Tornadoes One of Earth’s most recognizable natural forms is the funnel of a tornado. The tornado’s form is the mountain silhouette of meteorology, inspiring simultaneous awe and terror. Their sinewy, gorgeous stovepipes demand our attention while filling us with fearful dashes of the unknown. A tornado in Manitoba in 2007 – photo by Justin1569 Also called […]
Mount Kosciuszko – Australia’s High Point The Outback looms over most foreign conceptions of Australia. This hot, arid expanse covers most of the continent and is filled with few humans and many things that might kill humans. It’s one of the gnarliest stretches on the planet, granting Australia an unforgiving natural reputation. It might seem
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TMAC Guide to Collateral Adjectives If you’ve followed this project long enough, you’ve probably noticed a lot of repetitions. For example, only so many words approximate the meaning of “phenomenon.” And most of them aren’t quite right. “Anomaly,” for example, implies the rarity of “phenomenon” but also connotes something incorrect, in a way. A phenomenon can
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Library Bats In 2013, UNESCO designated the University of Coimbra a World Heritage Site, citing its architecture, culture, tradition, and historical value. This institution lies within the city of the same name, the sixth largest in Portugal. Founded in 1290 in Lisbon and moved to Coimbra in 1537, the university is one of the oldest
American Stonehenge: The Newark Octagon In entering the ancient avenue for the first time, the visitor does not fail to experience a sensation of awe, such as he might feel in passing the portals of an Egyptian temple, or in gazing upon the silent ruins of Petra of the desert. –Ephraim George Squier and Edwin
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Lunistices Though the sky is filled with immeasurable objects – galaxies, stars, asteroids, Uranus – two of them dominate our perspectives: the Sun and the Moon. Most celestial bodies feature tangible but often imperceptible cycles, thanks to Earth’s rotation, but our star and our satellite grace us with significant patterns. Our definitions of time and
The Anatomy of a Lunar Eclipse One of the English language’s most sublime words is syzygy. A syzygy occurs when at least three celestial bodies align in a plane. Note: the following images are not to scale! When we think of syzygies, we often think of the Earth, Sun, and Moon, but any three bodies could
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Karamazov Walk “From the house of my childhood I have brought nothing but precious memories, for there are no memories more precious than those of early childhood in one’s first home. And that is almost always so if there is any love and harmony in the family at all. Indeed, precious memories may remain even
Puppy Mountain “The puppy’s posture is like it’s drinking water, or it’s looking at some fish. It also looks like it’s quietly protecting the Yangtze River” –Guo Qingshan China’s Yangtze River is the third longest on the planet. Fittingly, the name in Mandarin means “Long River.” In the middle portion of the waterway lies a
Helmcken Falls In British Columbia’s Cariboo Mountains, a glacier feeds the Murtle River, which meanders just 11 miles before it empties into its namesake lake and then becomes the Clearwater River. In less than a dozen miles, the Murlte carved six waterfalls over the eons, perhaps none more spectacular than Helmcken Falls. This picturesque location is