Sunday Storylines

The Andromeda Strain. In keeping with all those stories that catch my eye about insidious diseases, there's this one about a man fighting meningoencephalitis brought on by a brain-eating amoeba in California. The amoeba which lives in the soil can become airborne. Scary. The story sent me off to do some research about the Roman baths in Bath, England, which were closed down due to a deadly amoeba. Seems to be a different organism, though.

Soylent Green. Here's an interesting story about the inaguaration of a seed vault in Norway. The vault will eventually house 4.5 million samples as part of a project to protect plant diversity from man made and natural disasters. Let's not forget that increasingly the types of seeds planted are pretty uniform. It joins another vault in England which preserves the seeds of wildflowers.

Deep Rising. Just when you thought the Kraken was a myth, you run into this old story about scientists in England revealing mysterious recordings of a very large biological life form in the deep, picked up in 1997 by US spy sensors. Some think it an immense squid, although scientists have pretty valid reasons not to think so. Don't ask me how I just stumbled upon it. Has anyone out there read anything else in the intervening years? Read the original story here.

National Treasure. And here's a story about Nazi gold. Well, it's about treasures, possibly including the famed Amber Room from Russia, seized by the Nazis and buried somewhere. Two treasure hunters are digging in Southeastern Germany for the lost goodies.

The Story of O. This one is for adults only. The "Today Show" informs us that men fake it, too. I kid you not. You have to read it to figure out the mechanics. You can do it here.