It was a beautiful morning… … and I was running on a jungle path, getting my morning exercise while staying on the North Shore of Oahu. As I run or bicycle, I regularly discover small mysteries on the land. In 2013 I wondered “Why is this tree he…
You’d think these would be simple… … questions. But they’re not quite as easy as you might think. Hawai’i on Google EarthMany simple questions have surprising complicated answers. For instance, “how far is it to the moon?” sounds straightforwa…
Now that I’m in Hawai’i… … I start to wonder about the geography of this island chain, this group of beautiful isles so far away from everything else. Hawai’i on Google EarthNaturally, I start to wonder a few things. The Challenges this week might…
As noted, I’m on vacation… So here’s a quick summary of how I found the answers to last week’s Challenges. 1. Driving to the North Shore we passed through fields of pineapples. Historically, pineapples (and sugar cane) have been the mainstays of H…
As I mentioned last week, I went back up to the place where I took some of those original pics of the plant-free zone around chaparral bushes. This place is Black Mountain (37.319795, -122.163153), a mixed oak woodland, chaparral, and grassland. Overv…
Technically, I’m on vacation… … but that just means I’m in an interesting location with even MORE questions that keep popping up! This week I’m on Oahu, the “main” island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It’s the island where Honolulu (the capital) i…
How DO you count so many center-pivot systems?We started last week’s Challenge with two satellite images. The first is from a large center-pivot farm at 29.9653127, 38.3618227 in the northern part of Saudi Arabia. Center pivot fields in Saudi Arabia…
One of the most striking things about flying… … is looking down and seeing giant fields of circles on the Earth below. If you’ve ever seen these, you might have wondered what they are. They are NOT UFO landing sites, but are just fields that are …
Things are often not what they seem… Recall this week’s Challenge: We’re trying to understand what’s causing this gap around the plants up in the chaparral on Black Mountain (in the Santa Cruz range). 1. What causes the odd, plant-free gap aroun…
The biggest surprises… … are sometimes the ones you don’t see at first. They’re the kind of little things that slowly creep into your consciousness and make you wonder… why is it that this is so?? Long-time readers will remember the one of the …
Finding connections… … is one of those basic skills we have to develop as SearchResearchers. But it’s also something that we encourage in our students, and in critical thinking in general. “Compare and contrast the American Civil War with the Fre…
Connections between artists… … thinkers, do-ers, builders, writers, composers, and makers is important. If you know that Mr. X somehow influenced Ms. Y, or that Organization A is somehow connected with Place B, you’re a leg up on understanding how…
Tools adapt to fit the task… … so it’s no surprise that there are some really interesting tools to fit to unusual work tasks. 1. A tool that’s been used by stained glass workers since medieval times is a fid. What IS a fid? And how would you u…
The world is full of fascinating tools… … and I love to find out what they are and what they’re used for. So, for this week, here are a few Challenges about some really odd, interesting, and unusual tools. 1. A tool that’s been used by stained g…
A photo can have lots of information in (and around) it, if only you seek beyond the surface… In last week’s Challenge I asked “where’s the ship in this pic?” and for some information about it. A mystery at a beach in an undisclosed location. If yo…