Peter Birkhäuser

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Other

Published: 11 February 2022

Hits: 854

Sometimes YouTube delivers on it's recommendations. I found this video quite inspiring.

The video provides context and interpretation. If you just want to look at the art, or see more of his art, click here.

Gastroliths

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Miscellany

Published: 08 February 2022

Hits: 1277

These are interesting, prehistoric gastroliths, found in the stomach cavities of dinosaurs, usually eaten by herbivores to help with the crushing and digesting of their foods.

Now, a little annoyed I didn't know about these when I did my abundant dinosaur hunting in the Drumheller regions, but - unless they were found in-situ, as in the space above, how would you recognize them? Especially given the abundant glacial/river gravels.

Another photo:

Link: Wiki on Gastroliths

And, on a completely unrelated note, did you know that Prospectors in Africa once hunted Ostriches for the diamonds in their Gizzard? 

From FascinatingEarth.com:

For the ostriches that inhabited the plains of southwest Africa, choice of stone almost became their undoing. About a century ago a hunter shot a wild ostrich. In preparing it for the evening meal he cut open the gizzard and found several pure gem—quality diamonds among the stony contents. He set out early the next morning to hunt diamond—bearing ostriches. To keep such a find quiet is just about impossible, and word spread quickly. Within a week there was a grand rush onto the plains, and the slaughter began. Prospectors killed the defenseless birds by the thousands. Not all the victims contained diamonds, but some were fantastically rich; in one bird's gizzard 63 diamonds were found.

The ostriches were hunted almost into extinction in this part of Africa. The killing stopped only when too few survivors were left to bother with. The ostrich population has grown since the massacre, but an occasional potential diamond "mine" is still illegally brought down by the ever—present poachers.

Of Pencil Sharpeners

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Dreams

Published: 08 February 2022

Hits: 1188

A blue-hued dream of being in a big city, glass windows reflecting everywhere, evening-ish, waiting (looking for?) someone...I'm talking to an old schoolmate, he's a bit dry, boring, I'm trying to explain who I'm waiting, looking for - I can't remember who it is ... my cousin, what's her name? I'm racking my brain and it comes to me ... "Valerie" and she appears...

And she's seeing if I'm ready to go, I am, and then we walk to a courtyard in the middle of the city, and there's a shelf, maybe 6' tall, 4' wide, metal, and on it I recognize my belongings, more than I can take with me, clothes, notebooks, miscellaneous I've collected, my things, they shouldn't be in the street like this, anyone could take them,  and I find on the shelf some things I didn't know I had, I'm DEFINITELY taking these with me, there's a small cube pencil sharpener, and then there's a couple of bigger ones, out of crystal, brightly coloured, 3 holes in each side, and now, now I'm ready to go...