A real advance: the High Seas Treaty

 

World Resources Institute has provided a guide to the High Seas Treaty. For a world that needs world governance, it's an important advance.  (Note:  the USA is a signatory, but has not ratified the treaty.)

After 20 Years, an Agreement to Safeguard the 'High Seas' Takes Force

Why the High Seas Treaty Matters

"The ambition of the High Seas Treaty has always been immense. It seeks to facilitate international coordination on activities within Earth's largest public common, covering around half the planet's surface.

The high seas host a diverse array of marine life, from microscopic plankton to colossal blue whales. Alongside supporting global fisheries and food security, they are home to valuable natural resources that countries and companies are ever-more eager to explore and exploit. For example, marine genetic materials are increasingly sought after to support pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and other innovations.

Without a binding global treaty, the high seas have been governed patchwork style through regional fisheries agreements, shipping conventions, and scattered marine protected areas which cover less than 1% of the high seas. This leaves critical gaps in protecting marine biodiversity and ensuring that developing countries also benefit from discoveries made in international waters.

The High Seas Treaty will fill regulatory gaps, complement national efforts and enable coordinated conservation measures on the high seas, all of which will be critical for achieving international climate and biodiversity goals. It will also help guide regional cooperation and link seamlessly to countries' sustainable ocean plans, through which 21 nations have pledged to sustainably manage 100% of the ocean areas under their jurisdiction.

Together, these measures will come together to create a more cohesive system of ocean stewardship spanning from coastlines to open ocean."

What if a country has signed it but hasn't ratified it?  (I asked that question.)

"As of Jan. 15, the High Seas Treaty has been ratified by 83 parties, who are now legally bound to it. These are also the only countries that will have a say at the treaty summit (BBJN COP) later this year. Countries that have signed but not yet ratified the treaty are not currently legally required to fulfil its requirements. However, they are committed to refraining from activities that contradict the treaty's objectives."

Where ice goes when it gets warmer

 

AS if we weren't aware, when the global climate warms, Antarctica gets warmer, and when Antarctica gets warmer, its ice sheets shrink and retreat.

That's what research confirms.

Ancient Sediments Reveal Ice Sheet’s Vulnerability to Warming
Ancient sediments revealed that the Antarctic Ice Sheet retreated inland multiple times during warmer climates.

It's a very interesting study.

"A record of repeated retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet during the past warm climates has been identified by IODP Exp379 Scientists. By analyzing deep-sea sediments from the Amundsen Sea and tracing their geochemical signatures, the study shows that the ice sheet retreated far inland at least five times during the warm Pliocene Epoch. The findings highlight the ice sheet’s sensitivity to warming and its potential to drive future sea-level rise.

The Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers, located in the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), are among the fastest-melting glaciers on Earth. Together, they are losing ice more rapidly than any other part of Antarctica, raising serious concerns about the long-term stability of the ice sheet and its contribution to future sea-level rise."

...

"The team analyzed marine sediments collected during the IODP Expedition 379. The sediments recovered from the Site U1532 on the Amundsen Sea continental rise act as a historical archive, recording changes in ice sheets and ocean conditions over millions of years.

They identified two distinct sediment layers reflecting alternating cold and warm climate phases: thick, gray, and finely laminated clays from cold glacial periods, when ice extended across much of the continental shelf; and thinner, greenish layers formed during warmer interglacial periods. The green color comes from the microscopic algae, indicating open, icefree ocean waters. Crucially, these warm-period layers also contain iceberg-rafted debris (IRD), small rock fragments carried by icebergs, that broke off from the Antarctic continent. As these icebergs drifted across the Amundsen Sea and melted, they released this debris onto the seafloor."

...

"The sediment record reveals a consistent four-stage cycle of warming and cooling. During cold glacial periods, the ice sheet was extensive and stable, covering the continent. As the climate warmed, during the early interglacial stage, basal melting began, leading to the inland retreat of the ice sheet. At peak warmth, during the peak interglacial stage, large icebergs calved from the retreating ice margin and transported sediment from the Antarctic interior across the Amundsen Sea. As temperatures cooled again, during the glacial-onset stage, the ice sheet rapidly regrew, pushing previously deposited sediments toward the shelf edge and transporting them further downslope into deeper waters."

Reference: Horikawa K, Iwai M, Hillenbrand CD, et al. Repeated major inland retreat of Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers (West Antarctica) during the Pliocene. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2026;123(1): doi: 10.1073/pnas.2508341122

Drilling cores show important markers of events during the Pliocene age: At right, the red arrow marks a layer of volcanic ash erupted from a West Antarctic volcano roughly 3 million years ago. At left is a section illustrating thin layers of mud marking the onset of glacial conditions. It overlies a thick bed of pebbly material dropped from icebergs during interglacial conditions. The white box marks the narrow zone containing the unique isotopic signature. Credit: IODP Expedition 379, JOIDES Resolution Science Operator

Where's Bodø?

 

If you don't know where 

Bodø is, I don't blame you. I wasn't sure either. I didn't even know what country it was in (Norway). Find it by clicking here. It's pretty far north. It's well north of Bergen. It's north of Trondheim. Hell, it's north of Iceland.

What brought the city and it's football team to my attention was that back in January in a Champions League match vs. vaunted Manchester City, on a sub-freezing night, the team, Bodø/Glimt, defeated MC by a score of 3-1.

Hard to believe, right?

Here's a short description of the surprising match.

Man City stunned by Bodø/Glimt as Rodri sees red

" The second-half sending-off of Rodri completed a miserable evening for big-spending City in Bodø, a fishing town with a population of around 55,000 and located north of the Arctic Circle -- more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) north of Oslo. "

Despite having one of the most dominant players in the world, who happens to be Norwegian, Erling Haaland (shown below in green), they couldn't beat the team wearing bright yellow. Maybe the bright yellow uniforms hurt their eyes.

 

Lighthouse of the Week, March 8-14, 2026: Sletterhage Fyr, Denmark

 

OK, so I led off the prior post with a quote from Hamlet, and that led me to look for a lighthouse in Denmark. I've featured several Denmark lighthouses already in the ongoing Lighthouse of the Week series, and even a repeat for one that had to be move on account of it being threatened with sand dune inundation.

This one this week is the Sletterhage Fyr, and as is my custom, the location of it is here.  It's on a peninsula (Helgenæs Peninsula) that really ought to be an island, because the isthmus (Dragsmur) connecting it to bigger areas of land is really narrow.  The nearest populated place of note is Århus, across the water of the remarkably named Bay of Århus.

Now we can get some information on it, from where I get my information, the Lighthouse Directory:

"1894 (station established 1872). Active; focal plane 17 m (56 ft); white, red or green light, depending on direction, 7.5 s on, 2.5 s off. 16 m (52 ft) round cylindrical tower with lantern and gallery, attached to a 1-story keeper's house. Lighthouse painted white, lantern white with red horizontal bands. ... The original lighthouse, a wood tower, was built by the city of Århus. In 2009 a preservation group Sletterhage Fyrs Venner was formed to work for preservation of the lighthouse and to open it to the public. The lighthouse marks the end of the Helgenæs peninsula about 20 km (13 mi) east of Århus."

Three pictures and a video complete this post.

Two January quotes

 

Yes, I know, I know, I am not caught up.  I am, in fact, quite far behind my optimum schedule. But I'm going to reverse that a bit in the next couple of days.

So, today, some quotes from two articles in the New York Times from January. And it's gotten considerably worse since then.

One Year of Trump. The Time to Act is Now, While We Still Can.

"We have become a country whose government is attacking its universities, defunding research, reversing scientific advances, assaulting museums and hollowing out cultural institutions. Few of these attacks — carried out in broad daylight, announced in executive orders, extolled in speeches and put on display in giant metal letters — meet meaningful resistance. We are making ourselves stupider.

We are a country ruled by a megalomaniac whose views are openly hateful and proudly ignorant, whose avarice knows no bounds and whose claim to power is absolute. Foreign leaders try to appease him with flattery and curry his favor with gifts. It rarely works to temper his appetite or even catch his attention, but it’s seemingly all they can do.

We still have elections. But how free and fair will the 2026 elections be? Trump doesn’t just carry a grudge against the election authorities of many states; he made that grudge a centerpiece of his 2024 campaign. Since he returned to office, his administration has taken a series of executive actions and filed a series of lawsuits aimed at restricting access to the polls, purging voter rolls, limiting the independence of local election authorities, and generally laying the groundwork for the systematic intimidation of both voters and election officials. States have joined this effort. Florida is cracking down on voter registration drives. Ohio and other states have introduced restrictive voter ID laws. Georgia has limited poll hours and banned providing food or water to people standing in line to vote. Texas has gerrymandered a map that threatens to disenfranchise Black and Latino voters and may wipe five Democratic congressional seats out of existence, and the Supreme Court has allowed this controversial new map to be used in the 2026 midterms."

The Resistance Libs Were Right

"Both ICE’s occupation of Minneapolis and Trump’s threatened seizure of Greenland are part of the same story: An increasingly unpopular regime is rapidly radicalizing and testing how far it can go down the road toward autocracy. If people had predicted back in 2024 precisely what Trump’s return to the White House was going to look like, I suspect they’d have been accused of suffering from Trump derangement syndrome. But the shrillest of Resistance libs have always understood Trump better than those who make a show of their dispassion. As the heterodox writer Leighton Woodhouse put it on X, “The hysterical pussy hats were right.”

Yes, I know, it is not good.  Not good at all.

Major win

 

It's hard to believe, but salmon, Native Americans, and the environment recently scored a major win (over the evil in the White House) in the Pacific Northwest.

Judge sides with salmon against Trump administration in hydropower ruling 

Federal judge in Oregon rejects bid to overturn Biden-era agreement to protect endangered fish populations

"In the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, a landmark salmon recovery plan brokered in late 2023, the federal government committed more than $1bn over a decade to support depleted salmon runs and new investments into clean energy projects in the area to replace the hydropower generated by the dams. The plan, however, would be short-lived.

Months after returning to office, Trump withdrew from the agreement, calling it “radical environmentalism”, and the parties quickly returned to court.

But in a strongly worded ruling, issued late on Wednesday [Feb 25], the Oregon US district court judge Michael Simon rebuked [I love that word] the administration’s position and the “disappointing history of government avoidance and manipulation instead of sincere efforts at solving the problem”, and the evidence presented, which he said was created for the lawsuit and contradicted the scientific record.

In a report issued under Biden in 2024 and removed from public access by the Trump administration, the Department of the Interior acknowledged that the dams inflicted harm on the river and the Native American tribes that depend on it. Construction of the dams at the turn of the 20th century transformed riparian ecosystems and devastated salmon runs, flooded villages and burial grounds, and pushed tribal members from their lands, traditions, culture and food sources."

It's a battle, but it's worth it. Let's keep salmon swimming in Pacific Northwest rivers.

Liz Hurley is setting new standards

 

Not a week goes by (it seems) without the Daily Mail publishing an article showing Elizabeth "Liz" Hurley showing off.

And I have to admit, she's showing off pretty remarkably well.

This article demonstrates what I'm saying.  (I have to admit, just seeing "topless" in Daily Mail headline, which is not uncommon, also piques my interests.)

Elizabeth Hurley, 60, goes topless as she shows off her incredible figure in a racy bath snap while soaking up the sun on a private island in the Maldives

This is the shot that caught the Daily Mail's attention:

While that's great, I found this one was quite eye-catching, too.

There's nobody flying the copter

 

What could possibly go wrong?

Britain/England/the United Kingdom, etc., just showed off a helicopter that flies entirely by itself, with no humans on board, particularly doing things like steering, taking off, landing, and important activities like that.

Autonomous automobiles can't even find their own parking space.  So this is a good idea?

It is -- until it isn't.  ("Mommy, what's that helicopter doing on our roof?"

Leonardo Proteus: Royal Navy flies UK’s first autonomous full-size helicopter

"Leonardo designed Proteus to conduct a range of missions including anti-submarine warfare, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and search and rescue. In total, Leonardo was tasked with 16 mission sets to explore by the Royal Navy."

Random access

 

One of the best Playboy models ever, Ali Rose (who was a Playmate in an international edition) posted this picture a few years ago.

It's quite an appealing image -- and thought.

An article about an article

 

This article caught my attention; it's actually a short summary of another article (actually a research paper) in a different journal.  It appears to be open access, so read it if you dare, or if you might be interested to.  I'll provide the abstract.

First, the article about the paper:

Cascading drought-flood events amplify economic losses

"Specifically, the authors show that cascading drought-flood events are associated with higher maximum daily mean streamflow, deeper mean water depths, and greater economic losses (€33.09 million km⁻² vs. €29.75 million km⁻²) than flood-only events."

And this is the actual paper:

Economic consequences of cascading drought-flood events: evidence from central Europe

And the abstract:

Cascading drought-flood events (CDFEs), also referred to as ‘drought-to-flood transitions’ or ‘drought–flood abrupt alternations,’ in which a flood follows a period of drought, may have different flood generation mechanisms than floods occurring independently from drought, as the drought could affect soil infiltration rates and, consequently, runoff dynamics. With the increasing frequency of extreme weather events driven by climate change, understanding the cascading nature of drought and flood events has become crucial for effective disaster risk management. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence on how these drought-flood interactions work and translate to economic losses. This study addresses this gap by identifying CDFEs and flood-only events (FEs) across Central Europe and linking them to their flood impacts from the modelled Historical Analysis of Natural Hazards in Europe database. CDFEs are associated with significantly higher maximum daily mean streamflow (58.51 m³ s⁻¹ vs 38.20 m³ s⁻¹), deeper mean water depths (1.90 m vs 1.88 m), and greater economic losses (€33.09 million km⁻² vs €29.75 million km⁻²) compared to FEs. These findings underscore the special features of CDFEs and the need to take them into account in flood risk management."

And to think there are climate change deniers and lukewarmers who don't understand how an intensifying hydrologic cycle is going to be a problem.

It is.

 

Another one of those "best of" lists

 

I noted earlier that I'm an easy mark for these "best of" lists.  This one (from thediscoverer.com blog) lists the best state parks in each state.  Now, of course that's subjective, but of course I read it anyway.  I've been to a few state parks in my life, and I am/was curious which ones (if any) on the list I've been to.

Turns out I've been to a couple of them.  Also turns out I missed a few I should have seen when I had the chance, and there are a couple more I'd like to have the wherewithal and time to visit.

The Best State Park in Each State

It turns out I've been to 12 of them.  (Guess which ones!  If anyone responds to this post, I'll be stunned, but I am going to put this on Twitter/X.  Maybe somebody will make a good guess.)

Of all the ones listed that I haven't been to, the one I'd put at the top of my list is Tahquamenon Falls State Park in Michigan.  A couple of the ones I should have visited when I had the chance are Starved Rock in Illinois and Valley of Fire in Nevada. 

Tahquamenon Falls shows why it's worth visiting in the autumn:

Go hunting for dinosaur fossils

 

Passing this along as a public service, if there are any members of the public that read this blog, which is a very small number, and the number of people that read this blog and who would actually also consider going on this trip is a lot, lot smaller.  Hey, you can't say I didn't try, right?

Dinosaur hunting in the Gobi desert, Mongolia

Day 11 sounds particularly exciting.

"After breakfast, you will drive to the Tugregiin Shiree, which was discovered by Mongolian scientists and co-explored by Polish expeditions in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Tugrigiin Shiree is perhaps most known for its famous "Fighting Dinosaurs” (a fossil of a Protoceratops and a Velociraptor locked in combat), which were discovered in the 1970s. We will explore this white sandstone escarpment for dinosaur fossils. While at the Tugrigiin Shiree, enjoy a picnic lunch.

By late afternoon, you will reach the legendary Flaming Cliffs, red sandstone formations more than 3 kilometres long, where hundreds of dinosaur fossils have been discovered over the course of the past century. Palaeontological expeditions from many countries, including from the US, Poland, Japan and Russia, have worked here over the past 90 years. Each year, rain and wind reveal yet more fossils and every summer, exceptional new discoveries are made. You will explore the cliffs following in the footsteps of legendary US explorer Roy Chapman Andrews, who discovered the first dinosaur eggs that the world had ever seen nearly 100 years ago. Enjoy sunset dinner at this majestic place before returning back to the ger camp."

See what I mean?  Have a great trip!

This is the Flaming Cliffs, and this is apparently a somewhat iconic view, as I've seen the formation on the right in a few pictures seen while searching for an appropriate illustration.

As an aside, I've seen some of the original Gobi desert eggs on display in a museum. For real.

Lighthouse of the Week, March 1-7, 2026: Cleveland East Breakwater Light, Ohio, USA

 

First of a pair of lighthouse posts;  next week, of which today is actually the first day, I'll feature the slightly more interesting West Breakwater Light, which also has a house.

In case you don't know where Cleveland is, that's where the lighthouse is, which is more particularly here. You can see if from the football stadium that is close by.

So, let's learn about it -- the Lighthouse Directory is back.

"1911. Active; focal plane 39 ft (12 m); green light, 3 s on, 3 s off. 31 ft (9.5 m) round cast iron tower; solar-powered 300 mm lens. Tower white, lantern black. ... In 2005 the Coast Guard removed the lighthouse temporarily in order to repair the pier; ... In 2007 the lighthouse was offered for transfer under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. There were no takers, and in August 2009 the lighthouse was sold at auction for $10,000 to Gary Zaremba, president of the Artisan Restoration Group of New York. Zaremba said he "plans to rent it out to boaters looking for a place to dock and enjoy the downtown skyline." Located on a concrete platform at the end of the stone pier."

Enjoy the pictures.

Lighthouse of the Week, February 22-28, 2026: Destruction Island, Washington, USA

 

For this week, the lighthouse is no longer in use, and it is located in a wildlife refuge, the Quillayute Needles National Wildlife Refuge. It's on Destruction Island, which is an island I never knew existed until I saw an article about the seabirds on it, particularly rhinoceros auklets and tufted puffins.  I also did not know there were Pacific Ocean puffins in Washington State. Unfortunately, their status is not great, which is not an unusual thing these days. There's a great picture of the lighthouse and island at the beginning of the article.

It also has a lighthouse, as I said.  Here's what I can tell you about it, via Wikipedia.

• Constructed: 1891 
• Automated: 1968 
• Height: 94 feet (29 m) 
• Shape: Conical 
• Light: First lit 1891 
• Deactivated: April, 2008 
• Focal height: 45 m (148 ft) 
• Lens: First order Fresnel lens (removed) 
• Range: 18 nautical miles; 34 kilometres (21 mi) 
• Characteristic: White flash every 5 seconds

I'll go to Lighthouse Friends, too:  Destruction Island, WA  (They provided the picture of the lens, which is now in the Westport Maritime Museum in Westport, Washington.

Pictures, including the lens, are down under this line.

Lighthouse of the Week, February 15-21, 2026: Port Washington, Wisconsin, USA

 

Though this is a couple of weeks behind, I'll catch up quick. This week I'm featuring the Port Washington (Wisconsion) Breakwater Lighthouse, because President's Day happened this week. 

This is an interesting lighthouse, as you will see.  First of all, though, see where it is. By description, it's about 25 miles north of Milwaukee on the Lake Michigan coast.

For some reason, I can't get to the Lighthouse Directory right now; I hope that's temporary. So here's a description from Wikipedia:

• Constructed: 1889 
• Foundation: Concrete 
• Construction: Wood (first) steel (second) 
• Automated: 1975
• Height: 18 m (59 ft) 
• Shape: square pyramidal tower (first) Art Deco tower on square base (second) 
• Light: First lit 1889 (first tower) 1935 (second tower)
• Focal height: 78 feet (24 m)
• Range: 8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi)

An excerpt:

"This light, constructed of steel plates in an Art Deco style, stood on an open concrete platform which in turn perched at the end of the breakwater forming the northern limit of the harbor. The fourth order lens was retained. As with its predecessor, no provision was made to house the fog signal's keepers, and they continued to live in the old keeper's dwelling in town. Funds for the light were appropriated in 1934 and first light came the following year.

Full automation came late to this light. The old lens and its lantern were removed at an undetermined date, but keepers continued to operate the fog signal manually until 1975. The light continues in use, with a second but much shorter tower standing on the southern breakwater to mark the other side of the entrance."

Another site about it:   Port Washington Breakwater, WI  (Lighthouse Friends)

Pictures, of course:

Speaking of volcanoes

 

Since I ended the last post on a volcanic note, I'm starting this one the same way. One of the more entertaining video views of volcanoes right now is the camera that watches Guatemala's Fuego, which has frequent explosive outbursts. During the day it releases big puffy mushroomy ash clouds, and at night it has some spectacular glowing ash outbursts.  An example from a couple of days ago is below.  This is taken from a live webcam.  Winter is the best time to watch due to the lack of clouds.

I wondered if anyone had ever tried to look into the crater of Fuego while it was doing its erupting thing. Turns out someone has tried.  See below.

While I was gone...

 

I haven't gone anywhere, actually, but I found myself unable to post to my blog for days due to scheduling conflicts.

And then so much broke loose.  Now, I admit to watching the Olympics in this interim or interregnum, or whatever you want to call it, and that did distract me from writing a few posts here.  

And then the war started a couple of days ago. It remains to be seen if the world will be a safer place when this is over.  Right now, I guarantee it is not a safer place.

Since the President was unable to send the world economy into a death spiral with either plan A  -- firing Jerome Powell, or plan B -- willy nilly imposing and invoking tariffs -- he has now moved on to plan C, attacking Iran, which has now threatened to shut down the Straits of Hormuz, through which lots and lots and lots of oil is moved.

One thing is certain -- in so many different ways, the path forward is unstable and unpredictable.  Which is rarely ever a good thing.

But hey -- Piton de la Fournaise erupted while I wasn't posting. At one point early in the eruption, it appeared to be erupting from seven vents (where does it think it is -- Iceland?)  So Mother Earth ignores the travails of its denizens and just keeps flowing along.

Eruption pic:

Sulfur dioxide cloud:

Pizza: it's what's for breakfast

 

This is a Scientific American video about why leftover pizza is healthier for humans than fresh, hot pizza. It also has a reference to go with it (which I'll provide), from the esteemed journal Foods.

Here is the reference: Li H, Liu B, Bess K, Wang Z, Liang M, Zhang Y, Wu Q, Yang L. Impact of Low-Temperature Storage on the Microstructure, Digestibility, and Absorption Capacity of Cooked Rice. Foods. 2022 Jun 2;11(11):1642. doi:10.3390/foods11111642. PMID: 35681392; PMCID: PMC9180724.

Glorious Katherine does a glorious Turandot turn

 

I knew that Sarah Brightman had sung the "Nessun Dorma" aria from Puccini's Turandot, which is famously and usually reserved for male tenors;  I recently discovered that the gorgeous and supremely talented Katherine Jenkins (also a decent dancer on Dancing with the Stars) had done a version too. This version doesn't have the same production extras that Sarah's version has.

Listen to it here:

That's a somewhat fetching cover picture, too.

Lighthouse of the Week, February 8-14, 2026: Perry's Victor and International Peace Memorial, Ohio, USA

 

OK, I've been there.  I've been to the top of it.  I've even been directly over it in an airplane (headed to Milwaukee, I think), and knew what it was.

I didn't know it was a lighthouse!  But in fact, it is the tallest "aid to navigation" in the United States, probably (though I didn't check) one of the tallest in the world.

It's not primarily a lighthouse, it is, as the name indicates, a monument to a naval battle in the War of 1812, the Battle of Lake Erie. This was the battle won by Captain Oliver Hazard Perry, which after he won it he communicated "We have met the enemy and they are ours."  Thus, on the island near where that battle was fought, there is the Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial. (And a bit ironic, as you'll see.)

To further help out, this is where that is.

And this is what the Lighthouse Directory says about it:

"1915. Active; focal plane 335 ft (102 m); white light, 3 s on, 3 s off. 352 ft (107 m) round granite tower topped by a bronze urn. Floodlit at night. ... This is the tallest aid to navigation in the U.S., 75% taller than Cape Hatteras Light. The tower commemorates the 1813 naval victory of a U.S. fleet led by Oliver [Hazard] Perry over a British fleet; it also recognizes the peace that has prevailed between the U.S. and Canada since 1815. An elevator carries visitors to an observation deck 317 ft (96.5 m) above the lake. A new visitor center opened in May 2002. The tower was closed for repairs and restoration during 2012. Located on the northeastern portion of South Bass Island, which is accessible by ferries from Catawba Island and Port Clinton."

(What I underlined is the ironic part, given the uneasiness between Canada and the U.S. due to the current Imbecile-in-Chief.)

So of course I will have pictures and a video.

Wildfires can be bad. Now they can be worse.

 

New research indicates that wildfires release more air pollution, in the form of smoke and the accompanying toxic gases, than previously thought. 

The updated estimate is an increase of 20% or so, and it is primarily in the form of un-estimated volatile organic compounds. But for a big wildfire, that can be a lot more smoke and associated stuff nobody wants to breathe.

Wildfires Could Emit More Air Pollution Than Previously Estimated

"Each year, large swaths of forests, grass and peat burn in wildfires, releasing a complex mix of water vapor, ash and carbon-based compounds into the air. Some of these carbon-based compounds are gases called volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Others that evaporate and turn into gases at warmer temperatures are known as intermediate- and semi-volatile organic compounds (IVOCs and SVOCs, respectively). And in the air, these partially-volatile compounds form fine particles — pollutants that can be harmful if breathed in — more easily than VOCs."

"However, most studies assessing wildland fire emissions overlook IVOCs and SVOCs because of their large number, which makes it hard to measure these compounds. Researchers led by Shuxiao Wang wanted to take IVOCs and SVOCs emissions along with VOCs into consideration to offer better insight into wildland fires’ impact on air quality, health and climate."

That's a direct quote.  First question, what does "large number" mean?  I have my suspicions, but I have to look in the actual article. So I did. And I think my suspicion was wrong. I thought the large number might be molecular weight, but I think it's saturation vapor concentration.  I.e., the VOCs fully volatilize, reaching their maximum saturation vapor concentration, but the IVOCs and SVOCs don't, so it's harder to estimate or measure how much of them is in the smoke.

I'm not sure of that. But the bottom line is that more organic compounds are released by wildfires, so that the total amount, the sum of VOCs, IVOCs, and SVOCs, is more than the previous estimates, which was just based on VOCs.

If you want to know more, the reference is below, and you can try to contact the researchers.

REFERENCE: Huang L, Zhao B, He Y, et al. Global wildland fire emissions of full-volatility organic compounds from 1997 to 2023. Environmental Science and Technology 2025:acs.est.5c10217. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.5c10217

Psst:  You can actually read the full paper here, if you are so inclinated.

And remember, where there's fire, there's usually smoke.

Who played Varang?

 

If you've seen Avatar: Fire and Ash (I did), perhaps you're wondering what actress was behind the character of Varang, the leader of the ash clan, the Mangkwan.  Varang has two roles in the clan, both the leader/chief, and also the high priestess / spiritual leader.

Enough about that. The actress is Oona Chaplin, Charlie's granddaughter, who was seen in most of her entirety in Game of Thrones before she had a particularly bad experience at a wedding banquet.

So, below, Varang and her Game of Thrones character, Talisa Maegyr/Stark.

Ocean, ocean, who's got an ocean?

 

Scientific American reports on the search for subsurface oceans on some of the moons of the Solar System. They may be harder to find (if they exist) than earlier thought.

New Views of Solar System Moons Complicate Ocean Worlds Theory

The article discusses two research papers about Saturn's unique moon Titan and Jupiter's white-cold moon Europa.  Titan might be less interesting than previously thought, with a slushy interior rather than an actual hydrocarbon ocean.  Europa probably still has an ocean, but it may be a lot harder to drill down to reach, considering that it might be 20 miles or so under the surface.

"New observations of Europa gathered by NASA’s Juno mission, however, suggest that the ice shell is on the thicker side of scientists’ estimates, closer to 20 miles deep—although the exact depth depends on the ocean’s saltiness.

“There have been theoretical arguments, but this is the first pretty much direct physical measurement,” says Steven Levin, project scientist of the Juno mission and an astrophysicst at JPL.

That calculation is based on data from Juno’s microwave radiometer, an instrument that was designed to peer deep into Jupiter’s atmosphere but that is now turned toward analyzing the planet’s largest moons’ internal structure, too. Remarkably, the measurement was based on only about five minutes of data because of the constraints of the Juno spacecraft’s existing orbit around Jupiter, Levin notes."

But we do have a mission that will be there in 2030, the Europa Clipper, and a European mission that will be there a year later.  It will be interesting to see what these missions can determine.

It's down there somewhere.

If you play golf

 

I'm a sucker for these lists of the "Best of [ Something ] in Each State".  So even though I don't play golf, I do enjoy watching it, particularly a close tournament, because of the nerviness involved.

This list of top golf courses in each state thus caught my interest. 

The Best Golf Course in Each State

Since I'm in Maryland, I naturally checked to see which course in Maryland was picked. It's the Bulle Rock course in northeastern Maryland, just inland from Havre de Grace. I've been near it.

The introduction indicates that these courses are accessible to the public, because there are likely great (and with accompanying exorbitant membership fees) private courses.   For example, how is the best course in California NOT Pebble Beach?  Or in Georgia, wouldn't Augusta National be the number one run of 18 holes?   So if you play, these are playable and your wallet might survive the experience.

Two other notes:  The course picked in Wisconsin is in the middle of the rural center of the state, which might mean it's not too hard to get a tee time.  The private Whistling Straits course on the shore of Lake Michigan north of Sheboygan might be the overall best course.

Two, there is a lot of great scenery around these courses. The Divide Ranch & Club in Colorado stands out in this category. It also happens to be just a little north of the mining towns Ouray and Telluride.

A view from the course:

Lick gets licked (a little)

 

Back around Christmastime, a big storm blew into California. One of the more notable sights of damager was the Lick Observatory, up in the mountains above San Jose. 

This video shows some of what happened. Hopefully, soon it will be back looking at the stars, and I hope budget cuts don't keep it from that operation.

News indicates it's going to take awhile to get it up and running, and as I write this, they're protecting it from more storms.

This is quoted from the article:

"Built in the 1880s and in continuous use for nearly 140 years, the 36-inch Great Refractor was once the largest telescope of its kind and still anchors the observatory’s education and public-viewing programs. The pause in tours and public nights is a stark reminder of how vulnerable century-old instruments can be on an exposed mountain and why teams are racing to shield the telescope before any more storms roll through, according to the San Francisco Chronicle."

The Great Refractor is shown below. I learned while finding a picture of it that it is currently the largest refracting telescope currently in operation, as the largest, the 40-inch refractor at Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin, is currently not operational and may never be restored to operation. 

Lighthouse of the Week, February 1-7, 2026: Faro de Cabo de Ajo, Spain

 

Yes, I know I'm a bit behind in my blog posting. So this is the start of my comeback.  I searched for "multi-color lighthouse", and this one showed up.  Clearly it is what I searched for.

So, this is the Faro de Ajo or the Faro de Cabo de Ajo, located in Cantabria on the northern coast of Spain, near Santander and to the west of Bilbao.  If that's not enough to locate it for you, click here.

This is what the Lighthouse Directory says, in part:

"1985 (station established 1930). Active; focal plane 71 m (233 ft); white light occulting three times (2 s each) every 16 s. 14 m (46 ft) cylindrical concrete tower with lantern and double gallery, rising from a circular 1-story base. Lighthouse originally painted white; lantern dome is gray metallic. ... This handsome modern tower, designed by Fernando Rodríguez Pérez, was one of the first new lighthouses built under the Plan de Señales Marítimas 1985-89. In 2020 the lighthouse was painted in bright colors in an intricate design by the artist Okuda San Miguel".

Here's another page on it, with some close-up pictures: An artist has turned this Spanish lighthouse into a colourful work of art

Certainly if you're reading this, you want to see pictures right here, so they are under this line.

Before and after

How old is Peter Coyote?

 

In the previous post I mentioned The American Revolution series on PBS. I watched the credits and  discovered it was (still) being narrated by the super-narrator Peter Coyote.  Since he's been doing that for a long time, I wondered how old he is.  Turns out Peter is 84.

This is somewhat what he looks like around the time of now.

Without him, we might have lost it all

 

This being the 250th anniversary year of the founding of the United States, there's lots of history being discussed. 

I was watching the The American Revolution documentary series on PBS last week, and it happened to be Episode 4, which included both the American defeats and retreats from around Philadelphia (not Washington's finest hour, nor was it Britain's, particularly focusing on the Paoli massacre), and also the Battle of Saratoga. 

That's what I'm briefly talking about here. I've been there, and I've seen the monument to a leg. The leg, belonged to Benedict Arnold, of course.

A case could be made that had it not been for Arnold's bravery and courage at Saratoga, where his leg was significantly injured, the American Revolution would not have resulted in a victory for the newly formed republic, or it would have been a much longer slog. As the episode described and as something I was aware of before, the victory at Saratoga and the surrender of a large British army gave Benjamin Franklin, who was staying in France, a good reason to go to the French government and convince them that the USA was a worthy ally, and was strong enough to defeat the British, with some help in the form of arms, troops, and above all, MONEY.  And France provided all of that, eventually.

Prior to Saratoga, Arnold, an army commander, also directed the construction of a fleet on Lake Champlain.  Though in its one major engagement in the lake it lost, it did delay the British from taking over Fort Ticonderoga until some time in 1777. 

The other details about his life are fascinating, and of course his vanity and his grudges led to his treasonous actions, but if Arnold has not done what he did before the betrayal, we might still be acknowledging the King or Queen of Britain as our sovereign ruler.

This interest in Arnold led me to wonder where his grave site is. That's a fascinating story, too.

Benedict Arnold's Body Lies in the Wall of a British Kindergarten

"When the British invasion from Canada did come, Arnold was a field commander as the Continental Army met it at Saratoga, New York. Arnold was wounded twice in the defense of Saratoga, but the American victory led to French intervention and, eventually, American independence -- but the credit for Saratoga went to Gen. Horatio Gates." (As I said.)

"Arnold died in 1801 and was interred at St. Mary's Church, Battersea, London, England. The basement crypt of the old church is where the Sunday school classes are held and, on weekdays, is rented out to a private kindergarten.

Somewhere along the walls, amid the books, crayon drawings and fish tanks is a tombstone that reads "In this crypt lies the bodies of Benedict Arnold, 1741-1801, Sometime general in the army of George Washington and devoted wife Margaret Shippen and their beloved daughter Sophia Matilda Phipps. The two nations whom he served in turn in the years of their enmity have united in enduring friendship."

 

The marker

The church

Are strawberries a healthy food?

 

While I really enjoy strawberries, as many other people do, I recently wondered if they really are a good, healthy fruit to consume.

It turns out, they are.

Strawberries 101: Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits

"Strawberries are bright red, juicy, and sweet.

They’re an excellent source of vitamin C and manganese and also contain decent amounts of folate (vitamin B9) and potassium.

Strawberries are very rich in antioxidants and plant compounds, which may have benefits for heart health and blood sugar control."

There's more specific and quantitative information in the linked article.  Or you can look below.

What about the fruit?

 

A few months (years, maybe) ago I discovered what cashew nuts look like growing on the cashew tree.  If you don't know, look below.  If you do know, good for you!

It's a bit complicated how they actually grow, so I recommend Wikipedia.  The fleshy yellow thing above the nut is called the "cashew apple".  It's a pseudocarp, or false fruit. But it is edible.  

I remembered that when I decided to post about this, but even though I knew it was edible, I didn't know how it was used in food products.  So Wikipedia told me:

"The mature cashew apple can be eaten fresh, cooked in curries, or fermented into vinegar, citric acid, or an alcoholic drink. It is also used to make preserves, chutneys, and jams in some countries, such as India and Brazil. In many countries, particularly in South America, the cashew apple is used to flavor drinks, both alcoholic and nonalcoholic. In Brazil, cashew fruit juice and fruit pulp are used to make sweets, and juice mixed with alcoholic beverages such as cachaça, and as flour, milk, or cheese. In Panama, the cashew fruit is cooked with water and sugar for a prolonged time to make a sweet, brown, paste-like dessert called dulce de marañón (marañón being a Spanish name for cashew). Cashew apple juice, however, may be used for manufacturing blended juices such as cajuína."

Now I want to see what it tastes like, but I don't have any travel to Brazil planned. Or Vietnam.

Cashew harvesting and processing:

I watched a couple of other videos before deciding on this one to share. It's clear from watching a couple of these videos that cashew farming is difficult and arduous work. Which we rarely think about as we enjoy a handful of nuts or enjoy products like cashew butter.  (I've heard that it's possible to make cashew "milk" and then use it to make a dairy-free alfredo sauce, but I haven't looked it up to verify and make.