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Old stuff on the Gunflint Trail
I was listening to Science Friday this PM and heard the oldest fossil as yet found on Earth was discovered on the Gunflint trail in MN. Over 2 Billion years old, it was a sulfate reducing bacteria; the same general type that produces the "rotten egg" smell in rotten eggs, or makes sewer gas, or flatulence.
I know Posthole goes up that way from time to time, but I don't think he left it; when this particular bacterium was alive the atmosphere was mostly CO2, CH$ and H2S. Oxygen would tend to thin out these critters, but plants were just begining to use photosynthesis.
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"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body.
But rather, to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming...WOW, What a Ride!"
Our Friend, Tony "Gator" Hunter 1953-2007