The Mingan Sorcerer The timescales of geology are fickle artists. Some of the planet’s great features require millions of years to craft; other spots arise in the blink of a universal eye. Of course, on human scales, both these poles are unfathomably large. On the northern shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Quebec, a master …
The Slow Loris Its life is not a happy one, for it is continually seeing ghosts; that is why it hides its face in its hands. — Daniel Giraud Elliot When it comes to cute and funny animals on the internet, cats and dogs easily rule the charts; occasionally, parrots, rabbits, and otters bubble up. Every so often, …
Geomythology and the Fimbulwinter Then snow will drift from all directions.There will then be great frosts and keen winds.The sun will do no good.There will be three of these winters togetherand no summer in between. — Snorri Sturluson, Poetic Edda The notion of a myth contains denotative undertones of untruth. Often, supernatural entities or events mold …
Artificial Intelligence [Editor’s Note: Normally, we do not replicate the prefaces to the newsletters on the website; often they do not pertain at all to the article at hand. This issue must stand as an exception. Other than the text immediately following, it’s important to add here that the article below was not edited, though …
Mauna Loa For approximately 28 million years, the Hawaiian hotspot has belched out islands and atolls. The hotspot sits in the same position, spewing upward from the mantle, while the Pacific Plate moves above it. This combination created the string we know as the Hawaiian Islands. Eight major isles comprise the archipelago. Each was once …
The Night the Stars Fell When I was a young man in Illinois I boarded for a time with a Deacon of the Presbyterian church. One night I was roused from my sleep by a rap at the door, & I heard the Deacon’s voice exclaiming ‘Arise, Abraham, the day of judgment has come!’ I …
Opt Outside Since 2005, Black Friday has been the busiest shopping day in the United States. Sometime in the 20th century, the day after Thanksgiving became the de facto beginning of the Christmas gift-buying season. Though many consumers proclaim to love the frenzy of Black Friday and the deals that appear then, we need to …
Maize Many myths surround the first Thanksgiving celebration in the United States. The gathering most commonly cited as the inaugural festival happened in October 1621. For three days, 53 Pilgrims in Plymouth Colony dined with 90 Wampanoags to revel in gratitude for a bountiful harvest. For many people, today’s traditional Thanksgiving meal centers around items …
X-37B Overshadowed in the past week by the launch of Artemis, NASA’s renewed moon mission, was another incredible space achievement, one cloaked in secrecy. In 1999, NASA commissioned Boeing to develop an “orbital vehicle.” Boeing designed the X-37 to be a scaled model of the Space Shuttle Orbiter. The orbiter is the part of the …
Code Girls written by Alan R. In the years leading up to and during World War II, increasing usage of radio and telegraphic transmissions to send secret communications necessitated the need for ciphers to disseminate sensitive information, such as military planning and operations. As the ability of one force to crack the enemy’s codes …