And here's my past week in mathematics blogging:
- Reading the Comics, August 8, 2018: Hm Edition
- Who We Just Know Is Not The Most Improved Pinball Player, some competitive-pinball thoughts.
- Reading the Comics, August 11, 2018: Strips For The Week Edition
- Reading the Comics, August 14, 2018: Condensed Books Edition
And! What's Going On In Rex Morgan, M.D.? Pinball and Roadside Tourism, May - August 2018. It's somehow not the Me and bunny_hugger story!
Our next big thing was the week in Omena, near Traverse City, with bunny_hugger's family. We also brought Columbo and since he was in basically good shape and stunningly happy to be on a leash (not all rabbits tolerate it!) there's a lot of pictures of him. Such as this bunch. I apologize for breaking any hearts with so many photographs of a tranquil, accommodating Flemish giant.

Columbo getting to step out of his cage and enjoy a stretch at the Clare Welcome Center rest area. It's roughly the dividing point between the parts of the lower peninsula that are inhabited and those that aren't, apart from a couple of outposts of people like the Traverse Bay region. So it's a good spot to stretch and get ready for the second half of the trip.

Columbo grooming his paw before eating a rest area's lawn.

bunny_hugger grabbing some snaps of Columbo looking adorable at the rest area.

Columbo quite interested in the picnic benches and the paved area. He would investigate.

Yes, he finds the paved area basically to his satisfaction, although there was one other thing. (Which would be peeing. He had a problem with bladder control that we did not understand correctly at the time. If we do now after his death.)

Colombo selecting what parts of the greenery he figures to devour. This is along a rock wall lining the picnic area above.

Not sure if Columbo picked that plant out of the ground or if he's just eating the taller bits of it here.

Colombo letting the afternoon sunlight play around his sweet, compliant eye.
Trivia: A late-60s plan to connect Philadelphia's Penn Center Station with the Reading Railroad's Reading Terminal by a six-block-long underground tunnel had to be abandoned, as something like four-fifths of the Penn Central's ancient commuter trains would be unable to handle the two percent uphill grade. Source: The Wreck of the Penn Central: The Real Story Behind the Largest Bankruptcy in American History, Joseph R Daughen, Peter Binzen. (Though to an extent the terrible condition of commuter rail was a strategic choice, the authors point out, to get either better subsidies from governments or to get the capital-intensive, low-profit commuter traffic removed from their charge.)
Currently Reading: Fuelling the Empire: South Africa's Gold and the Road to War, John J Stephens.