People legit do die from mushrooms though. We had an incident locally a few months ago involving a restaurant that served a kind of mushroom that needs to be cooked, but didn't cook them (allegedly).
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Top Russian rocket scientist dies from ‘mushroom poisoning’
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Re: Top Russian rocket scientist dies from ‘mushroom poisoning’
#102This is not really suspicious. I regularly went foraging for shrooms in Ukraine with my gram gram, but I was not allowed to pick anything, of course. It requires expertise. In that part of the world, this is very common, and so are the cases of people poisoning themselves because they think they are good at it. If you can't relate - think of all the "gun people" who think they are experts on gun safety and then they…
The people I feel for are the ones that change countries and mistake a deadly lookalike for what is an edible mushroom in their country. Google is letting me down but I believe something like this happened to a Vietnamese family in the UK.
It's also happening as the growing ranges of mushrooms change. You can have a poisonous look alike expand into an area and catch experienced local mushroom hunters that weren't aware of it.
Re: Top Russian rocket scientist dies from ‘mushroom poisoning’
#103Some mushrooms contain trace amounts of agaritine, a hydrazine-like toxin. Twisted sense of humor?
Re: Top Russian rocket scientist dies from ‘mushroom poisoning’
#104As an active mushroom hunter (born in Russia), can confirm that this is extremely unlikely and uncommon. People who have done this since birth know how distinguish between mushrooms, and usually stick to the variety that they love the best. In Russia, the mushroom of choice is the "White Mushroom" (or Porcini, King Bolete) or Rejik (Milky cap) and Chanterreles, and a few others, and that's it, with the top 2 being th…
This article[1] from 20 years a ago paints a different picture.
> Russians Dying--Literally--for Favorite Fungi
> Like most Russians, Sergei Kayava and his family considered themselves mushroom experts--but the assumption proved fatal.
> On July 8, he and his family eagerly dished up helpings of buttery fried forest mushrooms prepared by his mother-in-law.
> “She is very good at cooking mushrooms. She boiled them and then fried them and then served them with boiled potatoes. It was delicious,” Kayava recalled Saturday.
> But the dish killed Kayava’s wife, Marina, 40, and her father. Collecting mushrooms earlier that day, Kayava’s in-laws mistook the deadly blednaya poganka, or pale toadstool, for the innocuous and tasty syroyezhki mushroom.
...
> The mushroom season has just begun and lasts until late September, but already at least 95 people have died in Russia and Ukraine, a casualty figure much higher than normal for this time of year.
So although this seem unlikely that the top Russian rocket scientist died from mushroom poisoning it isn't out of the question or that ridiculous.
[1] https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jul-16-mn-53777...
Re: Top Russian rocket scientist dies from ‘mushroom poisoning’
#105I love the internet. The first two comments for me: 1) "As an active mushroom hunter, this is extremely unlikely and uncommon, this sounds like foul play. 2) I regularly go foraging in this region, this is extremely common and nothing suspicious.
Yeah, after a few years of Reddit, I started calling this kind of thing "internet advice"... ok for a discussion, but often contradictory or wrong (if I happen to know the topic in depth). For example, people give advice to grown men and women about how to proceed with their divorce or financial planning. Lots of up votes to lend credibility.... but if you dig into their history, the advice giver is 14 years old acco…
Yeah absolutely! It's crazy and I think one of the reasons why I really need to cut down my internet and reddit usage down somewhat.
For a topic like this, that I know nothing about, I am mildly curious and don't want to research it in-depth to get an answer as this would be a wildly bad use of my time, so i rely on others that seem more knowledgeable, but the problem is, who do you believe and what can you trust when you do this? To really know, you have to verify, but to do so on a mild interest topic, is not worth it, therefore how much of this general consumption is ultimately of any use or has much of a point.
Worse, I wonder in which topics my view is now warped, as I read some comment somewhere that I accepted as truth at the time and I now believe it although cannot remember the source.
One of the troubles with Reddit, is that upvotes give a post apparent credibility but are voted on by everyone and most of the people there aren't experts or know what they are talking about, so the reality is whatever sounds the best, sounds 'nicer' or more politically correct gets the upvote. The truth, which might not fit that mould, will get much more mixed results.
Re: Top Russian rocket scientist dies from ‘mushroom poisoning’
#106This is not really suspicious. I regularly went foraging for shrooms in Ukraine with my gram gram, but I was not allowed to pick anything, of course. It requires expertise. In that part of the world, this is very common, and so are the cases of people poisoning themselves because they think they are good at it. If you can't relate - think of all the "gun people" who think they are experts on gun safety and then they…
It is not common at all. You have maybe several people dying every year, which is in the "hit by lightning" territory. It's very well-publicized whenever it happens, which probably helps keep the numbers low. But this is a very unusual way to die.
Ah, just wait until another Russian scientist or business person gets hit by lightning.
Re: Top Russian rocket scientist dies from ‘mushroom poisoning’
#107Is Russia running out of windows or what?
Not really, they are just getting more creative. Too many falls from windows would make boring news. What's the weather like? Who else fell from the window today?
Re: Top Russian rocket scientist dies from ‘mushroom poisoning’
#108I wonder if Putin ever watched The Dictator
Re: Top Russian rocket scientist dies from ‘mushroom poisoning’
#109Re: Top Russian rocket scientist dies from ‘mushroom poisoning’
#110I love the internet. The first two comments for me: 1) "As an active mushroom hunter, this is extremely unlikely and uncommon, this sounds like foul play. 2) I regularly go foraging in this region, this is extremely common and nothing suspicious.
Yeah, after a few years of Reddit, I started calling this kind of thing "internet advice"... ok for a discussion, but often contradictory or wrong (if I happen to know the topic in depth). For example, people give advice to grown men and women about how to proceed with their divorce or financial planning. Lots of up votes to lend credibility.... but if you dig into their history, the advice giver is 14 years old acco…
Yes, many people enjoy making things up, and they are good at it, and it's hard to detect.
Reddit is particularly awful, but HN definitely isn't immune. The moderator's attitude to lying is generally very lame, eg here's someone admitting to habitually lying:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30838788
account still happily posting...