Posts by Dan

  • Don't mess with a mango tree

    I've eaten plenty of mangos over the years, even some from this particular tree, and never had a problem.


    Benedryl in capsules and topical gel don't do anything to alleviate the symptoms.

  • Don't mess with a mango tree

    There's a huge beautiful mango tree in my new place. A week ago I spend an hour working with a hand saw to cut off a limb that grew into the house power line. It required a few cuts while balancing on the top step of an A ladder, and hanging on to branches with my free hand. Needless to say I got rained on with leaves, pieces of bark and saw dust.


    The next day I came down with bad pain. The skin hurt on my back and under the arms, the pain is something like a bad sunburn but it feels like it's under the skin rather than the outside. Everything hurts, lying down in bed, leaning back in a chair, even the touch of a shirt. After 3 days I started to really worry as the pain wasn't subsiding. A week later with the pain getting worse I started to think that I will have to spend the rest of my life like this.


    Trying to figure out what might have happened I searched the internet for skin pain like mine. There were a few illnesses that had these symptoms but the sudden onset in my case eliminated them in my mind. Finally considering the timing of what I was doing just before the pain started, I googled mango and toxic. Sure enough this popped up Mango - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Quote

    Potential for contact dermatitis


    Mango peel and sap contains urushiol, the chemical in poison ivy and poison sumac that can cause urushiol-induced contact dermatitis in susceptible people. Cross-reactions between mango contact allergens and urushiol have been observed. Those with a history of poison ivy or poison oak contact dermatitis may be most at risk for such an allergic reaction. Urushiol is also present in mango leaves and stems. During mango's primary ripening season, it is the most common source of plant dermatitis in Hawaii.

    and then this Urushiol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    Quote

    Urushiol is an oily organic allergen found in plants of the family Anacardiaceae, especially Toxicodendron spp. (e.g., poison oak, poison ivy, poison sumac). It causes an allergic skin rash on contact.

    Let me tell you guys this is some bad pain which puts your life on hold. The prospect of living with it for another 1 - 4 weeks is nasty. At least I didn't have a reaction on the outside of the skin, and the stress of not knowing what happened to me is gone. I've never had a reaction to poison Ivy, poison oak or anything like that. I guess there's a first time for everything. Mango.. who knew :dumb:


  • Swordfish harpooning.

    Ah the same one Virgili used for the tuna, handy little bugger :) Thanks Don.


    I can see it having great holding power. But also making a shaft take a curved trajectory past 10ft.

  • Dolphin Pic

    Well at first you said it was a follow up pic of the same fish.


    I tend to overlook these things, and I wouldn't have noticed if Davie didn't point it out. But once the doubt exists human nature makes it impossible to sweep it under the carpet, because no one likes to think they've been taken for a fool.


    Other than that when it comes to promoting gear with pics or videos you have to be intelligent about it. Not use anything that could give people cause to doubt. For example I have some nice footage of Pursuit fins in action in Cuba, spearing a beautiful Nassau grouper pretty deep. I'd love to use it, but I know that even though it's legal to spear Nassau grouper in Cuba, and supposedly there are plenty of them in that particular area, the video will probably cause speculation, so I'll never use it. It's just something that should be expected. The fellow in question did not take into consideration that there's no discernible spear hole in the fish, and line marks on it's side that would cause doubt. If I was him and knew the fish was legit I'd brush off what was said here, but would make a note to be more careful with future promotional pics. Or maybe the man doesn't care at all about what we say, seems like he's busy spearfishing.

  • Dolphin Pic

    Which is most lame?


    1. Posing with line caught fish to pass as a speared fish.
    2. Posing with a fish speared by someone else as your own.
    3. Posing with a line caught fish (caught by someone else) as a your own speared fish.
    4. Shooting a fish in one wetsuit, then changing into another to take pics.


    Or is it only lame if you get called out on it :)


    ehh.. I'm tired of this story.

  • Mola Mola Heaven

    Nice video. They can really move when they want to. I'd like to see a big one swim fast like that.


    It's amazing these fish evolved into what they are. What advantage could that shape possibly give them?

  • Dolphin Pic

    I really don't care but I don't see a hole in the gill plate. Shooting through the gill and out the mouth doesn't leave a hole but it's very rare, and almost impossible with such a thin fish.

  • who do you hate?

    You know I often say this on the other forum, it's not a protection dog if it's not poison proofed. I've been wanting to bring this product to market for years, and just can't find the time to put it together. In the meanwhile rat traps with meat will do some good. Make a shallow depression in the earth to set the trap into, and lightly cover it with sand/leaves. It's ideal if a stranger sets it up and you never touch it, so your smell is not on it.