Donald Trump definitely not the calibre to run a country

Donald Trump is yacking away about Obama's birth cirtificate and hopes that will win people over. He is a very trivial man and is only just a politician and definitely not a statesman. A politicain only thinks of the next election while a staesman thinks of the future. He should learn from John McCain that a mud slinging campaign does not work!!!

Chaos in Lybia

Lybians tried to emulate the Egyptian example "while the iron waas still hot" and many lives are being lost, over 1000 to date according to media reports. We, the rest of Africa and the world sympathise with the whole situation. My prayers will certainly be going to Lybia and the Lybian young children caught up in this.

Egypt out of clutches of strife

Interesting the happenings in Egypt. If only they did not have mostly limestones it would have been a haven for young Geologists and archeologists out there to work in a country rich in ancient world history. Maybe some Geologists should come up with a soft rock money making idea. Egyptians are a very strong willed people with rock hard determination....admirable.

Myths, Science and the Supernatural.

January has come and gone and by now most new years resolutions are either out the window or are still pending commencement .....awaiting some motivational kick. 2010 was plagued by natural disasters around the globe heralded by the January Haiti earthquake. Massive natural phenomenon of such nature have always occurred in ancient times but have been attributed singly to supernatural origins and thus were treated as such... supernatural. However, if only science and the supernatural could become allies, the understanding of natural phenomenon could have been far better and thus mitigation measures for the more modern disasters could have been taken. ..and disaster... averted. Events like the “mythical” volcanic eruption that destroyed the city of Atlantis, the flooding of earth during the time of Noah or the crossing of the River Jordan, can all be explained and backed up by physical evidence and geological processes. For example an earthquake related to the Jordan Valley Fault resulted in the river water being dammed up and cut-off for two days in 1546. Sounds like a familiar scenario from the good book?

Does amethyst have healing powers or is it mind over matter?

Amethysts has long been believed to have healing powers, more specifically, it aids sobriety. I don’t know if anyone has had firsthand experience with this or is it all in the mind like those placebos that doctors sometimes give the over-keen-to-be-ill patients. The ancient Greeks believed that amethyst made one immune to the effects of alcohol. mmm ...people tend to believe any "ancient belief".  Well amethyst is just basically quartz with purple colour derived due to the presence of manganese,  ferric thiocyanate or sulfur. Its just regular old quartz. Thus the healing powers? There are no healing powers, it’s just the power of BELIEF.... Mind over matter.

Geological societies only catering for the nerdy geologists?

I am a Geologists and quite proudly so, however there arent any social or society events or seminars that cater for the non-intellectual Geologists. Society talks and seminars are designed for gurus in each of the respective topics. What happened to society field excurisions and talks that dont cost an arm and leg? Come on,  we are pretty good campers who cost next to nil to accommodate so I think geological societies should bring on cheaper events.

Geologists too lazy? ...Or too busy?

Obviously I have hit a spot with the Resource geologists. Am I talking nonsense here or are wejust too busy to care.  Have we become glorified samplers and lost ourselves to the pressures of production?

Unfolding prior to estimation

It is amazing how a lot of Mineral Resource estimation professionals overlook unfolding and consideration of the deformation phases before estimating. Anyone can carry out estimation..., heck, there are lots of software where you can click click click and VOILA! But remember GIGO...yes its all GARBAGE. Employing geological professionals is done becauses we understand the geological environment better, we undersatnd that there are processes involved in the deposition and unravelling these will give a better estimate. Its a pity a lot of companies and 'estimators' no longer take the time to understand the geolgy of their project situation and in my few years experience am appalled to say the least. What do you think, are geologists forgetting themselves and becoming button pushers/clickers?