Over the past few months, I've been catching songs on the radio and on tv that I really love. Needing to find the artist, I did a bit of googling and found that the entrancing music belonged to Florence + The Machine. I'd been hearing their songs everywhere and could finally put a name to the music.
What captured me was the amazing strength in the lead singer's voice. Florence Welch has a captivating vocal range and I found myself listening to the sound more than the words. When I dug deeper, the lyrics were just as impressive. The band has released two albums and an unplugged collections from a live show. I've always held the opinion that any artist's music slightly degrades after their first album. But, this band has made me change my mind. Ceremonials is just as good and perhaps even better than Lungs. I've been replaying the albums for weeks and can't seem to grow tired of it.
If you can, get a copy of the unplugged show as well. It blew me away! How something so beautiful can come from someone's voice astounded me. The amount of musical creativity out there is inspiring. I almost feel the need to start playing the piano again :-).
Here I share my experiences of working as a coal geologist across the world. I also share what's currently catching my attention from the latest book to the weirdest webcomic.
Tuesday 8 January 2013
Sunday 1 July 2012
Musical Madness Part 1
I love creativity in all its forms. I love new stories whether it's in the children's section of the book shop or a new webseries. When I first stumbled upon Janelle Monáe's music, I was entranced.
Janelle Monáe's songs not only cover a range of topics, but different musical styles as well. But the best part is where the music comes from. She has created this entire fictional world in which the songs are actually by the main character. A story within a story. I love it! Without giving too much away, I really recommend getting your hands on both her albums - Metropolis and The ArchAndroid. The album art beautifully illustrates this new world as well. One of the first singles, Many Moons (link to official music video), recreates Monáe's universe and is a short film in itself.
Again, the depths of people's creativity has amazed me. I can't wait to see what else is out there!
Janelle Monáe's songs not only cover a range of topics, but different musical styles as well. But the best part is where the music comes from. She has created this entire fictional world in which the songs are actually by the main character. A story within a story. I love it! Without giving too much away, I really recommend getting your hands on both her albums - Metropolis and The ArchAndroid. The album art beautifully illustrates this new world as well. One of the first singles, Many Moons (link to official music video), recreates Monáe's universe and is a short film in itself.
Again, the depths of people's creativity has amazed me. I can't wait to see what else is out there!
The Perfect Geologist
I had a very interesting conversation with my manager the other day. We were going to inspect one of the furthest pits and were in the light vehicle for quite some time. I took the chance to try and find out how I've been doing at my new job - I was being very subtle, of course. The conversation turned to how potential candidates are being interviewed and what skills are considered crucial. My manager had a list of three things in the following order:
1) Safety behaviours - critical in the mining environment. Does the geologist put himself or others in danger with his attitude towards safety?
2) People skills - how the job is done. Is the geologist a good fit in the current team? Will he fit in or at least be willing to work within the team?
3) Technical skills - geological knowledge and related skills.
It was interesting that the technical skills landed at the bottom of the list. But, I have heard this argument before. One can teach technical skills, but people skills are trickier. Either you're a good communicator and get the necessary information across or you can't. Geology is a service to the production and planning teams. As a geologist you have to be able to convey the right information at the right time in the right manner. Learning how to use software can be done with a few training sessions. How not to aggravate your co-workers isn't something a session with Oprah can fix :-).
In the current job market with its boom and numerous opportunities, you need to show you're a cut above the rest. Your confidence in yourself and your ability to do your job may become more crucial than your actual technical skills. So don't be scared of moving between different mining operations or commodities. A good geo is a good geo - no matter if you're Vulcan or Minex proficient. (And, yes, I only added that last sentence to be able to describe someone as Vulcan. My Star Trek roots run deep :-)
1) Safety behaviours - critical in the mining environment. Does the geologist put himself or others in danger with his attitude towards safety?
2) People skills - how the job is done. Is the geologist a good fit in the current team? Will he fit in or at least be willing to work within the team?
3) Technical skills - geological knowledge and related skills.
It was interesting that the technical skills landed at the bottom of the list. But, I have heard this argument before. One can teach technical skills, but people skills are trickier. Either you're a good communicator and get the necessary information across or you can't. Geology is a service to the production and planning teams. As a geologist you have to be able to convey the right information at the right time in the right manner. Learning how to use software can be done with a few training sessions. How not to aggravate your co-workers isn't something a session with Oprah can fix :-).
In the current job market with its boom and numerous opportunities, you need to show you're a cut above the rest. Your confidence in yourself and your ability to do your job may become more crucial than your actual technical skills. So don't be scared of moving between different mining operations or commodities. A good geo is a good geo - no matter if you're Vulcan or Minex proficient. (And, yes, I only added that last sentence to be able to describe someone as Vulcan. My Star Trek roots run deep :-)
Monday 26 March 2012
The Magic of Reality
The Magic of Reality is a new book by Richard Dawkins. I've read a few of his books before so when I saw this one I thought it might be a bit of a repeat of what he's already written. But, when I noticed Dave McKean did the illustrations I immediately bought it.
Dave McKean has illustrated many of Neil Gaiman's books and graphic novels and I love his work. He also directed MirrorMask, a film based on Gaiman's book. He uses everything - inks, paper, models, photographs. It's truly creative and amazing. And his work in The Magic of Reality takes his art to a new level.
The book is about how wonderfully magical science truly is. Richard Dawkins has beautifully explained some of the more complex concepts arranged in chapters that each start with a question. Dawkins then looks at the more colourful myths around these questions and then turns to the science behind it.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It has one of the best explanations of natural selection, evolution and plate tectonics I've ever read. And McKean's illustrations are unique and bring the scientific concepts to life. This is the first page :-):
Dave McKean has illustrated many of Neil Gaiman's books and graphic novels and I love his work. He also directed MirrorMask, a film based on Gaiman's book. He uses everything - inks, paper, models, photographs. It's truly creative and amazing. And his work in The Magic of Reality takes his art to a new level.
The book is about how wonderfully magical science truly is. Richard Dawkins has beautifully explained some of the more complex concepts arranged in chapters that each start with a question. Dawkins then looks at the more colourful myths around these questions and then turns to the science behind it.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It has one of the best explanations of natural selection, evolution and plate tectonics I've ever read. And McKean's illustrations are unique and bring the scientific concepts to life. This is the first page :-):
Wednesday 14 March 2012
Wortel
One of the things I really like about the mine I'm working at is how many different cultures there are. Don't get me wrong, South Africa probably has the widest range of cultures in one country. At my new work, there are people from all over the world.
In my area, about half of the team are not Australians. There's South Africans, Indians and Indonesians. My geology supervisor us from Chile and the geology technician is an American. What I love is how everyone gets along and tries to understand each other even through some of the language barriers.
The workplace really has become global with many of my colleagues having worked in several countries. I think that more and more of your cv will be focused on how you can work in a team. How you get along with people who might have very different views and ways of doing their job.
We were about to go home for the day one afternoon when my colleague mentioned she'll be making wortel cake that evening. In Afrikaans, wortel means carrot and when I asked my friend, she replied that's what they call carrots in Indonesia too.
There's a good metaphor for life in that story about how some things may not be as different as you think even between cultures massive distances apart. We just started joking about who might have used the term first :-).
In my area, about half of the team are not Australians. There's South Africans, Indians and Indonesians. My geology supervisor us from Chile and the geology technician is an American. What I love is how everyone gets along and tries to understand each other even through some of the language barriers.
The workplace really has become global with many of my colleagues having worked in several countries. I think that more and more of your cv will be focused on how you can work in a team. How you get along with people who might have very different views and ways of doing their job.
We were about to go home for the day one afternoon when my colleague mentioned she'll be making wortel cake that evening. In Afrikaans, wortel means carrot and when I asked my friend, she replied that's what they call carrots in Indonesia too.
There's a good metaphor for life in that story about how some things may not be as different as you think even between cultures massive distances apart. We just started joking about who might have used the term first :-).
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