On Wed, 04 Jun 2014 09:45:58 +0100, Martin Brown wrote:
On 03/06/2014 22:14, ARW wrote:
"Uncle Peter" wrote in message
news
http://petersphotos.com/temp/Plants.jpg
Site blocked by Maleware Bytes!
The *site* might well be hostile (the OP seems to be). However, the URL
is a link to a harmless bog standard JFIF JPEG saved with IJG Q=85.
The site is on a free server so could contain any number of dodgy pages too. It depends if the block was for my domain name, or the server's IP.
The warning is probably because the houseplants from commercial growers
have been dosed with a persistent systemic pesticide that renders the
plant toxic to sap sucking insects and potentially harmful to humans.
I wish they wouldn't do that. I've got some plants here that produce tremendous quantities of sap all over their leaves and somehow splattered onto the window they are next to. I'd appreciate some insects to eat it.
Anyway, nobody would be stupid enough to think a houseplant was food, so they don't need the warning.
You often get bay and citrus trees from garden centres with a warning
not to eat any of the fruit that season. I wonder how many people do?
Everybody I would imagine, nobody reads daft warnings like that. I go by my stomach and tastebuds. If I'm out camping and eat something that tastes very bitter, I spit it out. If it tastes ok but I get indigestion afterwards, I don't eat it again (which seldom happens as most plants that are poisonous also taste bad, to prevent the animal eating them, rather then just making it ill after the plant's already lost half it's leaves).
Given that I have seen oleander on sale in supermarkets without adequate
warnings of its very serious toxicity to humans. It is telling that they
warn of skin and eye irritation. I wonder if one of them was a euphorbia
- the sap from them can cause excruciating pain in the eyes.
I'll try to remember not to use it as a tissue then....
General rule of thumb is sap runs clear is OK sap is milky latex then
beware (counter example is lettuce which is safe to eat).
I've never seen lettuce sap.
--
For the really paranoid who want to destroy data there's nothing like taking the lid off the disk drive and rearranging the sectors with a hammer.