The space race turns 60
Everyone so assumed the US would create the first satellite that it was nationally traumatic to watch the Russian “star” glide overhead.
Nature
Pi Day and Universal Numbers
Pi represents the ratio between any circle’s diameter and its circumference, which is roughly 3.14. You probably know number freaks who have memorized the number to 100 decimal places. I’m one of them.
Houseplants for cats
Just mosey over to the local health-food store and purchase some whole grain such as wheat (sold as “wheat berries”) or rye. Soak a batch of these seeds in water for a few hours and then sow them in potting soil.
Hurley residents will get a look at a draft Open Space Plan
A draft Open Space Plan for the Town of Hurley, worked on by the Hurley Conservation Advisory Council and consultants over recent years as called for in the town’s Comprehensive Town Plan, adopted in 2006, will be presented in a public information meeting at Hurley Town Hall in Old Hurley at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 1.
How Adams Fairacre Farms grew from one small stand into four stores that employ more than 1,000 people
When Ralph and Mary Adamucci began selling vegetables out of their farmstand in 1919, they probably had no intention of building a Hudson Valley grocery and nursery dynasty.
Call for falcon-spotters at Mohonk Preserve
Saturday, Feb. 17: Scientists are looking for volunteers to bolster their monitoring efforts at three local places that attract peregrines. Dress warmly and bring your binoculars if you have them.
Annual EagleFest on the Hudson River this Saturday
Saturday, Feb. 10: Croton Point Park, Boscobel and other venues host annual EagleFest featuring Dar Williams. If you want to start your day early, catch the Metro-North Eagle Train leaving Poughkeepsie at 8:50 a.m. and ride to Croton-Harmon in the same car with a naturalist, who’ll be pointing out winter bird life along the Hudson River.
How far away is the Devonian?
It’s an important unit of time here in the Catskills.
Hudson Valley Humanists celebrate “Darwin Day”
Feb. 4: Professor Glen Geher and his students will speak about the new book The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin’s Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World — and Us by Richard Prum (which is on the NY Times top ten books of 2017 list). The book revives interest in Darwin’s other major work The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, also known as Darwin’s “really dangerous idea.”
Winter fishing
If I only fished to capture fish, my fishing trips would have ended long ago.