The Urban Jungle: Alien fungi and other wondrous flora and fauna of backyard America
A collection of photomicrographs presented by Terry Lynch
Artist, Naturalist and Photographer,
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Something floating in my coffee
This picture was made at 80X just by holding a digital camera close to the objective. In this manner I was able to play with the angle of incidence and create scattered effects, producing an image which appears quite alien indeed.
It should be noted that this coffee contained a very small amount of honey, given it had been poured into an empty honey jar before rinsing out the last of the honey. Hence the mold may have been able to grow feeding upon a low concentration of sugar and not the suspension of caffeine.
If naught else this photograph illustrates that we live in a mold rich world, that if left unattended long enough all would rot. Our very bodies would decay being devoured by rot, a host of bacteria, fungi and other organisms which would turn our carcasses into liquid goo and drink up, without so much as a toast to the feast, the only acknowledgement that we existed at a, brown, green and black mold spores blowing in the wind and bones dried in the sun.
The idea of life after death certainly takes on a new meaning when one realizes that all flesh decays, that fungi devour every morsel of carbohydrate rich matter. The only after life humanity is likely to enjoy is that of being food for fungi or fodder for the flies.
That our spirits might live beyond our present mortal selves is so much fantasy, if not ignorance, lie and deception. The only spiritual life after death is that which comes through sharing our intellectual creation with humanity. Once we are gone all that will remain of our spirit is our creations and the memories others keep of their experience of us. If all of humanity would see this truth and abandon its foolish belief in Heaven, Hell and eternal bliss or damnation, then the world would certainly be a better place as all might endeavor to live their lives more fully and express with their lives some bit of being their fellow man or woman might cherish long after we have departed this planet Earth.
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The above photomicrograph entitled "The Red Fungi Planet" viewed from afar gives the impression of deep space pictures of the planet Mars. Perhaps there is more similarity that one might imagined for it is possible spores from Mars were carried in rocks to Earth eons ago, seeding out planet with Martian organisms. Indeed it is quite possible some of the life forms on Earth may have originated through cosmic encounters with alien spores.
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There fluttered into the Fungi Garden a lacewing, the iridescences of its wings fathoming up stellar fantasies of a far and distant orb, perhaps spinning about a star which, much like our own Sun, warms a globe with light bringing forth life which has evolved into a form quite like this lacewing, yet is a six legged intelligent species, far brighter than any homo sapiens, for this alien species lives together in perfect harmony with its environment and neighbors, knowing that a species which makes war against nature and its own kind is doomed to extinction.
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Peering into the great abyss of a lichen canyon every millimeter is a plunge, a leap of faith into the unknown, yielding not just truth, but beauty. While men limit their lives to the worship of finite gods and laws carved in stone, nature presents an infinite variety of life, that upon a bit of bark exists an entire universe more glorious in its wonder and revelation than any Holy Scripture authored by mortals. The laws of nature through time and space yield that infinity of life which continues to evolve while the devote deny both the eternal nature of change and the sacred nature of the infinity of life forms it produces. Seen as supreme among being is man, when in actuality man is but as a mold or lichen growing upon the face of a planet. Perhaps our fait depends upon seeing that we are but a small part of a greater, infinite whole, which is constantly changing, evolving, becoming new each moment. What will be in the future man can only imagine, but most certainly it will be different from what is today. For nature embraces change from zero to infinity, abhorring consistency and any god of man that is fashioned of mind to be finite, is but a fallacy dreamed by fools of folly.
Additional Photos Coming Soon!
If you are anxiously awaiting the arrival of more photographs, please be patient. Additional photos will be presented over time as interesting specimens are prepared and photographed. Please click on the links below to view additional photomicrographs and special natural history pages presented for your education, enlightenment and enjoyment. Thank you!
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Copyright © 2002 by Terry Lynch. All Rights Reserved.