The Urban Crows Blog

Rocks Can Talk

Rock is remarkable stuff. It lets you know when it’s not happy, and like the best of us, it gets stressed from time to time. When it gets very wound up, it won’t shut up until something finally happens to calm it down, which is usually not a good thing for us humans. Ask San Francisco.

I’m Stressed. Go Away.

The rock was yapping away to itself late last year in northwest England, at a fracking site near Blackpool. Cuadrilla, a hydrocarbon explorer, had just restarted its operations after being shut down for a while by the regulators because of an increase in seismicity near the drill site.

Thomas Tallis was a bit good.

Once upon a time, there lived a composer called Thomas Tallis. He was a bit good. Born during the reign of Henry VII he was busily composing music while Henry VIII was busily chopping off spousal heads. His music has survived for hundreds of years and lingers on in hymns that are still sung in church today. Recognise this?

Crystal Power

Crystals can be very polarizing. Sorry fellow geologists, bad pun, I know.

In three decades, I’ve built a half-decent collection of museum-quality pieces, currently leased to a business downtown. I collect them because of my love for the inherent esthetic value of crystals; their rarity, the science behind their formation and the intangible “wow factor” that spectacular samples elicit. See I’m in Love for some recent drooling.

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.

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.)

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.”

I Belong To A Club Update

Yesterday, in my role as chairman, I updated my stock picking club (Hys and Lows) members on the performance – or rather the non-performance- of our portfolio of junior mining stocks. Last time I wrote about it, I said:

“For the last 24 months, reality has bitten. Themarket has put us firmly back in our place while lustily kicking our butts downthe sidewalk, up the alley and into the back yard. Year-to-date our portfoliois down 26% and, tellingly, 22 out of 25 stocks we picked are in the red. To befair on us, this is a reflection largely of the “nobody gives a fuck” state ofthe resource sector which is veering dangerously close to a 10-year low.”

Jam is Dangerous

I make jam. A few years back I used to make a lot of it. As a novice jam maker, I did what any naive beginner does: I attacked the world of summer fruit with gusto. Raspberries. Strawberries. Peaches. Anything I could get my hands on was boiled up with sugar and stuck in jars. I even made fancy labels. My jam cupboard is still full of dark, sticky mysteries from that period of my life.

What nobody tells you about jamming is the sheer danger involved. It’s lethal. I embark upon each batch with trepidation.

To get a jam to set, particularly the jelly-based ones like marmalade, you heat the fruit juice and sugar up to a rolling boil. Then you keep boiling it to reduce the liquid down until the setting point is reached; when a drop of jam placed on a cold ceramic saucer quickly sets and turns to jelly.

To PR or not to PR?

I promised myself I wouldn’t get political or overly preachy on UrbanCrows. I’m trying to write about stuff that I find interesting or that strikes me as quirky. And I’m trying hard to keep it engaging. The last thing we need in our lives is another soap box site banging on about domestic or national politics. Having said that…

ThisProportional Representation (PR) referendum is driving me bat-shit crazy.

I’m in Love. I confess.

I’m still in love with Azurite. I met her on-line and now I can’t let her go. Just the other day she sent me another full length body shot, mounted no less. Apparently she comes from Morocco. Oh my giddy aunt. I’m going to have to sit down.

The Urban Crows Blog

Rocks Can Talk

I’m Stressed. Go Away.

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Thomas Tallis was a bit good.

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Crystal Power

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Where Are My Comments?

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Let’s Go Scrumping.

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Is Pärt a part of your life?

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I Belong To A Club Update

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Jam is Dangerous

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To PR or not to PR?

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I’m in Love. I confess.

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I’m Stressed. Go Away.

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