And we should have some degree of decorum in not pointing out any heels here.

Aw, shucks!...and I was going to wax interthreadual and offer Achilles heel. (Words from Greek Mythology).

foot-and-mouth disease

And don't forget the formidable foot-in-mouth disease. It's horribly contagious, and there always seems to be outbreaks of varying degrees right on this board!

basalt Basalt is an igneous rock, of troy (as opposed to metamorphic or sedimentary), the oldest and most basic rock formations on the planet, formed by volcanic lava flows. These rocks can date back to the dawn of time and can actually be billions of years old. They're solid and massive, and their upheavals are due to erosion and seismic activity. Fossils are rarely, if ever, found, in this type of rock, because the process of their formation destroys any organic remains. Except, a few years back, some paleomicrobiologists claimed to have found the fossils of microbes in some igneous formations that were 2 billion years old!...however, the jury is still out on that one. [edit: I should have mentioned that the ancient microbial fossils were deemed to be algae]