Author Archives: gymnosperm

Candyassification

Posted on May 18, 2013 by gymnosperm

Admit it, the world is getting more candy assed. Gone are the tough handed men of the past who dragged canon over mountains; who sailed wooden ships into the unknown with both skin and bone in the game. All we want … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Economics | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

(Too Much) Fun in the Photons

Posted on May 9, 2013 by gymnosperm

Having thus far avoided grossing everyone out with pictures of my penance for past overindulgence in photons, there can be no reason to begin now. Suffice it to say the swelling is going down, my face has been spared further … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Passwords and GDP

Posted on May 1, 2013 by gymnosperm

Passwords suck. Be fair, how much of your life have you wasted for a lost username or password? It would be one thing if it were airline security, but mostly it is some random website you don’t give a rat’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Economics, Having one's head up one's maths | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Subjective and Objective

Posted on April 19, 2013 by gymnosperm

Those who have studied English might call this a “watershed”. As a carpenter and mountaineer I always objected to this term as imprecise because what is really meant is ridge or divide where water flows one way or the other. … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Biology, History, Metaphor | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Something In Us Loves a Witch

Posted on April 14, 2013 by gymnosperm

Something in us loves a witch. We’ve already explored the irrational behavior demonstrated by Prohibition and the Salem Witch Trials. See “Global Warming and Prohibition”. The nature of the human condition is that we are constantly confronted with forces beyond … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Climate, History, Metaphor | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Edge

Posted on April 7, 2013 by gymnosperm

It never ceases to amaze how quickly in any research endeavor one reaches the edge of human understanding. Research by search engine in any subject is like peeling back the skins of an onion. First comes the chaff, and then … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Half Dome | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

El Patron, El Sol

Posted on April 2, 2013 by gymnosperm

This is what I will be looking like soon. The wages of a Nordic phenotype who spent his life in the sun. Not so much at the beach, although there too when I was younger. High altitude sun, Radon and … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Biology, Wilderness | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Wine, Volcanoes, and the Dioxides

Posted on March 24, 2013 by gymnosperm

Making wine teaches important lessons about the wee beastie soup we live in, call it the dim sum. It also holds lessons about Carbon and Sulfur. Carbon and Sulfur were instrumental in the evolution of life on this planet, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Biology, History, History of Life, Metaphor, Ocean Acidification | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Duty of Truth

Posted on March 17, 2013 by gymnosperm

Those who work at public institutions owe the public, their patrons, a duty of truth. Private citizens are free to engage in any foolishness that suits them, but public servants must be held to a higher standard. The graph above … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate Change, Global Warming, Paleoclimate | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Here’s the Beef, Or the World Economy Explained by a Billion Cows

Posted on March 9, 2013 by gymnosperm

Grasses coevolved with ungulates (we can call them cows). About 30 million years ago due to declining temperature, humidity, and atmospheric Carbon dioxide a bunch of plants including grasses evolved a more efficient form of photosynthesis called C4. This allowed them … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Climate, Climate Change, Economics, Geography, History, History of Life, Paleoclimate, Salvation from Cows | Tagged , , | 1 Comment