Well, I had hoped to find something interesting
johnb
world we live in, but rather their own particular egos in it.
I hope that in a few months, the discussion will be around geology and
earth science, and the study of the earch generally. Unitl then I can't
take this political crap any more.
Magnus Rohde
If you killfile JPT and CC and all follow ups to their posts this group
is amazingly quiet.
Just a thought
Magnus
C. Alan Peyton
"Magnus Rohde" <magnus...@mail.tele.dk> wrote in message
news:1fdl7uv.189be1414m00fpN%magnus...@mail.tele.dk...
In addition to Magnus recommendation, why not bring up a subject that
interests you for discussion. There are a lot of very good people in this
ng and there is a very broad range of interests, within geology, that is.
Alan
J.François Moyen
> If you killfile JPT and CC and all follow ups to their posts this group
> is amazingly quiet.
The problem is that they answer to everything posted here, so you'll end
up kill-filing all threads... :-/
Jeff
--
email: fr.wanadoo@jfmoyen (please reorder !)
Robert Flory
"Magnus Rohde" <magnus...@mail.tele.dk> wrote in message
news:1fdl7uv.189be1414m00fpN%magnus...@mail.tele.dk...
Bio-Geo-Recon
have been driven away by the drivel. It is unfortunate that this NG isn't
moderated. It has a lot to offer potentially, but has been diluted by the
lunacy.
Clyde Spencer
"Magnus Rohde" <magnus...@mail.tele.dk> wrote in message
news:1fdl7uv.189be1414m00fpN%magnus...@mail.tele.dk...
> johnb <borr...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
<snip>
Anne
like to know which NG has them..since I am a geology student and interested
in learning from people who know more then me...not people with big egos who
feel the need to make fun of eachother and not talk about the subject at
hand.....
"Bio-Geo-Recon" <b...@jps.net> wrote in message
news:5AMO8.941$os3.1...@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
py...@tex8as.net
>
> So where have all the professional and serious individuals gone? I would
> like to know which NG has them..since I am a geology student and interested
> in learning from people who know more then me...not people with big egos who
> feel the need to make fun of eachother and not talk about the subject at
> hand.....
There is no other NG that has them. They are either here or
gone, period.
Kill file the kooks (or kill thread branches like I do).
Who they are will become self evident.
There are people here that are truly interested in geo stuff.
Ask a serious geo question and you will see.
Lewis Hutton
from "Anne" <autum...@charter.net> contains these words:
> So where have all the professional and serious individuals gone? I would
> like to know which NG has them..since I am a geology student and interested
> in learning from people who know more then me...not people with big egos who
> feel the need to make fun of eachother and not talk about the subject at
> hand.....
Some have definitely left. A large number lurk here waiting for
sensible discussion. Even with the tripe that some post here the group
is pretty low traffic so it doesn't take long to check a day's postings.
It is therefore worth lurking to see if anything interesting comes up.
If you start sensible discussions then they'll get worthwhile replies
for a while. Eventually something will set off one of the kooks and the
thread will suffer.
We have occasionally considered developing a moderated version of this
group but it has always failed to be implemented. Nobody is willing to
make the commitment to be the moderator.
--
Lewis
C. Alan Peyton
"Anne" <autum...@charter.net> wrote in message
news:ugn5msk...@corp.supernews.com...
As one of the older professionals in Geology and Geophysics in this NG, I
have found it more expedient to kill file the kooks and wait for some proper
discussion such as the "green rock" string that Pyats put on the screen.
Although, I am not a mineralogist, I do find the discussion very good and
mind stimulating. You will find, from time to time, some very good
discussions in this group, notwithstanding, the current one going on about
the "Noah's Flood" and the paper/book written by Pitman, et al. As for your
venture into volcanics, occasionally we do have some discussion about
volcanism, especially at the K-T boundary. Please stick around and watch
and learn and kill file the trash.
best of luck,
Alan
Don Quixote
> like to know which NG has them..since I am a geology student and
interested
> in learning from people who know more then me...not people with big egos
who
> feel the need to make fun of eachother and not talk about the subject at
> hand.....
Some of us are still here; just lurking most of the time. One does tend to
get *stunned* into silence once in a while by the sheer lunacy that inhabits
Usenet.
DQ
Anne
By The way...anyone familiar with the Cascade Volcano Chain? My specific
interest is with Mt. Rainier...I know quite a bit about it..but I am always
willing to learn more....and if anyone has need for an intern...you all now
have my email :)
"Lewis Hutton" <clo...@zetnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:200206152...@zetnet.co.uk...
> The message <ugn5msk...@corp.supernews.com>
> from "Anne" <autum...@charter.net> contains these words:
>
Anne
learned how to work with a GPR unit...kinda interesting, but the class
wasn't long enough to really get into how to use the data in the given
computer programs and the batteries kept dying....What do you do with your
Geophysics knowledge?
"C. Alan Peyton" <cape...@swbell.net> wrote in message
news:X1OO8.31093$6g.3056040112@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com...
lst_cwby
> Some have definitely left. A large number lurk here waiting for
> sensible discussion.
Oh no we don't ;-)
C. Alan Peyton
> Hey...I'll be a moderator...I'm a full time geology major who has no life
;)
>
> By The way...anyone familiar with the Cascade Volcano Chain? My specific
> interest is with Mt. Rainier...I know quite a bit about it..but I am
always
> willing to learn more....and if anyone has need for an intern...you all
now
> have my email :)
>
Haha!
C. Alan Peyton
As I mentioned, Anne, I am one of the older members of this newsgroup, and
occasionally was intimidated by the various kooks in here until I learned
how to kill file them. Yes, I am a geologist cum geophysicist and have
worked abroad for over 30 years spanning from West Africa to China and south
to New Zealand. Had one hell of a good time doing it, working that is, as
well. I'm not sure if I am familiar with a GPR unit, but I am familiar with
the GPS hand held or mobile unit. Used it in East Java a few years back to
go from the base camp to the rig to shoot velocity surveys (VSPs) as well as
other tasks. I guess the answer to your question as to where were you when
you took your geophysics exam is within yourself. You are new to this
newsgroup and since you live in Point Roberts ;-), and I am in SE Texas
(God's country, by the way), I would have no way to help you.
With my geophysics knowledge, I supervise as well as interpret seismic data,
2D or 3D, paper or workstation. My most recent job was to supervise the
development of several gas fields in Crimea, Ukraine. Right now I am
sitting at my computer waiting for some more work.
When do you get your degree?
Regards,
Alan
zolota
sarcasm to Bellingham where it belongs.
Z.
Anne
"Jo Schaper" <josc...@socket.net> wrote in message news:3D0C9D63...@socket.net...Whoa, folks!
1) Alan Johnson established a moderated group some time ago at one of the free listserves-- relatively few people migrated, and though I too check it occasionally, it has much less traffic than sci.geo.geology.
2) Although moderated sounds good, there are a number of us who would rather see unmoderated with personal killfiles. It is unlikely that the ng would go for a moderator such as yourself, self-described as a student, who just shows up (and yes, you are very welcome as a participant) and announces they want to be moderator. If you are really interested in science, remember, a scientist considers ALL input, and then makes a judgement on its veracity based on evidence and argument. I agree that certain posters (mostly cross-posters) can get tedious, but to listen to them (at least initially) proves an education too.
I am a mid-life geology senior doing karst/aqueous geochemisty in Missouri, waiting for it to quit raining long enough to do my senior research over the summer, however, I am by no means restricted to that specialty. There are good people here, Anne. Post some knotty questions, (those not easily found in a search engine) hang out, throw in your 2 cents and get to know us.
Jo Schaper
Bob
out in the field for the summer... where I'd rather be. But here I am
pushing paper.
Bob
"Anne" <autum...@charter.net> wrote in message
news:ugn5msk...@corp.supernews.com...
Bob
Ahhh for the 200 people long chain up the mountain. ;-)
Bob
"Anne" <autum...@charter.net> wrote in message
news:ugne6g1...@corp.supernews.com...
Bob
manbe some of us old oil patch types are older.
Bob
"C. Alan Peyton" <cape...@swbell.net> wrote in message
news:X1OO8.31093$6g.3056040112@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com...
C. Alan Peyton
DQ might be one of the oldest in this group, I'm just in my early-mid 60's.
Alan
"Bob" <wyo...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:9tdQ8.6751$Fv1.6...@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
Don Quixote
"Bob" <wyo...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:9tdQ8.6751$Fv1.6...@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
> manbe some of us old oil patch types are older.
If I'm not the oldest, then I'm pretty damn close. How old is dirt?
I may hold the *title* in here for longest continuous employment/activity in
the mining/exploration field. That would be interesting to investigate...
I've got almost 40 years in.
But I have a feeling that there are one or two *retired* academics that can
beat that number in their field. How about the oldest 'oil-patch' * ng
resident. Oldest student? Oldest lurker... ;-) Oldest troll...
DQ
Don Quixote
> Most lay low most of the time and have long kill lists. I think many are
> out in the field for the summer... where I'd rather be. But here I am
> pushing paper.
Wettest start to a field season here in quite a few years. But the late
frost did some damage to the wood ticks. The black flies are in full bloom,
so that makes up for the ticks. Wouldn't be the same unless 10 bugs were
inhaled and/or swallowed by noon.
Already have fallen off a hummock, in the middle of a swamp, while webbed
into 80 pounds of E-M gear with 12 feet of stingers. Film at 11. BUT...
found a nice E-M anomaly on our project.
Fallen off a log crossing another swamp; while trying to take a picture of
my field partner falling off the other end of the same log.
And tried to carry out a bigger bulk sample, in the pack sack, than the ol'
back will allow. Ah... the joys of field season. I LOVE IT!
DQ
C. Alan Peyton
"Don Quixote" <dq...@windmills.com> wrote in message
news:UqlQ8.62$vX2....@newsfeed.slurp.net...
holes punched in the cap and you knew what it was for, then you are indeed,
old as dirt. :-)
Alan
Robert Flory
kids, there are lots of active geologists around. I'm not much more than a
kid myself, despite the gray beard ... a mere kid of 56 ;-) Years of rock
knocking to go.
Bob
"C. Alan Peyton" <cape...@swbell.net> wrote in message
news:sclQ8.36376$S_7.3857752234@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com...
Robert Flory
kids.
I had the experience of working in the same room as the coffee pot at when
at the University of Wyoming. I used to listen to S. H. Knight tell
stories, geolgogy stories, about old timers, geologists & otherwise. One in
particular stuck in my mind... a repeat of a story an old timer told him
about trailing a herd of horses from California to Missouri around the time
of the Civil War. The story was 100 years old and only second hand.
Just one of the older kids,
Bob
"Don Quixote" <dq...@windmills.com> wrote in message
news:UqlQ8.62$vX2....@newsfeed.slurp.net...
>
Robert Flory
See the joys you have in store for you. Personally I could tell stories of
close encounters with pissed off snakes, badgers, moose, wobbly boulders and
the getting buried in Wyoming and Montana snow drifts or about trying to do
field work in Antarctica where it snowed 48 inches in 48 hours with snow
flakes that matched the biggest I'd ever seen in the Cascades.
Myself, I've put in 30 years since I left school. I've studied rocks
(pre-professional) in the gold mines of Southern Oregon, Oregon Cascades,
Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Alps. Hitchhiked from Pakistan to Europe one
summer. While getting my degree, worked in Illinois (wonderful Olney and
it's famous white squirrels), Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, Idaho, Wyoming
and Montana. After getting a degree, Antarctica, California, Rockies and
adjacent basins, SE New Mexico while getting paid to have fun and half the
back roads in the western half of the country.
Craziest job, trying to get people (engineers) to listen to my directions as
we drilled 4,000 ft horizontal wells with a 5 ft target. Talk about flying
blind. Most fun - waking clients up at 2:00 in the morning and giving them
the good/bad news. Most economic well (based on rate of return) 120'
"Dakota" well in Wyoming with 2' of pay. Most baffling prospect drilled,
Minnelusa well in NW Wyoming - clipped the edge of the trap and set up a
nice field at 3,00 ft - Later I found out a dart had been thrown at a map to
pick the location of a well to earn access to a big block of acreage. The
prospect map was a figment of some one's imagination that "didn't violate
the existing data". He "knew there was oil around there somewhere:. So
much for science and one for a good geologist's gut feeling.
Claim to fame - not much. Someone else retired on the 1/4 of 1% of the
production of the fantastic prospect Texaco refused to drill for me ;-)
Proudest fraternal membership ..;-) Being a member of the group of
consultants canned by clients (majors) for being right. Saddest, having a
well blow out, kill two kids and burn a rig - after I raised a fuss and told
them it was likely to happen if someone got careless, someone did- that was
on my first job as a consultant. Best advice to a friend ignored - "bring
out your old test tools, we're going to be leaving them in the hole". Damn
fool though I was kidding, I wasn't we did stick and abandon a brand
spanking new test tool. Dumbest move, being stupid at 0200 hrs, second
guessing myself, changing my mind, sticking a test tool (5 days and $50K
later we did recover the test tool) - I didn't get fired as it was for the
client who lost the test tool ($80K) previously referred to. I had told him
it would happen, he called us even ;-) wonderful guy to work with.
So now I have to work for a living, I'm a garbage man, cleaning up after
people. Dirty water, gasoline, MTBE and assorted cruds pay the bills. But
I get to play with rocks and in the dirt. During slow periods I've pumped
gas, sold ice cream and even worked as a spook (observer) in a casino in
wild and wonderful Jackpot Nev.
Damn few of us would trade our lives for working in an office.
Bob
"Don Quixote" <dq...@windmills.com> wrote in message
news:fClQ8.68$vX2....@newsfeed.slurp.net...
Scott
to do my victory lap next year (that's fifth year of four ; ) Right now i'm
working for a prof (R.A. Price) at queen's unversity this summer doing some
research on the western cordillera. so if anyone wants to talk about that
(or other structural stuff) i'm up for it...
I find this news group exciting, there are certainly alot of people with
some crazy ideas (just my opinion) I think it's great that it's open. Some
people do take advangae of this news group speading thier properganda, but
that's what free-speach is about....
btw what is 'kill-list' ?
~Scott
Don Quixote
> Hi Bob,
> DQ might be one of the oldest in this group, I'm just in my early-mid
60's.
Damn, that makes you older than me. I'm *very* early 60's. Makes me late
Archean... guess you must be early Archean. ;-)
DQ
Don Quixote
"Robert Flory" <wyo...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:hQnQ8.7504$Fv1.7...@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
> OOOps, I have to keep remembering that just because I work with a bunch of
> kids, there are lots of active geologists around. I'm not much more than
a
> kid myself, despite the gray beard ... a mere kid of 56 ;-) Years of
rock
> knocking to go.
Guess we'll call you Proterozoic!
DQ
Don Quixote
I used to drink Royal Crown Cola... but always took the cap off. (???- salt
shaker).
How about coffee; in a glass jar, and a screw-off lid, instead of cans?
You know what I do remember... my grandmother buying margarine (white) with
the little red-colored button to mix in it to make it look like butter. The
purchase was made with the little red ration tokens. And sugar was bought
with ration coupons.
DQ
>
> Alan
>
>
Don Quixote
> Have you ever thought about collecting some of the best experiences for us
> kids.
>
> I had the experience of working in the same room as the coffee pot at when
> at the University of Wyoming. I used to listen to S. H. Knight tell
> stories, geolgogy stories, about old timers, geologists & otherwise. One
in
> particular stuck in my mind... a repeat of a story an old timer told him
> about trailing a herd of horses from California to Missouri around the
time
> of the Civil War. The story was 100 years old and only second hand.
>
> Just one of the older kids,
> Bob
I had the immense pleasure of spending three days on a project with Ira B.
Joralemon, back in the early 70's; and he WAS older than dirt even then. Now
there were some stories to fire the imagination.
DQ
C. Alan Peyton
Actually, the RC bottle was used for sprinkling the clothes before ironing
as there were no steam irons yet.
Try these and see how many you remember:
1. Blackjack chewing gum
2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water
3. Candy cigarettes
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed bottle
5. Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
7. Party lines
8. Newsreels before the movie
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax
11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (Olive - 6933)
12. Peashooters
13. Howdy Doody
14. 45 RPM records
15. S&H Green Stamps
16. Hi-fi's
17. Metal ice trays with lever
18. Mimeograph paper
19. Blue flashbulb
20. Beanie and Cecil
21. Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns
23. Drive-ins
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers
Robert Flory
non-existence. People on the list exist only when someone responds to them
and includes their message. That is dealt with by adding titles to your
kill list.
What browser or news reader do you use. Let us know and someone will be
able to walk you through the process.
As for being young, we were all young once. Those of us with gray hair are
just the ones that were smart (lucky) enough to survive. Most of us field
types have more than a few stories of really dumb things we managed to live
through. My personal best is finding a "new" cravasse on the standard route
up the Monte Rosa in Switzerland. I survived a 90 ft fall, without a
scratch, if you discount hypothermia and frost bite. So much for climbing
in shorts and a t-shirt. Ended up part of a snow plug 2/3rds of the way to
the bottom. Never did that again ;-)
I'm sure DQ & Alan have some good stories. Maybe we should list some
"dumbest things we did and survived" stories :-) Ought to be good for a few
good laughs.
Bob
"Scott" <8s...@qlink.queensu.ca> wrote in message
news:aetfj9$lvl$1...@knot.queensu.ca...
J. F. Cornwall
> Definitely off topic:
> Actually, the RC bottle was used for sprinkling the clothes before ironing
> as there were no steam irons yet.
>
> Try these and see how many you remember:
> 2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water Yes
> 3. Candy cigarettes Yes
> 4. Soda pop machines that dispensed bottle Yes
> 5. Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes No
> 6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers Yes
> 7. Party lines Yes
> 8. Newsreels before the movie No
> 9. P.F. Flyers Yes
> 10. Butch wax No
> 11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (Olive - 6933) Yes
> 12. Peashooters Of course!
> 13. Howdy Doody do reruns < 10 yrs old on a B/W Console TV count?
> 14. 45 RPM records yes
> 15. S&H Green Stamps yes
> 16. Hi-fi's Yes
> 17. Metal ice trays with lever Yes
> 18. Mimeograph paper Yes
> 19. Blue flashbulb yes
> 20. Beanie and Cecil vaguely
> 21. Roller skate keys yes
> 22. Cork popguns yes
> 23. Drive-ins yes
> 24. Studebakers no
> 25. Wash tub wringers had one in the basement (didn't use it though)
Uh-oh -- 20 yesses and only 5 no's... And I'm just a youngster of 41!
Does this mean my folks kept too much old stuff around the house?
<grin>
Jim Cornwall
Don Quixote
> 2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water YEP
> 3. Candy cigarettes YEP
> 4. Soda pop machines that dispensed bottle YEP
> 5. Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes YEP
> 6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers YEP (into
those silver colored cooler boxes)
> 7. Party lines YEP
> 8. Newsreels before the movie YEP
> 9. P.F. Flyers YEP
> 10. Butch wax YEP
> 11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (Olive - 6933) YEP
> 12. Peashooters YEP (and spit balls, too!)
> 13. Howdy Doody YEP (and Clara Bell, the clown)
> 14. 45 RPM records YEP
> 15. S&H Green Stamps YEP (still got some around here, someplace)
> 16. Hi-fi's YEP
> 17. Metal ice trays with lever YEP
> 18. Mimeograph paper YEP
> 19. Blue flashbulb YEP
> 20. Beanie and Cecil Maybe
> 21. Roller skate keys YEP
> 22. Cork popguns YEP
> 23. Drive-ins YEP
> 24. Studebakers YEP (used to ride to summer work in one during high
school)
> 25. Wash tub wringers YEP
24 YEPs and one maybe!!!
How about:
Cherry Cokes at the fountain (now in cans!)
Chocolate Cokes at the fountain (soon to be out in cans)
Red Ryder Lunch boxes
Lash LaRue (this will sort out the pretenders from the *real* oldies ;-) )
Trigger
"The Shadow Knows"
Decoder Rings
DQ
Gerard Fryer
Robert Flory <wyo...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Maybe we should list some
> "dumbest things we did and survived" stories :-)
Attempting a "Woods Hole salute."
--
Gerard Fryer
Scott
... What browser or news reader do you use. Let us know and someone will be
> able to walk you through the process....
i use outlook 6.0
...As for being young, we were all young once. Those of us with gray hair
are
just the ones that were smart (lucky) enough to survive. Most of us field
types have more than a few stories of really dumb things we managed to live
through....
I've also had close calls, last summer, I was a research assist in the
Alberta foothills, it was raining and we were heading back for camp...my
boss stepped on a rock and nothing happened, when I stepped on it, and it
crumpled under me (disadvantage of being 6'3" 200 lbs) and I started to go
down the side of the mountain, had it not been for a small 1" tree that I
grabbed, I'd be pushing daisy's...
that's not as good as the 90' fall, but like I said before, I'm young, and I
have many near-death experiences to live (hopefully)...I'll keep you
posted...
Robert Flory
>
>
> How about:
>
> Cherry Cokes at the fountain (now in cans!)
Alright, and phophates too
>
> Chocolate Cokes at the fountain (soon to be out in cans)
beat cherry cokes any day
>
> Red Ryder Lunch boxes
and BB guns
>
> Lash LaRue (this will sort out the pretenders from the *real* oldies
;-) )
Oh yes
>
> Trigger
>
> "The Shadow Knows"
and the creaker door on the Inter Sanctum
>
> Decoder Rings
Captain Marvel
> DQ
>
;-)
bob
>
>
>
Robert Flory
Bob
"Gerard Fryer" <ger...@cornedbeef.hawaii.rr.com> wrote in message
news:1fe3i7v.garmol15mkrj6N%ger...@cornedbeef.hawaii.rr.com...
Robert Flory
"Message" then on "Block sender"
Or alternately click on "Create rule from message" to create all sorts of
filters.
To undo experiments go to Tools - message rules
and delete the rule you just made.
Bob
"Scott" <8s...@qlink.queensu.ca> wrote in message
news:aevbrt$j3a$1...@knot.queensu.ca...
Don Quixote
Maybe we should take this show on the road. "Old geologists never die; they
just remember old things". Maybe we could get booked in Vegas; with a chorus
line as openers... :-)
DQ
Gerard
> care to shed a bit of light on this one.
>
> Bob
> "Gerard Fryer" <ger...@cornedbeef.hawaii.rr.com> wrote in message
> news:1fe3i7v.garmol15mkrj6N%ger...@cornedbeef.hawaii.rr.com...
> >
> > Robert Flory <wyo...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> >
> > > Maybe we should list some
> > > "dumbest things we did and survived" stories :-)
> >
> > Attempting a "Woods Hole salute."
Sorry. I guess it was a bit obscure.
Among marine geophysicists the world over (except those from Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution), the preferred way to amuse yourself with
unused explosives (which you were never permitted to bring back into
port) used to be the "Woods Hole salute."
The salute involved two explosive charges suspended one below the other
from a float. You worked out fuse lengths so that the lower charge
detonated about a second before the upper one. You worked out charge
depths so that the upper charge had been blasted just up to sea level
when it went off. That way you got both an impressive noise and a
magnificent eruption of water.
What it took was finesse. Finesse we didn't have: we had heard about the
salute but didn't know how to execute it. Since the captain would never
approve of such a thing we knew we'd only going get one shot at it. So
we guesstimated sizes, depths and fuse lengths. Our charges were way too
big, and instead of suspending both we put the upper one *in* the float,
which was an old empty 44-gallon oil barrel. Our timing was off: we were
way too close when the first charge went off. Fortunately, the charge in
the barrel was a misfire (the first--and only--explosion must have
jarred the fuse loose), otherwise we might have been riddled by
shrapnel. But I never would have guessed how high a barrel could be
flung by an explosion of twenty pounds of Nitromon twenty feet below the
surface. Luckily the chief scientist had insisted that we drill holes in
the barrel before the escapade, so it sank.
Fortunately, nobody deals with explosives any more. Now even seismic
refraction work is done with big arrays of air guns.
Bigdakine
>From: "Don Quixote" dq...@windmills.com
>Date: 6/20/02 1:06 PM Hawaiian Standard Time
>Message-id: <QmsQ8.580$vX2.1...@newsfeed.slurp.net>
Gross! That stuff was foul. Thats one of the scariest geology stories I've
heard yet, DQ.
Stuart
Dr. Stuart A. Weinstein
Ewa Beach Institute of Tectonics
"To err is human, but to really foul things up
requires a creationist"
Don Quixote
"Bigdakine" <bigd...@aol.comGetaGrip> wrote in message
news:20020621180752...@mb-dh.aol.com...
Once in a while one has to live on the edge... :-)
DQ
C. Alan Peyton
to oversee all of the exploration, mainly geophysical and I went to the
field. Well, the field was in Irian Jaya. For those that do not know where
Irian Jaya is, it is the western half of Papua New Guinea. There were no
jets flying internally at that time so we took the old Focker with overhead
wings and turbo engines that droned on and on and on and on. Finally got
out there and then took a helicopter to the base camp. Everything was fine.
The visits to the field were fine, and no problems. Now comes the weekend
and since I am the "company man" we have a nice barbecue and we have a
speed boat and skis and everything else. The whole thing with the
contractor was a 3 year contract, no problem again. So, anyone familair
with the area, our base camp was jutting out into the Sele Straits, which is
between the main island of Papua and Salawati Island. Then it was my turn
to go skiing. I used to love to go water skiing. The current in the straits
is about 7km/hr to the north half of the day and same to the south the other
half. (Superflous info, as the current has nothing to do with this). So I'm
skiing along and as usual fall off the skis and am under the water and as
one will, I opened my eyes and when I did, I saw all these snakes. Most of
them about 1' long. I really thought nothing about it and the boat came
back and picked me up. Later we were sitting at the pier drinking some good
stuff and that's when I found out that the water snakes were some of the
most poisonous snakes in the world. Egads! and here I was in the middle of
the entire group of them. I never went skiing again. This is a true story
as those snakes do exist, and I did see them. By the way, AFAK, there is
still no antidote to the bite of those snakes.
I have a few other old-time stories, but this was one of the worst. I have
a couple from the June war of '67 when I was in Libya as well.
C. Alan Peyton
"Gerard" <ger...@hawaii.edu> wrote in message
news:1fe4fkz.1g24zs5as2ou8N%ger...@hawaii.edu...
was working in the summers for Shell. We were shooting refractions off
Louisiana. Of course, in the Mississippi delta area, the velocities were
somewhat slow, even though we were trying to detect salt domes, which also
messed up the return. I was down in the hold of the recording boat when the
charge went off. A steel hull, and within 1000' a 1000# charge of
nitromon. I still have a hearing problem today. Part of the job in those
days. No law suits. From then on I learned to stay on the deck when the
shooting boat was nearby :-).
Gerard Fryer
C. Alan Peyton <cape...@swbell.net> wrote:
> So I'm
> skiing along and as usual fall off the skis and am under the water and as
> one will, I opened my eyes and when I did, I saw all these snakes.
Black and white stripes, right? I remember when I was a kid in Malaysia
we were told only to swim off sandy beaches, because the sea snakes
don't like sandy bottoms.
Some years later, as a grad student, I was on a research ship in Suva
harbor. There was no wharf space, so to get to shore we had to use a
boat. The locals figured we'd be too drunk most of the time to handle
oars (probably an astute guess), so they ran a line around a block on
shore and one lashed to the ship, and secured the two ends to the bow
and stern of the boat. The idea was we could pull ourselves along with
the return line, but because of the current they had to leave a lot of
slack in it. In the middle of my trip to shore some clown lost the
return line over the side. We shone a flashlight over the side to see
the sea seething with sea snakes (well, there were at least three). A
Fijian woman with us said if you're bitten you die. She also said that
they are often agressive and will come after you (I had been told that
in Malaya too). We made a few tentative lunges for the line, but it was
clear that we wouldn't get it until someone got wet. So we just sat
there for an hour and a half until one of the returning crew staggered
down to the dock and pulled us in.
--
Gerard Fryer
Gerard Fryer
C. Alan Peyton <cape...@swbell.net> wrote:
> Now you are talking "good times". In 1959, I was still in University and
> was working in the summers for Shell. We were shooting refractions off
> Louisiana. Of course, in the Mississippi delta area, the velocities were
> somewhat slow, even though we were trying to detect salt domes, which also
> messed up the return. I was down in the hold of the recording boat when the
> charge went off. A steel hull, and within 1000' a 1000# charge of
> nitromon. I still have a hearing problem today. Part of the job in those
> days. No law suits. From then on I learned to stay on the deck when the
> shooting boat was nearby :-).
Good grief. A thousand-pounder? Even a hundred pounder at that range
feels like some giant has smashed the side of the ship with a sledge
hammer. You're lucky you have any hearing at all.
That reminds me of my closest call.
During a year-long cruise of R/V Kana Keoki around the Pacific there had
been a big onshore-offshore seismic experiment off South America. On the
last leg of the cruise (from Acapulco to Honolulu) there was still a few
hundred pounds of Nitromon on board which would have to be disposed of
before we'd be allowed into port. We decided to do a little refraction
shoot across the Clarion Fracture Zone using a surplus Navy sonobuoy as
the receiver.
I was in the lab calling the shots over the sound-powered PA system,
while the chief scientist (who had the shooter's licence) and another
student were out on deck doing the tricky stuff. We were approaching the
end of the line.
ME (looking at the chart recorder): I could barely see the refractions
from that last shot. How much powder do we have?
AFTERDECK: All we've got left is a 60-lb box of one-pound cans.
ME: Can you make it into a 60-lb charge?
AFTERDECK: Sure. How soon do you want it?
ME: Two minutes.
AFTERDECK: Give us three minutes.
ME: Ok.
(That they wanted an extra minute should have been a warning sign, but I
was new to this stuff).
ME: One-minute warning... Thirty seconds... Ten seconds... Light the
fuse!
AFTERDECK: Mark! ... Oh Shit!
ME: Huh? Wazzup?
Silence.
Suddenly the lab door is flung open. The Chief Sci, his face as white as
a sheet, bursts in, shouting unintelligably. He tries to call the bridge
on the phone but misdials, so he runs off up to the bridge bellowing
what I finally figure out is "Turn!" "Turn!" Despite the obvious gravity
of the situation, I collapse in laughter because he's run off with the
phone still in his hand--the base station is ripped off its mount on the
lab bench and about a dozen feet of cabling peel off the wall before the
line breaks.
The other student appears in the doorway and for a few seconds he just
looks at me, unable to speak.
Then the ship, which was supposedly travelling at "full speed," suddenly
lurches forward with a surge of power and enters a bat turn to port.
Everything leans over, stuff starts sliding off benches, and I get
thrown out of my chair (think of one of those old movies when the sub
commander looks through the periscope at a destroyer turning to make a
depth charge run and you'll get the idea--except that mud boats aren't
meant to be driven like that). Half a minute later there is the usual
wallop as the charge goes off. It didn't seem to me that it was any
worse than usual.
Panic over. The Chief Sci and the Captain come down to the lab to
discuss what happened. The 60-pounder had been made by ripping open the
box, stuffing three fuses, caps, and boosters in amongst the one-pound
cans, and then strapping the whole thing back together with the fuses
leading out the corner. But one-pound cans are designed for shooting in
drill holes (they screw together to make a long thin charge), not for
bundling together in their delivery box to make a big charge. You *can*
make a charge that way, but if you do it is essential to hack the
corners off the box to let the air escape. Because I had wanted the
charge in a hurry, the guys on deck didn't think to do that.
Because the ship was travelling at 12 knots (you don't shoot at slow
speeds just in case there's a screw-up: you want to be far from the
explosion), there was a considerable wake behind the ship. The charge,
with its two lit fuses, fell into the hollow behind the stern, and
started surfing forward on the wake--the air in the box made it too
light to sink. Apparently the box tumbled over in the wake a couple of
times, but it kept sliding down the wake towards the ship and was never
more than about five feet from the stern. Hence the "Oh Shit!"
When the ship turned, the charge got kicked out of the wake and finally
started to sink. What saved us was that it was close to the surface when
it went off. They had been 90-second fuses, but we'd calibrated the fuse
length for the usual sink rate, and fuses burn much faster under
pressure. Because the thing had stayed at the surface, the 90-second
fuses burned for maybe 150 seconds.
Despite the fact that the shot didn't seem too bad, it was close enough
to knock loose the cement lining of the potable water tank. For the next
two weeks gritty water reminded us of how close we had come to blowing
the stern off the ship.
Yes, the ship would have sunk: the Kana Keoki was a converted mud boat,
and mud boats are renowned for sinking like stones when they get holed.
--
Gerard Fryer
Robert Flory
an opening there. Said it was because he liked me.
Probably for the best, another told me I could go to work for in in Columbia
when he went back. Never did, the next time I saw his face it was on the
front page. His wife's family had bought his freedom after better part of a
year. With my luck if I'd gone down there with him, I'd have been having
lunch with him when he was kidnapped.
Bob
"C. Alan Peyton" <cape...@swbell.net> wrote in message
news:pGQQ8.33348$Bn.398...@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com...
Robert Flory
laugh does one good.
Bob
"Gerard Fryer" <ger...@cornedbeef.hawaii.rr.com> wrote in message
news:1fe5at1.104bs6615b4gaoN%ger...@cornedbeef.hawaii.rr.com...
Anne
gonna do some of the things geologists do...
"Robert Flory" <wyo...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:bcbR8.20648$uH2....@newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
Scott
James F. Cornwall
>
> I think all true geologists are somewhat crazy...you'd have to be if you are
> gonna do some of the things geologists do...
Jim (who still regrets that they wouldn't let us go up in the St Helens
crater back then...)
--
===========================================================
Poetry shamelessly stolen from some guy on a newsgroup:
It is by coffee alone I set my mind in motion,
It is by the beans of java that thoughts acquire speed,
The hands acquire trembling,
The trembling becomes a warning.
It is by coffee alone I set my mind in motion"