Author Archives: paleololigo

Scientist (Paleontology, Geochemistry, Geology); Writer (Speculative and Science Fiction, plus technical and non-technical Science); Mom to great boy on the Autism spectrum; possessor of too many hobbies.

Tessa’s Scolding

***November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short.***

The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. Yes, it can be done. Right now, my novel is my focus, and Stink Bug Saturdays have suffered for it.

So, I’ve decided that today I ought to share a scene from the novel I’m working on for NaNoWriMo. This is unrevised text, so, yes, there’s likely to be typos.

This is the second book in the Herongarde trilogy. I’m optimistic that I will have a complete first draft for the second novel by the end of the month.

This scene features Queen Tessa, the mother of Trey, and wife of King Anthony. She is in no way pleased at how Anthony has treated Hanna, and is happy to express her displeasure in front of Anthony’s elite guard.Continue reading “Tessa’s Scolding”

What Does it Mean to See Porphyry?

In teaching, one often learns where the great misunderstandings are. Geology has its own set of problems, most of which I face each Fall when I teach my introduction to the geological sciences course.

Sometimes it’s not apparent, even after teaching a course for years, that certain things are never explained properly.

It’s  been pointed out to me that there’s come confusion about the term ‘porphyry.’ First of all, this word seems to lack an appropriate number of vowels, but the y’s stand in for missing vowels.Continue reading “What Does it Mean to See Porphyry?”

If I Were a Mineral, Would You Rock My World?

Every science – actually every discipline any person can study – has some fundamental basics that are absolutely important.

You can’t study language without knowing the difference between a noun and a verb (and how that works with adjectives and adverbs).  You can’t study biology without knowing what a species is. And you can’t understand geology without knowing what the difference between a rock and a mineral is.

In teaching an introductory geology class, you might guess I spend quite a bit of time discussing the latter. I always think it should be obvious. But the only obvious thing is that it isn’t obvious.Continue reading “If I Were a Mineral, Would You Rock My World?”

Strike and Dip – It’s Not A Dance Craze (But It Should Be!)

Sedimentary rocks, those made of little crumbled bits of pre-existing rocks, are all originally deposited in horizontal layers (or very close to it). This is one of the most important principles in understanding how to assign ages to rocks.

The problem is, that most rock layers that we see are anything but perfectly horizontal. Take a look at this, for example:

Siccar Point. Credit: Dave Sousa CC 3.0 By-SA

Continue reading “Strike and Dip – It’s Not A Dance Craze (But It Should Be!)”

This is Autism

There’s been an uproar of late over comments made by the co-founders of Autism Speaks suggesting, among other things, that autism is this terrible burden to parents and families that tears them apart. That autism destroys the care-givers of the autistic. That somehow, there must be a cure – or something – because what’s going to happen when these three million autistic children will grow up one day and can no longer have the support of their schools or their parents? The whole discussion ignores the fact that not all who might be labeled as autistic are children.

It ignores a lot.Continue reading “This is Autism”

Cross Bedding and Finding Up

Sometimes, I have a terrible time explaining something to my students in class.

Sometimes, I can redeem myself by writing a blog post clearly explaining what I couldn’t get through in class.

One of those topics is cross-bedding in rocks. Now, if you’ve ever driven anywhere in the southwestern United States, you’ve seen lots of cross-bedding.

Crossbedding of sandstone near Mt. Carmel road, Zion Canyon, indicating wind action and sand dune formation prior to formation of rock. Credit: National Park Service photo by George A. Grant, 1929

This can happen at nearly any scale, from tens of feet in thickness, to inches in thickness. So, then, how do cross beds form?Continue reading “Cross Bedding and Finding Up”