Saturday, April 14, 2012

A Saturday Reader

I'm so sleepy.
Actually I just got up.
Again.
I mean I got up this morning, then I came home and took a nap and now I got up again.
Two very large cheeseburgers I did eat, and very large cheeseburgers act like sleeping pills so off I went!
To sleep I mean.
Thank you to my cousin for cooking them burgers up, any time you, my cousin, want to invite me over for burgers just say the word and like the late Michael Jackson said: I'll be there.
Just call my name don't you know:



Not what this is all about though.
One of my cousins remarked to me that every time he sees me, he always learns something interesting.
Well that made me feel pretty good, if not a bit pretentious.
I mean I don't go around making like I know everything and spouting off about this and that pretending I'm a know it all.
Even though I do.
Know it all I mean.
Okay, not really.
Well maybe.
Well actually if I knew it all, I'd never bother to read.
Which is what I'm doing now.
Well actually not exactly right now, but you get the idea.
So it started off when JRA over at OSG posted up a picture of Kauai and the Na Pali coast line.
I don't know for sure if it was Kauai, actually I think it was Maui, but those two island have Na Pali coastlines and that got me going.
Na Pali in Hawaiian basically just means cliffs and we got cliffs here on O'ahu too, just not fantastical cliffs that drop off straight into the water.
One day, we could have:


The Flat Tire Archives

See we got these high rising cliff like mountains too, except they aren't right next to the ocean.
Now why is that?
Well I had to go and find out:



Now I took a Geology of Hawaii course back when I was in college, but I took it as a senior and I was working on my graduation project so I only went to half the class and I guess I missed some of the good stuff.
I sort of remember about the formation of the island and stuff, and going back and reading about it I understood why the islands are all a bit different, yet same.
Well I got so interested about all this that I returned that book to the school library and I went ahead and tracked this down:



Hawaiian Natural History, Ecology, and Evolution by Alan C. Ziegler is closer to what I wanted to learn and it covers more than just the geology of the islands.
It's more like a college text and it explains things a little better.
I'm no geologist don't you know.
Anyways, if you want to see how the islands came to be, a great contemporary example is Surtsey, this volcanic island off the coast of Iceland.
So anyways, I've been all hot to learn more about the natural history of Hawaii.
Wait!
There's more!
So this morning, I went over to the book place cause I had to get a gift for my cousin's kid since it was her birthday and I get all kids books cause they don't read enough nowadays.
So anyways, I'm looking through the kids books and what did I find?



I kept this book for myself cause if there's anyone who needs lessons in French, it would be me.
If I ever went to France I'd be like beaten up and deported for every time I would try to speak the language I'd insult every French person within the sound of my voice.
On the other hand, I could give them a geology lesson.
If you know what I mean.

4 comments:

John Romeo Alpha said...

It was Kauai. I can't stop thinking about it! Perhaps field work is required to investigate. Bicycle based field work. Can you do geology from a bicycle?

Steve A said...

Of course, it is a bit chillier in Surtsey...

johnnytrashbike said...

hawaii's an island?! since when?

limom said...

JRA, it just so happens that The Flat Tire Department of Geology(FTDOG) has an internship opening.
Of course it doesn't pay, but there are benefits.
If I ever get back to Kauai, Kalalau Valley is one place I plan to investigate.

Steve A, I would think a long sleve jersey is a must.

johnnytrashbike, since about oh roughly six million years ago when Kauai was formed up until about a half million years when the Big Island started to form.