tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89751662399806092062024-03-20T08:20:35.436+03:00The RocKe ScientistKenya's earth scientist/ geologistAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-6138179372792666332013-07-30T15:58:00.001+03:002013-07-30T15:58:21.387+03:00The RocKe Scientist's New HomeWe have moved to a custom domain in line with our vision of growing bigger and wider. So update your bookmarks and let them point to <a href="http://rockesci.co.ke/">rockesci.co.ke</a> or to get more amazing earth science posts.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-12210209797521819412013-06-22T18:45:00.000+03:002013-06-22T18:45:46.819+03:00HISTORY: OIL EXPLORATIONS IN KENYA <div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="color: #003300; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.4375px;"><b>1954</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #003300; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.4375px;">In 1954, BP and Shell start exploring in Kenya in the Lamu Embayment. Drilling of first well occurred in 1960. None of the wells were fully evaluated or completed for production despite evidence of oil staining and untested zones with gas shows.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #003300; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.4375px;"><b>1975</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #003300; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.4375px;">In 1975, several consortia acquired acreage in the Lamu Basin, drilled and encountered oil and gas shows in the Cretaceous and in 1976, Chevron and Esso drilled in the Anza Basin and discovered suspected hydrocarbons and microfossils. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #003300; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.4375px;"><b>1986</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #003300; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.4375px;">1986 saw the petroleum exploration and production legislation change in Kenya, with the revisions providing the necessary incentives and flexibility to attract international exploration interest. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #003300; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.4375px;"><b>1985 - 1990</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #003300; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.4375px;">Between 1985 and 1990, ten wells were drilled by Amoco and Total. The wells were dry but there were clear indications of hydrocarbons. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #003300; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.4375px;"><b>1995</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #003300; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.4375px;">In 1995, National Oil completed the Lamu Basin study and as a result the Lamu Embayment was sub-divided into ten exploration blocks and another two were created before 2001.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #003300; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.4375px;"><b>2000 - 2002</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #003300; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.4375px;">Between 2000 and 2002, seven Production Sharing Contracts have been signed and Woodside completed 7,884 km to 2D seismic of the off-shore Lamu Basin. In addition, the Tertiary Rift Study was completed in 2001 which led to the quantification of potential source and reservoir rock units in the area as well as petroleum system play in the sub-basins. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #003300; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.4375px;"><b>2011</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #003300; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.4375px;">In 2011, we see 12 oil exploration companies operating in the country and a total of 24 licenced blocks to date out of a total of 38 (as of June 2011). </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #003300; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.4375px;"><b>2012</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #003300; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21.4375px;">Africa Oil Corp. and Tullow embark exploratory drilling in Kenya. In Block 10BB (Kenya), they completed drilling the Ngamia-1 exploration well to a total depth of 2,340 meters and reported a significant light oil discovery. The Ngamia-1 well encountered over 100 meters of net light oil pay in the Upper Lokhone Sand section and an additional 43 meters of potential oil pay in the lower Lokhone Sandstone section.</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1W1QZHIL0vs/UcMpl6KvqJI/AAAAAAAAASw/7aRUWkofGFg/s1600/2013-06-07+18.39.39.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1W1QZHIL0vs/UcMpl6KvqJI/AAAAAAAAASw/7aRUWkofGFg/s640/2013-06-07+18.39.39.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Today i do an out of the norm post because we have been doing some serious posts lately , its birthday month for us so am allowed to deviate a bit. You know those pamphlets they hand you, tour operators and promoters, when at an exhibition or a fair, with descriptions and pictures of various places you could visit and the various attractions they have and you're unimpressed? Well a few weeks ago I was handed one for a little place at the edge of the Tsavo West National park, The Voyager Ziwani. Apart from the pictures of the “spacious tents that offer the classic ambiance of a traditional African camping safari” the rest looked ordinary until we actually arrived to this private sanctuary.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_l3nSWgidpc/UcMtHAkupKI/AAAAAAAAAT8/kWBmu3PULi4/s1600/2013-06-08+10.11.12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_l3nSWgidpc/UcMtHAkupKI/AAAAAAAAAT8/kWBmu3PULi4/s640/2013-06-08+10.11.12.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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This was part of the BAKE (Bloggers Association of Kenya) award prizes that this and fellow winning blogs from the food category (<a href="http://pikachakula.com/">pikachakula.com</a>) Photography (<a href="http://mutuamatheka.co.ke/">MutuaMatheka.co.ke</a>) and the travel category (<a href="http://kenyataalii.com/">kenyataalii.com</a>) were awarded in collaboration with <a href="http://www.uniglobenorthlinetravel.co.ke/" target="_blank">Uniglobe Northline Travel </a> and <a href="http://www.heritage-eastafrica.com/" target="_blank">Heritage Hotels East-Africa</a> who sponsored the trip. </div>
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What i actually saw was what was in the pamphlet .....and then some!!! Ziwani was a marvelous place. The first thing I noticed on arrival was that being close to the Tanzania border there was little or no coverage at all but with some networks it was possible to roam. You could simply disappear into nature when here. The tents were fully furnished with an en suite bathroom and tiled floors all this without losing the camping tent touch. But what impressed me the most were the sunsets. The sun sets right behind Mt. Kilimanjaro and with the dining area and fire place overlooking the Ziwa Dam the evening reflection of sundown rays was quite the view!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W8xBKpck8qE/UcMsIqt1q-I/AAAAAAAAATs/GmZGh5ikS5I/s1600/2013-06-07+18.16.32.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W8xBKpck8qE/UcMsIqt1q-I/AAAAAAAAATs/GmZGh5ikS5I/s640/2013-06-07+18.16.32.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset that disappears behind Mt Kilimanjaro</td></tr>
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Next in the line of impressive was Lake Chala. This small caldera lake (or Crater Lake as some call it) is right at the boundary of Kenya and Tanzania and you could even see the Tanzanian side from the Kenyan side we stood. The view from the top was to behold but the journey to the bottom was a bit rough but our guide took us to the bottom safely.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2YbpWX-naR4/UcW5YP4k6YI/AAAAAAAAAWs/l9NTu1IBawc/s1600/2013-06-08+16.08.57.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2YbpWX-naR4/UcW5YP4k6YI/AAAAAAAAAWs/l9NTu1IBawc/s640/2013-06-08+16.08.57.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L. Chala from the top</td></tr>
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The lake, as I was informed by one of the locals had no inlet but had an outlet underground. I Wasn't sure but I will research and get some answers to where it gets its waters from. The blue waters were unpolluted and two of us decided to have a dip.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-no2zEYVXQec/UcW5ZFvyLiI/AAAAAAAAAW0/E5UOJ0_Q3Qs/s1600/2013-06-08+15.18.21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-no2zEYVXQec/UcW5ZFvyLiI/AAAAAAAAAW0/E5UOJ0_Q3Qs/s640/2013-06-08+15.18.21.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Found this kid fishing by the shore and just so you know i caught my first fish that day. proud moments!!</td></tr>
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Swimming was not one of my favorite activities so I let it pass but I made it a challenge to learn how to swim.</div>
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Before we went to Chala we passed through a farm, Gicheha farm.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">an antique plough that was still in use</td></tr>
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Impressive were their irrigation techniques not only because of the scale of their operations but also in the simplicity in their methods. They grew maize and tangerines in large scale while also experimenting with Yellow Passions and Bananas.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b_1io2tBhlo/UcW5F3gBGII/AAAAAAAAAWk/iWafzea6avA/s1600/2013-06-08+12.38.01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b_1io2tBhlo/UcW5F3gBGII/AAAAAAAAAWk/iWafzea6avA/s640/2013-06-08+12.38.01.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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We left with a bag-full of tangerines each - very sweet those! (now a funny fact about some of the goats they keep there. The males they use for mating do so in the ratio of one goat for every hundred females -no Viagra no nothing!)<br />
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Also included was a visit to the World War 2 battle fields and the Sniper tree- sad story to it though…<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the mkamba in him made one M. Matheka climb the tree looking for honey </td></tr>
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From the night game drives<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qhE6ze6N8Eg/UcMrdU8QBbI/AAAAAAAAATc/vTKBnGvSeVw/s1600/2013-06-07+18.57.59.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qhE6ze6N8Eg/UcMrdU8QBbI/AAAAAAAAATc/vTKBnGvSeVw/s640/2013-06-07+18.57.59.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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to the game walks,to those Barbecue dinners and sunrise breakfasts</div>
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passing though the crystal clear waters at the Mzima springs.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">on their way to Mombasa</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wQbjwEZVD4Y/UcW_1lqTuXI/AAAAAAAAAYE/KY4HLFBziXE/s1600/IMG_20130610_191516.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wQbjwEZVD4Y/UcW_1lqTuXI/AAAAAAAAAYE/KY4HLFBziXE/s400/IMG_20130610_191516.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">water so clear you could see those little blue fishes</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: justify;">about the Mzima springs for those who don't know </span></td></tr>
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Forget the coast December holidays and TEMBEA KENYA!!! </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PEACE OUT!!</td></tr>
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sorry for the bad quality pictures but see more crystal clear ones of both Gicheha farm and Ziwani from the links below<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38577759@N06/sets/72157627501124392/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/38577759@N06/sets/72157627501124392/</a> (Gicheha farm)<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/38577759@N06/sets/72157618475288970/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/38577759@N06/sets/72157618475288970/</a> ( Voyager Ziwani)<br />
Also see more pictures <a href="http://www.potentash.com/beauty-undiscovered-voyager-ziwani/" target="_blank">here</a> (via <a href="https://twitter.com/potentash" target="_blank">@potentash</a>) </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-25133436187565409582013-06-17T23:02:00.000+03:002013-06-18T12:09:17.765+03:00OIL: LESSONS FROM NIGERIA <p>The potential benefits are clear. Countries that have historically lacked investment in infrastructure will see roads and pipelines built. Handled well, the capital investments and the revenues could be a shot in the arm for economies that are already on an upward curve, experiencing strong and sustained economic growth — albeit from a very low base — for the better part of a decade. However, with the hope that oil money will amplify East Africa’s business boom, come fears of the ‘resource curse’ — the corruption, environmental degradation and social disintegration that has often resulted from the exploitation of hydrocarbon reserves in the developing world. Few would begrudge Kenya an opportunity to escape the poverty and aid dependence that has dogged it since independence, but the risks of haste are huge.</p>
<p>The spectre of the Niger Delta, 3,000 miles west on the Atlantic coast, looms large. In exploiting this frontier region’s natural resources, Nigeria’s entrenched elites have fostered decades of criminality, corruption and violence. Institutionalised graft means oil revenues are squandered and misappropriated. Average citizens see little of the benefits of the industry.</p>
<p>In the Delta, local minority peoples, such as the Ogoni, were already discriminated against before oil raised the stakes. Leaders from the central government took advantage of the under-development and under-representation of locals to take their land. They passed land rights on to oil companies and maintained their own power through systems of patronage, with the right mix of ‘dash’ — bribes — creating a culture of dependency that remains almost impossible to break.</p>
<p>At the same time, Nigeria’s government escalated the repression of dissident locals, violently cracking down on nascent protest movements. The execution of the environmental and social activist Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995 still stands as a testament to the inhumanity of Nigeria’s military administration. Saro-Wiwa and eight others killed at the same time — Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine — were leaders of a non-violent protest group, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, campaigning for representation and the enforcement of environmental regulations in their region.</p>
<p>The oil industry’s big players have themselves paid a big price for the entrenched conflict and corruption of the Delta. In August 2012, Shell’s security bill in Nigeria was leaked to the pressure group Platform: in the course of three years, the company had paid $383 million to mitigate the risks of violence around its plants. Oil money has fueled graft, kidnapping and militancy, and allowed companies to pay their way out of responsibility for environmental damage. Ultimately, it has led to the industry being widely seen as corrosive to the country’s future.</p>
<p>Ogoniland is on the other side of the continent, and Kenya is not Nigeria. But local and international observers have pointed to some alarming similarities.</p>
<p>Land and ethnic identity have often been at the center of Kenya’s troubles. Politicians have fostered economic opportunities for their kinsmen. Some have even moved their people en masse onto better land, displacing indigenous people from the forests in the Mau or the fertile lands of the Central region, and creating generations of violent conflict. The pressure valve last blew in 2007, when accusations of vote-rigging in a general election exploded into ethnically charged violence. Neighbors killed neighbors. More than 1,000 people died and many more were displaced.</p>
<p>Institutionalised nepotism in central government has also contributed to a total neglect of Turkana county, both before and since independence. The Turkana are poorer, less healthy and have less access to education than their countrymen. The region feels viscerally like another country — another world — after the skyscrapers, expat bars and traffic jams of Nairobi.</p>
<p>Article by Peter Guest (read full article <a href="http://www.aeonmagazine.com/nature-and-cosmos/peter-guest-turkana-oil/">here</a>)</p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-77600543201091880622013-06-01T18:35:00.000+03:002013-06-06T08:44:11.486+03:00BLOCKS, OIL AND GAS COMPANIES AND THE GOVERNMENT - DEALS OR DISASTER IN WAITING? <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xlVoB7aESeE/Uan0XWRk4yI/AAAAAAAAARk/tyTCnw0rISk/s1600/oil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="326" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xlVoB7aESeE/Uan0XWRk4yI/AAAAAAAAARk/tyTCnw0rISk/s400/oil.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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March 26 2012 : “We have good news for Kenyans. The good news is that we have struck oil in the Ngamia-1 well in Turkana.” A beaming Former President Mwai Kibaki announced. Since then a flurry of conferences, seminars, meetings and deals have been signed. Nothing tangible has come out of it but hope still lingers.<br />
However the then Minister of Energy Hon. Kiraitu Murungi was optimistic with a pinch of caution<br />
“We have been very cautious about this. We have drilled 31 other wells in Isiolo and Lamu without success, but now we can authoritatively say we have oil.”<br />
Kenya currently has 51 exploration blocks. Originally there were only 46, that include offshore and inland blocks. The term Tullow’s Turkana Block 10BB has become synonymous with oil in Kenya being the block where substantial oil was first struck by British company Tullow. <br />
A non-refundable fee of $ 1 million is paid to the government to purchase one of these blocks and this was originally on a first come first serve basis. With the oil find, stakes were raised. Now purchase of blocks is done in a public auction with the highest bidder getting the rights to the block. Four blocks are up for auction. The four originally belonged to Tullow and Norwegian Company Statoil who relinquished rights to the blocks. This is because explorers are now required to relinquish 25% of their acreage every two years meaning the bidding wars could become more fierce as the years go by.<br />
In dealings with these international oil companies the government enters into Production Sharing Agreements. These are basically contracts signed between them and oil companies where it awards the execution of exploration and production to the oil company. When production eventually starts the company has to split the profits from the sale of its product with the government. The country currently has over 24 companies with oil and gas licenses with the number expected to rise with the sale of the new blocks.<br />
Concern however is the number of international companies that hold licenses. Apart from government owned National oil Company NOCK and Rift Energy the rest are international companies some with local subsidiaries. Most of them hold these parcels of land in part ownership with each other. Tullow for example hols 50% stake in BLOCK 10BB and 70% in BLOCK 10A with Africa Oil owning the remainder both in Northern Western Kenya. Canadian company Taipan Resources recently bought BLOCK 2B near Mandera and also holds 20% rights in BLOCK 1 owned 80% by Lion Petroleum also near Mandera. Off shore blocks in the coast are mostly gas blocks and major players have a joint PSC agreement with the government. BLOCKS L10A and L10B are jointly owned by The B.G group, Cove Energy, Premier Oil, And Pancontinental Oil and Gas. In BLOCK 10 B.G group owns 40% while Cove, Premier and Pancontinental hold 25%, 20% and 15% respectively. In BLOCK 10B, B.G Group owns 45% equity while Premier Oil owns 25% equity. The rest is shared equally between Cove and Pancontinental at 15%. France’s Total holds 40% stake in 5 oil BLOCKS in Lamu L5, L7, L11A, L11B together with Anadarko and Cove energy all off the coast. First Australian Resources (FAR) also holds 60% stake in block L6 also off the coast with 40% held by Pancontinental. Pancontinental also jointly owns block L8 and L9 off the coast. China also hasn't been left behind as its influence in Africa grows as the West keeps playing politics. China National Offshore Oil Corporation CNOOC and Africa Oil jointly hold rights in BLOCK 9 (50% equity) in the oil rich Anza Basin. Africa Oil also holds 20% and 50% share in BLOCKS 2A and 13T all inland blocks. The map below shows some of the blocks in Kenya and ownership.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eBtmRkdjTMc/Uan0pYXRGVI/AAAAAAAAARs/JDxkMcyKHjk/s1600/blockstatus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eBtmRkdjTMc/Uan0pYXRGVI/AAAAAAAAARs/JDxkMcyKHjk/s640/blockstatus.jpg" width="533" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://nationaloil.co.ke/upstream/?flag=upstream" target="_blank">Credits</a><br />
Investment in oil is an extremely expensive venture and partnerships are the norm rather than the exception. But the oil industry is a very volatile one especially when it comes to the issue of sharing the proceeds. The Government should ensure that these partnerships are beneficial to themselves and more importantly to the country. I think the National Oil Corporation should have been more involved to make sure it gains, most importantly, from expertise rather than financially but then again time will tell if we are on the right track.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-6898850588561767792013-06-01T17:12:00.000+03:002013-06-03T10:33:10.907+03:00IS NAIROBI SINKING?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FqZNQ5sz7K4/Uan-NQNQY_I/AAAAAAAAAR4/P0n4AKDKCK0/s1600/funny-water-dispenser-watercooler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FqZNQ5sz7K4/Uan-NQNQY_I/AAAAAAAAAR4/P0n4AKDKCK0/s320/funny-water-dispenser-watercooler.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The current policy of Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company NWSC is to rely solely on surface water, but it is likely that the use of groundwater will in future be critical in providing adequate service levels for the growing urban population and as a strategic reserve in times of drought. Groundwater, from water wells, is mainly used by large private operators such as industry and hotels to supplement Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company (NWSC) supply. Annual reading is the responsibility of NWSC and is used as a basis for levying waste water charges.The drilling of boreholes started in the 1930's – and the number of water wells in greater Nairobi increased from fewer than 10 in 1940 to almost 2,000 in 1997 and further increased to 2,250 in 2001 as a result of the drought. Over-exploitation of groundwater resources is likely to become an emerging issue. The increase in demand for water has led to unregulated exploitation of groundwater and it is thought this might lead to undesirable effects such as the lowering of the water table. For instance, during the 1999/2000 drought the criteria of 800 m-separation distance for sinking boreholes was ignored and this could have long lasting effects. While there might not be any immediate threat of land subsidence, there is the potential risk of local infrastructure and building damage. Nairobi was once a swampy area and the presence of clay and silt layers in the shallow subsoil, and of unconsolidated fractures and cooling joints, may be potential sources of subsidence. The problem has occurred elsewhere in the world: thus, Mexico City sunk by more than 10 meters in the last 70 years from over-exploitation of groundwater.<br />
That said What if Nairobi suddenly became a Venice? We could end up like <a href="http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/dreaming-of-italy-10-photos" target="_blank">this</a><br />
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or maybe we could become like some parts of India<br />
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maybe not. But we could do with another Mombasa or not again.<br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">source: </span>(UN Habitat 2000 in UNEP/DRSRS undated).<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-43631760235147636282013-06-01T16:43:00.000+03:002013-06-01T16:43:18.503+03:00OCTOBER 1st 1940<br />
In October 1 this year it will be 73 years since the Mining act became law. Drafted and legalized in 1940 it is one of the oldest laws in Kenya. Reviews have been done only two times in 1972 and later 1987. The problems plaguing the mining sector can be traced back to the bill but with the draft Geology Minerals and Mining Bill order might be restored in the industry.<br />
Transparency, management and revenue allocation have been the emphasis of this new bill. 35% of shareholding by locals of foreign companies that invest in mineral mining seems to be most notable inclusion in the bill. Before, firms paid a meager 5% of their gross revenue to the national government which was outrageous considering the millions these companies shipped abroad. In the draft law royalties on sales of the minerals are calculated based on the value of the minerals. the higher the value of the mineral the higher the royalties paid. Critical also was the definition other word "Mineral" which had not been defined before. This will hep determine under whose jurisdiction they fall to.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VioaR6M9dMw/UZ0KuEjrS7I/AAAAAAAAARQ/ZrqLWJCBwYg/s1600/Kenya-Youth-Constitution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VioaR6M9dMw/UZ0KuEjrS7I/AAAAAAAAARQ/ZrqLWJCBwYg/s640/Kenya-Youth-Constitution.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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Various bodies will also be formed, making the department of mines and geology under the the former ministry of environment and natural resources, defunct. This decentralization will lead to the formation of the Kenya Geology Minerals and Mining Authority, The Kenya Geological Survey, The Mining Directorate, The Kenya Mining Investment Corporation and the Mining Disputes Resolution Tribunal. The functions of these bodies must however be clearly outlined to avoid the repetition of roles and conflicts of interests with other constitutional bodies like the national land commission and the judiciary it will also seek to increase the number of mining licenses and raise more money from issuance of exploration licenses.<br />
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like our page <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheRocKeScientist" target="_blank">Rocke Scientist </a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-78834340357645451652013-05-21T20:30:00.000+03:002013-05-22T18:57:01.967+03:00SHINE RIGHT WITH THAT DIAMOND<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">One of my female friends asked if I could tell if on her engagement she could come to me and see if the ring she gets is a real diamond or not. So the first question I asked is "how sure are you’ll get engaged or get a diamond ring?"... Let’s just say I had to buy her lunch as an excuse of an apology.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">But anyway, away from my daftness, how would an ordinary Kenyan Republic citizenry, without the know-how , get to differentiate a genuine diamond from a fake? Well, fake or real, firstly you will need to get an actual/real Kenyan man who is willing to buy you a diamond ring, no matter how many carats it holds, which as I am told the number of carats increases with love, so I will have to explain carats later in another blog. I doubt women care anyway as long as its shinny and shaped just right. So back to the point. </span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 6px; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="margin: 0px;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xD0ibjcy5eQ/UWMNDmkEZFI/AAAAAAAAAN8/WRnU3yAHErM/s1600/Largest-Flawless-Diamond-3.jpg" style="color: #1155cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xD0ibjcy5eQ/UWMNDmkEZFI/AAAAAAAAAN8/WRnU3yAHErM/s640/Largest-Flawless-Diamond-3.jpg" width="620" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="margin: 0px; padding-top: 4px;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />this stone has been graded both highest in colour and clarity grading – D colour and Flawless. The diamond was cut from a 236 carat rough diamond that was discovered at the Jwaneng Mine in Botswana. Because of the sheer size of the rough diamond and the intricacy of cutting this 101ct beauty, the stone took almost 2 years to polish</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(<a href="http://www.77diamonds.com/blog/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.77diamonds.com</a>)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Diamonds- yes- The most popular diamond fake is a Cube Zirconia (C.Z for the purposes of this article).</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Thse ways listed here are not scientifically proven or fully effective but they could be of great help and are simple...somewhat.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">The oldest trick in the book is “all diamond scratches glass”. True. But so do every other fake in the black (ok I sometimes find this racist) market. C.Z scratches easily. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This picture below shows abrasions at the facet junctions and scratches when looked at closely under a magnifying glass.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G-_5nerlFic/UWMGEzlaenI/AAAAAAAAAN4/iEXCpoarplQ/s1600/d4.jpg" style="color: #1155cc; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G-_5nerlFic/UWMGEzlaenI/AAAAAAAAAN4/iEXCpoarplQ/s1600/d4.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Fakes are also cut in a very sloppy manner most of the time. My advice then is use this with extreme care (meaning never)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">My favorite has to be the <b><i>fog test</i></b>. Take the diamond place it in front of your mouth and just breathe on it. If the fog lasts for, lets say 2-4 seconds, congratulations your man is cheap! Diamond, releases heat instantaneously so the fog will have cleared up before you get to see it. (A downfall to this is that oil and dirt on the rock could affect its reliability)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">For you who like having those kinky U.V lights in your bedrooms, you can use that light to do other things other than set the mood. When “doing your thing”- because I know you probably have the ring on, and before it gets too exciting to notice- look at the diamond under the ultraviolet light, it should have a blue fluorescence. Most of the fakes usually don’t have it. Good for you if its real, but there is a twist too, it’s less valuable. I avoided saying cheap on this on this one. Lack of the blue fluorescence could mean its either a fake or of better quality. Two extremes in one.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The<b><i> weight test</i></b>. If you have a butcher husband, you would he would probably have a trophy cabinet of some of his prized measuring scales or whatever his fetish is. C.V will weigh 55% more than the real thing of the same shape and size. The fake diamond will then definitely tilt downwards towards itself in all its attention seeking.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">The next one if the most effective to some extent. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i>The transparency test</i></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Step one</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Take a blank piece of paper and draw a dot on it with a pen</span></span></div>
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<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Step two</span></i>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Take your “ice” turn it upside down on the paper and center it on the dot.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-size: x-small; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H5RPi8WXCkI/UWMFxuitHcI/AAAAAAAAANg/Gk8KQdF07UU/s1600/d2.jpg" style="color: #1155cc; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H5RPi8WXCkI/UWMFxuitHcI/AAAAAAAAANg/Gk8KQdF07UU/s640/d2.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Step three</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">After its set and centered observe. The C.Z will have a circular reflection of the dot. The diamond will break up the reflection to a point where it becomes impossible to recognize</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SNbm2QEo9o0/UWMF6sqjV0I/AAAAAAAAANo/4IDVVOmjj00/s1600/d3.jpg" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SNbm2QEo9o0/UWMF6sqjV0I/AAAAAAAAANo/4IDVVOmjj00/s640/d3.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 26px;">“I never worry about diets. The only carrots that interest me are the number of carats in a diamond.”</i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">photo credits<a href="http://www.goodoldgold.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"> here</a></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-80773148495264126122013-05-07T22:33:00.000+03:002013-06-21T09:21:37.799+03:00THANK YOU FOR VOTING!<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Last Saturday, The RocKe Scientist was voted as the best environmental blog during the annual BAKE awards. I wish thank the fans, the voters and the sponsors for the award. Expect more earth science news, posts, FAQs, humour and more from RocKe Sci. Don't forget to share this page with your friends and help spread the messages. Science rocks.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-63562626268531990142013-04-21T16:10:00.000+03:002013-05-26T21:30:45.334+03:00THE GREAT RIFTVALLEY [Gallery]German photographer Michael Poliza took to the skies by helicopter to capture the extraordinary landscapes of the Rift Valley in Kenya and Ethiopia from the air. These images appear in his books <a href="http://www.michaelpoliza.com/books/kenya/">Kenya</a> and <a href="http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9783832792091">Eyes Over Africa</a><br />
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<img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="519" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/4/18/1366304337564/Simien-Mountains-Ethiopia-5lg.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Simien mountains" width="780" /><span style="background-color: #333333; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #e2e2e2; display: block; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: -5px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 10px 15px; width: 760px;"><strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Simien Mountains, Ethiopia</strong> A World Heritage Site and national park, with the tallest peak Ras Dashen reaching 4,619 metres, this region is best known as the habitat of Gelada baboons and Ethiopian wolves <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/interactive/2013/apr/19/africa-rift-valley-ethiopia-kenya-gallery#2" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #69b9de; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">#</a></span></div>
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<a href="" name="2" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></a><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="700" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/4/18/1366304349462/Lake-Chamo-Ethiopia-9lg.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Lake Chammo" width="780" /><span style="background-color: #333333; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #e2e2e2; display: block; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: -5px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 10px 15px; width: 760px;"><strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Lake Chamo</strong> One of the largest of Ethiopia’s Rift Valley lakes, the 213 square mile waters of Chamo are a sanctuary for several thousand Nile crocodiles, some reaching lengths of up to seven metres from their snout to the tip of their tail <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/interactive/2013/apr/19/africa-rift-valley-ethiopia-kenya-gallery#1" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #69b9de; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">#</a></span></div>
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<a href="" name="3" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></a><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="479" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/4/18/1366304328658/Flamingo-Lake-Central-Isl-2lg.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="flamingo lake" width="780" /><span style="background-color: #333333; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #e2e2e2; display: block; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: -5px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 10px 15px; width: 760px;"><strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Flamingo Lake, Central Island, Lake Turkana, Kenya</strong> The region is home to hundreds of species of birds endemic to Kenya. They are essentially supported by plankton masses in the lake which feed the fish <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/interactive/2013/apr/19/africa-rift-valley-ethiopia-kenya-gallery#3" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #69b9de; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">#</a></span></div>
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<a href="" name="4" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></a><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="520" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/4/18/1366304346312/Lake-Bogoria-Kenya-8lg.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="lake borogia kenya" width="780" /><span style="background-color: #333333; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #e2e2e2; display: block; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: -5px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 10px 15px; width: 760px;"><strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Lake Bogoria, Kenya</strong> This strongly alkaline, saline lake has an area of roughly 12 square miles. Many types of algae flourish in its waters, turning the lake a multitude of different shades. The algae-rich water is especially attractive to flamingos. When the water dries up during the hot season, the earth dries out and cracks <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/interactive/2013/apr/19/africa-rift-valley-ethiopia-kenya-gallery#5" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #69b9de; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">#</a></span></div>
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<a href="" name="5" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></a><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="520" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/4/18/1366304352098/Lake-Borogia-Kenya-10lg.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="lake borogia kenya" width="780" /><span style="background-color: #333333; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #e2e2e2; display: block; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: -5px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 10px 15px; width: 760px;"><strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Lake Borogia, Kenya</strong> A piece of abstract art created by hundreds of flamingos. In the dry season, the Eastern Rift Valley is a haven for these birds. The classic one-legged stance of these pink-plumaged birds actually protects them from the cold: two feet submerged in a lake results in losing more body heat than just one <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/interactive/2013/apr/19/africa-rift-valley-ethiopia-kenya-gallery#4" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #69b9de; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">#</a></span></div>
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<a href="" name="6" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></a><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="600" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/4/18/1366304331561/Nabiyotum-Crater-Lake-Tur-3lg.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Nabiyotum Crater Lake Turkana Kenya" width="780" /><span style="background-color: #333333; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #e2e2e2; display: block; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: -5px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 10px 15px; width: 760px;"><strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Nabiyotum Crater, Lake Turkana, Kenya</strong>"The first time I saw a photo of this crater, I just knew I had to go there," says Michael Poliza. "I was able to make it happen on my eight-week heli-Africa expedition, where I flew by helicopter from Hamburg to Cape Town, an expedition which provided material for my book Eyes Over Africa" <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/interactive/2013/apr/19/africa-rift-valley-ethiopia-kenya-gallery#6" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #69b9de; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">#</a></span></div>
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<a href="" name="7" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></a><img alt="" class="alignnone" height="660" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/4/18/1366304334597/Lake-Turkana-Kenya-4lg.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Lake Turkana" width="780" /><span style="background-color: #333333; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #e2e2e2; display: block; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: -5px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 10px 15px; width: 760px;"><strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Lake Turkana, Kenya</strong> Visiting fishermen ring the lake and stay for eight to 12 weeks, drying their catch in the sun to preserve it. The lake is home to tiger fish and Nile perch weighing up to 220 pounds <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/interactive/2013/apr/19/africa-rift-valley-ethiopia-kenya-gallery#7" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #69b9de; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">#</a></span></div>
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<a href="" name="8" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></a><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="556" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/4/18/1366304325568/Suguta-Valley-Kenya-1lg.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Suguta Valley Kenya" width="780" /><span style="background-color: #333333; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #e2e2e2; display: block; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: -5px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 10px 15px; width: 760px;"><strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Suguta Valley, Kenya</strong> A dune landscape with Aruba Rock visible in the background. Temperatures of up to 71C have been measured here. There are few other places on earth where so many different types of terrain can be found so close together – there are lakes, mountains, flood-plains and rich grasslands in close proximity to the dunes <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/interactive/2013/apr/19/africa-rift-valley-ethiopia-kenya-gallery#8" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #69b9de; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">#</a></span></div>
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<a href="" name="9" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></a><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="520" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/4/18/1366304343051/Thunderstorms-approaching-7lg.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="thunderstorms approach" width="780" /><span style="background-color: #333333; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #e2e2e2; display: block; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: -5px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 10px 15px; width: 760px;"><strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Suguta Valley</strong> Cloud formations and rain showers. "In this dry area near the Suguta Valley, rain is a very rare event. But when it does happen, it’s a good idea to keep your camera handy" <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/interactive/2013/apr/19/africa-rift-valley-ethiopia-kenya-gallery#9" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #69b9de; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">#</a></span></div>
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<a href="" name="10" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></a><img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="518" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/4/18/1366304340204/Village-near-Lokwakangole-6lg.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Kagurazaka" width="780" /><span style="background-color: #333333; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #e2e2e2; display: block; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: -5px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 10px 15px; width: 760px;"><strong style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Village near Lokwakangole, Kenya</strong> On the shores of Lake Turkana, woven palm-frond homes glow warmly in the afternoon light <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/interactive/2013/apr/19/africa-rift-valley-ethiopia-kenya-gallery#10" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #69b9de; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">#</a></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/interactive/2013/apr/19/africa-rift-valley-ethiopia-kenya-gallery#5">http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/interactive/2013/apr/19/africa-rift-valley-ethiopia-kenya-gallery</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com1Kenya-0.023559 37.90619300000003-78.2300675 -127.32818199999997 78.182949499999992 -156.85943199999997tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-20210137964602397522013-04-12T12:40:00.003+03:002013-04-12T12:40:57.867+03:00Vote For The Best Environmental Blog in KenyaThe BAKE Kenyan Blog Awards are here with us again and we have had the privilege of being nominated as the best environmental blog. Let me first give a big thank you to all our dedicated followers and nominators.<br />Voting has been going on from 27th March and will go on until 1st May 2013. Kindly drop by at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bloggers.or.ke%2Fvoting%2F&h=jAQHh9JaV&s=1">http://www.bloggers.or.ke/voting/</a> and vote for us [No. 5 in the list]. It is a minute-long process since it is simpler than the general elections.<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZWdhlibARbI/UWfV196cpXI/AAAAAAAAAO0/HxGjJ6tYyD8/s1600/Diamonds.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZWdhlibARbI/UWfV196cpXI/AAAAAAAAAO0/HxGjJ6tYyD8/s640/Diamonds.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-72051581770814914632013-03-11T20:29:00.000+03:002013-03-11T20:29:22.494+03:00HYDROCARBONS IN THE DEEP EARTH?<br />
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The oil and gas that fuels our homes and cars started out as living organisms that died, were compressed, and heated under heavy layers of sediments in the Earth's crust. Scientists have debated for years whether some of these hydrocarbons could also have been created deeper in the Earth and formed without organic matter. Now for the first time, scientists have found that ethane and heavier hydrocarbons can be synthesized under the pressure-temperature conditions of the upper mantle -the layer of Earth under the crust and on top of the core. The research was conducted by scientists at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory, with colleagues from Russia and Sweden, and is published in the July 26, advanced on-line issue of Nature Geoscience<br /><br /><br /><br />Methane (CH4) is the main constituent of natural gas, while ethane (C2H6) is used as a petrochemical feedstock. Both of these hydrocarbons, and others associated with fuel, are called saturated hydrocarbons because they have simple, single bonds and are saturated with hydrogen. Using a diamond anvil cell and a laser heat source, the scientists first subjected methane to pressures exceeding 20 thousand times the atmospheric pressure at sea level and temperatures ranging from 1,300 F° to over 2,240 F°. These conditions mimic those found 40 to 95 miles deep inside the Earth. The methane reacted and formed ethane, propane, butane, molecular hydrogen, and graphite. The scientists then subjected ethane to the same conditions and it produced methane. The transformations suggest heavier hydrocarbons could exist deep down. The reversibility implies that the synthesis of saturated hydrocarbons is thermodynamically controlled and does not require organic matter.<br /><br />The scientists ruled out the possibility that catalysts used as part of the experimental apparatus were at work, but they acknowledge that catalysts could be involved in the deep Earth with its mix of compounds.<br /><br /><br />--><br /><br />"We were intrigued by previous experiments and theoretical predictions," remarked Carnegie's Alexander Goncharov a coauthor. "Experiments reported some years ago subjected methane to high pressures and temperatures and found that heavier hydrocarbons formed from methane under very similar pressure and temperature conditions. However, the molecules could not be identified and a distribution was likely. We overcame this problem with our improved laser-heating technique where we could cook larger volumes more uniformly. And we found that methane can be produced from ethane."<br /><br /><br />The hydrocarbon products did not change for many hours, but the tell-tale chemical signatures began to fade after a few days.<br /><br />Professor Kutcherov, a coauthor, put the finding into context: "The notion that hydrocarbons generated in the mantle migrate into the Earth's crust and contribute to oil-and-gas reservoirs was promoted in Russia and Ukraine many years ago. The synthesis and stability of the compounds studied here as well as heavier hydrocarbons over the full range of conditions within the Earth's mantle now need to be explored. In addition, the extent to which this 'reduced' carbon survives migration into the crust needs to be established (e.g., without being oxidized to CO2). These and related questions demonstrate the need for a new experimental and theoretical program to study the fate of carbon in the deep Earth."</div>
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<b><i>Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by the Carnegie Institution</i></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 12px;"><br /><br />Read more : <a href="http://geology-page.blogspot.com/2011/09/hydrocarbons-in-deep-earth.html#ixzz2NFlS3BMO" style="color: #003399; outline: none;">http://geology-page.blogspot.com/2011/09/hydrocarbons-in-deep-earth.html#ixzz2NFlS3BMO</a><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-45586472346206739352013-02-13T13:22:00.002+03:002013-02-13T13:22:35.872+03:00Creative Billboard ads Promoting Science<br />
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Here is a series of brilliant billboard ads dedicated to promoting science in Vancouver, by Science World Museum in collaboration with Rethink Canada…</div>
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<a href="http://www.123inspiration.com/clever-ads-billboard/science-world-ads-1/" rel="attachment wp-att-38721" style="border: 0px; color: #2f0d0d; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-38721" height="300" src="http://www.123inspiration.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/science-world-ads-1-600x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 6px auto; opacity: 1; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="science-world-ads-1" width="600" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.123inspiration.com/clever-ads-billboard/science-world-ads-3/" rel="attachment wp-att-38722" style="border: 0px; color: #2f0d0d; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-38722" height="475" src="http://www.123inspiration.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/science-world-ads-3-600x475.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 6px auto; opacity: 1; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="science-world-ads-3" width="600" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.123inspiration.com/clever-ads-billboard/science-world-ads-4/" rel="attachment wp-att-38723" style="border: 0px; color: #2f0d0d; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-38723" height="479" src="http://www.123inspiration.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/science-world-ads-4-600x479.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 6px auto; opacity: 1; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="science-world-ads-4" width="600" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.123inspiration.com/clever-ads-billboard/science-world-ads-5/" rel="attachment wp-att-38724" style="border: 0px; color: #2f0d0d; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-38724" height="300" src="http://www.123inspiration.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/science-world-ads-5-600x300.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 6px auto; opacity: 1; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="science-world-ads-5" width="600" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.123inspiration.com/clever-ads-billboard/science-world-ads-7/" rel="attachment wp-att-38726" style="border: 0px; color: #2f0d0d; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-38726" height="448" src="http://www.123inspiration.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/science-world-ads-7-600x448.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 6px auto; opacity: 1; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="science-world-ads-7" width="600" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.123inspiration.com/clever-ads-billboard/science-world-ads-8/" rel="attachment wp-att-38727" style="border: 0px; color: #2f0d0d; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-38727" height="303" src="http://www.123inspiration.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/science-world-ads-8-600x303.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 6px auto; opacity: 1; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="science-world-ads-8" width="600" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.123inspiration.com/clever-ads-billboard/science-world-ads-9/" rel="attachment wp-att-38728" style="border: 0px; color: #2f0d0d; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-38728" height="825" src="http://www.123inspiration.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/science-world-ads-9-600x825.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 6px auto; opacity: 1; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="science-world-ads-9" width="600" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.123inspiration.com/clever-ads-billboard/science-world-ads-10/" rel="attachment wp-att-38729" style="border: 0px; color: #2f0d0d; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-38729" height="255" src="http://www.123inspiration.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/science-world-ads-10-600x255.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 6px auto; opacity: 1; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="science-world-ads-10" width="600" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.123inspiration.com/clever-ads-billboard/science-world-ads-11/" rel="attachment wp-att-38730" style="border: 0px; color: #2f0d0d; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-38730" height="417" src="http://www.123inspiration.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/science-world-ads-11-600x417.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 6px auto; opacity: 1; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="science-world-ads-11" width="600" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.123inspiration.com/clever-ads-billboard/science-world-ads-12/" rel="attachment wp-att-38731" style="border: 0px; color: #2f0d0d; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-38731" height="822" src="http://www.123inspiration.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/science-world-ads-12-600x822.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 6px auto; opacity: 1; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="science-world-ads-12" width="600" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/6R0Jbm?email=rockescientist%40gmail.com&type=touch-recommend-weekly&variant=default" target="_blank">Source</a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-28723490591712635012013-02-11T17:25:00.000+03:002013-02-11T17:25:02.375+03:00History of Diamond [Infographic]<a href="http://blog.brilliance.com/2012/history-of-a-diamond" rel="thumbnail"><img src="http://www.brilliance.com/images/infograph/History-of-Diamonds.jpg" width="500PX" /></a><br />
History of a Diamond – An infographic by the team at <a href="http://www.brilliance.com/">Brilliance.com</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-7864174043522931742013-02-04T19:24:00.002+03:002013-02-04T19:24:45.217+03:00Stone Sculptures by Hirotoshi Itoh<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
From <a href="http://www.amusingplanet.com/2012/05/stone-sculptures-by-hirotoshi-itoh.html" target="_blank">here</a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<a href="http://jiyuseki.deviantart.com/" style="color: #b30000; margin: 0px; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Hirotoshi Itoh</a> graduated from Tokyo National Fine Arts University in 1982 and later went into his family business as a stonemason. He spent several years working with metal before turning his attention to stones. He utilizes stones found in a river bank near his home, to create sculptures that juxtapose the original shape and hardness of the material with surprising humor and texture.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<img alt="Hirotoshi Itoh" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-6og5r8IHars/T73bHvPl-pI/AAAAAAAAXpY/QBZQBBefOvY/Hirotoshi%252520Itoh%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="493" style="background-image: none; border: 0px none; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Hirotoshi Itoh" width="790" /></div>
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8975166239980609206" name="more" style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<img alt="cards_by_jiyuseki-d36oady" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-yA33dlh0lrk/T73bOPcbQcI/AAAAAAAAXpg/8mjNBcsDMSQ/cards_by_jiyuseki-d36oady%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="526" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="cards_by_jiyuseki-d36oady" width="790" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<img alt="Cogwheel_by_jiyuseki" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-XnxLCcNFL9g/T73bRk1I8dI/AAAAAAAAXpo/qcski2WDS0c/Cogwheel_by_jiyuseki%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="790" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Cogwheel_by_jiyuseki" width="790" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<img alt="Coin_by_jiyuseki" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-goW8sutpa1A/T73bWNjrsKI/AAAAAAAAXpw/bGKDVELbdIA/Coin_by_jiyuseki%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="791" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Coin_by_jiyuseki" width="790" /></div>
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<img alt="Zippered_Coin_Purse_by_jiyuseki" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-giYXP5t6nCM/T73bcdl6rMI/AAAAAAAAXp4/lEg1W-YUYv4/Zippered_Coin_Purse_by_jiyuseki%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="790" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Zippered_Coin_Purse_by_jiyuseki" width="790" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<img alt="coin_pouch_by_jiyuseki" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-m-1fehAA7pQ/T73bg8y_tAI/AAAAAAAAXqA/4LStYoN4JGo/coin_pouch_by_jiyuseki%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="790" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="coin_pouch_by_jiyuseki" width="790" /></div>
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<img alt="Cold_day_by_jiyuseki" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-PU1y-pPf7Io/T73blslbwEI/AAAAAAAAXqI/7LC-NXQXBR8/Cold_day_by_jiyuseki%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="607" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Cold_day_by_jiyuseki" width="790" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<img alt="Delicious_stone_by_jiyuseki" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-_EXdyfBYgfw/T73bnib2K0I/AAAAAAAAXqQ/MnoiDF2EWgk/Delicious_stone_by_jiyuseki%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="526" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Delicious_stone_by_jiyuseki" width="790" /></div>
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<img alt="it-4dfba2a6bb325-640" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-gPocVQpj6AE/T73bqhy6vtI/AAAAAAAAXqY/F7vdBzQima8/it-4dfba2a6bb325-640%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="900" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="it-4dfba2a6bb325-640" width="600" /></div>
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<img alt="it-4dfba2a9c0e02-640" border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Jl_SJ0BY62w/T73btnR7NHI/AAAAAAAAXqg/X2H433lB_xE/it-4dfba2a9c0e02-640%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="900" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="it-4dfba2a9c0e02-640" width="600" /></div>
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<img alt="pie3" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-XQD0ogbx4jY/T73bwqyU8XI/AAAAAAAAXqo/Iac97TBcmkw/pie3%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="448" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="pie3" width="700" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<img alt="Last_summer_by_jiyuseki" border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-nifXyUcrOVk/T73b0a8NSBI/AAAAAAAAXqw/UdW4yB85Xiw/Last_summer_by_jiyuseki%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="790" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Last_summer_by_jiyuseki" width="790" /></div>
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<img alt="leftovers_by_jiyuseki-d36li8z" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-R495OJ5Lcwo/T73b3oquc4I/AAAAAAAAXq4/et4c5F_vn-k/leftovers_by_jiyuseki-d36li8z%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="528" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="leftovers_by_jiyuseki-d36li8z" width="790" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<img alt="Paper_sack_bookend_by_jiyuseki" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-jEfZMxd4uIc/T73b6L1LeGI/AAAAAAAAXrA/XD8vRwDRz5Y/Paper_sack_bookend_by_jiyuseki%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="658" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Paper_sack_bookend_by_jiyuseki" width="790" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<img alt="polo_shirts_by_jiyuseki" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-9rR9r1i8A24/T73b92qRkyI/AAAAAAAAXrI/D0gMgJ6K1xo/polo_shirts_by_jiyuseki%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="790" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="polo_shirts_by_jiyuseki" width="790" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<img alt="Star_of_garbage_by_jiyuseki" border="0" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-GEZ1fUrXS44/T73cEt9yk5I/AAAAAAAAXrQ/88hcvJQS8z8/Star_of_garbage_by_jiyuseki%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="790" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Star_of_garbage_by_jiyuseki" width="790" /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 0px 10px;">
<img alt="take_a_rest__by_jiyuseki-d37u0pu" border="0" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-mxeUCQBuUto/T73cGmJNG_I/AAAAAAAAXrY/3D0-VWn3DDU/take_a_rest__by_jiyuseki-d37u0pu%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" height="588" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="take_a_rest__by_jiyuseki-d37u0pu" width="790" /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-73582331555272824532013-02-01T14:19:00.001+03:002013-02-01T14:19:35.254+03:00A Day In The Life - Professor Isaac Nyambok<i>Professor Isaac Nyambok is a pioneer Kenyan professor of geology at
the University of Nairobi. He recently received the highly coveted
International Union of Geological Sciences Award.</i><br />
<br />
I
used to wake up between 3 am and 4 am, read for about one or two hours
depending on how early I woke up. Lately I have been waking up at around
5.30 am. I prepare myself for the day and wait for my driver to pick me
up. My driver picks me between 8 am and 9 am, though sometimes he is
caught up in traffic.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4jJNYujWCUY/UIY9Idj4pVI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/4fydGhbX_3g/s1600/isaacnyambok_0.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4jJNYujWCUY/UIY9Idj4pVI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/4fydGhbX_3g/s1600/isaacnyambok_0.png" /></a></div>
When I get to the office, I respond to correspondence and
communications. I may proceed to a meeting if there is any or to any
scheduled lecture. Otherwise, I proceed to geo-chemical labs to study or
check samples of rocks, water, quality minerals or any other particular
specimen. Other times, I just stay in the office with a microscope and
some specimen and do what I have to do. I break for lunch between 1 pm
and 2 pm if I’m not doing something that cannot be left hanging.<br />
Exchange of knowledge is very exciting. Students are inquisitive and
they challenge me into deeper thinking, reading and research. Besides
teaching students taking geology, I give service courses to civil
engineering, land economics and architecture students. All these fields
of study require knowledge of geology. Somebody recognised the work that
I am doing and I was awarded a highly coveted geological award by the
International Union of Geological Sciences at the UNESCO headquarters in
February.<br />
I go for lectures in the afternoon, if any. If I don’t have a lecture
I sit in the office and I read books related to geology or any other
literature I come across as I attend to students who come for
consultation with regards to geology. I leave the office by 5pm. If I
have to exchange ideas with my colleagues I go to the university club. I
sometimes meet with my friends for a chat after work. I prefer clubs
that are near my home.<br />
Over the weekends, I love hanging around home with my family and
relatives, and occasionally catch up with friends. I enjoy going for
nature walks with my son and I also read magazines. I am an author of
different books and journals. I write every time I am motivated. I used
to love playing squash and table tennis.<br />
<br />
<i>ARTICLE AND PHOTO FROM <a href="http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-89813/day-life-my-geology-students-challenge-me-think-deeply-read-widely-and-do-lot" target="_blank">THE STAR </a></i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-13669994046089687772012-12-11T12:45:00.003+03:002012-12-11T12:45:52.222+03:00OLDEST DINOSAUR FOSSIL WAS FOUND IN TANZANIAFrom <a href="http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/12/the-earliest-known-dino.html" target="_blank">Science Mag</a><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px;">
A team of paleontologists thinks it may have identified the earliest known dinosaur—a creature no bigger than a Labrador retriever that lived about 243 million years ago. That's at least 10 million years earlier than the oldest known dinos and could change researchers' views of how they evolved. But some scientists, including the study's authors, caution that the fossils could instead represent a close dino relative.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px;">
Tracing back the earliest dinosaurs has not been easy. Fossils that old tend to be fragmentary, and researchers don't always agree about their evolutionary pedigree. Paleontologists do agree, however, that pint-sized specimens found in Argentina and dated to 230 million years ago—with names like <em>Eoraptor</em> and <em>Eodromaeus</em>—are <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/331/6014/134.summary" style="color: #51829a; outline: none;">true dinosaurs</a>. And in 2010, a team led by Sterling Nesbitt, a paleontologist at the University of Washington, Seattle, reported in <em>Nature</em> <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v464/n7285/abs/nature08718.html" style="color: #51829a; outline: none;">the discovery of a close dinosaur relative</a> in Tanzania's Manda Beds, a geological formation dated to between about 242 million and 245 million years ago. That specimen, called <em>Asilisaurus</em>, is not a dinosaur, but belongs to a so-called "sister taxon"—that is, the closest it can be to a dinosaur without actually being one.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px;">
That made Nesbitt and his colleagues take a closer look at what else has been found in the Manda Beds. One set of fossils, including an arm bone and several vertebrae, had been discovered in the 1930s and studied for decades by Alan Charig, a famed paleontologist at London's Natural History Museum. Before he died in 1997, Charig named the specimens <em>Nyasasaurus</em>, but he never published his conclusions about whether it was a dinosaur.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px;">
For the new study, which also includes <em>Nyasasaurus</em> fossils housed in the South African Museum in Cape Town, Nesbitt's team carried out a systematic comparison of the bones with those of other dinosaurs and their relatives. The researchers, who report their findings today in <em>Biology Letters</em>, find a number of features characteristic of true dinos. For example, <em>Nyasasaurus</em> has a broad crest of bone along the edge of its upper arm, to which the animal's chest muscles would have attached; this crest appears to extend more than 30% of the bone's length, a telltale dino feature. <em>Nyasasaurus</em> also has three vertebrae in its sacrum, the part of the spine that is attached to the pelvis, whereas dino ancestors only had two. And a microscopic study of the arm bone, carried out by team member Sarah Werning of the University of California, Berkeley, shows that it had grown very rapidly during the animal's development, also typical of dinosaurs as well as later mammals and birds.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px;">
Nesbitt says that this combination of characteristics, rather than any one taken alone, makes a <a href="http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2012.0949" style="color: #51829a; outline: none;">strong case that<em>Nyasasaurus</em> was "either a dinosaur or the closest relative."</a> Moreover, by the time early dinosaurs such as<em>Eoraptor</em> and <em>Eodromaeus</em> show up in Argentina at least 10 million years later, they already represent diverse groups that must have been evolving for millions of years. That means that dinosaur evolution must have begun a considerable time before that, Nesbitt says. And it makes <em>Nyasasaurus</em> a good candidate for an early dino, especially as a very close dinosaur relative, <em>Asilisaurus</em>, was also living in the Manda Beds some 243 million years ago.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Media_httpfarm9static_bbfeb" height="306" src="http://getfile6.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/guykawasaki/qetoAyCFJHHbvqrfvmnBHfbJImswbvjptkwiusIIpgkdmCmxrlflwniydmft/media_httpfarm9static_bBFeB.jpg.scaled500.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: black; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px auto; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="450" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nyasausaurus</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px;">
The team stresses that its findings don't suggest that the earliest dinosaurs evolved in Africa, despite the Tanzanian location of the fossils: At that time, Africa was part of a supercontinent called Pangaea, which also included present-day South America, Antarctica, and Australia. But the results may contradict the views of some researchers that the first dinosaurs diversified in an "early burst" of rapid evolution soon after they appeared.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px;">
The authors are "properly careful" in saying that <em>Nyasasaurus</em> is probably, but not definitely, a dinosaur, because the arm bone is not complete, says Michael Benton, a paleobiologist at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. But even if the team is not "100% certain" that it's a true dinosaur, Benton adds, the existence of a close dinosaur relative that early "guarantees [dinosaurs] must have originated then also."</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px;">
Max Langer, a paleontologist at the University of São Paulo in Brazil, agrees that the fragmentary nature of the arm bone makes estimates of the length of its crest "highly speculative" and argues against making any "bold claims" about finding the earliest dinosaur.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px;">
As for the discovery's implications for the "early burst" hypothesis, Stephen Brusatte, a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, insists that it "doesn't nix the early burst idea at all." If<em>Nyasasaurus</em> is only a sister taxon to dinosaurs, Brusatte says, then the early burst hypothesis "would only be falsified if true dinosaurs lived between the time of <em>Nyasasaurus</em> and the time that we see several species of unequivocal true dinosaurs in Argentina" 230 million years ago.</div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.6em;">Nevertheless, Brusatte says, "within the next decade I expect the Manda finds to greatly change our understanding" of the rise of the mighty dinosaurs.</span> </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-48326017352074344472012-11-28T01:49:00.002+03:002012-11-28T01:49:53.517+03:00KENYA AND ITS PART IN REDUCING GLOBAL WARMING (part 2)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Solar energy in this country has grossly been underutilized!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AK9yIwo7l58/ULVB8PfyEJI/AAAAAAAAALw/pNGMPAKwtis/s1600/solar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AK9yIwo7l58/ULVB8PfyEJI/AAAAAAAAALw/pNGMPAKwtis/s400/solar.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Equatorial Kenya has been blessed with an uninterrupted solar supply 365 days
in an year and the government has seemed oblivious to this fact. Rural Kenya
has been a beneficiary of the rural electrification project that has tried to
connect more people to the national power grid that is already grappling with
power shortages and inadequate supply to the fast growing economy.
Understandably rural Kenya demand for power is not that high but penetration
has also been an issue for the project. Rural homes grapple with high prices of
fuel used primarily for lighting as firewood remains the most preferred cooking
fuel. Most of the projects undertaken many companies and individuals have been
small scale and has involved supply of solar lanterns. This, however small can
have a great impact of these families lives. On average it is estimated that these
families use about 75/= a day on kerosene and in an economy where most people
live on a dollar a day that amount is ridiculously high! If we get enough
lanterns into these homes we could solve a problem that could seem hard in a
very simple way.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s_7YthLMoxA/ULVB9M2BrUI/AAAAAAAAAL8/6DOdIO_sSGY/s1600/solarcamel-lead01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s_7YthLMoxA/ULVB9M2BrUI/AAAAAAAAAL8/6DOdIO_sSGY/s320/solarcamel-lead01.jpg" width="320" /></a>Urban Kenya can also benefit greatly from solar power. The
government recently passed a law that required installation of solar panels in certain
households and businesses. Establishments coming up have been trying to comply
to this law and this could significantly reduce the power costs for these
businesses and households although more should be done to push for proper implementation
of the law. The Nairobi City Council comes under a lot of criticism with its
archaic laws, askaris, and councilors alike! But I must commend them on one
fact, their use of solar panels for street lights. Along Parliament Road all
these street lights have solar panels and this should be used in almost if not
all of the light in the city.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S2ICiX20w44/ULVC8sPwrVI/AAAAAAAAAME/ASW9o-yjZE0/s1600/solar+nai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S2ICiX20w44/ULVC8sPwrVI/AAAAAAAAAME/ASW9o-yjZE0/s400/solar+nai.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
This model would have worked very well on the
lighting along the Thika Super highway. </div>
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All in all the government MUST reduce taxes on solar
equipment being imported! This is the only way that we can encourage use of
solar energy in the country and county governments will be wise to encourage
use of solar in their counties since it will solve some of the problems that
people grapple with. That said......<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-46482645314255920352012-11-08T08:23:00.001+03:002012-11-08T08:32:18.320+03:00GATE TO HELL: Not As Far As You'd ImagineRemember the <a href="http://rockescientist.blogspot.com/2012/07/50-year-old-fire-and-still-counting.html">50 Year Old Fire </a>in Centralia Pennsylvania? Of course you do. Because you have subscribed this this blog and thus receive regular updates of geological happenings in the world. Thank you for doing that by the way.<br />
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So if you thought the 50 year old fire was bad, wait till you hear this. Somewhere in Turkmenistan in a town called Derweze ( take some time to Google that location), there is another crater that has been on fire for 40 years.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="On the edge: Two people stand and look into the burning hole, which has become known as 'The Door to Hell'" class="blkBorder" height="423" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/07/27/article-2179622-143B9098000005DC-208_634x423.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These are probably geologists wondering how far hell was from where they stood. Photo credit: DailyMail</td></tr>
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This giant hell hole in the middle of the Karakum Desert is a result an assumption gone haywire. Soviet geologists in 1971 were drilling for natural gas when the cavern collapsed and their rig got lost in the 70 m wide hole. In anger, Boris, the lead contractor, decided to make the hole pay by setting it on fire.<br />
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'Burn in hell you piece of schist!'</blockquote>
But as it turned out, the supply of gas was almost unlimited and the fire has been burning ever since.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watchu doing Philpski? Nothing just chilling</td></tr>
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According to the Daily Mail: In April 2010 the country's president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, visited the site and ordered that the hole should be closed but this is yet to happen.</div>
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What I think should happen is they find ways of harvesting that fire. Maybe put up pipes that will go to everyone home (it's a small town) where it will be used for heating shower water and swimming pools.<br />
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What do you think they should do with it? Let me know.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/07/27/article-2179622-143B90B1000005DC-74_634x384.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Light show: A spectacular view of the flames burning inside the crater in the heart of the Karakum Desert" border="0" class="blkBorder" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/07/27/article-2179622-143B90B1000005DC-74_634x384.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If the locals haven't started using this pit for disposal of waste, then they are really wasting it.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/07/27/article-2179622-143B905A000005DC-799_634x425.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Hot: A closer view of the fire inside the hole, which locals have named 'The Door to Hell'" border="0" class="blkBorder" height="425" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/07/27/article-2179622-143B905A000005DC-799_634x425.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/07/27/article-2179622-143B908C000005DC-451_634x427.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Long way down: The hole was formed in 1971 when ground beneath a drilling rig collapsed" border="0" class="blkBorder" height="427" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/07/27/article-2179622-143B908C000005DC-451_634x427.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is why you need good data. And maybe some 3d imaging</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"> Forl the actual real reason as to why they burnt off the gas, read the article on the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2179622/The-Door-Hell-Giant-hole-Karakum-Desert-40-YEARS.html" target="_blank">DailyMail</a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-39779462275881702382012-10-25T15:32:00.001+03:002013-06-01T16:47:29.171+03:00How Dinosaurs Mated: The Sexisaurus ChroniclesDuring your lifetime you have probably spent huge amounts of time wondering, how the hell did dinosaurs have sex? Did the male mount the female or vice versa? How much semen did one ejaculation produce? How tricky was it considering that a T-Rex can weigh up to 30 tonnes and one crucial body part was 12 feet [sch]long?<br />
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If you have not been wondering such things, well then congratulations. You are not a weirdo. Or a paleontologist.</div>
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These are the questions that keep paleontologist up at night (probably playing with themselves to such thoughts. Probably). They finally came up with the answer. '<b>Dinos made love like dogs</b>'.</div>
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I am going to give you a moment or two to absorb this shocking revelation by the researchers.</div>
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'All dinosaurs used the same basic position to mate,' said Dr Beverly Halstead, an English researcher who spent too much time on this issue. 'Mounting from the rear, he put his forelimbs on her shoulders, lifting one hind limb across her back and twisting his tail under hers.' Well!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/07/11/article-0-140519E7000005DC-502_634x450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><img border="0" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/07/11/article-0-140519E7000005DC-502_634x450.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Most researchers concluded that dinosaurs had sex like </span></td></tr>
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The males and females of modern-day birds and reptiles have a single body opening for urination, defecation, and reproduction--something called a cloaca (<b>Latin for sewer! wow!</b>). Paleontologists believe that dinosaurs had the same basic equipment, and that they coupled by pressing their cloacas together. Kinda sapphic if you ask me.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/07/11/article-0-14051909000005DC-604_634x286.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/07/11/article-0-14051909000005DC-604_634x286.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: left;">Pelecanimimus dinosaurs mating - these bird-like creatures lived 120 million years ago during the Cretaceous period</span></td></tr>
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No penis is needed to perform a "cloacal kiss." But some birds have penises and crocodiles sport penis-like "intromittent organs," and male dinosaurs might have had something similar. As you might imagine, a dinosaur penis might have been pretty big--perhaps up to 12 feet in length for T. Rexes.</div>
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But how did Mr. Dino ever get his cloaca near Ms. Dino's? By mounting her from behind. At least that's the view of many paleontologists, including one Beverly Halstead, an Englishman who became known for his candid talk about dinosaur mating before his death in 1991. For an article that appeared in the now-defunct science magazine "Omni" magazine in 1988, Dr. Halstead said:</div>
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All dinosaurs used the same basic position to mate. Mounting from the rear, he put his forelimbs on her shoulders, lifting one hind limb across her back and twisting his tail under hers to align the cloaca.</blockquote>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s-ak.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/web05/2010/11/5/5/enhanced-buzz-5588-1288949965-18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://s-ak.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/web05/2010/11/5/5/enhanced-buzz-5588-1288949965-18.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I am going to assume that all that liquid is from both of them. Orgasmic</td></tr>
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Some of Halstead's present-day counterparts concur that that's the way dinos did it.<br />
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"I don't think there's much doubt about that," Dr. Gregory M. Erickson, an evolutionary biologist at Florida State University, told The Huffington Post in a telephone interview. But, he acknowledged, "It must have been a hell of a thing to see."<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://s-ak.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/web05/2010/11/5/5/enhanced-buzz-5596-1288949892-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://s-ak.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/web05/2010/11/5/5/enhanced-buzz-5596-1288949892-15.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This does not look safe.</td></tr>
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So what do you think of this discovery? Are geoscientists venturing into matters that don't help us grow or is such discoveries useful for the growth of earth sciences? Let me know in the comments below.<br />
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Follow us <a href="https://twitter.com/RocKeSci" target="_blank">@rocKeSci</a><br />
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More images for you to pleasure yourself with:<br />
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<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/mathieus/40-dinosaurs-having-sex-nsfw-if-you-are-a-dino-8q4" target="_blank">40 Dinosaurs Having Sex (NSFW if You Are a Dino)</a></h3>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Sources</span><br />
<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2172128/The-joy-T-Rex-How-dinosaurs-sex-tricky-weigh-tonnes-crucial-12-feet-long.html" style="font-size: small;" target="_blank">Daily Mail </a><br />
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/09/dinosaur-sex_n_1659391.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003" style="font-size: small;" target="_blank">Huffington Post</a><br />
<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/mathieus/40-dinosaurs-having-sex-nsfw-if-you-are-a-dino-8q4" style="font-size: small;" target="_blank">Buzzfeed</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-71641454568613058852012-10-23T19:58:00.000+03:002012-10-23T19:58:37.882+03:00PINK MONTH, PINK TERRACES, PINK GEOLOGYOctober is "pink month" and is the designated breast cancer month by the UN. being Pink month i decided got to looking for a lighter side of pink and i came across the Pink Terraces of New Zealand!!!<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_And_White_Terraces" target="_blank">wikipedia </a>describes the rocks as....<br />
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<i>The <b>Pink Terraces</b>, or <b>Otukapuarangi</b> ("fountain of the clouded sky") in Māori, and the <b>White Terraces</b>, also known as <b>Te Tarata</b> ("the tattooed rock")</i></div>
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Visitors wore special shoes in order to climb up and gaze into the
throat of the gigantic geyser whose silica-charged waters had formed the
terraces over countless centuries.The only sad thing about them is that they are now buried under layer of volcanic ash and mud but not before some spectacular snapshots and paintings were made of them in the 1800's before the eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886. The terraces are made of Traventine ( <i>A type of limestone (a calcium-rich rock composed primarily of the CaCO3
minerals calcite and aragonite) which forms by chemical precipitation
(the stuff that makes the rock falls out of solution) from certain types
of shallow or surface waters, such as springs and rivers.</i> courtesy of <a href="http://georneys.blogspot.com/2011/04/geology-word-of-week-t-is-for.html" target="_blank">georneys</a>) of alternate white and pink color. They formed heated pools in which people used to bathe in. </div>
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the first paintings were very well detailed and showed this spectacular sites in available detail. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mO_mnd1nnwU/UIbAm8YeBkI/AAAAAAAAAKI/cLLAAHw5wD0/s1600/pink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="295" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mO_mnd1nnwU/UIbAm8YeBkI/AAAAAAAAAKI/cLLAAHw5wD0/s400/pink.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charles Blomfield (1848–1926) painted the Pink Terraces four years after
they were buried by the eruption of Mt Tarawera. His highly romantic
paintings strove for an aesthetic ideal. <a href="http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/pink-terraces" target="_blank">link</a></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YTF3_Vz7sAY/UIbCHlvWOrI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/AoUWrKq63EA/s1600/pink1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YTF3_Vz7sAY/UIbCHlvWOrI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/AoUWrKq63EA/s400/pink1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> <div class="px12" id="picname">
Charles Blomfield, The Pink and White Terraces Rotomahana, New Zealand. <a href="http://www.kunst-fuer-alle.de/english/art/artist/image/charles-blomfield/21192/1/140648/the-pink-and-white-terraces-rotomahana,-new-zealand/index.htm#" target="_blank">link </a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Sak4bx_ZNVU/UIbC3DSACXI/AAAAAAAAAKY/aymUAB6VBxg/s1600/White_Terraces_-_Blomfield.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="273" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Sak4bx_ZNVU/UIbC3DSACXI/AAAAAAAAAKY/aymUAB6VBxg/s400/White_Terraces_-_Blomfield.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="description">Painting of the <a class="extiw" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_and_White_Terraces" title="en:Pink and White Terraces">White Terraces</a>, near Rotorua, New Zealand.</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="description"> </span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="description"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t2ver0_umDo/UIbDSweKDAI/AAAAAAAAAKg/szzF3SknVNs/s1600/Heaphy_Pink_White_Terrace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="258" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t2ver0_umDo/UIbDSweKDAI/AAAAAAAAAKg/szzF3SknVNs/s400/Heaphy_Pink_White_Terrace.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Delightful illustration of bathers at the White Terrace before the famous eruption of Mt Tarawera in 1886. <a href="http://www.prints.co.nz/page/fine-art/PROD/Artists_Heaphy_Charles/8312" target="_blank">link</a></td></tr>
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when a geologist Ferdinand von Hochstetter and fellow friend <span class="description">Bruno Hamil undertook a geological survey of the area he came up with a </span><span class="description"> lithograph of the terraces. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tAMH22_G2t0/UIbFktatF_I/AAAAAAAAAKo/leCMwQsDtdA/s1600/800px-Bruno_Hamil_White_Terraces_frame_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tAMH22_G2t0/UIbFktatF_I/AAAAAAAAAKo/leCMwQsDtdA/s400/800px-Bruno_Hamil_White_Terraces_frame_.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="description">Bruno Hamil's 1860 lithograph of Ferdinand von Hochstetter talking to the local chief at the bottom left of the white terraces.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bruno_Hamil_White_Terraces_frame_.jpg" target="_blank"> link</a><a class="extiw" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_and_White_Terraces" title="en:Pink and White Terraces"> </a></span></td></tr>
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<span class="description">black and white photos of the 8th wonder of the world </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KY00m9rBrEw/UIbG_sbI-5I/AAAAAAAAAKw/RZFtxM-SwKI/s1600/pink2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="307" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KY00m9rBrEw/UIbG_sbI-5I/AAAAAAAAAKw/RZFtxM-SwKI/s400/pink2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The hot water basins, White Terrace, 1885. <a href="http://www.ourspace.tepapa.com/media/530" target="_blank">link</a> </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N67GJVUiBZ4/UIbIU-xuGBI/AAAAAAAAAK4/qvtHvTa-iqQ/s1600/1999_18_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="260" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N67GJVUiBZ4/UIbIU-xuGBI/AAAAAAAAAK4/qvtHvTa-iqQ/s400/1999_18_10.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em>Boars Head, White Terrace by </em>George Valentine. <a href="http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/search/section/the-collection/keyword/terraces" target="_blank">link</a></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IwAm3Vpf91o/UIbI2hPYENI/AAAAAAAAALA/sxw9kvqj2IY/s1600/1999_18_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IwAm3Vpf91o/UIbI2hPYENI/AAAAAAAAALA/sxw9kvqj2IY/s400/1999_18_5.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Hot Baths, Pink Terrace </strong>George Valentine. <a href="http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/search/section/the-collection/keyword/terraces" target="_blank">link</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cIzHfPKwTaM/UIbJSoZsUVI/AAAAAAAAALI/oS11bzobiFc/s1600/1999_18_144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="285" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cIzHfPKwTaM/UIbJSoZsUVI/AAAAAAAAALI/oS11bzobiFc/s400/1999_18_144.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong>White Terrace -by Alfred Burton. <a href="http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/search/section/the-collection/keyword/terraces" target="_blank">link </a></strong></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
A part of the White Terraces was rediscovered in June 2011.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-rediscover2_16-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_And_White_Terraces#cite_note-rediscover2-16"><span></span><span></span></a></sup>
The announcement of the rediscovery of the White Terraces coincided
with the 125th Anniversary of the eruption of Mt Tarawera in 1886.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nHwtU2UTgQY/UIbK4XvTZDI/AAAAAAAAALQ/jMZLDbqyzD8/s1600/Fornari_Terrace_700_127985.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nHwtU2UTgQY/UIbK4XvTZDI/AAAAAAAAALQ/jMZLDbqyzD8/s400/Fornari_Terrace_700_127985.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="caption">Digital underwater photographs of area around the pink terrace structures in Lake Rotomahana, New Zealand. </span><span class="caption">Photo by Dan Fornari, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. <a href="http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=7545&tid=441&cid=127985&ct=61&article=89648" target="_blank">link</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit;">
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-87904822909213558862012-09-24T01:40:00.000+03:002012-10-04T21:16:02.333+03:00#FACTSvsFALLACIES TURKANA - THE CRADLE OF MANKIND<b><u>FACT</u></b><br />
Former Tukana district occupied the larger part of the north west of Kenya all within the Great East African Rift Valley bordering South Sudan and Ethiopia to the north and Uganda to the West<br />
The area is semi-arid with extreme day temperatures and equally low temperatures at night. <br />
<a href="http://www.leakey.com/bios/richard-leakey" target="_blank">Dr </a><a href="http://www.leakey.com/bios/richard-leakey" target="_blank">Richard Leakey</a><b>, </b>a renowned Kenyan paleoanthropologist and conservationist, together with a group of paleotologists discovered the famous "Turkana boy" <span lang="EN-GB">the oldest and most complete
skeleton of <i>Homo erectus. </i></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8hrhJpiipZM/UFuWzua4RyI/AAAAAAAAADk/EHLOMNY72Eg/s1600/turkanaboy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8hrhJpiipZM/UFuWzua4RyI/AAAAAAAAADk/EHLOMNY72Eg/s400/turkanaboy.jpg" width="262" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nariokotome Boy, or <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/01/0111origins.html" target="_blank">“Turkana Boy,”</a> a Homo erectus found by Alan Walker and Richard Leakey, Lake Turkana, Kenya is the most complete Homo erectus ever found.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span lang="EN-GB"><i> </i>The 9-12 year old boy believed to be around 1.6 million years old was an important milestone filling the gaps palaeotologists had found hard to fill back then. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB">Watch a video of Dr Leakey and the Turkana boy here </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://3.gvt0.com/vi/rgg_hxVXZ8s/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rgg_hxVXZ8s&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rgg_hxVXZ8s&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
<br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-GB">He and and his team made further discoveries. A </span><span lang="EN-GB">new species of <i>Australopithecus </i>a bipedal species with an upright posture that dated over 4 million years ago, the earliest stages of human evolution. </span><span lang="EN-GB">Human and
animal remains were trapped and fossilized in the stratified sediments of the
Great Rift Valley. Tectonic activity has uplifted many ancient sediments and
the constant erosion of them by wind and water exposes new finds every year. </span><span lang="EN-GB">The lake basin is rich in specimens of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Australopithecus</i>, the primitive
“transitional” hominid with many ape-like features. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Koobi Fora to the
east of the lake has yielded some of the most fascinating animal fossils in the
world. Different types of primitive elephants, prehistoric hippos, giraffes and
ancient species of crocodiles are but a few of the fossils discovered around
the lake shore.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sFDvTpsSfnI/UFuYabXZL6I/AAAAAAAAAD0/eiUdUb3PTGg/s1600/nabaytom+crator.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sFDvTpsSfnI/UFuYabXZL6I/AAAAAAAAAD0/eiUdUb3PTGg/s640/nabaytom+crator.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<span lang="EN-GB"> So Kenya and Turkana in specific has been scientifically proven to be the cradle of mankind!</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB">further reading can be found <a href="http://www.sslmit.units.it/crevatin/Documenti/Turkana/tesi/Introduction.htm" target="_blank">here</a></span><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-6773102879547044852012-09-22T15:48:00.000+03:002012-10-30T13:04:02.971+03:00KENYA AND ITS PART IN REDUCING GLOBAL WARMING (part 1)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: left; text-autospace: none;">
<br />WIND<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "TimesTen-Roman","serif";"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "TimesTen-Roman","serif";">Many of you .ke citizens have been to the
north of the country. The dry north with its numerous whirl winds, sand storms,
strong winds and the hell’s kitchen temperatures. Since independence the only
available power source we had was hydrothermal power plants which provided
electricity for the urban elites. The rural folk got used to firewood until
Wangari Mathai came along. She was a rural folk make no mistake about that but
she foresaw doom with this trend. Here is how that scenario played out. The
urban had all the electricity and the rural folk made away with all the trees.
In the beginning it was a harmless unrelated relationship. But then the trees
started reducing in number in effect the rains measured mm less in the rain
gauges. In effect they started rationing the water supplied to the turbines
because it could run out and the factories would had to be closed up and the
rich could not afford to stay without electricity. The rural folk didn’t know
this at that time but they were helping to bring electricity to their homes. So
when the government was alerted to this disparity in energy supply they sought
to stop the rural folk from cutting down the trees by starting the rural
electrification project to reduce usage of trees in farm use. But the damage was already done and so now
the government is trying to look for other energy sources to help supply the ever
rising demand for energy. </span></span></div>
<h2 align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "TimesTen-Roman","serif";">Ngong hills just outside Nairobi was to
host the 1<sup>st</sup> pilot project
wind turbines in the country. Why they didn’t choose the very effective winds in
the north is still up for debate. It however seemed to have worked out
well with the 300mw wind project in Turkana, the biggest wind project in Africa
apparently, yet to start it could provide much needed relief to the energy
crises the country almost fell to. </span></span></h2>
<h2 align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "TimesTen-Roman","serif";">In my opinion Kenya should be divided into
energy zones to ease on the strain of putting all the energy into one national
grid. The wind energy in the north could be divided with some of it taken to
the national grid and the chunk of it used exclusively by the inhabitants of
the northern half of the country. Almost every part of the country has the
potential of producing its own energy and if the supply proves to be
insufficient then the national grid comes into play. With resort cities, railway
lines and meat factories in the works for the north in vision 2030 this could
help in provision of energy for the north who have been in the receiving end of
economic injustices from this government and the past two in resource
allocation. </span></span></h2>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-49786236819092552272012-09-21T00:22:00.001+03:002013-06-01T16:45:34.392+03:00#FACTSvsFALLACIES The Crying Stone of Ilesi - Kakamega <i>(FALLACY) </i><br />
<i>Ikhonga Murwe- the crying stone </i>of llesi. Folklore and myth surround this rock found in the western region of the country in the county of Kakamega. Legend has it the rock can't stop 'crying'.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wc3Lscy_6Ag/UFuIYY6O0wI/AAAAAAAAADM/nvcYAsC06ns/s1600/crying+stone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wc3Lscy_6Ag/UFuIYY6O0wI/AAAAAAAAADM/nvcYAsC06ns/s1600/crying+stone.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PWq0XCpoH5c/UFuIZFUMKPI/AAAAAAAAADU/Lc4XlLo32WM/s1600/crying+stone2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PWq0XCpoH5c/UFuIZFUMKPI/AAAAAAAAADU/Lc4XlLo32WM/s1600/crying+stone2.jpg" /></a>To the government it is a tourist attraction, to the Luhya community living around it, it holds both cultural and spiritual significance. the community carried out rituals to avoid droughts and for cleansing ceremonies. In modern society too the rock holds religious significance as churches like <span itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Article">Legio Maria and Rosary Church make pilgrimages to it.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Article">Geologically the rock is a large boulder of acidic plutonic rock, 8 meters tall, made up of quartz, alkali feldspars and mica. there is a small groove in the middle from which water flows out from. the water is believed to be from a moss growing inside the rock that soaks up water during the wet season which allows it to flow long periods of time. </span><br />
<br />
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<span itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Article">links </span><br />
<a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/exotic-locations-articles/the-crying-stone-of-ilesi-kakamega-kenya-2249835.html" target="_blank"><span itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Article">http://www.articlesbase.com/exotic-locations-articles/the-crying-stone-of-ilesi-kakamega-kenya-2249835.html </span></a><b><span itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Article"></span></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8975166239980609206.post-39638962848710794932012-09-20T13:11:00.000+03:002013-06-05T19:41:54.306+03:00DIAMONDS ARE NOT SQUISHED COAL!!so what geological misconceptions have people had in the past and still have? well here is one<br />
<br />
Reblogged from <a href="http://lablemminglounge.blogspot.com/2008/01/diamonds-are-not-squished-coal.html" target="_blank">Lounge of the Lab Lemming</a><br />
<br />
Diamonds are not former coal. Coal is the organic-rich remains of terrestrial plant matter, and this
is younger than the oldest land plants, which are roughly 400 million
years old. Pb isotope studies of diamonds show that they are generally
between 2 and 2.8 billion years old, 5-7 times older than the oldest
land plants. Thus diamonds were already collecting their pensions by
the time the first coal beds were formed.<br />
<br />
Secondly, they have different isotopic compositions. Plants, which fix CO<sub>2</sub> via photosynthesis, contain 2% less <sup>13</sup>C
than the Earth’s mantle, while most diamonds have mantle carbon
isotopic composition. The light isotopic composition of coal is due to
the preferential uptake of <sup>12</sup>C over <sup>13</sup>C during photosynthesis. Diamonds, not being related to coal, never photosynthesized, and do not show this effect.<br />
<br />
Thirdly,
metamorphic minerals have very different textures than hydrothermal
ones. Diamonds are thought to precipitate from a CO<sub>2</sub> fluid
when said fluid is reduced in the mantle. This allows big, low strain
crystals to form. Solid state phase transitions generally involve lots
of deformation and recrystallization. Were coal to be metamorphosed
into diamond, it would probably form a diamond rock with micron-scale
crystals. Impact diamonds have grainsizes that are micron to
sub-micron, and the source of the carbon is difficult to determine. But
they are tiny, and it is theoretically impossible for them to be more
than a few carats (they need to be small enough to cool off before the
shockwave dissipates, or they will revert to graphite).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qx6Vxj3xvQk/UFrraUe_DaI/AAAAAAAAAC8/3MKBZkUiYRY/s1600/diamonds-and-coal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="231" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qx6Vxj3xvQk/UFrraUe_DaI/AAAAAAAAAC8/3MKBZkUiYRY/s320/diamonds-and-coal.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Of
course, it is theoretically possible to synthesize diamonds from coal in
a lab. But this is unlikely to occur for several reasons. If the
diamonds are being grown in a traditional metal catalyst belt apparatus,
then a low sulphur carbon source should be used to prevent the nickel
catalyst from being attacked. If coal was sulphur free, then trout in
the Adirondacks would have nothing to complain about. In the case of
Chemical Vapor Deposition diamond, a gaseous source- usually methane- is
used. With either method, nitrogen from organic compounds in the coal
would impart a yellow-green color in the diamond due to the absorption
of the single N defect. So coal would be a poor source material for
synthetic diamond production. <br />
<br />
To summarize: Diamonds are too
old to be squished coal, and even if they weren’t they contain the wrong
sort of carbon and form through different processes. Furthermore, coal
is a poor choice of precursor for synthetic diamond production, as
spectroscopic graphite is best for metal catalyst diamonds, and methane
is preferred for CVD.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09331423284565606778noreply@blogger.com0