woohoo!!

Sheesh! I have been hunting through my advice material (given to me by a man braver than I) to set up topics for this conference. I know what they will be - just working on their names. You have done this - any advice from you would be most welcome! And, don't we have the most amazing assortment of buttons!

yippeee!

I've been busy!

I see...bravo!

Thank you! (Bowing deeply in acknowledgment to the man who is fixing my errors as I go...)

looks great so far!!

Thanks for saying so. It has been such fun and I am learning incredible things. Now, to get time to post goodies in these topics. Feel free to wander around!

Is anyone from anywhere other than the US able to give us information on what is happening to the rest of the world...I would appreciate any input from Europe and Asia and Africa. We have a few from Australia and would appreciate anything anyone else would like to share. From anywhere, really!

(earth-based, preferably...)

no, we want to know what's going on on Mars but they should direct their findings to paraspring! alex, ree-head? any inputs???

Great job, honey. It's nice to see you've been keeping busy.

Thank you, Dear! - I was delighted to see you here this morning (just past 5am). Visit often - or lurk. It is nice to have you around!

Wolf, what do we have to do to get the others here - or is it just a wait till they find it deal? You cannot know how much I appreciate another Gemini here a lot of the time. I really appreciate you postings!

aw shucks, marcia *blush* i've been wondering how to get people over to poetry, paraspring, and collecting. shoot, i even tried a sales pitch for collecting but they were a no show. *frown*

and I sure haven't figured any of this out, either... just how to make the conferences look pretty!

wer, Dear, when you excel at something as you do at making conferences pretty, you do not need to figure anything else out. That is our job. Get out the ropes and chains...

It looks wonderful, my dear. You have outdone yourself! Very interesting topics, too, but then, coming from you, that is to be expected... ;~D

Too cool, Marcia!!! Way to go!

Thanks Dear! They are keeping me out of trouble by making my brain think of things other than the ones which usually intrude (lust comes to mind first)...!

What's happening in my part of the world? How about heat, heat and more heat and no rain! What's going on? Pennsylvania is starting to look like the desert. Brown grass and blazing white sun. I'm quite distressed. So, Marcia, oh great cosmic guru, what's going on? Site looks terrific!

Thanks Heide. I will post notice of severe drought in the NE on Topic 14, Weather updates. (I had been putting them under Atmospheric Disturbances but caught some flack for it.) Thanks for posting. I really appreciate it - especially from you!

Hiya, Heide! (pretending you live in Texas are you?)

Let's see, if we shift Texas to Pennsylvania, then Hawaii will be in Texas. Is that correct?

close, I think...

What a concept... I like it!

I'm not too crazy about where that lands me :-(

You do not like the Rockies? Most beautiful! The way we are rearranging the Earth, you can pick where you want to put Chicago!

Hey, I just got here (at last) and was immediately struck by the most daring concept possible: to rearrange the earth! Can I move Lisbon somewhere else too? May I choose where or is that predefined because of your previous movements? Better still, can I make it a wanderer? Oh well, this one is not so new, a portuguese writer by the name of Saramago (last year's Nobel Prize ;-))wrote a book where Portugal split away from Spain and started drifting southwest... I haven't read the book yet, but love the idea!

Since this has become a freeform globe, please do move around. A wanderer would be good - it would tie in with the Hot Spot theory of how Hawaii was formed. Your Earthquake in 1755 proved you are in a zone of subduction, so go to it. Let us know where in the world is Gi whilst you are wandering. (Btw, what joy it is to have you posting here!)

ah, so you're movement of Hawaii has no relationship to where I would go (N&E). Was picturing Chicago somewhere up around Iceland by my calculations. :-0

Oh no, this is a plastic Earth in the truest sense of the word. Look what happened with the breakup of Pangea (see plate tectonics) into Laurasia and Gondwanaland then to the eventual place we find today. It just might take a while, but sure as part of California is moving northward in relation to the rest of the state, you will be moving, too. Do not change your wardrobe yet, however. It's gonna take a while.

Guess who's stupid beyond belief? No, not that person! M E ! I didn't get eye protection to look at it, nor did I get filters for my cameras... Guess who won't take pictures of the eclipse... AND I WANTED TO FILM IT! With my Bauer Super 8-camera, where you can set the interval for it to shoot a single frame after the other (trick filming!). Boooohoooo! I am soo dumb! **************************************************************** Discovery Network plans live eclipse coverage August 6, 1999 Web posted at: 12:13 p.m. EDT (1613 GMT) NEW YORK (AP) -- The Discovery Network plans three hours of live television coverage next Wednesday of something mom warned you never to look at directly -- a solar eclipse. The cable channel's cameras will follow the 60-mile wide path where the sun is totally obscured by the moon, from its start in southern England, through France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania to the Middle East and its conclusion in India. It's the most extensive live coverage of any event in Discovery's 15-year history and, the network believes, the first time TV has followed an eclipse in such detail. Eclipse coverage runs from 6 to 9 a.m. EDT, with an hour-long wrapup that night at 10 p.m. "Human beings have always been totally enthralled by eclipses," said Discovery general manager Mike Quattrone, "but if you wanted to see an eclipse, you had to be geographically lucky." People shouldn't stare at the sun because there's a risk of eye damage, but cameras can safely capture an eclipse. Not just show, but science Discovery will do more than beam three hours of the sun. It will explain the science behind the eclipse and show how people in each country react to it. The network hopes to climax its coverage with an arresting image of the eclipse over the Taj Mahal. Discovery will pull its coverage together with the help of Discovery Europe and a dozen European TV affiliates. British broadcaster Mary Nightingale will be the host. The last total solar eclipse in the mainland United States took place in 1979. Discovery has time to make plans for the next one -- it comes on August 21, 2017. Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. *********************************************************** I didn't know where to post this, so I did here. Hope it fits somehow, Marcia. Gosh, I'm such an idiot!

It would have fit in tv, too...but this was a good choice of topics as well...

Not tv - this is FILMING, not video... But it's not the Filming stuff topic in COllecting, nor the Dead Media in Cultures (or Media?). Pity me a bit, though, perhaps then I feel less unfortunate... Oh. I see what you mean - THEY do the tv thing. How silly of me. I'm still wound up on my stupidity not to get some filters IN TIME. Bye bye, my chance!

Take it!!!

What?

Oh, Alexander, I am so very sorry...but, how is your vision? You did not do a Gallileo, did you? I am not ever going to see a total eclipse...the year it was to happen over this Island, everyone had filters, and I had planned to chase it in case of bad wx. My resident driver said it would clear up by the time of the event - so I missed it under the worst cloud cover in Hilo for years. I hate him for that.

Might happen here, too. Gotta improvise on filters for the camera - how? Any ideas? Aluminium-coated helium ballons - translucent enough? Or too thick? Darn! Where's McGyver when I need him?

Alexander, I too left it too late and have no glasses or filters for it. I believe there's something on makeshift filters for cameras in the paper, though, so I'll look it up and post here for you.

cancelled and in syndication methinks...

MacGyver, that is...

Aluminun coated mylar baloons are ok as is fully exposed and developed BLACK & WHITE photographic film (not color!) use several thicknesses and use your eye as a judge of what is visible - use many thicknesses to begin and work down to what is acceptable. It is also excellent for filming sun spots.

You think so? Why not colour films? And that's just to look through, right? No matter, all I can get easily is the balloons... Super 8 Film is not very sensitive (60 Asa?). I'll try, and might also snap a few shots on 35 mm Gi, thank you! Any help appreciated! Where do you sit? I'm in Middle Europe.

Alexander you need the metallic particles to absorb some of the light rays. All dark color film does is make your iris open larger thus incurring even more damage to your retina. I am absolutely sure of this!!!

Sorry, went to the paper but they only say: neutral glass coated with chromium and nickel... They also say you can use colour film of around 100ASA. I live in Lisbon, Portugal, so the eclipse won't be half as spectacular as in Germany... Anyway, I've seen one before with a telescope. We projected the image on a screen and followed it there. It was fun, but I would love one where the light falls and birds stop singing...Like in books and movies, you know... I doubt I'll have that tomorrow... And there may be clouds!:-(

Use a pinhole projector. Gi, I am sure the color film is incorrect. We really got the entire world here for that total eclipse and they kept telling us color film is NOT acceptable due to its being non-metallic...(I am not trying to be right, here - I am trying to save retinas!)

well there goes my bubble gum foil wrapper and a wad of that freshly chewed up gum theory! *grin* i know nothing about the proper film techniques required to record an eclipse. but i do know that meteor showers will be seen over our area this week with a good show on thursday (2 meteors a minute). wonder if my minolta 35mm will take a good pic of that? (if not, it's a good way to use up the rest of the film so i can show you the space shuttle pics!!)

Get a tripod or wall for a steady base then set your lens wide open. Do so for 30 seconds, then a minute then 1 1/2 minutes etc and note your results for the next one. (Should have done some homework...but...) Best way to do the eclipse by projecting it onto a piece of paper on the ground through a pinhole in a paper cup or another piece of paper. If it is windy you might like to use cardboard or stake it to the ground.

Oh yes, and remember to look around. If your eclipse is partial, look at the leaf shadows. They should also project the pinhole image of the partially eclipsed sun. You can even make an aperture using your thumb and forefinger. Enjoy and report back...Please!

For the eclipse in your city (eastern coast of the us only for partial) and for Europe and Africa in totality http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/TSE1999/T99lookNA.html Home page of Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center - this site has it all http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/TSE1999/TSE1999.html#GenMaps

Cloudy and overcast now (9:08 am CET). We're supposed to get 95% eclipse - I'm just right North of the main event. I'll try the balloons... No exposed developed b/w here for looking. If I feel like it, I'll shoot 400 ASA colour film for slides and 400 ASA b/w, but then - everybody does that. But I'm gonna trick-film it, if things work out... Wolf, use two cameras loaded with sensitive film (an astronomer recommneded to me the Fuji 800 ASA colour film for prints, approx. USD 7 per film? 400 ASA should work ok, too), both on tripods. One, open the shutter for a minute or more at a time, so you get the streaks. Meanwhile, with the other one and widest aperture, work your way up from 10 sec, doubling at each step. (perhaps make two pictures at each step to be sure). WRITE DOWN ("1. pic - 10 sec, 2nd - 10 sec, 3rd - 20 sec..."), also what objective (50mm to 135mm) and aperture. Looking at the results, you'll be able to see later what was the best setting, and work around that next time. When packing up, point one camera at the North Star (?), and leave shutter open while packing. You'll get the circles showing how the stars wander around the North Pole... The kids will love it!

Alexander, I hope you saw the eclipse... I only had the partial view (went out and someone lent me her glasses for a moment)and did that projection gimmick, but what I saw on television was incredible, even moving. Next time I want to be there (as long as it is a reasonable viewing site, like this was).

uh, alex, i have a camera that doesn't allow me to open shutters and stuff, but thanks for the tip!! maybe i'll get it one of these days. i believe the next eclipse is next year? have a silly question though, alex, can you take a picture through those things that work like submarine scopes (please tell me you know what i'm talking about because my brain has lost the word i'm looking for)!!

Next year, but visible only at the Poles, and I'm not going *there*. There'll be another closer to home in 2005, I think.

Now that this eclipse is over, I will tell you that the gods who control these things do not want me to see it. Anywhere! The year after the totality on this Island, and annular eclipse was visible over Southern California, and I was there. An Annular eclipse is one in which the Moon is smaller in diameter visually in comparison with the Sun's and it appears as though the Sun has a big hole through it. In hot, dry, parched Southern California, for just that day, it was dark and so overcast there was no even a visible darkening of the sky - just as it had been in Hilo the year before. Nothing. Either time. If you want to see an eclipse, be sure I am nowhere in the vicinity!

See, Gi, if you had gone to Turkey as I suggested, they had optimal viewing conditions!

*lol* Karen, and the most amazing accommodations, too!

I was incredibly lucky with the Big Island eclipse of nearly a decade back. Strangely enough, my assignment was to broadcast it on the radio in Hilo (where clouds unfortunately obscured the view in most of town). We set up camp the night before at the 8300 foot level of Mauna Loa next to KGMB-TV's (Honolulu) Big Island repeater. We chose that site because the state's university would not allow us up on the more glamorous Mauna Kea and went the previous night because the road up was to be closed the fol owing morning. It turned out serendipitous despite a bone-chillling night. I used welder's goggles (not the full helmet) and saw a 100 percent eclipse with my own two eyes. KGMB's Big Island engineer, who was also up there, has his ham radio shack on the site. Using a one-watt (that's right, one-watt) microwave remote unit, I broadcast to Hilo not only the eclipse, but traffic reports, weather and cloud conditions and other pertinent information from around the island that was supplied to me via the h m shack. I used my radio sports play-by-play experience to attempt to create a "theatre of the mind" visual for listeners, and the vast majority of the feedback I got was positive, especially since the idea of a radio broadcast of an eclipse is rather absurd, when one thinks about it.

No, John, it was not absurd, it was wonderful for heartbroken in Hilo - Me! You saved my sanity, and as I listened to you and your gift with spoken English, it came alive for me. I could 'see' it through your eyes, and I am eternally grateful for it. I had tears of disappointment streaming down my face, but without your live commentary, I would not have 'seen' it at all! That one little Watt of power did what it had to do just fine for your purposes, and your coverage is the one I will always remembe . A belated Thank You to your boss for allowing this incredible experience to be shared. There is something very special about being up there on the mountains and I am sure you felt more in tune with what was happening than Bob Jones from KGMB did on the Kona side with the circus atmosphere. Mahalo Nui Loa, and thanks for posting in Geo!

oops, looks like I spoke too soon in poetry...I see you've found your way out and about, John!

Ver, I can thank Marcia for that. By the way, Marcia, and I know you will see this--because you are all-knowing and all-seeingyou did a wonderful job designing this conference site and I am impressed with your use of the national weather service hurricane tracking map. I did have a spiritual experience on the mountain with the eclipse that it would have been impossible for Bob Jones to have. If he had just gone to his own repeater site--but that wouldn't have been television friendly. No palm trees, n beach, not a lot of people to interview. BUT WE DID HAVE THE ECLIPSE and he only had a partial view at best.

I am delighted you said that about the Kona-side view of things. Hilo gets the short end of every stick the state has, but, as you pointed out, WE DID HAVE THE ECLIPSE and Bob Jones only had a partial view...I recall seeing his video tape that evening; I was so proud of the the job you did. Thank you for the kind words on this Conference. It would not have been possible with out WER's patient help to make it pretty, David's help in feeding me up-to-date information on volcanoes world-wide, and a bunch of credit to Penn State for teaching me well. I really intend Geo to be informational and timely as well as a Q&A and experiences site. So far, so good. Feel free to add to any of the topics. (Oh, yeah, I also do my homework...ever on the search for current information.)

speaking of david, we ever gonna see him over here? and i would like to piggy bag on john's compliments, this place looks great!!

I am working on him. He sends me information all the time to put in here, including the earthquake in California just after it happened. (His father informed me by email of the one in Turkey!) He says he does not have the time to login. How long does it take to get a username and password? He wastes more time than that wondering what to have for lunch! We should start an email campaign to recruit him, but he just may never forgive me for that. *grin*

Oh, and thank you for your kind thoughts, Wolf. We know why it looks this great...*smile*

Since I put this on other people's conferences, the least I can do is to enter it on my own: PENN STATE 41 ARIZONA 7

Back to Geology. This, contributed by Alexander (thank you! and Note the Hawaiian connection): Source: http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/082499sci-ocean-cables.html August 24, 1999 Old Phone Cables Open Sea Bed to Science By MALCOLM W. BROWNE "Making use of thousands of miles of discarded telephone cables, scientists have begun to wire remote regions of deep ocean floor to create an undersea network of geological observatories. "The old cables will serve as deep-sea extension cords running thousands of miles from land-based power stations to sensors, some of which are already sending back continuous flows of data from the ocean floor. "Geologists and other scientists using abandoned cables have set out to collect a bonanza of information about earthquakes, underground nuclear explosions, changes in the earth's internal structure and its magnetic field, fluctuations in the high-altitude ionosphere and even whale migration patterns. "Although seismometers and other geological sensors have long been operating in most land areas, conspicuous gaps in global seismic coverage exist under the world's deep oceans, and oceans cover most of the planet's surface. "But this has begun to change, thanks in part to rapid progress in technology that has made old telephone cables obsolete. "Dozens of such cables are still serviceable, said Dr. Rhett Butler, director of a data-collecting network in Washington called Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS). 'These cables were built to last,' he said in an interview, 'and at least some of them, which went into use in the mid-1960's, still function perfectly.' "One such line is a coaxial cable (similar to the cable that carries television programs into private homes) that was laid across the deep Pacific Ocean floor by AT&T in 1964 from San Luis Obispo, Calif., to Makaha, Hawaii -- a distance of nearly 3,000 miles. At the time, it was among the most advanced phone lines in the world, equipped with powered vacuum-tube repeaters every 20 miles to refresh the telephone signals as they traveled along it. The cable, called Hawaii-2, could simultaneously carry as many as 138 conversations. "But in 1989 a fishing trawler working in shallow water near the California coast accidentally cut the $30 million cable. "The telephone company could probably have repaired the break, but decided instead to abandon the cable; by then, optical-fiber cables had come into use, and the new cables could carry up to a half million conversations with greatly improved sound quality. AT&T announced that it would make the abandoned coaxial cable available to scientists who could find a use for it. "'It took several years for scientists to consider the possibilities,' said Dr. Alan Chave, a senior scientist of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. 'But last year it all came together and we showed that continuous deep-sea seismic sensing was possible, using these old cables.' "The world's first deep undersea seismic observatory capable of continuous long-term functioning began operating last September. Its seismometer failed two months later because of a short circuit, but Dr. Chave and his colleagues plan to retrieve and repair the instrument in September. With several upgrades now completed, the observatory (called 'H2O,' standing for 'Hawaii-2 Observatory') will then resume operation, midway between California and Hawaii, at a depth of 16,400 feet. "A feature of the unmanned sea-floor observatory is a junction box equipped with eight power outlets and signal connectors allowing scientists to plug more ocean-bottom sensors into the line. Among the supplementary instruments scientists plan to install is a hydrophone capable of listening to whale calls and tracking their migrations. "The cost of H2O, financed by the National Science Foundation, was about $2.5 million. If the project had had to start from scratch by laying its own cable, it would have cost up to about $120 million, scientists estimate. "The idea that led to the project dates from a decade ago. In 1988 a scientist at Tokyo University suggested that abandoned telephone cables might be reused for research, and that suggestion started American scientists thinking. Eventually, a consortium that included Woods Hole, the University of Hawaii and IRIS came up with a plan. A shore-based power station could pump direct current at 5,000 volts into one end of AT&T's broken cable, creating a thousand-mile-long extension cord to power scientific instruments three miles deep. Electricity flowing into the cable would move along it, powering sensors and repeaters, and finally grounding the current into the ocean at the severed end, thereby completing a circuit. "But making H2O a reality was a hair-raising challenge, as Dr. Chave described it. "The tools included the 270-foot research ship Thomas Thompson; the Jason, a deep-sea remotely operated vehicle; and the Media, a remotely operated camera platform to watch the Jason from above, helping Jason's pilot aboard the Thompson to avoid entangling obstacles three miles below him. "The scientists focused their efforts on the part of the cable reaching from dry land in Hawaii to a spot 1,000 miles to the east -- a smooth region of sea floor where they expected seismic signals to be especially useful to geophysicists. Searching the ocean bottom for the cable last summer, the team found it nearly one mile from where they had expected. "In the next step, the team sent Jason down. Using a joystick and a television monitor aboard the Thompson, the craft's pilot, Will Sellers, slowly steered Jason into position, clamped the jaws of its maneuvering arm on the 1 1/4-inch cable, and cut it. "Next came the hardest part: snagging the severed cable with an 800-pound grapnel and hauling the cut end up to the ship. Mr. Sellers had to make sure that the grapnel grabbed the cable at least 16,400 feet away from the cut to create a counterbalance as the cable was hauled up. "'It was like positioning a slippery strand of cut spaghetti on the tine of a fork, making sure that there was enough weight of spaghetti on the loose end to keep the strand from sliding off in the other direction,' Dr. Chave said. "The ship's crew then had to haul up six miles of cable weighing nearly 24,000 pounds -- the maximum weight the ship was capable of handling. The risky operation took an entire day. "Once the crew had wrestled the cable aboard the ship they powered electricity into it and used it to make a telephone call to the National Science Foundation in Washington. The cable worked perfectly, even though it had lain unused for nine years on the ocean floor. "But time and again unexpected problems arose. When the crew began lowering the cable and a 'termination frame' that served as a connection between the cable and an outlet, a chain broke and both cable and frame fell to the ocean bottom. Fortunately the frame fell in a favorable position, so that when the junction box was lowered, Jason's arm was able to complete the setup by connecting the frame with the junction box. Finally, a seismometer built by the University of Hawaii was lowered into position nearby and plugged into the junction box. "Almost immediately, seismic signals began flowing to Hawaii, joining the global torrent of signals from more than 100 other sensors contributing to the IRIS network. After the Woods Hole team returns the repaired seismometer to the sea floor next month, the scientists hope the cable will continue to work for up to 30 years. "Anyone can use the data produced by the network, Dr. Chave said. Other groups, including one in Japan, are also exploiting old telephone cables, although IRIS network is the most extensive. "'The more evenly you can collect seismic signals from sensors all over the world,' he said, 'the better you can tomographically image the structure deep inside the earth. It's a little like taking a clinical CAT scan using an inward-looking telescope. For one thing, the seismic data can tell you about the differential rotation of liquid metal in the earth's core -- a key factor causing variations in the earth's magnetic field.' "In collaboration with a scientist at Bell Laboratories Dr. Chave is also using 10 abandoned cables, all with one end reaching land somewhere, as passive sensors to measure deep ocean currents and changes in the ionosphere. As a current of sea water flows through the earth's magnetic field, an electric current is generated in the water, and a resulting voltage shows up in a cable with one end grounded in sea water. Current is also induced in an ocean cable by the flow of electricity through the ionosphere -- a layer of the atmosphere 50 miles above the earth's surface. "Three years ago the Navy announced that it was abandoning some of the hydrophone sensors it had used to track potentially hostile ships and submarines. Some of these sensors and their associated cables and electronics have been made available for civilian research. "'All this activity is really expanding the reach of geophysical science,' Dr. Chave said. 'We have to thank technological obsolescence for giving us some wonderful tools.'"

It's been a note of the Dead Media project.

Yes! Thank you for pointing that out. I inadvertently lopped that fact off of your email when I posted it.

No sweat! It's really great to see with what kind of other areas technology can connect, apart from original purpose... Often stuff never intended or though of originally!

I am the sort of person who, before I throw anything away, checks to see what else can be done with the item. Sometimes I store these "widgets" for years before the light bulb goes on and I find an even better use than the original. Human ingenuity! Where would we be without it?!

a lot neater perhaps? i save a lot of stuff too, like cool whip and butter containers. you can imagine the state of my kitchen cabinets! and then scrap fabric that i can't bear to part with because if i ever learn to make a quilt, they'd be good to use on a square.

There are so many things happening right now that I though it best to put it in All Things Planet Earth. New Zealand experienced a 6.5 earthquake (thank you, AnneH) and Mt Etna is erupting so furiously it has just about decommissioned its VolcanoCam. I will try to put up relevant information and images in the proper topics when they become available. (Thank you KarenR and AnneH)

In case you're interested we had a little quake in Wales yesterday. It measured 3.5. By the way marcia, sneding me this URL was a sneaky way to get me involved in this conference (SMILE!) Well, I had to have a look didn't I!

Oh! Thanks for that!!! Thank you for taking the bait. There are lots of goodies to interest you in here including atuo-updating weather maps in Geo 14 which a few folks check almost daily. (Scroll through the entire topic and bookmark your particular favorite - I have UK and the Continent in there!

Fun! Now I need to try and find ��s for my growing internet bill (we're billed by the second/minute in the UK)! Is this a special interest area of yours -or just one of many?

As you will discover, it is one of many - eventually I might just be crazy enough to have one for Archaeology and one for Astronomy. am also into lots of Topics on other conferences such as Books/41 Arthurian themes...and Malachology and just about anything else, actually. I need several more lifetimes to become a professional in each of these categories. I did want to become a Geologist but I did not get along with the math, so I studied to be a techinical writer.

Maggie, Gi lives in Portugal and was finally able to find an ISP who would give her unlimited time on the internet. I know you pay by the minute (how terrible that must be!!!) - mine is $20.78/month and it is unlimited - as are just about all of the ISP's in the US. My sympathies.

Unfortunately, the free ISPs are so slow that what you save in Internet bills you spend on telephone bills... I'm still looking for the perfect one!

Auwe!

A lot of this is a new area for me (goody!) I only did a bit of geology when I taught my kids Geography (apart from what I did at school of course, MANY years ago). BTW: my ISP is free (I'm on my third one so far)and seems reasonably fast but it's the phone bills that cripple us here.

Alas, that seems to be the lament of most of the countries in the world outside of the North American continent...and perhaps not all of that, either Feel free to wander and post wherever you'd like!

we should get astonomy and archeology conferences, what a great idea! and then, marcia, think of all the inter-conference links we could have!!!

Oh Yes! I even know which midnight blue marble wallpaper I want for it and which Horizontal bars...and who I want to cfadm for me... Archaeology is excellent as well. Need another life time to come back as one of each of those professions!

Would Angels fit into the Astronomy and ufo's and the like?! They are in the sky, are they not!!! Links galore! Happy thought, indeed! (I like it...can you tell?! *grin*)

nah, couldn't tell one bit, in fact was gonna ask! *GRIN*

Just like any hyper kid, the more !!'s I use the more I am virtually jumping up and down with excitement over the very idea!!!

Such great ideas and we did not act on them. Must check and see what we can do about that with the new year and all. But, no fun doing it be telnet! I know Alexander would be interested in the Archaeology one - for sure!!!

This probably belongs on an astronomy topic, but I didn't see one when I looked at the list of conferences, so here it is. My question is about the age of the universe/earth. The universe is currently estimated to be about 13 billion years old. In that time, stars and galaxies have formed, gone through their life cycles, died, gathered back together as nebulae, then created second and maybe third generation systems. Assuming the earth is only a second generation conglomeration of matter, then all of the heavier elements on the earth came from the first generation. Now the earth is estimated to be already about 4 billion years old. That leaves only 9 billion years--or only twice the time the earth has been around--for that first generation to have lived and died and given rise to the second generation. That doesn't seem like enough time to me! Am I missing something? Were life cycles nebulae and galaxies faster in the early universe? If not, how does the creation of the heavier elements work into the current assumptions on the age of the universe?

Ann, welcome! May I suggest Topic 24 Beyond Planet Earth?! I think our estimation of the age of the universe will continue to be revised upward as we get bigger and better eyes into the past. For just about forever the age of the Universe was thought not to exceed 5 billion years and wa more likely 4 billion. Theories are just that...always subject to revision and correction, fortunately!

I had read a while back where scientists and archaeologists are beginning to suspect that the earth is actually older than they'd previously thought...so much for revision of theories, eh? Seems as if we come to those somewhat "definite" conclusions, then, we have to step back and say, "wait a minute - what if...?" That's the fun of discoveries - rediscovering!

Indeed! When I took Geology in college they were one year away from teaching Plate tectonics! Don't check how long ago that was, but it gives you some idea of how things change!

One of my favorite things to discover is old knowledge which is rediscovered. I know we have forgotten more than we have learned from the time of the Pyramids and Stonehenge. They had the same brain as we are using. Why should they not have had as much success?!

Having few means to pass down detailed science across generations, did the ancients really do more than make constructions to celebrate observed extremes of the sun's path? Please convince me.

Not as far as I know, Mark. They did not come from Lemuria with exotic knowledge or from outer space. If anyone thinks they did, convince Mark and me. (I've read the books out there and they are more unbelivable than the idea that the ancients used magic to do things!)

...just because we cannot replicate the ancient constructions now does not mean it was done by 'other beings' It just means we have not figured it out yet...

Ok, why am I not seeing Response 99? It was posted today and is not showing up. In fact, nothing but what I am posting is showing up right now...test!

Maggie, what did you say? I am curious to the max...on confifty using the ip posts show up but not using the URL. Hmmm... (Wish I understood half of what I know about this stuff!)

Maggie's missing post: Resp 99 of 99: Maggie (sociolingo) Tue, Feb 1, 2000 (16:13) 4 lines We've had a couple of TV series where ancient feats were recreated (?it may be the same as you PBS program). The latest ones were Caesars bridge across a huge river span that he built in a few days, and a kind of crane thing that was built to hoist enemy ships out of the water by one of the greek greats. (Sorry it's late and my brains going kind of dead, so I can't remember details) On a different tack - did anyone see reports about snow in the desert near Jerusalem and 15 inches of snow in Jerusalem itself. I think it was a 50 year record.