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Tuesday, April 24, 2007

humongous fungus meal


News from the Vancouver Front Pages: a fossil that has been found 150 years ago cannot be a tree. There were no trees then: the fossil must be around 400 million years old (that's even before Dinosaurs). After genetic research, the conclusion was that it must be a humongous fungus. As the fossil was 20 feet long, we’re talking about a mushroom of just over 6 meters long here. "A 20-foot-fungus doesn't make any sense ... but here's the fossil," Kevin Boyce of the Chicago University said. The wonders of the old world..
The current world tries to get things smaller, so they last longer. Singer Sheryl Crow (mostly known in Holland for her nineties song “All I Wanna Do Is Have Some Fun”, but a superstar in America) has announced a plan to help save our planet: “I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting. Now, I don't want to rob any law-abiding American of his or her God-given rights, but I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where 2 to 3 could be required.”
She has announced today it was a joke (http://www.sherylcrow.com/news.aspx?nid=7813). But she made the papers.. Has anybody been reading about these important news items in Holland?
I am still wondering about the mushroom. Even more so after reading about still existing fungi: Crystal Falls is "Home of the Humungous Fungus", perhaps the world's largest and oldest living organism.  It covers 38 acres beneath an Iron County forest near the Wisconsin border.  It is believed to be 1,500 to 10,000 years old and weigh about 100 tons - about the same as an adult blue whale. Can we still call it a vegetarian meal if we bake that?

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