Who are these people?

More about this next month.

Watching seasons change as climate changes

Sadly, one of the most compelling witnesses to climate change is the nature being affected by it. I have frequently noted the variable yet trending indicators that winters are getting shorter, notably earlier spring thaws, later winter freezes, heavier lake effect snows in the early winter (due to more exposed lake water), earlier flower blooms, etc.

The British have launched a program to look for more signs of this change, by the locals. There's a very clear plot of earlier oak flower flowering in this article.


Is Climate Change Causing the Seasons to Change? Citizen Scientists in the UK Help Find Out with Nature’s Calendar

 

Girl we couldn't get much higher

Here's a fairly long article about a subject that I've discussed before on my blog.

Let's talk about sex in space

A small quote:

"Astronauts tend to sweat more in space, and decreased blood pressure could make it more difficult for males to hold up their end of the mission. As for the female side of things, the jury is still out on whether microgravity is a bane or a boon to boobs."

I think there's some missing areas, too, because the don't talk at all about the possibility of the launch of a commercial space station, which I wrote about here.

Eventually the time will come.

So will the astronauts, if they do it right.

One has to ask eventually

It seems like just about every week the Daily Mail has an article about Lauren Stoner on the beach in a tight small bikini in Miami (like this most recent one).

Apparently this is mostly what she does with her life.  Now, she has a superb body and looks fabulous, front and back and sides, in just about any bikini she wears (and she's been caught topless a couple of times, which is pretty fine too), but it begs the question...

... does she have a job?  OK, so this is what we know about her.  She was on a short-lived (emphasis on short) reality TV show called The Spin Crowd associated with the Kardashian clan.  And she was director Michael Bay's girlfriend for awhile.  We know this because just about every Daily Mail article that shows her on the beach in a bikini mentions these two facts.

I assume she does something that provides an income.  But nowhere in what is available online is there any information about what.  And I doubt the paparazzi pay her to hit the beach in a tight bikini.  (But I might.)

So one (such as me) has to ask - what does this woman do that allows her to basically be a 31-year-old beach babe?

But hey - it's not a bad way to live if you' ve got what it takes to live that way.  (Now, there is a clue in this article - it says that The Spin Crowd was about the business of celebrity PR (public relations).  And I found a LinkedIn profile for "Lauren Stoner" that is about the same business, and the picture sure looks like her (but it's a little hard to tell since she's not wearing a bikini).  So apparently I have now satisfied my curiosity.   This business does appear to have enough income to keep her in bikinis on the beach.

Warmest day in Antarctica...

... ever recorded.

It was in the Antarctic Peninsula, which is warmer than the rest of the continent by virtue of sticking way out into the Southern Ocean, which is also getting warmer.  And it's worth pointing out that this its what would be expected to happen in a world that's getting warmer.


Antarctica hits highest temp recorded—63 F

Just another piece in a puzzle that has very few missing pieces now.

Ted Cruz's problem is the GOP's antiscience problem

Presidential candidate Ted Cruz has been in the news recently decrying the scientific certainties about climate change -- foremost among them being the fact that it's happening, second among them being that it's getting warmer and worse.   More on that in our next article.

But first, here's some opinion on why being on the stupid side of the climate change debate is not good for the GOP.

We don’t have a Ted Cruz problem on climate change. We have a GOP problem on climate change.

Excerption 1:

"Any and all of these explanations lead to a convenient policy conclusion: Speedily transitioning to cleaner fuels isn’t worth the money or effort. As Mitt Romney put it in 2011, “We don’t know what’s causing climate change, and the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try and reduce CO2 emissions is not the right course for us.”

The underlined is one of the main reasons I oppose climate denierism - because it's blocking the necessary transition to cleaner fuels, including nuclear energy.  And so I will have to keep plugging along with the rest of the scientifically literate.

Excerption 2, the final paragraph:

"No one should expect climate models to be perfect. But they are experts’ best reckoning of the risks that unabated carbon dioxide emissions pose to human civilization — risks worth hedging against. Republicans, pompous in their dismissal of the risks, implicitly or explicitly resist this logic. The difference between Cruz and many other Republican politicians is that he revels in the full, unvarnished arrogance and irresponsibility of their positioning."

I just thought to myself that maybe making climate change the issue isn't the way to go here - maybe making antiscience in general into an issue would be a better tactic.

Insight into Emilia

One of the most interesting characters on Game of Thrones has been Mother of Dragons Daenerys Targaryen.   Played by British actress Emilia Clarke, and with a ice blonde hair color that is totally different than her real-life hair color, she has shown compassion for slaves, disdain and contempt (and more) for slaveholders, a healthy relationship with fire, and a growing concern for her maturing dragons, who aren't what one would characterize as tame.

Well, Game of Thrones will be back soon, so I thought I'd link to an article about Emilia with Hollywood Reporter.

And since this is about both Daenerys and Emilia, here's a nice picture.  Now, of course, this being Game of Thrones, Emilia has been seen wearing considerably less or nothing in the series.  And looks very nice doing that, too. But if you want that kind of thing, I'll let you find it yourself.

Oh yeah, she's also going to be the next Sarah Conner in the next Terminator movie. 

I said I needed a navy, not a navel

Lighthouse of the Week, March 29 - April 4, 2015: New London Range Rear, Canada

There are a lot of pictures of this one, apparently because it has a literary/movie tie-in (Anne of Green Gables).  Also, it's on Canada's picturesque Prince Edward Island. There's a bit of a mystery, too:   I can't figure out if it has a red stripe down the front or not.

In the pictures at Lighthouse Friends page on this lighthouse, there isn't a red stripe.  But in one of the pictures below, which seems to be the same lighthouse, there is one.  So if there is or was one, is it there now, or was it painted over?

I think the red stripe is a recent addition.  This distant picture at Marinas.com is dated 2015 and shows the stripe.

The bottom picture is a still showing the lighthouse from Anne of Green Gables, the Canadian TV series.   I  don't know if it was in other Anne of Green Gables movies.

Who Katrina Law reminds me of

I was struck the other day by how much actress Katrina Law (Nyssa, Arrow) reminds me of Julia Ormond when she was one of Hollywood's "It" girls.   It's not just looks, it's also the light British accent she carries.  She does have an Asian influence on her physiognomy, but there's definitely a resemblance.

(BTW, Arrow hinted at a possible girl-girl relationship between Nyssa and Laurel. I wonder.)

So, compare:  Julia above, Katrina below.

 Now, this picture didn't remind ne of Julia Ormond so much, but it did remind us all that she's quite striking.

No words are necessary

Just revel in the glory.

Lighthouse of the Week, March 22-28, 2015: Tourlitis, Greece

In my late lighthouse post last week, I promised a good one for this week.  Here it is. This cute lighthouse doesn't even look real.  The name of the lighthouse is the same as the little island it's perched on -- Tourlitis.  In addition to being a lighthouse, it is also a memorial.

There are several pictures of it here, at this site, which is where I got the text below.

"The first lighthouse here was built in 1897. After that was destroyed in the Second Word War, a simple scaffold tower was erected on Tourlitis. The present lighthouse is a replica of the original, and was built in 1990s at the expenses of Alexandros Goulandris, an oil tycoon of Andros island. Goulandris and his wife dedicated the lighthouse in memory of their deceased daughter Violanda."

 To see where it is located, click this line.

 There must be a paint-able model of this one somewhere.  If there isn't, there should be.

Here's more from UNC:

"There are no keeper's quarters; stairs cut into the rock lead down to a crude landing site. Since Ándros Chóra is a frequent stop for cruise ships, photos of the lighthouse are fairly common. Located on a rock in the harbor of Ándros Chóra. Accessible only by boat."

Sequestration -- it's just not a good idea anymore

The country got forced into sequestration, because the White House / Democrats thought that Republicans would balk when they had to make big cuts to the defense budget.

But because the budget savings looked so good, the Republicans actually accepted the sequestration consequence.

But it turns out (with the help of Middle Eastern unrest) that cuts to defense are not as wise as the budget hawks thought.  So Congress hatched a deal to override them somewhat in 2013.

Now they're talking about doing it again.  So this shows that despite their rhetoric about the budget, the Republicans realize that crude sequestration cuts are not a good idea for the Defense Department.

Again.  And the Democrats are trying to reduce the impact of the cuts to everything else, because those cuts have hit a lot of sectors with some hardship, too.  So Paul Ryan, the man who writes completely unrealistic budgets, is acting like a real statesman and suggesting he could get behind a budget that reduces the impact of sequestration.

Sequestration wasn't a good idea when it first took effect, and it isn't a  good idea anymore.  I like what Patty Murray, one of the partners in the 2013 deal, said about it.

“The fact of the matter is that we simply can’t make the investments we need, on both defense and non-defense, if these caps remain in place. We should be able to give our Appropriations committees the guidance they need to write responsible bills at bipartisan levels,” Murray said.

Hopefully both sides will see reason of some kind on this issue.

A dedicated sonnet

This sonnet was inspired by, and thus is dedicated to, my lovely Twitter fascination and acquaintance, Miss Audrey Nicole.

Here is what inspired it, a very recent post on Instagram.  (It's safe, if bikinis are safe where you live.)



audrey in the mirror


She gives us flashing glimpses and some peeks
at how she lives; the things she deems to show
intrigue invite and can enthrall us; leaks
of dailyness that luminously glow
with her reality, her bracing wit
and sleek physique, amalgamated to
a feminine reflection we'll admit
ignites our fantasies. And though this view
is limited, at times it is a quite
extravagant revealment, and then we
desire her more, which shines a naked light
upon our own introitus. The free
impressions that she makes are so persua-
sive that our captured sight can never stray.

At least it wasn't a crab

I'll say up front that there are no pictures in this article.  That just wouldn't be right.  But if you want to see a picture of actress Chloe Sevigny with a lobster covering her privates, go to this article:

Chloe Sevigny poses for provocative naked cover shoot with BIZARRE lobster prop between her legs

So I guess she's providing an answer to the question "What smells like lobster but isn't lobster?"

My first reaction - "I hope you've got some Old Bay to go with that."

And this also could be a very effective chastity belt, if the lobster was live and waving those claws around.

Amazing women's swimming records happening this weekend

The NCAA Division I swimming championships are taking place this weekend, strongly overshadowed by the NCAA basketball tournaments.  So the sports world is not giving some astonishing pool performances the attention they deserve.    Cal, led by Missy Franklin, looks to be on its way to a win after tonight's finals.

Franklin obliterated the 200-yard freestyle record with a 1:39.10.  That's more than a second off the record, which is a LOT.

Kelsi Worrell of Louisville, which is becoming a swimming power, was the first woman under :50 in the 100-yard butterfly with a 49.89.

And Simone Manuel of Stanford swam the fastest 100-yard relay split by a woman in history, clocking a 45.45 to bring Stanford back for a win by .01 second.  I can't wait to see that race (it'll be on ESPNU in about a week).  Franklin, in Cal's third-place relay, merely anchored in 45.98.

Too bad stuff like this doesn't get mentioned on ESPN (though they did show Franklin's 200 IM win).

But wait, that's not all.

Superstar paralympic swimmer Jessica Long broke the record in the 400 freestyle for her division twice in the same day.  The 400 is a distance event, not exactly a quick dip-and-dash like a sprint.  So this is impressive for the Baltimore area star.

The CanAm championship is in Toronto.

There's a picture of her smiling with the medal in this article.

And here's a picture of her in her element (the water).  Getty Image Picture 

This one shows her racing.

INCREDIBLE gallery of comet pictures from Rosetta

Just found this gallery yesterday of numerous jaw-dropping shots of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from Rosetta:

Rosetta is trailing a warming comet

It's hard to pick a favorite.  So let's just call this a sample.

Caption:  "The comet’s head, neck and back are sunlit in this image taken from 17 miles away. A prominent jet of gas and dust extends from an active region of the surface near the comet’s neck."


Now, if Philae would just wake up and phone home, things would be even better in the comet neighborhood.

Can we just muzzle McConnell?

I truly can't fathom the level of gall that Senator Mitch McConnell possesses to be able to openly tell states to defy the U.S. Government and to not implement EPA-mandated, Supreme Court-supported rules for carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

Sadly, though, this is what we have seen from the dour Senator from Kentucky over the past few years.  Non-compliance, defiance, and lack of cooperation.  And meanwhile he talks about wanting the Republicans now in charge of Congress to be able to "govern".

Well, respecting the government that you purport to want to govern would be a GREAT start.

McConnell to states:  EPA climate rule is illegal

"The proposed rule would require states to use various measures, like improving the efficiency of power plants and reducing power demand, to meet individual emissions targets that the EPA calculated for each state. 

But McConnell said the EPA is “overreaching” because it doesn’t have the authority under the Clean Air Act to force states to take most of those actions.
...
Critics called the advice irresponsible and charged that states that follow it would get implementation plans imposed upon them by the EPA, and those plans could be worse than what the states write."

Here's some recent reaction:

McConnell’s anti-EPA plan: Convince Republicans to welcome big-government climate regulation

"The governors who would be most inclined to fight alongside McConnell are the conservatives who believe that climate change is a giant hoax. McConnell is asking those same small-government conservatives to invite a stronger federal regulatory presence into their states, albeit temporarily. If those same governors are apt to believe that the regulations will eventually be invalidated, as McConnell argues, then it would seem to make more sense to work to minimize their impact up to the point that they’re tossed out. Just yesterday the National Governors Association announced a new program to help the states prepare their plans for complying with the EPA regulations – one of the states leading the program is deep-red Utah."

I'm beyond astonished at the actions of this man. But can one expect better from ideological Republicans?  Probably not.

Lighthouse of the Week, March 15-21, 2015: Bengtskär Lighthouse, Finland

Yes, this is abysmally late in the week, so it's only one picture.   It's the Bengtskär lighthouse of Finland, on an island at the head of the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea).  It's the tallest lighthouse in Finland, and according the Wikipedia, the tallest one in the whole Nordic countries.

It was the site of the Battle of Bengtskär in WWII.

I've got a great lighthouse planned for next week.  Stay tuned.

Someone show this to Kelly Brook

The lusciously voluptuous and enchanting lovable Kelly Brook, who is in the new sitcom One Big Happy, was previously in her acting career in a low-grade B horror movie called Piranha-3D.  No surprise here, she ended up getting eaten in gloriously glory piscine fashion, while looking voluptuous and enchanting and horrified in a red bikini, by swarming hordes of voracious toothy fish.

But piranhas don't do that in the real world, right?

Wrong.  This is what happens when you toss offal into waters with a piranha population.

The real Jennifer Inniss

One of the most visited posts on my little blog all-time is the post I wrote about the female model for the torso statues at the Los Angeles Coliseum, entitled "I Found the Olympic Female Sculpture Model".

Well, it turns out that the picture I found that is identified as Jennifer Inniss from the Friends of Guyana Athletics Web site is not Jennifer Inniss.  I found this out because I was contacted by none other than Jennifer Inniss herself.   She is apparently married with a new name, and I won't reveal that in the interests of her privacy.

Jennifer suggested that I could find pictures of her in Track and Field News or in pictures of the U.S. Track and Field Championships.  The problem is, they aren't online.

But your dauntless blogger persevered, and finally found a YouTube video of the U.S 1988 Olympic Trials in the 100 meter, which was dominated by a runner who probably dominated due to the same methods as Marion Jones, though she never was nabbed.   But enough of that.  Jennifer Inniss was a world-class athlete and she was in the Olympic trials final.  That is high achievement.

As the athletes take the blocks for the start, Jennifer is seen in the white and red top and blue shorts.  The best look at her is at the 1:17 mark.



 
I should note that in my research it turned out that while she ran for Guyana in 1984, she represented the U.S. in 1988, and she was on several national (USA) relay teams.   She was GOOD. Unfortunately without higher quality photographs, we can't judge what led to her selection for immortalization in bronze.

A March sonnet

Well, maybe this pushes the analogy too far...


Play to win

So what's the sport? What skills permit a scor-
ing strike, the galvanizing instant when
concerted efforts bear fruition? Lore
and hope accompany each fall of ten
or down of seven, or the point that wins
the match -- yet fans do not perceive the toil
that makes such moments possible. The spins
and swings and throws and kicks become like oil,
a satin flow of ease and confidence
when they're performed in competition. So,
if practice does make perfect, competence
derives from true commitment -- which we show
through diligence and trial. 'Tis the same
for sex - we practice so we'll win the game. 

I have got to see more of Jessica Lowndes

This Daily Mail article alerted me to the specialness of Jessica Lowndes, who has been on the periphery of my awareness of Jessica Lowndes, starlet. She's been in a few shows, and she was apparently hot and heavy for awhile with Thom Evans, the handsome ex-rugby player that was Kelly Brook's main squeeze for awhile.

Bikini clad Jessica Lowndes flaunts shapely derriere and flat stomach in a series of idyllic beach selfies

I need to pay more attention.  Because she has pictures like this:

Good news - Maryland Dems are sensible

New Maryland Republican governor Larry Hogan ran his campaign on a lot of promises.  One of them was to repeal the so-called "rain tax", which is actually a perceptive, long-view piece of legislation that might do the Chesapeake Bay some good.  As Hogan purports to want to do what's good for Maryland (considering he's from here and now he's the governor), he should know that anything good for making the Bay better is good for Maryland.

He paid a lot of lip service to how the rain tax could be repealed and yet the stormwater controls it pays for could still be preserved (which is actually something necessary by law). 

Well, the sensible Democrats who happen to be in control of both houses of the Maryland legislature voted down the repeal idea.

Good news.


Maryland effort to repeal stormwater management fees rejected

Intro:

"A Maryland Senate committee has voted down an effort by Governor Larry Hogan to repeal stormwater management fees.

The Senate Committee on Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs voted down the bill along with two other bills, which proposed the repeal of the fees.

The House version of Hogan's bill was voted down last week."

Move ovah, there's more Nemcova

If you're interested in perusing photos of a gorgeous woman wearing highly attractive lingerie, which has the effect of enhancing her own intrinsic beauty, then there's good news.  Ultimo lingerie has its new top model, the inspiring Petra Nemcova, in a lot more of their silky underthings.

Yay!

Here's a REAL good page.

New Arrivals (now, many of these aren't really new, as some of them appeared in Petra's first exposure as Ultimo's top body, but some of them are, and all of them are worth a close look).

The "Ana" bra, worn delightfully by Petra, particularly piqued my personal persuasion:

Breathtaking

Arctic sea ice succumbing to ... well, global warming

This will not  be good news for climate skeptics.  After holding out for a couple of years, the Arctic sea ice MAXIMUM looks like it will be a MINIMUM.  I.e., the high point for sea ice cover in the winter is the lowest total maximum sea ice cover seen in a number of years.

I would think that warm Pacific Ocean temperatures, the weak El Niño that has finally been declared, might have contributed to this.  But overall, it's due to things up north just being warmer.

Arctic sea ice dwindles toward record winter low


This is certainly important climate news, and has been promulgated through the media and Web.  I wonder if it will break through to the major media?  And I wonder what Senator James "Snowball" Inhofe will think of this news?

The Wellcome 20

Top science photography of the year:  here are the 20 finalists for the Wellcome Image Awards.  The top pic has not yet been chosen - it will be revealed on March 18.

The art of science: Wellcome Images 2015


Here's an example:

Illustration of pollen grains being released from a flower in the Asteraceae family, by Maurizio De Angelis.

Despicable US

As if we didn't have enough reasons to be repelled by the conservative GOP and Mitch McConnell, there's this:

Republicans are beginning to act as though Barack Obama isn't even the President

"And it isn’t just in foreign affairs. In an op-ed last week in the Lexington Herald-Leader, Mitch McConnell urged states to refuse to comply with proposed rules on greenhouse gas emissions from the Environmental Protection Agency. Never mind that agency regulations like these have the force of law, and the Supreme Court has upheld the EPA’s responsibility under the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon emissions — if you don’t like the law, just act as though it doesn’t apply to you. “I can’t recall a majority leader calling on states to disobey the law,” said Barbara Boxer, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, “and I’ve been here almost 24 years.”

Nauseating.  Truly nauseating.

How to help the world economy, one refrigerator at a time

A real simple way to help the world economy is to waste a lot less food.  The staggering costs of wasting food were described in a recent New York Times article:


Food Waste Is Becoming Serious Economic and Environmental Issue, Report Says

Consider:

"The report estimates that a third of all the food produced in the world is never consumed, and the total cost of that food waste could be as high as $400 billion a year. Reducing food waste from 20 to 50 percent globally could save $120 billion to $300 billion a year by 2030, the report found."

as well as:

"Food waste is not only a social cost, but it contributes to growing environmental problems like climate change, experts say, with the production of food consuming vast quantities of water, fertilizer and land. The fuel that is burned to process, refrigerate and transport it also adds to the environmental cost."

And this is a great idea:

"Meghan Stasz, the director of sustainability for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, a member of the alliance, said the group was working with supermarket chains to reduce waste by clarifying expiration dates and selling smaller portions of food."

 So, leftovers are good and leftovers are great, it's better for the globe if those leftovers you ate.

Really.

Lighthouse of the Week, March 8-14, 2014: Greifswalder Oie Light, Germany

I haven't featured a German lighthouse as the Lighthouse of the Week yet.  So this week I do - the impressive brick Greifswalder Oie 2 lighthouse.  Greifswalder Oie is an island, located in the Pomeranian Bay.  (Wikipedia link: Greifswalder Oie. Click on the location link to see where that is -- generally speaking, it's in the Baltic Sea).

Here's part of the what the UNC Web site has to say about it.

"1855 (station established 1832). Active; focal plane 49 m (161 ft); white flash every 3.8 s. 39 m (128 ft) octagonal brick tower with lantern and double gallery rising from a square 1-story base. Tower is unpainted red brick, lantern and galleries painted black. A magnificent 3-faceted 1st order Fresnel lens 1st order Fresnel lens (1913) is in use. 2-1/2 story square brick keeper's house. ...  A beautiful but rarely visited light station, this is the traditional landfall light for ships approaching Stralsund from the northeast. The lighthouse is located at the northeastern corner of the island, 1.4 km (0.9 m) from the protected harbor at the other southwestern end. Accessible only by boat and hiking the length of the island, about 1.6 km (1 mi)."

For such a handsome lighthouse, there aren't a lot of pictures, which is in part likely due to the fact that the island is a wildlife refuge.   Two shots of it are below.

 

Did you hear? El Niño is here!

At long last, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announciated that the Pacific Ocean has finally crossed the El Niño threshold.  Not by much, mind you, but enough for them to declare that it's here.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  After all, I posted this article back in May.

NOAA Advisory:  El Niño arrives

Let's soak this part in:

" “Based on the persistent observations of above-average sea surface temperatures across the western and central equatorial Pacific Ocean and consistent pattern of sea level pressure, we can now say that El Niño is here,” said Mike Halpert, deputy director, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, and ENSO forecaster. “Many climate prediction models show this weak El Niño continuing into summer.”

Forecasters say it is likely (50 to 60 percent chance) that El Niño conditions will continue through the summer. "

Let's hope the Kid sticks around for a few months and brings a bit of tropical moisture to California.

Lydia Hearst proves she's quite hot

Model Lydia Hearst (daughter of Patti) is nude in Treats magazine.  I'm not sure how long the article with the pictures will be available online for free, so I recommend checking it out soon if you're into nude supermodels.

See that here.

These pictures prove she's world-class glamour model hot. Slender but curvy enough.

Nice work if you can get it.

What more can be said? What more can be SEEN?

A vibrator with a camera redefines the phrase "up close and personal".

And yes, it is possible to find videos acquired by the camera in use for the purpose that is was designed for.

I think the Daily Mail article title is stupid, so I'll just make it simpler.

Look inside where we all came from, and where a lot of men want to get back into


Now, I think, since there are cameras we can swallow that can transmit pictures through our entire digestive process, starting with the lips and ending at ... the other end, and cameras that can show us the interior of a woman's sheath of desire, I think the next step is a miniature camera that can show what's happening inside when there is something else inside there... if you know what I mean.  In other words, live coverage of the lustful linkage, direct from where it's happening.

Inevitable, isn't it?

Oh, and if you want to buy one:
Svakom Gaga camera vibrator at Lovehoney

Poster 'pods for ocean acidification

Pteropods are the ocean's poster boys for ocean acidification.  (Read about why here in this thing I wrote.)

There are sculpture of pteropods at the Smithsonian Institution.    Read about that here.

And here's a comparison of a sculpture and a live version.  The live version is definitely better, but the artist did a good job in capturing the essence of the creature.


Sculpture of Limacina helicina:

Picture of Limacina helicina:

Checking to see if Dawn is in orbit

As I write this, I haven't checked to see if Dawn is in orbit around Ceres.

So let me go do that.

Yup, it is.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has become the first mission to achieve orbit around a dwarf planet

A momentous achievement, especially remembering that Dawn also visited Vesta, too.

"In addition to being the first spacecraft to visit a dwarf planet, Dawn also has the distinction of being the first mission to orbit two extraterrestrial targets. From 2011 to 2012, the space-craft explored the giant asteroid Vesta, delivering new insights and thousands of images from that distant world. Ceres and Vesta are the two most massive residents of our solar system's main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter."

Now, most importantly -- what are the white spots???

Leonor Varela has her second child

Just found out that Leonor Varela has borne her second babe.

Leonor Varela welcomes daughter Luna Mae

I previous wrote about her here, when I found out she was pregnant,  (This happened after I noted that she was one of the best things in the movie Blade II.)

So, best wishes to the family on their new arrival.

Lighthouse of the Week, March 1-7, 2015: Crowdy Head, NSW, Lighthouse

I went looking for "unusual" lighthouses, and I found this one.  

Lots of info on this one from Lighthouses of Australia, Inc.

And here are three nice pictures of it.

I wonder if this qualifies?

Here was one of my Edgy Predictions for 2015:

"7.    Senator James Inhofe will make a stunningly stupid remark about global warming in Congressional hearings.  It will be recognized widely as being totally incorrect and very stupid. Even the climate deniers will be shocked at how wrong it is, but they will still try to explain why it is correct."

And the Washington Post wrote this about Inhofe's recent snowball stunt:

Sen. James Inhofe embarrasses the GOP and the U.S.

Some highlights:

“In case we had forgotten, because we keep hearing that 2014 has been the warmest year on record,” Mr. Inhofe continued, reaching for a plastic bag next to his lectern, “I ask the chair, do you know what this is? It’s a snowball, just from outside here. It’s very, very cold out.”
Mr. Inhofe then tossed his snowball at the presiding officer.
...
“If the land surface records were systematically flawed and the globe had not really warmed, then it would be almost impossible to explain the concurrent changes in this wide range of indicators produced by many independent groups,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration concluded when it announced that the 2000s had set a decadal temperature record. “The warming of the climate system is unequivocal.”
...
"The Republican Party should be mortified by the face of their environmental leadership."

BUT THEY AREN'T. THEY LIKE THEM LIKE THIS.

So... it was definitely stupid.  I haven't seen the skeptics coming to his defense yet.  And it wasn't in Congressional hearings.  So I guess this doesn't meet the criteria I set for my prediction to be correct.

But still, I expect this is a preview of coming attractions and entertainment from the Senator, so I'm a little more confident I'll get this one right.