Old Man

Dr. John Burchard turned 90 on January 15.He is still going strong.

Scale

A-new-perspective-on-earths-atmosphere Being a map freak this caught my eye. The more I looked at it, the more it seems not to scale as claimed. There appear to be mixed scales among other issues. It still makes the point, however. Also, the header comment that atmosphere is holding space access back is false. Gravity rules.

Tony Angell: New Art

Tony Angell has a new book about bird behavior coming out from the University of Chicago Press. Here is an example.

The Premonition

I picked this up last night and read it straight through. It was hard to put down. It reads like a first class thriller but documents some of the behind the scenes actions of pandemic responders. I had read several Michael Lewis books and found him to be an excellent reporter. I read several pandemic …

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Sean Carroll’s Theory of the Everyday

Sean Carroll’s Theory of the Everyday   ​The laws of physics underlying everyday life are, at one level of description, completely known, and can be summarized in a single elegant—if quite complex—equation. ​No shit, Sean! He goes on to be quite the Debbie Downer. ​Assuming Carroll’s claim is correct, it has a number of immediate …

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Tree Wells

I have fallen into them and it is no fun. A real pit trap. Deer are adept at avoiding them. It takes a lot to trap a moose this way but in Western Newfoundland and Cape Breton sea effect snow can be 10-20 feet a year. It is odd that I never hear about this …

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Ripley at Skinners

  Ripley at Skinners 50 Ripleys at the 2022 Copley Auction A couple of nice Ripley’s at auction soon. Ripley was based in the Boston area and painted a lot of iconic hunting images in his day. These two were likely studies for more final paintings. Ripley did a lot of that. The top image …

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