IJCH - Inside JaiChai's Head (meaning: My warped, personal opinions and musings)
From the Author:
Salutations.
I am JaiChai.
And if I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you before, I'm delighted to make your acquaintance now.
I invite you to interact with everyone, learn, and have as much fun as possible!
For my returning online friends, "It's always great to see you again!"
What is "Mycelium"
Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus or fungus-like bacterial colony, consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. The mass of hyphae is sometimes called shiro, especially within the fairy ring fungi.
Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are found in and on soil and many other substrates. A typical single spore germinates into a homokaryotic mycelium, which cannot reproduce sexually; when two compatible homokaryotic mycelia join and form a dikaryotic mycelium, that mycelium may form fruiting bodies such as mushrooms.
A mycelium may be minute, forming a colony that is too small to see, or it may be extensive:
Is Mycelium the largest organism in the world?
A 2,400-acre [970-hectare] site in eastern Oregon had a contiguous growth of mycelium before logging roads cut through it.
Estimated at 1,665 football fields in size and 2,200 years old, this one fungus has killed the forest above it several times over, and in so doing has built deeper soil layers that allow the growth of ever-larger stands of trees. Mushroom-forming forest fungi are unique in that their mycelial mats can achieve such massive proportions.
— Paul Stamets, Mycelium Running
Mycelium - The Believers, The Occult and More
Negative Connotation -
The English eugenics movement included H. G. Wells, an abortion supporter, who in 1936 discussed the “essential parasitism of the Jewish mycelium upon the social and cultural organisms in which it lives".
This was also echoed by the negative connotations of mycelium "parasitism" by Nazi's.
The tree of life's framework is said to be mycelium in nature.
It's a focal image in the Kabbalah and other ancient religions - not to mention the mapping of ancient aliens (e.g., the first cities of Pleiadians, the Reptilians, the Annunaki descendants, etc.).
Mycelium - The Thinking Card Game
Mycelium was devised by Dan Holloway, winner of the 2016 and 2017 Creative Thinking World Championships. It won the 2017 Oxford University Humanities Innovation challenge, and is supported by Oxford University Innovation Limited.
The principles behind Mycelium draw from the occult systems of mediaeval heretics and the findings of recent neuroimaging research, boiled down into an easy to play game that primes the brain with everything it needs to be more creative.
Paul Stamets: 6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World -
Paul Stamets is an American mycologist, author, and advocate of bioremediation and medicinal fungi. He’s been a passionate, long-time supporter of fungi and its implications for healing the planet – and believes we are living in the midst of Earth’s 6th major extinction, but the “neurological network of nature” may hold the key to our survival.
Stamets recently joined Joe Rogan on his podcast to talk mycelium, and more (see video below).
Now To My Weird "Mycelium Day"It Started With Cleaning My Shower Curtain -
This morning I decided to clean my shower curtain and some tiles that had accumulated mold and mildew.
I soaked the curtain in a mild bleach/water solution and sprayed the tiles with a generic mold/mildew cleaner from the supermarket.
Little did I know that this activity was a harbinger of my "Mycelium Day"...
A Wallet Named Mycelium -
Next, I had to do some Bitcoin transactions.
I opened my Mycelium Wallet and made some transfers - not realizing that this was the second time today I'd encountered mycelium.
BTW, I love the Mycelium Wallet:
Growing from the dawn of the blockchain era. Acknowledged to be the best not the fanciest. Being adapted for use by the masses.
"The Default Bitcoin Wallet"
TESTED BY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF USERS
FOR MANY YEARS. NO ALTERNATIVE HAS MORE STARS ON GOOGLE PLAY.
Hannibal - Netflix Original Series "Amuse-bouchet" Episode -
In the afternoon I watched Hannibal (Original Netflix Series) Season 1, Episode 2 "Amuse-bouchet".
In this episode, Will and Jack hunt a killer who burys his victims alive as fertilizer for growing various fungus. The killer believes that mycelium is the ultimate in beauty and that he is "freeing" his victims from disconnectedness.
Now it dawned on me that this was the third time that mycelium had made an appearance in my day.
It was getting a little weird...
Star Trek Discovery - "The War Without, The War Within"
In the early evening I did my PM workout.
While working out in my home gym, I watched another Netflix favorite of mine "Star Trek Discover Original Netflix Series", specifically Season 1, Episode 14 "The War Without, The War Within".
If you're not up to snuff on the Star Trek Discovery series, let me just state that "Mycelium" is at the heart of the starship's (and indeed the whole series') raison d' etre.
It is the secret to the starship Discovery's ability to "jump" to anywhere in the universe in the blink of an eye.
In "The War Without, The War Within" episode, a desolate moon is Terraformed into a thriving cosmic mycelium farm.
Holy Shit!
This was the fourth time mycelium was staring me in the face!
Strange. Very strange, indeed!
Terraforming - The Ultimate in Galactic Farming
Later in the day, I answered a video call from a buddy of mine where we discussed Terraforming.
We discussed Elon Musk's plans for Terraforming Mars and how "The Engineer" from the movie "Prometheus" Bio Terraformed Earth.
In the midst of our conversation, my friend commented how the Terraforming process' topology resembled the efficient mycelium network.
I was silent for a minute before I described my "Mycelium Day" to my buddy, stating that his remark was the fifth time today I've been dealing with Mycelium.
I was over the edge now and I just accepted that I was destined to think about mycelium for the rest of the day - at the very least.
So what did I do?
I made spaghetti with a fuckin' boatload of mushrooms in it!
And it was damn delicious, thank you!
(Submitted for your free moments to ponder)
By JaiChai
Really Appreciate You Stopping By.
Truly hope to see you again!
About the Author
Believing that school was too boring, he dropped out of High School early; only to earn an AA, BS and MBA in less than 4 years much later in life – while working full-time as a Navy/Marine Corps Medic.
In spite of a fear of heights and deep water, he performed high altitude, free-fall parachute jumps and hazardous diving ops in deep, open ocean water.
After 24 years of active duty, he retired in Asia.
Since then, he's been a full-time, single papa and actively pursuing his varied passions (Writing, Disruptive Technology, Computer Science and Cryptocurrency - plus more hobbies too boring or bizarre for most folk).
He lives on an island paradise with his teenage daughter, long term girlfriend and three dogs.
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