Psilocybe semilanceata is a fungus whose mushrooms, known as liberty caps, are also called magic mushrooms for their psychedelic properties. They are the most common of the psilocybin mushrooms, and among the most potent. They have a distinctive conical or bell-shaped cap, up to 2.5 cm (1.0 in) wide, with a small nipple-like protrusion on the top. Yellow to brown in color and fading to a lighter color as they mature, they feed off decaying grass roots in fields, grassy meadows, and similar habitats, particularly in wet fields that are well-fertilized by sheep and cattle manure. The mushroom is widely distributed in the cool temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in Europe, and has been reported occasionally in India, South America, and Australasia. The earliest reliable history of P. semilanceata intoxication dates back to 1799 in London. In the 1960s the mushroom was the first European species confirmed to contain psilocybin; it was later found to contain the psychoactive compounds phenylethylamine and baeocystin as well. The possession or sale of psilocybin mushrooms is illegal in many countries. (Full article...)
... that Yao Yuan Hao swam in a lake on a cold day for a scene in Big Red Riding Hood, then ran a half marathon in his birthday week?
... that on 16 March 1942 (the day before St Patrick's Day), St Patrick was toasted in the conning tower of U-boat U-753 as they awaited orders from Germany on whether or not to sink the Irish Willow?
1839 – Qing government official Lin Zexu(pictured) precipitated the First Opium War by ordering the destruction of nearly 1.2 million kg (2.6 million lbs) of opium in Humen, China.
1982 – An assassination attempt on Shlomo Argov, the Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, failed; this was later used as justification for the 1982 Lebanon War.
The Geneva drive is a gear mechanism that translates a continuous rotation into an intermittent rotary motion. The rotating drive wheel has a pin that reaches into a slot of the driven wheel advancing it by one step. The drive wheel also has a raised circular blocking disc that locks the driven wheel in position between steps. Such a mechanism is used in film projectors, watches, and indexing tables, among others.
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