Commentary - Xcentric Diffractions

Xcentric Diffractions

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Commentary

A collection of 38 posts

The Absurdity of These Priorities

The Absurdity of These Priorities

Old Signs

An Epic Clash of Epochs

An Epic Clash of Epochs

Our destination wasn't listed anywhere in the deep space catalogs. That was the interesting thing. At least, that was the interesting thing for me. Up until now, we just needed to type the name of some deep space object, like "Andromeda Galaxy," and its coordinates would

An architects rendering of the proposed Train Hall renovation of Washington Union Station. T

Like a Business

This is Part 3 of series in which we travel by train to Vermont. You can read Part 1 here, and Part 2 here. The purpose of the Project is to expand and modernize Washington Union Station, the National Capital Region’s principal intermodal transportation hub. – Federal Railroad Administration 2022

Text is shown with all upper case letters crossed out and replaced with lower case.

donald j. trump Terrifies SCOTUS With Lower Case Font

Panoramic view of the inside of Union Station's Great Hall. It is ornate with marble floors, and people inside are dwarfed by the 96 foot tall arched ceiling.

Edelweiss

This is Part 2 of a series in which we travel by train to Vermont. You can read Part 1 here. We entered Union Station through an atrium on the west side of the building. Sort of "blown in" to be more accurate. I've since gathered

Image of two machinist's calipers. The calipers are bright metal, slightly rusted, and appear against a black background.

The Measure of Mayhem

All of Ours

Hundreds of thousands of stars are crammed together in that one spot, each seemingly fighting for elbow room among its brethren. At the center of the clot, the stars are packed so closely together that you can't find any black sky between them. It's like an

Dunebunker Gives Trump Her Soapbox Derby Trophy

Dunebunker Gives Trump Her Soapbox Derby Trophy

A graph of solar panel energy output versus hours of the day on Nov 5-6, 2025. 28.6 kWh of electricity was produced during daylight, and 0.0 kWh or electricity was produced under a full moon.

At the Circus

“If you can come up with something that [rich people will] regard as special, you can really make a lot of money selling to them,” said Robert Frank, a professor of management and economics at Cornell. “So, a lot of the ingenuity in the economy gets directed to things that

A quarter coin is balancing on its edge on a colorful background

Georgia Floyd County GOP Declares Heads AND Tails!

Alone On a Hill

Alone On a Hill

Day after day Alone on a hill The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still – Lennon-McCartney, The Fool on the Hill, 1967 It was quiet on the hill. Sitting in the afterglow. Waiting for the comet. "You look like you are here for more than the sunset,

Spelunking the Cave

Spelunking the Cave

Long-Term Weather Pattern Unsameness Attributed to Scuzzy Joule 533nmHouse Gas Farts

Long-Term Weather Pattern Unsameness Attributed to Scuzzy Joule 533nmHouse Gas Farts

Tariffs R Us

Exceeding the Limit

Exceeding the Limit

“There are three interesting things about NGC 5907 – the Splinter Galaxy,” said Max. “Oh, yeah? Like what?” I asked. We had cruised to rest in a vast interstellar region towards the outskirts of the Splinter Galaxy, just inside the circling dust and smoke lanes. A galactic park, in effect, where

What Part of "Absolute Immunity" Do You Not Understand?

What Part of "Absolute Immunity" Do You Not Understand?

Trump to Return Alaska to Russia in Exchange for Epstein Files

Trump to Return Alaska to Russia in Exchange for Epstein Files

Searching for a Splinter in a Smoke Stack

Searching for a Splinter in a Smoke Stack

"I don't think we're going to make it, Max. I can't see a thing." That was strange. There wasn't a cloud in the night sky, the usual Spring humidity was uncharacteristically low, and the upper atmospheric currents were reported to

Congressman John McGuire (R Va-5) Takes Out Big Bird

Congressman John McGuire (R Va-5) Takes Out Big Bird

Trump Finishes Last at International Best Hat Contest

Trump Finishes Last at International Best Hat Contest

The Sound of Hollow

The Sound of Hollow

Keep It Forever With You

Keep It Forever With You

The wind whistled through the tack, rustling the straps on the luggage tied up top. It was not clear which was worse, the miles of rutted path, or the miles of mud threatening to suck the horseshoes right off the team straining to make forward progress. A sharp chill was

Zack Labe (NOAA) -- Just Fired by DOGE

Zack Labe (NOAA) -- Just Fired by DOGE

I recently wrote a piece on this site that examined the concept of climate tipping points. In that piece I focused on two climate change features that have the potential to give us an early warning on climate disaster: the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, and Arctic sea-ice collapse. After a

A Billion Years

A Billion Years

It is easy to picture our galaxy as just a bunch of static stuff. Where most of us live the night sky is a mild gray luminescence, polluted by urban light. Maybe the moon is out, behaving like the moon always does, in the same old, same old. There might