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Lithium

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Did a fuckin Jock just give me a volley for incomprehensible gibberish, a jock, really?!? A peoples whoose accent sounds my Nan clearing her morning catarrh, I've fuckin' heard it all now :lol:

I was actually thinking of Snakes with the incomprehensible gibberish bit, but you argument seems to run that a Scot will always be less comprehensible than an Englishman, so I must be less comprehensible than Snakes if that's the case... Jings!

Secretly I've always wanted to sound like a Scot, not like you though, with all due respect, though you have the accent yours is sort of like a TV presenters Scottish accent whereas I'd prefer the more Francis Begbie variety :D I have a thing about accents, they fascinate me, all except South East England ones cuz...well, there's nothing special about them, they're everywhere.

I should probably go some way to bringing this thread back since I've derailed it. So uh, Graeme, will you marry me? :lol:

What took you so long? :wub:

I'd really like to have an accent like these guys...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw95tQ4yJlI

I like that one :)

I don't think I sound that different to that... Maybe you'd have to hear me talking to my friends and family. Remember, the only time you've heard me speak, I was talking for an international audience, and over a year of living in England, plus half a year in Mexico have taught me that bastardising the way one speaks in the first place is very slightly less annoying than saying it "normally" the first time, only to be told "eh?" and then having to repeat it in aforementioned bastardised tone...

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Did a fuckin Jock just give me a volley for incomprehensible gibberish, a jock, really?!? A peoples whoose accent sounds my Nan clearing her morning catarrh, I've fuckin' heard it all now :lol:

I was actually thinking of Snakes with the incomprehensible gibberish bit, but you argument seems to run that a Scot will always be less comprehensible than an Englishman, so I must be less comprehensible than Snakes if that's the case... Jings!

Secretly I've always wanted to sound like a Scot, not like you though, with all due respect, though you have the accent yours is sort of like a TV presenters Scottish accent whereas I'd prefer the more Francis Begbie variety :D I have a thing about accents, they fascinate me, all except South East England ones cuz...well, there's nothing special about them, they're everywhere.

I should probably go some way to bringing this thread back since I've derailed it. So uh, Graeme, will you marry me? :lol:

What took you so long? :wub:

I'd really like to have an accent like these guys...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw95tQ4yJlI

I like that one :)

I don't think I sound that different to that... Maybe you'd have to hear me talking to my friends and family. Remember, the only time you've heard me speak, I was talking for an international audience, and over a year of living in England, plus half a year in Mexico have taught me that bastardising the way one speaks in the first place is very slightly less annoying than saying it "normally" the first time, only to be told "eh?" and then having to repeat it in aforementioned bastardised tone...

Bollocks to that, say it normal, the world'll work it out, proud as you are of your background I wouldn't've thought you'd give a monkeys. Then again if you get too deep into thinking this shit through laying it on is as contrived as being accommodating and softening it a bit. Personally I've never had a problem with it, the scottish accent, i don't see what part people don't get, most especially people from here, i sometimes get the feeling they're doing it on purpose.

I guess coming from a nation as i do thats sort of trying to make it's mark in the shadow of two other big established nations (India and Pakistan) I've always really had a thing for you lot. The paddys too at that. Even though i don't strictly come from there but you know what I mean :lol:

Edited by Len B'stard
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Did a fuckin Jock just give me a volley for incomprehensible gibberish, a jock, really?!? A peoples whoose accent sounds my Nan clearing her morning catarrh, I've fuckin' heard it all now :lol:

I was actually thinking of Snakes with the incomprehensible gibberish bit, but you argument seems to run that a Scot will always be less comprehensible than an Englishman, so I must be less comprehensible than Snakes if that's the case... Jings!

Secretly I've always wanted to sound like a Scot, not like you though, with all due respect, though you have the accent yours is sort of like a TV presenters Scottish accent whereas I'd prefer the more Francis Begbie variety :D I have a thing about accents, they fascinate me, all except South East England ones cuz...well, there's nothing special about them, they're everywhere.

I should probably go some way to bringing this thread back since I've derailed it. So uh, Graeme, will you marry me? :lol:

What took you so long? :wub:

I'd really like to have an accent like these guys...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw95tQ4yJlI

I like that one :)

I don't think I sound that different to that... Maybe you'd have to hear me talking to my friends and family. Remember, the only time you've heard me speak, I was talking for an international audience, and over a year of living in England, plus half a year in Mexico have taught me that bastardising the way one speaks in the first place is very slightly less annoying than saying it "normally" the first time, only to be told "eh?" and then having to repeat it in aforementioned bastardised tone...

Bollocks to that, say it normal, the world'll work it out, proud as you are of your background I wouldn't've thought you'd give a monkeys. Then again if you get too deep into thinking this shit through laying it on is as contrived as being accommodating and softening it a bit. Personally I've never had a problem with it, the scottish accent, i don't see what part people don't get, most especially people from here, i sometimes get the feeling they're doing it on purpose.

I guess coming from a nation as i do thats sort of trying to make it's mark in the shadow of two other big established nations (India and Pakistan) I've always really had a thing for you lot. The paddys too at that. Even though i don't strictly come from there but you know what I mean :lol:

Well, I think you gotta give the Mexicans a bit of a break... Those that speak English generally speak very American English, although they definitely struggled less with my accent than some of my friends' Northern English and Welsh accents. One time, I went on a 6 day trip to a volcanic island in the Pacific, and I was the only English speaker on the excursion, after about 4 days I was really sick of hearing people talk and not understanding them, I decided I would start talking some rapidfire incomprehensible gibberish, so I started reciting Robert Burns poetry (which is really broad Scots). The expressions on the Mexican faces was totally worth it, especially when I kept going...

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Did a fuckin Jock just give me a volley for incomprehensible gibberish, a jock, really?!? A peoples whoose accent sounds my Nan clearing her morning catarrh, I've fuckin' heard it all now :lol:

I was actually thinking of Snakes with the incomprehensible gibberish bit, but you argument seems to run that a Scot will always be less comprehensible than an Englishman, so I must be less comprehensible than Snakes if that's the case... Jings!

Secretly I've always wanted to sound like a Scot, not like you though, with all due respect, though you have the accent yours is sort of like a TV presenters Scottish accent whereas I'd prefer the more Francis Begbie variety :D I have a thing about accents, they fascinate me, all except South East England ones cuz...well, there's nothing special about them, they're everywhere.

I should probably go some way to bringing this thread back since I've derailed it. So uh, Graeme, will you marry me? :lol:

What took you so long? :wub:

I'd really like to have an accent like these guys...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw95tQ4yJlI

I like that one :)

I don't think I sound that different to that... Maybe you'd have to hear me talking to my friends and family. Remember, the only time you've heard me speak, I was talking for an international audience, and over a year of living in England, plus half a year in Mexico have taught me that bastardising the way one speaks in the first place is very slightly less annoying than saying it "normally" the first time, only to be told "eh?" and then having to repeat it in aforementioned bastardised tone...

Bollocks to that, say it normal, the world'll work it out, proud as you are of your background I wouldn't've thought you'd give a monkeys. Then again if you get too deep into thinking this shit through laying it on is as contrived as being accommodating and softening it a bit. Personally I've never had a problem with it, the scottish accent, i don't see what part people don't get, most especially people from here, i sometimes get the feeling they're doing it on purpose.

I guess coming from a nation as i do thats sort of trying to make it's mark in the shadow of two other big established nations (India and Pakistan) I've always really had a thing for you lot. The paddys too at that. Even though i don't strictly come from there but you know what I mean :lol:

Well, I think you gotta give the Mexicans a bit of a break... Those that speak English generally speak very American English, although they definitely struggled less with my accent than some of my friends' Northern English and Welsh accents. One time, I went on a 6 day trip to a volcanic island in the Pacific, and I was the only English speaker on the excursion, after about 4 days I was really sick of hearing people talk and not understanding them, I decided I would start talking some rapidfire incomprehensible gibberish, so I started reciting Robert Burns poetry (which is really broad Scots). The expressions on the Mexican faces was totally worth it, especially when I kept going...

:lol:

Ain't Mexico all evil and scary and you can't walk the streets for murderers and drug dealers and psychos and that? Then again I don't suppose you make a living selling browns on a volcano. All their remote areas are where all the dodgy shit is grown and that though. Ever have any hairy experiences on your travels? Are the birds really as fit as on the telly?

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Did a fuckin Jock just give me a volley for incomprehensible gibberish, a jock, really?!? A peoples whoose accent sounds my Nan clearing her morning catarrh, I've fuckin' heard it all now :lol:

I was actually thinking of Snakes with the incomprehensible gibberish bit, but you argument seems to run that a Scot will always be less comprehensible than an Englishman, so I must be less comprehensible than Snakes if that's the case... Jings!

Secretly I've always wanted to sound like a Scot, not like you though, with all due respect, though you have the accent yours is sort of like a TV presenters Scottish accent whereas I'd prefer the more Francis Begbie variety :D I have a thing about accents, they fascinate me, all except South East England ones cuz...well, there's nothing special about them, they're everywhere.

I should probably go some way to bringing this thread back since I've derailed it. So uh, Graeme, will you marry me? :lol:

What took you so long? :wub:

I'd really like to have an accent like these guys...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw95tQ4yJlI

I like that one :)

I don't think I sound that different to that... Maybe you'd have to hear me talking to my friends and family. Remember, the only time you've heard me speak, I was talking for an international audience, and over a year of living in England, plus half a year in Mexico have taught me that bastardising the way one speaks in the first place is very slightly less annoying than saying it "normally" the first time, only to be told "eh?" and then having to repeat it in aforementioned bastardised tone...

Bollocks to that, say it normal, the world'll work it out, proud as you are of your background I wouldn't've thought you'd give a monkeys. Then again if you get too deep into thinking this shit through laying it on is as contrived as being accommodating and softening it a bit. Personally I've never had a problem with it, the scottish accent, i don't see what part people don't get, most especially people from here, i sometimes get the feeling they're doing it on purpose.

I guess coming from a nation as i do thats sort of trying to make it's mark in the shadow of two other big established nations (India and Pakistan) I've always really had a thing for you lot. The paddys too at that. Even though i don't strictly come from there but you know what I mean :lol:

Well, I think you gotta give the Mexicans a bit of a break... Those that speak English generally speak very American English, although they definitely struggled less with my accent than some of my friends' Northern English and Welsh accents. One time, I went on a 6 day trip to a volcanic island in the Pacific, and I was the only English speaker on the excursion, after about 4 days I was really sick of hearing people talk and not understanding them, I decided I would start talking some rapidfire incomprehensible gibberish, so I started reciting Robert Burns poetry (which is really broad Scots). The expressions on the Mexican faces was totally worth it, especially when I kept going...

:lol:

Ain't Mexico all evil and scary and you can't walk the streets for murderers and drug dealers and psychos and that? Then again I don't suppose you make a living selling browns on a volcano. All their remote areas are where all the dodgy shit is grown and that though. Ever have any hairy experiences on your travels? Are the birds really as fit as on the telly?

That's not my experience of it at all... Colima, the city I lived in, has one of the highest standards of living in Latin America. I loved to explore by walking, I would sometimes go for pretty extensive 2-4 hour walks around the city at night and I never encountered anything to be afraid of; mostly just young lovers, musicians on street corners or groups of old people who would set up speakers in the plazas and do salsa dancing with each other late into the night.

People were always pleased to see you, generally very friendly and genuinely interested in where you had come from and ensuring that you had positive impressions of their city and their country. Their culture is very open, friends of friends are welcome at gatherings and will be catered for and treated like family.

That's not to say it's all sweetness and light, there is some seriously scary shit goes on in Mexico (in the week I arrived there, there were reports of 40 human heads being dumped in the main square in Morelia, the capital of the state adjacent to Colima) but most ordinary people are pretty sickened by the narcotics trade and the violence/political corruption (see the campaigns for justice for the 43 students who were butchered for protesting local government cuts to their college funding). I think the time when I was most nervous was sitting in Mexico City bus station at 2am, having been travelling since 6am that day, with scientific equipment which totalled about £50,000 and 2 hours to wait on the next bus... Well, unless you're counting all the volcanic eruptions, they probably made me more nervous.

And yeah, in my experience anyways, the lassies were generally absolutely gorgeous and lovely people. Shame I fell in love within a few weeks of getting there, the potential for mindless fun was quite high :P.

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Fuckin hell lad, you saw a volcanic eruption?!? Like fuckin lava all over the gaff and that?!? Shit, whats that like? Hope no one was up it when it went off!

Did i just make a Snakesian comment there? :lol:

Not really, maybe I just didn't talk about that part of the trip enough, but it doesn't sound too Snakesian to me, especially with most people's degree of understanding of volcanic processes being quite basic (no offence intended)...

Yeah, I saw volcanic eruptions, lots of them. The volcano I did most of my work on was the most active in North America and was constantly putting out lava. This lava's a bit different to your classic children's textbook lava though, the stuff that looks like this (It's called Basalt):

That's actually about the least dangerous that lava can get to be honest, because it's very hot, it's very fluid, so the gases inside it can expand and escape relatively easily, so you just get these fountains and lava flows which are relatively easy to avoid. The volcano I worked on in Mexico erupts a kind of lava called Andesite which is a lot cooler and thicker, so it gets squeezed out the top of the volcano like a tube of toothpaste and creates a dome which forms an outer crust of boulders. It looks like this:

PICT0037.jpg

The inside of that is still glowing hot and new lava is constantly rising up to replace the stuff already there, so there would be about 15-20 explosions per day as the gases got trapped and pressure built up, sometimes they were pretty violent. A lot of the time when we were working up there, we were taking our lives into our own hands, there was no guarantee that the volcano wouldn't kill us. This type of explosive volcanism is generally much more dangerous than the type in the video above because its effects travel further, faster and more violently.

The best example that I have is this video where two friends of mine and I were working on a RADAR station on the south side of the volcano and an eruption created a burning avalanche of gas and debris called a Pyroclastic Flow. These things move at speeds of hundreds of miles an hour, carrying missiles the size of cars, with an internal temperature of over 300 degrees celsius. They flatten and incinerate everything they come into contact with, they would literally turn you into charcoal. Watch how quickly the cloud engulfs the entire side of the mountain in front of us (and hear the panic in our voices as it gets closer and closer). It all comes to a head at around 02:25.

One year on, this was the same RADAR station after a pyroclastic flow finally got to it. Absolute gutter when you think of the man hours that went into getting it to work.

CKnd5rYW8AARZP6.jpg

Edited by Graeme
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Did a fuckin Jock just give me a volley for incomprehensible gibberish, a jock, really?!? A peoples whoose accent sounds my Nan clearing her morning catarrh, I've fuckin' heard it all now :lol:

I was actually thinking of Snakes with the incomprehensible gibberish bit, but you argument seems to run that a Scot will always be less comprehensible than an Englishman, so I must be less comprehensible than Snakes if that's the case... Jings!

Secretly I've always wanted to sound like a Scot, not like you though, with all due respect, though you have the accent yours is sort of like a TV presenters Scottish accent whereas I'd prefer the more Francis Begbie variety :D I have a thing about accents, they fascinate me, all except South East England ones cuz...well, there's nothing special about them, they're everywhere.

I should probably go some way to bringing this thread back since I've derailed it. So uh, Graeme, will you marry me? :lol:

What took you so long? :wub:

I'd really like to have an accent like these guys...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw95tQ4yJlI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_z46CSACAA

I like that one :)

I don't think I sound that different to that... Maybe you'd have to hear me talking to my friends and family. Remember, the only time you've heard me speak, I was talking for an international audience, and over a year of living in England, plus half a year in Mexico have taught me that bastardising the way one speaks in the first place is very slightly less annoying than saying it "normally" the first time, only to be told "eh?" and then having to repeat it in aforementioned bastardised tone...

Bollocks to that, say it normal, the world'll work it out, proud as you are of your background I wouldn't've thought you'd give a monkeys. Then again if you get too deep into thinking this shit through laying it on is as contrived as being accommodating and softening it a bit. Personally I've never had a problem with it, the scottish accent, i don't see what part people don't get, most especially people from here, i sometimes get the feeling they're doing it on purpose.

I guess coming from a nation as i do thats sort of trying to make it's mark in the shadow of two other big established nations (India and Pakistan) I've always really had a thing for you lot. The paddys too at that. Even though i don't strictly come from there but you know what I mean :lol:

Well, I think you gotta give the Mexicans a bit of a break... Those that speak English generally speak very American English, although they definitely struggled less with my accent than some of my friends' Northern English and Welsh accents. One time, I went on a 6 day trip to a volcanic island in the Pacific, and I was the only English speaker on the excursion, after about 4 days I was really sick of hearing people talk and not understanding them, I decided I would start talking some rapidfire incomprehensible gibberish, so I started reciting Robert Burns poetry (which is really broad Scots). The expressions on the Mexican faces was totally worth it, especially when I kept going...

:lol:

Ain't Mexico all evil and scary and you can't walk the streets for murderers and drug dealers and psychos and that? Then again I don't suppose you make a living selling browns on a volcano. All their remote areas are where all the dodgy shit is grown and that though. Ever have any hairy experiences on your travels? Are the birds really as fit as on the telly?

That's not my experience of it at all... Colima, the city I lived in, has one of the highest standards of living in Latin America. I loved to explore by walking, I would sometimes go for pretty extensive 2-4 hour walks around the city at night and I never encountered anything to be afraid of; mostly just young lovers, musicians on street corners or groups of old people who would set up speakers in the plazas and do salsa dancing with each other late into the night.

People were always pleased to see you, generally very friendly and genuinely interested in where you had come from and ensuring that you had positive impressions of their city and their country. Their culture is very open, friends of friends are welcome at gatherings and will be catered for and treated like family.

That's not to say it's all sweetness and light, there is some seriously scary shit goes on in Mexico (in the week I arrived there, there were reports of 40 human heads being dumped in the main square in Morelia, the capital of the state adjacent to Colima) but most ordinary people are pretty sickened by the narcotics trade and the violence/political corruption (see the campaigns for justice for the 43 students who were butchered for protesting local government cuts to their college funding). I think the time when I was most nervous was sitting in Mexico City bus station at 2am, having been travelling since 6am that day, with scientific equipment which totalled about £50,000 and 2 hours to wait on the next bus... Well, unless you're counting all the volcanic eruptions, they probably made me more nervous.

And yeah, in my experience anyways, the lassies were generally absolutely gorgeous and lovely people. Shame I fell in love within a few weeks of getting there, the potential for mindless fun was quite high :P.

Nothing you do is mindless. That's one of your best qualities.
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Fuckin hell lad, you saw a volcanic eruption?!? Like fuckin lava all over the gaff and that?!? Shit, whats that like? Hope no one was up it when it went off!

Did i just make a Snakesian comment there? :lol:

Not really, maybe I just didn't talk about that part of the trip enough, but it doesn't sound too Snakesian to me, especially with most people's degree of understanding of volcanic processes being quite basic (no offence intended)...

Yeah, I saw volcanic eruptions, lots of them. The volcano I did most of my work on was the most active in North America and was constantly putting out lava. This lava's a bit different to your classic children's textbook lava though, the stuff that looks like this (It's called Basalt):

That's actually about the least dangerous that lava can get to be honest, because it's very hot, it's very fluid, so the gases inside it can expand and escape relatively easily, so you just get these fountains and lava flows which are relatively easy to avoid. The volcano I worked on in Mexico erupts a kind of lava called Andesite which is a lot cooler and thicker, so it gets squeezed out the top of the volcano like a tube of toothpaste and creates a dome which forms an outer crust of boulders. It looks like this:

PICT0037.jpg

The inside of that is still glowing hot and new lava is constantly rising up to replace the stuff already there, so there would be about 15-20 explosions per day as the gases got trapped and pressure built up, sometimes they were pretty violent. A lot of the time when we were working up there, we were taking our lives into our own hands, there was no guarantee that the volcano wouldn't kill us. This type of explosive volcanism is generally much more dangerous than the type in the video above because its effects travel further, faster and more violently.

The best example that I have is this video where two friends of mine and I were working on a RADAR station on the south side of the volcano and an eruption created a burning avalanche of gas and debris called a Pyroclastic Flow. These things move at speeds of hundreds of miles an hour, carrying missiles the size of cars, with an internal temperature of over 300 degrees celsius. They flatten and incinerate everything they come into contact with, they would literally turn you into charcoal. Watch how quickly the cloud engulfs the entire side of the mountain in front of us (and hear the panic in our voices as it gets closer and closer). It all comes to a head at around 02:25.

One year on, this was the same RADAR station after a pyroclastic flow finally got to it. Absolute gutter when you think of the man hours that went into getting it to work.

CKnd5rYW8AARZP6.jpg

So its like really really not safe? Why would you do that man, you mean to say you could've really easily died any time you was up one of these? You got some bottle man. Looks fuckin' beautiful though. Must be quite an angle with the talent too now i think about it, propping up the bar 'yes my love, i risk my life every day, why i remember the time...' :lol:

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Here ya are, I'll give you an Arnie:

Girls are so much trouble man, this one held my hand and made eye contact with me, i think we're moving too fast, I'm just a small town whiteboy trying to keep my dick hard in a cruel and harsh world, why are relationships so tough, I'm only just getting over my crippling two bud lights a day addiction and I've started abusing Lemsip, if I'm not careful I'll be onto Tums and Rennies next, i cant be having a relationship along with all that, its just too much too soon!

Edited by Len B'stard
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Fuckin hell lad, you saw a volcanic eruption?!? Like fuckin lava all over the gaff and that?!? Shit, whats that like? Hope no one was up it when it went off!

Did i just make a Snakesian comment there? :lol:

Not really, maybe I just didn't talk about that part of the trip enough, but it doesn't sound too Snakesian to me, especially with most people's degree of understanding of volcanic processes being quite basic (no offence intended)...

Yeah, I saw volcanic eruptions, lots of them. The volcano I did most of my work on was the most active in North America and was constantly putting out lava. This lava's a bit different to your classic children's textbook lava though, the stuff that looks like this (It's called Basalt):

That's actually about the least dangerous that lava can get to be honest, because it's very hot, it's very fluid, so the gases inside it can expand and escape relatively easily, so you just get these fountains and lava flows which are relatively easy to avoid. The volcano I worked on in Mexico erupts a kind of lava called Andesite which is a lot cooler and thicker, so it gets squeezed out the top of the volcano like a tube of toothpaste and creates a dome which forms an outer crust of boulders.

The inside of that is still glowing hot and new lava is constantly rising up to replace the stuff already there, so there would be about 15-20 explosions per day as the gases got trapped and pressure built up, sometimes they were pretty violent. A lot of the time when we were working up there, we were taking our lives into our own hands, there was no guarantee that the volcano wouldn't kill us. This type of explosive volcanism is generally much more dangerous than the type in the video above because its effects travel further, faster and more violently.

The best example that I have is this video where two friends of mine and I were working on a RADAR station on the south side of the volcano and an eruption created a burning avalanche of gas and debris called a Pyroclastic Flow. These things move at speeds of hundreds of miles an hour, carrying missiles the size of cars, with an internal temperature of over 300 degrees celsius. They flatten and incinerate everything they come into contact with, they would literally turn you into charcoal. Watch how quickly the cloud engulfs the entire side of the mountain in front of us (and hear the panic in our voices as it gets closer and closer). It all comes to a head at around 02:25.

One year on, this was the same RADAR station after a pyroclastic flow finally got to it. Absolute gutter when you think of the man hours that went into getting it to work.

CKnd5rYW8AARZP6.jpg

So its like really really not safe? Why would you do that man, you mean to say you could've really easily died any time you was up one of these? You got some bottle man. Looks fuckin' beautiful though. Must be quite an angle with the talent too now i think about it, propping up the bar 'yes my love, i risk my life every day, why i remember the time...' :lol:

I mean to say that my first day on the job, I signed a waiver (which had to be witnessed) stating that I took full responsibility if I died in the field.

As for the why? I've just been fascinated by volcanoes since I was a child, I knew I wanted to be a volcanologist from before primary school but growing up in Scotland, I didn't see my first volcano until I was 21, nor my first eruption til I was 22. That was from a much safer distance and on a much less risky volcano, but it made a huge impression on me and I knew I was going to have to do something to recapture all the joy it brought me... This internship programme in Mexico is one of the few opportunities for young volcanologists to get any work experience and two of my friends on my MSc course had been and done it already, they recommended me.

I don't think I knew when I went out there at first how dangerous it was gonnae be, the volcano was much less active when my friends were there, but once you're on the team, the camaraderie kicks in and the danger gets normalised quite quickly (well, your first time camping up there, you're shitting yourself, but by the end of my internship I was sleeping through eruptions). There's a big sense of pride that comes from working in conditions like that, "We're volcanologists and this is what we do." And you get to see stuff like this all the time:

Pyroclastic_Sunset.jpg

I remember one night we were camping at about 9,000 feet on the volcano (it's 12,595 feet tall). The lava on the summit was glowing, above us was a completely clear night sky and down below us there was a massive thunderstorm, we were seeing the lightning from above the clouds. It was just fucking spectacular everywhere you looked and there were only 3 of us who could see it, we were 5 hours' drive from the nearest human beings. My pal Jamie said "I love our job", and there was just nothing more needed said...

Here's a photo of me from that night:

10152451_10152524428494273_8565766554553

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Fuckin hell lad, you saw a volcanic eruption?!? Like fuckin lava all over the gaff and that?!? Shit, whats that like? Hope no one was up it when it went off!

Did i just make a Snakesian comment there? :lol:

Not really, maybe I just didn't talk about that part of the trip enough, but it doesn't sound too Snakesian to me, especially with most people's degree of understanding of volcanic processes being quite basic (no offence intended)...

Yeah, I saw volcanic eruptions, lots of them. The volcano I did most of my work on was the most active in North America and was constantly putting out lava. This lava's a bit different to your classic children's textbook lava though, the stuff that looks like this (It's called Basalt):

That's actually about the least dangerous that lava can get to be honest, because it's very hot, it's very fluid, so the gases inside it can expand and escape relatively easily, so you just get these fountains and lava flows which are relatively easy to avoid. The volcano I worked on in Mexico erupts a kind of lava called Andesite which is a lot cooler and thicker, so it gets squeezed out the top of the volcano like a tube of toothpaste and creates a dome which forms an outer crust of boulders.

The inside of that is still glowing hot and new lava is constantly rising up to replace the stuff already there, so there would be about 15-20 explosions per day as the gases got trapped and pressure built up, sometimes they were pretty violent. A lot of the time when we were working up there, we were taking our lives into our own hands, there was no guarantee that the volcano wouldn't kill us. This type of explosive volcanism is generally much more dangerous than the type in the video above because its effects travel further, faster and more violently.

The best example that I have is this video where two friends of mine and I were working on a RADAR station on the south side of the volcano and an eruption created a burning avalanche of gas and debris called a Pyroclastic Flow. These things move at speeds of hundreds of miles an hour, carrying missiles the size of cars, with an internal temperature of over 300 degrees celsius. They flatten and incinerate everything they come into contact with, they would literally turn you into charcoal. Watch how quickly the cloud engulfs the entire side of the mountain in front of us (and hear the panic in our voices as it gets closer and closer). It all comes to a head at around 02:25.

One year on, this was the same RADAR station after a pyroclastic flow finally got to it. Absolute gutter when you think of the man hours that went into getting it to work.

CKnd5rYW8AARZP6.jpg

So its like really really not safe? Why would you do that man, you mean to say you could've really easily died any time you was up one of these? You got some bottle man. Looks fuckin' beautiful though. Must be quite an angle with the talent too now i think about it, propping up the bar 'yes my love, i risk my life every day, why i remember the time...' :lol:

I mean to say that my first day on the job, I signed a waiver (which had to be witnessed) stating that I took full responsibility if I died in the field.

As for the why? I've just been fascinated by volcanoes since I was a child, I knew I wanted to be a volcanologist from before primary school but growing up in Scotland, I didn't see my first volcano until I was 21, nor my first eruption til I was 22. That was from a much safer distance and on a much less risky volcano, but it made a huge impression on me and I knew I was going to have to do something to recapture all the joy it brought me... This internship programme in Mexico is one of the few opportunities for young volcanologists to get any work experience and two of my friends on my MSc course had been and done it already, they recommended me.

I don't think I knew when I went out there at first how dangerous it was gonnae be, the volcano was much less active when my friends were there, but once you're on the team, the camaraderie kicks in and the danger gets normalised quite quickly (well, your first time camping up there, you're shitting yourself, but by the end of my internship I was sleeping through eruptions). There's a big sense of pride that comes from working in conditions like that, "We're volcanologists and this is what we do." And you get to see stuff like this all the time:

Pyroclastic_Sunset.jpg

I remember one night we were camping at about 9,000 feet on the volcano (it's 12,595 feet tall). The lava on the summit was glowing, above us was a completely clear night sky and down below us there was a massive thunderstorm, we were seeing the lightning from above the clouds. It was just fucking spectacular everywhere you looked and there were only 3 of us who could see it, we were 5 hours' drive from the nearest human beings. My pal Jamie said "I love our job", and there was just nothing more needed said...

Here's a photo of me from that night:

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Still though, your life Graeme, as in you will be dead, as in no longer a member of the club, as in dormant, deceased, flat-lined, dead...as a result of not living anymore, now i like to think I've a bit of bottle about me but I'm not sure I'd go up a fucking volcano, do you not poo your pants a bit? Actually, y'know what, fuck it, I'd do it.

What do you actually do then, as a volcanologist? Sorry, really interested now! :lol: Whats it entail?

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I feel really bad, we've well and truly LENNY'd this thread :lol:.

Volcanology's the umbrella term for the study of lots of different aspects of volcanoes, encompassing lots of different individual scientific disciplines. Different volcanologists will come from different backgrounds including Geology, Geophysics, Geochemistry, Seismology and Geography.

Geologists will concern themselves with analysing the deposits of past eruptions to provide information about the style and magnitude of typical activity at a given volcano, and how frequently eruptions have occurred in the past (which is really useful if the volcano in question hasn't erupted in living memory).

One of the most mysterious areas of the science is what goes on inside volcanoes, at the moment it's impossible to put instruments in there to directly observe, they'd just get destroyed. Some Geophysicists study rock mechanics to determine how different processes inside a volcano affect the size and style of eventual eruptions. So, my mate Jamie who I mentioned above, collected hundreds of rock samples from the volcano in Mexico, (they were fucking heavy) he'll take them back to his lab and using a furnace and a triaxial press, he'll try and mimic conditions inside the volcano, heating the rocks up and then applying pressure to them to see how they behave. Another mate of mine is investigating the way in which gas bubbles form in magma under different conditions using computer modelling. Others are interested in modelling and examining processes after the volcano has erupted, like the formation of ash plumes, or the dynamics of pyroclastic and lava flows.

Geochemists study the chemical components of the magma, for example, sampling the gases which escape at hot springs or vents on volcanoes called fumaroles, which are obviously coming from the magma down below. The chemical composition of the magma (as I referred to earlier with the Basalt/Andesite comparison) has a big impact on its physical properties and therefore on the kind of eruptions to expect. Increases or decreases in the output of certain gases can provide indication of future eruptions.

Seismologists use seismographs and infrasound arrays to detect vibrations within the volcano which come from the movement of fluid at varying depths. These signals can sometimes be used to locate and measure bodies of magma within an edifice, also demonstrating movement of those bodies over time, increases in pressure and likelihood of eruption.

Geographers tend to be involved in what's known as "Applied Volcanology", that is, taking the information that's generated by all the different scientists above and putting it to use in the context of human society (the study of volcanic risk). This can involve hazard mapping, risk assessment and risk reduction. This is my area of the field.

In Mexico we were kinda doing a bit of everything: on a trip to the volcano we would take a high quality camera, a video camera and a thermal camera and we would set them up to record the activity while someone took notes of everything that happened. We would collect rock samples, there were buckets in different locations all over the volcano which ash would fall into, we would empty them into ziplock bags once a month or so and send them off to a lab to be analysed (getting to the ash buckets was actually one of the scariest/most dangerous parts of the job). We would analyse gas emissions using spectrometers (when they fucking worked) and sample the water at four different hot springs (read "festering bogs") on the volcano.

There wasn't very much money though, so the whole thing could be a bit of a shit-show sometimes. I say that in the best way possible, I loved it, but the only thing that we got grants for was equipment, none of the supporting infrastructure. So we went everywhere in a 23 year old, beat up, filthy Toyota Tacoma that took all the punishment thrown at it, but constantly looked like it was gonnae die on its arse, we'd be using very expensive, very sophisticated equipment (like an £40,000 thermal camera) but it'd be on a tripod held together with duct tape. No health and safety regs or specialist training either :P.

Edited by Graeme
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So gf is PMSing hardcore and emotional that I haven't proposed to her and told her I wouldn't over the holidays.

It is such a trap. I am twenty three years old. We have only known one another for four months. What is the hurry?

She's awesome and all, but when she's hormonal I want to drink myself to death because everything is my fault and apparently I'm a douchebag.

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So gf is PMSing hardcore and emotional that I haven't proposed to her and told her I wouldn't over the holidays.

It is such a trap. I am twenty three years old. We have only known one another for four months. What is the hurry?

She's awesome and all, but when she's hormonal I want to drink myself to death because everything is my fault and apparently I'm a douchebag.

Find a woman who brings you up. Not one that brings you down.

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So gf is PMSing hardcore and emotional that I haven't proposed to her and told her I wouldn't over the holidays.

It is such a trap. I am twenty three years old. We have only known one another for four months. What is the hurry?

She's awesome and all, but when she's hormonal I want to drink myself to death because everything is my fault and apparently I'm a douchebag.

Find a woman who brings you up. Not one that brings you down.

To be fair everything brings Arnold down.

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:facepalm: Don't get married to an emotionally unstable woman. Also, don't get married if you are emotionally unstable yourself.

I wouldn't get married at all.
But but but but sex.Find a man if you want butt sex.

Oh, you want to get married so you keep getting sex? Doesn't work like that.

Edited by Chris1989
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