There were also some people out there

Apparently there is only one person who reads my blog, and that person is a sarcastic SOB. That would be Crazy Jonny who sends me rude emails about formerly extinct fish. Anyway just to reassure you that the next 10 posts are not all going to be about rocks, I will provide you with some images of students using compasses (with varying degrees of success).

Anyway I like this class, they were fun and big and boisterous and generally ok in the kitchen and each and every one of them has a whopping personality. You can't tell from these photos though, because these depict the "learners" performing

Here we have Oarabile measuring the trend of a nice tight plunging anticline with some consultation from Tshidi. Some signs suggest that OB knew how to use his compass at this point, although for a practical only 2 weeks earlier they had to repeat a single strike/dip measurement 10 times and calculate the standard deviation. Several students were showing standard deviations of up to 50°. Not sure physically how to do that unless you have an iron peg in your compass arm or something.


Next we have demonstrator Nic Laidler indicating the attitude of the axial planar cleavage of the fold he is standing on with Tanya and Caitlin. You can see from the look on Tanya's face (yellow shirt) that she is not too impressed with my "roadside geology" methods of waving your compass toward the trace of the axis. Tanya likes specifics! Caitlin is more trusting, perhaps.

This is the second group to map the Floriskraal Anticline. I accompanied this group on their first day to make sure they escaped the downfall of the first group, who maybe just a little bit didn't find the anticline in the Floriskraal anticline. Future students: if A overlies B, and you see the sequence A-B-A on your map, let anticline be your first working guess... until I tell you about faults that is (evil laughter)

Now I know what Barb secretly wants. She wants me to tell you the name, home language, life history and religious background of each of these students. But who would I be if I kept such data? I would be John Rogers! So Mom, if you want such data, you should write to him directly. I will tell you we had a 7th Day who had to be given an extension because he couldn't write up on Saturday. There are many different religions among the student body, a small subsampling of the more observant ones in one class will mean that there are students who don't work Friday, students who don't work Saturday, and students who don't work Sunday. Now imagine trying to run a field trip - which at that cost and time investment - can not be run multiple times. It looks like the department is going to move toward a "work or receive no credit" type policy with wiggle room for accommodating anyone's needs as possible (but no guaruntees of allowances). Awkward feelings about this.