The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Somewhat irrelevant remembrance of 9/11/01 from the west coast. I was at an EPA conference in Seattle. It started on the 10th, and I had gone out to dinner and too many drinks with a client that night. 100
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 23/07/2026Near-vertical beds of Paleozoic rocks exposed on the Ballymackean shoreline, Old Head of Kinsale, SSW of Kinsale, Ireland. The RMS Lusitania was sunk 111 years ago about 20 km south of here by a German torpedo, fired from U-boat No. U-20. More than 1,000 people died in the sinking. 010
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 19/07/2026Went on a hike in the bocage of Normandie today. Sometimes the trail looked as if was heading into a cave. 020
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 14/07/2026Vertical cliffs adjacent to Dún Aonghasa fort, Inis Mór, Aran Islands, Ireland. May have gotten a little too close to the edge on this one. 010
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 11/07/2026Went out to dinner last night at a restaurant on the Sienne River estuary, near the English Channel. Nice lighting in this farm field on our way home around 21h40. 011
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 02/07/2026Man, I hate it when the convicted felon gives an interview. The auto post accounts keep posting clips of his lies and blathering, clogging up my feed. So sick of that piggish face. 000
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 14/06/2026Nice weather today so I went for a walk in the park. Saw a dragon. 010
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 09/06/2026Thought I'd share this photo from Ghent, Belgium, taken behind the Gent-Sint-Pieters Railway Station. I've never seen this many bicycles parked in one location in my life. 010
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 07/06/2026Today is the day after another D-Day anniversary. Here in Normandie, it's still a big deal. There were countless observances and speeches about the sacrifices and the cost of freedom borne both by the liberators and the citizens being liberated. 110
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 01/06/2026I've been living in France for some time on a carte de séjour, which had to be renewed annually at a cost of ~250€ each for my wife and me. Just got notified today by the Préfecture that my 10-year carte de resident has been approved and should be ready for pick up in a couple of weeks! 111
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 31/05/2026Saw an opinion piece in the NYTimes decrying the consolidation of US food production among a few corporations -- drives consumer costs higher. I saw that in my last visit to the U.S.: a single leek for $3.50. Here in northern France, it costs ~3€ (about $3.50) for a kilogram of leeks (2.2 pounds). 000
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 30/05/2026Visited a destroyed abbey in Normandie today. L'Abbaye de Hambye. 020
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 01/05/2026I live a good distance from universities and cities hosting conferences. So I'm asking this group for ideas on online resources (webinars, lectures, online courses, conference presentations) that might help a geologist satisfy a state continuing education requirement. All ideas are welcome. 011
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 30/04/2026The is what you get when a nation elects a convicted felon unburdened by empathy or ethics to the presidency. No one with the appropriate combination of knowledge, competence, ethics and morality will work for him. Only people deeply lacking in one or more of those characteristics will. 010
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 22/04/2026Shaking my head that right wing reporters are still talking about what a legendary deal maker the convicted felon is. Greatest of all time, some say. 110
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 29/03/2026Heading west from Nice to Antibes on a TGV. The Mediterranean is off to the left. 140
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 21/03/2026Pigeons supervising a bicyclist adjusting his ride, Grasse, France. 041
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 27/02/2026I'm seeing Republican politicians making the rounds saying things like the ACA and universal healthcare are too expensive for the U.S. or that the U.S. is too enormous for such programs to work. According to World Bank Group Data: USA per capita health spending= $13,573.19 (2023). 121
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 18/02/2026Antique NCR cash register, No. 178, from Dayton, Ohio with slide selectors rather than keys. Set to register francs and centimes. At the bar at le Garage d'Eugène, Saint-Lô, Normandie. 120
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 29/01/202640+ years working as a professional geologist. Saw this wine in the store and wanted to try it. Inexpensive but not bad. About 6€ if I recall correctly. 011
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 05/01/2026Snowing today in our little hilltop village in northern France. About 15 cm accumulation so far. 150
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 25/12/2025No photos but Christmas Eve dinner was a bit of effort. I had a craving for Ethiopian food earlier in the week, forgot Wednesday was Chistmas Eve, so I cooked much of the day. Berber-spiced red lentils, yellow split peas with turmeric, a potato-cabbage-carrot thingy, and a tomato and onion salad. 120
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 14/12/2025I'm not an urban planning expert but would be curious if any of you could point me to papers or other references that discuss tools for encouraging urban redevelopment and denser housing without also causing gentrification? Gentrification often is criticized but it seems part of the package. 000
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 10/12/2025So, I'm starting to look at some EVs to replace an 11-year old diesel car and was looking at the Renault 5. It has a lot going for it, but what is possibly the most French option ever is the baguette basket that clips to the console to keep flour off of your seat fabric. Incroyable. 061
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 23/11/2025Je me demande pourquoi tous les messages publiés sur ce fil proviennent de « Le Monde en Feed - non-officiel ». Ne s'agit-il pas d'un fil général destiné à diffuser des informations et des observations sur la France ? 010
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 22/11/2025A couple of photos from a visit to the Giant's Causeway in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. I'd long wanted to visit having spent many years living and working around columnar basalt in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. 130
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 20/11/2025Nice walk with views of the Norman bocage and a bend in the Vire River, with low-grade metamorphosed mudstone (pelite) visible in the foreground. 030
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 08/11/2025Creepiest store window ever. 2nd arrondisement, Lyon France. 140
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 07/11/2025Tracteur pour la conchyliculture à marée basse Agon-Coutainville, Manche, Normandie. 020
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 04/11/2025When I read people complaining ad nauseam about daylight savings time, I have to wonder -- have they never travelled? Moved to another place to live? One hour has you whining? I currently live in a time zone 9 hours from that in which I lived previously. It's not that hard. One hour? 020
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 02/11/2025Things had been going pretty well until those bastards threw that ring into the volcano. I guess a guy's gotta find work somewhere. 012
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 02/11/2025A nun on a foggy morning in Bourgogne walks past a large romanesque church dating from the 12th century. 120
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 01/11/2025View of the ground floor of the Granville, Normandie, France indoor market showing the colors of autumn; taken looking down from the first floor. 000
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 26/10/2025My favorite spooky photo for Halloween, even though I took it in the early Spring. Taken on an after-dinner walk in Monticchiello, Pienza, Italy. 011
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 18/10/2025In Isigny-sur-Mer to pick up some produce at the Saturday market today. Drove over to the WWII German cemetery near La Cambe, west of Isigny. It was peaceful. A total of 21,000 dead, with unidentified bodies buried in the tumulus. This is a reminder of where fascism ultimately leads. No Kings. 121
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 14/10/2025Falaise d'Aval on a cloudy day, showing the needle, arch, and cave. Looking WSW from les Jardins d'Étretat 020
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 05/10/2025Beautiful day on the Cotentin Peninsula coastline near Barneville-Carteret, France. Sentier Littoral (littoral trail). A couple walks along a deserted beach as the sea recedes toward low tide. 000
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 04/10/2025A recent visit to the ruins of Hambye Abbaye, Normandie. 010
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 15/06/2025So, it's nighttime in France and we had a nice sunset tonight. I thought I'd share the scene off of the terrace behind our house. 030
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 23/05/2025Glacial cirque with needles along the ridgeline, Mont Blanc Massif, France. Probably bits of Switzerland and Italy in the shot as well. 030
The real Ben @ben-n.bsky.social · 16/12/2024Drove over toward the coast of the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandie today. Found out there are some pretty smart people there. 080
