2018.05.12 13:00 - Another World

 

The Guardian for this meeting was Bruce Mowbray. The comments are by Bruce Mowbray.

 

--BELL-

Bruce Mowbray: Hi, Storm.

Storm Nordwind: Howdy :)

Bruce Mowbray: I'm in a quandary today. . .

Storm Nordwind: Better a quandary than a quarry :)

Bruce Mowbray: I was looking at some moist soil in a rainwater solution. . . (mix) and found a creature I can't identify.

Bruce Mowbray: I will slide you three images of it...

Storm Nordwind: OK

Bruce Mowbray: Maybe you can help.

 

Bruce Mowbray: Hydra?

Storm Nordwind: Perhaps

Storm Nordwind: though where would be the rest of it?

Bruce Mowbray: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra_(genus)

Bruce Mowbray: Right. . . there is no stalk.

Bruce Mowbray: Maybe this is a stage in its development. . .

Storm Nordwind: I am no expert

Storm Nordwind: It was not alive, I take it?

Bruce Mowbray: Hydra have seven appendages, (arms) so that's what made me think it was related to hydra.

Bruce Mowbray: No, it is not alive - nor was, when I first saw it.

Storm Nordwind: Almost like some species of marine starfish

Bruce Mowbray: Hydra also have chloroplasts . . but this does not.

Bruce Mowbray: Hmmm... good suggestion.

Bruce Mowbray: Except this is fresh water. . .

Storm Nordwind: If nothing else, you could create some very dark art with it and use it to scare people ;)

Bruce Mowbray: I've emailed my biologist friend about it. . .

Bruce Mowbray: It IS a bit scary, if I do say so myself....

Bruce Mowbray: but also VERY small.

Bruce Mowbray: Size matters!

Storm Nordwind: Cthulhu's minions precede him

Bruce Mowbray: Oh yes, Lovecraft.

Bruce Mowbray: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu

Storm Nordwind: Branching out to freshwater perhaps

Bruce Mowbray nods.

Bruce Mowbray: Octopus has eight arms. . .

Bruce Mowbray: this has only seven.

Bruce Mowbray: A strange number for natural things, no?

Storm Nordwind: Seven?

Storm Nordwind: Hmmm

 

--BELL--

Bruce Mowbray: https://www.google.com/search?q=7armed+creatures&num=20&newwindow=1&safe=off&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjN3o22_oDbAhXG5YMKHQgnAGQQ7AkINg&biw=602&bih=561

Storm Nordwind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luidia_ciliaris

Bruce Mowbray: a search for 7-armed creatures.

Bruce Mowbray: Starfish are all marine, I think.

Storm Nordwind: Seven is an unusual number in nature it seems. Perhaps does not confer any natural advantages. Nor easily fit into 2D or 3D symmetry.

Bruce Mowbray: Right.

Bruce Mowbray: Radial symmetry is one of my favorite things in nature.

Bruce Mowbray: Until today, I've been concentrating on flies - and similar insects - that I've found dead.

Storm Nordwind: There are two things that look like scars in your photos. Could it originally have had nine legs?

Bruce Mowbray: Hmmm. Let me check the originals....

Bruce Mowbray: I don't see what you're referring to.

Bruce Mowbray: well, maybe, in the 100x picture.

 

*****Update: It is a Stellate Trichome, an out-growth of epidermal cells of many plant species.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Stellate-trichomes-in-many-layers-completely-masking-the-underlying-epidermal-cells-and_fig9_249011704   Stellate Trichome has been identified in 90 million-year-old amber.

 

Storm Nordwind: Two dark rings below center

Bruce Mowbray: Yeah, maybe.

Storm Nordwind: But I am no biologist

Bruce Mowbray: I looked up Rhizochrysis .... because an image in my protozoa book looked a bit like it, but none of the returns in my search looked anything like this one.

Storm Nordwind: Rhizochrysis?

Bruce Mowbray: Yeah, that was the label on the drawing in my book.

Bruce Mowbray: It was the only thing remotely resembling my creature.

Storm Nordwind: I thought you were going all medieval on me ;)

Bruce Mowbray: I can't tell whether my creature has more than one cell, either.

Bruce Mowbray: no cilia, no chloroplasts , , ,

Bruce Mowbray: I think one of the wounds you mentioned might be the eighth (or 9^th) arm.

Storm Nordwind: Does remind me, however, of the green alga Nitella.

Bruce Mowbray: Hmmm.

Storm Nordwind: So perhaps suggesting part of a plant rather than an animal

Bruce Mowbray: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitella

Storm Nordwind: Reminiscent of the fractint forms I used to make 20 or more years ago.

Bruce Mowbray: LOTS of subspecies with that one.

Bruce Mowbray: Ahhh! I used to use Frantint, too!

 

--BELL—

 

Bruce Mowbray: Back in the late 80's or early 90’s

Bruce Mowbray: Have you heard from Pila?

Storm Nordwind: No I have not.

Bruce Mowbray: Hmmmm. Wonder if he had to evacuate.

Storm Nordwind: last I heard it wasn't showing signs of letting up

Bruce Mowbray: Right...

Bruce Mowbray: They're saying it could throw out boulders the size of refrigerators.

Storm Nordwind: Last online 2 days ago. So there's hope.

Bruce Mowbray: Good,

Bruce Mowbray: My farmer planted 250 acres alone - in one day - yesterday.

Bruce Mowbray: Amazing to watch.

Storm Nordwind: Ah refrigerator - reminds me of one of my favorite haikus

Bruce Mowbray: Can you recite one?

Storm Nordwind: Sure

Storm Nordwind:  

haikus are easy

but sometimes they don't make sense

refrigerator

 

Bruce Mowbray: LOVE it!

Bruce Mowbray dies from laughing....

Bruce Mowbray: Here's Robbie on the same equipment five years ago:

Bruce Mowbray: http://hermitdog.com/planting2013/planting_2013.html

Bruce Mowbray: a 36-row fully automated planter. . .

Storm Nordwind: Amazing!

Bruce Mowbray: that uses four GPS coordinates....

Bruce Mowbray: It is one amazing machine.

Storm Nordwind: Rented out, or owned?

Bruce Mowbray: Normally sells for $300,000 but Robbie bought it for 1/3 of that because it first owner couldn't figure out how to operate it.

Storm Nordwind: o_O

Bruce Mowbray: He takes it apart every winter and puts it back together....

Bruce Mowbray: Look how CLEAN the cabin is!

Bruce Mowbray: (when outside everything is dusty).

Storm Nordwind: So clean it could be Second Life

Bruce Mowbray: Yeppers!

Bruce Mowbray: He's an amazing young man.

Bruce Mowbray: If we were not selling the farm, Robbie would inherit my 1/3 ownership of it.

Storm Nordwind nods

Bruce Mowbray: His father sold an adjacent 100 acres last year, so we are going to sell to the same buyer. . . using the same lawyer and same surveyor. . .

Bruce Mowbray: A smooth operation all around -- and I get to continue living here the rest of my life.

Bruce Mowbray: and our farmers will continue to farm it.

Storm Nordwind: That's important

Bruce Mowbray: The only apparent thing that will change is the deed.

Bruce Mowbray: Well, the farmer and the buyer have known each other since first grade.

Storm Nordwind: Wow

Bruce Mowbray: and the buyer said he wouldn't buy it if our farmer didn't agree to continue farming it.

Storm Nordwind nods

Bruce Mowbray: Robbie is the son of the farmer we've had since mid-1980's.

Bruce Mowbray: Robbie is a prodigy . . . really.

Storm Nordwind smiles

Bruce Mowbray: He can LOOK at a machine and know how to fix it.

 

--BELL—

 

Storm Nordwind: The world needs these people :)

Bruce Mowbray: I couldn't even find the lever to open the hood of my new car, even using the manual.

Storm Nordwind: haha

Bruce Mowbray: Robbie found it in two seconds.

Bruce Mowbray: (without the manual).

Bruce Mowbray: Seriously.

Storm Nordwind: "kick here"

Bruce Mowbray: ha ha.\

Bruce Mowbray: Anything you'd care to discuss? If not, I think I'll return to microscope adventures. http://hermitdog.com/microscope/images.htm

Bruce Mowbray: But I can stay. . .

Storm Nordwind: Well I have no interesting things to reciprocate a show and tell!

Storm Nordwind: But it has been fascinating, and the time has flown by.

Bruce Mowbray: Yesterday, I spent the whole afternoon looking at the fly at the bottom of that web page.

Bruce Mowbray: This is a whole new world for me.

Bruce Mowbray: I knew it (that world) was there, but I'd never really taken a close look before...

Bruce Mowbray: except in college bio class.

Storm Nordwind: Pond water can be fascinating too

Bruce Mowbray: Yes, it's finally warm enough for me to do that.

Bruce Mowbray: My friend Charlie is really hot on pond life.

Bruce Mowbray: He's the guy who first got me interested in microscopy.

Storm Nordwind: And looking at the micro-crystals in soil can be beautiful

Bruce Mowbray: (and he's the guy who owns the book I referred to earlier... the one with the images.)

Storm Nordwind: All stardust.

Bruce Mowbray: ahhhh. . . I haven't done that yet.

Bruce Mowbray: Another world to explore.

Storm Nordwind: May it never end!

Bruce Mowbray: I don't think it will.

Bruce Mowbray: So, thanks for looking at my "Show and tell", Storm.

Bruce Mowbray: Have a beautiful weekend.

Storm Nordwind: My pleasure! I will thank you for hosting and wish you more fun at the glass

Bruce Mowbray: Thanks!

Storm Nordwind waves