Daily Archives: February 20, 2015


Nonsense: Fractals, Snub-Nosed Monkeys, Highways, and Matrices 2

DSC_0367There is a lot of weird stuff occupying my mind these days, but they’re all good things. First off: fractals. If you don’t know what a fractal is, look it up. You might be surprised, you might not. What I like about fractals is that they hint at the underlying order of everything. I appreciate order. Yunnan Snub-Nosed Monkeys just make me laugh. I am not a big fan of primates, but for some reason I like these guys. Maybe it’s their hair, maybe it’s their big ‘ol lips, probably because they were featured in my favorite documentary Wild China by the BBC. They live in the mountains and consume mass quantities of lichen. I’m thinking about highways because I’m writing my senior thesis about the development of the American transcontinental highway system from the 1880s through the 1930s. And I’m thinking about matrices a lot because I am working on some projects using mathematical modeling to, well, model important things like squirrel populations and zombie apocalypses. Oh, and on top of that, I’m thinking A LOT about riding my bike!

Even though life has been crazy, Lizzy and I have been slowly chipping away at the remaining tour plans. We are currently working on a ‘pledge’ system (we’ll talk more about that when it’s all said and done), and we should be getting official business cards in the mail any day now. Lizzy also made a bunch of WBD buttons to give out.

We did some calculations and it appears that we are under 80 days until we actually leave. That is terrifying and exciting! We both cannot express enough the gratitude we have to each and every one of our supporters—this tour would not be happening without you! We also appreciate your patience, and your suggestions. Stay with us, we will leave eventually!

To end: an excerpt from the poem “The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon” by none other than JRR Tolkien–

An unwary guest on a lunatic quest

from the Mountains of the Moon

Its just a good line.