R E F L E C T I O N S

"Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni was a German physicist and musician. His most important work, for which he is sometimes labeled the father of acoustics, included research on vibrating plates and the ..."   Wikipedia These videos have very annoying sounds! Please turn down the volume. On this site the author shows some of the patterns he found. Physics demonstrations: Chladni patterns | Skulls in the Stars Watch these two videos for an explanation. 

At Clearbrook Park they're starting to decorate for Christmas.   It seems a bit early but maybe they need the time. Looks like Santa needs more time to practice. Or maybe he's celebrating early.

Yesterday My wife and I took a ride to the Holy Cross Monastery.  It was a pleasant unusually warm November day. The Abbey is set back down a long road. I felt a quiet peacefulness. I wish I had a stronger faith. The monks help support themselves by baking and making jams.  We bought a couple of jars and some candy at the gift shop. I wasn't able to take a picture of the building or chapel but you can find them on the web if you like. Here's a video featuring the very same monk we bought the jams from.  He's explaining how he became a monk. Video

Comparing the true size of Australia vs Greenland "The Mercator projection is a cylindrical map projection presented by the Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569. It became the standard map projection." This is the map I'm used to but it has major distortions. "The ‘authagraph’, a world map designed by hajime narukawa that aims to fix the problems with our current maps — distorted land and sea sizes and political and geographical misunderstandings." Link:  authgraph wins 2015 japan GOOD DESIGN grand award I don't like this map.  It doesn't seem like much of an improvement to me. THE TRUE SIZE OF MAP "The True Size" map lets you move countries around the globe,  to show how big they really are. Now this is my favorite map.  There seem to be fewer distortions and you can superimpose countries to see their relative sizes.  Each state and country's fl...

Caution: Scary & Repulsive

Photography of Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York  by Patricia Gonzalez.