I don't know about you but ever since I was a kid I was interested in dinosaurs. I started collecting fossils at an early age and just got some shells and coral from nearby pebbles. Later I made sure mum and dad always took us on holidays to good fossil locations. Later in life I wanted to study Geology but wasn't clever enough. Geology and Fossils have always interested me though.
It all ties in with ideas of evolution, speciation, extinction. Issues very important and fundamental to Creativity. I've been on and off interested all my life with geology/ paleantology. I just think it's a great thing to get your kids into. Understanding evolution, time, the struggle for survival, adaptation and averting extinction is basically all Creativity is about. Kids brought up to understand Nature and these ideas are already Creators.
Besides hiking, fossil collecting is one of my favourite hobbies. My "speciality" is shark teeth, though I have found some pretty weird fossils - here in SA we mainly find Great White and Mako teeth - the difference is that the Great White teeth have serration[steak knife] while the Mako has none - what makes the Great White so successful are these serrations, a marvel of evolution, the ultimate predator in the sea. The colour of the teeth vary from red to grey to black, depending in which soil they fossilized; eg. orange teeth fossilized in iron-rich soil. It takes at least 10 thousand years for anything to fossilize - these teeh being much older. To see the teeth I`ve collected go to the gallery under "shark teeth"
Collecting fossils can also be a good source of Income. Megalodon teeth can sell for easily $70 a time. As can other types. I'm unfortunate as there are no exposed cliffs, quarries etc nearby and just have to wait for a camping holiday/ expedition to come up. Other rare fossils can go for very high prices though I'd beware of collecting from protected sites. Rare trilobites can retail for $500.
I have always been interested in this subject also. Here in south Georgia we find alot of arrowheads and it always thrills me when I find an unbroken one. I will have to post some pics. Rev. Maritz , I just saw your shark teeth gallery and your collection is awesome ! I have to say the genocide pics made my blood boil to say the least. Gruesome.
Quote from: ComeRahowa! on Tue 24 Nov 2009
The inadequacy of the Christian/Jew religion, is exposed in so-called Victorian 'crisis of faith'. Exploration and archaeology had revealed fossils, and consequently a growing awareness that official line of the church was hogwash.
How ironic, I recall reading about how the Epic of Gilgamesh was first heralded as a confirmation of the bible due to initial translations of the flood portion mirroring the Bible, but then as the translation dragged on it became apparent that the Epic contained earlier folklore that later became Biblical canon once all of the various "gospels" were pulled together.
QuoteI am soooo grateful to be a Creator. As only a former christian can be.
I've never really cared much for the dead-jew-on-the-popsicle-stick story myself, but I have heard the life story about one long-time Creator whose mother was a real christian nutjob, semi-abusive, would lock this kid in the basement tied to a pole and leave him in the dark for hours on end to "drive out the demons," etc.
Anyway, the son comes of age and is slightly messed up because of these traumatic experiences with the jesus-freak undertone, and then he comes across Creativity. His words about our Faith are: "Two weeks of Ben Klassen undid 20 years of christian insanity."
Neat, huh?
I think some of the best of the White Race where fossil collectors. Darwin and the scientists that took on the Christian establishment. Its sad that even a century and a half later Christians are trying to argue back about fossils being the work of the devil and the Earth being 6000 years old and arguing against the fact of evolution. These people need psychiatric treatment and i can only concur that they just can't comprehend it because of their low IQ.