Giovanni Riccioli and the [Black] Moon

July 16, 2022

Born in 1598, Giovanni Riccioli was a Jesuit Italian astronomer who liked to throw stuff down from towers (we can’t say he experimented with gravity: in the Western world, we’ll have to wait for Newton in 1684). Among his researches, he introduced the scheme for naming lunar geography that we still use today, a system endorsed by Giovanni Cassini over its competitor system developed by Johannes Hevelius.
He was a fierce supporter of geocentrism, putting forth clever scientific arguments such as “if the earth were rotating, we would feel it”, “buildings wouldn’t stand”, and “birds couldn’t fly”. His arguments are so confused that some scholars believe he was “a secret Copernican” who just had to make bullshit up to avoid trouble with his fellow Jesuits.

He’s today’s profile on my Patreon.

architecture, engineering and construction

Alas, it’s not parametric

Last week, in a fit of despair, I published a piece that touched on a few questions around open formats and proprietary formats, specifically asking whether it was legitimate or advisable for a contracting authority to require the delivery of a model in proprietary format

July 8, 2026 9:00 am

books and literature

Yukio Mishima’s Death in Midsummer

I only knew Yukio Mishima for his Confessions of a Mask, so I had no idea of his extraordinary range and this collection of short stories was a pleasant surprise. Sure, you have death, as the titular tale suggests and way beyond, including the detailed

July 5, 2026 9:00 am

art and fashion

Depero — Space to Space

I wanted to see this exhibition since it opened, but I couldn’t come around to it: I wanted to go with a friend, and our schedules never matched (also because the house-museum is closed two days during the week). I got a chance to see

July 4, 2026 9:00 am