Canadian wildfire smoke choking huge areas of the US that aren't at all used to it. Wear masks if you are under this - don't breathe this particulate in.
I like Mary's insight that it's likely not just PTSD but that the event literally changed his brain; not just post-trauma, but actual, untreated trauma, like a bone that didn't get set. Frank was limping and in pain on his broken limb and no one fixed it.
Took me a while to get the rhythm, but I'm catching it now. I think it's apropos to the subject matter--it's so complex that you cannot see it as a whole, you only see the bits and pieces that each protagonist has a view of.
Ugh. My beef consumption is down to once a year if that (I'd often give in and have corned beef & cabbage on my born day). Even poultry is once a month or less. It's *so much easier* to eat well while maintaining a vegetarian or even vegan diet these days, there's little excuse other than preference not to.
In the mid 2000s, I wrote a number of comments to the Bureau of Reclamation suggesting this. I really should have done my dissertation on the topic, but I was pretty committed to tree rings at the time.
BoR wanted nothing to do with it. When I could talk with anyone at that agency, they thought it was a dumb idea and had frivolous objections. And here we are. Win-win.
Conservation biogeography has come a long way, and connectivity is a large theme. But some species and habitats probably don't want to see connectivity with damaging invasives, so that's a consideration.
But consider: water harvesting in Phoenix is next to nonexistent. There's huge unmet water capture capacity and unrecognized resilient capacity. Improving those factors would decrease potable water demand, decrease urban heat island effects, reduce the cooling load, and improve urban habitat.
All it takes is some better policies and incentives. This is hardly rocket science.
Well, and big solar installations cause a heat island effect. They dramatically change the surface albedo, and trap heat beneath themselves. Large enough solar installations can even perturb the Planetary Boundary Layer because of enhanced convection.
My wife did some of the groundbreaking work on these questions. It's fascinating stuff, and I suspect Antarctica isn't the place for large-scale solar farms.
It's a gripping read, but am I the only one who put off by the multiple first-person perspectives? It's a bit unsettling every time I start a new chapter and don't know the identity of the narrator
As much as the first chapter hits you in the gut, I was amazed at KSR's presentation of Frank's PTSD and triggers. I feel like I understand PTSD now in a way I didn't before.
If only the Nazis hadn't been in power. It was designed to use helium but the US refused to sell helium to Hitler because of its use in military balloons.
I think the blockchain aspects of the novel (it gets more detailed from here on out) were my least favourite of the ideas presented. It's one of those things where adding the blockchain seemed kind of pointless. Or where blockchain could have been a minor feature of these securities they're issuing, but was presented as what made it possible.
If it's Kindle, it has a digital table of contents and search. (Or maybe you used a library ebook without that and/or had to "return" it already)
In any case, always feel free to ask about stuff in the comments!
In today's climate change news -
Canadian wildfire smoke choking huge areas of the US that aren't at all used to it. Wear masks if you are under this - don't breathe this particulate in.
https://www.washingtonpost....
I like Mary's insight that it's likely not just PTSD but that the event literally changed his brain; not just post-trauma, but actual, untreated trauma, like a bone that didn't get set. Frank was limping and in pain on his broken limb and no one fixed it.
Took me a while to get the rhythm, but I'm catching it now. I think it's apropos to the subject matter--it's so complex that you cannot see it as a whole, you only see the bits and pieces that each protagonist has a view of.
Ugh. My beef consumption is down to once a year if that (I'd often give in and have corned beef & cabbage on my born day). Even poultry is once a month or less. It's *so much easier* to eat well while maintaining a vegetarian or even vegan diet these days, there's little excuse other than preference not to.
In the mid 2000s, I wrote a number of comments to the Bureau of Reclamation suggesting this. I really should have done my dissertation on the topic, but I was pretty committed to tree rings at the time.
BoR wanted nothing to do with it. When I could talk with anyone at that agency, they thought it was a dumb idea and had frivolous objections. And here we are. Win-win.
That plot point strikes me as totally plausible.
Conservation biogeography has come a long way, and connectivity is a large theme. But some species and habitats probably don't want to see connectivity with damaging invasives, so that's a consideration.
But consider: water harvesting in Phoenix is next to nonexistent. There's huge unmet water capture capacity and unrecognized resilient capacity. Improving those factors would decrease potable water demand, decrease urban heat island effects, reduce the cooling load, and improve urban habitat.
All it takes is some better policies and incentives. This is hardly rocket science.
Well, and big solar installations cause a heat island effect. They dramatically change the surface albedo, and trap heat beneath themselves. Large enough solar installations can even perturb the Planetary Boundary Layer because of enhanced convection.
My wife did some of the groundbreaking work on these questions. It's fascinating stuff, and I suspect Antarctica isn't the place for large-scale solar farms.
Consider basin and range topography in which most plants and animals can’t move across the basins between the ranges. Very islandy.
If only the Hindenburg hadn't burned quite so well...
It's a gripping read, but am I the only one who put off by the multiple first-person perspectives? It's a bit unsettling every time I start a new chapter and don't know the identity of the narrator
As much as the first chapter hits you in the gut, I was amazed at KSR's presentation of Frank's PTSD and triggers. I feel like I understand PTSD now in a way I didn't before.
If only the Nazis hadn't been in power. It was designed to use helium but the US refused to sell helium to Hitler because of its use in military balloons.
I think the blockchain aspects of the novel (it gets more detailed from here on out) were my least favourite of the ideas presented. It's one of those things where adding the blockchain seemed kind of pointless. Or where blockchain could have been a minor feature of these securities they're issuing, but was presented as what made it possible.