Glass Wings Blog

The Glass Wings mailing list and blog is for general idle chit-chat about things we find interesting, especially humor, animation or other subjects relevant to the Glass Wings web site.

This Is What Community-Powered Restoration Looks Like

Sun, 18 May 2025 11:06:38 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

https://therevelator.org/community-powered-restoration/

"Late last February I joined a group of volunteers to deliver a family of
beavers to a creek in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in southern
Oregon. Snow blanketed the ground, glittering in the winter sun as we strapped

The greatest astronomy PhD ever written

Sun, 18 May 2025 11:05:24 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

<https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/6411/the-greatest-astronomy-phd-ever-written>

"Everyone knows that Isaac Newton discovered the law of gravity, and that
Charles Darwin discovered evolution by natural selection. But how many people
know that Cecilia Payne discovered what makes up the Universe?

The 'space archaeologists' hoping to save our cosmic history

Sun, 18 May 2025 11:04:00 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

<https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20250515-the-space-archaeologists-hoping-to-save-our-cosmic-history>

"Space is being commercialised on a scale unseen before. Faced by powerful
commercial and political forces and with scant legal protections, artefacts
that tell the story of our species' journey into space are in danger of being

Oaxaca’s Low-Tech Climate Solutions

Sun, 18 May 2025 11:02:57 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

<https://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/articles/entry/oaxacas-low-tech-climate-solutions>

"Around a hundred people live in Llano del Triunfo, one of nine villages in the
municipality of Santa María Yucuhiti, in Mexico’s Oaxaca state. Accessible by a
bumpy dirt road and nestled at 8,500 feet above sea level, the village’s

Global Ferry Electrification Accelerates: 70% Of New Orders Go Electric

Sun, 18 May 2025 11:01:04 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

<https://cleantechnica.com/2025/05/05/global-ferry-electrification-accelerates-70-of-new-orders-go-electric/>

"Seventy percent of ferries currently on order globally now feature electric
drivetrains, a remarkable shift underscoring just how rapidly maritime
transportation is decarbonizing. Norway has about 70 electric ferries running

American Lawn Care Is Going Electric

Sun, 18 May 2025 10:57:53 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

https://reasonstobecheerful.world/american-lawn-care-going-electric/

"For generations of Americans, the soundtrack to spring weekends has been a
rise in bird song and the loud, constant “virrrrrr” of neighbors cutting their
growing grass. But the gas lawn mowers, leaf blowers and weed eaters that have

Unwrap Packages & Dust Off Old Video Game Cartridges In This Cozy Game

Sun, 18 May 2025 04:28:50 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

<https://80.lv/articles/unwrap-packages-dust-off-old-video-game-cartridges-in-this-cozy-game>

"Cozy Game Restoration by Parasol Corp offers the ultimate satisfaction of
unwrapping carefully sealed packages to uncover forgotten video game
cartridges, each marked by time, stickers, dust, and imperfections.

Nitrate tapes, VHS, and streaming. Behind the looming world of Australia's lost media

Sun, 18 May 2025 04:27:31 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

<https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-17/vhs-dvds-streaming-and-the-rise-of-lost-media/104674526>

'In 2013, television watchers found themselves in a self-proclaimed "golden
age" of streaming.

An interview with Larry Niven – Ringworld author and sci-fi legend

Sun, 18 May 2025 04:26:33 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

<https://www.newscientist.com/article/2480167-an-interview-with-larry-niven-ringworld-author-and-sci-fi-legend/>

"Larry Niven is one of the biggest names in the history of science fiction, and
it was a privilege to interview him via Zoom at his home in Los Angeles
recently. His 1970 novel Ringworld is the latest pick for the New Scientist

I was Hitler’s neighbour: ‘If he’d known we were Jewish, we’d have been sent to Dachau’

Sun, 18 May 2025 04:25:36 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/10/i-was-hitlers-neighbour-if-hed-known-we-were-jewish-wed-have-been-sent-to-dachau>

"The odds were against Edgar Feuchtwanger reaching the age of 100. He was born
on 28 September 1924 into a time of poverty and political turmoil in post-first
world war Germany. He was also born into a Jewish family in a society that was