|
Post by Peruano on Nov 23, 2018 18:27:09 GMT -5
Here in New Mexico, its an art form to study the tailings of the harvester ant mounds. The ants excavate anything of the right size to carry that gets in their way as they dig their chambers and bring it to the surface. Some folks think they show a preference for bringing up Turquoise chips, but I suspect the chips they bring are more conspicuous to the human eye and indeed are more abundant than we realize (especially in areas where Native Americans were working turquoise). Those mounds often show grains of mineral below the surface that are not evident on top. Also include are fossil rodent teeth, snake vertebrae, and even shark teeth. Sometimes the best rock hound strategy is to sit down and focus on the details of little stuff around you. Let me know if you want a teacup of ant midden gravel.
|
|
|
Post by johnw on Nov 25, 2018 0:38:26 GMT -5
Update on sand: the original scope ordered from Amazon did not work out, could not download the program to make it run. Ordered a Dino-Lite scope from Amazon and it took some fine pictures, but it's going back. It stole, (uploaded) all my pictures for the last five years and now spends an inordinate time downloading them before I can even use the scope. I guess my bad since I need archive my Mac photo file. Lesson learned. O.K., here's the few micro images of sand. After re-reading my post, it makes you wonder what's inside these balls? Balls of sand from Bali. Magnification 200x The entire beach consisted of sand like this, micro balls Focus is on the top left grain of sand, same magnification 200x Not all the sand was round There is a beach on the West coast of Scotland that is pure white. These grains are from that beach. Apparently the trade winds lifts up grains of sand from Jamaica and transports them to Scotland. This is the legend anyway. These grains are from the town of Won-do, being on the southern most tip of South Korea. 200x magnification From Antalope Valley Canyon in AZ. Well, that's it for my foray into micro-imaging of sand until I can find a manual scope with a camera attachment. Cheers, johnw
|
|
|
Post by johnw on Nov 25, 2018 1:13:38 GMT -5
Here in New Mexico, its an art form to study the tailings of the harvester ant mounds. The ants excavate anything of the right size to carry that gets in their way as they dig their chambers and bring it to the surface. Some folks think they show a preference for bringing up Turquoise chips, but I suspect the chips they bring are more conspicuous to the human eye and indeed are more abundant than we realize (especially in areas where Native Americans were working turquoise). Those mounds often show grains of mineral below the surface that are not evident on top. Also include are fossil rodent teeth, snake vertebrae, and even shark teeth. Sometimes the best rock hound strategy is to sit down and focus on the details of little stuff around you. Let me know if you want a teacup of ant midden gravel. Hi Tom, thank you for your offer, I'll share a cup of tea with you, but please hold the ant midden gravel until I get a new scope. Cheers, john
|
|
|
Post by fernwood on Nov 25, 2018 4:23:20 GMT -5
Cool sand photos. The variety is amazing. I am wondering, too, what is up with the Bali Balls.
|
|
|
Post by johnw on Nov 25, 2018 12:52:06 GMT -5
Cool sand photos. The variety is amazing. I am wondering, too, what is up with the Bali Balls. Yep, totally amazing, there was a whole beach on a large inlet that had this sand. The beach was between two mountain ranges with ocean on each side. I wonder if any of the RTH readers has access to a laser device that could surgically slice one of these balls in conjunction with an Electron Microscope? Err.....Hang on..... Just had a wild thought...... these balls do not look like any tumbled rock I have ever seen, but, given there are small protrusions on the surface, in a less than a random sequence, they could be of an organic origin. So why is there a beach in Bali with these types of "things," billions of them......waiting? Maybe we should not slice them only to release their contents to start..... wait for it..... "The Invasion of the Bali Balls." Hey, it's Sunday and I have not had my morning coffee yet. Cheers, johnw fernwood: what do you "see" in a grain of sand? BTW I love the term "Bali Balls," do you mind if I use that at some later date? Cheers,
|
|
|
Post by fernwood on Nov 25, 2018 13:22:57 GMT -5
johnw Since I did not have time to copyright the term, go ahead, lol. All kidding aside, what do I see? I see the remains of some type of prehistoric sea life. Maybe a type of pollen from long ago that was on land. It would be very interesting to photograph one of these Bali Balls that was cracked in half to see the innards. On more modern terms, with the theme, I see a popcorn ball with caramel bits. These are very nummy, BTW. Also a wonderful Christmas decoration. A type of nest for insects that grows on some Spruce trees in WI. They do kill the tree, even ones with 2' trunks. If their seed pods are removed, dried and the holes are filled in, they can look almost identical to this.
|
|
|
Post by johnw on Nov 25, 2018 14:47:43 GMT -5
johnw Since I did not have time to copyright the term, go ahead, lol. All kidding aside, what do I see? I see the remains of some type of prehistoric sea life. Maybe a type of pollen from long ago that was on land. It would be very interesting to photograph one of these Bali Balls that was cracked in half to see the innards. On more modern terms, with the theme, I see a popcorn ball with caramel bits. These are very nummy, BTW. Also a wonderful Christmas decoration. A type of nest for insects that grows on some Spruce trees in WI. They do kill the tree, even ones with 2' trunks. If their seed pods are removed, dried and the holes are filled in, they can look almost identical to this. Hello fernwood, thanks, I will use the term "Bali Balls" elsewhere on this site shortly. We are on the same page as to the origin of the grains....... My take is that given there are two mountains ranges on each side of the inlet, being a raised sand bar as I now recall, what we have could be spores that got blown from the mountain foliage, over eons, that settled on the raised beach and calcified. These are decidedly not randomly tumbled rocks, but do seem to lend credence to the notion they are of organic origin. BUT, that said........I want to remind you that in the movie "The Return of The Mummy," it was the "Warriors of Evil"that got raised up from the sand. So if it's ok with you I'll pass on getting one of the"things" cut open. Cheers, johnw
|
|
|
Post by fernwood on Nov 25, 2018 15:01:18 GMT -5
Cut away. Would love to see what the inside looks like. How large are these grains of sand?
On a side note, my employer, a craft brewery, recently released a Barrel Aged Liquid Soul beer. We affectionately call it the Balls beer. It is amazing. I get a lot of laughs when telling people here is your balls beer.
|
|
|
Post by johnw on Nov 25, 2018 16:18:55 GMT -5
Cut away. Would love to see what the inside looks like. How large are these grains of sand? On a side note, my employer, a craft brewery, recently released a Barrel Aged Liquid Soul beer. We affectionately call it the Balls beer. It is amazing. I get a lot of laughs when telling people here is your balls beer. Hello again, the grains are huge being from 1 mm to over 2 mm in diameter...... see the image below. I would be more than happy to send you a pinch, being several hundred, if you would like. Just let me know via private message. BTW, on the image below, by the number 12, there is one piece that looks like its been cut in half. I will try and find it. The concept of drinking balls beer is not something that is appealing. I would suggest they try another name that has a more supportive brand image acronym. Sorta like when I was in Shanghai, they sold a beer and called it Reeb. Didn't take much imagination to sort that one out. Is the Barrel Aged Soul Beer a porter? Thats it. Cheers, johnw
|
|
|
Post by fernwood on Nov 26, 2018 4:39:13 GMT -5
Yes, very large grains you have. The ruler puts them into perspective well. Yes on Porter. Marketing is done with the entire name. We just like to have fun in the tap house with abbreviated names.
|
|
|
Post by fernwood on Nov 26, 2018 6:11:43 GMT -5
Wonder if they would look similar to this if sliced open? Probably have a lot more going on.
|
|
|
Post by johnw on Nov 26, 2018 17:52:38 GMT -5
Wonder if they would look similar to this if sliced open? Probably have a lot more going on. Hi fernwood, what are these, sorry to say I don't have a clue. I am guessing spores? I managed to find the piece that looked it was cut in half, the side without the bumps is interesting to say the least. Your opinion? This is the back, no bumps. Front. Just as a side note, this exercise in sand imagery came at an enormous cost to me, in time and grief. The Dino-Lite Digital Microscope "stole" (aka) uploaded, without my permission, five years of photos and then lost them. I spent all yesterday with Apple and three hours today with Dino-Lite trying to get them found and restored. The good news is Dino-Lite managed to restore over 5000 images. The bad news is all my pictures since September of last year are gone permanently. Birthdays, Christmas, Anniversary, Vacation in Korea and all the other things we do and record in pictures, gone, so you can guess how pissed I am. My advice to anyone considering getting a hand help digital microscope stay far away from Dino-Lite Digital Microscope.
Oh, and this is the straw that broke my back, the Dino-Lite program screwed up my photos file on my iMac and I could not upload pictures to Flickr. That process took another hour to resolve BUT, and this is the butt kicker, it tripled all the files I had in photo and downloaded 15,000 extra images that I will now have to delete. The good news is I can now communicate with Flickr and upload pictures to RTH. So that all said, I am sure you can appreciate why I am not going to foray any further into sand imagery. Cheers, johnw.
|
|
|
Post by fernwood on Nov 26, 2018 19:52:11 GMT -5
So sorry to hear about all the problems.
The photos are of a piece of chert loaded with oolites. It is layered sand. Common on my land.
The photo of the back of the ball is interesting. Reminds me of a pollen spore for sure.
|
|
|
Post by Pat on Nov 26, 2018 20:12:43 GMT -5
johnw. Wow, what a mess! There are app/s that look for duplicates and then you can delete them. I haven’t tried them, but I know they exist. I keep all my photos on my Mac Mini, and periodically copy them to a thumb drive as backup. I have 1000-2000 photos, which isn’t a lot compared to many RTHlings. Good luck and best wishes.!
|
|
|
Post by johnw on Nov 26, 2018 20:49:45 GMT -5
johnw . Wow, what a mess! There are app/s that look for duplicates and then you can delete them. I haven’t tried them, but I know they exist. I keep all my photos on my Mac Mini, and periodically copy them to a thumb drive as backup. I have 1000-2000 photos, which isn’t a lot compared to many RTHlings. Good luck and best wishes.! Hi Pat, thanks for the consoling thought and thanks for the tip on apps to delete duplicates. Cheers, johnw
|
|
|
Post by johnw on Nov 26, 2018 21:03:21 GMT -5
So sorry to hear about all the problems. The photos are of a piece of chert loaded with oolites. It is layered sand. Common on my land. The photo of the back of the ball is interesting. Reminds me of a pollen spore for sure. Hi fernwood, yes, I believe we are right. The beach consists of eons worth of spores that calcified. Your picture: I am guessing its a section of chert and I am afraid I have to look up oolites, it's way over my head. Sentient beings by another name, perhaps? Now that's heavy I know, but anyway, thanks for sharing. Sand-Man is out. and is not keeping his Bali Balls..... Gross. Cheers, johnw
|
|
|
Post by Pat on Nov 26, 2018 22:27:50 GMT -5
Your cut Bali Balls resemble praying mantis egg sacks.
|
|
|
Post by johnw on Nov 26, 2018 23:44:01 GMT -5
Your cut Bali Balls resemble praying mantis egg sacks. Hi Pat, y'know you're right, it is gross, praying mantis eggs sacks is not the image I want to project. It's gone. It's just been a bad day all round. Cheers, johnw
|
|
|
Post by johnw on Nov 26, 2018 23:45:21 GMT -5
Oops, my bad. johnw
|
|
|
Post by Pat on Nov 26, 2018 23:48:50 GMT -5
Baby praying mantises are darling. Had s bunch hatch on my workbench. Good company for a few minutes. Had to move them outside.
Egg cases are interesting. Don’t much care for the adults!
Hope you day gets better.
|
|