Revenant said:

Ok…"star jelly"….ok then…

JM's Primary query: "Has there been any conclusive explanation for this yet?"

Primary answer: No.  The reason?  The entire topic is awfully sketchy.  I shall break down the star jelly into five categories.

"IT'S NOT GOOP, IT'S CRUD" – I think the prime candidate for much of the paranormal (ghosts, cryptids, UFO's, whatever) is misidentification.  Nosfer's article about the incident in Texas reminds us of that.  Throw in normal pollution, chemical spills, chemical contamination, illegal chemical dumping and a host of other things in that same vein and we start coming up with a few very reasonable answers for some instances of star jelly.

"THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON" – Nosfer was also kind enough to find a chemical analysis of an example of supposed star jelly.  From looking at the contents and not knowing anything about where the sample was found…an educated guess would be from a body of water.  Sand, rust, algae…not a big jump there.

What that particular substance could be is a very mondo-bizarro form of oxidation involving organic matter.  Things like this can sometimes look very weird.  I found a paper that just kind of touches upon this topic.  It DOES NOT explain what that substance is.  It simply offers some insight in how metal and organic material can interact:

http://www.horizonpress.com/jmmb/v1/v1n1/11.pdf

Also, I wouldn't worry too much about the "unidentified cobalt blue globules."  For some reason, many people believe that when "science" tests something, they use the top of the line, highest tech equipment and techniques and use the top guys in the field.  Um…yeah, that's typically not the case.  Give me a couple of choice microscopes in a swanky lab…I could probably narrow it down considerably.  Then again, a few million dollars of equipment always makes things a bit easier….you know, just sayin'…

"THIS AIN'T YOUR DADDY'S FUNGUS"  For the article that I offered from above, detailing an incident in Scotland, and…for what I believe to be behind much of the "star jelly" type of thing…I offer "slime mold."

No longer thought of as fungi, it is it's own deal now.  It is some of the coolest and most fascinating forms of life on Earth.  If you ever want to "geek out" and get all "science-y" then do a search on slime mold and look at all the pretty pictures.  Like this one:

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/slime1.htm

Why do I only suggest looking at the pretty pictures?  The names of most slime molds are harder to pronounce than that volcano in Iceland and the articles are either written for young pups in grade school or for old dogs with PhDs.  Not a lot of in between.

In any event, most people don't know what slime mold is, much less being able to identify it.  Keep in mind, it can also grow at an insane rate if particular weather conditions are met.  Most slime mold exist in single cells.  Yet, if something triggers a chemical signal, they can aggregate into a great swarm.  Once the weather conditions (among other things) change, the slime mold can quickly break down due to it's delicate structure.  Definitely a good candidate.  After all…people just assume stuff is falling from the sky because of the placement of the "goop."  The possibility that something just grew there and so quickly doesn't readily occur to them.

"WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?" As we finally move to the Oakville incident…if one objectively looks at the information at hand, one certainly comes away with a raised eyebrow.  We have the "end result" as in "weird goop" on the ground that came from the sky.  Great.  But really…we have little else to work with.

For example…as the story goes…some weird jelly type stuff fell from the sky six times over a three day span.  Well…the first time, yeah, shocking and weird and I don't blame anyone (kinda of) for not doing all sorts of tests.  But once we start getting into multiple times…we must start asking questions.  Like how much does the stuff weigh?  From that point, what sort of area did it cover?  Then we test random points within that area.  From there, we can ballpark the actual weight of all the jelly that supposedly fell.  Was it 20 lbs?  200 lbs?  Two tons?  We'll never know.  And…well….why the hell not?

I mean we're not talking Mongolia in 1602 here.  We're talking the Washington in 1994.  Where's all the scientific data?  Don't give me some story about a lab tech at Washington State University.  We have a foreign mass, supposedly, falling on the United States.  Why weren't our best people on that?  Where were all just the very curious science-orientated people?  Just something very strange about this whole thing.  I mean if something was falling from the sky and killing my dogs…trust me, believe this, know this for a fact…I would test that goop until the end of time.  There isn't a lab in America that wouldn't get a sample of that stuff.  I mean…, supposedly, it fell six times in three days.  Should be barrels of that stuff lying around.  But apparently…there isn't.  Very, very strange…

"I THINK, THEREFORE, I LIE" – The last category is reserved just for the crazies and the liars.  You'll see more of them in 2012…"The sky is falling!"

Ok…so…there's my take on "star jelly."

*nod*  That the government/CDC/FDA/CIA/FBI/XYZ/ASPCA/ADL _didn't_ freak out about a foreign substance raining down on American soil kind of led me to believe there was a perfectly natural explanation for it, suppressed only by the ratings-lust of the paranormal show animal.   No one seemed to care in any official sense. But yet I can't find any explanation for slime precipitation, toxic or not….pollution stuffs sounds plausible, airpoo sounds ….well, less plausible given blue dye thing, but you'd think someone would have a site or a statement out there that went something to the effect of "This is dumb.  This is simple, elementary Slimium Rainismus, you non-scientist rubes. Stop freaking out. _gawd_…"    But I can't find that, with or without the attitude. : )      As I mentioned earlier, I did try JREF…and found that particular species of response non-existant.    Urges me to check on the room temperature of Hell. : )

Even if it _did_ happen only once and it's sickifying effects are just due to people suddenly having a populist scapegoat for the ills they would have endured anyway….it's still puzzling…and even if it is a pollution symptom…what pollution symptom is it?  Surely it's a rare one, or this would be reported in every suburb that neighbors a coal plant or oil refinery….or it would happen regularly around X Industrial Facility, at least. 

Indeed there are other "Star Jelly" falls that are easily explainable, which is why I put in that disclaimer about using the Oakland Washington case as a loose base;  not saying it _hasn't_ happened before, but it's a bit like Ball Lightning.  In that it's a blanket term for what is likely a dozen or more very different phenomenon that share one or two key characteristics.

I'm both disappointed and relieved, so far.  Disappointed in that I don't yet have an answer….and relieved in that I wasn't being stupid at not having found it.  : )

And personally I was skeptical of the "six times" figure, too, but I had added too many wordy disclaimers to my original post as was…but…something was sent for testing to the FAA, and these private labs.  And there are ….well, quite a bit of eyewitness testimony–enough to support that "something"  slimey fell from the heavens at least _once_, I think.    Eyewitness testimony is indeed the fossil fuel that stupid paranormal stuff runs on, yes, but it _is_ worth _something_, and it does pile up.