The Great Columbian Mammoth

And now for something completely different.

We at Black holes, and when I say we, I mean me, we sounds more important, like there is a group of us getting this stuff out, anyways me tries to get out something new and different with each and every post, this story certainly qualifies as just that.

Just last week we had a break in one of our main water lines coming into the mall I work at, water was gushing out of the asphalt like a fountain, not good. So I call the city to come and shut off the water supply and phone around for a contractor to fix the break.

Enter Bill Garrnet Industries LTD. So we're digging away, and by we're I mean they're digging, digging this hole in our asphalt down to where we think the break may be, and it's getting bigger and bigger, still can't find the break, the hole is now around 10 feet deep by 40 ft long by 24 ft wide, and we're all getting grumpy, and by we're I mean we're, so to add some levity to the situation I says to Bill, "So Bill, ever found any human remains in all your digging adventures?" Bill looks at me and says,"No, but I have found a "Columbian Mammoth". So I look at Bill and start laughing, thinking he was joking, but he gives me that look like, no Bob I'm not joking, so I say oh, really, tell me more.

They were on a dig back in '71 at Babine Lake BC when they dug down to a bunch of white stuff, they stop and go down in the pit to investigate, him and a friend dig out by hand a piece of what they thought to be petrified wood, report the find to their boss and then call it quits for the night and head back to their hotel. So they wake up the next morning, go to the dig to have some more fun, and WOW, there were helicopters, vans, trucks ,tons of people, the whole area was blocked off, the dig, or at least their part was over while the Archaeologists did their part. They found out they had discovered a Columbian Mammoth, how cool was that? Seems the piece they had dug out by hand was a Mammoth tooth. I was standing next to a person who found, not only found but touched a Mammoth's tooth. Radiocarbon tests put the age of the Mammoth at around 34,000 years.



Quick update on the Phoenix Lander . Two thirds of the way through the Lander's mission and they still haven't gotten some of that ice water into it's ovens for analysis, hopefully soon, will keep you up todate in future posts.

I'll leave you now with a clip I put together of a July Moon Rise, this time I took 235 images 5 seconds apart from each other over a 19 minute time frame, to try and make the Moon Rise look nice and smooth.