Just Like Poison

[Beatrix Gerke]

Beyoncevocalizes about a relationship that she cannot end, comparing her lover to a slow but deadly poison, much like many of the songs recording during this era influenced by Etta James and her new-found marriage with Jay-Z.

Elden Ring, like every Souls game before it, will unfortunately include a poison swamp: a presumably nasty area where you're assaulted by enemies and projectiles that inflict you with the relentless ticking damage of a poison debuff. It turns out creator Hidetaka Miyazaki can't help but make one every time.

"While making this game I rediscovered my love for making poison swamps," he told Game Informer. "I know how people feel about them but I suddenly realize I'm in the middle of making one and I can't help myself. It just happens."

This time, the swamp, or swamps, will not only include poison and toxic effects (Dark Souls fans will know this as a more brutal version of poison), but a new affliction called Scarlet Rot. Scarlet Rot sounds like the worst of the three, and Miyazaki said he hopes "you look forward to it." Considering that this is the man that helps make games in which freaky lizards can petrify and instantly kill you, this doesn't bode well.

The Souls series, all the way from 2009's Demon's Souls, has always included swamp areas to trudge through, and they're always the worst. The most notorious of them is Blighttown from Dark Souls, but even Sekiro had its own acidic zone with Ashina Depths. They're infamous because their difficulty doesn't come from fighting a monster: it's just about struggling through the area, like being forced to walk through thorny berry bushes on a hike.

Recently Miyazaki said he doesn't "want new players to worry or stress about that difficulty too much," and that they have the option of exploring other areas in the game's massive open world should they find something too tough to tackle. If the poison swamp is particularly tricky, at least I know I can find something else to do.

Even still, FromSoftware could have made any new type of area in Elden Ring and it chose to make a swamp zone. I can't say I didn't expect it, but it's rude regardless. I expect solidarity with every poison swamp survivor when Elden Ring launches on February 25.

Tyler has covered videogames and PC hardware for 15 years. He regularly spends time playing and reporting on games like Diablo 4, Elden Ring, Overwatch 2, and Final Fantasy 14. While his speciality is in action RPGs and MMOs, he's driven to cover all sorts of games whether they're broken, beautiful, or bizarre.

Unfortunately, this poison ivy is just about everywhere, and urushiol is present in many more plants than you probably realize. So, I invited Dr. Susan Pell, a botanist with a Ph.D. in plant biology, to join me for this episode to help us all better understand poison ivy and how to avoid and treat it.

Susan is currently the Executive Deputy Director at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington D.C. Her doctorate thesis research focused on the molecular systematics of the cashew family of plants. So, why would I ask an expert on the cashew family to give us the dirty details on poison ivy? Well, poison ivy is one of 800 plant species from all over the world which belong to the cashew family.

The leaf form of poison ivy is one terminal leaflet above two lateral and opposite leaflets on a single stem. That group of leaflets is considered a single leaf, and those grow up the vine of poison ivy in alternating order. In other words, a three-leaflet leaf on the right side of the vine, and the next one further up the vine on the left side.

What was surprising was that CO2 levels also affected the urushiol. Increased CO2 caused the urushiol to become more potent, and it caused the compound to bind more strongly to skin cells. Translation: It became more virulent.

As a horticulturist, I believe that every plant has some purpose. Poison ivy is no exception. For one thing, those berries provide an important food source for many beneficial creatures. The foliage is a food source for many grazing animals and for a number of insects, which eat the leaves during their larval stage.

Urushiol transfers from surface to surface, so anything that you touch after touching poison ivy will need to be cleaned too. Did you take off your sunglasses? Those will need to be wiped down. Did you drive home after accidentally handling the vine on a hike? Think about your car keys, steering wheel, door handle, etc. The urushiol that was on your hands can transfer to and remain on any of those surfaces.

Sometime after contact with the plant, the urushiol compound binds to the protein in skin cells. The dermatitis reaction comes as a result of our immune system attacking the cells which the compound bound itself to. Each time urushiol binds itself to your skin, your immune system learns to react more quickly and more intensely.

There are some products available which you can apply to your skin to form a protective layer, like sunscreen or insect repellent. Ivy Block and Ivyx are two examples. These are lotions you put on your skin before working with poison ivy. The urushiol compound binds to the Ivy Block or Ivyx rather than your skin cells.

If you forget to apply a preventative product or if you make contact with poison ivy unexpectedly, remember that there is a delay between contact and when the toxic compound binds itself to your skin cells. That delay is your window to head off a reaction.

If you are one of the unlucky souls to experience a severe poison ivy reaction, you would be wise to become familiar with other members of the cashew family. Many of those plant species can bring on a rash just like the pink peppercorns Susan warns us about.

I avoid herbicides at all costs at the GardenFarm, and Susan turns to them only as last resort as well. Unfortunately if even a small section of poison ivy rhizome is left behind in the soil, it will regrow into a new plant. That means poison ivy is so pervasive that Susan feels herbicides are necessary for removal of this particular landscape foe.

I remember well my first poison ivy experience. I had just moved to SC from Detroit, MI and I had grown up ag/hort/plant deficient, I was collecting fire wood on a hot August afternoon, wearing only a pair of shorts and shoes. I kept wondering what was the thick fuzzy vine I was removing from the logs with my bare hands. The next morning a was completely covered in a rash, except for where my shorts were. Lots of steroids later, I realized I just learned an important lesson.

For example, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommend planting Virginia creeper to replace the highly invasive and destructive Oriental bittersweet. And Organic Gardening magazine lists it as a great alternative to invasive English ivy.

The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center has this to say: "Virginia Creeper can be used as a climbing vine or ground cover, its leaves carpeting any surface in luxuriant green before turning brilliant colors in the fall. Its tendrils end in adhesive-like tips, giving this vine the ability to cement itself to walls and therefore need no support. The presence of adhesive tips instead of penetrating rootlets also means it doesn't damage buildings the way some vines do. It is one of the earliest vines to color in the fall. A vigorous grower, it tolerates most soils and climatic conditions."

There is some debate as to whether Virginia creeper should be introduced or actively encouraged since it will grow up any tree or shrub and slowly kill the host by preventing the host tree from receiving enough sunlight.

While poison ivy has the whole "leaves of three-let it be" thing going for it, Virginia creeper has five leaves (unless it is a young plant and then it can have three leaves, just like poison ivy!). If you compare the two, you'll see that the leaves of Virginia creeper are longer and thinner with more prominent teeth along the margins of the leaves than poison ivy.

While Virginia creeper probably won't make you itch upon contact (unlike poison ivy, which contains the potent allergen urushiol), the sap of the vine contains oxalic compounds to which some people are allergic.

Susan Pike, a researcher and an environmental sciences and biology teacher at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, welcomes your ideas for future column topics. She may be reached at spik...@gmail.com. Read more of her Nature News columns online.

Just like with Black Widow I was looking at the new Jokerland set and we have the Poison Ivy from the Arkham set again (which is an excellent figure) so I thought I'd see what a New 52 version would look like with just a slight tweak of the existing artwork.

The mission of Time of Grace is to connect people to God. Using a variety of media, we teach tough topics in an approachable and relatable way, accessible in multiple languages, making the Bible clear and understandable for those who do not know God.

It was maddening. It was disheartening. It felt like our house was infected with invisible poison, and I could never clean it all up myself. In this sad state as I cleaned, I started recognizing the ways that lead paint is like our sin.

The reason is that sin poisons our souls. Just like lead, the more we are exposed to sin the worse it is for us. Repeated, willful sinning dulls our consciences and leads us far away from the love of God. We can look fine on the outside, but our souls are blackened with the repugnant stain of sin.

The only way to eliminate lead paint from your home completely and safely is to hire a lead abatement company to remove the offending material. You need outside help! While we might try our hardest to be good people as we go about our daily lives, we will still sin every day. Self-control alone will never be enough. Even when we think we are doing pretty good in the eyes of God, there will always be a speck of sin hiding somewhere in our lives.

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