Deep Thought for the day

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Puddle Jumper

I had this thought while driving home from work this evening.

Our bodies essentially turn to dust after we die (decay).

What keeps us from turning to dust while we're alive is water - our bodies are mostly made of it, most of our bodies are made up of fluids.

So then... does that mean we're all mud?
 

Gehanna

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Robeiae, I don't know what the answer is but the question already has me laughing.

I'm soo easy I swear!
 

Puddle Jumper

William Haskins said:
i'm made of snakes and snails and puppydog tails.
They're all just dust and water - so they're all mud too.

Rain rain on my face
Hasn't stopped raining for days
My world is a flood
Slowly I become one with the mud
 

poetinahat

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Puddle Jumper said:
So then... does that mean we're all mud?
Pretty much.

More specifically... we are all STARBUCKS COFFEE.

We are stardust, we are golden
we are caught in the devil's bargain
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden
-- J. Mitchell
 

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robeiae said:
What does Guinness and chicken wings make?

My husband!

I believe that may have been how he was conceived, and I know that is his favorite meal.
 

CaoPaux

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Puddle Jumper said:
I had this thought while driving home from work this evening.

Our bodies essentially turn to dust after we die (decay).

What keeps us from turning to dust while we're alive is water - our bodies are mostly made of it, most of our bodies are made up of fluids.

So then... does that mean we're all mud?
Keep in mind that decay is a function of bacteria and such digesting our bodies. The "dust" they leave is quite different than the protein/iron/calcium powder that would result if all water was removed from the average person.
 

NeuroFizz

The grad students did it
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CaoPaux said:
Keep in mind that decay is a function of bacteria and such digesting our bodies. The "dust" they leave is quite different than the protein/iron/calcium powder that would result if all water was removed from the average person.
Yes. We don't turn to dust, and what we do turn to is greatly delayed by that "wonderful" custom known as embalming. We want to recycle everything from paper to glass, but we don't want to recycle all of the organic and inorganic molecules in our bodies.

Interesting. We're hiring in Oceanographer, and one applicant studies "whale falls" - the carcasses of whales fall to the bottom of the ocean and support a very unique ecosystem until, eventually, even the bones are consumed/broken down. Why not recycle our bodies as well. Can you imagine the ecosystem that would thrive on Haskins' carcass?
 

CaoPaux

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NeuroFizz said:
We're hiring in Oceanographer, and one applicant studies "whale falls" - the carcasses of whales fall to the bottom of the ocean and support a very unique ecosystem until, eventually, even the bones are consumed/broken down.
Fascinating! Are there critters only found on dead whales? I really should start watching National Geographic again.
 

NeuroFizz

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CaoPaux said:
Fascinating! Are there critters only found on dead whales? I really should start watching National Geographic again.
Not unique--they are opportunists and scavengers, but the succession in species that show up seems to be fairly consistent. Many deep sea animals rely on organic material that falls from above (it's called marine snow when it's small stuff, probably marine thud when it's a whale carcass).
 

Puddle Jumper

CaoPaux said:
Keep in mind that decay is a function of bacteria and such digesting our bodies. The "dust" they leave is quite different than the protein/iron/calcium powder that would result if all water was removed from the average person.
So you're saying there is more than one kind of dust. Okay, we're still dust and water then. :cool:
 
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