Category Archives: Books Nonfiction

GOAT Gas

11 May 2024 By in Physics, Science, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Water vapor is the most abundant and the most powerful greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and is responsible for about half of the Earth’s greenhouse effect. The amount of water vapor in the lower atmosphere is largely controlled by temperature, such that warmer air holds more moisture. Water vapor returns to the Earth’s surface usually within two weeks but only if the vapor is in the troposphere, the atmospheric layer closest to the Earth.

Water vapor in the stratosphere, the layer above the troposphere, on the other hand, can stay there for a long time due to the lack of physical mechanisms to bring it back to the surface of the Earth. MIT has estimated that a water molecule, or any atmospheric molecule, can stay in the troposphere for about 1.5 years, possibly longer, before circulating back to the troposphere or Earth’s surface.

On 15 January 2022 the South Pacific volcano, Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, erupted sending a huge jet of water vapor into Earth’s stratosphere, estimated to have been around 40 billion gallons in volume.  This is estimated to have increased the water vapor in the stratosphere by 10% in a matter of hours or days.

For reference, the greenhouse effect for selected gases by its 20-year GWP (Greenhouse Warming Potential) value:

  1. Water Vapor = A very large value but difficult to find in print.
  2. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) = 460-9100 GWP
  3. Bromides = 7140 (varies)
  4. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) = 4400-6200 GWP
  5. Nitrous oxide = 280 GWP
  6. Methane = 56 GWP
  7. Carbon dioxide = 1 GWP

Source: NASA. MIT. Graphic by AGeremia, 2020, Creative Commons.

Gol Stave Church

7 May 2024 By in Art, Religion Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

 

At the Scandinavian Heritage Association’s Heritage Park in Minot, North Dakota there is a full-size replica, built in 2000, of the Gol Stave Church. The original was constructed in Gol, Hallingdal, Norway (~100 miles NW of Oslo) around 1250 AD. It was moved to Bygdoy Park in Oslo, Norway about 100 years ago.

According to Valebrokk et al, inside the church, the corner posts are essential. They are often accentuated and are heavier and more richly decorated than the other structural elements. “They represent the four gospels whose teachings are the supporting foundation of all Christianity” is the description given in a sermon in the thirteenth century. This sermon was held during a church consecration, in which each section of the stave church’s structure was related to spiritual values. The beams upon which the columns rest “signify God’s apostles, the foundation of all Christianity.” The floorboards represent “the humble men who bow in honour; the more they are exposed to the trampling feet of the congregation, the more support they provide.”

The roof surface which protects the church from snow and inclement weather “represents the men…whose prayers protect Christianity from temptation.”

In addition to the replica in Minot, additional replicas exist in the Gordarike Family Park in Gol, which was built in 1995 and in the Norwegian Pavilion in EPCOT, Orlando which was built in 1984.

Source and graphic: scandinavianheritage.org. Excerpts above from Norway’s Stave Churches by Eva Valebrokk and Thomas Thiis-Evensen. Wikipedia.

Resilience and Patience

2 May 2024 By in Books Nonfiction, Philosophy, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Epictetus was a 1st and 2nd century AD Greek Stoic who lived a simple life and taught philosophy at his school in Nicopolis, Greece. No writings of his have survived, if there were any to begin with, but his pupil Arrian captured his teachings and collected them into two separate works: The Discourses and the Enchiridion.

In The Enchiridion Epictetus briefly discusses 52 or 53 maximums or rules a practicing Stoic should live by with the first and main rule being that you should “only concern yourself with matters that you can control.” Everything else is irrelevant to living a pleasant life.

Stoicism is the philosophy of resilience and patience. Adherents believed in leading a life of virtue, which one did by acquiring wisdom, exhibiting courage, practicing temperance, and promoting justice.

Famous Stoics throughout Greek and Roman history include Zeon of Citium, Eratosthenes of Alexandria, Lucius Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius.

Source: The Enchiridion by Epictetus/Arrian, translated by Elizabeth Carter contained within Ancient Greek Philosophers, published 2018. Graphic of Epictetus by William Sonmans 1715, public domain.

Nighthawks:

28 April 2024 By in Art Tags: , , Leave a comment

Edward Hopper’s 1942 painting, “Nighthawks” was his best-known piece of art. He commented that, “Nighthawks seems to be the way I think of a night street. I didn’t see it as particularly lonely. I simplified the scene a great deal and made the restaurant bigger. Unconsciously, probably, I was painting the loneliness of a large city.” Later, he again downplayed the loneliness aspect of the painting by stressing that it was just “a restaurant on Greenwich Avenue where two streets meet”.

Source: Hopper by Rolf G. Renner, Taschen, 2020 originally published 1991. Painting, “Nighthawks” by Hopper owned by Daniel Rich. Public domain.

Issac Newton and Leonardo Da Vinci:

26 April 2024 By in Art, Biography, Books Nonfiction, Science, Uncategorized Tags: , , Leave a comment

Leonardo Da Vinci and Issac Newton were both consummate note takers. They recorded their thoughts, ideas, and anything else that struck their fancy in innumerable notebooks and loose sheets of paper.

Paper was expensive so they both wrote small and covered every inch of paper with drawings and script.

Newton wrote in Latin, Greek, and English with most subject titles in Latin and the text in Greek. To save space his letters were an eye straining one sixteenth of an inch high. An estimated 4000 pages with around 285,000 words plus drawings of his writings have been found to date.

Leonardo wrote in Tuscan Italian, with the text written in a right to left mirror style which some believe he did because he was left-handed, as, by-the-way so was Newton. 13,000 pages of Leonardo’s notes have been found which is believed to be only about a fifth of the total.

Source: “Isaac Newton” by James Gleick, 2003. “Leonardo’s Notebooks” Edited by H. Anna Suh, 2005. “Leonardo Da Vinci” by Walter Isaacson, 2017. Graphic of da Vinci and Newton AI generated.

The Mortal Soul

24 April 2024 By in Books Nonfiction, Philosophy Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

“Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search thereof when he is grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul.”

So begins the third and fourth century BC Greek philosopher, Epicurus in his letter to Menoeceus, although who Menoeceus was, has been lost to the ages. Epicurus was a Greek philosopher born on the island of Samos in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Turkey. He established a school next to Plato’s in Athens and taught that one’s purpose in life was to lead a happy, tranquil, self-sufficient life, a pleasant life, and not to fear death.

Epicurus taught that after death there is nothing. Death is/was the end of the body and soul; teaching that self-guilt and shame were the only methods available to prevent the world from overflowing with psychopaths. This is not far from the current Pope’s thoughts on Hell being an empty shell, a place of nothingness. Socrates, on the other hand, taught that the soul is eternal, and one must strive to keep it bright and shiny.

Epicurus ended his letter to Menoeceus, “Meditate therefore on these things (a pleasant life) and things akin to them night and day by yourself, and with a companion like to yourself, and never shall you be disturbed waking or asleep, but you shall live like a god among men. For a man who lives among immortal blessings is not like to a mortal being.”

Sources: “Ancient Greek Philosophers”, numerous translators, published 2018 and Manchester.edu (Indiana). Photo of a bust of Epicurus by Nguyen, public domain.

Paul Revere Rides

18 April 2024 By in History, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

On the evening of the 18th of April 1775 Paul Revere galloped through the countryside of Massachusetts to warn the populace that British were coming by water: one if by land, two if by water.

The next day the British, after crossing the Charles River from the Boston side, marched on Concord to try and capture colonial military supplies that had been stored there. The patriots knew of the British plans and moved most of their military equipment elsewhere.

The British had to pass through Lexington as they marched their way to Concord. The first shots between the British and Americans were fired at sunrise at Lexington, signaling the beginning of the Revolutionary War. After a minor skirmish in Lexington the British continued on their way to Concord.

The British marched to Concord with 700 troops and the Americans were eventually able to muster about 3500 militiamen although they only had about 77 at Lexington. During the Battles of Lexington and Concord on that day the British suffered 273 losses and the Americans 95.

Source: History.com and “The Many Rides of Paul Revere” by James Giblin published 2007. Photo of a painting showing Paul Rever’s Midnight Ride by Office of War Information http://www.archives.gov.

Teen Picasso

11 April 2024 By in Art, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Picasso was recognized as a child prodigy at a very young age. He began to paint with oils when he was eight and by the time he was thirteen he was selling his work. At the age of fourteen, he was admitted to the prestigious Barcelona art school: La Lonja. At the age of fifteen he made his official entry into the professional art world, presenting the painting, “The First Communion” shown to the right, at the Third Exhibition of Fine Arts and Artistic Industries in Barcelona.

“Science and Charity” shown to the left is one of Picasso’s most accessible paintings. He painted it in 1897 at the age of 15. This painting was the culmination of his academic studies and he soon after abandoned this style in pursuit of a more personal, albeit inscrutable, approach to art.

Source: Picasso by Carsten-Peter Warncke. Published 2001. Original publication 1998.

Salvator Mundi

24 March 2024 By in Art, Biography, Books Nonfiction, History Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Salvator Mundi, Savior of the World, is believed to have been painted by Leonardo da Vinci sometime between 1499 and 1510 which is considered by historians to be the beginning of the High Renaissance period. The painting was supposedly commissioned by King Louis XII of France and was later recorded in the possession of the English Kings Charles I and II. How the English acquired the painting is unknown. It was then passed onto the Duke of Buckingham in the 1600s after which his son sold it in 1763. The painting then disappeared for 137 years.

It reappeared in 1900, changing hands a few times without anyone realizing it may be an authentic Leonardo. In 2005 a consortium of art dealers and collectors purchased it with the intent to have it cleaned and restored all the while attempting to prove that it was indeed a Leonardo painting. In 2013 most experts agreed that it was an authentic Leonardo allowing it to be sold for $80 million to Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier which he quickly resold to the Russian Rybolovlev for $127.5 million. This sale quickly became a legal mess with the resolution not entirely clear.

Somehow the legal issues resolved themselves and the painting came to market again in 2017 selling for $450.3 million, making it the most expensive painting ever sold. After much wild and erroneous speculation, it was revealed that Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism bought the painting.  It is currently in storage awaiting the completion of the Louvre Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

In 2020 the experts have struck again and attribution of the painting to Leonardo is in doubt. Experience says this debate will continue ad infinitum. Meanwhile an extremely expensive art piece supposedly by a gay painter of Jesus Christ resides in the Arab Middle East.

Sources: Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson published in 2017. Salvator Mundi by Christies published in 2017. Salvator Mundi by ArtNet published in 2020.

Leonardo da Vinci, Niccolo Machiavelli, and Cesare Borgia:

13 March 2024 By in Biography, Books Nonfiction, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Leonardo, dreamer, artist, and scientist; Cesare Borgia, Cardinal, murderer, duplicitous tyrant; and likely subject of Niccolo Machiavelli’s book: The Prince, were holed up together for three months during the Renaissance winter of 1502-1503 in the five blocks by eight blocks Italian walled garrison town of Imola.

According to Walter Isaacson in his 2017 “Leonardo da Vinci” biography he states that, “While he was in Imola with Machiavelli and Borgia, Leonardo made what may be his greatest contribution to the art of war. It is a map of Imola… It is a work of beauty, innovative style, and military utility…Drawn in ink with colored washes and black chalk… The aerial view is from directly overhead, unlike most maps of the time. On the edges he specified the distances to nearby towns, useful information for military campaigns…”

Cesare Borgia (1475-1507), backed by his father Pope Alexander VI, was on a military campaign to carve out his own personal princedom, by hook, crook or force. He had moved his court to Imola to further plans for his conquest of the area. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was there because he had signed on as Borgia’s chief military engineer. Leonardo’s task was to reinforce castles and defenses in the region and construct new military machines based on his notebook designs such as his rapid-fire projectile weapon, armored car, helicopter, and giant crossbows; none of which were ever built in his lifetime. Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), was dispatched by the Florentine authorities as a diplomat to discern Borgia’s intentions towards the city and dissuade him, if possible, from attacking Florence.

As an aside, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), German philosopher and critic, introduced the concept of Ubermensch: an idealized individual who transcends conventional morality and societal norms. Nietzsche elevated Borgia to this lofty status. Borgia’s daring, ruthlessness, and strategic cunning seemed to align with the philosopher’s ideals of a powerful individual who creates his own fate. Many have split hairs with Nietzsche’s concept of Ubermensch but when one creates his own morality it is hard to distinguish the end result from that of a psychopath.

Shown above is Leonardo’s map of Imola drawn in 1502-03. Public domain.

Shown above right is a Friedrich Nietzsche, circa 1975. Photo by Friedrich Hartmann. Public domain.