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Re: Subject: Plants V Weeds



> Mike,my uncle, who was a dirt farmer all his life. 
> <snip, when weeds turn into plants they die. ;-) >

I really like that one.

Slightly off-topic, but has the group seen the
range of reactions when referencing "bugs" in
the company of entimologists, or "dirt" in the
company of soil scientists?  Make sure you duck
after you use the words.  In your defense, be
prepared to acknowledge that "bugs" are in the
order hemiptera, but most other insects aren't
bugs (flies and moths are dipthera, ants and 
wasps are hymenoptera, cockroaches and beetles
are coleoptera, moths and butterflies are 
lepidoptera, etc.)

I first learned chemistry was cool at the 
University of Illinois-Urbana in a soils 
class.  Amazingly, it really is a science.
Use of the word "dirt" was responded to with
a violent but melodramatic, "DIRT IS IN YOUR
MIND, ON YOUR CAR, AND UNDER YOUR FINGERNAILS!
DIRT IS MISPLACED SOIL!"  When I later attended
Colorado State University and we visited some
glacial sites and Devin (in the class) asked
about, "what about this dirt here?", I winced
in anticipation.  To my shock an horror, the
professor responded with a, "DIRT IS IN YOUR 
MIND, ON YOUR CAR, AND UNDER YOUR FINGERNAILS!
DIRT IS MISPLACED SOIL!"  Since that took place
some 1200 miles from the original indoctrination,
I've concluded it's the soil scientist equivolent
of a secret handshake.

And, don't get them started on the "water carrying
capacity" of different types of soil.  As it turns
out, that doesn't exist.  ;-))

--charley


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