Category Archives: Biology

The Naturalist and the Seven Microatmosphere Disparity, or Carbon Dioxide Loves to Swim

Posted on July 5, 2013 by gymnosperm

Humans are naturalists by nature. We like to use our wonderful, color sensing eyes to peer through the leaves into the netherworld beyond to better understand how our world works. We’ve hacked the leaves back quite a bit now but … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Biology, Carbon Cycle | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Why Die?

Posted on June 16, 2013 by gymnosperm

A very good question, and one that will be added to the “Great Mysteries of Nature Nobody Seems to be Thinking About” post. The oldest living things we know of are the gnarly bristlecones that have a couple three millennia … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Economics, History of Life | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Bought a Gun

Posted on June 8, 2013 by gymnosperm

In a strange way I feel like a real American now. Armed to defend life, liberty, etc.; well, at least life on my side of the muzzle. Never thought I would own one. I remember as a kid playing at … Continue reading →

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

Manual Prayer

Posted on June 3, 2013 by gymnosperm

We pray with our hands. Not only clasped in church or other supplication, but in the everyday actions of our lives. Cooking and gardening are prayerful acts as is building or repairing things we need. Music, art…. Hands are primate things. Perhaps our simian … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Biology, History of Life, Manual Prayer, Metaphor | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

(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 →

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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 →

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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

Terrane Terroir and What’s Up with this Purple Dirt Anyway?

Posted on September 18, 2012 by gymnosperm

As far as we can tell dinosaurs did not drink wine. Yet while the dinosaurs were leaving their bones in the mud farther east in Utah, the dirt that would become Hidden Ridge was being washed into the sea on … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Geography, Geology, Paleogeography | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment