A Mystery Resolved in Rust

In a summer when orange funk rained from Alaska skies and poisonous seaweed littered the beaches of Brittany with dead boars, when a Texas lake turned blood red and a holy man declared we were living in the end times, the wounded world seemed to be telling us something we'd rather not hear. Be that as it may, scientists now have some answers in the mystery of the Alaskan funk.

Orange goo on Alaska shore was fungal spores - US news - msnbc.com:
"Further tests with more advanced equipment showed the substance is consistent with spores from fungi that create 'rust,' a plant disease that accounts for the color, said officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The gunk appeared Aug. 3 at the edge of Kivalina, an Inupiat Eskimo community at the tip of a barrier reef on Alaska's northwest coast."

There are many kinds of rust, one of which is an old friend of mine. Indulge me and tomorrow I'll tell the story.