Þrídrangaviti Lighthouse Once they got near the top there was no way to get any grip on the rock so one of them got down on his knees, the second stood on his back, and then the third climbed on top of the other two and was able to reach the nib of the cliff above. […]
Þrídrangaviti Lighthouse Read More »
Rainbow Ghost Planes After the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957, the human viewpoint of Earth radically shifted. No longer were we mere stargazers, now we could watch what happened at home from a lofty viewpoint. Since the first satellite hit space, we have enhanced our abilities to gaze downward to astonishing levels. Governments and militaries
Rainbow Ghost Planes Read More »
Fighter Planes Shooting Themselves Down Son, I’m sorry, they got us. — Henry Jones, Sr. If Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade can serve as a real-world guide, the perils of a dogfighter circa World War II stretched beyond incoming fire from the enemy. Gunners had to make sure they didn’t imperil their own craft, too. More modern (and
Fighter Planes Shooting Themselves Down Read More »
The Old-Growth Forest Network This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring oceanSpeaks, and in accents
The Old-Growth Forest Network Read More »
Kelimutu One of the best aspects of Google’s Chromecast is the outstanding array of images in its ambient mode, which serves as a wallpaper slideshow. The photographs primarily feature outdoor locations or wildlife, allowing the wanderlusting individual stuck indoors to sample virtually the planet’s riches. Google has no monopoly on this sort of collection. Microsoft has
Apatosaurus vs. Brontosaurus Scientists have definitively identified more than 300 genera and more than 700 species of dinosaurs. These numbers seem surprisingly low; the real total is likely much higher, as we have to dig through hundreds of millions of years of rock for a shot at finding fossilized dino bones. Ask many toddlers, however,
Apatosaurus vs. Brontosaurus Read More »
Paleontologizing We’ve mused multiple times over the years about the duality of technology, in general, and the internet, in specific. The net can capture us in its doom-scrolling, trivial addiction-abyss, keeping us from touching grass for longer stretches than we’d like to admit. Millions of hours of entertainment sit behind a few keystrokes at
Loser Mountain The greatest joy of researching topics for this project invariably comes from unexpected confluences. Sometimes a string of articles will arrive thanks to one investigation hole; other times a new connection to a previous subject springs forward. These overlaps provide mind-sparks that remind us everything is linked on our rocky haven of life
Loser Mountain (Indonesia) Read More »
Loser Mountain Nearly ubiquitous with mountaineering in Europe are the Alps. This massive range dips into eight countries: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Slovenia, and Switzerland. More than a quarter of the Alps rests inside Austria, which is quite the statistic since that nation is slightly smaller than Maine! According to PeakVisor, Austria contains more
Loser Mountain (Austria) Read More »
Manhattanhenge The clock that stands still is right twice per day. Over the years, in our studies of the seasons and equinoxes, we’ve encountered various human-made edifices with connections to the Sun. The ancient Irish sepulcher Newgrange features an aperture that aligns with the rising star on the winter solstice, dripping light into the funerary passageway. Famously,