The Best Selfie Ever

No, not a shot of me.

The "blue dot" story of Sagan, NASA and Voyager, by the BBC.

WTHeck, Government?

Before the shutdown, everybody said they "didn't know" if the government was going to shut down.

But look:

Photo from BBC News

They had all these nice, neat professional signs designed and printed? That doesn't take 5 minutes. They wanted this and planned this!

When did this become acceptable? I'm annoyed.

Boundary of Heaven, Reach of the Gods

I, Robot

You want to read this book.

This is a poster for the movie Ghost in the Shell. Like the movie I, Robot it has absolutely nothing to do with the book I, Robot other than it has robots in it. It also has a naked lady. I have noticed that naked ladies attract people to blogs. I know it works on me.

Hiatus: Some Geological Truths May Never Be Known...

A hiatus in geology is a significant interval of time where there is no rock record in an area. The boundary between the two beds is called an unconformity. Here a granite deposited 1,100 million years ago is directly touching a 500 million sandstone.  This unconformity represents a 600 million year hiatus.

An Ode to My New Table

"An Ode to My New Table"

---or---

"My Eyes Were Bigger Than My Living Room"

When People Ask...

When people ask "How can you get lost in a town of 30,000 people?," this is why.

"South. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means..."

Glaciers in Illinois and New York

If you live anywhere near the Great Lakes, then the evidence of glaciation can be seen all around you. You just need to know how to look!

Here a river has cut through a glacial feature known as a moraine. It's in a forest preserve in Palos Hills, IL, which is is just outside of Chicago. That's me. Picture by my friend Tom.

Cool Karsts

At first I was annoyed that we weren't going to the site we had planned and were instead going to a quarry almost an hour away. I wasn't annoyed once we got there.

Stunning karsts near Boonville, just north of Utica. Photo by me.

Grown-up Moves

I should have been tipped off when every person I talked to said "You're moving? Wow. That sucks."

Some friends say that they'll go to hell and back for you. But how many friends are willing to go to Cleveland at 3 am for you?

Black Mulberries and Summer in Chicago

Mmmm... Black mulberries...

---

It's my last few days in the Chicago area, so I thought that I'd do a little post on something that played a huge role in my summers growing up around here: the black mulberry.

In Chicago black mulberries are almost a weed, so most people don't even realize they're edible!

But they're not only edible, they're downright delicious. They're rich, sweet, and messy to eat, which make them a perfect kid food.

Many people mistake black mulberries for blackberries because their berries are similar. However, blackberries grow on a woody shrub called a bramble, while mulberries grow on trees. When I was little, I practically lived in the black mulberry trees near my apartment and school.

ABC Wednesday

Weird Al (SQUEEE!)

Weird Al? SQEEE!!!