' Florinda ' is my kind of painting

 

No, it's not 'Florida', it's 'Florinda'.  And it's a painting about a legendary event.

It's in the collection of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art (aka "The Met"), but according to the Web page about it, it isn't currently on display.   Can't imagine why. 

Here's the story: "This painting depicts an episode from the legend of Roderick, the last king of the Spanish Visigoths. After spying on his maids of honor to determine the fairest among them, the king chose Florinda (at center left), who became the object of his love. In revenge, Florinda's father called the Arabs into Spain and brought about the conquest. This painting, which was shown at the Salon of 1853, is a replica of a version of the same size given by Queen Victoria to Prince Albert in 1852."

I'll provide a small version here.  Go to the Web page, and you can really zoom in.

Some of those ladies are cute.  Especially Florinda.  Hopefully she was worth losing the kingdom, but we'd have to ask Roderick about that. 

Confronting extreme (because of climate change) heat

 

The Biden administration announced it is starting a new initiative addressing the health dangers (including death) of extreme heat.

According to the article, extreme heat is now the number 1 cause of weather-related deaths in the U.S.  Now, the skeptics will say that cold kills more than heat, because more people die in the winter than the summer.  Which may still be true, because being inside, with infectious people (not just COVID, but flu and colds and other diseases) can cause sickness and death too.  But it isn't a direct connection, whereas dying due to hot weather, which can have several manifestations, is a direct connection.

Biden confronts extreme heat, a silent climate killer

" “Rising temperatures pose an imminent threat to millions of American workers exposed to the elements, to kids in schools without air conditioning, to seniors in nursing homes without cooling resources, and particularly to disadvantaged communities,” Biden said. “My administration will not leave Americans to face this threat alone.”

Biden also called on Congress to pass the $3.5 trillion tax-and-spending proposal that would unlock more funding to address climate change and make the nation’s infrastructure more resilient to weather disasters."

I sure hope they do.

 

Lighthouse of the Week, September 26 - October 2, 2021: Kiipsaare Tuletorn, Estonia

 

This Lighthouse of the Week continues with another "weird" lighthouse -- this one is a leaning lighthouse in the water off Estonia.  Now, it used to be on the beach in Estonia, but beach erosion took away the beach and also some foundation, which is why (for awhile at least) it had a pronounced lean.  But erosion can be fickle; it also leaned back, and though it's been predicted that it would fall over, it apparently hasn't yet, but the last reliable update we have is from 2018. 

Here's where it should be, off the island of Saremaa, Estonia's largest island.

The Lighthouse Directory has this to say about it (slightly edited):

"1933 (station established 1879). Inactive since 1992 (listed as a daybeacon until 2009). 25 m (82 ft) round cylindrical concrete tower with lantern and gallery, painted with black and white horizontal bands. This is presently the world's best known leaning lighthouse, but if you want to see it, don't delay. Critically endangered by beach erosion, the lighthouse stands at the water's edge. For several years it was leaning at an angle of as much as 15°, but an August 2007 photo shows a reduced angle, and by early 2008 it had come back close to vertical. However, these shifts are caused by undermining of the foundation by the waves, and it seems very likely the tower will collapse eventually."

Like I said, the Lighthouse Directory says it's still there as of 2018.

So let's look at some pictures, including a chronology of losing beach and leaning tower.  And a stamp.

Highway 41 Streetview Trek: Encountering Oconto

 

We are still headed north (and a little east) on the Streetview trek, still with some distance and a couple of Wisconsin towns to go through before Michigan -- which is NOT that far away.

This time, we reach Oconto.

Crossing the Pensaukee River. Just off the road is Ray Ray's Bottoms Up Bar. I will not leave the trek to go see it.

Are you kidding? I had to.

Crossing the Oconto River, which flows through Oconto, Wisconsin. In this stretch we'll visit Oconto, Peshtigo, and Marinette.

The Beyer House and Carriage Museum, Oconto.

The Splinter Causeway at Oconto, providing an actual view of Green Bay.

As mentioned above, Peshtigo, site of a famous fire, is next on the road.

The declining state of the natural world

 

Two Daily Mail articles caught my eye;  both of them show how the expanding dominance of humanity is encroaching on and endangering our natural world.  

This is not a happy blog post, folks.

Coral reef cover has been decimated by HALF since the 1950s thanks to climate change, study warns
- Researchers led from the University of British Columbia assessed reef systems
- They looked at the extent of reefs and their ability to provide services like food
- Fish biodiversity and biomass has fallen by some 60 per cent since the 1950s
- The degradation of reefs will threaten the well-being of coastal communities

Koalas are going extinct with as few as 30,000 left in the Australian wild when the country was once home to EIGHT MILLION
- New data shows wild koala numbers have plunged by 30 per cent in three years
- The Australian Koala Foundation monitors the marsupials' populations
- Land clearing, bushfires, dogs and disease are among threats to koalas
- Foundation wants a 'Koala Protection Act' law to protect the native marsupial

It doesn't help that where they live was hit with raging bushfires enhanced by the effects of climate change.

Michelle Keegan reflections

 

Though she has been recognized more than once as one of Britain / UK's most beautiful / sexiest / glamorous women, I'm still surprised that the astonishing beauty of Michelle Keegan isn't better known in the States.  (Same goes for Kelly Brook, but she did make an attempt at a TV comedy show based in the USA.).   To get the worldwide recognition she deserves, Michelle would have to star in a major movie or get cast on this side of the Atlantic in a hit TV show.

So, she's still one of my own favorite discoveries.  And I wish I could watch seasons 3-4 of "Our Girl". 

She recently took a selfie in front of a mirror and posted it to Instagram.  Swoon.

Longer and deeper (no, this is not about sex)

 

So what's longer and deeper, then?  Spelunkers have mapped more passages and caverns in Kentucky's Mammoth Cave system.

EIGHT additional miles of Kentucky's Mammoth Cave are uncovered that extends the 10-million-year-old structure to at least 420 miles long

"Dr. Rick Toomey, the park's Cave Resource Management Specialist, said in a statement: 'The Cave Research Foundation is fundamentally the reason that Mammoth Cave is recognized as the world's longest cave. Without CRF exploration and mapping, Mammoth Cave would potentially still be a 44-mile-long cave system.' "

It's an extraordinary place.  I visited there when I was quite young, and it was a lot "smaller". 

Ted Cruz proves his anusity

 

So you must be wondering what "anusity" means.  

It means resemblance to an anus.  (I made it up, but it should be a word.)

But if the orifice fits ...

 Cruz set to filibuster any Democratic attempt to raise debt limit

"While the GOP has vowed it won't give Democrats the affirmative votes they need to raise the borrowing limit, the party could theoretically decline to filibuster a debt bill, allowing Democrats to increase the nation's credit cap with a simple majority vote in the Senate. But Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in an interview that he won’t allow that to happen, echoing his party's growing insistence that default be avoided along party lines using the budget reconciliation process -- a tactic Democratic leaders have thus far eschewed. “Democrats have the full ability to raise the debt ceiling as a part of reconciliation,” Cruz said. “They want political cover.” 

Actually, they don't.  What the Democrats are doing is playing a political game of chicken (and it is dangerous).  They are daring the Republicans to allow the country to come to the point of defaulting on the debt payments;  i.e., daring them to potentially tank the U.S. and global economy.  And then the Democrats could blame that on them ... if anybody cares to listen in the smoking depressed ruins of global civilization.

Here's the thing ... in a game of chicken, there is the tacit assumption that both participants are sane and both are still committed to the concept of continuing existence. I.e., neither one of them is actually willing to die.  But with today's Republicans, that's not an operative rule, because they have demonstrated that they don't have any compunctions about taking the country down in flames with them if that's the direction they're headed.

So, since a lot of them do bear a striking resemblance to flaming anuses, that is the direction they're headed.   

And somehow we have to stop them.

"Spoid" is a real word -- sorta, kinda

 

As is my wont, when I go merrily searching along, I frequently point in a collection of letters that resemble a word and see what happens.  Quite commonly, I end up with a vulgar entry in the Urban Dictionary (and there sure are a lot of those).  Less commonly, I accidentally happen upon an actual word in the English language, which given that I didn't know if the random combination of letters I searched was actually a word, tends to be rather obscure.

Most recently, I typed in "spoid".  And while I did get something in the Urban Dictionary ("short for spaz-oid or someone who wigs out", which isn't that vulgar), there were also many entries for Web sites selling pipettes or eyedroppers.

So it seems that spoid is another word for a pipette or an eyedropper, but I can't find anything authoritative that actually says so!

Here's an example.

Spoids | McMaster-Carr

The URL for that link is actually mcmaster.com/spoids/   But if you go to the page, the word "spoid" does not appear anywhere on that page.  AliBaba has "spoid glass dropper".  There's a Google patent for "A spoid", which says it's for a "new concept eyedropper".   Another page lists "Spoid Glass Bottle", and shows several of them by that name (such as shown below), which are basically eyedropper bottles.

So if a spoid is an eyedropper or a pipette, why can't I find a definition that says so?  I mean, this would be important for Scrabble!

If you go to the Free Dictionary, "spoid" isn't there, but "jaspoid" -- resembling jasper, is.  And it appears in a lot of other words for something that resembles something.

So ... I've spent more time than I should have on this conundrum.  I don't have a lot of readers, but if you can find it in YOUR dictionary, tell me.

Highway 41 Streetview trek goes north of Green Bay

 

Last weekend we were visiting Green Bay, Wisconsin, and this weekend we will start traveling north of there, questing toward Michigan.  I hope to have a couple of trek posts this week, but my plans always seem to get waylaid during the week.  Too much going on, too little time for recreational blogging. 

So, let's carry on.

Now back to the highway; this is the closest it gets to Green Bay - actually called Peats Lake here, seen in the distance. The bridge crosses Duck Creek.



By Uncle Sam Fireworks.



Crossing the Suamico River.



What northeastern Wisconsin really looks like in October.



Approaching the split between Highway 141 and Highway 41. Highway 41 is about to veer back toward Green Bay.



Go right to stay on Highway 41.

Onward and coolward !

Lighthouse of the Week, September 19-25, 2021: Royal Sovereign, United Kingdom

 

So, I was thinking about what to do for the Lighthouse of the Week this week, and couldn't decide on any place to search, so I initially thought about looking around South Korea again, because South Korea has many unique lighthouses.  What I actually thought was that South Korea has many weird lighthouses. Inspired, I searched for weird lighthouses.  There are quite a few of them, so I believe I will feature some of what was found over the next few weeks.

The first of this series is the Royal Sovereign Lighthouse off of Eastbourne, UK.  My initial fact-finding indicated that this lighthouse is in the process of being decommissioned (it has reached the end of its design lifetime).  However, the Lighthouse Directory reports that as of May 2021, it's still active. 

The lighthouse was built on the Royal Sovereign Shoal, which was marked by a lightship (picture below) before the structure was built.  The lighthouse stands on a square single-support pedestal that is a helipad (also illustrated below).  

Here is where it is located (zoomed out to find the UK coast).  So it's offshore of Eastbourne, Dungeness, and the White Cliffs. 

The remarkable Lighthouse Directory provides this information:

"1971 (lightship station established 1875). Active; focal plane 28 m (93 ft); white flash every 20 s. Octagonal tower with lantern mounted at one corner of a rectangular 1-story keeper's quarters, all supported by a huge cylindrical concrete column. The roof of the keeper's quarters is a helipad. Tower painted white with a single red horizontal band; keeper's quarters painted white. ...  The station was automated in 1994. In 2019 Trinity House announced that the light had reached its design lifetime and would be removed. It was still in service in May 2021. Located in the English Channel about 9 km (5.5 mi) east southeast of Eastbourne."

I think that's quite remarkable -- and a little weird.  See what you think.  (It would have been cool to see what the keeper's quarters look like on the inside.)

Paper model you can order and build

Bathymetry map as part of decommissioning prep

The lightship

When words aren't enough

 

 I don't know about you, but I have had many occasions in the past 9 months or so, since COVID-19 vaccines became available, to discuss / argue / question those of a certain political persuasion about whether they should get vaccinated or not.   

It is similar to arguments about climate change;  the arguments for doing something en masse, societally, are correct and necessary -- and the arguments against participating in those activities are illogical, ignorant, dangerous, uninformed, and many times based on the most egregious examples of pseudoscience and misinformation that it is possible to find in the dark nooks and odorous crannies of the Web.

Did I mince words?  If so, I didn't mean too.

Now, it has been my experience with the most dogged of the debaters that they don't give up, even when faced with SHeer Utter Unmitigated Truth, Undeniable and Persuasive (SHUUT UP).  But in the case of the vaccines, there is a downside to wrongness, that being infection, hospitalization, and funeralization.  The problem I have with THAT is that I can't have the final word in the argument.

Well, I'm not someone that takes not having the last word lightly.  So, if you, like me, want to express your condolences, but still want to express your sentiments and your position while remaining respectful, yet letting everyone else in attendance at the viewing and the service know that you tried, I offer the following.

The "I Told You So" funeral wreath.

When you really, really want to have the last word, even as they shuffle off this mortal coil.

He can score goals, but this is a little outrageous

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah is one of the Premier League's stars, and he just scored his 100th Premier League goal, the sixth-fastest a player has reached that mark.

So he's really good, and the Premier League pays its really good players a lot of money.

But still, this seems like a LOT of money.

Mo Salah 'wants Liverpool to give him a £500,000-PER-WEEK deal' - more than double Virgil van Dijk's new contract - to make him their highest-paid player as the club look to tie down yet another star

"Klopp is anxious for Salah to follow the likes of Van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson in committing to the Anfield club 'Mo is obviously in a really, really good moment football-wise, mood-wise,' Klopp said. 'How he behaves from the first day he came back has been absolutely great. 'So we're all adults, we're all professionals. There are talks and there are more talks and when there is a final decision, we will tell you. Until then, it is only important how the parties work together in these things.' "

All I can say is that I wouldn't mind getting paid £500,000 a year. 

Lighthouse of the Week, September 12-18, 2021: North Head Lighthouse, Washington, USA

 

Back in the USA this week, I went straight to Washington State, because it still has many lighthouses that haven't been my Lighthouse of the Week yet.   And this one happens to be in a state park with two lighthouses -- one that might still be considered on a riverbank (but very close to the ocean) and the other one actually on the Pacific Coast. 

If you haven't guessed the name of the lighthouse yet (there's a big clue up top), it's the North Head Lighthouse.  It's in the Cape Disappointment State Park, and there is also a Cape Disappointment lighthouse.  

It has a Web site about it, and about its restoration:  Keepers of the North Head Lighthouse

This is what the Lighthouse Directory tell us about it:

"1898. Active; focal plane 194 ft (59 m); two white flashes every 30 s, flashes separated by 7.5 s. 65 ft (20 m) brick tower with plaster overlay, attached to workroom; VRB-25 aerobeacon (1999). The original 1st order Fresnel lens (transferred from Cape Disappointment) is on display nearby at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, and the 4th order Fresnel lens used from 1935 to the 1950s is on display at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon. Lighthouse painted white, lantern roof black (formerly red). The brick principal keeper's house and half of the duplex assistant keeper's house are available for overnight rental or special events such as weddings; the other half of the assistant keepers's house is a ranger residence. ... The lantern was restored in spring 2015; its roof, red for many years, was repainted the original black. Also in 2015, $1.3 million was appropriated for the second phase of restoration, including repairs to the masonry and the foundation. This work began in 2016 and continued in several phases through 2018-19. The lighthouse reopened in August 2019."

Where is it?  Try here.

What does it look like?  See below!  The pictures are from various stages of restoration; the second one from the top is the fully restored lighthouse, and the bottom one looks like it is near the completion of the restoration.  Don't miss the video, which is pre-restoration. 

By Howard Garafano on Flickr

The bridges (and a beach) of Green Bay, on the Highway 41 Streetview trek

 

We're getting back to the highway (41) by trekking through downtown Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Crossing the Fox River on Mason Street.

Next bridge toward the bay, Walnut Street, is near downtown Green Bay.

Dousman Street bridge view.

I-43 bridge over the Fox River. Great view, though with an industrial component.

A remarkable view inside the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary, right next to where the Fox River terminates in Green Bay.

In our next installment, we will be back on the main road.

What a deal !!

 

It's not THAT expensive.

No, wait, I should say 

It's not AS expensive as it WAS.

(It's still really expensive.)

America's most expensive home - a 105,000 sq ft Bel Air estate known as 'The One' - is set to have its $500 million asking price slashed after developer defaults on $165M debt

"A Los Angeles mansion that was poised to be the most expensive home sold in America, with a $500 million price tag, has gone into receivership and will be sold for a lower price after its owner defaulted on more than $165 million in debt, according to court filings."

Snap it up at auction. 

Vote yes, vote yes

 

I have no problem with this.

None.  Zilch. Absolutely totally not.  

In other words, pull the trigger and DO IT.

Colorado proposes new electoral map that could oust Trump ally Lauren Boebert from Congress as her home gets lumped into blue district

"The new map would lump in the entire northern part of the current 3rd district, represented by Boebert, into Neguse's 2nd district. Not only would this move a huge group of Boebert's constituents into a blue district, it would also mean Boebert's home is now located in the 2nd district."

And the best part is, it doesn't even look gerrymandered.

Just off Highway 41, a notable landmark in this region

 

Well, you know where the Streetview trek is now, of course.  So, inevitably, we'll look for something that just about everybody in this region recognizes. 

Not a great view, but this is the crossing of Ashwaubenon Creek.

There's a long stretch of not much to see; but there is a centerpiece coming up. The name of the avenue we're exiting off is an indicator.

You can see it from here.

Pretty obvious where it is now.

And here it is, Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers. Complete with porta-potties!!

We'll make our way back to the highway through Green Bay.

It's been awhile since I noted Maria Menounos

 

I haven't posted about Maria Menounos for some time, but since she showed up in the Daily Mail and still appears to be pretty amazing, I'll do that now.

Maria Menounos showcases her incredible flat tummy in a zebra-stripe bikini as she marks the start of September

As demonstrated by this:

Lighthouse of the Week, September 5-11, 2021: Faro Celarain, Cozumel, Mexico

 

This week, I've circled around the Caribbean Sea from Jamaica, and ended up at Cozumel.  I discovered that Cozumel has a lighthouse on its southern point, named Faro Celarain.  I'm pretty certain of that because it says so right on the lighthouse.

If you don't know where Cozumel is, it's an island off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. This map will help locate the Faro.  It also happens to be located adjacent to the Cozumel Punta Sur Eco Park. 

I turn now to the Lighthouse Directory, of course.

1934 (station established 1908). Active; focal plane 26 m (85 ft); white flash every 5 s. 25 m (82 ft) cylindrical concrete tower with lantern and gallery. Lighthouse painted white with black lettering on the seaward side; lantern painted red, gallery green. 4th order (?) clamshell Fresnel lens in use. ... The road to the lighthouse was washed out by Hurricane Wilma in late 2005, but the area was reopened by September 2006. Located in an ecological reserve at the southern end of the island of Cozumel."

This is an outstanding lighthouse in a superb location.  If I ever get to Cozumel, I'll include this on my list of things to see.

 

The Highway 41 journey heads north toward Green Bay

 

It has been a little while, but I have been collecting views northward in Wisconsin while I took my blogging break, so we can proceed fast and work through them. Expect many posts on the trek this and next week.

Now, the southern environs of the Green Bay region - and a college!

Back in the country, crossing Apple Creek.

 

Next to the highway here is Preserve Park in De Pere, Wisconsin.

The trek is now in the larger area of Green Bay. We'll jump off the highway a moment at Grant Street, and take a look at St. Norbert College.

Note the entrance arch of the college.

The St. Norbert campus also has a portion on the Fox River.



Now back to the highway in the next entry. The river keeps on a northeastward course, but the highway takes a turn north.

Lighthouse of the Week, August 29-September 4, 2021: Grassy Island Range Rear Lighthouse, Green Bay, WI, USA

 

This lighthouse for this week is connected to my Highway 41 end-to-end Streetview trek, which is at this moment approaching Green Bay.  I noticed this lighthouse while collecting views. 

It/they (there are two) have their own page: Grassy Island Range Lighthouse 

which says (this is all of it):

"These two matching lighthouses were once located on Grassy Island, used to guide boats into the Green Bay Harbor. Built after the harbor was completed in 1871, the towers stood on either side of the island. The northern light was 25 feet tall, while the upper light stood at 35 feet. In the 1960s, the Green Bay Yacht Club relocated the lights. In 2005, they were fully restored."

Go see where they are.

Another page on them, from Lighthouse Friends:  Grassy Island Range, WI 

Below, go see what the rear lighthouse looks like. It's hard to separate the two, photographically.

Where have I heard this idea before?

 

Bette Midler suggests sex should be withheld until Republican men stop oppressing women with things like the newly-passed (but already in judicial review) Texas abortion vigilante law. 

Bette Midler BLASTS the Republican Party and suggests that women should 'refuse to have sex with men' in protest of Texas' recently-passed abortion bill

Not sure if it would work -- but it's not an original idea.

Lysistrata

The play Lysistrata by Aristophanes "is a comic account of a woman's extraordinary mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city states by denying all the men of the land any sex, which was the only thing they truly and deeply desired. Lysistrata persuades the women of the warring cities to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands and lovers as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace—a strategy, however, that inflames the battle between the sexes."

Even if it wouldn't work, I'd pay admission for the chance to see the effect of such an attempt on the menfolk of Texas.  Serves 'em right to go without the benefits of nookie for a few months.

What exactly needs protecting here?

 

The Daily Mail strikes again.  Unfortunately, with respect to recent societal and photographic trends, it appears that in many cases, the natural groves in these regions have been overharvested.

Lighthouse of the Week, August 22-28, 2021: Folly Point, Jamaica

 

Continuing the August visit for lighthouses to Jamaica, the next lighthouse we'll see is Folly Point.  If you travel up the coast from Morant Point, past Long Bay and Boston Bay, you will get to Port Antonio, a small town on the coast.  Folly Point is just to the north of it.   The Blue Mountains are still to the west and lie south of the coast.

Look here to see where.

The Lighthouse Directory tell us this about Folly Point:

1888. Active; focal plane 16 m (53 ft); white light, 2 s on, 8 s off. 15 m (49 ft) round brick tower with lantern and gallery, painted with orange-red and white bands; solar-powered lens. The lighthouse is close to the Folly Ruins, a collapsing mansion built by American millionaires in 1905. Located at the end of the Folly Peninsula on the east side of the East Harbor of Port Antonio. Site open, tower closed."

It's a pretty one.

 

Lighthouse of the Week, August 15-21, 2021: Morant Point, Jamaica

 

Because of my hiatus, these August Lighthouses of the Week will appear in September.

I decided to visit Jamaica for lighthouses, because I could.  I have only featured one lighthouse from this island before, the one on famous Negril Beach.  Now, we will examine a couple of lights on points.

This one is Morant Point Lighthouse, which is actually located on Morant Point, the easternmost point of the island.  To the west (as everything must be, naturally) are Kingston on the south coast and the famed-for-coffee Blue Mountains on the north coast.

Here's what we can learn about the light on the eastern point.

"1841 (Alexander Gordon, designer; George Grove, contractor). Active; focal plane 35 m (115 ft); three white flashes every 20 s. 29 m (95 ft) round cast iron tower with lantern and gallery, painted with red and white horizontal bands. To protect against surf during hurricanes, a semicircular masonry wall has been built around the seaward side of the base of the lighthouse. ... This historic tower is the oldest lighthouse on the island and the first cast iron lighthouse built in the Western Hemisphere. ... Located at Morant Point, the easternmost point of Jamaica."

Proceed downward for pictures.

I've been saying this; so who's listening now?

 

Depends on how you define "flood".  Back when Roger Pielke Jr. and I were dialoguing on Twitter, he was pontificating (and may still be) about how data didn't show an increase in flooding due to climate change, particularly based on monetary expenditures for damage.  I pointed to him that because extreme rainfall events were increasing, it was very likely, though not yet quantified, that flash flooding was increasing too, and that causes damage as well, though maybe not over as large an area as a major river watershed (so the economic impact would be lessened until there are a lot more flash floods.)

Well, guess what?  Flash floods, due to extreme rainfall events, are increasing, according to the latest IPCC report.  (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, don'tcha know.)

Flash flood in China

Explainer: What the new IPCC report says about extreme weather and climate change

First context, then conclusions.

You need to know this:

In IPCC-speak, high confidence means there is at least a 8 in 10 chance of a finding being right.

And this:

"The report’s chapter on extreme weather focuses on two main forms of flooding that relate to rainfall – “pluvial” floods, which include surface water and flash flooding, and “fluvial” floods, which occur when a river or stream overflows its banks."

So then the IPCC says this:

"The IPCC is more certain about changes in pluvial flooding, concluding – with high confidence – that projected increases in the intensity of extreme rainfall “translates to an increase in the frequency and magnitude of pluvial floods…as pluvial flooding results from precipitation intensity exceeding the capacity of natural and artificial drainage systems”. "

I've been confident of that for years, and the IPCC is finally catching up.  I wonder if Roger Pielke Jr. will ever catch on. And a few other less notable lowlights as well.

Provocative thoughts on climate change

 

This piece appeared in The Guardian.

Is democracy getting in the way of saving the planet?

"It would be easy to look at the longstanding stalemate around climate policy in the US, the world’s second biggest emitter and embattled superpower, as evidence that something more top-down is needed. Yet the failure isn’t one of too much democracy but too little. The US Senate empowers West Virginia’s Joe Manchin – a man elected by fewer than 300,000 people – to block the agenda of a president elected by more than 80 million. Climate-sceptical Republicans, backed by corporate interests, have attempted to gerrymander their way to electoral dominance, halting progressive climate action in its tracks. The fossil fuel industry can engulf lawmakers with lobbyists and virtually unlimited campaign donations to sway their votes. And as the Republican party’s leading lights flirt with authoritarians like Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, comprehensive bipartisan climate action remains a pipe dream."

Not everybody agrees

 

IN my opinion, this is a great idea.  Apparently, as the title says, not everyone agrees with me.  But I'm keeping this opinion. 

Delta Air Lines to impose monthly charges on unvaccinated employees

"Starting November 1, 2021, Delta Air Lines employees who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 and are enrolled in the company’s health plan will be charged a $200 monthly fee to help maintain costs associated with preventing the spread of Coronavirus among its workforce.

Delta Air Lines Chief Executive Ed Bastian wrote to their employees on Wednesday August 25, 2021, that the $200 monthly charge “will be necessary to address the financial risk the decision to not vaccinate is creating for our company.”

Ed Bastian also adds that 75% of Delta Air Lines employees are vaccinated, an improvement from 72% in mid-July.

A Delta Air Lines spokesperson said that the average hospital stay for COVID-19 has cost the company $40,000 per person."

Other corporations should consider similar, because insurance costs money for corporations, and hospitals cost money spent to help make people healthy, or keep them alive.

I've gotten a little behind in my blogging

 

I took a couple of days to weeks off from blogging (and I wonder who noticed, if anyone).  But I've got lots of ideas and opinions and interests to discuss.  I have a few of a longer nature that I still haven't had a chance to get to, but I haven't forgotten them. 

Now, as for getting a little behind ... that's not necessarily a bad thing.