Geode and Agate

We went to the McPherson Gem and Mineral show today and picked up a few interesting pieces. They had a pretty good selection of dealers, and only one had prices that were out of line.

Among the treasures found today was some never seen before Turritella agate from Wyoming. The agate is in the form of thin slabs, maybe 1/4 inch thick, and contain slices of sea shell fossils. Their flat nature lent the slabs to being “copied” on my flat-bed scanner.

Sheryl found a very interesting geode that had nice color and looked a bit like the classic Mandelbrot fractal shape. It was only 3 bucks, though it could use a little more polish; you can barely see the cut marks if you look at the piece just right.

Show below are 3 photos of the geode, and 4 of the Turritella agate. The geode is a bit under 2 inches in size and the agate about 4×4.5 inches.

You can visit Flickr and see more of each specimen, as well as larger versions, in our Mineral and Fossil set.

Back in January of 2007, I posted an image of a junco that I had taken in our back yard. Earlier this year, Carol, a student at Johnson State College, sketched a great image of a junco based on my photo. She was kind enough to share it with me, and with her permission, I’m sharing it with you. Enjoy!

Here’s a fascinating time-lapse picture of the night sky, taken in Toronto last month.

There’s also a wonderful video showing the image as it’s built up over time, starting with a dark sky and then filling in with the plane, helicopter and star trails. You can click the image to see a larger version, which was taken by wvs and shared via the same Creative Commons license I utilize for most of my images.

I’ve spent time visiting our local nursing home since I was a young cub scout performing Christmas carols, and I’m pretty sure the residents of Bethany Home would enjoy a visit from the balloon hat man. His creations are so whimsical and colorful that it makes me interested in learning more about how they’re done!

Until then, there’s this video:

Thanks to Boing Boing for the link!

You know it’s cold when the local temperature, measured in Farenheit, is far less than the temperature expressed in Celcius at your remote office locations:

And I thought it was cold when it was 6F in Lindsborg and 6C in Bristol!