Category: Uncategorized

Urban Crows Is On Tour

The Self-Isolation-Round-The-World-In-14-Days Tour

I flew in from Santiago a week ago with a plane load of worried Canadians heading home from their business trips, or cancelled cruises or their we-had-a-bit-too-much-adventure holidays.

The road in Chile goes on and on and on and on

The handy leaflet I was given at Toronto airport that passes for Canadian government COVID-19 screening tells me that I have to self isolate for 14 days, so now I’m effectively stuck in the house until March 30th.

Well, screw that. I’m an experienced world traveller with the constitution of an ox on steroids, and I’m simply not prepared to sit around, thumb up my bum, while the wonders of the world pass me by. So, the Urbancrows blog has embarked on an all expenses paid (funding source to be determined) virtual world tour to take in some of the sights I’ve always wanted to see. Madagascar, Mongolia, Chad – I’ve crossed them all off my bucket list already.

Regular readers will be pleased to hear (I hope) that I’ve been keeping an illustrated travel diary to while away the time spent on my virtual plane, sipping virtual bubbly in my virtual fully-reclinable First Class seat. I’ll be updating the diary everyday, so let’s dive in and see where I’ve been…

Day 9: The Lord Of The Rings

Today I visited the set of the Lord of The Rings in New Zealand -I read the book over and over as a kid & it’s one of my favourite films. I went dressed as Bilbo & they let me climb Sauron’s tower, which was only 12 ft high and wobbled alarmingly; something of a let down! A pathetic looking rubber “Smaug” flew over on the end of fishing line & grilled one of the extras but that’s why they call them extras I guess! Gandalf was smoking his wand (wtf?) & a bit out of it. His tobacco smelled funny.

Not as scary as it looks.
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Notes From PDAC 2020

Mexican Beer Edition

Isn’t Toronto lovely this time of year? Parks, the lake, pretty girls in outdoor cafes…the early spring sun breaking through. A sense of rebirth lurking just around the corner. Just lovely. And total horseshit, as anyone unlucky enough to be in downtown TO last Friday can testify. True, it was warmish yesterday and raining; a fairly typical Vancouver type day, a tad better than the weekend. But if you ask me, Toronto is still a frigid fucking concrete wasteland populated by thinsulate-clad half frozen people running for the PATH tunnels. And I bloody hate it. Give me Skegness. Give me Milton Keynes. Fuck give me Red Deer; anywhere but downtown TO in the cold.

What do you mean, PATH hasn’t been built yet? I’m bloody freezing.
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Things Geologists Do. # 4.

Useless Undergraduate Studies.

If you’re reading the urbancrows blog, there’s an above average chance that you might be a trained geologist, you poor soul. Which means you spent 3 or 4 years slaving away as an undergraduate at University learning shit about rocks; sometimes a bit too much for your own good.

Have I ever told you about the useless shit I learned at college?

And wasn’t University fun? Field school. Beer. Labs. Beer. Lectures. Exams. Less beer. Failed courses. Coffee. Retakes. Below average degree. Career re-evaluation. Ah..the best days of our lives.

Out you popped, newly baked and pink cheeked from whatever cradle of higher learning you attended; a keen, young earth scientist, stuffed full of sciency knowledge. Head held high, you felt like you really understood the inner workings of our fragile blue rock. Those were the days.

Continue reading “Things Geologists Do. # 4.”

Things Geologists Do.

Marketing.

Listen up, all you young whippersnapper geologists out there. Yes, you at the back, the spotty one staring down the microscope. Are you looking to forge a career in the junior sector? Do you yearn for financial success? Are you driven by the tingly thrill of discovery? Do you see yourself as a future captain of the extractive industry? Yes?

Well then, there’s a key skill you need to learn if you want to rise above humble core logging and soil sampling. It’s called prostitution marketing.

Goddam marketing. I spit on your marketing.
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The Beethoven vs Chopin Adagio Smack Down Post

When it comes to piano concertos I’m a bit of a traditionalist. I prefer the early 19th and late 18th century pieces to their 20th century descendants. I suspect it’s because of the lyricism of the great European composers of that era, and – to be blunt- the whistle-along tunes they composed. If you ask me, a lot of 20th Century pieces involve too much noodling; great if you’re a musical theorist who understands what’s going on but not always so great to listen to for lay people like me. But hey, that’s just my opinion and what do I know?

Beethoven. Cheer up. You’re a genius.

There are 2 stand out concertos that I keep going back to. Both are popular and well known which is a slight departure in terms of the music I’ve been writing about on this blog.

Firstly, Beethoven’s wonderful Piano Concerto No 5, known as the Emperor concerto; a name given to it by the English publisher of the piece. And then there’s the boringly named Piano Concerto No. 1 by Chopin.

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It’s All Gravy

A couple of years back, I was walking with a friend through the Christmas market on the southern end of Hungerford Bridge in London. It’s an interesting, brutalist spot for a market, trapped between the muddy river, a massive bridge and the imposing late 1960s concrete arts bunker known as the Southbank Centre.

The Southbank centre. A kinder, artsier sort of brutal.

(I only found out recently that the Southbank centre was actually the vanguard of what was supposed to be a ground-breaking architectural redesign of London in the 1950s and 60s. The plan called for large parts of central London to be razed, including Soho and Whitehall, to be redeveloped with huge concrete office and residential blocks. Covent Garden was also slated to be flattened but the local residents organised and defeated the plan. Thank fuck it never happened.)

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I Hate Christmas Markets

With Christmas just around the corner, towns and cities around the UK -and Canada too for that matter- begin to sprout outdoor Christmas markets like mushrooms on a cowpat. They pop up anywhere there’s space; row upon row of bland little wooden huts looking like the bastard offspring of a beach hut that’s had a one-night stand with a camp site toilet. I saw at least 6 different-but-exactly-the-same markets in the UK last week, scattered morosely around London, York and Harrogate. My wife and I are divided on the attractions of the seasonal markets. She loves them; me, less so..

Little wooden festive boxes in York.
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November Stock Picking Update

Warning. This blog post/rant contains black humour about various things including my dad who’s not very well. If that’s not your thing, look away now.

The Rules

It’s time for another look at how Hys and Lows, the world’s greatest mining stock picking club, is doing now that winter’s arrived. The following is an edited version of my monthly note to the club members, individual’s names redacted.

Regular readers of my blog (why, oh why?) know how our uber-elite mining equity club works. We meet in late January to drink wine, pretend we understand the industry, and when we’re good and drunk we each pick a mining stock.

So, how you doing in the stock picking?
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Crystal Power Revisited

Months back I went on a bit of a rant about my contempt for the myriad metaphysical powers that some people ascribe to crystals. Kundalini tickling, energizing chakras, transporting you to alternate dimensions – apparently there’s nothing a nicely formed kyanite crystal can’t unlock. And according to some charlatans believers, the common ore-forming minerals – the ones I’ve spent my career exploring for, like galena and chalcopyrite – also possess amazing restorative powers which I wish I’d known more about in my first incarnation as a humble field geologist.

It’s all bollocks as far as I’m concerned, but each to their own.

Then an old colleague, Kirsten, forwarded me a wonderful link to a comedy sketch about, yes you guessed it, crystal power mumbo-jumbo. I won’t bore you by trying to describe it; just click on the link and enjoy. Suffice to say, I have renewed respect for rose quartz.

(Update: If you’re outside Canada & having trouble viewing the video, my friend Karen sent me a second link that works in the UK. I’ve posted it below.)

Normal Service Will Be Resumed Shortly.

I’m currently enjoying some southern hospitality in the Big Easy. Last night’s adventures involved a rather nice plate of smoked beef short rib. Normal service will be resumed when I get back to Vancouver later this coming week sporting an extra pound or two in weight. Until then, enjoy this moody monochrome photo of a rather splendiferous building in the French Quarter.

Everything looks better in monochrome.