Well, well, well.. You see Mark! we are not the only ones who understand our unsatisfiable appetite for learning about how the world works! We arnt that weird! lol
OK Blake, let me see if I can answer these questions;
Vicekid,
I bet that you understand how hard it is to find friends who share the same interests, as some of the people have expressed in this thread that i had posted. And it really is a breath of fresh air to have so many people actually Get It. Its Awesome! lol
I totally agree with you. It is always refreshing to find someone with similar interest.
How long did you go to school? I
t took me 5 years to get my BS degree in Geology. I then went back for two more working on a teaching credential (which I never did finish). During that time I was elected Student Body President. The following year I became the first President to ever get re-elected. It was also during this time that the Geology Department hired me on as a part time lecturer, teaching lower division lab classes.
what made you interested in Earth Science?
That's a tough one. It seems like I've always been interested in the Stars/sky. And I had a fascination with rocks, minerals and crystals. I enjoyed all science projects and I can recall going back to second grade a project we did placing water in a container, marking it, and placing it outside to freeze. Then seeing how much more space it took up in the container. I lived in Brooklyn, NY then.
In High School as a Freshmen I took my first Earth Science Class and well, that cemented my interest in that field. We had an astronomy club and from my sophomore year to senior year I was President of the Club. One adventure I remember was meeting at 3 in the morning on the roof of the science building with most of the club members and parents to view a comet.
In 2009 I took a cruise out of China to see the longest total eclipse of the 21st Century and the longest one I will ever see. The entire ship was charter with Eclipse chasers to see this event. Many of us work via e-mail to set up shore excursions. In Kagoshima, a number of us planned a trip to see the active volcano which is their Mt Vesuvius. I became the leader of this group and as we took a ferry to volcanic island, I had done my homework and gave everyone some history of this volcano and discussed some of the different volcanic rocks we found along the route. That was fun, and my group, most who I had never met until this cruise were blown away by what I shared with them. So as you can see I truly enjoy the field.
to be fair i guess i will answer my own questions..
Im still going to school and i have love earth science ever since i can remember the first time my Dad showed me how the sun worked rising and setting..
He had gotten a foam ball, about the size of a grapefruit, he stated "this is the earth" and proceeded to put a dot with a pen where we were on the "earth."
Then he got a flash light and said,"This is the sun, now we know that the earth is kinda tilted like this" he turns the ball a little lopsided so that when he spun it, the dot would show me seasons too. "The earth goes around the sun while spinning on its side a little bit. the moon also does the same with one side always facing us." This was when i was 5 years old, i understood how the sun went up and down.
When I was in Junior High and I use to set up a telescope where my dad worked in a Key shop in the parking lot of a major chain store. I would charge 50 cents to look into the scope to see things like Jupiter and its moons, or Saturn and its rings.
My dad was also a huge storm chaser, before there were even Mobile radar, that news stations would only rely on chasers to tell them where the tornados were or how bad the storm was. so many stories, i will never forget, he taught me so much. then parents split, but my passion didnt, and to this day for entertainment, i watch documentaries as a hobby.
I will always take advantage to see a good science program. The same for Science Fiction. To me, Science Fiction is the Science of the future. to prove my point look at Jules Verne. His books were all science fiction, but how many have come true (like going to the moon).
Now here is an interesting question to ponder. If you could travel at 90% of the speed of light, how many years would it take to get to our nearest neighbor galaxy, Andromeda? Then how much food/water would you need to pack for the journey?
Like today, i just watched
"Steven Hawkings, Story of everything"
It was uplifting, inspiring, and just everything that i love in one video.
