Iridescent Ammonite

A very large iridescent ammonite from the Late Cretaceous period from Alberta, Canada, made its way to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The 71 million years old extinct shelled marine animal which is related to the octopus and the squid, is resplendent in iridescent shades of red, blue, orange, and green colors. The colored iridescence is caused by the reflection of light from layers of aragonite that make up the shell of the ammonite. These ammonite shells resemble hues and characteristics of opal and are mined today, cut, polished, and sold under the gemstone name of “ammolite.”

How are ammonites mined? In the KORITE mine in Alberta, ammonite fossils are found randomly in layers of shale. Once spotted in a compressed shale, the ammonite is stabilized in situ, the first step in excavation. Ammonite fossils are so fragile that, without stabilizing glue, the fossils would shatter. The whole site is impregnated with glue. After the glue dries, the fossil is removed by digging trenches with picks and hammers around it, usually leaving 5 cm around the precious discovery. The digging underneath the fossil and the stress usually causes the rock around it to cleave, thus releasing the precious fossil. The fossil is then carried to Calgary for further processing into precious stones used in jewelry.

 

 

Silicon (Si 14)

Silicon (Si 14) is the main component of the chips that make up the brain of cell phones. Ninety percent of the earth’s crust is made up of silicone in various mineral forms like quartz. According to museum curators, each cell phone contains about 166 mg of silicone, the weight of a postage stamp.

But that is not all, cell phones also contain gold, a metal that does not corrode and conducts electricity well. It is used in various circuits, especially in SIM cards, the unique “signature” of your specific cellphone. Each smart phone contains up to 50 mg of gold, the weight of two grains of rice and worth about $6 in 2025 gold prices.

South Miami Beach

We were “lucky” to visit this famous beach in October 2024, chased away by hurricane Helene from Siesta Key. We were spared thousands of spring break and tourist beach goers, showing off their naked bodies to the world while soaking in the sunshine.

The beach and the mosaiced boardwalk were empty of tourists as a second hurricane [Milton] had not decided yet where it was going to make landfall. After hurricane Helene’s devastation, people stayed home. A few locals were scattered on the beach or riding their e-bikes.

The hotel was one block from the beach, a short three-minute walk. The staff ignored us most of the time since we did not speak Spanish, “gringos” from other lands.

Miami Beach is a country in itself; it is part of U.S.A. in name only. Life here is vibrantly Hispanic and foreign to American culture in the rest of the states. Cubans like it that way and are proud of their Little Havana.  The food is mostly Cuban and tasty.

Nobody drives well at all, some don’t even bother with driver’s licenses, and, if you happen to be embroiled in a hit and run while crossing the pedestrian crosswalk, the police ignore the victim, and take off in a hurry, protecting their Hispanic brethren who broke the law and almost killed you.

The hotel rooms were tiny and humid, nothing ever dried, towels were missing, and service lacked a lot to be desired. Prices were high and parking cost a fortune per day.

The wooden trolleys were free, and the Uber drivers were sketchy. The outdoor spaces designed for walking and shopping were guarded by several armed policemen which left us with a feeling of unease.

The best part was the almost empty beach, with sand so soft that we sank deeply with each step. The lifeguards had interesting towers with sun-protection windows and all sorts of equipment intended to save the lives of those who were daring or reckless enough to brave the dangerous Atlantic Ocean.

The water was a beautiful seafoam blue, so opaque that I could not see my fingers three inches below the surface. We stepped from the water’s edge into this balmy ocean and immediately sank onto a three-foot drop, then another three-foot drop. It was so sudden that we lost our balance and fell in. By the time we touched the floor, the diaphanous water was above our heads, and we had to tread water while the waves were tugging us not so gently away from the shore.

While attempting to swim, I imagined all sorts of frightening scenarios lurking under this beautiful water, such as stingrays, sharks, or jellyfish stinging us with long tentacles. But the water temperature and the salt felt divine to the skin and joints.

I was familiar with the stingray from previous swims in the Gulf of America. Unfortunately for me, once I forgot to shuffle my feet, and I stepped on a juvenile stingray who whipped its tail and stung me in the heel. The tail lashed instantly like a dark stick and stung me. Once I yelped, my husband remarked, “it was just a wooden stick honey,” but then the heel started bleeding, and the sharp pain got worse, necessitating a doctor’s visit and x-ray to identify the potential presence of a barb. Luckily, there was none.

I know that I watch too many shark documentaries and videos of other oceanic creatures that fascinate me, but I have seen sharks come close to the water’s edge on Siesta Key where the gulf waters are infinitely less dangerous than the furious and opaque Atlantic Ocean.

Are We in Waning Times like Rome?

Throughout human history, there have been approximately 60 empires, some longer lived than others - Roman Empire, Persian, Mongol, Ottoman, Han Dynasty, Umayyad Caliphate, Spanish Empire, Russian Empire, and the British Empire. They left significant traces in both eastern and western civilizations.

The Mongol Empire of the 13^th and 14^th centuries was the most contiguous empire in history. The Umayyad Caliphate comprised 4 million square miles.

The Han dynasty ruled from 206 B.C. for 400 years.

The Ottoman (Islamic) Empire occupied parts of three continents during 16^th and 17^th centuries. It “collapsed in the early years of the 20^th century.”

Persian Empire (Achaemenian) under Cyrus the Great occupied lands from Iran to Central Asia and Egypt. It fell in 333 B.C.

The Spanish empire, at its height in the 1700s stretched over 5.3 million square miles. This colonial empire existed from 1492 until 1649 (the decline) or 1976, depending on who you ask. It controlled parts of Africa, Europe, Oceanic islands, and both Americas.

The Russian Empire controlled 8.9 million square miles at its height in 1895. Historians agree that this empire and the Little Ice Age had played important roles in stopping Napoleon’s conquest of Europe.

The British Empire, now a shadow of its former self, controlled a quarter of the planet and of its population. A few of the former colonies remain part of the Commonwealth of Nations to this day.

Hitler’s Third Reich (empire), as he proclaimed it, was supposed to last a thousand years. It lasted a little over a decade, from 1933 until its pronounced defeat in 1945 by the Allies in WWII.

The Roman Empire was established in 27 B.C. by Augustus Caesar who proclaimed himself the first Emperor of Rome. Rome itself was founded in 753 B.C.

Then there was the Holy Roman Empire which was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire. Headed by a Holy Roman Emperor, this “polity” developed in the Early Middle Ages in Europe and lasted almost a thousand years until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.

Nobody can dispute the fact that America has tried to be too many things to too many people and that, in the end, we appear to have failed. We have not advanced democracy around the world as politicians claimed because most countries did not want our “democracy.”

We are not a democracy nor an empire, we are a Constitutional Republic. When the mainstream media repeated the lie of democracy ad nauseam, people eventually believed it.  

Merriam-Webster Dictionary quoted James Madison who wrote, “In a democracy, the people meet and exercise the government in person; in a republic, they assemble and administer it by their representatives and agents. A democracy, consequently, will be confined to a small spot. A republic may be extended over a large region.”

In 507 B.C., Athenian leader Cleisthenes introduced demokratia, “rule by the people,” from the Greek words, demos (people) and kratos (power). Demokratia had three institutions, the ekklesia (a group who wrote laws and devised foreign policy); the boule (council of representatives from the ten Athenian tribes); and the dikasteria (courts in which citizens presented cases to a group of jurors chosen by lottery). The lottery had to be rigged since the rich were chosen more often than the poor. Demokratia lasted two centuries. Academics renamed it direct democracy as opposed to modern representative democracy. Academics love to play with words and meanings to suit their agenda.

Democracy was not power to the people (demos-people, kratos-power) because out of 100,000 Athenian citizens only 40,000 were part of the demos who voted, male citizens older than 18.

Dikasteria chose by lot 500 jurors every day from a pool of male citizens older than 30. Aristotle said that dikasteria “contributed most to the strength of democracy because the jury had unlimited power.” Athenian citizens “used dikasteria to punish or embarrass their enemies.”  Sounds familiar?

The Roman Empire stretched all over Europe and North Africa. It lasted more than a thousand years if one takes into account the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) which ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 A.D. and its capture by the Turks.

This Eastern Roman Empire, more Greek in life and language, furthered Roman learning, and law within its walls.

The advance of the Roman Empire was always halted by the barbaric tribes in the north and east – Franks, Saxons, Alemanni, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Alans, and Huns.

At its height, Rome, the seat of the Roman Empire, was a superb megalopolis of more than one million people.

In 410 A.D., historians describe a hot August night when a slave opened “the gates of a starving Rome and the Gothic armies camped outside flooded the “Eternal City.” Hordes of Germanic barbarians ransacked Rome for three days.

St. Jerome, a native of Rome, wrote, “When the brightest light on the whole Earth was extinguished, when the Roman Empire was deprived of its head, when, to speak more correctly, the whole world perished in one city, I was dumb with silence.”  

Rome stood unconquered for 800 years. The Roman Empire never recovered after this sacking of Rome and, in 476 A.D., the last emperor, Romulus Augustus, was deposed by his own German commanders.

Alaric’s Goths were not exactly interested in destroying Rome, they wanted the Roman way of life. Alaric had asked for land for his men and the title of allied commander but was denied. More Roman soldiers were recruited from the ranks of these barbarians who felt no allegiance to Rome.

King Gaiseric destroyed much more of Rome in 454 A.D., but the end of the empire is associated with Alaric’s attack in 410 A.D. because the psychological blow to the Roman citizenry was so shocking that it became impossible to overcome.

The Western Roman Empire had stretched too far from Rome and its borders were exceedingly more difficult to defend against the constant invasions.

The excessive use of lead as sweetener, in cosmetics, and in lead pipes that carried water everywhere, caused chronic lead poisoning and infertility as evidenced by skeletons found in Cirencester which contained ten times the amount of normal lead concentration. People suffered from paralyzed limbs and headaches, classic symptoms of lead poisoning. Fertility declined, and no encouragement from emperors to produce more children changed the down spiral.

Other historians believe that “mad emperors, corrupt politicians, the lust for power, sexual perversion, and paranoia destroyed the empire from within.” You can add to that envy and treachery.

Some autocratic emperors ruled only for their own benefit, greed, power, and vengeance, but some spent Rome’s wealth for the common good. Murder in cold blood often removed their enemies, real and imagined. Other emperors were so crazy that they committed unspeakable horrors just because they could.

Greed and corruption were so entrenched that “Six men owned half the land in the province of Africa, according to the historian Pliny the Elder.”   

The main lessons from the Roman Empire's demise are that it fell because of greed, corruption, immorality, debauchery, inability to defend its vast borders, massive invasion from poor neighbors who envied the Roman lifestyle and its riches and wanted lands and wealth, and potential lead poisoning which led to population decline. It is important to note that the Roman Empire's decline and fall were not carefully orchestrated from within, by its own Curia and Senators, its fall happened gradually over hundreds of years. 

Even though our country is a Constitutional Republic, many Americans today believe that it is a democracy, others an empire, and some an experiment. The lie of democracy and empire has been repeated so many times that it has become the truth for most.

Considering the off the cliff’ purposeful direction that our country is following, this question is legitimate, are we in the waning years of its former greatness?