Tag Archives: nature

Albedo Libido

Spring is in the air. We’ve had several nice days here. Snow is melting. It won’t be long and things will be getting green. Life renews.

It’s not exactly a Phoenix though. The bird doesn’t rise from the flames out of a snowbank. Nature isn’t giving us the bird. It’s not Peter Cottontail either. But the hare is a symbol of renewal associated with the end of winter. Splitting hares yields cottontails {AKA Bunnies}, Jack Rabbits, and European hares. There are more varieties I’m sure. The European hare is tied into the Easter Rabbit myth. Eggs are a sign of renewal. Hare populations appear to explode in spring. They breed like rabbits you know. And therein lies the libido. You have a bunch of girls dance around a Maypole. Probably supposed to be virgins, but they really seem enamored of that pole. Customs and rituals evolve over time. You still hear about egg hunts. Eggs that a bunny has. Playboy Bunnies almost seem quaint nowadays. I’m sure they still inspire Jack rabbits. Gotta find those eggs!

They added captions. I hadn’t seen those on the version I watched earlier.

Al be dough. He must be made of money because he shines like gold. Actually more like ice, clouds, and water. The ground tends to be less shiny. So many aspects of nature are a balancing act. Are they a stable equilibrium or an unstable equilibrium? In dieting plateaus are those equilibrium points. They can be a pain to get by. In terms of the planet’s albedo, let’s hope we don’t go past a plateau. You ever notice that weather systems tend to follow roads and rivers? You think that might have something to do with temperature differences on the surface? Albedo is the reflectivity of the planet. There are lots of variables. All else being equal is a phrase we can’t use when we talk about environmental systems. It’s like doing physics problems with massless strings and frictionless pulleys. It is useful for teaching the concepts, but engineering problems have to actually consider those things.