Pi Day Much of the world at large renders dates with a method that appears alien to many Americans: DD/MM/YY. This approach avoids many ambiguities and, if we’re being honest, is most likely the superior technique. At least one indisputable data point in the date format wars, however, falls squarely in favor of the […]
Lunar Lasers Before 13 September 1959, no human-made object had ever touched an extraterrestrial body. On that date, Luna 2, the Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket, impacted the moon. Since then, numerous other spacecraft and various humans have visited our satellite. All told, nearly 500,000 pounds of Earth stuff adorns the surface of the Moon.
Keep On Your Quest “I was stamped as a weak child.” On 22 September 1939, Junko Tabei docked planet Earth at Miharu in Japan. The adults in her life considered her “frail. ” As an adult, she grew to the unimposing height of 4’9″. Yet at the age of 10, she ascended two mountains in
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The Peace of Wild Things//Mallard Musings A friend recently posted the following poem by Wendell Berry on social media. It hit me in the right spot. The Peace of Wild Things When despair for the world grows in meand I wake in the night at the least soundin fear of what my life and
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Crimea Few spots on our blue marble have demonstrated a more important geographical significance than Crimea. Recently in the world consciousness again due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Crimean Peninsula sits at the confluence of waters, continents, and, seemingly, history. Across the ages, countless nations and peoples have called Crimea home and fought
Hoverla – Ukraine’s High Point Ukraine is the second-largest country in Europe. For American audiences, the nation is just smaller than the state of Texas. The country in Eastern Europe is not renowned for its mountains, but a region that big is bound to have some interesting topography. The continent’s third-longest mountain chain – the
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Hank the Tank Many people who live near Lake Tahoe currently fear an active burglar. This hooligan does not target money, vehicles, jewelry, artwork, or any other valuables one might associate with the Lake Tahoe clientele. The locals have imparted an apt nickname for the thief. But, despite eluding the big net of authorities many
The Presidential Range [note: for an interactive, whimsical map depicting the Presidential Range, point your browser here] The Appalachian Mountains stretch approximately 1,500 miles from Alabama into Canada. Along that varied distance, geologists carve them into subranges, amongst which are the White Mountains. This range covers a large portion of New Hampshire and
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The Squirting Cucumber We’ll journey today into the plant world. And I know I will need to ask a few of you to remove your minds from the gutter. Ecballium elaterium is the lone species of its genus and a member of the gourd family. Native to Europe, northern Africa, and parts of Asia, this
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The Chaulmoogra Wizard On 24 July 1892, in Seattle, Alice Augusta Ball arrived on planet Earth. The daughter and granddaughter of photographers, the Ball family probably never imagined Alice might one day develop into a world-renowned chemist, though their usage of photographic chemicals might have captured her attention. At the age of 11, the Ball family
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