Author Archives: gaussling

About gaussling

Gaussling is a senior scientist in the chemical business. He occasionally breaks glassware, spreads confusion and has been known to generate new forms of hazardous waste. Gaussling also digs aerospace, geology, and community theatre.

Morning Vulture Encounter

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This is the week for wildlife encounters. While cycling yesterday we watched a hawk swoop down and grab its prey. Moments later the hawk flew away with a smallish (ca 12-14 “) snake in its talons and making its shrill cry. It landed on a nearby rooftop where it enjoyed its catch. I’m sure this kind of thing warms the heart of any homeowner lucky enough to host  the feast.

Fledgeling Vulture in Cave (Copyright 2009 all rights reserved)

Fledgeling Vulture in Cave (Copyright 2009 all rights reserved)

This morning we climbed to a cave along a cliff face (on private land) to see a vulture nesting site.  The cave was in the Fountain sandstone formation and was situated a good 4-500 ft above the roadway. The mother vulture was not present, but the two fledglings were in the cave. I say fledgeling, but I doubt that these young ones have flown yet.  According to the land owner who has been carefully and quietly observing their progress, the youngsters have not yet flown.

Not seeing the young birds from a distance, we slowly climbed toward the cave entrance long enough to grab some snapshots.

The cave is actually a covered crevice that derives from a dislocated sandstone slab which quickly narrows to a very small cross section. With the camera flash, a photo of the young birds was captured in the dark recesses. This is rattlesnake country so we were not eager to venture too deep or linger in this crevice. The property owner mentioned finding a ball of rattlers under a rock partway down the hill. We had no interest in uncovering our own ball of rattlesnakes.

The young birds still had some of their down. This top photo was taken from ca 3 meters distance. Shortly after this photo the bird scrambled into the deeper recesses and out of sight. They make a curious hissing noise which is surely a sign of distress.

Buzzard Cave Entrance near Loveland, Colorado

Buzzard Cave Entrance near Loveland, Colorado

 

Fountain Formation near Loveland

Fountain Formation near Loveland

The buzzard cave was found in the red sandstone of the Fountain formation, west of Loveland, Colorado. The Fountain Formation is the deepest of the sedimentary formations along the Colorado Front Range. It is seen only along the western margin of the Great Plains here owing to the uplifting effect of mountain building. In fact, this sandstone formation consists of the eroded debris of a previous iteration of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The present iteration is often referred to as the Laramide Orogeny.

The photo above shows both the sandstone of the Fountain Formation in the foreground and in the upper left, in the background, the uplifted plutonic rock formation consisting of gneiss and schist.

Chinchilla Bubble

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During the Kennedy years, our modest farm in central Iowa was visited by a chinchilla salesman. I was a young child then and was intrigued by the topic of discussion at the kitchen table. The smooth talking slickster from the city made a presentation to my parents about the ever expanding fur coat market and how farmers could hitch their wagons to this opportunity.

I do not recall what kind of deal was reached, but I do know that soon thereafter we had a dozen south American rodents chinchillas in cages in our basement.  These fluffy creatures were not friendly in the manner of a cat or a dog. They were silent, skittish, and capable of sinking their teeth into you.  Of course kids are irresistably attracted to animals, especially those of the unusual and mysterious variety, and we were no exception.

The chinchillas (chinchillae? chinchillacea?) were constantly rolling in dust and gnawing at stones placed in their cages. We would watch this activity, captivated by the thick furred critters.  Eventually we were allowed to pet them a bit, but always with the admonition that they were going to be made into fur coats. Except for horses, my father was rarely sentimental about animals. They were raised for just one purpose- to fatten and take to market. Cats and dogs were just a form of inedible and unmarketable livestock. To pull a 4-bottom plow, you needed maybe 1000 cats- a real nightmare if ever there was one.

The chinchillas eventually disappeared the following spring. Turns out that the traveling salesman fibbed to us. The lucrative market for chinchilla fur didn’t develop at the right time in the life cycle of our herd of chinchillas. Or ever, for that matter. The real opportunity in chinchilla farming was in selling animals and equipment to the unwary. I have no doubt that they were unceremoniously dispatched out in the field with the very Ruger .22 cal Single Six revolver that I inherited from my father. Caveat emptor.

About that same time, around the same kitchen table, a family friend sat and told us about the sailing boat he bought after selling his farm. He was going to spend his time sailing out of Jamaica, fishing and enjoying the lifestyle. We never heard from him again, but years later we eventually heard about him. He disappeared. The authorities concluded that he was the victim of pirates. Ex-pat Iowegian killed at sea and his boat taken. Caveat emptor.

O-Chem Blues

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A friend is a tenured prof at a local university and teaches the 9 AM organic section. My friend lamented the consumer behavior of students in O-Chem and mentioned getting slaughtered on some internet ratings site. Tenure is not an issue for this prof, but student evaluations are still a big deal.

The question my friend has trouble with is this jewel- “Is this going to be on the test”? This arouses considerable frustration and ill humor. Some profs have no taste for this cat & mouse stuff and will be upfront with what is on the exam. Others are more elusive and Darwinistic. One wonders if these lone standard bearers could have excelled on their own exams when they were in school.

We discussed the possibility of suitable replies that are courteous but firm. There is no need or benefit to a smackdown for insolence. Basically, students need to recognize the main themes of the chapters and answer reasonable questions therefrom. The key is to do the problems. That has always been the key to orgo.

Some have been scornful about “teaching from the book” and supplement their curriculum with content that suits their fancy. I think this is fine for certain upper level coursework. Where this strategy fails is when students need to comprehend the pillars of chemistry for later and more advanced concepts. Then other content becomes a kind of distracting indulgence. Chemistry is vertical.

The problem is that the academic expectations may ratchet up a few notches in college. Students who may be accustomed to getting good grades without too much sweat are often mortally threatened by the prospects of getting less than an A. But this is just a part of the total growth experience and a good prof will be sensitive to this frailty. The trick is to help these students find their own path and go for it.

Metals Odyssey

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My efforts in finding a particular actinide mine today failed miserably. Apparently, gentrification and McMansion horse operations have restricted the only access road for rabble like myself. Looks like I’ll have to get actual permission to visit the site. I’ll be more forthcoming with the identity of the mine when I can get a first hand account and pictures.

I did find some interesting pegmatite veins elsewhere. Pegmatite intrusions (or zones) may be enriched in interesting metals like rare earths. My samples could just be feldspar, but the xtal habit seems different.

This is the problem with being an “independent scholar” in this field. If I want an ICPMS or GDMS to get a sub-ppm level elemental assay, I have to fork over ca $400 a pop to get some numbers. An XRD is only good down to ~1 % phase purity. I could find a real geologist to pester, but that wears out fast. Gotta find a way to get some analysis done economically.

I spent some time panning for placer gold in a creek downstream of Ward. It was a complete bust. I drove away with a backache and wet feet. There are no lode mines visible in that area, so perhaps the absence of gold was determined by others long ago.

Aspen Starting to Turn COlor September 2009

Aspen Starting to Turn Color September 2009

The Joy of Bentonite

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As I write this post I hear and feel the wump, wump, wump of the contractors sledge hammer coming down on our concrete front porch. We could put it off no longer. Subsiding soil in the front of the house has dropped the soil from below the concrete stoop to the point where it was hanging on to the foundation by friction rather than by concretion. The stoop was beginning to succumb to the pull of gravity and it had to be torn out.

The eastern plains of Colorado right up to the foothills are covered by expansive soil. Bentonite and other clays swell, contract, and generally heave with moisture cycling. When you combine this with ignorant and shabby construction practices, you set into motion future remediation.

Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with a torch, beat to fit, paint to match, inspect it with a microscope.

There are scattered reports of amelioration of this expansive property by amending the soil with several % of lime.  Excessive additon of lime has the effect of enhancing the swelling, so care must be taken. I am unaware of anyone practicing this kind of art. Addition of lime (CaO and/or the hydrate)will make the soil alkaline, so some planning will have to go into the decision to amend soil for expansive properties.

Thoughts on rehearsal

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We finished rehearsal for the play last night. Full dress rehearsal with lights, sound, props, etc. Tonight we have paying guests.  This is my second production this year. I have to say that I have not been yelled at this much since third grade (or grad school). But rather than being thin skinned about it, I have taken it fairly well. It has been a positive personal growth experience, which is the point of it all.

The best advice yet has been “be a better listener” on stage. If you are present in the moment on stage, you can better cope with the inevitable slip ups and mangled or omitted lines.  Rather than spending your time thinking about your next line, try to be part of the flow. If somebody drops a cue line, you’re better able to improvise a line to steer the dialog back on track.

This is good advice in general. Like many people, in conversation I find myself thinking about what I’m going to say next rather than really listening to the person I’m conversing with. This is a bad habit and reduces conversation to a comingled set of monologs or pronouncements of opinion.

The other bad habit that seems to get worse with age and education is the tendency to answer the question you wished someone had asked rather than the one actually asked. This is an irksome and possibly incurable condition of mine that those around me suffer from. Participating in staged dialog has had the effect of causing me to be more aware of this.

Thursdays Link-O-Rama

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Need/want cheap terabytes?  Backblaze details how they put together 67-terabyte mass storage units for $7,867 each, or $117,000 per petabyte. This is what I like to see: do it yourself, shade tree engineering. Damned skippy!

The trouble with economics.  Caveats aplenty.

Religion. The divine misogyny.

Fareed Zakaria suggests greed is good, sort of.

What do the Russians really want?

California is on fire (again)

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The western wildfires currently in progress are having a huge effect on the clarity of the atmosphere here in the greater Denver area. The California wildfire in particular is discharging vast quantities of smoke into the atmosphere. Here, one thousand miles downwind, we are enjoying hazy days and spectacular sunrises and sunsets owing to the smoke in the air. Last night as the moon reached the meridian, it resembled a moon in partial eclipse in terms of the reddish aspect of its appearance. The long carbon footprint of California is casting a shadow upon us.

The Tejas Republic

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Well, shoot. Some Texicans are spoutin’ off about secession again. I’m kinda s’prised it took this long fer their sentiments to get voiced out in the open. Havin’ lived there fer a few years, I could see it comin’ a while back.

So let’s see. Before they split, we’ll set up a US Hong Kong-type city state in Houston so’s we git the port a’ Houston with its petrochemical complex and NASA. Then we’ll make sure we keep the military bases in San Antonio, sorta like Gitmo, and move the Pantex nuclear weapons reservation from the panhandle to the north. After that, we’ll slap a duty on their exports, divert the Rio Grande into Arizona for irrigation, make Galveston Island a US naval station, and claim the oil reserves in the gulf. They can have their West Texas crude.

It’s like a whole nother Central American country!