Brenor
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brenorbrophy.com
Brenor
@brenorbrophy.com
Retired renewable energy engineer, amateur geologist, hiker, & backpacker.

Reared in Ireland, reside in California.
The race for the Jules Verne Trophy, awarded to the fastest sailboat to sail around the world, is in progress. The first all-female crew, aboard 'The Famous CIC' are challenging the current record of 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds set by Francis Joyon in 2017.
The Famous Project CIC Kicked Off its Jules Verne Record Attempt - SAIL Magazine
In a bid to become the fastest team to circumnavigate the globe, The Famous Project CIC kicked off their Jules Verne record attempt this weekend.
sailmagazine.com
December 7, 2025 at 4:07 AM
Look who I met on a sunny Saturday afternoon hike in Alum Rock Park, San Jose. Bobcats always seem surprised you had the audacity to walk in their patch. He stood there contemplating a response before deciding I wasn't worth it and sauntered off.

#photography #nature #cats
December 7, 2025 at 3:15 AM
False alarm, event deleted. That's strange, it's unfortunate they sent an alert to presumably the whole of Northern California for this. But it will be interesting to hear how it happened.
Earthquake preliminary 5.9 near Reno, Nevada. Just received an alert in the Bay Area.
December 4, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Earthquake preliminary 5.9 near Reno, Nevada. Just received an alert in the Bay Area.
December 4, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Reposted by Brenor
It's that giving time of year again, so this is a reminder that no matter how they try to dress it up, the Salvation Army is not a charity.
December 3, 2025 at 1:58 AM
One of the most illuminating pieces on economics that I have read. The Poverty Line isn't what we think it is. A good argument backed by data, really worth your time.
Mike Green is writing some amazing stuff at the moment. It's not in the delta, it's in the level and the cost structure. Read this and you will understand Angrynomics on a new level: www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
Part 1: My Life Is a Lie
How a Broken Benchmark Quietly Broke America
www.yesigiveafig.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:20 PM
A proposed rule change by the #USPTO would make challenging bad patents all but impossible and hand a huge win to patent trolls. There's still time to lend your voice in public comments opposing the change. It only takes a minute to lodge a comment. Please spread the word.
The Patent Office Is About To Make Bad Patents Untouchable
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has proposed new rules that would effectively end the public’s ability to challenge improperly granted patents at the Patent Office itself. We need EFF sup...
www.eff.org
November 22, 2025 at 6:29 AM
This is nice, the permit was only $2 and was actually a really nice trail map. Ohlone Wilderness Trail is one of the premier backpacking trails in the Bay Area. Absolutely spectacular in the spring.
November 19, 2025 at 11:34 PM
The environmental aftermath of the most destructive gold mining technology ever deployed OR entrance to the fairy kingdom?

It's the first one, but it doesn't usually turn out this well. This is some of the karsk landscape excavated by hydraulic mining during the gold rush in Volcano, #California. ⚒️
November 16, 2025 at 5:54 AM
Reposted by Brenor
“Litigation could take years, if not decades, to resolve. The effects of aridification are unfolding at a faster rate.” @danielrothberg.bsky.social invisiblewaters.substack.com/p/what-happe...
What happened on the Colorado River?
Negotiating around legal uncertainties as climate change takes its toll.
invisiblewaters.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:59 AM
The 7 states of Colorado River basin blew through the Nov 11 Dept of the Interior deadline to agree management of the river after 2026. They're still talking, but pressure will mount for the Feds to intervene and impose a solution that nobody wants.

#colorado #water
The clock is ticking on the shrinking Colorado River as Western states miss a key deadline
Negotiators for seven states say they're making progress in negotiations aimed at addressing the Colorado River's chronic water shortages. But they missed an initial deadline.
www.latimes.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:23 AM
Out trying to get a shot of Comet Lemmon in the bright Bay Area skies, during its closest approach to Earth. Unfortunately I couldn't get more than a smudge, but did capture a nice sunset as I was waiting for it to get dark.

#photography #sanfrancisco #sunset
October 22, 2025 at 5:34 AM
The contact between the Chinle and the base of the Windgate sandstone on the Cohab Canyon trail in Capitol Reef NP. We speculated that the contact is a paleosol and the green reduction marks might be caused by residual carbon from tree roots. What do you think?

#geology ⚒️
October 14, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Very striking Miocene lahar deposits of the Mount Dutton Formation along route 62 in Kingston Canyon, #Utah.

#geology ⚒️
October 14, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by Brenor
so Google just added a bunch (more) AI bullshit to Chrome

Go through these steps to disable it:

opus.ing/posts/how-to...

#chrome #aibullshit
How to Remove AI From Your Google Chrome Experience - Opus
Follow these steps to resist the AI-pocalypse in your everyday web browsing.
opus.ing
October 11, 2025 at 12:04 AM
This statue of Junipero Serra, Spanish missionary, Catholic saint and a major participant in the subjugation and genocide of the native California peoples, has been removed and destroyed by Caltrans. Erected with private money on public land in the 1970s, I for one shall not miss it.

#sanfrancisco
October 3, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Reposting this Permian trackway in #Canyonlands NP for #FossilFriday in the hope that somebody knows something about it.

⚒️🧪
A spectacular trackway in the Permian Organ Rock formation of Canyonlands NP. On the Green River, just downstream from The Turk's Head, river-left. I'd guess it's 20-30cm wide, but hard to judge at the distance. Amazing how the slabs are just sitting on display. Anybody know anything about it?

🧪⚒️
September 19, 2025 at 1:41 PM
A spectacular trackway in the Permian Organ Rock formation of Canyonlands NP. On the Green River, just downstream from The Turk's Head, river-left. I'd guess it's 20-30cm wide, but hard to judge at the distance. Amazing how the slabs are just sitting on display. Anybody know anything about it?

🧪⚒️
September 16, 2025 at 2:24 AM
The beautiful Point Bonita on the Marin Headlands at the entrance to the Golden Gate and San Francisco Bay.

Check out the dark basalt cliffs and the pillows in the arch. They almost look like they erupted yesterday.

⚒️🧪 #seascape #photography
August 23, 2025 at 4:10 PM
For fans of wooden sailing boats the famous Tally Ho arrived in San Francisco today on her way back to the UK from Washington.

#sailing #tallyho #sf
August 18, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Carrauntoohill, highest mountain in #Ireland at just over 1000m. An awesome though strenuous hike, the views from the top on a clear day are more than worth it.

#photography #landscapes
August 13, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Reposted by Brenor
Modern AI tools emulate the classic con-man tricks of mentalism, tricking people into believing that they’re far more clever - and sapient - than they actually are.

Fantastic piece by @baldurbjarnason.com :

softwarecrisis.dev/letters/llme...
The LLMentalist Effect: how chat-based Large Language Models rep…
The new era of tech seems to be built on superstitious behaviour
softwarecrisis.dev
August 12, 2025 at 1:49 PM
The coast of #Ireland had a vast number of beautiful, unspoiled and almost empty beaches. Here is the spectacular Kilmore Quay in County #Wexford on one of the nicest days of the summer so far.

#seascapes #photography
August 12, 2025 at 1:45 PM
The rocks below the Broch of Gurness in #Orkney are wet and seaweedy today, but 390ma they were a dry lakebed with dessication cracks. Mapped as the Rousay Flagstones, these sediments record many cycles of fluctuating levels in Lake Orcadie during the Devonian.

#geology #seascapes
August 10, 2025 at 9:06 PM
A lovely example of soft sediment deformation in Devonian lake sediments on #Orkney. The vertical bedding is due to Neolithic inhabitants erecting this fine geological example as one of the Stones of Stenness.

#geology
August 7, 2025 at 12:52 PM