My heart sister Nicole posted this for me on Facebook. She knows me entirely too well. The moment I saw it, I fell deeply in love, and knew I had to share it with you. I think you lot will love it as much as I did:
That whole damned thing is so very, very true. But the neat thing is when we eventually influence the people around us to the point where they can spot some of the basics with ease. Nothing warms my heart more than to know that I’ve given someone a new way to see the world. Keeps the place interesting and the horizons broad, doesn’t it just?
And memes like this can open the door to a dialogue. A little laughter combined with awe and a hefty dash of enthusiasm make a very potent brew indeed.
OMG! I’m 40% geologist. Not telling which 40%.
Mike.
Squee! Turbidites!
I also like all the rock puns. Geologists have such a rich collection of weird-sounding names they can draw on when it comes to punning. No schist.
Which gives me a lovely opportunity to link to today’s xkcd:
http://xkcd.com/1198/
So where do Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, et al fit into these pictures??
Can’t help wondering as I’m as old as dirt myself.
OK, I confess. I had to Google Dwayne Johnson to get the last part. Does that earn me extra nerd points?
LD – actually you need to roll 3d6 and if you don’t make your saving roll you lose 1d4 nerd points.
What a wonderful sister and thanks for posting this.
Lithified Detritus
Probably another one of those generational things, because I saw Dwayne Johnson and went *snicker*. :)
(Dana, passing this on to my siblings!)
Is it really true that geologists use the term FRGOK: funny rock, god only knows? I think I read that in the Last Whole Earth Catalog.
2 weeks ago, Neil DeGrasse Tyson spoke here in Gville, and we were lucky enough to get to see him. During the talk, he (disparagingly) mentioned the complicated terminology that geologists used, like, “orthoclase feldspar”. He pointed out that astronomers used much simpler terms like “Big Bang” and “Black Hole”. During the Q and A, I was tempted to point out that, maybe, it was a failure of imagination by astronomers. Didn’t quite have the nerve, unfortunately.
He was, mostly, being sarcastic.
And let’s not forget such favorites as leaverite (as in “leave ‘er right there”), fubarite and pervertine.
astronomers used much simpler terms like “Big Bang” and “Black Hole”
Terms that are a lot easier for creationists and coproliths like Deepak Chopra to think they understand, and therefore use incorrectly.
You don’t see the world the way a botanist sees the world either.
@Gvlgeologist – Astronomers have their own cant for being precise, like stellar classifications and giving stars a dozen names, each one for a different catalog. Of course, if astronomers could actually pick up a piece of piece of stellar matter and analyze it in a lab, they’d probably be just as detail-oriented as a geologist.
As to classifying stars, check out Variable star – Wikipedia – that article lists numerous kinds of them. Variations in observed luminosity is known to come from several mechanisms, like eclipses, oscillations, starspots, stellar flares, and explosions.