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.
I hope that the following section begins to
illustrate
that point. Travels (click on
country of interest) (well,...sorry, it'll work once I map the
image)
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)
Radio
Lab - very interesting program that
investigates fundamental things (New York Public Radio) - they do
science in a very 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)
Le Show - Harry
Shearer's very funny satire news program (he's an actor, director, and
the voice of 21 characters on The Simpsons) - (weekly)
The World - world news - makes up
for coverage greatly lacking in the mainstream media (also has fun
geography quizzes)
Democracy Now! - an
independent news source that helps balance the view from mainstream
media
Hearing Voices - "the largest
collective of independent radio producers this side of the semi-planet
Pluto"
Radio Times with
Marty Moss-Coane - excellent interviews with people in the news
Justice Talking - program
focusing on your legal rights (weekly)
On the Media - news about where
we get our news (weekly)
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
Dissent
is the highest form of patriotism.
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.
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.)
Kurt
Friehauf
