As a geologist I will retort that if Minecraft environments had eroding surfaces like real life does then that bedrock would also be visible at the surface. Outcrops are just areas that are experiencing erosion rates faster than areas that are overlayed with soil. That said, there are a cool Minecraft programs for geological processes that have been shown to be educational.

I worked in geotech consulting and there is one piece of radioactive equipment used for soil testing that requires a certification to operate and transport in a vehicle, called a nuclear density/moisture gauge. Every year there’s an article that makes the news where a technician forgets to strap down the equipment so it doesn’t fall out the truck or not locking the box that holds the equipment and someone steals it. People really are stupid and lots of companies that give out work trucks don’t teach employees basic safety especially when towing or transporting fragile things.

Having lived in Arizona for a few years and worked in the renewable energy industry there, I always found it surprising no long term planning on anyone’s part is done when designing a water-intensive project especially in the big cities. The problem is that water will still always flow through Phoenix, whether it’s the Colorado River or even more canal projects from other states, and rural folks will always drill deeper for water. It’s not a problem that there isn’t water it’s just the accessibility of the groundwater and how saline it is. The previous governor, Ducey, even suggested the state invest in desalination tech. The surface manifestations (ie earth fissures) of GW withdrawal are obvious but humans find a way to engineer around it or in some cases of Arizona desert they just don’t build there.

This is so profoundly sad for a country that once had so much. My Cuban ex-pat family decry the communist government role here but I can never forgive the US for their inhumanity in tacitly letting this disaster unfold and others in the Caribbean, but what else is new.

Season 3 was some of the most riveting television I have ever watched. I’m a bit of a sucker but I still really liked Season 4 despite its pacing, it was a victim of the writers strike.

My friend has a wedding in Tampa on Saturday and as of this morning are still planning for it…

Don’t forget wood and oil

Where I went to university the geography faculty were part of the Earth Science department. It formed a really interdisciplinary department, there was work being done, for example, in “health geography” — applying population & ecological studies, community health research, and epidemiology to understand disparities. Urban geography like was mentioned strives to understand of the role of cities in regional, national, and international developments but also how cities operate through governance and administration, the role of philanthropic institutions and NGOs, gentrification etc.

The Italian Bombelli in 1572 seemed to toy with both concepts but called imaginary numbers “quantità silvestri” (silvestri meaning ‘wild’) and complex numbers “numeri complessi”. Interesting the imaginary is a quantity and the complex is a number, but maybe old Italian didn’t have that distinction.

I suppose Descartes would agree with you, he first coined the term “imaginary” because he didn’t think they’d serve much purpose. Euler made use of them and continued using the term. Complex number is a complex - a number with a real and an imaginary component.

I’ve been using Flipboard since 2012 and with the ebb and flow of how news is consumed over the last 12 years I think Flipboard has stayed true to its original goal, a simple news aggregator app . I remember when they first introduced ads into the app I was almost turned off, but the ads ended up being formatted similar to the news article so they weren’t intrusive to my experience.

There’s been a few news sources that are garbage but I just mute them and never see them in my feed. I think after 12 years the app has figured out my interests xD

I also read a lot of news in Spanish and the app does a good job of including non-US publications

I absolutely agree with you orphan wells pose a huge problem when it comes to methane leaks and water pollution. That said CO2 injection wells operate under an entirely different suite of regulatory requirements and involve vastly different stakeholders in the initial project planning phase. I am based in the United States so I can’t speak to the regulations other countries are developing. The US is behind on adequate regulations (Congress as usual dragging their feet) but right now CO2 injection wells follow the “Class VI” requirements set out by the EPA. Injection of CO2 must be below the groundwater table, below a proven confining rock layer (to prevent any CO2 from migrating anywhere near the surface) and be at least 800 meters below the surface to ensure CO2 is under enough pressure to remain stagnant. Before, during, and after injection these wells must have a suite of monitoring tests including 4D seismic, soil gas measurements, and in-situ pressure gauges. When the well is no longer active it is plugged and the operator is still liable for the project area for 50 years. By 50 years anything that could go wrong would have done so already, most geophysical models of CO2 leaks assure its storage for at least 100 years but I prefer 10,000 years to emphasize the storage assurance.

Additionally a smart carbon capture project would utilize CO2 mineralization processes that capture the CO2 in the crystal of a mineral (like calcite). This removes the problem supercritical CO2 may pose. This process is geology dependent and works well in basaltic rocks, the Climeworks mammoth plant in Iceland is an example of this.

The technology is here and it is developing at a rapid pace. There are a lot of clever ways to remove CO2. Keep in mind “CDR” - carbon dioxide removal and “CCUS” - carbon capture, utilization & storage are two different approaches to reducing atmospheric CO2 concentrations. CDR includes soil carbon sequestration, bio-char, ocean alkalinity. CUS is storage of supercritical CO2 between the pore space of permeable rock.

I am a geologist that specializes in site characterization for carbon storage reservoirs. Like with any large engineering project there are certain risks but CO2 leaks can be modeled and mitigated with responsible project planning. I can go in more detail if you are interested.