Althouse: Fungus of the Day.

July 17, 2024

Fungus of the Day.

53 comments:

The rule of Lemnity said...: Moss and fungus a wildlife hotspot.; 7/17/24, 10:42 AM
The rule of Lemnity said...: WSB Saturday Morning Radio Podcast Hour 1: Moss and snakes 7/13/24 Hour 1, Beautiful moss- learning to love it!

Link (scroll down to hour 1); 7/17/24, 10:53 AM
imTay said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/17/24, 10:56 AM
imTay said...: Maybe if you wait a day, it will complete itself.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/196439; 7/17/24, 10:57 AM
imTay said...: Maybe if you wait a day, it will complete itself

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/196439; 7/17/24, 10:58 AM
Jersey Fled said...: Glad to see we’re back to the FOD; 7/17/24, 11:03 AM
traditionalguy said...: Is that the Trumpicus Winnicus? It’s shooting up faster than the average fungus. And God said let there be fungi.; 7/17/24, 11:29 AM
wendybar said...: I was looking forward to more of these. I see different mushrooms at my 5 am walk every morning, (don't own a cell phone, and don't carry a camera) and think of these posts.; 7/17/24, 11:32 AM
Hassayamper said...: Oh joy! The Fungus of the Day is back.

This is a saprobic species growing on a rotting log, not a terrestrial species, so that narrows things down somewhat. It's a pretty big mushroom with a long slender stem and what appear to be broad whitish gills. The stem looks doubled, with one fused cap, which is an inconsequential anatomic variant seen when two fruiting body "pins" are produced in close proximity, both in space and in time.

I would favor a Megacollybia such as M. rodmani. The cap is typically a darker shade of gray or brown, but this specimen looks a bit weatherbeaten and probably sun-bleached. Supposedly edible but not worth the effort, and some people report unpleasant gastrointestinal side effects.; 7/17/24, 12:20 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Glad to see we’re back to the FOD."

The thing about Fungus of the Day is that some days may have a fungus, in which case it's the Fungus of [that] Day, but not all days have a fungus. I was finding a lot of them for a while, and I have a backlog, so I'm not following a rule like my rule for the sunrise, where the photograph documents the day.

I think I have some other "of the day" posts — e.g., "Garner of the Day" — but this is just a way of phrasing the title and a kind of humor (I am amused by the idea that things in this category are vying for recognition).; 7/17/24, 12:36 PM
Ann Althouse said...: There was a "Garner of the Day" on February 28, 2024 — https://althouse.blogspot.com/2024/02/garner-of-day.html — on August 8, 2023 — https://althouse.blogspot.com/2023/08/garner-of-day.html?m=1 — and September 8, 2023 — https://althouse.blogspot.com/2023/09/random-garner-sighting-of-day.html

I'm also seeing an old "Mixed Metaphor of the Day" — https://althouse.blogspot.com/2017/05/mixed-metaphor-of-day.html

An "Incorrect "Literally" of the Day" — https://althouse.blogspot.com/2024/02/incorrect-literally-of-day.html

A "Nostalgia Cookie of the Day" — https://althouse.blogspot.com/2018/12/nostalgia-cookie-of-day-devils-food.html

A "Sublime Moment of the Day" — https://althouse.blogspot.com/2008/09/sublime-moment-of-day.html

A "Mystery Voice of the Day" — https://althouse.blogspot.com/2004/10/mystery-voice-of-day.html

And a "Labyrinthine Sentence of the Day" — https://althouse.blogspot.com/2022/04/labyrinthine-sentece-of-day.html; 7/17/24, 12:43 PM
traditionalguy said...: Speaking of a fungus among us, the reports from Red China say their dictator Xi has had a massive stroke.

The succession quandary in Communist Police States is their biggest weakness. Hmm? Trump will be hitting the ground running without war about Taiwan happening immediately..; 7/17/24, 12:49 PM
Original Mike said...: "reports from Red China say their dictator Xi has had a massive stroke."

Thank God this is happening between 10 to 4.; 7/17/24, 12:53 PM
Enigma said...: @Althouse: The thing about Fungus of the Day

In winter can we have snowflake of the day?
In summer can we have insect of the day?; 7/17/24, 1:01 PM
Political Junkie said...: We need Chuck so there will be a "Fungus among us".; 7/17/24, 1:07 PM
Fandor said...: That inviting moss,with the umbrella providing shade,beckons to Elves.; 7/17/24, 1:12 PM
imTay said...: "reports from Red China say their dictator Xi has had a massive stroke"

Great, so in this great game of cutthroat, (it's an expression) only Putin remains compos mentis, and two of the three largest military powers are now effectively leaderless. If it's true, and it wasn't just a picture of Xi reacting to some heartburn that people ran with. Impossible to know I guess, but if it did happen, they can't keep it quiet forever, so 24 hour rule.; 7/17/24, 1:57 PM
imTay said...: I know that Biden will be easy to beat, and the "smart move" is to let the Democrats stew in their own juices, but there is too much at stake to leave a tottering old dotard pretending to be in charge.; 7/17/24, 1:59 PM
Rich said...: Global chip stocks from Nvidia to ASML fall on geopolitics, Trump comments
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/17/global-chip-stocks-from-nvidia-to-asml-fall-as-geopolitics-trump-weigh.html

Trump is an oaf. he has no understanding whatsoever of America’s role in the Free World. Trump understands as much about trade as any man could who doesn’t read and doesn’t listen. He hasn't quite got his head around how much of the S&P 500 is heavily dependant on Taiwan's silicon manufacturing. Nvidia must be spitting nails.

Trump 1.0 never collected from Mexico on building the wall. Why will Trump 2.0 collect from Taiwan?

TSMC will give him a tour of Arizona and all will be well.; 7/17/24, 2:08 PM
amr said...: Hassayamper,
Given that it's growing directly out of a log, and not particularly gregarious, I favor Pluteus cf. cervinus, the "Deer Mushroom" (and relatives), but maybe that's my own personal bias (I see tons of them in Minnesota, pretty much from May straight through to September). Pinkish spore-print would confirm.

At the same time, I don't really see the fibrils on the cap that I'd expect from that genus, so maybe you're correct that this is collybioid.; 7/17/24, 2:11 PM
Enigma said...: @Rich: Trump is an oaf. he has no understanding whatsoever of America’s role in the Free World.

What does "free world" mean today? Do you mean the countries free of the USA's interference? Free from USA-led regime change (i.e., not Argentina, not Cuba, not Haiti, not Ukraine, not Afghanistan, not Iraq, not Libya, etc.)? Countries free of the USA-produced Woke garbage vomited out by Disney?

Rich still thinks the old USSR Cold War is active, that the USA is the "Good Guy," and that Russia is the "Evil Empire." The political screw turns. The Tom Cruise Top Gun era is over. Today we live in 50 Shades of Gray.; 7/17/24, 2:23 PM
Dr Weevil said...: The reports that Xi has had a stroke are coming from extremely dubious sites in Russia, not from China. There is no reason to believe them.; 7/17/24, 2:31 PM
Dr Weevil said...: traditionalguy (11:29am):
A mushroom named after Trump? Good idea. Unlike most boring, stupid politicians, he is a fun-gi.; 7/17/24, 2:37 PM
imTay said...: "never collected from Mexico on building the wall"

Joe Biden promised to cure cancer in 2020. He never even tried. He wouldn't have had a lot of people from both parties blocking him, either. It's just the kinds of empty promises that sociopaths who are also narcissists say to normies to "charm" them. At least Trump worked at building a wall.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/joe-biden-cure-cancer-president; 7/17/24, 2:49 PM
imTay said...: "no understanding whatsoever of America’s role in the Free World."

So what is the endgame Rich? The US finally humiliates Russia while we convince China not to intervene, and then once Russia is gone, we take down China, then we win the game of Risk?

We break up every possible country that might ever rise to a level of equal with the United States before it happens? We break China apart, starting with Taiwan, we split the Russian Federation into small satrapies where we choose the leaders? And we do all of this without an "Axis of Resistance" arising, as, BTW, it has already.

I really want you to explain the endgame to me, or is it classified? No, the endgame that the neocons have in mind is what I wrote above. Do you think that Caesar could have conquered Gaul if all of the people there could talk to each other and examine the history of Rome's treatment of conquered nations? Do you think that "divide and conquer" is going to work when the other side knows what is coming.

I really want to know what the US role in the world is, and how it ends up. Because if it is not to get along, with diplomacy, and friendly economic rivalry, but instead involves imposing our will through our military to gain markets and access to resources, well you tell the kids down at the recruiting station that that is what they are fighting for Rich, to make Joe Biden's friends even richer.; 7/17/24, 3:01 PM
imTay said...: I think that Trump understands the neocons and neoliberals ideas perfectly, and rejects them, as he should.; 7/17/24, 3:02 PM
rhhardin said...: A tornado seems to have wiped out two churches (incl. steeples) in Rome NY. It's divine intervention, second time in a week.; 7/17/24, 3:11 PM
Saint Croix said...: A mushroom named after Trump? Good idea. Unlike most boring, stupid politicians, he is a fun-gi.

Mushroom is actually my favorite metaphor for evil politicians.

Keep us in the dark!

Feed us shit!; 7/17/24, 3:26 PM
Saint Croix said...: Trump is more like a beautiful sunrise, casting light in the darkness.

Biden is a foggy day.; 7/17/24, 3:28 PM
Saint Croix said...: The Democrat withdraw counter is now up to 20 Democrats in the House and Senate calling for Biden to withdraw from the race.

Adam Schiff (running for Senate) just joined their ranks.; 7/17/24, 3:45 PM
imTay said...: For Biden, we might end up naming a mushroom cloud, you know, because he understands "America's role in the world" best.; 7/17/24, 3:49 PM
Hassayamper said...: @amr: Given that it's growing directly out of a log, and not particularly gregarious, I favor Pluteus cf. cervinus, the "Deer Mushroom" (and relatives), but maybe that's my own personal bias (I see tons of them in Minnesota, pretty much from May straight through to September). Pinkish spore-print would confirm.

Yes, Pluteus is a good thought too. Distinctly pinkish gills would certainly point towards something in the super-common P. cervinus group, but I'm not seeing that here. There are other species in the genus that have white gills, at least when young, such as P. petasatus. But to my eye the gills in that species are narrower and more crowded than those seen in the Fungus of the Day.; 7/17/24, 3:49 PM
Saint Croix said...: Biden on a Zoom call with 100 House Democrats, and he lost his shit.

"incoherent"

"unintelligible"

One member suggested to ABC News that members on the call were left "aghast" after this particular exchange -- with members shaking their heads, some with their hands on their faces in apparent shock.; 7/17/24, 3:54 PM
tcrosse said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/17/24, 4:03 PM
tcrosse said...: After the meeting there was praise for the President. None of these guys want to fall afoul of the Politburo.; 7/17/24, 4:04 PM
amr said...: Hassayamper,
Good point on the Gill thickness and small number.
Sometimes when they're wet, the gills can clump together in thicker bunches (like eyelashes in a swimming pool), but I see that there's structure in the top of the cap that indicates they're actually that spaced.

I now agree it's not *Pluteus* and instead something I'm not familiar with enough to ID from just this photo.; 7/17/24, 4:11 PM
imTay said...: "News that members on the call were left "aghast" after this particular exchange"

Did Joe say "Just give me another shot!"?; 7/17/24, 4:19 PM
Dave Begley said...: Read the leak of the Saturday call with House Dems.

Joe is out.

My biggest fear is that Michelle Obama will be the replacement candidate. Black woman. Popular.

But the Powers That Be have got to raise the bribe money for her to stand for election. Why wreck her perfect life now and work? I'd say $400m might convince her.

And Mayor Pete will be the VP. The most historic ticket ever!; 7/17/24, 4:35 PM
traditionalguy said...: @ Dr weevil …LOL; 7/17/24, 4:40 PM
Mary Beth said...: Biden has tested positive for COVID. This is what comes from tempting fate by blaming his poor debate performance on a cold.; 7/17/24, 5:20 PM
Mary Beth said...: Saint Croix said...

Biden on a Zoom call with 100 House Democrats, and he lost his shit.

Well, yeah, he still thought his path to victory was getting ready to be cleared that evening.; 7/17/24, 5:24 PM
FullMoon said...: Biden said he will withdraw if" Drs. tell him he has a medical problem".

He is done,he just admitted it. Figures he can drop out without seeming like a quitter.
Then, can spend the rest of his life saying he would have beat Trump if the evil Drs had not misdiagnosed him.; 7/17/24, 5:27 PM
Jim at said...: So Biden tested positive for Covid. Again.

Know who isn't getting Covid multiple times? People who didn't get the jab.; 7/17/24, 6:32 PM
Dr Weevil said...: I seldom agree with Rich, but . . .

If you're going to mock the idea that Russia is an "Evil Empire", as Enigma did at 2:23pm, you probably shouldn't do it on the 10th anniversary of the murder of 298 civilians on Malaysian Airlines flight MH 17 by members of the Russian armed forces using a Russian BUK missile. They took pictures of themselves looting the wreckage and stealing the baggage of the dead.

The fact is that Russia is an empire, just as much as Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were, ruling over dozens of nationalities without their consent. And it is thoroughly evil, bombing hospitals and schools, "double-tapping" rescue workers, using chemical weapons, torturing prisoners, and violating every single provision of the Geneva Conventions in Ukraine. I've asked before if anyone can name one Russia hasn't violated. I can't think of one: can you?

It will be a very good thing if Russia, in 5 or 10 or 15 years, is like Austria today: a former empire denuded of its colonial subjects who all live in independent democratic states, and no threat to anyone. Turkey is not a very solid democracy, and still a threat to Kurds and some of its neighbors, but a Russia reduced to the power of today's Turkey would still be a very good thing.; 7/17/24, 6:54 PM
J Melcher said...: Fungus and forest and have we seen this before?

https://crookedtimber.org/2024/06/20/occasional-paper-fungal-banking/#more-52776; 7/17/24, 7:04 PM
Hassayamper said...: @Melcher: Fungus and forest and have we seen this before?

https://crookedtimber.org/2024/06/20/occasional-paper-fungal-banking/#more-52776

That's a great little piece. I already knew some of that stuff, but the article really fleshes it out.

Fungi are some of the most complex and interesting organisms on earth. Just their sex lives alone, and how they can live in two totally different forms (anamorph/teleomorph) are fascinating.

Ah, the lonely lives of mycophiles....; 7/17/24, 7:23 PM
Enigma said...: @Dr Weevil: If you're going to mock the idea that Russia is an "Evil Empire", as Enigma did at 2:23pm, you probably shouldn't do it on the 10th anniversary of the murder of 298 civilians on Malaysian Airlines flight MH 17 by members of the Russian armed forces using a Russian BUK missile. They took pictures of themselves looting the wreckage and stealing the baggage of the dead.

Huh?????? The US Navy shot down Iran Air #655 in 1988...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/10/middleeast/iran-air-flight-655-us-military-intl-hnk/index.html

Russia is plenty evil. You missed the point entirely. Fifty shades of gray. Russia may be dark gray...but they reliably supply the fuel that keeps a billion people alive (e.g., India, China)... China may be dark gray...buy you still own dozens of tech products made there... How can the USA be seen as pure/white when there have been so many, many, many dirty tricks? Start by reviewing the Tuskeegee syphilis experiment and the Cherokee Trial of Tears. Then look into the JFK and MLK assassination monkey business. Then flash forward to Obama's extremely dirty tricks (e.g., relying on Deep State "rules" versus votes; Ukraine), and then Crossfire Hurricane, and then all the rest.

You completely missed the point. You swallowed the propaganda. Gray. Not white. Not black. Gray. Fifty shades.; 7/17/24, 8:27 PM
Dr Weevil said...: Hahaha. No one is saying the USA is "pure/white", just not one-tenth as evil as Russia, which is indeed utterly black. Calling them both "gray" as if equivalent is stupid and dishonest. Again, can you name a single war-crime defined in the Geneva Conventions that Russia is not committing in Ukraine and other countries?

And why does the US have to be perfect to criticize other countries for brutal invasions and mass murders? Poland was a military dictatorship under a Colonel Beck in 1939, but they were still absolutely the "good guys" when Hitler and then Stalin invaded.

As for JFK and RFK, what "monkey business"? JFK was murdered by a communist, RFK by an Arab who hated his support for Israel. Neither act blackens (or 'grayens'?) the name of the U.S. in any way, and Oswald's, if anything, further blackens the name of the USSR/Russia, since they certainly encouraged his violent hostility to his own country's leadership, even if they didn't order or suggest that he do what he did.

In short, saying I "swallowed the propaganda" (whose?) is a contemptible lie.; 7/17/24, 9:10 PM
imTay said...: "JFK was murdered by a communist"

LOL, sure he was.

Stalin "invaded" Poland as part of a deal with Churchill and FDR. He had to fight against Hitler and Ukrainian nationalists who were running death camps, and btw, brutally putting down a revolt against Hitler in Slovakia.

And it's kind of amazing that no matter how many times the Russians demand UN investigations for these "atrocious" war crimes, the US blocks them on the Security Council.

I know it's your job to relay Ukrainian propaganda, but seriously. If Ukraine is not willing to allow independent verification of these "atrocities,", it sounds a lot more like propaganda than truth.

Ukrainians hate Russians, that's their blood feud, not ours. Ukrainians always accuse the other side of whatever they are doing, like interfering in the 2016 election, for instance. Ukraine I know to be liars, Russia might be liars too, but they are not asking us for money and weapons. Let the two of them fight it out without us.; 7/17/24, 9:31 PM
imTay said...: "The fact is that Russia is an empire, just as much as Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were, ruling over dozens of nationalities without their consent. "

The United States just genocided all of the nations we encountered, and the ones we didn't kill off to a man, we put on reservations. That's much better than Russia, which incorporated the nations they encountered into their country. The Russian Federation is what America would look like had we brought the Iroquois, the Cherokee, the Sioux, the Apaches, the Navaho, etc, etc, into our union as partners.; 7/17/24, 9:35 PM
Dr Weevil said...: Apparently imTay has forgotten the Hitler-Stalin pact and that Stalin invaded Poland a few weeks after Hitler did in 1939. That was obviously what I was referring to, and it was not in any way "part of a deal with Churchill and FDR".

imTay knows nothing about Russia or Ukraine or the Kennedy assassination or really anything at all. Only a fool invites the perpetrators of an atrocity to help "investigate" it, and no honest and intelligent person doubts that Russia massacred 400 civilians in Bucha, shot down flight MH 17, blew up the Nova Kakhovka dam, and blew up three hospitals in Ukraine just 9 days ago, including the largest children's hospital in Europe, among many other atrocities. Can imTay name a war-crime Russia is not committing in Ukraine? I've asked twice now if anyone can, to deafening silence so far.

Of course, Ukrainians hate Russians because Russians are murdering, raping, robbing, and torturing them. The Russians brag about what they're doing on RT, as anyone who reads @JuliaDavisNews on Twitter knows. But imTay doesn't want to know the truth.; 7/17/24, 9:40 PM
Dr Weevil said...: Anyone who even bothers to read Wikipedia on the Russo-Circassian War knows that Russia's conquest of its empire was far more brutal than anything the US did to the Indians - bad as that was. That one war aimed at extermination, and as many as 3,500,000 Circassian "mountaineers", "bandits", and "mountain scum" were slaughtered or driven into exile in Turkey. It was Wounded Knee x 5,000. It was very much like what Turkey did to the Armenians a few decades later.

Then read up on what Stalin did to the Baltics, and what he did to the Crimean Tatars: basically killed half of them and shipped the rest 1,200 miles away to 'Tatarstan'. Then go away and stop commenting on Ukraine: you know nothing.; 7/17/24, 9:54 PM
Narr said...: Come for the fungus, stay for the history.; 7/18/24, 9:34 AM