I shouldn't be bothered by this ...

 

... but I am. 

In a First, Transgender Woman Wins Model of the Year

"For the first time in the three-decade history of the award, the honoree, Ms. Consani, was a transgender woman. She is a TikTok phenom with almost four million followers and a cavalcade of catwalk appearances (Chanel, Stella McCartney and, in another first, Victoria’s Secret in October) to her name since being signed to IMG Models in 2019."

So, I should be liberal and accepting, and it shouldn't bother me that a transgender woman is the Model of the Year -- in the normal category of female fashion models. Yes, there are male fashion models too. But it seems just strange to see a transgender woman win for modeling fashions that are intended primarily for non-transgender women.

Art can be unusual, and test both our perceptions and our boundaries. It can challenge us. So this haute couture breakthrough challenges us -- well, it challenges me, speaking for myself. I guess I will be old-fashioned and wish that the fashion models I admire and desire are natural women (for lack of a better term).

Oh, and not generated by AI, either.  Even though the AI versions can be pretty astonishingly too-perfect pretty.

Lighthouse of the Week, January 12-18, 2025: St. Augustine Light, Florida, USA

 

When I saw this lighthouse in a Google Maps exploration, I was surprised to find out I hadn't featured it before in my Lighthouse of the Week posts. When I checked the Lighthouse Directory, I then discovered it has one of the longest entries for a lighthouse that I had ever seen.  And then went image searching, I learned that there are several websites about it too, a few of which I'll feature after the main information.

As is my custom, the first thing I'll do is provide the location;  basically south of Jacksonville, Florida.

Now, just some of the information from the Lighthouse Directory:

"1874 (Paul J. Pelz, architect). Station established 1823. Active (privately maintained); focal plane 161 ft (49 m); continuous white light with a more intense flash every 30 s. 165 ft (50 m) round brick tower painted in a black-and-white spiral similar to Cape Hatteras Light; lantern painted red; original rotating 1st order Fresnel lens. Sibling of Bodie Island, North Carolina. 2-story brick and wood Victorian keeper's house (rebuilt after being gutted by fire in 1970). ... The present light station has been meticulously restored to its 1888 appearance. ... In 2002 the lighthouse was one of the first to be transferred under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. During Hurricane Frances in 2004 museum operations director Rick Cain valiantly kept the light on. In 2008-09 the exterior of the lantern was restored and its windows were replaced. In 2014 the museum paid $150,000 to purchase the keeper's house and the rest of the light station property, which had been leased previously from St. Johns County. In 2014-15 the lens and its rotating mechanism were cleaned and restored in place. In April 2015 the museum launched a crowdfunding campaign and sold T-shirts to complete the $280,000 needed for repainting and repairs to the tower. In 2016 work began to restore two Coast Guard buildings, a garage and a barracks, for expansion of exhibits on the station's history during World War II. This project was completed in 2018. In September 2017 the Maritime Archaeology and Education Center opened in new buildings on the light station grounds. The tower was repainted inside and out in 2021."

The websites (just a few):

 St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum (Visit St. Augustine)

St. Augustine, Lighthouse (Lighthouse Friends)

St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum (Official Website)

Visit St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum (The Club Continental)

Pictures and a video finish this post.

A true nature fact

 

If you live where it snows (in the USA), you know that northern cardinals stand out against the white snow quite markedly.  Lots of pictures, puzzles, sweaters, socks, towels, etc. all attest to this.

So it turns out that cardinals are really more red in the winter.

Are Cardinals Redder in Winter?

"Like many birds, Northern Cardinals molt their feathers and grow new ones in late summer and early fall, after the breeding season is over and at a time when food is abundant. During autumn people often comment about how ratty cardinals look. Molting cardinals commonly have areas of dark, exposed skin on their head or body, and some even molt their head feathers all at once, rendering the birds bald.

But even after its head is covered in feathers again, a newly molted male cardinal isn’t at his brightest. Many of his new feathers, especially on the neck and back, are tipped with gray. During fall and winter these dusky feather tips slowly wear off, revealing more and more brilliant red.

The birds reach the peak of brilliance by midwinter ahead of the spring breeding season. Against snow-covered conifers, it’s a feast for our eyes, too. The richness of a male’s red feathers may make a difference in his reproductive success: One study found that in rural areas, brighter red cardinals tended to mate earlier and nest in higher-quality habitat—factors usually associated with more offspring."

Noted in passing

 

Just happened to accidentally catch a glimpse of Anna-Lisa Christiane, and she's worth more of my time.

So where is Crystal Palace now?

 

OK, the Festive Fixtures are done, and it's time for a nearly mid-season update on Crystal Palace in the Premier League,2024-2025 season.  For many weeks early in the season, it looked like the team was committed to finally being relegated.  However, in December, they somehow found a way to win a couple of games, rather than continuing their dreary continuum of draws (though they did draw against Manchester City during City's major funk).

The main problem?  They don't have enough talent that is capable of scoring goals regularly. Scoring goals in soccer is like hitting baseballs in baseball -- it's the most difficult thing to do, of course, and thus the most prized skill that can be bought. And in the Premier League, it costs a lot.  Like most of the mid-tier clubs, Crystal Palace can't afford to have consistent top-line scoring talent. Occasionally they get lucky for a year or two. They also some to keep just enough veterans to maintain their Premier League presence.

So, I anticipate another bottom 10, but not relegated, finish for the Eagles.

Their current status is 15th in the league, with 21 points, five points above Ipswich Town, who are in the top relegation position. They did win their FA Cup match today, January 12, 2025, over Stockport (who?) after a fourth-minute goal by Eze, one of the few players on the team that knows how to score occasionally. The goalkeeper was Matt Turner, who happens to be the number one goalkeeper for the USA Men's National Team. Stockport is League One, the third level in the UK, and resides somewhere near Manchester. So if that result doesn't show that CP doesn't have a lot of scoring firepower, I don't know what else would.

Crystal Palace 1 --- Stockport County 0

Rah, rah. 

More wrecks found

 

First of a couple of articles I'll post in the next couple of days/weeks about interesting new ship (and plane) wreck finds.

Navy confirms finding sunken U.S. warship known as ‘the dancing mouse’

"The wreck was found late last year in 18,000 feet of water south of Australia’s remote Christmas Island, the U.S. Navy said. Australian and U.S. officials worked together to confirm it was the Edsall.

“It is pretty incredible,” said retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Samuel J. Cox, head of the Naval History and Heritage Command in Washington. “And because there were no surviving American witnesses, there’s no Medals of Honor, no Navy Crosses, nothing for any of these guys.”

Being as deep as it is, it still looks in pretty good shape.

Private spaceman to lead NASA

 

I don't know much about Jared Isaacman, except that he's really wealthy and he's been in space twice. I'm not exactly sure how that qualifies someone to lead NASA, but Don the Con POTUS picked him for that spot.

I'll be very curious to see what Isaacman's priorities now. I'll certainly post on that as they come into focus.

Trump picks billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to head NASA

They've already put out some trial balloons about some "bold", aka dumb, ideas for NASA. We'll see what comes of those.

And there isn't much information about where he stands on climate change.

We know where Earth stands, though.