Take a look at these fairly new incredible photos from ISS. Link

Just wondering if I still have any followers to the blog? I was thinking about starting up the blog with topics on Swedish geology for the summer. Mostly because of the severe drought in the Swedish bloggosphere during the summer time.

Let me know if Im still visible in the geoblog community!

An 4.7 earthquake must seem like nothing to people living in places like California. But in Sweden, where that just happened with the epicenter a couple of miles from where I live its a big deal. By far the strongest earthquake in Sweden for a century.

All happening along the Tornqvist-zone. The ancient fault line zone streching through my home province Skåne (Scania). Ive written som more about in in my Swedish geoblog.

More info

You made the right choice in electing Obama. Im very pleased.

Yes Im alive, but this blog is not. As most of you know by know I write only on my Swedish blog and Antimonite has faded away. I just dont have the time or energy to write two blogs.

But if someone cares: Ive just added an easy-to-use gadget on my Swedish geoblog Terra Incognita so that you can translate the content to English (or any other prefered language). This is of course not in any way sensational - just wanted to make it easy for any visitor so I made it possible to do so through a simple gadget. The gadget is located in the left sidebar at the bottom. Impossible to miss since it comes with a big ass Google logotype.

Ive decided to do this since its very unlikely that I will post that much here on Antimonite in the (near) future. So if youre interested in Swedish geology (on a basic level), youre welcome to translate my blog Terra Incognita and keep on reading that one instead of this. Of course, the translations in general are really bad - but you will probably at least understand the content - and if not - its ok to post comments on the blog in English - ask me and I will translate.

Update: Have added the translation-gadget as an option in the topmenu off Terra Incognita instead. 

Speaking to you Americans who probably (still) have more respect for titles than we in Sweden do.

How can a creationist and young earth-believer like Dr John Baumgardner become a Ph.D. in geophysics? (He is known for searching for evidence of the biblical flood). He obviously dont understand basic science even per definition - since he believes in the ridiculous notion of a biblical young earth he cant understand anything about geology for real. Its just not possible.

One hell of a liar all through his career? He must be - how else could he have made it through his studies/exam/scientific career? This guy must have written litteraly thousands of stuff where he as the author didnt believe in the facts he wrote about. Not only that, he has several fancy positions within the geological community and several papers published. God forbid… Does he teach others?

I have no doubt of him being smart - he must be at least extremly manipulative, since he operates succesfully in a field in which he denies all basics in.

Its no wonder that titles like Phd and Professor has very little status these days when anyone can get them despite what they truly stand for or understand - in this case simply just pseudoscience. A Ph.D. doesnt stand for any academical guarantees anymore.

Im looking for the best (pocket) field guide to minerals and rock money can buy. I have two demands: Lots of minerals and rocks and lots of color photos. I dont need a lot of scientific information on each mineral. I want it for in-the-field identication purpose only.

Please help me.

Ive just started a new blog. A Swedish blog on geoscience. A sister to this blog basically. So if you dont speak Swedish, you probably couldnt care less. I will probably update the Swedish blog more often also. But this blog (Antimonite) will remain and I will write posts on Swedish geoscience for the international readers also in the future.

http://terraincognita.blogsome.com/

The future, if the prices on oil keeps on rising in the world. (Click the thumb for full size)

Somebody asked me in my last post to describe the job situation for geologists. I can only speak for Sweden, and not very much on that either really. The main reason for not knowing exactly is the simple fact that Im new at geology. Ill know a lot more in 2 years time when Im "finished" with the studies.

But I can share my experiences thus far. According to many news paper reports, and some on the news on TV, theres a great shortage of geologists in Sweden. Something like only 50% of the demand is filled with new students. This has been the case since about 2005 when the boom started. Companies are forced to import educated workforce. Some 28 different nationalites are represented among the experts at the big mines of Kirunavaara and Luossavaara in the north of Sweden. They have big troubles with finding Swedish geologists (petrologists, mineralogists).

One of the teachers spoke also about how companies often contacted her and wanted to get in contact with soon-to-be-finished students of different academical levels - basically grabbing them when they still are at the the univ. Many teachers also speak how private companies try to employ the teachers all the time, and I dont think thats an exaggeration. All over the bill boards there hang offers of employment in the private sector.

The biggest sector demanding new geologists def. is the mining industry. As some probably know, Sweden has one of the most impressive mines of iron ore in the world in the north. The Kirunavaara mine has one of the finest and largest ore deposits in the world. And an increased demand for steel from countries like India and China has made this old mine very interesting for prospectors. And then theres copper, uranium and many more types of minerals on high demand also. All of them found in interesting numbers in Sweden. Even new gold and silver mines have started up in the last years.

At the same time theres an increased demand for geologists specializing in enviromental issues. Cant build anything these days without the right enviromental knowledge.

And Ive also heard that the Norwegian oil and gas-industry is looking for experts. The increased price in oil comes and the shrinking supply of it in the world with the good aspect that more jobs in the petroleumindustry are created when more and more sources of oil will be needed.

Basically - Geology in Sweden, at least if you are ready to move around to where the jobs are - means really good job opportunities as far as I know. And this seems to be the case for many years to come.

You can choose the dark side and work with oil or minerals, or the good side and work with the enviroment. Sith or Jedi. You choose.