@rexdalish.bsky.social
Husband, Father, Christian, Canadian. Super-nerd for visual astronomy, aviation, and matters geomorphological.
Pinned
Apropos of all that's going on:
O Lord Our God, arise
And scatter our enemies
Frustrate their politics
Confound their knavish tricks
God save the King
And yeah, I know he's an oddball, but better a constitutional monarch than an unconstitutional tyrant.
O Lord Our God, arise
And scatter our enemies
Frustrate their politics
Confound their knavish tricks
God save the King
And yeah, I know he's an oddball, but better a constitutional monarch than an unconstitutional tyrant.
Apropos of all that's going on:
O Lord Our God, arise
And scatter our enemies
Frustrate their politics
Confound their knavish tricks
God save the King
And yeah, I know he's an oddball, but better a constitutional monarch than an unconstitutional tyrant.
O Lord Our God, arise
And scatter our enemies
Frustrate their politics
Confound their knavish tricks
God save the King
And yeah, I know he's an oddball, but better a constitutional monarch than an unconstitutional tyrant.
January 25, 2026 at 7:02 PM
Apropos of all that's going on:
O Lord Our God, arise
And scatter our enemies
Frustrate their politics
Confound their knavish tricks
God save the King
And yeah, I know he's an oddball, but better a constitutional monarch than an unconstitutional tyrant.
O Lord Our God, arise
And scatter our enemies
Frustrate their politics
Confound their knavish tricks
God save the King
And yeah, I know he's an oddball, but better a constitutional monarch than an unconstitutional tyrant.
Looks like the Economist is in a pretty foul mood about That Man's shenanigans....
January 22, 2026 at 11:41 AM
Looks like the Economist is in a pretty foul mood about That Man's shenanigans....
This is really an epochal speech. It lays out a path for the 'rest of the world' away from hegemonic schemes. There is a glimmer of hope here. But words are easy. Action, persistence and resilience are hard. But you have to start somewhere, and this is as good a place as any.
Mark Carney's speech really is terrific: full text is here and very much worth your time.
The Carney doctrine
Open comment thread on the PM's Davos speech
paulwells.substack.com
January 21, 2026 at 1:04 AM
This is really an epochal speech. It lays out a path for the 'rest of the world' away from hegemonic schemes. There is a glimmer of hope here. But words are easy. Action, persistence and resilience are hard. But you have to start somewhere, and this is as good a place as any.
I, too, have learned a new concept today....however reluctantly. The sad truth is that it totally fits current reality.
I had to look up Lizardman's Constant: the 4% of people who will tell a pollster lizard people are taking over the world, ie the minimum answer you will get for even the most absurd question.
"Do you think it would be a good idea or a bad idea for the U.S. to use military force to take possession of Greenland from Denmark?"
Good idea: 4%
Bad idea: 71%
(Ipsos)
4%. He did it. He finally hit Lizardman's Constant.
Good idea: 4%
Bad idea: 71%
(Ipsos)
4%. He did it. He finally hit Lizardman's Constant.
January 15, 2026 at 12:45 AM
I, too, have learned a new concept today....however reluctantly. The sad truth is that it totally fits current reality.
A tidy summary of the current paroxysm of imperialist lunacy coming out of the US.
The United States needs military access to Greenland, which it already has, to defend the Arctic, which it already does, from Russian and Chinese ships, which aren’t actually there, and this is so important we should destroy the Western alliance to get it, do I have that right?
January 14, 2026 at 2:04 PM
A tidy summary of the current paroxysm of imperialist lunacy coming out of the US.
This is a true statement!
“‘The Expanse’ was the greatest sci-fi show in television history. Beltalowda, sasa ke!”
January 6, 2026 at 2:21 AM
This is a true statement!
Watching CDA Juniors. Olympic ice is the way the game should be played. You really see the speed and creativity of the players in a way the congested NHL rinks don't allow. This is what the game should look like!
January 3, 2026 at 3:54 AM
Watching CDA Juniors. Olympic ice is the way the game should be played. You really see the speed and creativity of the players in a way the congested NHL rinks don't allow. This is what the game should look like!
Apparently, someone is trying to reenact the cyanogen panic from 1910's pass from Halley's comet; just this time in relation to 3I/ATLAS. It's utter nonsense now, same way it was nonsense then.
December 9, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Apparently, someone is trying to reenact the cyanogen panic from 1910's pass from Halley's comet; just this time in relation to 3I/ATLAS. It's utter nonsense now, same way it was nonsense then.
Stepping outside last night about 7pm when something swooped upward into the maple tree. It was an owl! First time seeing one around the house in 24 years! Likely a Barred Owl. Stood around looking handsome for a minute or so, then flew off as soon as a photo was tried....
December 7, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Stepping outside last night about 7pm when something swooped upward into the maple tree. It was an owl! First time seeing one around the house in 24 years! Likely a Barred Owl. Stood around looking handsome for a minute or so, then flew off as soon as a photo was tried....
Behold. The new US National Security Strategy condensed to, by my count, 17 words.
"No, no, no. You don't understand. I am pre-disposed to non-intervention. That means I don't intervene unless I do."
December 5, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Behold. The new US National Security Strategy condensed to, by my count, 17 words.
Checked the Spotify year end thingy. Apparently I am 87 years old. I guess when you average out Vivaldi and Corelli, plus Sidney Bechet, Artie Shaw, and Billie Holiday, that's kind of where you end up.
December 4, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Checked the Spotify year end thingy. Apparently I am 87 years old. I guess when you average out Vivaldi and Corelli, plus Sidney Bechet, Artie Shaw, and Billie Holiday, that's kind of where you end up.
I am tempted to make these myself just to see if anyone recognizes it. Kudos to whoever came up with it!
Niche.
November 29, 2025 at 1:13 PM
I am tempted to make these myself just to see if anyone recognizes it. Kudos to whoever came up with it!
Double star program completed last night. Caught HD 9336 in Cetus at culmination, and just before clouds rolled in! 18 months of persistence to complete. The RASC Double star is a marvel, and I encourage all visual astronomers - wherever you live - to give it a shot!
November 19, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Double star program completed last night. Caught HD 9336 in Cetus at culmination, and just before clouds rolled in! 18 months of persistence to complete. The RASC Double star is a marvel, and I encourage all visual astronomers - wherever you live - to give it a shot!
This is the definitive explanation of the loss of this storied ship. It's really more like a magazine article, for it covers everything from meteorology to metal. Outstanding work, and what the bookmark function was designed for!
#OTD in Weather History, 48 years ago, on November 10, 1975, the ore freighter SS EDMUND FITZGERALD was lost with all hands in a severe storm on Lake Superior.
She is perhaps the best known shipwreck on the Great Lakes, and today we remember her loss. 1/
She is perhaps the best known shipwreck on the Great Lakes, and today we remember her loss. 1/
November 11, 2025 at 1:01 PM
This is the definitive explanation of the loss of this storied ship. It's really more like a magazine article, for it covers everything from meteorology to metal. Outstanding work, and what the bookmark function was designed for!
There it is....actually, not for the first time.
November 8, 2025 at 1:53 AM
There it is....actually, not for the first time.
Of all the many pun posts sparked by this accident, I like this one the most.
"But soft! What light through yonder window... BRAKES!"
Shakespeare family home damaged by reversing driver
October 19, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Of all the many pun posts sparked by this accident, I like this one the most.
Honestly, I love the whimsy of the Condor livery. Everyone else is trying to be all sophisticated and arty...but Condor asks "what if stripes and colours?" I see this aircraft and the mustard one frequently around Toronto. Always makes me smile.
Condor Airlines
Airbus A330-941
Reg. D-ANRA
Calgary International Airport (YYC)
August 4, 2025 🛩️📸
Airbus A330-941
Reg. D-ANRA
Calgary International Airport (YYC)
August 4, 2025 🛩️📸
October 12, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Honestly, I love the whimsy of the Condor livery. Everyone else is trying to be all sophisticated and arty...but Condor asks "what if stripes and colours?" I see this aircraft and the mustard one frequently around Toronto. Always makes me smile.
I am always amazed that humans build and send robots to other worlds, and they take pictures like THIS!
Dione in front of Saturn, captured by Cassini 20 years ago today on October 11, 2005 🌖🪐
October 12, 2025 at 2:24 AM
I am always amazed that humans build and send robots to other worlds, and they take pictures like THIS!
Another polished aluminum beauty. Who cares that it's basically a toy that flies when it looks this good! The alt text is right - it does have Ryan vibes, and maybe a bit of Chipmunk with a dollop of interwar fighter.....
So … any takers? (📸 Spirit Engineering, Inc.) | 🛩️ 🥇 | 🧵 1/2 | 🔗 spiriteng.com/se-1-aircraf...
October 6, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Another polished aluminum beauty. Who cares that it's basically a toy that flies when it looks this good! The alt text is right - it does have Ryan vibes, and maybe a bit of Chipmunk with a dollop of interwar fighter.....
RASC Double Star program update - now at 109 of 110! Did 2 in Cetus (78 Cet and HD3125). Last one (HD9336) stubbornly refused to emerge from behind my apple tree before I quit at 1 am. Also did M103 on Messier Program and observed Saturn and (maybe?) Neptune....
October 1, 2025 at 2:32 PM
RASC Double Star program update - now at 109 of 110! Did 2 in Cetus (78 Cet and HD3125). Last one (HD9336) stubbornly refused to emerge from behind my apple tree before I quit at 1 am. Also did M103 on Messier Program and observed Saturn and (maybe?) Neptune....
Just a robot on Mars taking pictures that look like something by Ansel Adams. Other than that, nothing special....
Yesterday Curiosity took pix of jagged peaks in the distance with its ChemCam. I stitched them together, did some work on them, and... just look at that view... I've been doing this since Sojourner landed & this is one of my fave images ever... Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/S Atkinson
September 23, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Just a robot on Mars taking pictures that look like something by Ansel Adams. Other than that, nothing special....
I have never heard of this light aircraft before, but what a beautiful marvel of design it is!
Created by Claude Chudzik the CC-02 first flight in 2007.
This amateur-built aircraft is exceptionally beautiful.
Thanks to its very pure aerodynamics and a motor of only 200hp, its cruising speed is 324km/h and its maximum speed is 555km/h, with a range of 1000km.
© Eric Favereau and Celine Ameiot
This amateur-built aircraft is exceptionally beautiful.
Thanks to its very pure aerodynamics and a motor of only 200hp, its cruising speed is 324km/h and its maximum speed is 555km/h, with a range of 1000km.
© Eric Favereau and Celine Ameiot
September 13, 2025 at 4:59 PM
I have never heard of this light aircraft before, but what a beautiful marvel of design it is!
One more observation done in the RASC double star program, this time HR 313 (77 Psc). Just 3 more to go, all in Cetus, so likely in October. Also did 4 Williamson moon observations, 3 around Imbrium/Copernicus, and then Longomontanus.
September 3, 2025 at 12:43 PM
One more observation done in the RASC double star program, this time HR 313 (77 Psc). Just 3 more to go, all in Cetus, so likely in October. Also did 4 Williamson moon observations, 3 around Imbrium/Copernicus, and then Longomontanus.
Here is a thing i have always wondered about. I am amazed at the research that shows we have - and in theory can use - pulsars as a natuarally-occurring space GPS. Marvelous work....
Found out today that by using millisecond pulsars as your reference points, you can determine your position in the galaxy down to 7km or less, which is frankly a ridiculous degree of accuracy on the cosmic scale #PSETI2025
August 19, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Here is a thing i have always wondered about. I am amazed at the research that shows we have - and in theory can use - pulsars as a natuarally-occurring space GPS. Marvelous work....
I find this oddly beautiful in its synchronicity. Kudos to the team that designed the drone footage!
August 15, 2025 at 3:08 PM
I find this oddly beautiful in its synchronicity. Kudos to the team that designed the drone footage!