h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I would avoid that as well. My lack of a ship makes that pretty much a certainty.

{Someone will obviously need to organize some volunteers to tramp over every square inch of and to find the unlocated ones.}

What, like an ordnance survey, you mean?

When you're explaining, you're losing, Icy

It's hopeless. I'd give it up.

Farmers in Belgium still periodically lose a leg or two when they accidentally set off mines from World War One. Faring is more hazardous than one might think. I had an uncle who lost a few fingers in corn reapers.

It's astonishing how those devices can still be active 100 years on. And also that in 100 years we haven't developed the technology to detect them adequately.

Do you have a link to one of those Belgian stories, paulh?

Here's an informative article about the "zone rouge", WWI battlefield areas so devastated and dangerous to be uninhabitable today.

http://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/after-100-years-world-war-i-battlefields-are-poisoned-and-uninhabitable

There are numerous ones. I don't want to give publicity to that wiki site, so here's another link:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/1451468/Farmer-who-is-sitting-on-a-bomb.html

Thank you for those - fascinating reading, and something I knew very little about

Thanks for the link, Baron Grim.

Detoxifying soil can be done with the right plants, though it's a long process. Here's a summary of the toxic substances that various plants can pull from the earth:

grass soaks up mercury
mustard greens and cabbage family soak up lead
sunflowers radioactive metals
willows soak up copper, zinc, cadmium, selenium, silver, chromium, uranium, petrochemicals and many others
Sunflowers are not only able to absorb lead, but other dangerous heavy metals such as arsenic, zinc, chromium, copper, and manganese.

Oh, . Then my sunflowers in the backyard are not only beautiful, they're removing toxic chemicals from the French and Indian War! (Last war that came anywhere close to here.) Hurrah!

I really like the idea of phytoremdiation, using plants to reclaim soil.

I remember seeing a news story about using jimson weed to remove heavy metals, including plutonium.

And if the Feds come around, you can feed them a salad...

I'm going to think twice before I eat any more sunflower seeds, though....

But it's true that farming is a dangerous occupation for other reasons too! When I was a young whipper snapper my uncle had me out early one autumn morning, snagging turnips.

You were given a sharp knife with which to cut off the tops and tails. My uncle advised me to keep an eye on what I was doing, as it is quite easy, when your hands get frozen, to cut off your thumb.

You only notice it when you find you can't pick up the next turnip.

"Is that your thumb?"
"I don't know."
"Well LOOK!"

http://youtu.be/840FqyJEexw

Take good care of your thumbs. You'll need them for hitchhiking through the .

My father always used to say "Never cut towards your thumb, always cut towards your chum."

are said to be fond of chum.