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I Forge Iron

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Calling "America" the USA excluding everything else is very common but incorrect. 

And the name comes from the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, born and raised in my dad's town of Florence a long time ago ... :) and he explored the southern part of America, never set foot in what is now the USA. 

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An occasional salad from my local species is not out of the question, as I tend to graze conservatively upon it when it pokes up this time of year or after any significant rain event.

My Mrs. Loves the silly yellow flowers vased on her windowsill, but has no love for the flavor. Livestock, (sheep) I have read, have been killed by delayed-onset renal failure, after gorging on the plant.

So Avast ye tasters of things growing wild!

I have my own views on Continental Evolution, but I am supposed to be preparing for the evening shift. Have at it.

For me, geographically, it is North, Central, and South, America.

Robert Taylor

 

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2 hours ago, Andrew Martin said:

Are you sure? I only ask because I once checked out a book about N. American poisonous plants, their side effects/symptoms, and what causes those symptoms. Plenty of the plants in that book were toxic because of some group of compounds involving oxalates or oxalic acid (been awhile since I read the book). IIRC some of those plants were reportedly edible only AFTER boiling/cooking thoroughly. Wish I could remember the name of the book, it even said how many pounds of green potatoes you'd have to eat before noticing symptoms.

all plants and fungi and lots of other things are edible ONCE,

SOME ARE EDIBLE MORE THAN ONCE

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2 hours ago, Marc1 said:

Well ... a continent is a continent.

Different political animosities aside,  the American continent is just one from a geological and geographical point of view. Tectonic plates? Nothing to do with continent definition. 

Oh ... wait a minute ... is that why California is all on it's own? Now that is a revelation :)

The rocky mountains and the andes from Alaska down to Tierra del fuego should give a hint that it was formed all at the same time. 

 

Uh. . . You're using the PAST tense? It isn't finished forming you know, I feel it's growth frequently and occasionally get to see more land squirting out of the middle.

Frosty The Lucky.

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12 minutes ago, littleblacksmith said:

I enjoy grazing upon yellow woodsorrow. Has a nice lemony pickle taste.

                                                                               Littleblacksmith 

Moderation good fellow, you don't want kidney stones!

1 hour ago, ThomasPowers said:

I'm like the Ozarks

The eroded remnants of an ancient strange, er, range?

Robert Taylor

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22 hours ago, the iron dwarf said:

all plants and fungi and lots of other things are edible ONCE,

SOME ARE EDIBLE MORE THAN ONCE

I've never fancied the plants and fungi and lots of other things that are edible more than once.....civet coffee for example....!

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3 hours ago, Smoggy said:

I've never fancied the plants and fungi and lots of other things that are edible more than once.....civet coffee for example....!

I'm with you but I guess there's no accounting for an iron dwarf's taste. (NO I don't mean what an iron dwarf tastes like!)

Frosty The Lucky.

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On 11/03/2017 at 0:51 AM, littleblacksmith said:

I enjoy grazing upon yellow woodsorrow. Has a nice lemony pickle taste.

                                                                               Littleblacksmith 

I am bitterly sorrel to hear that...

Alan

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On 10/3/2017 at 5:22 PM, C-1ToolSteel said:

I live in the USA and call the area in the middle Central America. Seems like most everybody around hear does, actually.

Oh, I didn't know that. I even had a teacher teach me what I said, and I appreciate you telling me this. Thanks!

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On 3/10/2017 at 3:17 PM, Andres Bello said:

Well, that is a controversial subject. From my understanding, some say "The Americas" as a whole continent, and other separate North America and South America.

In my country, it is even more different:

We say "America" as the whole continent, but actually separate it in 3 parts:

North America (Canada, USA, Mexico), Central America (below Mexico down to Panama) and South America.

I have personally never heard a person from USA talking about Central America, and I always found that interesting.

Technically, "North America" is everything below Alaska & Canada down to Panama; "Central America" is a convenient way to refer to that particular region of North America. "South America" is everything else.

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On ‎3‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 2:22 PM, C-1ToolSteel said:

I live in the USA and call the area in the middle Central America. Seems like most everybody around hear does, actually.

Do you mean the middle part of the USA, or the middle part of North/South American continents? At first I read your statement the second way, but then I realized you could of meant it the other way:huh: 

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It all depends from who is doing the naming. Geography is one thing, politics is a different issue. Popular likes and dislikes a further issue. 

The american continent is one thing according to the definition of what a continent is, not debatable. But the schools in the USA teach there are 7 continents when in fact they could be as little as 4, 5 or 6 according to who does the teaching. 

I learned that Australia was part of the Oceanic continent, or Oceania. However schools today teach Australia is one continent and the rest of the islands can go jump. 

Pure fashion and PC. In the case of America, an artificial canal does not break the continuity of one single solitary continent. Considering the vast difference between the countries, I can certainly see why someone would try to introduce a division north south or even north "central" and south. South american countries are notoriously indoctrinated to be "anti" north, imperialist and all that, so the schools are the way to follow through with that sentiment. 

Not much to do with real geography.  

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Just Google "how many continents" and you can read at your leisure. They go from 4 for the purist to 6, only 7 if you artificially divide America in two.

Science and politics are indivisible because politicians direct the flow of funds for scientist, so the scientist like the oracle and the alchemist tell the boss what he want's to hear. Just look at so called global warming "teachings" and you see the same link. We live in interesting times :) 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Very few plants and fungi are REALLY toxic mening that a small part will kill you if you eat them. In my corner of the world there are five wild plants plus a couple of garden plants and thre fungi that are deadly.  (I will not enumerate the killers in public) If you handle them with bare hands no problem will occur in spite of all well meaning warnings.  Some plants (very few) will give an allergic reaction if you touch them. Poison ivy and Heracleum are the best known and are a big nuisance but not a threat to life.  A large number of plans are slightly toxic meaning that they may upset your tummy or give a burning feeling if you consume a sufficient amount. Practically all of them taste awful.  Many of these have a bad reputation far in excess of the danger. Oxalis acetosella is definitely not toxic if you use a few to give taste to a salad or nibble on them when walking in the forest. The genus oxalis is large and most of them have yellow flowers. They indeed contain oxalic acid which is poisonous in large amounts; so is acetic acid which is the business ingredient in vinegar. Neither of them will harm you by handling or ingestion unless concentrated. There is oxalic acid in Rhubarb and Acetic acid in vinegar and both are used in cooking.

For at least 2400 years it has been said, by those who know,  that "the poison lies in the dosage". You can kill yourself by drinking too much water.  

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