Rockhounds in Ontario and Canada

A rockhound is an amateur geologist or collector of rocks, minerals and gemstones. It’s not always about the value or selling them. Not for me. I like the history of rocks. Such ancient things, far older than even the oldest of trees. Eroded by time and the elements (mostly water) found on and under land, sea and space, small enough to fit into a pocket or far too massive to consider moving at all. How can anyone not find even the most common rock a bit interesting.

There is some difference between being an ordinary rock collector and someone who actually knows whether the rock they just picked up (because it looks interesting) is a gem, mineral, or just another rock. I’m the ordinary rock type of beachcomber, streetcomber, forestcomber, (even though only one of those is a considered a real word at this time).

I like rocks, sometimes I carry one home in my pocket. It’s a casual hobby. But, I couldn’t say for sure whether the rocks I keep are anything but an interesting looking rock. I did study geology in high school, so I know (remember) a little about how rocks are formed.

Ontario (I live in Ontario) with links found for the other Canadian provinces afterwards.

Ottawa Lapsmith and Mineral Club
The Niagara Peninsula Geological Society – St Catharines
Barrie Gem and Mineral Club (Currently inactive).
The Gem and Mineral Club of Scarborough – Toronto

The British Columbia Lapidary Society
Victoria Lapidary and Mineral Society
Ripple Rock and Gem Mineral Club – Campbell River
Port Moody Rock and Gem Club

Alberta Federation of Rock Clubs 
Southern Alberta Rockhounds Association
Edmonton Tumblewood Lapidary Club
Calgary Rock and Lapidary Club

Prairie Rock and Gem Society – Regina, Saskatchewan

Montreal Gem and Mineral Club Quebec

The Central Canadian Federation of Mineralogical Societies
Mineralogical Association of Canada 
Gem and Mineral Federation of Canada

Do you know all of these, what they are or even more about each of them? They are all connected to rocks in some way. Not on this list was rock piling or stacking. I’ve seen people turn them into bridges which continue to stand without anything but friction and gravity keeping them together. Also, Inukshuks, traditionally used for navigation and communication in northern Canada.

  • lapidary
  • tumbling
  • carving
  • sculpture
  • architecture
  • fossils
  • geology
  • paleontology
  • prospecting

List from: Virtual Museum of the History of Mineralogy

I Used to Write The Busy Person’s Guide to ASCII Art

This is what is left on the site, other than some links to other sites. I wrote a newsletter for this site but I didn’t think (at the time) to keep any copies of them. Wish I had! I can remember thinking of good ideas to write about but not what the actual ideas were any more. Now and then I try to find the newsletters, somehow. But, they are gone, just sent as email and not posted to the Internet. I’m not sure what year this would have been. Probably the early 2000’s.

Meet Your ASCII Art WZ-ard: Laura Tripp

Laura Tripp: ASCII Art was a mystery I had to solve. In July, 1996 while still a Net newbie, I thought the pictures made with keyboard characters were amazing. But actually making the pictures myself seemed so out of reach. I didn’t even know what they were called.

Finally, I found a site answering newbie questions and they emailed back and told me: ASCII Art! The mystery was solved! I made my first keepable picture January, 1998 (with the help of Albert and Joan on the Sig-List). ASCII Art became my special outlet for the drawing I have always wished I could do.

Some people, like my husband, say it’s outdated, a throwback to the 70’s. Little does he know, ASCII Art is still evolving and it started before computers. If you want to find out more and get help making your own ASCII Art and signatures, visit my Realm often.

And be sure to subscribe to my weekly 45-Second Newsletter. Explore the possibilities of ASCII Art as website promotion, an art form and a challenging but cheap, hobby.

LauraTripp@wz.com

Rube Goldberg Machines

Did you ever play the Mousetrap game? It’s based on the idea of making a convoluted contraption to catch a mouse. The part of the game I most remember is watching all the parts of the machine work one after the other (like all those rows of dominoes people construct) to end up catching the mouse. In the game all the parts were plastic and fit together well, there wasn’t so much engineering and rebuilding involved. But, building a Rube Goldberg machine is a lot of engineering, planning and rebuilding because things don’t all work out just right the first time around. No matter how well planned.

mousetrap game

There is a Rube Goldberg Machine category at the Curlie web directory. I found it today after my sister told me she and her children are building a Rube Goldberg Machine. I didn’t know what it is. If I had ever heard of the name I had forgotten it. So I looked it up and found sites and a lot of videos. I posted most of them to the Curlie category so people can find them there.

The best links I found were the site about contests for people who build the machines, Rube Goldberg. Also, a kinetic artist who builds them as art and fun, Joseph Herscher and his site, Joseph’s Machines. He has video posts of his machines on YouTube.

Ethan shows how to make the machines, ideas for steps and parts along the way. He also shows how the best plans don’t always work out. Which not everyone does and I think it is really important to know. Anyone building these contraptions will need a lot of patience and rebuilding. Ethan’s video was my favourite.

Sprice Machines also makes them, house wide and going outside even. Extreme patience, creativity and engineering. Fun to watch.

The Original Save the Dragons Campaign from GeoCities

The following is posted from the site I found many years ago and lost track of eventually. I have not changed spelling or anything else. But, I did not save all the image files. You can see the full site, as long as the Wayback Machine keeps it saved. I could not find the original source/ person from the site.



If you’ve come here, you must be interested in saving some dragons. Follow the links to the left to join the many humans (and dragons) of the Campaign in keeping these living treasures from extinction.

About the Campaign

When was the last time you saw a dragon in the wild? Never? It’s not surprising. Their species has long been misunderstood, hunted to extinction by wandering knights who could barely match wits with their own mounts.

The association of dragons with evil began over a thousand years ago, when Satan was identified as a dragon in the Bible, and that Beowulf guy tried to stab one and got chewed up. As time passed, villagers, who had little else to do while washing the clothes or tilling the fields, made up tales about the poor beasts, transforming them into hideous, fire-breathing monstrosities that hoarded treasure and tore apart virgin sacrifices. Meanwhile, the dragons sat in their caves, playing poker with pebbles for chips. They avoided the human race because they were uncomfortable with the fear that their appearance inspired in those tiny beings from the wooden caves. They didn’t want to cause any trouble.

They’d learned centuries ago that human meat was stringy and fatty, and they weren’t particularly interested in the meat that the humans kept in pens, so they changed their omnivorous ways. They ate trees, saving the seeds to replace what they’d taken, and caught fish for special occasions. Like their cousins the Eastern dragons, they were fair and kind and wise–and especially wise when it came to making good coffee. (The dragons didn’t abuse this coffee; it was only in the later half of second millenium A.D. that coffee became evil, and that was the fault of the humans, who were unhappy with the number of hours in the day.)

Anyway, to sum it all up, humans got all the big, dumb guys in the villages together, wrapped them in tin foil, and sent them off to skewer the dragons (and disturb their poker game). The dragons that weren’t killed were forced into hiding. Today, the dragon who inches his head out of the closet is still bound to get it lopped off. Society still fears and hates dragons, despite the fact that they’ve done no more wrong than humans. The government, should it get its greedy hands on them, would confine them in small wire cages and subject them to cruel tests. Most people would just shoot them. People are cutting down the trees they eat, polluting the waters where they fish on dragon holidays…

Doesn’t anyone love dragons? Who will stand up for them? Will they ever have the rights that humans take for granted?

Dragons are now an endangered species. The Save the Dragons Campaign demands that these dragons be protected and embraced.

By joining the Campaign, you swear:

*to help dragons in need and prevent others from harming them (this doesn’t extend to Barney the Purple Dinosaur, because he’s a dinosaur, not a dragon).
*to replant trees so that the dragons don’t starve to death, as they refuse to eat humans (wouldn’t you?).
*to not abuse coffee (unless you really have to–do you have a doctor’s excuse?).

Or, if that’s just too much for you:

*to wish for wings and a tail.

If this sounds like your thing, click below and join the Campaign. With enough voices in the Campaign, we can make a difference! Dragons everywhere will be free! (They might steal your job, though.)

Ontario Letterboxing?

Bumbling Along is (so far) the only Canadian link I have found.

I’m hoping to find more but.. there are two main sites which have world wide links and resources.

Atlas Quest

Letterboxing.org

Letterboxing is a outdoor recreational activity which combines collecting, puzzle-solving, and treasure hunting.

Briefly, letterboxing enthusiasts hide and hunt weatherproof containers in remote or scenic places. Each container holds a guestbook, a rubber stamp and stamp pad. The planter of the letterbox distributes clues to its location; solution of these clues may require a combination of skills such as mapreading, orienteering, and puzzle-solving.

Letterboxers carry their own stamp book and personal stamp when hunting for hidden boxes. Upon finding a letterbox, they will impress their own book using the found stamp, and leave their own stamping or personalization in the letterbox guestbook.

Letterboxing has its roots in Dartmoor, England, in 1854.

Description of letterboxing from Curlie, the category for letterboxing links.