Mark and I spent the day with Marcus Martin (no relation) in the famed Beecher Quarry. The weather was pleasant and the company delightful. There is something cathartic about breaking rocks and searching for gold—fools gold in this case. We were in pursuit of pyritized trilobites and with Markus’s expert knowledge and advice, we succeeded!
When we arrived, there was a look of pure joy on Mark’s face. The experience did not disappoint.
Markus knew exactly where to look. And once we cleaved two planes apart, he answered our endless queries of “what’s this thing here?”
Usually the answer ended up being ‘fecal trail’ but occasionally it was something different like an orthocone, ostracod, or graptolite.
Imagine my surprise when Markus handed me this back saying, “here’s a trilobite for you.”
Definitely an experience to remember.
Math in the Time of Corona 
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