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Tom's online report 37 (Spring 2014)

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Rob Lavinsky’s The Arkenstone site (irocks.com) has undergone a complete redesign, and its new incarnation, like the old one, has very “deep” galleries loaded with fine specimens, fine Joe Budd photos of same, and much documentary information. Among Rob’s post-Tucson updates on the new site is a section which offers specimens from the Herb Obodda collection—heavy on old European classics and on more recent things from Herb’s former stomping........  

Keynote Speaker at the Society of Women in the Petroleum Industry Houston

What a privilege to speak at the SPWP on February 13, 2014 early in the morning with a nice breakfast consisting of French toast, bacon, coffee and orange juice. Almost 70 women of the Petroleum Industry in Houston from petroleum engineers Halliburton to owners of successful companies supplying the industry. and female NOV colleagues, one of them is the Executive VP for the SPWP. 

My presentation was about Geology Applied to the Oil & Gas Sector. Feedback has been good, and I look forward to a future part II meeting. There was just one Geologist in the audience, and therefore I decided to put some slides together to give them a crash course in Geology from the rock cycle to tectonic plates and Earth's time table. I had been their keynote speaker before: 1995. Time flies (a friend of mine says, he is a pilot). I truly enjoyed it. The picture is a nice gift now being shoed off in my office. Happy Valentine Day!  

Amazing crystals from the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show 2013

In order, the following beauties: Native Gold dendrites on Quartz crystal matrix! From Rosia Montana, Verespatak, Alba County, Romania | Brochantite acicular crystals on Limonite coated Quartz! From the Blanchard Mine, Bingham, Hansonburg District, Socorro Co., New Mexico | Kämmererite (Chromian Clinochlore) on matrix From the Kop Krom mine, Kop Daglari, Erzurum Province, Eastern Anatolia Region, Turkey | Sphalerite sitting atop Chert with Chalcopyrite From the Ballard Mine, Baxter Springs, Picher Field, Cherokee County, Kansas | Forsterite var Peridot From Sapat Gali, Naran-Kaghan Valley, N.W.F.P., Pakistan | Aquamarine crystals and Muscovite From Chumar Bakhoor, Hunza Valley, Gilgit District, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan | Fluorite cubes set against a drusy Quartz matrix From the Blanchard Mine, Bingham, Hansonburg District, Socorro County, New Mexico | Aquamarine with Schorl Tourmaline on Albite matrix From Erongo Mountain, Erongo Region, Namibia | Sphalerite sitting atop Chert with Chalcopyrite! From the Ballard Mine, Baxter Springs, Picher Field, Cherokee County, Kansas Rhodochrosite with purple Fluorite on needle Quartz From the Four Ball Pocket, Fluorite Raise, Sweet Home Mine, Alma, Park County, Colorado | Rhodochrosite with purple Fluorite on needle Quartz From the Four Ball Pocket, Fluorite Raise, Sweet Home Mine, Alma, Park County, ColoradoSpecimens to take our breath away! My apologies if this text looks clumsy, my suggestion is for you to print it, it will be easier. Enjoy them! November 2013.