My Adventures in Science

100 Things Geo Meme - additional

2009-11-22T09:42:00.000Z

17. Living and fossilized stromatolites Yep. They took us to see some at Summer School in 2009!

Whoops!

2009-11-22T09:27:00.004Z

Nearly a year went by there without posting in here at all. I have some back-dated things that I need to log, so I'll get onto that and it won't look so bad!

In the meantime, I have subscribed to Deposits Magazine, which is fabulous, after getting myself a free sample copy back in July. It's already mnaged to clear up some issues I had with some of the terminology from Summer School. I now grasp exactly what / how hardground is formed. I mean, they showed it to us at School, but it wasn't clearly described. I don't think one person there just said "formed during times of low sedimentation rates."

*headdesk* it's all so obvious when pointed out in simple language.

The last local booksale was a bit of a waste of time, but I did manage to pick up a cheap copy of The Discovery of Evolution. Currently reading it on the loo - like you needed to know that...

Isle of Wight

2009-11-07T10:08:00.001Z

Unfortunately we went over a weekend when the tides were annoyingly high for most of the day, so there was no rock-bothering to be done or dinosaur footprints to find. Instead, we made up for it by going to Dinosaur Isle and looking at the fossils and the models.

Revolutions in the Earth by Stephen Baxter

2009-11-04T09:00:00.002Z

Finished this book today and logged it on Shelfari.

Excellent read.

Howick

2009-07-31T09:55:00.004+01:00

{click to enlarge}

Herring bone cross stratification. They told us that this is rare and this particular area is a very good example.

Scremerston

2009-07-29T10:01:00.001+01:00

Graphic logging day at Scremerston. This was my section:

{click pic for larger}

It wasn't as exciting as the next one up:

{click pic for larger}

Lepidodendron root ball!!!

Christmas Carol

2008-12-20T09:28:00.001Z

I find it very amusing that a Christmas Carol supposedly about the birth of Christ is actually about the birth of Bonnie Prince Charlie!

Oh Come Let Us Adore Him!

100 Things Meme - Geo Version

2008-12-15T16:12:00.003Z

Pinched this from all over what seems to be called "The GeoBlogoSphere". It does seem a bit biased towards North America, but not to worry. I've only being doing this a few years, so I expect I'll get a pretty minimal score, but it's nice to see what is out there to be seen in the future.

Bold the ones that you've done:

1. See an erupting volcano

2. See a glacier

3. See an active geyser
(Yellowstone, New Zealand or the type locality of Iceland)

4. Visit the Cretaceous/Tertiary (KT) Boundary - I saw this on a summer school trip. Newhaven, East Sussex.
(Possible locations include Gubbio, Italy, Stevns Klint, Denmark, the Red Deer River Valley near Drumheller, Alberta.)

5. Observe (from a safe distance) a river whose discharge is above bankful stage

6. Explore a limestone cave - turns out that Wookey Hole is a limestone cave and therefore counts. I've tourned one in Spain as well, but can't recall the name
(Try Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, Lehman Caves in Great Basin National Park, or the caves of Kentucky)

7. Tour an open pit mine - I had to Google this to why this was different to quarries. Well, by the looks of things it isn't. So I've done field trips to mines twice.
(Such as those in Butte, Montana, Bingham Canyon, Utah, Summitville, Colorado, Globe or Morenci, Arizona, or Chuquicamata, Chile.)

8. Explore a subsurface mine - they took us to one in Cornwall when I was at school!

9. See an ophiolite, such as the ophiolite complex in Oman or the Troodos complex on the Island Cyprus (if on a budget, try the Coast Ranges or Klamath Mountains of California).

10. An anorthosite complex, such as those in Labrador, the Adirondacks, and Niger (there's some anorthosite in southern California too).

11. A slot canyon - Zion National Park, Utah. Just stumbled across one with nobody around, so I've actually pee'd in slot canyon!
(Many of these amazing canyons are less than 3 feet wide and over 100 feet deep. They reside on the Colorado Plateau. Among the best are Antelope Canyon, Brimstone Canyon, Spooky Gulch and the Round Valley Draw.)

12. Varves, whether you see the type section in Sweden or examples elsewhere.

13. An exfoliation dome, such as those in the Sierra Nevada.

14. A layered igneous intrusion, such as the Stillwater complex in Montana or the Skaergaard Complex in Eastern Greenland.

15. Coastlines along the leading and trailing edge of a tectonic plate

16. A gingko tree - ooo! Typo! They mean a Ginkgo biloba, of course...
which is the lone survivor of an ancient group of softwoods that covered much of the Northern Hemisphere in the Mesozoic.

17. Living and fossilized stromatolites Yep. They took us to see some at Summer School in 2009!
(Glacier National Park is a great place to see fossil stromatolites, while Shark Bay in Australia is the place to see living ones)

18. A field of glacial erratics

19. A caldera

20. A sand dune more than 200 feet high

21. A fjord

22. A recently formed fault scarp

23. A megabreccia

24. An actively accreting river delta

25. A natural bridge

26. A large sinkhole - not seen a large one

27. A glacial outwash plain

28. A sea stack - The Needles! Then they showed us one at Summer School in '09.

29. A house-sized glacial erratic - how big does the house have to be? I've seen shed-sized...

30. An underground lake or river - the River Axe flows through Wookey Hole, so I'm guessing that this one is a yes

31. The continental divide - just ticked this one off back in October!

32. Fluorescent and phosphorescent minerals - in musuems, not kicking around on the ground! Geology Museum in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago was the most recent.

33. Petrified trees - Petrified Forest, Arizona

34. Lava tubes - they were collapsed, but I'm counting them

35. The Grand Canyon - with all those warnings about how the super-fit can die going down in the canyon? No thank you. I'm counting it because I've been there twice now AND done the North Rim.
(All the way down. And back.)

36. Meteor Crater, Arizona - YAY!!!! I'd wanted to see this for such a long time!!!
(also known as the Barringer Crater, to see an impact crater on a scale that is comprehensible)

37. The Great Barrier Reef, northeastern Australia, to see the largest coral reef in the world.

38. The Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada, to see the highest tides in the world (up to 16m)

39. The Waterpocket Fold, Utah, to see well exposed folds on a massive scale.

40. The Banded Iron Formation, Michigan, to better appreciate the air you breathe.

41. The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania,

42. Lake Baikal, Siberia, to see the deepest lake in the world (1,620 m) with 20 percent of the Earth's fresh water.

43. Ayers Rock (known now by the Aboriginal name of Uluru), Australia. This inselberg of nearly vertical Precambrian strata is about 2.5 kilometers long and more than 350 meters high

44. Devil's Tower, northeastern Wyoming, to see a classic example of columnar jointing (I've seen some of that!)

45. The Alps - something European? Careful there, list-maker.

46. Telescope Peak, in Death Valley National Park. From this spectacular summit you can look down onto the floor of Death Valley - 11,330 feet below.

47. The Li River, China, to see the fantastic tower karst that appears in much Chinese art

48. The Dalmation Coast of Croatia, to see the original Karst.

49. The Gorge of Bhagirathi, one of the sacred headwaters of the Ganges, in the Indian Himalayas, where the river flows from an ice tunnel beneath the Gangatori Glacier into a deep gorge.

50. The Goosenecks of the San Juan River, Utah, an impressive series of entrenched meanders.

51. Shiprock, New Mexico, to see a large volcanic neck

52. Land's End, Cornwall, Great Britain, for fractured granites that have feldspar crystals bigger than your fist.

53. Tierra del Fuego, Chile and Argentina, to see the Straights of Magellan and the southernmost tip of South America.

54. Mount St. Helens, Washington, to see the results of recent explosive volcanism.

55. The Giant's Causeway and the Antrim Plateau, Northern Ireland, to see polygonally fractured basaltic flows.

56. The Great Rift Valley in Africa.

57. The Matterhorn, along the Swiss/Italian border, to see the classic "horn".

58. The Carolina Bays, along the Carolinian and Georgian coastal plain

59. The Mima Mounds near Olympia, Washington

60. Siccar Point, Berwickshire, Scotland, where James Hutton (the "father" of modern geology) observed the classic unconformity

61. The moving rocks of Racetrack Playa in Death Valley

62. Yosemite Valley

63. Landscape Arch (or Delicate Arch) in Utah

64. The Burgess Shale in British Columbia

65. The Channeled Scablands of central Washington

66. Bryce Canyon

67. Grand Prismatic Spring at Yellowstone

68. Monument Valley

69. The San Andreas fault

70. The dinosaur footprints in La Rioja, Spain

71. The volcanic landscapes of the Canary Islands

72. The Pyrennees Mountains

73. The Lime Caves at Karamea on the West Coast of New Zealand

74. Denali (an orogeny in progress)

75. A catastrophic mass wasting event

76. The giant crossbeds visible at Zion National Park. Love, Love, LOVE!

77. The black sand beaches in Hawaii (or the green sand-olivine beaches)

78. Barton Springs in Texas

79. Hells Canyon in Idaho

80. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado

81. The Tunguska Impact site in Siberia

82. Feel an earthquake with a magnitude greater than 5.0.

83. Find dinosaur footprints in situ

84. Find a trilobite (or a dinosaur bone or any other fossil) - many belemnites/ammonites/brachiopods/traces etc

85. Find gold, however small the flake

86. Find a meteorite fragment

87. Experience a volcanic ashfall

88. Experience a sandstorm

89. See a tsunami

90. Witness a total solar eclipse

91. Witness a tornado firsthand. (Important rules of this game).

92. Witness a meteor storm, a term used to describe a particularly intense (1000+ per minute) meteor shower

93. View Saturn and its moons through a respectable telescope.

94. See the Aurora borealis, otherwise known as the northern lights.

95. View a great naked-eye comet, an opportunity which occurs only a few times per century

96. See a lunar eclipse

97. View a distant galaxy through a large telescope

98. Experience a hurricane

99. See noctilucent clouds

100. See the green flash

Sadly, a mere 26 things. In fact, I'm pretty lucky that I did that road trip with my Dad in October, as at least 6 items on this list were ticked off then! I'm not sure I want to do some of them, I'll happily continue without being in a hurricane, tornado, sandstorm or be near a tsunami etc. It looks like a tour of The Canyons of America will get most of this list done and dusted!

Stratigraphy!

2008-11-18T15:17:00.002Z

Well, I found a great site for time-wasting in the name of stratigraphic sequences. ThisIsSand.com. You can have any colour of sand you like and build it up into lovely mountains and then fill in the valleys.

The sound of rushing sand gets a bit annoying after a while, but it's great stuff.

YES!!!!

2008-11-05T05:30:00.004Z

Well done America, you made the right choice. The polar bears and Drosophila melanogaster thank you.

Archaeology Course

2008-09-19T17:29:00.001+01:00

Pass. From the look of it (and in true OU short course fashion the feedback is blah) I am very good at ethical considerations, good at arithmetic, graphical methods, knowledge of archaeological processes and analysing scientific information. Seems that my descriptions could use some work and expressing things in my own way.

This course is half science and half arts. All the science stuff I'm good at, descriptive artsy waffle I'm not good at. I'm turning into a science student and abandoning the arts. This is not a bad thing.

No more arts courses.

S369 is next up. Is it February yet?

Mineral Meme

2008-09-10T13:57:00.004+01:00

(I need to keep that genius level...)

Pinched from Lounge of the Lab Lemming

Use bold to indicate minerals you’ve seen in the wild. Italics is for those seen in laboratories, museums, stores, or other non field locations. Ex pet nerds may use underlining to indicate those that they’ve grown with their own two hands. And I won’t bother with stuff you intend on seeing- if you didn’t want to see all these minerals yourself, you’d be spending your precious lunch hour on a physics or biomedical blog.

50 minerals everyone should see:

Andalusite
Apatite
Barite
Beryl
Biotite
Chromite
Chrysotile
Cordierite
Corundum
Diamond
Dolomite
Florencite - (never even heard of that one!)
Galena
Garnet
Graphite
Gypsum
Halite
Hematite
Hornblende
Illite
Illmenite
Kaolinite - (possibly, it's in Lizardite, which I have seen in situ)
Kyanite
Lepidolite
Limonite
Magnetite
Molybdenite
Monazite
Nepheline
Olivine
Omphacite
Opal
Perovskite
Plagioclase
Pyrite
Quartz
Rutile
Sanidine
Sillimanite
Silver (native)
Sphalerite
Staurolite
Sulphur (native)
Talc
Tourmaline
Tremolite
Turquoise
Vermiculite
Willemite
Zeolite
Zircon

I wonder how many of these I've seen without realising it? Maybe I should start making a note of the minerals I see. Ticky book!

EDIT: ticked a few more off after paying attention at a couple of Geo Museums!

So funny!

2008-09-10T12:45:00.002+01:00

It looks as if my Blog Reading Level has gone up!

Movie Reviews

This amuses me greatly!

EDIT NOV 09: Looks like the site might be down or stopped working. Still, this result was "Genius" and therefore amusing.

Of Fossils & Chocolate...

2008-09-10T12:23:00.003+01:00

I've been watching the Fossil Detectives on BBC4, which is quite interesting and definitely pitched by the Beeb/OU at Level 1, but I also ordered the Field Guide that accompanies the series and it's full of brilliant diagrams and helpful timelines. Perfect for revision.

Still reading the extremely cute blog by "Tym the Trilobite"

The market is still selling trilobites, but they're getting pricier. Lots of phacops, no more calymene (I don't have one of those) and only one with a gorgeous headshield (paradoxidies again, I'm guessing). He's about three inches long and has perfectly preserved detailing. They didn't know what he was thogh, which is a shame and would put me off buying him. Well, that and the fact that he cost £50! Still, I had just spent £50 in Boots... maybe I should straighten out my priorities and spend my hard-earned monies on fossils instead.

I did find a fabulous ammonite today. Yummy milk chocolatey goodness in Hotel Chocolat.

Tym the Trilobite!

2008-08-13T11:09:00.002+01:00

Awesome content from the BBC this week, Fossil Detectives featuring a blog by Tym the Trilobite. It looks like he's supposed to be a Paradoxides davidis, which is the one I was after at the local market last year. Damn, I wish I'd bought him now.

Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

2008-06-30T09:48:00.002+01:00

This isn't anything to do with my Adventures in Science, BUT does feature Neil Patrick Harris of Doogie Howser fame playing another Doctor - which is scientific! Besides, Joss Whedon told us to link to it anywhere we could - so I am. Who am I to refuse the Great Joss Whedon?

* Part 1 - Tuesday July 15
* Part 2 - Thursday July 17
* Part 3 - Saturday July 19

The Harris Matrix & Nudibranchs

2008-05-16T10:00:00.001+01:00

Yesterday a link on my new course forum directed us to download Principles of Archaelogical Stratigraphy by Dr Edward Harris, which has been out of print for ages and was expensive when it was in print. The author decided that it should be freely available to anyone who wanted it. I'm not sure I'm going to read a book entirely about archaeological stratigraphy, but it does have a short chapter on geological stratigraphy, so that, at least, should be interesting.

You have to fill in a box saying exactly why you want it, but I assumed it was one of those online forms that nobody ever reads. However, this morning I find an email from Dr Harris wishing me luck on my course, hoping I'll enjoy his book and sending a bunch of pictures. One of him and his book, one of the first stratigraphic sequence ever done in archaeology and the view from his house - he lives in Bermuda, so his view is pretty special. Very bizarre.

Although not as bizarre as one of the links I had on my Google Reader today. The National Geographic seems to think that I need to start my day with Nudibranchs. In case you've never seen a Nudibranch before here's a pair:

Nudibranch Gallery. I think my favourite is probably Chromodoris annae, so cute and blue and stripey. Although the expression on the face of Bornella anguilla is adorable and just asking to be made into a LOLnudibranch!

The Blog Readability Test

2008-05-14T13:46:00.002+01:00

I did this back in February and it came back as "Elementary School". I must have used a few bigger words since then!

Movie Reviews

Archaeology

2008-05-14T13:18:00.000+01:00

New course. Doesn't actually start officially until Saturday, but the books arrived last Tuesday so I've been stuck in for a week. Started my ECA yesterday as well, go me and my enthusiasm.

The course is based round three excavation sites. One is Tell es-Sa'idiyeh, which is a bugger to pronounce and one is "Wetwang Woman", which is far too amusing. Still, so far so good.

It's also a course that will count towards the GeoScience degree, so it's nice to be doing something 'proper' again after all that Leonardo da Vinci crap.

Leonardo is all Over

2008-04-16T13:20:00.001+01:00

Assignment... *insert Gordon Ramsey back hand slap* ...DONE!

However, as it's not due until Friday week I'm not going to send it off yet. There's a BBC4 program on tomorrow night called Inside the Medieval Mind, which may have a startling insight / useful bibliography-expanding quote that I could use. Perhaps something fresh will come to me as I stare out of train windows on Friday and Monday. It would be rather annoying to submit it and then have a moment of revalation. If nothing is revealed to me, then I'm happy to submit what I have and happily turn my back on him once and for all.

I'll have a couple of weeks then before Archaeology: The Science of Investiagtion starts (unless the books arrive early) and I can read some of those yummy Earth Sciencey books I have.

Is it 2009 yet?

2008-04-14T13:22:00.000+01:00

I want to start S369. It's not that I dislike Leonardo himself, I just dislike the TMAs, my tutor, the conference, the fact that it isn't what I hoped it would be... I did spend a little time on the conferences today, hoping to glean some valuable insights for the TMA, but no. Just lots of people moaning the same complaints that I have. The ALs barely comment on the discussions. Bizarre when I think back to the Planets short course when they were all over the place, especially David "superstar" Rothery. Fuck the Arts.

Have decided not to bother with Ancient and Medieval Cities and today signed up to Archaeology: the Science of Investigation, which is a named course on the GeoScience degree. How bad can it be?

I have discovered OpenLearn though. That means I can look at part of SXR339s course text. Dodgy Arts course v Remnants of Archaean crust? No contest!

Suppose I should get the TMA done though. Meh.

GHD v Idiot Christians

2008-03-12T13:24:00.000Z

What is this world coming to? The latest GHD advert has been banned because it risks offending Christians.

The GHD website still has "Thy Will Be Done" on it.

I have complete faith in GHD.

OMGWTFdaVinciBBQ!

2008-03-08T13:29:00.000Z

OK. So I may as well spend this quiet time at work looking at my Leonardo stuff. It's a good time to go over the online forums and read some of the online tutorial stuff.

A few days ago I posted some queries about the second assignment. It confuses me and makes me miss the good old days of sensibly studying science (even the maths, at least you know when you're wrong). Logging on today I get a whole bunch of messages from some fellow student who writes like he's texting, but also seems full of the crappy arty blah* that they're all full of.

Now, is he having a go at science? I think he believes in philosophy above everything else, but I can't work out what he's trying to say to me.

Only an opinion. take on board what your saying about science.( I feel )dont know much about science perse , but I do believe that science does not have to be cut and dry . i believe you can use objective criteria, but you can enhance it with subjectivity. Your knowledge is a bonus i feel its just the way you use it. Objectivity does tend to exhaust itself (that is not a criticism) however there has to be a cut off point, and objectivity returns to subjectivity out of necessity. I think da vinci realised this bit too late, but he always had the ability.

Not trying too push any ideas on to you. you may find the above book [Phenomenology of Perception]interesting i find it relevant to notions of spacial awareness and ideas about reality and the way we may look at things. pretty heavy going but he is one person i would not even bother questioning. he is my genius he is called Mr Maurice merleau- ponty. bet u cant put that book down, but only a guess. its your choice. think u might get best grade somehow

I miss rocks. :*(

I also want Science. It works, Bitches. on an icon.

*what I was full of during my first degree and now can't find again.

Course Rethinking

2008-03-06T13:34:00.000Z

Just getting down some future course thoughts in light of the Astronomy Cert mentioned in last post.

Current choices for 2008/2009
A178 - Leonardo da Vinci (current)
AT272 - Ancient & Medieval Cities (May start, not signed up)
SA188 - Archaeology (September start)

This plan left August and the 'Winter Holiday' with no set courses and I had planned to use this time to self-study all those Geology books that I haven't worked through yet. Then:

S369 - Geological Record... (Feb 09 start)

Potential choices for 2008/2009
A178 - Leonardo da Vinci (current)
SA188 - Archaeology (May start - still time to sign earlier)
Life in the Universe & SETI (Manchester Uni course starts October)

This plan leaves me August and September to study the Geology books and fills in the whole of the 'Winter Holiday'. The Manchester Uni course runs for six months, so there would be some overlap at the end with S369.

EDIT: Looking at a different part of the Manchester site shows that the course actually runs October to May, so there's more overlap than I thought.

EDIT2: Although the sample pages look like a tricky combination of the course I quit last year and the evil Maths course that I've just taken!

EDIT3: It also looks as though it really is 100% online. So no books. Have to be in front of the screen all the time. Not sure I like that. I like being able to pick up my course texts and read them on the loo, and on the train, and in bed. I know I have Sarah Jane, but I'm not dragging her into the bathroom!

Death Star

2008-03-06T13:32:00.000Z

Oh dear. We're all going to die by gamma-ray burst. Be seeing you.

Certificate in Introductory Astronomy

2008-03-05T13:37:00.000Z

A course to think about for the future.

University Challenge

2008-03-03T13:38:00.000Z

Just got three right in a row thanks to studying Leonardo! There should be an exam! :)

Arts. Meh.

2008-02-29T13:40:00.000Z

This Arts stuff is harder than the science. I'm finding it tricky to discuss art sensibly and get my ideas down on paper. Reading the course books is fascinating, but I can't think what to write in my assignment. I have too many words for the short answers and too few words for the long answers.

*prevaricates and makes a cup of tea*

Trilobite Trauma

2008-02-20T13:42:00.000Z

On Sunday I discovered that there is a stall in the market that sells fossils. No idea why I'd missed it before, the stallholder said that they're always there. I suppose I usually just go there for the ostrich burgers and come home again. Anyway, I seem to have found a nice local person to fuel my fossily desires. She saw my interest and started by saying "these are ammonites, these are popular", but I showed her the ammonite that I have around my neck and asked her the price of her three various sized Calymene's. That seemed to convince her that I knew (vaguely) what I was talking about and she whipped out some of her sale stock* for me to look at.

It was beautiful. It was big. It was £45. I wanted it. My parents were with me. I had to leave it behind.

As far as I can tell, it's probably one of these:

Paradoxides davidis**

The Wikipedia page for it says that the adults can grow up to 30-70cm, which would make sense as it's height was about 20cm, maybe a bit bigger. It's head shield came back in points like this one.

Do I buy it?

Of course, she may well have sold it later in the day, but she suspected that she wouldn't. Maybe it's already gone. If I do get it I'll have to hide it from my parents forever***.

On the other hand, it's not like I'm buying food with the £45, it's something gorgeous that will outlive me. You can't even get that kind of long-term use out of a saucepan, even they die eventually. Bloody hell, even a decent pair of shoes will cost £45 and fall apart eventually.

Help!

* No idea how you can put a fossil on sale, they're not exactly last season's fashions. Not complaining.
** More information on the Order Redlichiida for those who might be interested...
*** 32 years old and still lectured about spending too much money.

The Drake Equation

2008-02-15T13:44:00.000Z

Turns out I learnt something on my Planetary Science course before I quit it, I actually understand today's XKCD!

The Grand Canyon

2008-02-04T15:53:00.000Z

I'll be visiting the Grand Canyon with my father in October. I've been before, but this will be the first time of looking at it with more of a geological eye and I'm looking forward to it. However, I am not looking forward to shopping there, I'd like to buy a nice sensible book about the geology of the place, but it looks as if that might not be possible.

According to an article that I found today on RichardDawkins.net the workers at the Park can't tell you how old it is, the official answer is "No Comment." How Old Is The Grand Canyon? Park Service won't say.

I hate to say this but, *headdesk*

MySpace

2008-01-31T16:01:00.000Z

Found out today that
MySpace is anti-atheist and run by religious bigots. Well, not that I really use MySpace apart from reading a few blogs, but I've deleted the wretched thing anyway.

Maths & Leo

2008-01-22T12:23:00.000Z

Yesterday I completed my assignment for Maths for Science and it took me all day. Still, I think I have passed well with not too many completely incorrect answers and many right on first attempt. That should generate me a nice Certificate in Contemporary Science.

Today I started the Leonardo course. First chapter done and dusted. He's a fascinating chap, but so is all the history that surrounds him. I may have to buy some more books.

Trilobites!

2008-01-17T16:07:00.000Z

Worship the Trilobite, for it is your ALMIGHTY CREATOR!

How cool and how true. :)

Leonardo

2008-01-04T16:51:00.000Z

There. I've spent two hours doing questions in the online pratice ECA. I managed to get the questions on statistical hypothesis testing pretty much right just by dipping into the book and plucking out the bits that came up. However, going back over stuff I've done in months gone by is proving a little more annoying. I thought I'd got a grip on trig, but apparently I haven't. All of the wrong answers stem from dumb arse mistakes that I shouldn't be making*, but I'm sure that if this was a hand written assignment, rather than one that is all done on the computer, I'd probably pass it based on picking up extra points for using correct equations and laying things out in the right way.

All through the science courses they always say in the assignments that you ahve to show your workings, which I have always done and I've always had comments about neatness and picked up marks for being on the right track / using correct equations etc, even when final answers have been wrong. Those half marks do add up and they just aren't available here. Ah well, won't pass it through bitching!

Besides, Leonardo has arrived and I really want to rip it open and check its contents. In fact, bugger this frakking maths, I'm moving on to Leo for the rest of the day!

*using the decimal answer in a calculation rather than changing it into scientific notation before moving on

Maths

2008-01-04T16:47:00.000Z

I've just realised that although I find statistical hypothesis testing tricky it's nothing compared to the fact that I seem to have forgotten everything else I've learnt in the past four months. This is probably thanks to not touching these maths books since before Christmas. In fact, I'm not sure I actually concentrated on much since round about my birthday. So I've actually spent the last month not even thinking about maths.

Complaining to my blog, however, will not get the work done.

Bloody Gravel

2008-01-01T16:54:00.000Z

I don't get New Year to be honest, crowds of people making a big thing about having to buy a new calendar (ours is BSG this year, btw). Maybe it's a last excuse of the year / first excuse of the year to drink a lot? Meh. What's the New Years equivalent of Bah Humbug?

Of course, it may well have been thanks to New Year getting off to a bad start when I fell up some steps, smashing a plate full of brownies. No, I wasn't drunk, I was looking at some interesting gravel. Maybe some of you will understand that.

New Trilobite

2007-12-25T16:58:00.000Z

My favourite Christmas present was a Metacanthina trilobite. It's so cute. Makes a nice pair with my Phacops.

A third and I'll have collection. :)

EXAM RESULTS!

2007-12-12T16:46:00.000Z

Passed my Geology and my Summer School!!! As much as I would have liked a Distinction I did get a Grade 2 pass, which I am more than happy with and wish I had bonded with the rocks much earlier.

*is relieved*

Box of Rox - the Saga Continuums

2007-11-24T16:45:00.000Z

I had a bill his morning from the OU charging me £600 for my unreturned box of rocks. Along with a warning that if payment or rocks were not forthcoming they would "take action", which would include being removed from any courses I was currently on and implied that I wouldn't be taking any further courses with them.

Of course, the Warehouse Distribution is closed on weekends, so I'll have to call them first thing on Monday morning to get his sorted.

As you can imagine, I am not a happy rabbit.

More on the Rox Box

2007-11-06T16:43:00.000Z

My box of rocks was collected by DHL on Friday for return to the Open University, Northants. As instructed I wrote my name, address and personal number on a piece of paper and shoved it in the box. Luckily I wrote this on headed notepaper, from my boyfriend's work.

He had a call today from a random chap called Gareth, who lives in Hertford. He'd just received my box of rocks at his work!

Clearly DHL are just as crap as all the other distribution services in this country. I had to call Gareth, then call DHL*, then call the local OU, then call a specific OU distribution number... it took ages, but as far as I'm aware the OU are not blaming me or charging me for the rocks or the box, so now I don't really care where they end up.

I pointed out to the DHL guy that I was not the person who wanted the box, I was the person trying to get rid of the box. It bloody well better not come back to me. I will not be impressed.

*three times before I found a human being to help me. You have to work out the right buttons to press to get to the right place, may as well have being playing Zelda on the Wii. :(

Rox Box

2007-11-02T16:42:00.000Z

DHL was supposed to collect my box of rocks today, they came yesterday, I'm annoyed, I called DHL and they claim that someone will come today. They beter had do, I'm not impressed.

I've watched a DVD thingy about rearranging equations. The woman in it has to be a man. I then did the first part of my online practice assessment and discover that I'm not good at Chapter 3. At least I know what bits I need to focus on.

There's no food in the house for lunch. I can't leave the house because of frakking DHL.

Planetary Science - decision made

2007-10-13T16:41:00.000+01:00

I went over the past TMAs and did the specimen exam paper for Planetary Science today. I then marked myself to see how ~~well~~ badly I'd done. I ended up with about 30/100, and that's being generous to myself. Most of the questions I couldn't answer or thought I could, but when I checked it turned out that I had screwed the whole thing up.

So, I'm not taking the exam.

I shall now be moving on to studying Maths for Science and hopefully improving myself that way instead.

Exam Revision

2007-10-10T16:39:00.000+01:00

It would be fantastic to get a trilobite to label in the exam and to have learnt all its parts with their proper names.

I wonder if I'd get bonus marks?!

Millook Haven, Cornwall

2007-10-04T20:10:00.000+01:00

I'm the purple blob. I'm waving. This path was an absolute bummer to walk up.

For scale, I'm the purple blob at the bottom of the cliff.

For those among you who might criticise this picture, I didn't take it. My long-suffering boyfriend took it. Therefore it is lacking a pencil / finger / or lens cap! You'll just have to treat it as a pretty picture!

Shortly after taking all these pictures for me, I told Boyfriend to be careful on the rocks. Telling him of people who had fallen during summer school. My back was turned for less than a minute, but that was long enough for him to slip off the rocks and go crashing into a rock pool. I do have a picture of that too...

Truly Frightening

2007-09-24T19:55:00.000+01:00

A bunch of photos from the Creationist Museum in Kentucky. Lucky taken and posted by a nice sensible person, the comments are lovely, but the photos are terrifying.

NOT the Eye of God!

2007-09-24T18:56:00.000+01:00

My dear friend sent me another of those bloody awful totally useless emails today where you have to pass it on to six people otherwise bad things will happen blah, blah, blah...

Today's mail has had me seething worse than usual because of its use of this:

This is the Helix Nebula, and yes, it is made of awesome*. However it is not, I repeat NOT, the Eye of God. The mail was also full of creationist bollocks, which I am not going to be repeating and I am very afraid that I ranted back at her. She really should know better that to c.c. me into those mails. I've told her before not to spam me or chain letter me, but the god-bothering ones are really annoying. Yes, I'm sure I have an Angel** watching over me and I'm sure every week is Friendship Week. Meh.

I normally just ignore them, but this one was a little too much. I might be hating the Planetary Science course, but that doesn't mean I suddenly hate space and nebulas.

* and also made of gaseous material shed from a dying star...
**If they look like David Boreanaz they can watch all they want!

Goats for Christmas

2007-09-21T18:58:00.000+01:00

My friend A wants us to give our £5 Xmas money this year to Oxfam. We then thought we'd all club together and buy her a goat.

Then the guilt kicked in. Do I really need more crap and clutter? £5 Christmas is a good idea, means we don't spend too much on each other, but we do end up with bits and chocolate and alcohol because you can't get anything substantial with a fiver.

So I jumped on her bandwagon and I told them to count me in and get me a goat.

Now, thanks to A being a warm-hearted person, everyone is thinking this is a good idea.

Goats all round this year.

The Cornish Wedding

2007-09-17T19:01:00.000+01:00

It'll soon be time to pack our bags and head off to St. Ives for L's wedding. I'm sure we'll all have a great time, but I'm a selfish bitch and all I can think about is how it's cutting into my revising time!

Still, I think I may have found a little something to make it more worthwhile. It involves a tiny detour from the most direct route, but we did say we wanted to take breaks on the way down. Turbidites! Folding!

There's also Tintagel Castle just a short way along from Boscastle. I've never been there.

On the Sunday we're planning on going to the Eden Poject, so I hope we actually remember to go to the wedding itself. "Sorry L, we got lost."

TMA & CMA

2007-09-10T19:03:00.000+01:00

Well, that's the last TMA and CMA (two weeks and three days early! WooHoo!) out of the way. I can post them both tomorrow and concentrate on the revising. I do need to finish studying the rest of Block 4, but I am completely up to date with it, the study calendar says that there are two weeks of studying remaining. Actually, I expect I will be done sooner than that and end up ahead of myself for once.

Still, this getting-ahead has relied on me completely ignoring the other course. La-di-da. I'm thinking I'll now go to the exam whatever, but only because it costs the OU shed loads of money if folks don't turn up. I'd be more guilty about that than anything else, I don't feel I've wasted my money as I have learnt something, even if the lesson I have learnt isn't about planets.

I will now go and ~~play with my digital scrapbook~~ study some more.

Maths for Science

2007-08-30T19:05:00.000+01:00

I have signed up for Maths for Science, the course I should have taken before doing Planetary Science. Decided to go for the September start date rather than the November one, so even though I won't be starting it until mid-October I'll still have until the end of January to complete it.

Besides, it does seem to have some sections that might be useful revision if I decide to take the Planets exam, which, to be fair, doesn't seem likely at the moment.

Tweaking Layout

2007-08-25T15:09:00.001+01:00

If things are looking a bit odd it's because I'm playing with my layout!

Summer School

2007-08-21T16:06:00.000+01:00

I haven't posted about my trip to Durham for Summer School yet, I haven't even posted pictures to my LiveJournal, which is odd.

Anyway, as proof that I went, here is a picture of some of my group, in hard hats and standing on rocks!

Ammonite Wine!

2007-08-17T16:04:00.000+01:00

Back from retreating to Brighton.

Highlight of the trip was choosing a wine for dinner on the first night and picking Riff Pinot Grigio. I actually picked it because it was European and therefore had travelled less miles than something from the USA or Australia and because it was listed as being from the Veneto.

When it arrived I was amazed to see that it had an ammonite on its label.

Most vineyards in the region are located on the slopes of the foothills of the Dolomites, a part of the Alps that dictate the climate and bless the region with some of the most prized alluvial soils. These soils are composed of dolomite, a limestone made of fossil deposits of an ancient ocean that covered this region 4.6 million years ago. The name riff (German for reef), thus refers to the Dolomite's geologic origin.

The vineyard sources for most of this Pinot Grigio contain a substantial amount of dolomite limestone which has an obvious impact on the wine's character and style. It is because of the contribution that these fossils (limestone) make to the wine's character that they have been chosen to be incorporated into the label design as a reminder of its geological origin.

Yep, I kept the bottle and I don't care what the staff in the posh hotel thought of me. I was wearing my ammonite at the time so maybe they just realised that I was a crazy person.

Space

2007-08-09T16:04:00.000+01:00

Just watched Endeavour and the ISS fly over - and a bit of space junk flying in the opposite direction.

This makes me happy.

GeoSoc Conference

2007-08-09T15:56:00.000+01:00

A friend tipped me off about free student passes for the Geological Society Bicentennial Conference. So I applied today and was successful this afternoon (very prompt!), now I find she isn't going, which is a bit of bummer to be honest. I am not at all sure I am brave enough to face all those learned people on my own. *quakes*

Belemnites

2007-07-31T15:51:00.000+01:00

Chap at work has decided that he doesn't want a drawer full of belemnites and has given them to me. :)

Belemnites make me happy - trilobites are better, but I'll have any fossils he's handing out. Better loved by me than unloved in a drawer. One of them is all shiny and crystalized, I haven't seen one like that before.

Sedimentary Processes

2007-07-26T15:52:00.000+01:00

Well, I may only be 12 pages into Block 4, but so far I'm liking this sedimentary stuff. Maybe it's because the software for this section is very entertaining, or maybe it's because I can visualise things better after seeing some of this stuff last week. :)

Summer School

2007-07-13T12:23:00.001+01:00

Well, I'm not exactly packed, but everything I'm taking is laid out ready. Hope I've remembered everything. Still it's not exactly Outer Mongolia, Durham does have shops and there is a free afternoon, so if anything is forgotten I can always go buy it!

Looks like they've chosen our week to be interviewed for The Material World. I missed out last year because they chose a different week. Maybe it'll be interesting.

Must try and read more of the course text today. It's been really heavy going and is an awful lot to try and shove into my teeny brain.

New Kit

2007-07-05T11:12:00.001+01:00

This summer school, and the potential weather conditions, is really tempting me into buying new stuff. I know I need a new pair of trousers, but surfing the Millets website is trying to convince me that I need a new fleece to act as a midlayer. It's probably right as I don't own that sort of layer. I suppose I could do with proper socks to protect my feet from all that evil rain.

But is my backpack suitable? It's only a tiny one that packs down into an even tinier bag. It's worked for me so far, so there's no real reason to abandon its services now. It can hold all my writing gear and a bottle of water, but can it also hold an upper layer and my lunch? I'm not sure it's up to that.

I'm taking John's rucksack with me to carry my clothes there and back, but it's a bit big for every day use. I've not completely finalised what I'm taking to School with me, but if I get a new day pack then maybe I can pack that instead of John's larger rucksack. Last year I took a big suitcase, but that was a mistake as it was really hard to carry. Lesson learnt, which is why I said this year would be a small case / rucksack combo.

Of course, they suggest that you take all your S260 text books (as well as the SXR260 textbook and gubbins) and you have to take your maps. Not to mention the coathangers and towels (made a mistake there last year as well, you need more towel surface area than you'd think in a week, not the same as being at home). I've transfered all my textbooks to a third bag, if they go into my suitcase I'll never be able to pick it up!

I think tonight needs to be a pre-packing session, just to see how much space all this will take up. I would take half what I need and a bottle of travel wash, but somehow I doubt they'll have their heating on in July. I'm ready for cold rooms and no way of drying stuff.

Organic chemical structures

2007-07-03T15:43:00.000+01:00

I always seems to be doing assignments and not studying. Why is this? I'm only taking two courses, so it shouldn't be all about the assignments should it? Anyway, I find myself studying simply to get through the TMAs with very little time to study for the fun of it.

I did manage to finish the Geology TMA two weeks in advance and then polished off the rest of the text book over the weekend. The geology course is not what I was expecting when I signed up for it. I was hoping for more "This is a piece of gabbro, this is where it comes from." or "This is plate tectonics." But so much of it is deep and molecular. They got into mineral structures really quickly after doing a block of map reading.

Maybe they're right to do it this way as we only have a year to do it in, but I don't half feel rushed, like I'm trying to do a second year course without having taken any first year courses. Which is crazy, because I did get through S103 last year, so I do have my scientific grounding.

The thought of the exam for both courses is a little horrifying.

Today I started the TMA for Planetary Science & the Search for Life. Usually I try to spend my lunch hours studying, just to fit in any little bit of time I can and it's normally quite helpful time to get started. But today Imanaged to spend 45 minutes staring at the same three pages trying to work out five chemical structures. Think I figured out three of them. This is pathetic when the choices are only carbohydrate, lipid, nucleic acid and/or protein. Even the amazing Wikipedia is being less than helpful at this point.

We're not even supposed to use external sources, everything you need to know is in the book - or so they say. I'm not at all convinced that the molecules in the assignment feature in the course text. True to all OU assignments, however, without figuring out the first part you can't answerthe following parts either, because all the questions are interlinked. Evil.

I came across Molecule of the Day, in the midst of trying to find out what type of organic compounds were coming up in the assignment and completely side-tracked myself.

Sunny Hunny

2007-06-29T21:44:00.000+01:00

23rd June 2007

The cliff face at Hunstanton. The tutor is standing at the bottom for scale, he's 2m in his hard hat!

The second picture shows spheroidal weathering*.

Sadly, the belemnite I have from there is too small to have its picture taken.

Another S260 field trip. The morning was lovely, the sun came out, people were enjoying the beach and making sandcastles. Even managed to have a picnic lunch outside and an ice cream, but then the thunder clouds rolled in. The afternoon was mostly spent getting extremely wet!

*At least that was what we were told. Turns out that these are Liesegang rings.

Earith Field Trip

2007-06-29T21:30:00.000+01:00

Well, best start getting up-to-date.

Had a field trip to Earith Quarry with some S260 students at the beginning of June. These are some of the pictures that I took that day.

This first one is an unconformity. Note that is not what she is pointing at! The unconformity lies between the Ampthill Clay bed and the sands on top.

The second picture is, we were told, an area of the quarry showing the effects of glaciation in the area.

Today's sites

2007-06-29T21:18:00.000+01:00

I've been doing a bit of surfing today. I have to confess that everything actually stemmed from reading macros on LiveJournal. Yes, I am aware of how unbelievably stupid they are, but some of them can be quite funny, so I started my day of surfing at LolScience.

That, in turn, led me to the maintainer of the community who has a very sensible blog, Green Gabbro. In fact, that was what retriggered my desire to have a place where I could ramble on to my hearts content about rocks 'n stuff.

Also found All of my Faults are Stress Related and the Science Blogs. So far I've only read bits of Pharyngula, but I think I might give some of the others a try.

Another new blog

2007-06-29T20:26:00.000+01:00

Well, I had intended to use my old Blogger into the one I use for Open Uni and sciencey type stuff, but I appear to have been locked out of it. Anyway, there's nothing stopping me having yet another blog. Besides, I can give this one a better title.

Coprolite does happen!