Author: Brendan Barry

  • Greenland Is Melting

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    There is a lot going on in the world—here’s looking at you Brexit vote today—but I did not want to miss this frightening article from the BBC on the melting of Greenland’s ice. It’s happening. And it’s happening faster than thought. There are several insightful graphics, including the standard photo slider of before and after,…

  • We’re All Just Palm Trees and Patio Furniture in the Wind

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    For all my American readers, I hope you all enjoyed their Labour Day holiday. For the rest of you, today is just a Tuesday. Unless you live in the Bahamas, then today is just another nightmarish day as Hurricane Dorian continues his assault on the islands. The storm will be one for the record books when…

  • Childhood Video Games: You Can Never Go Home

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    Well, we all made it to Friday. And for those of us here in the States, our bank holiday weekend starts at some point this afternoon. Consequently, here is a post from xkcd that basically describes my childhood and when I would draw the layouts to linear scrolling video game landscapes for Mario. Admittedly, it…

  • Hong Kong Identity

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    One of the things I have been following closely the last few months has been the protests in Hong Kong. The city is one of China’s few Special Administrative Regions—basically the former British colony of Hong Kong and the former Portuguese colony of Macau, two cities bordering mainland China and separated by the Pearl River estuary.…

  • Pub Trivia Scores

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    So today we have pub trivia scores. It’s been a little while since I’ve posted from my data recording of my Wednesday night’s team trivia pub scores. For the very few of us who know what this means, here you go. Essentially, our ability to score points on music in the last round remains pretty…

  • The Amazon Burns

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    The G7 conference in France wrapped up yesterday and they announced an aid package for Brazil. Why? Because satellite data from both Brazil and the United States points to a rash of fires devastating the Amazon rainforest, the world’s largest carbon sink, or sometimes known as the lungs of the Earth. I have not had…

  • Hog Wild

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    So admittedly this post should have been up last week, but I liked the lunar cycle one too  much. But today is Friday and who cares. We made it to the end of the week. In the wake of the shootings last week, someone on Twitter posed the question: Legit question for rural Americans –…

  • A Very Loud Tube

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    As all my readers probably know, I love London. And in loving London, I love the Tube and the Oyster Card and all that goes along with Transport for London. But, I have noticed that sometimes when I take the Underground, there are segments where it gets a bit loud, especially with the windows open.…

  • Greenland, the 51st State?

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    If you haven’t heard, President Trump wants to buy Greenland from Denmark. So is Greenland going to beat Puerto Rico to joining the Union as the 51st state? No. Not even close. It would be the smallest state in terms of population, but also one of the smallest US territories. But in terms of area, Greenland…

  • From Frying Pan to the Fires of a War Zone

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    Moving away from climate change now, we turn to the lovely land of Afghanistan. While the Trump administration continues to negotiate with the Taliban in hopes of ending the war, the war continues to go worse for Afghanistan, its government, and its allies, including the United States. It is true that US and NATO ally…