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.