Tuesday, October 20, 2009

He’s a really fungi

My friend Bill is a lot of fun to talk to. He has timing and delivery like a younger version of Letterman and his story telling skills are awe inspiring. We talk about a myriad of subjects and often travel tangents that take us in circular conversations that make us both laugh our butts off.

He told me probably the best story I ever heard one day last winter and I was still laughing four hours later picturing it.

So the really funny thing is he told me a story via email earlier this week. Since it was just text there was no timing, no delivery, no arm waving, it was just plain text and it was the shortest email he ever sent me but it concerned probably the most bizarre thing that I've ever heard.

One of the things that Bill does for the park system is catalog specimens of fungus.

It's an ethereal process and the timing is crucial because a fungus doesn't have much of a shelf life.

So the most recent sighting of a rare slime mold happened in the wee hours of the morning and Bill went to off to catalog it after emailing me saying he was excited about it and he'd tell me all about it later. To give me some background on the mold he told me to picture a big bowl of tapioca pudding, but one that could move.

Yes, this particular mold can travel.

I thought that was the best part of the story until I read the next part.

You know the movie The Blob?

Well, the movie was based on a HUGE sighting of this weird slime mold stuff. The residents in Texas where it was discovered called in the authorities because they thought that it must be something from outer space.

The scary thing?

Bill hasn't emailed me since……..

20 comments:

judy said...

Yikes! We have to find Bill! (The blob scared me to death one day when I stayed home from school and saw it on TV!)

(This post is from my future. Where I am it's still the 19th! ;-)

Karen from Mentor said...

Then I hope you didn't click on the link in the words "weird slime mold" cause even the futuristic/space/techy music might freak you out.

But it's REALLY cool time lapse photography. Oh hey! So here's one of those chances to face your fears you just blogged about....

a) watch it through your fingers
b) on mute

now go to bed silly girl.

:0)

Laura Eno said...

You have the best titles!

I'm really sorry about Bill... I loved the video though.

Rachel S said...

Hahaha eeewww that's so cool. The scary thing about that video is that it looked like it was all one day, I didn't see any light shifts indicating that it was going from day to night.

Fingers crossed this post sticks! For some reason the last two comments I made got eaten. Possibly by the mold! It's all explained now! Quick, someone ask me what the answer to life, the universe and everything is!

Best of luck finding Bill, hopefully only the first layer of skin or so is gone.

Karen from Mentor said...

The answer of course would be 42.

:0)

Karen from Mentor said...

I love a good pun or even a bad one Laura.

I'm sure Bill is fine *sniff* just caught up in scientific wonder......*sniff*...and forgot to get back to me....

On the bright side....there was some indication that he had a bologna sandwich in his pocket when he went out that morning so he could have used that as bait...

[cause you know what they say...you don't have to be faster than the monster in a monster movie, you just have to be faster than the bologna sandwich you're willing to sacrifice to save your own skin]

Karen from Mentor said...

Whew! I just got an email from Bill. He got away. He said he only lost one layer of skin and now is sporting "a nice glossy sheen"....

Karen from Mentor said...

The worst part? He's storing samples and they're growing out of the containers....

ewwwwwwwwwwwwww

but it was even rarer than he thought and he'll be publishing a paper on it...so cool.

I just hope it doesn't eat his house. :0)

Rachel S said...

Awesome! Glad he got away with only flesh wounds.

Karen from Mentor said...

He is too Rachel. And just to make sure that I haven't misled anyone about fungus among us....Bill asked me to tell everyone that what was discovered was identified as tapioca slime mold and.....

"it is not technically a fungus. Slime molds are more closely related to amoebas and others in the Protoctista kingdom"

So there you have it. Bill has trapped a member of the protoctista kingdom in a container. I wonder if this counts as an overthrow of the protoctista government?

Kris said...

Interesting video link. I guess now I know what that was in the old tupperware container I found in my fridge last night!

jane, candid said...

Karen,
1) Love the new banner photo
2) This is your best title ever (even if not technically accurate)
3) Kris's comment IS what I would have said!
Jane

Anonymous said...

Interesting... and you do have a very cool title, can't imagine any other post that could've got away with it :)

Unknown said...

The title had me thinking you were writing about an overbearing, clingy, needy boy friend. That would be a great title for a book: "He's so into you, that he's really a fungi." LOL

Karen from Mentor said...

That's funny Marianne. Don't know what kind of methods would be in order for ridding oneself of that kind of fungi, maybe just not letting him into your house anymore. Or putting him into a big container until he got over it....but with airholes of course....

Karen from Mentor said...

I laughed when I thought of the title Estrella.
And my philosophy is...if it amuses me, it's a good title. [even if it's a HORRIBLE pun and sometimes *especially* if it's a horrible pun]

:0)

Karen from Mentor said...

Kris if you send me a photo of the thing you found in your fridge Bill can probably identify it.

And if you go to take the picture and it's glowing or thrumming or throbbing? a) run away b) call the men in black c) run farther away

Kris said...

Sorry, Karen, I didn't take them time to photograph my fridge fungi before evicting it. It started to consume my first-born, so I had to act quick.

Karen from Mentor said...

YIKES!!!!! did you call the men in black?

Karen from Mentor said...

Jane,
You and Kris always crack me up. You may be starting to rub off on each other.

And I loved the "fungi" title too....

Oh I did think about going with "He's a really fun member of the protoctista kingdom"....and while that title would have been much more technically accurate per Bill's email...it just would not have had QUITE the same ring to it.....

hmmmm now I'm wondering if I can come up with a pun with the word protoctista in it....
OOOhhh....maybe not a pun but I bet I could work it into a limerick....

And I truly hope Kris's first born is ok....hopefully it just got his shoelaces....

:0)