Latite for Dummies

Not exactly "long ridges below the oceans," Andy

One of the staffers well remembers an acquaintance who claimed that his motto went something like, "Those of you who think you know everything are annoying to those of us who do." Now you know why he was an acquaintance instead of a friend. Anyway, few habits of freelancing "creative writers" are more irritating to knowledgeable people than ham-fisted attempts to share knowledge the freelancers don't have, have never had, and probably never will have. One such BFA-holder is Andrew Kirmayer, who apparently decided to be the house earth science "expert" for WiseGEEK.com's niche site, AllThingsNature.org. If "What Is Latite?" is any clue, however, he shouldn't have...

We've run across AndrewScott several times in the past, including unsuccessful attempts to explain the rock carbonatite, the mineral sphalerite, and seismic software. Why he thought he could write about those topics is unclear... almost as unclear as some of the rubbish he threw up on the site. We're talking about bogosity such as,

• "A variety of minerals are often contained within the rock. rock. It typically has very little if any quartz; the content is usually less than 5% in the pure form, " – By definition, latite is mainly alkali and plagioclase feldspar with minor accessory minerals. Having less than 5% quartz (WTF is "the pure form"?) is part of the definition. 
• "...a similar rock called monzonite can consist of 10% or more of quartz..." – No Andy, monzonite is the intrusive equivalent of extrusive latite. If quartz falls in the rage of 5 to10%, it's a quartz monzonite.
• "...latite usually forms from hot, fluid material called magma..." – No, idiot, it always forms from a magma.
• "Intrusive rocks from magma can get exposed over time with surface erosion. Latite is sometimes discovered in these types of deposits." – That sounds as if you think latite is intrusive, Andy. It's not.

• "The minerals in the rock are often identified using a visual analysis of the rock’s minerals, which is often done by comparing their texture to scientific charts..." – Besides being circular, that's not how minerals are identified.
• "Latite can form in the various places igneous rocks do, including where tectonic plates spread out at long ridges below the oceans." – Wow: that's a weird way to define/identify an oceanic spreading center... That, and latites are much less common in oceanic spreading centers than they are in continental rift valleys. Just saying', Andy.
• "Common igneous rocks include basalt, which typically forms under the oceans, and granite, found on land. " – That's so full of bullshit we won't even dignify it with a comment!

In other words, Kirmayer knew nothing of his subject, barely got the definition of a latite correct, and conflated latite with all the other extrusive igneous rocks through the rest of his silly-ass post as he struggled to reach WiseGEEK's minimum word requirement.

You know what we do for people who do the? Right: we name them our Dumbass of the Day. Congrats on number six, Andrew. Keep writing, we can do this all day...

SI - PETROLOGY