Uncategorized – Page 3 – Marcus James Thomson, Ph.D.

Here we go again

Enormous wildfires are raging through expansive real estate in Napa Valley and just east of San Jose. These fires, the LNU and SCU Fire Complexes, respectively, are 2 of the 5 largest in California’s recorded history. Really, the featured graphic is necessary to do the scale any kind of justice. (As of this morning, theContinue reading “Here we go again”

Just out in ERL

We have been working on this one for quite some time. It’s very nice to see it out at last. I will update with a short blog post I’m writing for IIASA, but for the moment, the abstract follows: Abstract. The rise and decline of many complex, pre-European maize-farming cultures in the American Southwest coincidesContinue reading “Just out in ERL”

Physicists

From PhysicsWorld: “Members of the DarkSide experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy have temporarily put their hunt for dark matter on hold in an attempt to stem the deadly tide of COVID-19. The 26-strong group of physicists from Europe and North America has designed a new, stripped-down mechanical ventilator that it hopes can beContinue reading “Physicists”

You get what you vote for

Here are 2 recent (post-“inexplicable-US-failure-to-respond-to-COVID-19”) articles from The Atlantic that might be worth looking at. One claims that “It has taken a good deal longer than it should have, but Americans have now seen the con man behind the curtain” and the other that “If somebody other than Donald Trump were in the White House,Continue reading “You get what you vote for”

UCSB has decided to do classes remotely for the rest of winter quarter

Because of the coronavirus scare, the university’s chancellor just sent out an email, stating that: “Our campus will be transitioning to remote instruction for the remainder of Winter Quarter and the start of the Spring Quarter through at least the end of April. Given our campus’s transition to remote instruction and the possibility of additionalContinue reading “UCSB has decided to do classes remotely for the rest of winter quarter”

Senegal and rosewood

I’ve learnt something new from the BBC today about illicit world trade in timber. Senegalese rosewood trees are being poached and smuggled across the border to the Gambia, where they are sold on to Chinese buyers. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/embed/p0864kpw/51774704

Some initial thoughts on the COLA demonstrations

Two Thursdays ago, teaching assistants at UC Santa Barbara collected on the lawn in front of the Physical Sciences North building to demonstrate in favor of a cost of living adjustment (COLA). Later, I watched from the library as they marched past, shouting slogans with passion. It looked fairly peaceful. Some had brought their children.Continue reading “Some initial thoughts on the COLA demonstrations”

NCEAS crowd out at Lake Los Carneros Park in Goleta

Freeman Dyson dead at 96

Let’s all take a moment, or a little while longer, to remember the mathematical physicist Freeman Dyson, who died on 28 February at age 96. The New York Times has an obituary here. But for the uninitiated, I’d suggest starting at the only TED talk I’ve ever liked, where Dyson gives a master class inContinue reading “Freeman Dyson dead at 96”

Land sharing, land sparing. For f**k sake.

This is an enjoyable story about agricultural land management in England. The protagonist is Jake Fiennes, eldest and troublemakerest (I guess) of the famous Fiennes brothers. He now spends his time as the land manager of a large estate in southern England. The land management style he practices is a potential solution to the veryContinue reading “Land sharing, land sparing. For f**k sake.”