Author Archives: gymnosperm

The Flat Universe Society

Posted on October 13, 2018

While it is clear that the earth is sort of round, rather like a baseball that has absorbed too many home runs, to the best of our understanding, the universe is flat. By flat, we do not mean that you … Continue reading →

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Energy and Matter

Posted on September 16, 2018

An interesting upshot of Mr. Einstein’s famous equation is that in units of the speed of light, energy and mass are equal. Mr. Poincare once observed that mathematics is the exercise of making different things the same (equal), and sophistry … Continue reading →

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Entropy and Watermelons

Posted on September 2, 2018

What is the entropy of a watermelon? This question is not entirely fair, because living things are singularities swimming upstream against the tide of entropy. We can’t merely count the ways the invisible molecules in a watermelon can be rearranged … Continue reading →

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God and Dice

Posted on July 15, 2018

We don’t spend much time thinking about what God does for recreation these days, but the great scientists from Newton to Einstein who have framed our Western cosmology were often deeply religious men. It is understandable that when they found … Continue reading →

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Entropy and the Grand Canyon II

Posted on June 25, 2018

We left off in the last post having boated 78 miles, about five days on a typical trip, and having encountered the last of the suite of three books that comprise the geological story revealed in the Grand Canyon. We … Continue reading →

Posted in Geological Evolution of the Western United States, Paleogeography | Leave a comment

Entropy and the Grand Canyon

Posted on June 20, 2018

It has been our good fortune to row 280 miles of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon twice in the last seven months. This is rare for private boaters limited to one trip per calendar year and subject to … Continue reading →

Posted in Geology, Paleoclimate, Paleogeography | 1 Comment

CERES and MODTRAN VII, Clouds

Posted on June 9, 2018

MODTRAN deals only with infrared light, and at least the version we are using includes only low level cloud types.   Above is a screen shot of the menu. It can be seen that the highest altitude is three kilometers. … Continue reading →

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