no. 87

This is a very special post, because

1. the number 87 is one of my favorites.

2. It's Friendship Day. 

There will be no long-winded philosphising about the nature of friendships and how they evolve and grow (or diminish) and what they can bring to your life, etc. etc.

These little guys have nothing to do with my flesh-and-blood/ disembodied friends. 

Instead, we have an excerpt from a book I'm currently reading, A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson:

"So what keeps the planet stable and cool? Life does. Trillions upon trillions of tiny marine organisms that most of us have never heard of - foraminiferans and coccoliths and calcareous algae -  capture atmospheric carbon, in the form of carbon dioxide, when it falls as rain and use it (in combination with other things) to make their tiny shells. By locking the carbon up in their shells, they keep it from being re-evaporated into the atmosphere where it would build up dangerously as a greenhouse gas. Eventually all the tiny foraminiferans and coccoliths and so on die and fall to the bottom of the sea, where they are compressed into limestone. It is remarkable, when you behold an extraordinary natural feature like the White Cliffs of Dover in England, to reflect that it is made up almost entirely of tiny deceased marine organisms, but even more remarkable when you realize how much carbon they cumulatively sequester."

Thank you, wee creatures.

Happy Friendship Day, Earth. May we be better to you.