Geologyis largely for
science-loving people who like travel, nature, and working with
diverse people. I've really enjoyed my career as a
geologist because it gets me out of the office and puts me
in strange new environments with little mysteries to solve.
Geological problems require me to really look carefully at things,
bring together my knowledge of many other fields of science, and
analyze the data in a logical and creative way. Creativity is an essentialfacet of science that many
people overlook! Personally, I'm particularly
attracted to the practical aspects of applied geology that have direct value to
people, but many geologists also do fascinating research on
fundamental processes.
In addition to scientific adventure, my
geologic studies allow me to work with a wide variety of
people from different cultures, many of whom I would never have
otherwise encountered, and seen places relatively few folks back
home have seen. I believe that a lot of the conflict between
people in the world is due to a lack of understanding of each
other's viewpoints. Ignorance allows us to think of
strangers as less human than ourselves and so can enable us to
become callous, uncaring, disdainful, and even hateful.
Traveling and meeting people in person helps destroy that
ignorance, enables us to see people as more than simple
stereotypes or abstract, symbolic icons on a map, and so paves the
way for new friendships and opportunities for productive
cooperation. I have yet to visit a place inhabited solely by
monsters - most people are pretty cool, although there are
admittedly a few jerks everywhere you go.
(The photos are coming - as with
my life itself, this web page is a work in progress.)
Additional websites I've created
for general education of people surfing the web
Jack DuBrul
(author of the Philip Mercer action series - a geologist with
all the talents of James Bond and MacGyver who saves the world
on an annual basis - these books are a lot of fun - they're
like action movies in paperback form!)
Susan
Cummins Miller (writes the Frankie MacFarlane
mystery series - another geologist who solves murder mysteries
- Miller really has the feel for field geology)
Sarah Andrews
(writes the Emily "Em" Hansen mystery series - a geologist who
solves murder mysteries)
David L. Robbins
(writes very insightful and well-researched historical fiction
novels about people - e.g., War of the Rats
about snipers in the siege of Stalingrad, and The End of War
about the convergence of Allied forces on Berlin)
Radio Lab -very interesting
program that investigates science (mostly psychology) in a
quicky, accessible format
This American Life -
interesting interviews, essays, and stories about regular
(and irregular!) American people - the essence of our
country (Chicago Public Radio) (weekly)
Snap Judgement
- excellent stories by a very talented host.
The Moth - people
telling stories about themselves (weekly)
Hearing Voices - "the
largest collective of independent radio producers this side
of the semi-planet Pluto"
Sound and
Spirit - program that explores how we express
spirituality with music (weekly)
Humankind
- "voices of hope and humanity" (weekly)
This I Believe -
people talking about core values that guide their daily
lives - great series of essays about life views
About
current events
The World - world news
- makes up for coverage greatly lacking in the mainstream
media (also has fun geography quizzes)
Justice Talking
- program focusing on your legal rights (was weekly, but was
discontinued - apparently due to a lack of public interest
in justice and legal rights) .
On the Media - news
about where we get our news (weekly).
Be
who you are and say what you think. Those who matter won't
mind, and those who do, don't matter.
Vincent Van Gogh
Love
many
things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever
loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what
is done in love is done well.
Thomas Berger
The
buffalo eats grass, I eat him, and when I die, the earth
eats me and sprouts more grass. Therefore nothing is ever
lost, and each thing is everything forever, though all
things move. ("Little Big Man")
Michel de Montaigne
Nothing
is so firmly believed as what we least know.
Not
being able to govern events, I govern myself.
How
many things we held yesterday as articles of faith which
today we tell as fables.
Horace Mann
Do not think
of knocking out another person's brains because he differs
in opinion from you. It would be as rational to knock
yourself on the head because you differ from yourself ten
years ago.
Henri-Frédéric
Amiel
All appears to change when
we change.
Benjamin Franklin
It
is the first responsibility of every citizen to question
authority.
They
who
would
give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve
neither liberty or security.(Letter to Josiah
Quincy, Sept. 11, 1773)
Thomas Jefferson
I
find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.
Voltaire
Think
for
yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too.
I
disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death
your right to say it.
Our wretched species is so
made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always
throw stones at those who are showing a new road.
Will and Ariel Durant
History
is
subject
to
geology.
Every
day
the
sea
encroaches
somewhere
upon
the
land,
or
the
land
upon the sea; cities disappear under the water, and
sunken cathedrals ring their melancholy bells.
Mountains rise and fall in the rhythm of emergence and
erosion; rivers swell and flood, or dry up, or change their
course; valleys become deserts, and isthmuses become
straits. To the geologic eye all the surface of the
earth is a fluid form, and man moves upon it as insecurely
as Peter walking on the waves to Christ. (The
Lessons of History, Chapter 2)
A
great civilization is not conquered from without until it
has destroyed itself from within.
Harry S. Truman
A
pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities
and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his
difficulties.
It
is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who
gets the credit.
Aristotle
Without
friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other
goods.
Will Rogers
Everybody
is ignorant, only on different subjects.
Never
let
yesterday use up too much of today.
If
advertisers spent the same amount of money on improving
their products as they do on advertising, then they wouldn't
have to advertise them.
[I believe that this principle applies to time and
complaining, as well.]
Mahatma Gandhi
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore
that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human
being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I
shall not pass this way again.
Mother Theresa
We
ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the
ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing
drop.
Greek Proverb
A
civilization flourishes when people plant trees under whose
shade they will never sit.
Raymond E. Feist
Never
accept
the proposition that just because a solution satisfies a
problem, that it must be the only solution.
Latin American proverb
Mal de mucho consuelo de tontos.
([Only] fools find consolation [or delight] in the misery of
others.)
Albert Camus (from “The Fall”)
Don't wait for the Last
Judgment. It happens every day.
(N'attendez pas le Jugement dernier. Il a lieu tous
les jours.)
Albert Einstein
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Mark Twain
Keep away from people who try to
belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but
the really great ones make you feel that you too, can become
great.
Kurt Friehauf
