mortiz080

What's in a name?     If you're lucky, there's just one name for a place.  Newly made cities, like Irvine, CA, have always just had one name.  But places that have been around for a while, with a rich and complex history--say, Istanbul, Turkey--will almost certainly have multiple names as countries, languages, and history changes the place.   Probably the best-known name-shifting city is the city-currently-known-as Istanbul, which was previously known as Constantinople.  Mosque in Istanbul  (Not Constantinople) Other places have had interesting name choices as well.  What's the story behind these?   1. Where is  El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula?   What is that city called today?  What would that place have been called in 1600? Searching for the name:      [ El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula ]   tells you quickly that this is the place a...

Not long ago we had cenotes on the mind ...  ... and over this past weekend, I spent a lovely Saturday afternoon reading about the geology and hydrogeology of the Yucatán peninsula.   In the process, I came across this completely amazing photo that I had to share.   This is Xbulla , a cenote that was once on land, but as time passed and the coastline moved, it became submerged in the sea.  But as you can see, fresh water still flows freely from the mouth of the cenote, creating an amazing upwelling about 0.5 km offshore in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.   P/C:   The Hydrogeology of the Yucatán , Perry, Velazquez-Oliman, and Socki I've seen fresh water springs in the ocean before.  They're actually fairly common along the coast of Florida and Hawai'i, where large amounts of freshwater flows through the rock (kaartstic limestone in Florida and the Yucatán, volcanic rock in Hawai'i).  But I've never seen a flow rate like this where the freshwater ...

Here's something I learned a while ago...  ... but I see lots of people who don't know:  When you read online, you can read nearly anything.   Big point: Do NOT let yourself be intimidated by scary-looking titles, big words, or content that seems too complicated.   Using a couple of online research tools, you can read just about anything.  Here's an e xample from  the journal Science , which is a journal that's as technical as it gets:   From the surface to the seafloor: How giant larvaceans transport microplastics into the deep sea Kakani Katija,  C. Anela Choy, Rob E. Sherlock, Alana D. Sherman and Bruce H. Robison.   Science Advances  16 Aug 2017:  Vol. 3, no. 8 This link showed up in my email the other day (I subscribe to the "best of" articles as a daily post from Science).  It looks pretty interesting, but I don't know what "larvaceans" or "microplastics" are. I can probably guess what "microplastics" means--I've do...

Finding names is often simple...   ... but it can get complicated if (and when) names change.   People change names, often when they marry or change their names for professional reasons.  Take, for instance, Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner , aka “Sting.”  Names can get arbitrarily complicated when people change their professional names multiple times (such as the rapper born as Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. , who has been known by the names Snoop Rock, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Snoop Lion, DJ Snoopadelic, Snoopzilla Bigg, Snoop Dogg, and Snoop Scorsese).  And, of course, to make it REALLY difficult, there are artists like Prince RogersNelson , aka Prince , who also used the songwritier aliases of Jamie Starr, Joey Coco, Tora Tora, Alexander Nevermind, and Christopher Tracy.  He is, of course, a lso referred to as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (TAFKAP), and has the difficult to search for symbol: Go ahead for for this artist's name.  "Search by Image" wo...