greengabbro | October 8, 2008As you may or may not be aware, Green Gabbro is one of the smallest blogs on the ScienceBlogs network. But on the challenge leaderboard tonight, I'm just two donors behind a first place tie between Drug Monkey, Science Women, and Uncertain Principles. These blogs all get at least triple my traffic (and Science Woman and Alice have stooped to bribery, to boot), but still are struggling to keep up with your generosity.
On a per capita basis, the geoblogosphere kicks philanthropic ass!
I'm also pleased to report that we've put new hot plates into a woefully underequipped high school science lab…
greengabbro | October 6, 2008A week ago, the USGS updated its official estimates of U.S. geothermal energy resources for the first time in over 30 years. During the past three decades, we've made significant progress on technology to exploit geothermal energy in areas where there's plenty of heat in the ground, but no natural hydrogeologic plumbing system to help us exploit it. In other words: We are much better at cracking rocks underground than we used to be.
Assuming that this type of rock-cracking technology (aka "enhanced" geothermal systems) continues to work out as well as expected, the new study estimates that…
greengabbro | October 1, 2008I've seen the geoblogosphere periodically erupt in harrumphing about the way geology is treated (and by "treated" we usually mean "ignored") in K-12 education. Well, now's our chance to fix that. Budget cuts and the No Child Left Behind Act mean that science is getting squeezed out of elementary school classrooms. Teachers know that their students love science, and are determined to keep them engaged, but they don't have the resources they need.
That's where you come in.
Donors Choose is a nonprofit organization designed to help you help schools tackle the projects you think are important.…
greengabbro | September 29, 2008This month's geoblog carnival is on Geologeeeee.... innnn... SPAAAAAAACE!!1! - you simply must click through to see the cover.
If you need more geoblog goodness, Lutz at geoberg.de is working on a complete list of the entire geoblogosphere! See it in English or German. There are currently 101 blogs on the list, more than twice as many as covered by Callan's geoblogosphere survey results. Guess it's time to update my blogroll... (h/t: NOVA Geoblog)
Conversely, if you need a perspective check from non-geologists, go read what freelance writers think is interesting about a volcano photograph.
greengabbro | September 27, 2008TODAY! TODAY TODAY! Come party with me, Sandra, Dave, and GrrlScientist in the upper mezzanine at Ozzie's, 105 W. Mercer St. just behind the Space Needle*.
Some of the Seattle Skeptics are showing up, and later on, a few folks from the Pacific Science Center. Meet lots of people who care about science and science education, and drink beer (or orange juice, you know, if you're into that sort of thing) on Seed's dime! We'll buy the first couple of rounds, at least, and keep going until we run out of budget.
We'll start at 4 and carry on until... um, I'm not sure how long we'll carry on, but I…
greengabbro | September 26, 2008
Like so many moments of culinary inspiration, this plum clafoutis is nothing like what I was thinking of prior to actually wandering into the kitchen to make dinner.
I was going to make pancake dome pancakes.
Pancake domes are features on Venus. They are so named because they look like pancakes:
Actually, they are volcanoes.
It would be trivial to make a batch of ordinary pancakes, point out the uncanny resemblance, and call it a day; it would also be cheating. Pancake dome pancakes should erupt. This, from Stofan et al. 2000 1, is roughly the mechanism I wanted:
Moreover, I wanted to do…
greengabbro | September 24, 2008Welcome to the 65th biweekly showcase of the feminist blogosphere! Here's just a taste of what's inside:
Owning privilege is not about feeling ashamed, it is about acknowledging the benefits that one receives without having to work for them.
And now today an excited colleague announced that he had just discovered this totally new concept on the internet: white privilege! Even though I've been teaching the idea for over a decade, and it's even discussed in our textbook, it was news to him.
Not a lesbian, not homosexual, but 'gay' with such venom I swear her eyes turned red, smoke came charging…
greengabbro | September 19, 2008Shiver me timbers, I almost forgot!
What five minerals would a pirate want to know?
pyrite
arrrsenopyrite
arrragonite
cinnabarrrr
feldsparrrr
greengabbro | September 19, 2008While I was away, the rest of the geoblogosphere spent some time creating a list of 50 minerals to see before you die, and then ticking off which ones they've done; Dave Schumaker put together a neat tag cloud to display the results.
Intimidated by the length of this list, Callan, Kim, EffJot, Geology Happens, and Silver Fox have come up with shorter, more focused lists of the 5 minerals they would introduce to earth science n00bs. They are mostly focused on minerals that are "important" in the sense that they play significant roles in geological processes.
As a geophysicist and mostly-…
greengabbro | September 14, 2008Sometimes Google Books throws up some interesting results:
The knowledge of Geology seems to be requisite in all states and pursuits of life. The artisan and the mechanic, are benefited by the mineral products of the earth; without Iron alone, (the rusty king of all metals,) man could not exist in a civilized state, for, from the weighty hammer and the delicate needle comes most of the power, that man possesses in the mechanical arts. The agriculturalist is assisted by a knowledge of the rocks, which compose the base of the material of the soil which he is cultivating - practical men have…
greengabbro | September 13, 2008A few more announcements while I'm catching up with the blogonets:
I will be hosting the next edition of the Carnival of Feminists on September 24. Please send me your best recent women-in-science posts (or non-sciencey feminist-oriented posts, if you must) by the 22nd, using the carnival submission form or regular ol' email.
Geobloggers! Please take Callan Bentley's survey, if you haven't already. He needs your input by Monday - and I am super-curious to see results from as complete a sample as possible.
From my favorite nerdy haute cuisine blog, a recipe for liquid nitrogen rum raisin balls…
greengabbro | September 11, 2008For those of you who don't actually read any other ScienceBlogs (hi, Mom): We're approaching the one meeeellionth comment here at the ScienceBorg! This means there's a contest! If you submit a comment with a valid email address between... um, whenever the contest started, and whenever it is that the millionth comment is posted, which is coming up pretty darn quick now... you will be entered to win a trip for two to New York City, including dinner with your favorite ScienceBorgling and other geeky adventures courtesy the Seed Mothership. Here are the official contest rules.
For those of you…
greengabbro | September 6, 2008You scour eBay looking for zircon engagement rings. Zircons are forever.
During the wedding portraits, you keep hearing the words "for scale"
Who knew REI had a bridal section?
Altar? I thought you said meet me at the outcrop!
She asks the musicians to slow down at any interesting unconformities exposed in the Canyon in D
Your gift registry has its own GSA or AGU session
Your vows include a promise not to take each other for granite
You suggest following that up with a promise not to be fault-finders with each other, and she nearly dumps you
She keeps asking if you've tried licking it
She…
greengabbro | September 1, 2008 It might be Labor Day, but summer isn't really over until the blackberries are gone. Since it's harvest season and I'm still on leave from the workforce, I've been spending my time figuring out clever things to do with the bountiful produce of my neighborhood's back alleys. (Tonight: lemon verbena drops and blackberry meringue pie.)
Hoping to bring a little more order to the proceedings after a failed blackberry fish sauce, I cracked open Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of Cooking, written by one of the gurus of high tech haute cuisine, Hervé This.
This explains with charming prose…
greengabbro | August 21, 2008I was struck by the similarity of these two images. Which one does your dentist want you to eat?
I won't speculate about anyone's dentist's motivations, but the top image comes from The Science of Ice Cream, and the bottom from the USGS. I'm not sure what conditions the ice cream was stored under, but the USGS image is from a limestone that had been stored next to a piping hot intrusion of monzonite, and partially baked into marble.
Frozen desserts left in the freezer too long will undergo a similar process. The edges of each ice crystal are constantly exchanging water with the sugar…
greengabbro | August 20, 2008It was hot out last weekend. Some of you might scoff at what I consider "hot", but the glorious thing about Seattle is that the entire city seems willing to join me in whining and wilting whenever the temperature breaks 80 (that's 25 of your Earth units). Naturally, I spent a lot of time thinking about ice cream.
Ice cream is an igneous rock. You begin with a liquid slurry containing a hodgepodge of chemicals, and by bringing it below its freezing point, you create something solid - or at least solid-ish. Good ice cream or sorbet needs a little give, a bit of liquid remaining between ice…
greengabbro | August 12, 2008The Scibling meetup weekend included free passes to see the ponies at the American Museum of Natural History. OMG PONIES... but I found the exhibit depressing, for the following reason:
I don't understand why more organizations don't give out press kits to bloggers. We make such good use of the material.
Anyway, the horse exhibit was nice, as far as exhibits about squishy living things go, but I ran off to see the rocks as quickly as possible. I wish I'd had time to do more than a quick jog through the earth science exhibits; there are ultra old-fashioned displays asserting that geologic…
greengabbro | August 8, 2008Final details ahoy! Not only will this be a fun time hanging out with your favorite Internet friends you've never met, Seed will buy the first round of booze (or not-booze, if you're into that sort of thing in the middle of the afternoon).
2-4 pm, Saturday, August 9
Social
795 8th Ave (close to 49th St.)
New York, NY 10019
...and as far as I know, I will be the only one there to defend the beer-drinkin' honor of my chosen profession. Eep!
greengabbro | August 8, 2008Gentle Reader, how long do I have to go without blogging before you start sending me solicitous letters of concern for my health, my Internet connection, and the distribution of my assets after death, huh???
I've got a backlog of stuff to write about, which summer lassitude will mostly doom to obscurity... but here are a few of the gender and science things:
Someone's started a geek feminism wiki. The entries are still pretty sketchy - the "women in science" article is just an empty link - but what a great concept!
I've always assumed that the reason no one has ever marketed a male hormonal…