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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Colossal Fossil Bugs


Colossal Fossil Bug Discovered


Scientists have found a claw
belonging to a scorpion eight feet long
if it were intact

The biggest bug ever! exclaims the newspaper
exhilarated by the find
as momentarily am I, a Scorpio

more so, maybe, than a Leo or an Aries
who could give a rat’s ass for scorpions
even if they are eight feet long

I am shocked too upon considering
that horror movie makers may be the visionaries
of the world—imagine, omigod

Why only a claw? Where is the rest
of the scorpion, and is it in another rock
longing for its warrior self

wrenched from it how? in battle or love
or a simple stupid accident when it was fishing
for a morsel it could have done without

But its hard-to-fathom age—
400 million years, say the paleontologists
with miraculous certainty

is what really gives me pause to wonder
how the hell do they know


******
Today’s news reports that marine biologists have recorded 17,650 species living in the ocean depths where the sunlight ceases. They are weird shaped and living on the snow-like decaying matter that drifts down from above.

They hope to announce by the end of the ongoing census that a million or more species remain unknown, in addition to the 235,000 living in the extreme ocean depths, which they thought was a desert until this plethora of living things showed up. On land, they’ve catalogued 1.5 million types of plants and animals.

It costs $50,000 a day to operate the equipment. What’s the daily cost of the war?

I don’t know why this fascinates me so much. It’s not going to change my life. But I like the idea of people searching for our fellow creatures, and the great myriad life forms make me thankful to live on planet Earth.

My gratitude list today:
Scientists who ask questions and seek answers.
Colossal fossil bugs.
Sobriety, which makes me marvel at life.
That God put me on planet Earth and not the moon.
That recovery has brought me to a Higher Power who knows all.
That we have brains, and God helps us use them.
That I can read.
That I can write.
That I don’t have to drink today to get all jazzed up about life.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Cheers,
Chris
The photos are from sciencecentric.com

22 comments:

big Jenn said...

I think that undiscovered creatures are infinite.It's a typical human idea that we'll figure it all out and get to the end of it.
I'm married to a Scorpio and I'm an Aries. Scorpios rock!
As always you make me smile. jeNN

Woman in a Window said...

Chris, your tone of this whole piece is infectious! HA! Rat's ass! I say that all the time.

Your mind is crawling around like a crayfish, lifting rocks and looking underneath. So.much.fun.

Gratitude indeed.
xo
erin

Shadow said...

hey, we obviously rule, heee heee heee. very interesting this is. and a nicely crafted poem too. it certainly captured your creative spirit!

Jess Mistress of Mischief said...

That IS really fascinating! Searching for new ideas of life, for new greater perspective is AWESOME!

I totally get it, I'm fascinated too!

Pammie said...

What I liked about the story is that we don't know everything and I love a good mystery.

Dianne said...

I am grateful for the way you think, and the healing of your brain after it's metabolic schism, and the firing of new brain circuits with each connection you stretch into new poetry. A blogger I admire said poetry scares her and haiku terrifies her.
So we all stretch out our neurons and grow....

Brian Miller said...

what a cool find. as a kid this would have been all the more fascinating as my imagination would run wild with the possibilities. i think it is cool when they find things we have never seen before. maybe its just my inner indiana jones coming out...and hey i am a leo...so watch what you say...lol.

stay jazzed...life has just begun!

Lou said...

You are like my husband, he finds this stuff fascinating. I want a beginning, middle, and end..all in an hour..LOL.

I'm grateful we are all different. That makes the world go 'round.

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a discovery though am happy i dint exist during that time.

Tall Kay said...

I find this so facinating also. The poem was so perfectly written for a Scorpio! Your gratitude list rocks! Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Tabitha.Montgomery said...

WHAT AN EXCELLENT GRATITUDE LIST..!
I LOVE BRAINS.

I have a hard time believing that bug fossil find..I need to look into that some more!?

Science is so fascinating for me,
a pisces,moon in capricorn,I think it's important to learn what we can from all sides of life,the universe and our spiritual being.

Knowledge is food for the soul.
And blogging is just an excellent added ingredient for us, isn't it?!

Rosaria Williams said...

I do believe this bug was your prompt, so it deserves your gratitude today. We are just bugs ourselves in this big universe, seeing with our limited vision.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Karen said...

Love the lines about how he might have lost the claw! I'm grateful for your sobriety and recovery.

Beth Niquette said...

Goodness Gracious! That is one BIG bug! Heehee--I love your comments about it, too. I find this stuff to be fascinating, too. I just love hearing about the past and its mysteries.

Cool blog!

Nessa said...

The variety of life on this planet is very fascinating.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving. Turkey Butt

Joanne Olivieri said...

Wow, what an awesome find. Have a wonderful Turkey day.

Syd said...

Thanks for writing this. I am a marine scientist and have been 3 miles down in the ocean. My dissertation was on deep sea organisms. I appreciate the census of marine life and currently have a project that participates in this program. We know so little about our own planet. And we are slowly destroying it.

Scott M. Frey said...

gratitude is good! thanks for your comments lately :-)

Anonymous :) said...

Wow, forget the aerosol can of RAID to ward off insects. We'd all need guns.

Anonymous said...

Haha Madison!!! Isn't it the truth?! This subject fascinates me too, Chris and thanks for writing about it.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! With warm hugs...

Roxy

the walking man said...

Discover uncover establish the prehistory of a past not known may be just the thing to divert us from a war to stubborn to cease.

Kat Mortensen said...

Wow! Ever see the opening scene of Peckinpah's, "The Wild Bunch" where the kids are taunting the scorpions? Imagine if they were the size of this newly discovered one! It would be Peckinpah in "Land of the Giants".