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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 18/10/2026

Today we visted Echo Lake State Park, near North Conway, NH, and climbed to the top of Cathedral Ledge, a large hill with an impressive cliff.

White Horse Ledge and Cathedral Ledge, two somewhat impressive-looking semi-forested cliffs seen across Echo Lake, a small pond in Echo Lake State Park. We climbed up Cathedral Ledge.

View from the top of Cathedral Ledge, toward White Horse Ledge, a somewhat taller cliff on the right. There are some fall-foliage-bearing trees in the foreground in front of a distant mountain view, and bare rock in front of that.

Summit view from Cathedral Ledge. Some trees, losing their autumn leaves, poke out of the rocky, domed peak. In the distance, green and gold forested land stretches to the mountainous horizon.

Looking from the rocky top of Cathedral Ledge down toward Echo Lake, which now looks like a small mirrored pool far below, surrounded by golden deciduous and dark green pine forest.

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 18/10/2026

1926 Ford Model T snowmobile, North Conway, NH

A 1926 snowmobile made from a modified Ford Model T. This has the classic black flivver body with bright red skis replacing its front wheels, seemingly attached to a steerable linkage, and tank-like treads replacing the rear wheels. The tread on this side is partially disassembled.

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 18/10/2026

On the Conway Scenic Railroad, North Conway to Crawford Notch, NH

Old locomotive roundhouse on the North Conway Scenic Railroad. Four segments form an arc, only one of which still has a track leading to it, wtih an old rail car parked on it. This was formerly used to add steam locomotives for the final push up to Crawford Notch.

Autumnal mountain vista with golden trees in the foreground against a partly sunny blue sky, Conway Scenic Railroad.

Barn, houses and fall foliage seen from the train somewhere near Glen, NH, Conway Scenic Railroad.

Three heritage diesel locomotives in yellow livery lined up to pull the train on the Conway Scenic Railroad. They bear the emblem "Conway Scenic" on the side.

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 03/10/2026

Old stone wall near Bush Hill, Bradford, MA

End-on view of an old stone wall, now a sort of linear pile of rocks extending into the wooded distance.

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 20/09/2026

Part of the reason I was interested in OpenStreetMap-related apps is that it turns out somebody mapped a vast network of hiking trails near my home that I wasn't even aware existed. Here I get a glimpse of a solar electricity-generating station that I hadn't been aware of either.

Trees in a wooded area with the tilted panels of a solar farm just visible through the trees in the distance.

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 12/11/2025

This is what long night-mode exposures of the aurora get me: really dreamlike images. I couldn't see this with my eye at all.

A purple and green wash of auroral light across the night sky, with brightly lit tree branches in the upper left corner, and a few stars

Purple and green aurora lights fill the sky above a few wispy clouds and suburban-looking homes lit in yellow

The sky above the nighttime trees is lit up with a blue-green glow, and hints of purple

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 12/11/2025

Earlier today: the Fireball at the Electromagnetic Pinball Museum in Pawtucket, RI. I hadn't played this #pinball in person before. It had multiball, which was relatively rare in pins of the electromechanical era, and some other peculiar features for the early […] [Original post on mathstodon.xyz]

Detail of Fireball's playfield. The design is colorful and full of flames, but, strikingly, also includes some bare wood color around the edges. The flippers at bottom center are quite tiny. There is a large ridged disc intended to spin at center, with rollover switches all around it. There is a captive ball lane at upper left, and two ball locks for multiball, oddly labeled "Wotan" and "Odin".

A pinball machine with a backglass reading "Fireball" in fiery letters, and a painting of a flaming demonic-looking fellow chucking balls of fire at the POV. The scores are shown by mechanical digit reels rather than a glowing electronic display. The playfield beneath is multicolored and brightly lit.

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 12/11/2025

Aurora borealis in my neighborhood again. To my naked eye it was hard to distinguish these displays from general haze and light pollution, but the red-purple color in the first photo was strong enough that I could pick it up.

Aurora appears as a slanting, tapering blurry tower of magenta light in the sky, beyond trees and houses in the foreground.

Aurora glowing in the sky as an indistinct horizontal green ribbon, over a warmly lit suburban home in the foreground.

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 09/11/2025

Brussels sprouts offered with handy ruining instructions

Supermarket price sign reading "Tender Brussels Sprouts - $3.49 lb" with the instruction "Boil With Butter And Salt"

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 09/10/2025

Rutschebanen at Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen, which I believe is currently the second-oldest operating #rollercoaster in the world, opened 1914. This is a side-friction coaster, which means it has no upstop wheels holding it vertically to the track (one of the […] [Original post on mathstodon.xyz]

View from above of Tivoli's Rutschebanen. An imposing fake mountain peeks out from behind fall foliage, with wooden coaster tracks running along dipping ridges in the mountain and into and out of dark holes. A coaster train is ascending one of the dips, with passengers and a brake operator behind the lead car.

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 03/10/2025

Elbow at the Roadrunner, Boston, last night

The English rock band Elbow performs on stage lit by golden lights, against a backdrop with an abstract pattern of radiating zigzag pinstripes. At center, the lead singer bends over toward the crowd standing before the stage with an imploring gesture while singing, directly in front of the drummer. A lead guitarist plays directly to the left of the singer. At the far left of the picture are a violinist and some wind multi-instrumentalists/backup singers. At the far right, a bass player and another drummer.

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 13/09/2025

Nate Perry and Ragged Company, Haverhill River Ruckus

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 18/08/2025

Griffin statue at the Crane estate, Castle Hill, Ipswich, MA

Statue of a griffin guarding the steps up to a stone mansion. The creature is sculpted with clean Art Deco-esque lines, and has a wingless crouching lion body and the head of an eagle with pointy ears. On its head is a kind of stubby horn terminating in a ball.

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 18/08/2025

Castle Hill at the Crane Estate, Ipswich, MA, the summer house of a 1920s plumbing magnate.

Ornate dining room of a 1920s tycoon's summer house, with light coming in though bay windows at the far end, paintings and decorative urns, fireplace on the left, glass chandelier, table set for dinner.

Wood-paneled library of the great house, with shelves of books along each wall, deeply padded chairs and couches, bay windows at the far end.

Stone great house seen in the distance across an immense landscaped and terraced lawn, with manicured trees and hedges and statuary.

Several turkeys pick around for food in the shade of a tree. The scene is on a high hill with the shore visible in the far distance.

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 10/08/2025

Sometimes there are affordances you don't want

A large video screen at a restaurant has a sign stuck in the corner reading PLEASE DON'T TOUCH THE SCREEN

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 27/07/2025

Here's the shot everyone gets of Loch Ness Monster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. When it opened it was briefly the tallest complete-circuit roller coaster in the world. Today it's dwarfed by other rides at the same park, but it's still the most photogenic […] [Original post on mathstodon.xyz]

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 25/07/2025

I was almost anxious: After all these years, would the old Loch Ness Monster hold up? It does. #rollercoasters

The bright yellow interlocking loops of Loch Ness Monster, a roller coaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, seen from the skyride. A jumble of other, bigger, newer coasters appears in the distance behind it, among copious greenery.

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 23/07/2025

I've been taking a lot of pictures of Jess sleeping lately, so here's one with her eyes open.

Gray and white cat sitting in loaf position looks at the camera, a sunny living room and front window out of focus in the background

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 22/07/2025

Picking the slime mold plasmodia off of the mulch with a shovel does not even remotely stop it from reincarnating whenever it gets wet enough. This was a particularly handsome one. But the bodies always turn mulch brown and less noticeable in short order.

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 08/07/2025

This orange slime mold has been sprouting impressively in my front yard. The masses dry up and turn brown after a few days. These things have an absolutely wild life cycle. My vague understanding is, what we're looking at here is one enormous multi-nuclear cell.

An area of garden mulch next to a retaining wall, with a mass of bright orange, lumpy fungus-like material about a foot (30cm) long growing along the edge. It is actually a slime mold or mixomycetian.

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 15/06/2025

Another shot of the #rollercoaster Wildcat at Lake Compounce, from our visit on May 24th. Having spent the whole 2023 season replacing most of the track and large chunks of the structure, Gravity Group came back and did the last few hundred feet during the […] [Original post on mathstodon.xyz]

Detail of the white-painted lift hill structure of a classic wooden roller coaster. There is a coaster train ascending the lift, full of riders some of whom already have their arms in the air, framed by the leafy branches of a tree in the foreground. Just in front of the lift is the very end of the roller coaster's track, rising into the covered brake run, with some of its structure in white and some in unpainted wood. The brake run is supported by a building with a slanted roof at bottom of frame, with a sign in vintage postcard style identifying Lake Compounce as "America's First Amusement Park."

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 14/06/2025

The iconic view of Wildcat's lift hill (and Phobia Phear Coaster and Down Time) looming above the entrance gate of Lake Compounce. The park had short hours today, with a bunch of school trips visiting, and Boulder Dash wasn't running, but Wildcat was. Since […] [Original post on mathstodon.xyz]

The front entrance gate of Lake Compounce amusement park, a festive yellow-and-blue structure with turnstiles beneath. Behind it and some other brightly colored buildings rises the white-painted lift hill of a wooden roller coaster; behind that, an orange steel coaster and a tall drop tower; behind those, a forested mountainside.

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 06/05/2025

Saint Motel, House of Blues Boston, last night

Wide view of a full club from the upper balcony, where pop band Saint Motel play on a stage decorated as a faux bandshell with silhouettes of orchestra players. The crowd are enthusiastically waving light-up batons and cell phones with lit flashlights in the air.

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 15/04/2025

Behold, my own incorrect circle squaring (GeoGebra). The circle and square (do not) have the same area! (The earlier discussion inspired me to make one where the square's area was the square root of 10, about 3.16, so here it is. I think.)

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 31/03/2025

The original Rubik's Cube manual had some copy assigning you a rank based on how many faces you could solve, and an absurd detail was that they had one for solving 5 out of 6 faces (how?) Behold, with this strange object I got as a Christmas present, it is […] [Original post on mathstodon.xyz]

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 22/12/2024

Canadian Brass, Nashua Center for the Performing Arts

A brass quintet, five men in gray suits and white sneakers, playing tuba, trombone and trumpets while standing on a stage otherwise bare except for chairs.

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Matt McIrvin @mattmcirvin.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy · 20/12/2024

Jess usually sits on Sam's lap, but right now I'm sitting in the proper chair and holding still enough. #catsofmastodon

A gray and white cat sitting on the lap of someone wearing blue jeans and a plaid flannel shirt, sitting in a recliner with an extended footrest.

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