Category: Uncategorized

It’s On The Right

Have A Look. Over There —>—>—>

Blogging is a lonely business. I sit in the urbancrows eRookery (my home office), writing and posting, day in, day out with only my elderly, arthritic dog snoring at my feet to keep me company. But I know you’re out there. I know I’m not actually alone. I know lots of you are reading “What Is A Geologist?” and then moving on to something more interesting, back to your fun-filled lives watching Celebrity Big Brother, or Episode 4 of Chernobyl.

That’s why I love it when someone subscribes via the cryptic little window on the right, over there –have a look. I get all tingly thinking that something I’ve written might be making someone chuckle for a few seconds and forget the daily humdrum for a minute or two.

The eRookery, complete with wilty orchid.

Did you know there’s tons of other pieces on the urbancrows blog? A piece on Crystal Power, that delves way back to the origins of my interest in geology. Or how about the whole category about my interest in classical music, where Thomas Tallis (amongst others) gets a pump? Scared of being mugged by itinerant chickens? You’re not alone. Plus an entire category, The Mining Biz, devoted to demystifying the fog of terminology that clouds the junior mining business.

You have Nothing To Fear But Boredom

Take a look at the other categories before you head-off. You might be surprised at some of the amazingly dull stuff I’ve written. And I take requests too. Seriously. Fancy an irreverent look at a subject dear to your heart? Drop me a line through the Comments window and I might take you up on it.

Go on. Subscribe. It’s free and what’ve you got to lose? I promise not to spam you. You’ll only hear from me when I publish something new.

Keep Scrolling Down For The Fun Stuff.

A Guide to Common Ore Minerals

Geology students are trained to identify the commonest rock- and ore-forming minerals. It’s a vital skill for professional geologist. Sulphides, silicates, oxides, phosphates; we slog through dozens of them in our petrology labs, learning to identify the important ones using properties like colour, hardness, lustre (the way it shines or doesn’t), cleavage (how they split), density and such. As a kid, I loved this aspect of geology and by my early teens I could already identify the most common economic minerals such as galena (lead), sphalerite (zinc), chalcopyrite (copper), hematite (iron) and the flashier oxides and carbonates like malachite, rhodocrosite and azurite.

I Was Conned

But lately I’ve had this nagging feeling that I was conned at University in my undergraduate days. I missed out on an entire earth-science discipline, and I’m still stewing over it. I touched on this feeling of disquiet in an earlier post (Crystal Power).

I was conned. Honest guv. Second row up, far right.

In a futile attempt to scratch the itch, I decided to take a deeper look at the mineral properties we should’ve been learning about; the ones that haven’t made the mainstream textbooks yet. More’s the pity because I think these could be far more diagnostic and helpful to field geologists, particularly geologists with inter-dimensional Kundalini issues or Chakratic aura problems.

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It’s Crop Circle Time.

Spring is here in its inimitable, slightly-sodden Vancouver fashion. Growing up in Kent, in southern England, I loved it. Every year, the warmer weather brought profound changes to the ancient agrarian landscape around the cathedral city of Canterbury. To a bubbling soundtrack of larks high above, the farmers would sow their fields, bringing a riot of green and yellow to the chalk downs. And then, in another timeless annual rite, crop circle time arrives; the first circle is found smack in the middle of a wheat field in Wiltshire, and suddenly every idiot and conspiracy whack job in the country wakes up sporting their alien-spotter hard on, looking for 15 minutes of fame.

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March Stock Picking Update

Shout out to Shovelnose

Greetings stock pickers,

What follows is an edited version of my monthly junior mining update to the members of the Hys and Lows stock picking club. All names of members have been removed. Which is a shame really. I’d love to leave them in so you can all see how bad our motley collection of mining experts and insiders is at choosing winners.

As the UK ponders a possible Brexit-related general election, and the UK’s electorate therefore have to ponder the real possibility of Jeremy Marx-Stalin becoming Citizen 1 in place of Theresa Won’t, I’d like to turn to happier things: the shitty resource junior market, a welcome constant in these turbulent times.

Down to business.

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The Strangest thing I’ve Ever Seen

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever seen? Think back. A ghost? Phosphorescence in the sea at night? An honest politician? We’ve all seen something that truly baffles us. Top of my list would have to be Trump’s inauguration – I’d call it black comedy if it wasn’t so serious. One moment the world was relatively normal and the next we’re all eating fresh shit sandwiches. Second on my list is a natural phenomenon, something –unlike Trump- that I can get my head around as a scientist. Kinda.

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When Chickens Attack.

If you’re scared of chickens and their feathered kin, you’ve got Alektorophobia; an irrational fear of chickens.. as well as their eggs …often related to a previous traumatic experience involving feathered fowls.”  In other words, chicken-related PTSD. I don’t have it, but my friend’s wife, a Japanese émigré to Canada, suffers from it. Sounds like a total nightmare to me.

Continue reading “When Chickens Attack.”

Let’s Play Hide The Rock.

Gwyneth Paltrow, feminine health legend and definitely not a snake oil saleswoman, says women should insert crystals into their body cavities to “increase chi, orgasms,vaginal muscle tone, hormonal balance, and feminine energy in general.” A big thank you to Goop! for coming up with a solution for so many problems all at once. I really hope she’s not thinking about using stibnite as it might cause a few issues if inserted incorrectly.

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Where Are My Comments?

What the bloody hell have you done with my pithy and informative comment I hear you ask? Good question. I’ve been navigating the choppy, illogical waters of WordPress behind-the-scenes at Urbancrows for a couple of months but some things still have me beaten. The Comments feature is one of them. I’m not sure (yet) why some show up and others don’t.

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Let’s Go Scrumping.

Hands up if you know what scrumping is? No idea? Well, in England it means stealing apples from an orchard; kids climbing over the fence with a pack full of apples plucked from the trees. The word also pops up in the name Scrumpy, as in a fairly rough apple cider (not the clear, sweet, sparkly muck that often masquerades as cider on the west coast.)

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Is Pärt a part of your life?

I hate Philip Glass. Every time I go to see a movie that boasts “Soundtrack by Philip Glass” I’m filled with dread. I find his music desperately dull. All repetitive twiddly bits with no real melodies, his pieces drone on and on spoiling whatever we’re watching. The New Yorker summed it up nicely for me:

“Glass never had a good idea he didn’t flog to death: He repeats the haunting scale 30 mind-numbing times, until it’slong past time to go home.”

Continue reading “Is Pärt a part of your life?”