Althouse: Fungus of the Day.

July 6, 2024

Fungus of the Day.

24 comments:

amr said...: Amanita section Vaginatae: a "Grisette" or "Ringless Amanita"
No "ring" or "partial veil" remnants on the stipe.
But I see "universal veil" remnants at the bottom of the stem.

These are edible and supposedly good, but they're too close to lethally toxic species for my comfort. (If they were just close to species that gave gastrointestinal distress, I would have eaten some by now.)

Looks similar to Amanita populiphilia. Were there any Cottonwood, Poplar, or Aspen trees near this?
https://www.mushroomexpert.com/amanita_populiphila.html; 7/6/24, 12:10 PM
Joe Smith said...: Nice shot...; 7/6/24, 12:20 PM
tcrosse said...: As the picture was coming up, I thought it was the back of Trump's head.; 7/6/24, 12:28 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Weirdly beautiful.; 7/6/24, 12:42 PM
Narayanan said...: does toxicity of fungus depend on dead-tree-detritus they grow ?; 7/6/24, 12:57 PM
imTay said...: I not sure that Great^n Grandpa Cotton Mather would approve of this interest, which smacks of witchcraft!; 7/6/24, 1:01 PM
amr said...: Narayanan I'm not aware of any species where the toxicity changes with the substrate (although Amanita are mycorrhizal and don't grow from decomposing wood but in a mutually beneficial relationship with trees). Knowing what it's growing from or with can help identify it however.; 7/6/24, 1:06 PM
gilbar said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/6/24, 1:41 PM
Narr said...: The looming 'shroom.; 7/6/24, 1:58 PM
Dave Begley said...: Spent a good ten minutes just now debating Tony Vargas who is the Dem candidate for the House in Nebraska's Second District.

Me, being me, I engaged him in a debate on his vote on the child mutilation a/k/a gender affirming care bill. I give the senator full credit as he didn't dodge me. I introduced myself and later in the discussion he said he knew who I am. LOL.

Vargas is very slick and smart with slick being the operative word. He said that the Second District is 50/50 and he going after the 20% who are undecided.

On the Let Them Grow Act, his position was that the subject matter experts and the medical associations were against Kauth's bill. Vargas didn't think the government should interfere in the decisions between parents, minors and their doctors.

I told him that the State has always treated children differently e.g. child labor laws. These kids are mentally ill and, in many cases, their parents are too. The greedy and liberal doctors at the University of Nebraska Medical Center - UNMC prey on them with their appeal to authority.

I also told Tony that CHI Creighton Bergan Medical Center never did the trans surgery on minors. Doctors disagree on this as a moral issue. Experts nearly always disagree.

He tried to position himself as a moderate on spending and immigration. He wants do distance himself from Joe Biden. But I flat out told him that if he won, the Dems exercise an iron party discipline.

IMO, as a political move Vargas never should have joined Megan Hunt and Machela Cavanaugh on this issue as the bill was doomed to fail and would only cost him in the general.

Oddly, he didn't know the meaning of the phrase "rent seekers" from economics. I had to explain it to him. DC is full of rent seekers a/k/a lobbyists.

It was actually fun to debate a Dem.; 7/6/24, 2:03 PM
Dave Begley said...: The Nebraska Second District race is rated a toss-up; within the polling margin of error.; 7/6/24, 2:25 PM
Wince said...: Looks like the back of Trump’s head?; 7/6/24, 2:27 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: “I think that I’m characterized as cantankerous perhaps because if you see things the way they are, and you just describe things the way they are, you can be accused of being unkind." - Paul Theroux; 7/6/24, 2:29 PM
Caroline said...: Althouse in Wonderland; 7/6/24, 3:23 PM
NMObjectivist said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/6/24, 3:55 PM
NMObjectivist said...: Ann, Thanks for all these wonderful photos. I live in a dry climate and we see very few of these.; 7/6/24, 3:59 PM
Kate said...: Thrilling WNBA today with NY at Indiana. Some marvelous basketball.; 7/6/24, 4:19 PM
imTay said...: Well, it's almost Saturday Night. Those of us who remember the downfall of Nixon remember what kinds of things can happen on a Saturday night.

We already have James "Rosemary Woods" Garland, who won't release the video of the interview that led the Special Prosecutor to believe that Biden was too senile to stand trial.; 7/6/24, 4:25 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: a fun photoshop where you cut and paste that top part on your head. Someone do it.; 7/6/24, 4:35 PM
West TX Intermediate Crude said...: Dave Begley @ 2:03-
A quibble: you wrote "rent seekers a/k/a lobbyists."
I am not an economist but I took a course once...
My concept of rent seeking is that it describes the entities that the lobbyists are representing, not the lobbyists themselves, who function more as agents of the rent-seeking entities. A quick search seems to support my position, but I'm seeking education here. Do I misunderstand?
I enjoyed your description of the debate with the Midwest non-insane version of a Democrat.; 7/6/24, 5:46 PM
Dave Begley said...: West TX.

I think you are correct.; 7/6/24, 6:24 PM
planetgeo said...: Regarding the "Midwest non-insane version of a Democrat", I give credit to both him and Dave Begley for the quality of their interaction. It used to be called, "disagreeing without being disagreeable." We need more of that kind of interaction these days.

By coincidence, the other day I happened to see an article about Governor Cox of Utah. Frankly, I know very little about him, but the article was focused on a very interesting initiative he's promoting called,"Disagree Better". It described how he is trying to get his fellow governors to work more collegially to find solutions and avoid the knee-jerk adversarial hostility that dominates political discussions today.

Disagree Better sounds like a good way to start to turn things around, one interaction at a time. For everyone, including myself. And Dave, thanks for reminding me.; 7/6/24, 8:28 PM
Rusty said...: West TX Intermediate Crude ,
"My concept of rent seeking is that it describes the entities that the lobbyists are representing, not the lobbyists themselves,"
Any third party who makes money at the taxpayers expense. So, yes. Lobbyists are rent seekers. The entity the represent are crony capitalists.; 7/7/24, 6:45 AM
Hassayamper said...: @amr: Looks similar to Amanita populiphilia.

Agreed.; 7/7/24, 2:46 PM