The Coastline Paradox What country has the longest coastline in the world? If you answered Canada, peel off a gold star and stick it to your shirt. Great work! OK, now what country has the second-longest coastline? Russia? The United States? Australia? Maybe you figure the question is a trick and answered something along the …
There Is No Blue “And jealous now of me, you gods, because I befriend a man, one I saved as he straddled the keel alone, when Zeus had blasted and shattered his swift ship with a bright lightning bolt, out on the wine-dark sea.” — Homer, The Odyssey, Book V In 1858, then-future British Prime Minister William …
Croagh Patrick In 441 AD, a man named Patricius ascended a peak called Cruachán Aigle or Cruach Aigle. The exact etymology of this name is partially lost to the ages, but it comes out meaning something along the lines of “Stack of Eagles” or “Eagle’s Stack.” On the summit, he fasted for 40 days. We know this man as Pátraic (Old …
South America A snapshot of Earth today in its tectonic evolution shows seven landmasses known as continents. Though there are no strict criteria for exactly what constitutes a continent, broadly we define them as large bodies of crust that sit on top of plates. Our planet’s upper reaches are comprised of tectonic plates that move …
The Unaccountable Freak & the Comet I think it’s fair to say no comet is as popular in the collective consciousness as Halley’s Comet. Every once in a while another will pop up, such as Hale-Bopp, which garnered a lot of attention in 1997 due to the cult called Heaven’s Gate, or last year’s spectacular NEOWISE. …
Uranus Stinks Way back in Issue 25 we discovered Uranus is tilted and you probably should have seen a doctor. Nearly a year later, it seems you let the problem fester and things are even worse. Now, you notice something foul coming from Uranus. A rank odor seems to emanate from Uranus. Uranus smells like rotten eggs! …
C Is for Agate, That’s Good Enough for Me Sesame Street, the beloved children’s show filled with Muppets, debuted on television in 1969. For more than six decades the program has employed comedy and storytelling to educate the youth on all sorts of topics. You might know that many of the ubiquitous characters, such as …
Groundhogs Polish your incisors and prep your shadows, it’s almost Groundhog Day. 1993’s Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray The groundhog, also known colloquially as a woodchuck, is a large, lowland rodent that shares a family with marmots and large ground squirrels. Marmota monax resides in the eastern United States and most of Canada; the tail of its range extends …
K2 It’s a savage mountain that tries to kill you. – George Bell, 1953 The world’s second-highest mountain straddles the border between China and Pakistan. Known as K2, the peak rises 28,251 feet above sea level; just under 800 feet separates K2 and the world’s roof, Mt. Everest. The name of this beastly crag actually has …
Anniversary Issue written by Deborah Stout In the hope of giving our newsletter’s author a break from writing today, his birthday, I would like to present a guest article honoring him! In an effort to capture and share a bit of Kyle while staying true to the newsletter, I present to you: Kyle Stout, Mountain Man. I’m sure …