April 29, 2010

"Mythic Giant Earthworm Not Extinct, Spitting, or Sweet Smelling."

If only it were extinct, we could imagine that it spit and smelled sweet. Is it better to know it's still around, but not that interesting, or would you prefer it gone and looming large in our heads?

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

If only you were Dave Barry, you could remind us that Mythic Giant Earthworm would be a great name for a band.

rhhardin said...

Ver de terre, a delicacy.

rhhardin said...

Also known as early worms.

Prehistoric Robins ate them.

Methadras said...

The Spice is the worm, the worm is The Spice.

Tibore said...

Ah dammit, Methadras beat me to it.

Giant worm, sweet smelling.

mariner said...

Perhaps they could be called Earthworms of Unusual Size.

Fred4Pres said...

Dune was on last night. Kyle MacLachlan is from Yakima, WA (not far from the Palouse). David Lynch from Missoula (also not that far from the Palouse the other way).

There are no coincidences.

Fred4Pres said...

Just because examples recently found are only 12 inches does not mean that 36 inch examples did not exist in the 1800s. If they are affected by farming (presumably by tilling those Palouse hills for wheat farming)--it makes sense the big ones would go first.

And most everyone knows the Palouse (even if they have never been there or heard of it). When you see those car commericals that show an empty twisty highway with golden hills around it--that is often filmed in the Palouse.

Anonymous said...

There are giant earthworms in Australia that grow up to ten feet in length. Children have been known to use them for jump ropes. There's a museum about them with a walk-through exhibit (no. 5 on the list).

Peter

Synova said...

I've been spit on by a nightcrawler. Usually it's just, you know, worm poop, but I'm nearly certain that I've been spit on, too. I mean, whatever is in the digestive track can be squeezed out. Obviously.

The idea of a giant spitting earthworm isn't at all weird.

Penny said...

Yesterday's facts giving way to today's facts. I like it!

True for all life's "facts".

Penny said...

Someone mentioned David Lynch, which reminded me...

There was a new show on TV last night that reminded me of the old Twin Peaks series. The name was "Happy Town". STRANGE in a Lynch kind of way.

Fred4Pres said...

I am sorry I missed Happy Town. Was it any good? Just from the trailer it seemed to have an American Gods Lakeside, Wisconsin theme to it.

Brian said...

@Fred4Press:
I watched Happy Town and so far it's an interesting show. Might be another Twin Peaks, but hopefully it won't get too weird. So far, Sam Neill's character is the top contender for the "magic man," but it's too early to tell right now.

Gabriel Hanna said...

I live in the Palouse. A few years ago I first learned of the Palouse earthworm. Naturally UI and WSU are the places one is most likely to hear about them.

So while this week's news was unexpected, it was not a surprise, as researchers at both universities have been trying to find them again for some time.

I'm pretty sure the Windows XP wallpaper with the green rolling hills is a picture from the Palouse. Hard to say where, it all looks like that. In spring.

Spring is the best time to see the Palouse, with summer the next best-the hills turn gold. After snow--which we almost didn't have this year--the hills are white, which looks nice. But because it's not that cold here, it melts, and then it looks terrible--all mud and stubble.

Methadras said...

Speaking of worms, I wonder how Titus feels getting shat on? One can only wonder.

Methadras said...

Tibore said...

Ah dammit, Methadras beat me to it.

Giant worm, sweet smelling.


First thing that comes to my mind when I think about worms, and AlphaLiberal, Garage Mahal, Ritmo, Monty, HDHouse and all the other leftards on this blog. All worms.

lonetown said...

How do they know they got the right worms?

No ones ever seen them.

Maybe they just found another large worm!

Gabriel Hanna said...

@Lonetown:

People saw them in the nineteenth century, and wrote about it.

Go look at the original article-it's not even the same color as a normal earthworm.

Fred4Pres said...

More giant earthworks to worry about:

The Palouse Giant Earthworm.

The Oregon Giant Earthworm.

The Australian Giant Earthwork (3 meters long!).

Oh, but we are not done yet...

the bid daddy of them all! If trout were as big as whale sharks, this might be your bait.

Fred4Pres said...

But I am sure Titus will tell us he has seen bigger!