FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[basti]

Hey Peter, I somehow did not notice you are in Czech Republic too :D

That rule for people 65+ is that they SHOULD go shopping 10-12am, they can go also in other times, it's highly discouraged though. But people below 65 must avoid shopping between 10-12 am. Its not the best solution, but at least it provides some little extra protection to the most vulnerable.

What service do you exactly provide? Maybe some colleagues at Masaryk University need some service, I can ask. Please PM, to avoid spamming this thread.

[Jordi Fabre]

Very useful: World Health Organization responses to frequent questions

[Bob Harman]

Another show casualty: I have just been informed by Marie Huizing, editor of R & M and member of the Cincinnati Mineral Society that the
Cincinnati Mineral Show, scheduled for May 1 - May 2 has been cancelled.

If there is any good news in all this, be aware that 9 months after all these "stay at home" situations there is a baby boom. This time will be no exception! The time to recruit new youngster mineral collectors is coming! Bob Harman

[Bruce Friedman]

The Texas Mineral and Fossil Show in Conroe just north of Houston has been moved from April 24 to July 17-19.

[Jordi Fabre]

Sixth day, Thursday March 19 2020 in Barcelona

The spring is coming to Barcelona with promises and hopes for a better time.
Many cannot see it because they are confined to their homes, but it comes, and when this nightmare passes we will still see new leaves and we will see flowers at the tips of the branches

[Bruce Friedman]

Getting a bit stir crazy, so we took a drive about 60 miles west of Houston to the rolling hill country, Chappell Hill, Independence and Brenham (home of world famous Blue Bell ice cream). The bluebonnets have just starting to bloom along with Indian paintbrush. Stocked up on some canned goods ;-). Hopefully we can make a trip out here in 2 weeks when the bluebonnets are at their peak.

[Bob Carnein]

We had 8 inches of snow yesterday, which makes me REALLY appreciate the pictures from Texas. One of my neighbors posted a couple of days ago that she wasn't going to do anything the gummit (government) says! You can't fix stupid.

[Paul Bordovsky]

These were from last weekend, west of Austin about 2 hours or so in the Texas Hill Country. I didn't see any vehicles except for these two folks on this remote country road.

[Jordi Fabre]

Seventh day, Friday March 20, 2020 in Barcelona

A week has passed since the "Estado de Alarma" was announced. We already know what it is and how it hurts and without forgetting that the worst is still coming, we have to pass the mourn the best we can and not forget that with the Spring will come the desire for Life.


At 8 PM every day the people who are locked up at home go out to the balconies, windows and terraces and applaud, launch fireworks and make all kinds of sounds, and do it dedicated to the health care people, doctors and all the personnel related with the world of medicine who are struggling daily in the face of the horror.

[Don Lum]

Copyright Gary Larson
The Far Side

[Joseph DOliveira]

Just made it back to our home in Canada from Tucson and started our voluntary two week self-isolation period, as requested by Health Canada. It takes 4 long days of driving to get here, especially since I am carrying almost 900 lbs of mineral specimens. It was interesting to see the escalation of response to the virus, as we made our 3,500 kilometer voyage back.

In our small northern town, only essential services are open, and grocery store shelves are bare of many of the essential foods. Fortunately we have friends delivering our groceries for us and I can use the isolation period to catalog my Tucson purchases.

Hope everyone in the FMF community is safe and observing some form of isolation.

Cheers,
Joe

[Dany Mabillard]

In the preceding post, I wrote that I'm at home after a surgery. In our company, it's a tradition to receive a "good recovery" card signed by your coworkers and a chocolate box. Very happy when I got the package yesterday, but back to the hard reality when I saw that only one person signed it but grateful with my company that every employee can work from home.

Hope you and your families are safe and stay at home.

[Dany Mabillard]

First day of spring.
Forsythia in bloom and the vineyards waiting for more sunny days. Lucky to live in a beautiful wine area with 59 different grape varieties.

Have a nice day.

[R Saunders]

Michigan closed all schools K-12. Must study at home to keep your grades up. Hope every family has devices at home? Yesterday the State school board said that none of that will apply and may hinder graduation. Parents and teachers are up set. Governor said that she will look into it. I went to the beach at Lake Michigan today and found a few interesting rocks. Then found the local rock shop was open and bought a few fossil items. One plus is that my area had very few snow days.

[Jordi Fabre]

Eighth day, Saturday March 21, 2020 in Barcelona

Both here and in Esto va a ser largo - A ver si lo podemos hacer más entretenido it seems that little by little we are accepting the reality and although the news that reaches us there are still catastrophic, we take it somewhat better and, with hope, we publish all kinds of flowering plants (more, please)
Courage everyone, this will pass.

By the way, I imagine that you all have thought how enormously useful the Internet is in situations like this and how different it would have been to be confined without being able to share such good things as (for example) Espeleotemas - (110) or Memorias de un Geólogo de Exploración - (30)

Thanks Leonard Kleinrock, Robert Kahn, Vinton Cerf! (and so many more)