most_ hold some kind of contradictory believes. Or, believe something but don't actually act accordingly. (Cognitive dissonance)

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

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

#134

Post by workmandan » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 9:05 AM UTC

Scoundreller wrote: post #73

catalogia wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some mushrooms kill you, others save your life, and yet others expand your mind. It's subjective, but I consider it incredible.

In other words, they're all edible. But some of them only once.

Edible does not mean "can physically be eaten" it means "is safe to eat". So no, poisonous mushrooms are not edible.

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

#135

Post by workmandan » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 9:08 AM UTC

dannykwells wrote: post #102

Is there an app for mushroom ID? Seems like a no brainer now-a-days. Foraging is coming back with the kids. Could probably raise 80M from it, especially if you invent a social networking aspect around foraging.

There are apps but you should not use them as they are dangerously inaccurate. Mushroom identification requires numerous different factors that a simple photograph would not be sufficient for a positive id.

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

#136

Post by SuoDuanDao » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 9:19 AM UTC

Udo wrote: post #130

rkachowski wrote: post #117

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 th…

I know it's maybe even the norm, but I can't get my head around this disconnect between doing deep scientific work on the one hand and having such a profoundly mystical world view that seems to sometimes eschew rational reflections on cause-and-effect. > Why did I live and the rest not live? There are many factors at play. Among those not listed by the author are: age, genetics and biochemical happenstances, and pure…

On the subject of 'prayers from friends and family' being an intellectually and theologically bankrupt theory, here's a meta-study on the phenomenon.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cindy_Crawford/publicat...

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

#137

Post by Udo » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 9:31 AM UTC

SuoDuanDao wrote: post #136

Udo wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know it's maybe even the norm, but I can't get my head around this disconnect between doing deep scientific work on the one hand and having such a profoundly mystical world view that seems to sometimes eschew rational reflections on cause-and-effect. > Why did I live and the rest not live? There are many factors at play. Among those not listed by the author are: age, genetics and biochemical happenstances, and pure…

On the subject of 'prayers from friends and family' being an intellectually and theologically bankrupt theory, here's a meta-study on the phenomenon. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cindy_Crawford/publicat...

That doesn't address my criticism of the premise. I chose to critique the assertions made of why prayer helps. You address the question of whether it helps. It's one of these "distance healing" prayer studies, and a meta-study at that. If you dig down into any of these data sources, you will find plenty of wishful thinking is involved in the design of the individual studies.

But again, whether you believe that it works or not, I wanted to move the discussion to address the claims of why it supposedly works. What I mean by "bankrupt" is the idea that people believe there is an omniscient superintelligence who actively controls the universe on a micro level and takes a direct interest in your personal life choices, who at the same time can be made to change its mind whenever enough people get together to praise it in a transparent attempt to beg for someone's life.

Even putting aside the obvious scientific problems with this concept, I call it also theologically bankrupt because - while it's not completely inconceivable that the universe works like that - it still flies in the face of what most religions portray their deities as.

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

#138

Post by Haga » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 9:41 AM UTC

rkachowski wrote: post #117

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 th…

It was never methologic approaches that broke new ground but mad hatters who made wrong assumptions followingwwrong analogy and ended up finding the new. Please do not make science any slower than it is already by having a unrealistic idealized scientist in the meta sciences.

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

#139

Post by jogundas » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 9:45 AM UTC

AlphaGeekZulu wrote: post #120

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 mushro…

Looks like a perfect task for a set of Deep Learning CNN models :)

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

#140

Post by yakshaving_jgt » Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 9:50 AM UTC

forgotmypw3 wrote: post #86

nlh wrote: post #76

Can someone give me a quick explainer on why it’s appealing to pick & eat ANY mushrooms in the wild at all? I’m probably just a dumb “city kid”, but I don’t see the appeal whatsoever. I’d love to get some perspective on why folks enjoy this.

They're really tasty and good for you. There's also a deep primal satisfaction from eating something directly from the wild earth. It's also a long-standing tradition in many cultures. If you know what you're doing and are very careful and cautious, it is a pretty low-risk activity.

The ratio of benefit to potential drawback seems unappealing though. There are plenty of other types of food that would fulfil that "deep primal satisfaction from eating something directly from the wild earth", and orders of magnitude more if you also include the sea.