Random picture thread for Friday

U.S. Army soldiers of 82nd Airborne Division and sniffer dog Alex sleep in a compound of Afghan security forces at night before a mission in Zahri district of Kandahar province, on May 30, 2012

@Insider2 said:

@PCGSPhoto said:
Here's something I picked up this weekend from the local rock shop, a very cool piece of quartz with hematite "eisenrose" or iron roses.

Let's please see more mineral "eye-candy."

Sure, here’s a close up of some Vanadinite.

I get my specimens from a great Rock shop in Orange called Nevada Book and Mineral. If you’re in OC it’s definitely worth checking out. It’s a great mini natural history museum.

http://www.minbooks.net

South Point on the Big Island Southern Most Point in America.

Here's a Campo del Cielo nickel iron meteorite fragment from the Chaco region in Argentina. This meteorite was part of a larger meteorite that exploded in the atmosphere and created a shotgun like blast of fragments. The exploded meteorite created a field of meteorite fragments extending roughly 3 km. by 18.5 km. on the ground. Easily a hundred tons of meteorite were recovered from the Campo del Cielo field area, including two big fragments, one weighing 28.8 tons and the other 30.8 tons. Needless to say, having these objects fall on your head could ruin your day. It is estimated the Campo del Cielo meteorite fell 4,000 - 5,000 years ago, so theoretically some inhabitants of the area could have seen it land nearby.

My roughly 3 pound meteorite has been cut and polished. The black outer crust is called the fusion crust, which is where the exterior crust melted and burned as it blazed through the atmosphere. The internal pattern is called the Widmanstatten pattern. These are long nickel iron crystals.

Between the Cajun Squirrel and the Chicken Nuggets, I think I would rather chew on my toenails for a while.

@1630Boston said:
The ultimate ethical meal: a grey squirrel
It tastes sweet, like a cross between lamb and duck. And it's selling as fast as butchers can get it

It's low in fat, low in food miles and completely free range. In fact, some claim that Sciurus carolinensis - the grey squirrel - is about as ethical a dish as it is possible to serve on a dinner plate.

The grey squirrel, the American cousin of Britain's endangered red variety, is flying off the shelves faster than hunters can shoot them, with game butchers struggling to keep up with demand. 'We put it on the shelf and it sells. It can be a dozen squirrels a day - and they all go,' said David Simpson, the director of Kingsley Village shopping centre in Fraddon, Cornwall, whose game counter began selling grey squirrel meat two months ago.

At Ridley's Fish and Game shop in Corbridge, Northumberland, the owner David Ridley says he has sold 1,000 - at £3.50 a squirrel - since he tested the market at the beginning of the year. 'I wasn't sure at first, and wondered would people really eat it. Now I take every squirrel I can get my hands on. I've had days when I have managed to get 60 and they've all sold straight away.'

Simpson likens the taste to wild boar. Ridley thinks it is more a cross between duck and lamb. 'It's moist and sweet because, basically, its diet has been berries and nuts,' he said.

Both believe its new-found popularity is partly due to its green credentials. 'People like the fact it is wild meat, low in fat and local - so no food miles,' says Simpson. Ridley reckons that patriotism also plays a part: 'Eat a grey and save a red. That's the message.'

Simply put, I can't eat something that cute...
When I was 18 or so my Dad brought home to me a baby grey squirrel.
Dad was out for a walk when this squirrel walked up and sat on his foot.
I raised the little guy to an adult, named him 'Rocky'.
I wanted to release him but was afraid to do so in the old neighborhood, Rocky had no fear of humans.
I took him to Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, the staff there informed me that ol' Rock was in fact female, I released her in the park. Hope she lived a good life...

Seat with a view.

The best Fried Chicken in the world...

@Hemispherical said:

Are those Seated or Trade dollars? Hard to tell from this angle.

The Old Shell Game

My NEWP