this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2024
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And Finally...

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[–] [email protected] 54 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Purely anecdotal, but a time ago we got some chantrelles through foraging. We've foraged for chantrelles for years, no issues. This year had been a big year, came home with maybe 25-30 lbs of chantrelles. Very good meaty chantrelles. Pickled, fried and frozen in butter, you name it. Chantrelles for weeks.

However, after our first meal, the entire house began having a phenomena where all of our poops smelled acutely like burning rubber/ burnt hair. This did not end when we stopped eating the chantrelles, and in fact has lasted for years, almost decades afterwords. Immediately afterwords it was every movement that smelled of burnt rubber/ burnt hair. Now they are relatively occasional, unless its a meal of chantrelles, in which case, its as if the event happened for the first time. I'm convinced we all experienced a shift in our gut microbiome.

I can imagine precisely what the smell they are describing smells like, and there is so much complexity we don't understand around ECM/ fungi/ plant relationships. Things like lobster mushrooms or bacterial/ fungal pathogens. Decaying permafrost and or the microbial processes that come with it.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

While that's strange in your case (aren't chanterelles one of the guys you have to cook very thoroughly or they're neuro/cardiotoxic?) they've been monitoring the air for particulate and haven't found anything dangerous, but it wouldn't hurt to shoot an email off to a funguy-ologist in the region to see if they think it has merit, and can contact the relevant authorities if that's the case. Then you win the ego game if it turns out that's what it was.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

Nah, chanterelles aren't poisonous. You may be thinking of G. esculenta which have to be parboiled several times for them to be edible.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The ones I'm thinking of grow on the rot inside birch trees and are hard, not slimy, and very slow growing so You're only supposed to sustainably take every 3rd one you come across. And if they're on a different tree, not birch, that's when the issues arise with toxicity. I am picturing it right now I just can't think of the name.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Ahh right. Then it's probably one of the polypores, but there's a looooot of them.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Who tf looks at a disgusting brain shaped mushroom and tries to eat it? God damn I'd rather starve than eat something that looks like that.

Then again I do have an unnatural hatred for all mushrooms. Disgusting little things.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Funny that you're getting downvoted for not liking mushrooms.

I personally love 'em but they can definitely look pretty freaky and they can be pretty slimy too after rain or in moist environments. Acquired taste for sure.

As to who the fuck in their right mind eats poisonous brain shaped mushrooms, it's mostly us weirdos in the northeastern parts of Europe, especially Finland and Russia. The English Wikipedia's a bit wrong about poisonings caused by G. esculenta being common in Scandinavia though; pretty much the only ones eating them around these parts are us Finns and we're not even Scandinavian (which only encompasses Sweden, Norway and Denmark), and the last known fatal poisonings caused by it are from 1953 and 1949 – both caused by a child accidentally eating unprepared mushrooms – and there's only been a few mild cases in the past 20 years, at least a couple of them involving tourists who tried to prepare them themselves. I don't think Swedes or Norwegians really eat them very often, but I dunno about Danes.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Amos Burton prefers algae to mushrooms.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Hah, I wasn't expecting this to make international news. I was sort of wondering what that smell was earlier in the day but it wasn't too strong where I live so I just sort of forgot about it until I saw this headline.

I'd bet it's Russians burning trash in the dumps (either legal or illegal) around St. Petersburg. The dumb fucks have been warned for years that especially if the illegal dumps with gods know what in them ever caught fire (on purpose or not) it'd probably at the very least cause a horrible smell that might linger for even a month, and the smell definitely did resemble burning trash and car tires. At least apparently there's nothing dangerous in the air, or so the Finnish Meteorological Institute claimed anyhow

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Oh there is

Dioxins are a group of chemically related compounds that persistently pollute the environment. Here are some key facts about dioxins: Toxicity: Dioxins are highly toxic and can cause a range of health issues. They can: Reproductive and Developmental Problems: Affect reproductive and developmental processes. Immune System Damage: Interfere with the immune system. Hormonal Disruption: Disrupt hormones. Cancer: Potentially lead to cancer. Sources: Dioxins are mainly by-products of industrial processes, but they can also result from natural events like volcanic eruptions and forest fires. Uncontrolled waste incinerators are significant contributors to environmental dioxin release. Food Chain Accumulation: Dioxins accumulate in the food chain, especially in fatty tissues of animals. Over 90% of human exposure occurs through food, including meat, dairy products, fish, and shellfish. Global Distribution: Although dioxin formation is local, their distribution is global. High levels are found in soils, sediments, and certain foods.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

I'd assume the FMI checked for those as well

[–] [email protected] 35 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Looking at the photo, I guess Putin farted.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago (2 children)

That photo is incredible.

Seriously, photo editors have abandoned all fucks.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

It's not edited. At least not in making him look like that or whatever.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

What editor? Putin just looks like that nowadays

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Not edited, just that that’s the one they picked to run under the “strange smell in russia” article. I don’t even think Putin is mentioned.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

He's showing the size of his erection. And exaggerating, as always.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

He who smelt it must have dealt it

[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Putin spews so much bullshit you can actually smell it now.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

That's his rotting colon.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago

Putin be Pootin'

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago

Putin's bagman dropped the briefcase he stores his piss and shit in and it spilled out all over

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


The odour has been smelt in an area spanning at least 60 km (37 miles) along Finland’s southern coastline and resembles sulphur or burnt rubber was, the department said.

Adding: “According to the current information from the air quality measurements of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the smell does not pose a health risk.

Russian media outlet Fontanka reported on Sunday that residents in several areas of St Petersburg, the Russian city closest to Finland, had complained of an unpleasant odour, comparing it to that of gas, garbage or burnt rubber.

I woke up with a headache and couldn’t breathe,” wrote user Masha Artamonova.

According to local authorities cited by Fontanka, monitoring stations had not recorded anything above the permitted levels of air pollution.

A Russia Environmental Management Committee also claimed that the nearest atmospheric air monitoring stations did not record excess pollution.


The original article contains 275 words, the summary contains 142 words. Saved 48%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

There is no permafrost around Helsinki or St Petersburg.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 7 months ago

Freezing glasnost?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

We had a mystery smell in Denver yesterday. It smelled kinda like a huge pile of rotting fish

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Alright... Who farted?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

It's Putin's chemical weapons leaking.