Tag: just for fun

  • Hey, Cousin!

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    As many of my long-time readers know, I count genealogy as one of my hobbies. A few weeks ago for Orthodox Easter I travelled up to the hometown of my late grandfather. There I get to see people to whom I’m related as many of us can point to ancestors from the same few villages…

  • Off the Deep End

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    Brendan Barry
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    Summer rapidly approaches. As does this weekend. Combining those two elements, we can thank xkcd for a wonderful explainer about how the deep ends of pools form. Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.

  • Madagascar

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    Brendan Barry
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    Well we made it through the week. Yesterday we looked at plate tectonics and the future shape of the world. So today it’s time to look at a map recently made by xkcd. Specifically it looks at the world through the lens of Madagascar. Greenland isn’t as big as it looks on Google Maps. So…

  • Party Time

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    Brendan Barry
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    It’s the end of the week and as we try to keep it light, no Ukraine post today. Instead, we turn to xkcd for a helpful guide of how to plan parties. It’s a simple chart. Credit for the piece goes to Randall Munroe.

  • Sports and Games

    Sports and Games

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    Brendan Barry
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    Well that was a week. Let’s try to stay on the lighter side this Friday. Several weeks ago I was debating with several people about the difference between a game and a sport. I decided that the best way to try and capture our conversation was with a Venn diagram. So in the interest of…

  • Be Ambitious

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    Brendan Barry
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    Well it’s Friday. Congratulations on making it to the weekend. I often spend my weekends working on personal projects, because I have goals and things I’m trying to do. In other words, I have ambitions. That’s why this piece from Indexed was so funny. One cannot go wrong with a Venn diagram. Credit for the…

  • I Call Them Life Tiles

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    Brendan Barry
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    Happy Friday, everyone. Here in the United States’ Northeast Corridor we’re looking forward to a potentially powerful nor’easter that could be the first real snowstorm to hit Philadelphia all winter. (Dumb La Niña.) But I’ve also recently started working in a new sketchbook. (It happens often.) But that’s why I thought this graphic from Indexed…

  • Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

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    Brendan Barry
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    Any science fiction fan—and likely many who are not—can identify the character who utters those words in that order: Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek’s captain of the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-D. Ask your Amazon Alexa for it. Or your Google Home. Thanks to the work of xkcd, we now know that Jean-Luc—may I call him Jean-Luc?—had a…

  • Sunshield

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Happy Friday, everyone. At the beginning of the week, we looked at the launch and deployment of the new James Webb telescope. If you recall, one of the key elements of the satellite’s design is its sunshield. As the name says, it shields the satellite from the sun, thus keeping the equipment super cold, which…

  • Never Read the Comments Section

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    Brendan Barry
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    Well, my week is over and whilst I may publish a post here and there the rest of the month, please do not expect it. My holiday time is truly here and I’ll be away for the next two and a half weeks. Fear not, for like McArthur to the Philippines I shall return. But…