Wiki - Endorheic lakes and basins

Endorheic lakes and basins retain water and allow no outflow, just evaporation. If the water sneaks out underground, it is probably cryptorheic like Devil's Lake, Wisconsin.  

Municipal Asphalt Plant

The often overlooked municipal architecture of the Manhattan Municipal Asphalt Plant. Robert Moses lampooned it as the "Cathedral of Asphalt" but now it is a recreation complex.

Wiki - Gen Z Protests

The first of Gen Z was born in 1997. And now they have a proper Wikipedia entry for Gen Z protests. Could it really include a 2010 protest?

 

Wiki - Cast-iron architecture

Cast-iron skillets are all the rage, but cast-iron architecture? Don't put either one in the dishwasher.

Wiki - GDAL

An essential building block in GIS work today is the open source Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL). But, it is worth noting, that most of us don't realize that we are using it within the many other geospatial apps in our daily life and worklife. As the entry explains, it is embedded in the software that the GIS word relies on, including QGIS, R, ArcGIS, ERDAS, ENVI, MapServer and GRASS. 

Wiki - Amiable Child Memorial

New York City has so many hidden features. Consider the Amiable Child Memorial that is dedicated to a bot that fell off a high bluff on the Hudson River in 1797. Not only is he remembered with a memorial, but also with a street named after him. Wikipedia tells the story. 

This is a full article for what could otherwise be a long-forgotten incident. How many of these are there in NYC? 

Wiki - Disruptive innovation

When a new idea or product displaces an entire previous category, we might call that a Disruptive Innovation. Some of these disruptions change entire markets. Think of how the smartphone has not only replaced the Palm Pilot and the landline, but maybe also the movie theater. 

This is a rich and lengthy entry. I am especially appreciative of the section in which the editors have created an extensive table of examples and categories of disruptive innovations. The Examples are robust and fascinating - each with its own Wikipedia entry. The "See Also" list at the end is remarkable. Many of these topics have direct applications to the ongoing innovation and diffusion of GIS. The often misused Killer Apps, Hype Cycles, and the nearly forgotten Blue Ocean Strategy.

 

Wiki - Akegera National Park

The wild dogs are gone. But the lengthy entry demonstrates the many personalities of Akegera National Park that remain. Quite a place.

Wiki - Door to Hell (aka, Darvaza gas crater)

The Door to Hell has become a tourist attraction despite the difficulties in travelling there and the dangers involved.

Wiki - Liquid Rainbow

A stream in Colombia is so colorful that it is known as the Liquid Rainbow or the River of Five Colors. Plus, it runs very clear despite the colors.  The Caño Cristales runs through the Serranía de la Macarena in Meta.

Wiki - Manchineel

The world's most dangerous tree is the Manchineel. That gives it quite a reputation. The Wikipedia entry has an Historical Accounts and In Popular Culture section.

Wiki - Oology

The study of bird's eggs is called Oology. The article describes the underground activities of egging, and mentions Colin Watson who was arrested and convicted repeatedly until he died falling from a tree while egging. It also mentions the secret society of eggers, the Jourdain Society, which was raided by the police. 

 

Wiki - Khone Phapheng Falls

The widest waterfall in the world (nearly 7 miles wide). Also, home to the largest freshwater fish in the world. 

 

Wiki - Taï National Park

 

Taï National Park in the Ivory Coast. The fauna list is extensive, with three different types of pangolin. Still, the threatened species are amazing: "Five mammal species of the Taï National Park are on the Red List of Threatened Species: pygmy hippopotamus, olive colobus monkeys, leopards, chimpanzees, and Jentink's duiker."

Wiki - Living root bridge

Trees are amazing. Making a bridge out tree parts doesn't sound exceptional until you see this version where the tree parts are still alive: Living Root Bridge. One of the examples is the Rangthylliang 1 root bridge which is over 50 meters long. The See Also list includes the equally interesting Baubotanik and Fab Tree Hab. 

Wiki - Buridan's ass

The 14th century philosopher, Jean Buridan, grappled with free will and indecision. Later philosophers satirized his approach with Buridan's ass but it also is used as an understandable illustration of the concept. Its broader application can be seen in places like this piece, "US Climate Policy Caught Between Two Worlds — Are We Smarter Than Buridan’s Ass?"

Wiki - Animal Trial

 The wikipedia about animals that stand trial is quite substantial.

Wiki - Frank Hayes

 Steeplechase jockey Frank Hayes won a race at Belmont posthumously. 

Wiki - Fogo (Island), Cape Verde

Cape Verde recently got some attention. One small piece of that small country is Fogo, the volcanic island. We have learned to look closer at little places, right? 

Wiki - Fogo Island, Newfoundland

For such a small and difficult to reach island, Fogo Island has a pretty lengthy entry. You may have seen it on the 1606 Bertius map of Newfoundland or on Season 2 of Severence. The histories include Marconi and the Treaty of Utrecht. 

Wiki - Samuel Seymour

According to Wikipedia, Samuel Seymour held a couple of interesting distinctions:

1) the last person to report having witnessed the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865

2) the oldest person to appear on television (at the time of his appearance), 

Wiki - Ice block expedition of 1959

That time that an insulation company drove a block of ice from Norway to the Equator. In Africa they met with Albert Schweitzer. Sometimes a publicity stunt is more than just that.

Wiki - Cloaca

 Cloaca.

Wiki - Morgan Munitions Depot explosion

Harrowing story of a munitions plant explosion in Sayreville in 1918. In the 1990s, some shells were found near an elementary school and the resulting search found another 5,000 unexploded shells. more than 100 years later, the local high school is still called...the Bombers.

Ancient Aquiry

Nearly 2,000 years ago, the ancient city of Aquiry was very big. A new paper in Nature says that LiDAR has helped them identify 20,000 earthworks in the city. Seems like a lot.

Wiki - Steller's Sea Eagle

The Steller's Sea Eagle is a fascinating large bird. So large it can be a threat to bald eagles.

Rutgers' Irises

Great to see Danielle Lohrman (RULA '27) so involved with this special partnership at Rutgers Gardens:

Historic Iris Partnership Blooms at Rutgers Gardens

Wiki - Western Brook Pond

Western Brook Pond, inside Gros Morne National Park, is a freshwater fjord. The fishing isn't great because the lake is ultraoligotrphic; the water is so clean that it doesn't foster life. And that is despite the prominent contributions of Pissing Mare Falls. It had a 30m tsunami in the early 20th century.

Wiki - Well to Hell

 An urban legend about a very very deep well.

Wiki - Landlocked countries

Wikipedia has a lengthy entry on landlocked countries. It includes basic "records" like largest (Kazakhstan) and most populous (Ethiopia). Less basic, like the fact that Kyrgyzstan is the farthest landlocked country from any ocean. And a little odd was a list of countries that are landlocked by exactly two other countries.

But the truly unexpected section was about "double-landlocked" countries, which are countries surrounded by landlocked countries. In all the world, there are only two of these exist: Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan.

Wiki - Immortal jellyfish

When immortal jellyfish get older they just get younger again. 

August quote

I should post this every year...

"When the first of August came round, the Professor realized he had pleasantly trifled away nearly two months at a task which should have taken little more than a week."

-Willa Cather (from The Professor's House, 1925) 

Wiki - Binondo

Binondo - I had not heard of the "oldest Chinatown in the world" but here it is. Founded in 1594. By the Spaniards, in the Philippines.