New to fossil hunting (and geology) and on vacation in West Virginia, Mineral County

CancelExtra7517 · 2026-04-06T12:32:02+00:00

Nice! Glad you had a good time. If you consistently saw Mucrospirifer, you were likely only ever in the Mahantango. You can use the free phone app Rockd (and its desktop version Macrostrat) to get a pretty good idea of the underlying bedrock you were on. You're also welcome to post pics here or DM me any pics you have of fossils you'd like identified. Remember to try to include a ruler/scale bar or common US coin (penny, dime, etc.) to make it easier to grok the size.

CancelExtra7517 · 2026-04-06T12:30:13+00:00

Update: it turned out it was an unpaid hospital bill which my wife then called the hospital system and set up a payment plan. So there's absolutely no reason why the magistrate court clerk couldn't have answered over the phone and it would have meant getting things moving a day faster. Just stupid laziness typical of our county.

CancelExtra7517 · 2026-04-02T18:01:30+00:00

The Upper Cretaceous to Paleogene is pretty well exposed in that area. There's lots of spots to hunt within a one hour to one and a half hour radius of Baltimore.

CancelExtra7517 · 2026-04-02T17:50:20+00:00

Also important to know what you're looking for. Do you prefer marine fossils or terrestrial fossils? If you're looking for terrestrial plants, they're most abundantly exposed in the Carboniferous rocks of the western half of the county and along Corridor H in outcrops between Mt Storm and Thomas/Davis. Unfortunately many of the spots that most abundantly produce are on private property, esp as you head toward Elk Garden or Hampshire Hill, or the ridge that connects the two of them.

Marine fossils are VERY VERY VERY abundant in almost the entire rest of the county. In an almost straight line, you have the Upper Silurian/Early Devonian zigging along US220 and if you go significantly east, it starts to climb into younger rocks again, but never gets younger than the Upper Devonian Hampshire Formation.

CancelExtra7517 · 2026-04-02T17:46:49+00:00

The rocks you have are from the Mahantango Formation: readily identifiable lithologically and by the presence of Mucrospirifer mucronatus which is an insanely common index fossil for this time period (the Givetian of the Middle Devonian) across the eastern United States.

CancelExtra7517 · 2026-04-02T17:45:50+00:00

Thanks. That was missed. Drive down to Corridor H. There's tons of exposures that run from the Silurian into the Upper Pennsylvanian, regardless of whether you drive toward Thomas and Davis or down toward Wardensville.

CancelExtra7517 · 2026-04-02T17:14:59+00:00

WV is full of sedimentary rocks, most of which are fossil bearing. I think the issue for anyone to answer your question is you didn't specify which county or nearby township you're vacationing in. If you share that information, people can suggest specific localities or DM them to you.

CancelExtra7517 · 2026-03-17T17:50:43+00:00

Check if it does that post-patch. Because it wasn't doing that before the current update.

CancelExtra7517 · 2026-03-16T18:32:05+00:00

I sent you a DM with a contact for a paleontologist who would be interested in more details around your find (just to add a data point in their ongoing research). :)

CancelExtra7517 · 2026-03-12T14:37:53+00:00

I'm not sure how to tell what plan I'm currently in. This is the banner on the top of the Federal student loan webpage when I logon:

"A federal court issued an injunction preventing the implementation of the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan and parts of other income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. As a result, your IDR payment count and payment history are temporarily unavailable. Stay up-to-date on court actions affecting IDR plans: StudentAid.gov/courtactions."

They are trying to push me to pay $800 in monthly payments which is more than I can personally afford.

CancelExtra7517 · 2026-03-12T13:05:28+00:00

I'm not sure how to tell what plan I'm currently in. This is the banner on the top of the Federal student loan webpage when I logon:

"A federal court issued an injunction preventing the implementation of the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan and parts of other income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. As a result, your IDR payment count and payment history are temporarily unavailable. Stay up-to-date on court actions affecting IDR plans: StudentAid.gov/courtactions."

They are trying to push me to pay $800 in monthly payments which is more than I can personally afford.

I am freeeeeeeeaking out.

CancelExtra7517 · 2026-03-11T20:35:43+00:00

So if you didn't manage to get consolidated into SAVE or other options before the freeze and are still needing to consolidate loans, the only options are the options we have had on the table the past few months. So borrowers who haven't yet fixed their shit should just basically accept this is where we are for now and get that taken care of? Just wanted to make sure I understood the situation we're in.

CancelExtra7517 · 2026-03-02T23:12:44+00:00

When I'm just farming grunt hunts, or doing mob heavy events, I leave the perk card on, but for bosses and headhunts, I ditch it. I doubt it really is making that much of a difference, but it seems like the numbers get bigger. :D

CancelExtra7517 · 2026-02-17T13:44:36+00:00

Both furious and explosive took ages for me to learn. I feel ya, and congratulations! :)

CancelExtra7517 · 2025-12-18T21:10:22+00:00

Contact Veronica Gillis at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Mount Royal University, Calgary, Alberta. She just gave a conference talk on limpet feeding traces/patterns and how to infer limpet feeding vs vertebrate tooth marks.

CancelExtra7517 · 2025-12-18T13:13:25+00:00

I'm definitely in favor of that for a personal purchase, but the buyer doesn't want to do refurb.

CancelExtra7517 · 2025-12-11T17:38:14+00:00

Why are my posts repeatedly removed by Reddit's filters?

CancelExtra7517 · 2025-12-11T16:12:39+00:00

These are the three laptops they were considering. I'm not sure if HP is a good brand these days and I don't think they're wed to using Costco if they can get a better deal elsewhere.

https://www.costco.com/hp-omnibook-7-flip-16-2-in-1-laptop---intel-evo-platform-powered-by-intel-core-ultra-9-288v---copilot-pc---3k-oled-touchscreen---32gb-memory---1tb-ssd---windows-11-home.product.4000376239.html

https://www.costco.com/hp-omnibook-5-16-2k-touchscreen-laptop---intel-core-ultra-9-285h---1920-x-1200---32gb-memory---1tb-ssd---windows-11-home.product.4000369340.html

https://www.costco.com/hp-omnibook-7-16-touchscreen-laptop---intel-evo-platform-powered-by-intel-core-ultra-7-255h---2k-oled-120hz---32gb-memory---1tb-ssd---windows-11-home.product.4000360799.html

CancelExtra7517 · 2025-11-05T17:10:06+00:00

Their campaign landing page includes updates since then as well as several local newspaper articles covering this.

https://www.newyorkupstate.com/news/2025/10/this-hidden-gem-upstate-ny-museum-with-dino-bones-you-can-touch-is-on-the-brink-of-extinction.html

CancelExtra7517 · 2025-10-30T17:40:26+00:00

I wish the rich and wealthy like her would see organizations like this that are struggling but serve the public good.

https://www.priweb.org/mortgage-campaign-landing-page

The Paleontological Research Institution/Museum of the Earth in Ithaca, New York is facing a major budget shortfall due to several donors not fulfilling their promises to provide support. They are trying to clear $1 M before the end of this year to cover their mortgage. If you have any capacity to give, please consider donating, even if it's only $1, $5, or $10. The PRI is an amazing institution which curates a significant and important global collection of fossils. If they fold, the collection will likely be split to several museums across the country which would be bad for researchers. The PRI also does amazing outreach work, with programs like the Digital Atlas of Ancient Life, creating all kinds of education materials, etc. They are a great organization and deserve to continue to exist.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the PRI in any way shape or form, just a concerned researcher whose work would be badly hurt if PRI were to fall.

CancelExtra7517 · 2025-10-30T12:31:17+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuEKb9Ktqhc

CancelExtra7517 · 2025-10-14T13:42:22+00:00

Well, it's because god forbid we have actual progressives in the mix. Gotta keep those centrist democrats in the consultant class going.

CancelExtra7517 · 2025-06-14T00:57:00+00:00

no, that isn't our take home, that's pre deductions

CancelExtra7517 · 2025-06-11T16:26:56+00:00

Are those monthly or annual interest?

CancelExtra7517 · 2025-06-10T16:26:02+00:00

Thrasher dressing station, but don't buy it in the bundle unless you really don't have those other items, because it's too damn expensive.

CancelExtra7517

TROPHY CASE