How deep are the presents?

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As December rolls around again, thoughts turn to the Advent of Code, I mean Christmas, Jul, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ōmisoka, Newtonmas, Solstice, Dongzhi, or whatever you like to celebrate at this time of year. The end of 2021 is arguably sufficient cause for celebration on its own. Just don’t let your guard down in 2022!

Now, wherever you are, light the fire, chill out in the shade, pour yourself a glass of what you fancy, and check out this list of nerdtastic gifts for your favourite geoscientist, retired geoscientist, or geoscientist-to-be.

Actual rock

When giving to a geologist, you can’t go wrong with actual rock. Henk Kombrink and Kirstie Wright have been preparing and shipping beautiful pieces of North Sea core for several years now. These things cost millions of dollars to bring to the surface! Seriously useful for teaching, but also just lovely to look at.

You also can’t go wrong with soap. Geologists are filthy.

Look up not down

Geologists usually look down, but I got myself a telescope this year and I love it. I really appreciate the quiet focus of picking my way around the night sky, and the mind-bending experience of gazing at a galaxy of 100 billion stars whose photons have been traveling through space since the Oligocene. Highly recommended for any scientist! But the question is… out of the 100 billion different telescopes out there, which one do you get?

I think I’ll write a more detailed post about this soon, but for now I’ll keep it brief. If you can afford to spend more than about $250, get a simple reflector (aka ‘Newtonian’) telescope with a 6- to 10-inch (150 mm to 250 mm) mirror on a simple, non-motorized alt-azimuth mount. This combo is often called a ‘Dobsonian’, or Dob for short, and I think it offers the best value, and the best experience, for the beginner. Here’s one (right).

On the other hand, if you’re looking to spend less than about $250, get binoculars instead — something like 8×42 or 10×50 is ideal. Or split the difference with these very nice Nikon Prostaff 5 10×42. The beauty is that when geologists are allowed back in the field again, these bins can double as field glasses.

Why are scientists always pictured with glasses?

I don’t know but I do know that I love these laboratory-inspired drinking vessels from PTWare and these even more authentic-looking (not to mention somewhat cheaper) ones from a restaurant trade site.

You can also go with the novelty look, like this stratigraphic glass — or this one on the right featuring women of science, including the astronomer and (callback!) first female salaried scientist, Caroline Herschel, and none other than (segué!) rock botherer Mary Anning.

The obligatory books section

There is no shortage of books about Mary Anning, but this new picture book for kids stood out. I have not read it, but judging by its reviews, people like it a lot: Mary Anning by Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara & Popy Matigot. It is one in a new series of factual children’s books from Francis Lincoln books called Little People, Big Dreams — there are lots of scientists in the list along with Anning.

For the grown-ups, there are a lot of interesting-looking new books on my watch list. It seems geology books are hot again!

Last thing

I know it’s very 2021, but don’t you dare buy anyone an NFT. Those things are ridiculous.

Unlike most images on agilescientific.com, the ones in this post are not my property and are not open access. They are the copyright of their respective owners, and I’m using them here in accordance with typical Fair Use terms. If you’re an owner and you don’t like it, please let me know.

Rock, paper, scissors: the perfect gift

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It’s winter festival time again. Pat yourself on the back for showing 2020 that it’s going to take more than a global pandemic, environmental chaos, and geopolitical instability to see you off. Hold your dear ones near and let’s all look forward to no more of whatever the heck this year was.

In the meantime, maybe you’re looking for a gift to brighten the life of your favourite geologist — or maybe you want to appreciate a favourite science teacher, or gear up for more home-schooling, or perhaps you just like nerdy things. Whatever the reason, I’ve got you covered for ideas.

Is this a diorite I see before me?

The only way geologists can really tell what anything is, is by getting really close… then licking it. But then they also want a really good look, and for that they’ll need a handlens. The best kind have triple lenses, and the most generally useful ones are 10x or 14x magnification. There are only three you need to know about:

Iwamoto Achromatic — Japanese tech, Japanese prices. USD ~110.

Bausch + Lomb Hastings — solid US–Canadian product. USD ~40.

BelOMO Triplet — based in Minsk, these get great reviews. USD ~30.

xmas_2020_lens.jpg

More instruments!

I don’t think most people realise they want a sundial… until they see one of these Präzisionssonnenuhr. Admittedly, they are pretty expensive at EUR1000, and they also take weeks to arrive, but maybe you can save up and plan ahead for 2021!

xmas_2020_sundial.jpg

When it comes to geoscientific instruments, geophysicist and podcaster John Leeman has you covered. His workshop in Arkansas, USA, is capable of making more or less anything you can think of. He just started selling these awesome desktop sandboxes for making your own faultscapes. (Sand not included; I think you need about 2 kg to make a model.)

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Outcrop in the kitchen

When Zane Jobe (Colorado School of Mines) tweeted about his trip to Denver Stone Collection, which included this beauty (below), most of the geologists on Twitter got very excited. The collection is online, check it out. There are no prices, but I think prices on the order of USD100 per square foot are typical. I’m sure some of these are double that.

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Staying in the kitchen, how about…

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Unlike most images on agilescientific.com, the ones in this post are not my property and are not open access. They are the copyright of their respective owners, and I’m using them here in accordance with typical Fair Use terms. If you’re an owner and you don’t like it, please let me know.

This post is the key to the presents

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It’s that time when we celebrate the end of the old year and the beginning of a new one with delicious edibles and the exchange of gifts. So here we are again with what to get the most significant geologist (or geologist-to-be) in your life for Christmas. (It’s the 10th edition! Amazing. And I’m going to keep it up until someone gets the hint about the Triceratops skull.)

Rock chips and dip

Want to get a compass but don’t know where to turn? I did some research for you and learned something in the process: compasses can be super-expensive. So decide on your budget, then try these on for size:

The famous COCLA compass from Breithaupt.

The famous COCLA compass from Breithaupt.

  • The Breithaupt Stratum compass, aka COCLA (right), is the compass sans pareil… but it costs USD1500. Breithaupt make lots of other awesome geological toys, including several other compasses.

  • The Brunton Axis Pocket Transit is a classic compass and tries to make it easier to measure dip and azimuth. It’s up there in price though: over USD 700.

  • A couple of German companies make more affordable units: Krantz makes all sorts of stuff for geologists, including the Geologists Compass, and Kasper & Richter make the Meridian Pro, a USD 180 compass.

  • The Chinese manufacturer Harbin makes a very good compass, the DQL-8, which you should find under USD 100.

  • The Silva Expedition S and Suunto MC-2 NH both feature a clinometer and cost under USD 100.

Cool stuff

A Burmeister block, a Groove bag, a Scott Huebner burl wood sculpture, and some awesome field boots.

A Burmeister block, a Groove bag, a Scott Huebner burl wood sculpture, and some awesome field boots.

Games

It’s the time of year for board games. But you don’t want to be stuck with yet another game of Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit. Get some geological games instead! Sticking with the structural geology theme, let’s start with the eartquake-related games. They all focus on the Bay Area of California. In 1906 San Francisco and Aftershock (due out any day now), you must rebuild the great city, hampered by cashflow and… aftershocks! There’s also an Age of Steam expansion board for the San Andreas Fault, if you’re into that.

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If volcanos are more your thing, there are lots more to choose from… On the theme of volcanos you have Fuji, which looks beautifully designed, as well as Taluva, Haleakala, and Triassic Terror, which also involves dinosaurs, so...

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Books

All these new-in-2019 books have lots of pictures, which is my main prerequisite for a book.

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That’s all I have. Best of luck finding something for that special rockologist. Don’t panic — geologists are actually really easy to please. Most of them will be happy with a pair of dry socks, some coloured pencils, a new bobble hat, or a cold bottle of beer. If you find anything extra-special while you’re out shopping, please share it in the comments!

Unlike most images on agilescientific.com, the ones in this post are not my property and are not open access. They are the copyright of their respective owners, and I’m using them here in accordance with typical Fair Use terms. If owners object, please let me know.

I’m dreaming of a blueschist Christmas

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The festive season is speeding towards us at the terrifying rate of 3600 seconds per hour. Have you thought about what kind of geoscientific wonders to make or buy for the most awesome kids and/or grownups in your life yet? I hope not, because otherwise this post is pretty redundant… If you have, I’m sure you can think of <AHEM> at least one more earth scientist in your life you’d like to bring a smile to this winter.

I mean, here’s a bargain to start you off: a hammer and chisel for under USD 15 — an amazing deal. The fact that they are, unbelievably, made of chocolate only adds to the uses you could put them to.

If your geoscientist is on a diet or does their fieldwork in a warm country, then obviously these chocolate tools won’t work. You could always get some metal ones instead (UK supplier, US supplier).

Image © The Chocolate Workshop

Image © The Chocolate Workshop

Before you start smashing things to bits with a hammer, especially one that melts at 34°C, it’s sometimes nice to know how hard they are. Tapping them with a chocolate bar or scratching them with your fingernail are time-tested methods, but the true geologist whips out a hardness pick.

I have never actually seen one of these (I’m not a true geologist) so the chances of your geoscientist having one, especially one as nice as this, are minuscule. USD 90 at geology.com.

Image © Geology.com

Image © Geology.com

Hammers can be used around the house too, of course, for knocking in nails or sampling interesting countertops. If your geoscientist is houseproud, how about some of Jane Hunter’s beautiful textile artworks, many of which explore geological and geomorphological themes, especially Scottish ones. The excerpt shown here is from Faults and Folds (ca. USD 1000); there are lots of others.

If textiles aren’t your thing, these hydrology maps from Muir Way are pretty cool too. From USD 80 each.

Image © Jane Hunter

Image © Jane Hunter

Topographic maps are somehow more satisfying when they are three-dimensional. So these beautiful little wooden maps from ElevatedWoodworking on Etsy, which seem too cheap to be true, look perfect.

There’s plenty more for geoscientists on Etsy, if you can look past the crass puns slapped clumsily onto mugs and T-shirts. For example, if geostatistics get you going, start at NausicaaDistribution and keep clicking. My favourites: the Chisquareatops shirt and the MCMC Hammer cross-stitch pattern.

Image © ElevatedWoodworking on Etsy

Image © ElevatedWoodworking on Etsy

I like statistics. Sometimes, not very often, people ask my where my online handle kwinkunks comes from. It’s a phonetic spelling of one of my favourite words, quincunx, which has a couple of meanings, but the most interesting one is a synonym for a Galton board or bean machine. Galton boards are awesome! Demonstrate the central limit theorem right on your desktop! From USD 10: a cheap one, and an expensive one.

Oh, and there’s a really lovely/expensive one from Lightning Calculator if your geoscientist is the sort of person who likes to have the best of everything. It costs USD 1190 and it looks fantastic.

Image © Random Walker

Image © Random Walker

Let’s get back to rocks. You can actually just give a rock to a geologist, and they’ll be happy. You just might not see much of them over the holiday, as they disappear off to look at it.

If your geologist has worked in the North Sea in their career, they will definitely, 100% enjoy these amazing things. Henk Kombrink and Kirstie Wright are distributing chunks of actual North Sea core. The best part is that you can choose the well and formation the rock comes from! We gave some resinated core slabs away as prizes at the hackathons this month, and the winners loved them.

Image © Henk Kombrink

Image © Henk Kombrink

Traditionally, I mention some books. Not that I read books anymore (reasons). If I did read books, these are the ones I’d read:

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That’s it for this year! I hope there’s something here to brighten your geoscientist’s day. Have fun shopping!

PS In case there’s not enough here to choose from, you can trawl through the posts from previous years too:

Unlike most images on agilescientific.com, the ones in this post are not my property and are not open access. They are the copyright of their respective owners, and I’m using them here in accordance with typical Fair Use terms. If owners object, please let me know.

The post of Christmas present

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It's nearly the end of another banner year for humanity, which seems determined as ever to destroy the good things it has achieved. Here's hoping certain world 'leaders' have their Scrooge moments sooner rather than later.

One positive thing we can all do is bring a little more science into the world. And I don't just mean for the scientists you already know. Let's infect everyone we can find! Maybe your niece will one day detect a neutron star collision in the Early Cretaceous, or your small child's intuition for randomness will lead to more breakthroughs in quantum computing.

Build a seismic station

There's surely no better way to discover the wonder of waves than to build a seismometer. There are at least a couple of good options. I built a single component 10 Hz Raspberry Shake myself; it was easy to do and, once hooked up to Ethernet, the device puts itself online and starts streaming data immediately.

The Lego seismometer kit (above right) looks like a slightly cheaper option, and you might want to check that they can definitely ship in time for Xmas, but it's backed by the British Geological Survey so I think it's legit. And it looks very cool indeed.

Everyone needs a globe!

As I mentioned last year, I love globes. We have several at home and more at the office. I don't yet have a Moon globe, however, so I've got my eye on this Replogle edition, NASA approved apparently ("Yup, that's the moon alright!"), and not too pricey at about USD 85. 

They seem to be struggling to fill orders, but I can't mention globes without mentioning Little Planet Factory. These beautiful little 3D-printed worlds can be customized in all sorts of ways (clouds or no clouds, relief or smooth, etc), and look awesome in sets. 

The good news is that you can pick up LPF's little planets direct from Shapeways, a big 3D printing service provider. They aren't lacquered, but until LPF get back on track, they're the next best thing.

Geology as a lifestyle

Brenda Houston like minerals. A lot. She's made various photomicrographs into wallpaper and fabrics (below, left), and they are really quite awesome. Especially if you always wanted to live inside a geode

OK, some of them might make your house look a bit... Bond-villainy.

If you prefer the more classical imagery of geology, how about this Ancient Dorset duvet cover (USD 120) by De la Beche?

I love this tectonic pewter keychain (below, middle) — featuring articulated fault blocks, and tiny illustrations of various wave modes. And it's under USD 30.

A few months ago, Mark Tingay posted on Twitter about his meteorite-faced watch (below, right). Turns out it's a thing (of course it's a thing) and you can drop substantial sums of money on such space-time trinkets. Like $235,000.

Algorithmic puzzles and stuff

These are spectacular: randomly generated agate-like jigsaw puzzles. Every one is different! Even the shapes of the wooden pieces are generated with maths. They cost about USD 95, and come from Boston-based Nervous System. The same company has lots of other rock- and fossil-inspired stuff, like ammonity jewellery (from about USD 50) and some very cool coasters that look a bit like radiolarians (USD 48 for 4).

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There's always books

You can't go wrong with books. These all just came out, and just might appeal to a geoscientist. And if these all sound a bit too much like reading for work, try the Atlas of Beer instead. Click on a book to open its page at Amazon.com.

The posts of Christmas past

If by any chance there aren't enough ideas here, or you are buying for a very large number of geoscientists, you'll have to dredge through the historical listicles of yesteryear — 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, or 2016. You'll find everything there, from stocking stuffers to Triceratops skulls.

The images in this post are all someone else's copyright and are used here under fair use guidelines. I'm hoping the owners are cool with people helping them sell stuff!

St Nick's list for the geoscientist

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It's that time again. Perhaps you know a geoscientist that needs a tiny gift, carefully wrapped, under a tiny tree. Perhaps that geoscientist has subtly emailed you this blog post, or non-subtly printed it out and left copies of it around your house and/or office and/or person. Perhaps you will finally take the hint and get them something awesomely geological.

Or perhaps 2016 really is the rubbish year everyone says it is, and it's gonna be boring non-geological things for everyone again. You decide.

Science!

I have a feeling science is going to stick around for a while. Get used to it. Better still, do some! You can get started on a fun science project for well under USD 100 — how about these spectrometers from Public Lab? Or these amazing aerial photography kits? 

All scientists must have a globe. It's compulsory. Nice ones are expensive, and they don't get much nicer than this one (right) from Real World Globes (USD 175 to USD 3000, depending on size). You can even draw on it. Check out their extra-terrestrial globes too: you can have Ganymede for only USD 125!

If you can't decide what kind of science gear to get, you could inspire someone to make their own with a bunch of Arduino accessories from SparkFun. When you need something to power your gadget in the field, get a fuel cell — just add water! Or if it's all just too much, play with some toy science like this UNBELIEVABLE Lego volcano, drone, crystal egg scenario.

Stuff for your house

Just because you're at home doesn't mean you have to stop loving rocks. Relive those idyllic field lunches with this crazy rock sofa that looks exactly like a rock but is not actually a rock (below left). Complete the fieldwork effect with a rainhead shower and some mosquitoes.

No? OK, check out these very cool Livingstone bouldery cushions and seats (below right, EUR 72 to EUR 4750).

If you already have enough rocks and/or sofas to sit on, there are some earth sciencey ceramics out there, like this contour-based coffee cup by Polish designer Kina Gorska, who's based in Oxford, UK. You'll need something to put it on; how about a nice absorbent sandstone coaster?

Wearables

T-shirts can make powerful statements, so don't waste it on tired old tropes like "schist happens" or "it's not my fault". Go for bold design before nerdy puns... check out these beauties: one pretty bold one containing the text to Lyell's Principles of Geology (below left), one celebrating Bob Moog with waveforms (perfect for a geophysicist!), and one featuring the lonely Chrome T-Rex (about her). Or if you don't like those, you can scour Etsy for volcano shirts.

Books

You're probably expecting me to lamely plug our own books, like the new 52 Things you Should Know About Rock Physics, which came out a few weeks ago. Well, you'd be wrong. There are lots of other great books about geoscience out there!

For example, Brian Frehner (a historian at Oklahoma State) has Finding Oil (2016, U Nebraska Press) coming out on Thursday this week. It covers the early history of petroleum geology, and I'm sure it'll be a great read. Or how about a slightly 'deeper history' book the new one from Walter Alvarez (the Alvarez), A Most Improbable Journey: A Big History of Our Planet and Ourselves (2016, WW Norton), which is getting good reviews. Or for something a little lighter, check out my post on scientific comic books — all of which are fantastic — or this book, which I don't think I can describe.

Dry your eyes

If you're still at a loss, you could try poking around in the prehistoric giftological posts from 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, or 2015. They contain over a hundred ideas between them, I mean, come on.

Still nothing? Nevermind, dry your eyes in style with one of these tissue box holders. Paaarp!

The images in this post are all someone else's copyright and are used here under fair use guidelines. I'm hoping the owners are cool with people helping them sell stuff!