Wilson

“The real problem of humanity is the following: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and god-like technology. And it is terrifically dangerous, and it is now approaching a point of crisis overall.” 

-E. O. Wilson

This fabulous quote is from a larger 2009 story in Harvard Magazine about the tensions and reconcilliation between Wilson and the recently deceased James Watson. (h/t Kottke) 

Terracotta

Our department just had an enticing lecture by Haemee Han, whose recent design in South Korea featured a creative use of terracotta. 

The talk reminded me of an often overlooked source of terracotta here in Central NJ: the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company. It was based in Perth Amboy but continued much of its later production in Rocky Hill. You have seen their tiles and architectural ornamentation. They are on the Philly Art Museum and the Woolworth Building and the Flatiron Building. And many others.

This brief history of the local terracotta company is worth a peek.

You may want to go hiking

After reading about Jean Muenchrath's hike on Mount Whitney, you might feel ready for a hike: “Well, yeah, and I’m carrying 15kg [her backpack] on my broken spine and pelvis, and I’ve got gangrene now in my butt because of the injury.” 

Feynman quotes

“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.” ― Richard P. Feynman

“I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.”

― Richard P. Feynman

“I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.”

― Richard Feynman

“I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong. If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain … In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar.”

― Richard P. Feynman

Lifehacker on gardening

Lifehacker wants you to use more apps in the garden.

Other Katrina memories

As we are reminded of the 2005 damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, I encourage readers to reflect on stories beyond those from New Orleans. It was a huge storm with a wider path than many remember. Mississppi lost more than 200 lives when a storm saurge, possible as high as 30', washed across the coastal communities of Biloxi, Waveland, Pass Christian and Bay St. Louis. Houses built on 10' or 15' stilts were washed away. The Bay St Louis bridge, US 90, was collapsed.                

Energy visualization

 How much wind, solar, gas, or nuclear energy does your visit to this website require? Click and see.

River clean up

The Danube is benefiting from a clean-up culture that has people competitively collecting plastic on the river in homemade boats. The ability to create a positive culture that helps the environment is a remarkable thing. 

Fall theme

 Change is inevitable. Our response matters.

Two (maybe three) kinds of books

As I race to finish some of my summer reading, I found Austin Kleon's description of the centrifugal force of books to be quite intriguing.

Celebrate with Rutgers

PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF BOTANY AT RUTGERS

24 October 2025

We are delighted to invite you to our special jubilee symposium to celebrate botany at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.

The symposium will be held on Friday, October 24th and will include presentations by invited researchers, a poster session, an open house at Chrysler Herbarium, and a field trip on Saturday, October 25th. 

Please sign up for the Chrysler Herbarium’s mailing list to stay up to date with information about this event and other herbarium news at this link: https://tinyurl.com/CHRBlist. 

Registration information will be sent to recipients of the mailing list in September.

Ancient quote

“These individuals have riches just as we say that we ‘have a fever,’ when really the fever has us.” — Seneca

The words of NYC

NYC's Urban Textscape mapped out all of the visible words in StreetView. "The data is astonishing; it feels like sifting through the city's source code"

Trees quote

 “The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.”

― William Blake

Floating islands

A nice article is out about the Princeton Hydro floating islands on Woodcliff Lake. These are intended to be a living tool fighting algae in the reservoir water. 

 

Trees quote

 “Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.”

― Hermann Hesse, Wandering

The Subway is Not Scary

The Subway is Not Scary is an essay from Hamilton Nolan. If you are one of those people who avoids the subway in NYC, give him a hance to convince you that you should ride it more. I find it to be a pretty amazing system and, as he suggests, don't understand why some work so hard to avoid it. 

Dams and groundwater

 In a recent post, The Hydraulic Mission Impossible!, Nik Kowsar looks at the damming of Western US rivers, with highly visible impacts, as a hint about what is happening below the surface. But, as he explains, the groundwater is where the biggest crisis lies hidden.

"New research using NASA’s GRACE satellites reveals the Colorado River Basin has lost 28 million acre-feet of groundwater since 2003—twice the volume lost from Lake Mead and Lake Powell combined."

Subsidence is sinking our cities

The Washington Post takes a closer look at the rates of subsidence and reasons that our major cities are sinking.

Robot lawn mowers

Thinking about the future? A new survey claims that 13% of lawn owners have robot lawn mowers. Warning: Lots of infographic and very little about methodology.