Billy wrote:
songbird wrote:
....
Uh-huh.

That is all very interesting, but what evidence do you have to support
your assertion? Do you have any websites that I could access, that
explain why nature would ask of a bacteria to be able to survive in two
entirely different niches?

bacterial spores are not answer enough?
or do you mean actually growing and
dividing? a bacteria will go on growing if
it has nutrients, water and space. is the
space provided in the gut of a worm significantly
different than the space provided in the crotch
of a branch or wedge between two rocks, or pile
of leaves? if the numbers of surviving
bacteria to spread from one area to the next is
only a few then the transfer has succeeded.

bacterial spores survive for long periods of
time in various environments. that is why it is
so hard to completely sterilize an environment
some supposedly have been cultured from 10,000yr
old samples taken from the gut of a bog preserved
mastodon. also supposedly there is a claim that
they have been cultured from amber from the gut
of imbedded insects. i cannot verify the second
claim, but the first seems to be quite valid.


We all, of course, are entitled to our own opinions, just not our own
facts.



that is the joy of science and exploration
after all, that if the observations pan out
and are verified then you've made a contribution
to knowlege. the opinion can be founded upon
evidence or a hunch that is more intuitive
summation of many observations, but to actually
figure out if it is a fact is the challenge.

however, in the case of bacteria influencing
the host organism, changing behavior, even down
to the level of virus, prion and such is quite
well documented already. a mad cow can do things
a regular cow would not do. a mad human
likewise. syphillis, is quite a clear example
of one bacterial derangement in humans. i like
how the word "range" is included in that word.


It was about 70F here, on the other side of the hill, today. Rain fall
is at 50%. Nice while it lasts.

Work is slowin' down.

Time to get out in the yard again.

it snowed here yesterday. this week's
forecast is mostly in the mid-40sF. this
has not really been much of a winter for
us. plenty of rain though so i am not
worried about drought. we've had a number
of thunderstorms and for me to hear those
in the middle of winter (Dec, Jan) used
to be rare. the past eight years they've
become pretty much an every year thing now.

the large number of freeze-thaw cycles
might be the most trouble from this, but
from what i can see now the plants look
mostly ok.

the propane tank is finally low enough
to make a refill worth it. that should
get us through the rest of the heating
season. i was hoping we could get to Feb.

i might get out this week sometime to
pick up wood from the power company tree
contractors clearing the power line. we
use it to make berms. we've tried to
encourage them to dump loads of wood
chips for us, but the soft ground is
causing them to get stuck other places
and they are leery. dang. 40yds of
free wood chips would be very nice to
have on hand.


songbird