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The D’Entrecaseaux Ridge: a southwest Pacific enigma

Free-air gravity maps suggest that, rather than having been a rectilinear feature, the subducted portion of the D’Entrecasteaux ridge, which impacts the Vanuatu Trench at a high angle, was curvilinear. The entire region is reminiscent, in size and the disposition of subduction -related volcanics and collision orogens, to the Banda Sea region of eastern Indonesia.

Bouchard in the West Pacific

Rose de Freycinet wrote to her mother that the governor of Guam was in Humåtak to greet a Spanish vessel, the La Paz, when the Uranie arrived. He needed to satisfy himself that it was not in unfriendly hands.

Rand and monopoly

One of the things about which Ayn Rand had something to say in one of her essays on capitalism was the emergence of monopoly. It is clear she had not grasped some of its essential features.

Gravity gradients – a beginning

Modern airborne gravity relies largely on measurements of gravity gradients. Given how very small the signal will inevitably be, it is clear that measuring it is bound to be very, very difficult. Nevertheless, it was being done in Australia in the late 1920s with some success.

Consequences

Ayn Rand was fond of claiming that if a businessman made a mistake, he suffered the consequences. We shall see how that works out for the executives and board of Crowdstrike. The precedents are not encouaging.

From Abbé to Abbaye

When Rose de Freycinet’s mother opened her school for young ladies in 1803, she did so with the aid of a loan of 500 francs from the Abbé Sicard. When, fourteen years later, the school closed, she found a retirement refuge in the Abbaye aux Bois. Abbé to Abbaye, surely there must be some link between the two? If so, it is hard to find.