During the 1970’s and ’80’s the field of meteoritics was totally revolutionized by the sudden collection of thousands and thousands of meteorites from Antarctica. I can’t remember when I first heard about meteorites being found in Antarctica in huge quantities. … That lack of knowledge made for some interesting research when I started trying to [...]
Category: science and engineering
Friday fun — rocks, crops, pumps
Oh! Golly it’s Friday. I was totally immersed in research. Well, so here are my studies for the day. First, continuing my thoughts on meteorites, I discovered that there is a quarry in Sweden where meteorites, that fell hundreds of millions of years ago are preserved in the limestone. We aren’t talking big stuff, but [...]
Analemmas and a personal Stonehenge
Driving on Route 7 in Northern Virginia in late November poses a special challenge. There are a few days when the sun rises directly in line-of-sight down the road. Because it is so early in the morning the sun is low in the sky and blinds drivers. Traffic slows down as you come over certain [...]
Economics of a skein of yarn, or thinking about the Industrial Revolution. Take your pick.
I’ve been doing research for one of my fiction stories and came across this article in the process. https://www.fashionroundtable.co.uk/news/why-skills-are-more-important-than-ever The author of this article visits a ‘mill’ in Wales. This mill does not grind wheat; it is a place for weaving cloth out of sheep fleece, with all the steps that that implies. The article [...]
Astronomer, geologist, cartographer, agriculturist, missionary, warrior for justice …
This guy was born in the south Tyrolean Alps in 1645 in Segno. His brilliance was recognized early and he was sent to school. When he was fifteen his father died. His family liquidated their land to keep him in school. (He had three sisters and no brothers so his sisters were probably taken care [...]
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