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  1. #1
    Join Date
    23rd August 08
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    Displaced 3rd generation Californian now residing in the "old" State of Jefferson, USA
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    Great photos, Barb. Checked Goggle,...Yep you're in the middle of nowhere. What a great job you have. If you don't mind my asking, what in particular has your interest? Thanks for posting.
    [I][B]Nearly all men can stand adversity. If you really want to test a man’s character,
    Give him power.[/B][/I] - [I]Abraham Lincoln[/I]

  2. #2
    Join Date
    30th November 04
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    Hi all,

    Thanks for the wonderful replies! I'll try to answer some of your questions. If I miss any, ask again.

    I actually have two kilts with me - one for Rex Tremende, which I was pleating last night. I have half the pleats done. I'll have Dave take a pic of me working on it here. BTW- it is an absolutely, drop dead gorgeous tartan than Rex designed.

    The other Rex - I'll be here in Aswan until the 17th. Will you be here by then? And are you visiting Aswan as a tourist or for business? How remarkable that we will have both been here in the same month!

    And the question about the giant ear. It's actually a fold in the bedrock that's a several kilometers long. The white oval is actually a layer of light colored limestone that's shaped kind of like a double dog bowl. Only the edge is exposed - most of it is underground, kind of the way you only see the rim of the dog bowl when the bowl is full of food, but you know that the bowl is under there somewhere. ANYWAY....the Western Desert has a whole bunch of fabulous eye-shaped structures associated with faults, and they haven't been studied much. They're pretty unusual, and the origin of them isn't at all clear. We're doing reconnaissance on these structures so that we can submit a grant proposal to come back and study them more fully. So far, we've inventoried nearly 500 that we can see on satellite images. Here are a few more locations with spectacular eyes. Coordinates for Google Earth:

    23.291763°N, 31.384980°E
    these two look like a pair of eyeglasses: 23.319809°N, 31.329464°E,
    and this one looks like a human eye: 23.622023°N, 32.233289°E
    24.154332°N, 31.522681°E,
    and another pair of eyes: 24.416422°N, 30.930450°E

    And, believe it or not, our primary data source is Google Earth. We're actually using Google Earth images in the field as base maps, because it's the best resolution imagery available. Amazing!
    Kiltmaker, piper, and geologist (one of the few, the proud, with brains for rocks....
    Member, Scottish Tartans Authority
    Geology stuff (mostly) at http://people.hamilton.edu/btewksbu
    The Art of Kiltmaking at http://theartofkiltmaking.com

  3. #3
    Join Date
    22nd April 06
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    Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
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    Quote Originally Posted by Barb T. View Post
    I actually have two kilts with me - one for Rex Tremende, which I was pleating last night. I have half the pleats done. I'll have Dave take a pic of me working on it here. BTW- it is an absolutely, drop dead gorgeous tartan than Rex designed.
    When I asked Barb to build my Heatherfield kilt for me, she informed me that I might have to wait a while for it (as though one never does), because she was preparing to leave for this expedition. I told her that it would please me a great deal to be able to say that my kilt was made in Egypt, as I too have "drunk from the waters of the Nile". Well not actually, but there is a saying that, "They who drink of the waters of the Nile shall return to Egypt." So far, I haven't been able to fulfill that destiny, but perhaps this kilt will be my proxy until I can.

    That was in 1985, I think, and here are a few shots scanned from my pre-digital photo album:

    Here's where I took a camel ride at the base of the pyramids.

    It was the first opportunity to spend any money, and I did not have any small change with me. When I paid the handler after he led me around for a short while, he claimed that he did not have any change (a ruse), but I protested that I did not get my money's worth. To my surprise, he let go of the reins and swatted the camel, and off I went into a kind of a camel gallop. The camel and I had a great time of it.

    Quote Originally Posted by Barb T. View Post
    Egypt is a peculiar mix of high tech (the mobile phone store on this street, plus the wireless USB modem that I bought to access the Internet - total cost $30, which included a month of access) and donkey carts on the four-lane highways.
    Not much has changed in 25 years, except for the mobile phone stores and internet cafes.

    Barb, watch out for the taxis that take shortcuts on the sidewalks!

    On the way down to Aswan by train, you pass through miles and miles of cultivated land along the banks of the Nile.

    I couldn't help but imagine that it hasn't changed much in 4000 years, either.

    Besides eyeball shaped limestone outcroppings, one of the main attractions at the terminus at Aswan is the temple complex near Luxor.

    Here a friend and I (on the left in the stripes) are dwarfed by the columns of the Great Hypostyle Hall of the Karnak Temple of Amun.

    Quote Originally Posted by starbkjrus View Post
    I wouldn't be surprised to see a pix of you with a pyramid in the background sitting on a camp stool sewing a kilt.
    Oh, I do hope so.

    And Barb, thanks for your generous words about the tartan. It means a lot to me coming from you.

    Regards,
    Rex.
    At any moment you must be prepared to give up who you are today for who you could become tomorrow.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    21st May 08
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    Inverness-shire, Scotland & British Columbia, Canada
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    Quote Originally Posted by Barb T. View Post
    The other Rex - I'll be here in Aswan until the 17th. Will you be here by then? And are you visiting Aswan as a tourist or for business? How remarkable that we will have both been here in the same month!
    I don't arrive in Egypt until the 19th, Barb, and on to Aswan the following day. It's all about this snow, you see. We may just run out of oil before we can run away ourselves. We have the drive clear enough to get the car out, but not enough to get deliveries in. I hear that Vancouver is experiencing wonderfully mild days, but here.... So warmer climes are not just beckoning but fairly shouting for attention. I'll post a photo or two of me in your Maple Leaf when I return in early February, but it would have been good to greet each other in person in that far-off place and have the photo of both.

    Rex (too)

  5. #5
    MacBean is offline Oops, it seems this member needs to update their email address
    Join Date
    21st October 09
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    Quote Originally Posted by Barb T. View Post
    It's actually a fold in the bedrock that's a several kilometers long. The white oval is actually a layer of light colored limestone that's shaped kind of like a double dog bowl. Only the edge is exposed - most of it is underground

    our primary data source is Google Earth. We're actually using Google Earth images in the field as base maps, because it's the best resolution imagery available. Amazing!
    You aren't thinking that these might be meteorite impact craters are you? I saw a Smithsonian special on one in the Sahara with a lot of buff-green glass about. I would have thought you only produced glass when you impacted sand, not when you had limestone, so I suppose my comment isn't a totally ridiculous speculation.

    Aren't the Google Earth images just LANDSAT or related imagery anyway? My brother-in-law is a LANDSAT interpreter for the Amazonian region for IMPE in Brazil.

    To ensure that something kilted enters this - so what makes Rex's tartan design so successful, Barb? Rex, want to share it with us? A newbie post led me to Scotsweb design, and I began to work on the MacBean tartan a bit, turning the modern into the ancient for a start, thinking about what pleats well to the stripe and flashes nicely when moving.

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    Wow, great pics, you do get to go to out of the way places, cool.

  7. #7
    Join Date
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    Egypt is a fascinating place to visit. I always found the Egyptians quite friendly. Thanks for sharing your adventure with us.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    19th October 09
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    Great photos! And even greater adventure! I have just started to pursue a geology degree in Oregon, and this makes me even more excited about it!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    5th August 08
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    great pictures and great stories everybody. Thanks for posting this.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    31st August 09
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    Thumbs up

    Wonderful pictures, thanks for sharing
    [B]Steve Cunningham[/B]
    [B]Clan Cunningham International[/B]
    [I]United Worldwide! - Together Worldwide
    Join our Worldwide Clan Family![/I]

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