I didn't get a chance to post about this when it happened (in early October), but it's still worth mentioning. It's not often that a meteorite crashes through a roof and a ceiling into somebody's bedroom and bed. And luckily, the owner wasn't sleeping on the wrong side of the bed when it happened.
I truly have never heard of Chefchaouen, Morocco until a few days ago. Given the overriding color of the alleys and walls and doors and decor, it's clearly an unusual place with numerous opportunities for photographs. Just don't use a blue filter.
Interesting news that evidence of life (carbon with the right kind of isotopes) has been found in a 2.5 billion year old ruby from Greenland.
For The First Time Ever, Evidence of Ancient Life Was Discovered Inside a Ruby
"The team found that the graphite in the ruby was carbon-12, in abundances consistent with an organic origin. And, because we know the age of the gem, this allowed the researchers to narrow down what that organic origin could be, since life on Earth 2.5 billion years ago was extremely limited.
"Living matter preferentially consists of the lighter carbon atoms because they take less energy to incorporate into cells," Yakymchuk said.
"Based on the increased amount of carbon-12 in this graphite, we concluded that the carbon atoms were once ancient life, most likely dead microorganisms such as cyanobacteria."
Being a Crystal Palace follower (hard to say "fan", because I don't have jerseys or posters or hats or scarves or anything like that with a team logo), it can be difficult to have a good season for them to be a finish in the top half of the Premier League standings. But that's the case for many of the Premier League teams that can't pay their superstars $500K a week.
So when Crystal Palace defeats one of those money-flush teams, it's news and it's one of those things that followers of the other teams in the Premier League can relish, a David vs. Goliath type matchup where David stoned the big guy.
Zaha and Gallagher strike as Crystal Palace stun 10-man Manchester City
So that's a promising result; if they get Eze back this season, they might have a chance to finish in the upper half.
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| Zaha takes the shot |
The start of our sojourn through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the final destination of Highway 41 is in Menominee, Michigan.
Last year, for the week that ended on Halloween, I featured a few pictures of "spooky" lighthouses. This week, for the week starting on October 31, I'll feature a couple more.
Lorain Harbor Lighthouse, Lorain, Ohio, on Halloween.
The Port Isabel Lighthouse in Texas may have a case of arachnophobia.
Féile Samhain fire circles during Halloween week at the Hook Head Lighthouse, Wexford, Ireland. I'm going to have to look into this one; supposedly the lighthouse is more than 800 years old?
Happy Halloween!
You would think that Florida would be happy to have healthy people around the state working for NASA. Especially when it's very important to keep missions on schedule and launch healthy people into space and things like that.
Apparently not.
DeSantis sues Biden over federal contractor vaccine mandate"Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Thursday sued the Biden administration over its COVID-19 vaccine mandates for federal contractors, the latest in a series of GOP attacks on President Biden's pandemic response efforts.
The complaint, filed in federal district court in Tampa, calls the policy a "radical intrusion on the personal autonomy of American workers," and seeks a preliminary nationwide injunction to block it from taking effect.
It names as defendants President Biden and a handful of federal agencies, including NASA, the General Services Administration and the Office of Management and Budget."
Let me demonstrate. As I write this, there are some great auroral displays happening, but they haven't plunged as far south as had been predicted.
These events happened in the last week of October 2021.
When you say GOP, you mean a ruthless, opportunistic, immoral, bottom-feeding school of worms.
Nothing they do is surprising. They have no compunction about taking any chance they get to bend, break, or demolish rules and decorum.
Here's the most recent example.
"A short-lived Republican majority atop the nation’s product safety regulator — the result of Senate delays in confirming Democratic nominees — recently pushed through dozens of last-minute changes to the agency’s annual plan, slowing work on some safety rules and abandoning at least one enforcement effort altogether.But wait ...
The changes mean the Consumer Product Safety Commission no longer plans in the coming year to draw up new mandatory rules for preventing suffocation in infant nursing pillows or carbon monoxide poisoning from gas appliances."
"The changes occurred during a brief period in late September when Republicans held a 2-to-1 voting advantage over Democrats on the five-member CPSC board, with two seats vacant. At the same time, three Democratic commissioner nominees awaited Senate confirmation — in part because of delays created by Republican senators, according to four government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk with the media."
This is a big moment for the Highway 41 Streetview trek -- crossing the river into the final state. It started in Florida, went through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and then Wisconsin. So the last state it visits, and finishes in, will be Michigan. So let's get there now.
I see these ads on Facebook frequently. I decided to click on the link to the "survey". This is what I saw.
AS IF Democrats don't know that "cheating" in elections is a problem -- for they also know that the party that is making it harder to vote, and making it possible for state legislatures to overturn the vote, and putting pressure on state officials not to do their job -- is the Republican party.
So, I agree cheating is a problem, President Trump was not right about who and where there was "cheating" in the last election, I'm a Democrat.
Not exactly possible for me to respond to this survey, is it?
Mainly, significantly fewer ice-coverage days, and less ice coverage overall
Long-term trends on the Great Lakes
Change in Ice Cover Duration on the Great Lakes, 1973-2019 (note that the trend is in days PER YEAR)
While the state of Alabama does not have lot of coastline, it has some, and it also has Mobile Bay, which adds a bit to the length of coastline. So it has a few lighthouses, too. And Mobile Bay has a lighthouse right in the middle of the bay, so naturally it's called either the Mobile Bay lighthouse or the Middle Bay lighthouse. I went with the latter.
If you don't know where Mobile Bay is, you should brush up on your geography, but I'll still provide a map to show where it is.
It's still there, too -- but that wasn't certain, because after they renovated it, it got hit by a shrimp boat, and twice they proposed to move it onshore. But that hasn't happened.
So, what else can we find out about it? From the Lighthouse Directory:
"1885. Active (privately maintained); focal plane 48 ft (14.5 m); red flash every 6 s. 48 ft (14.5 m) screwpile lighthouse (sibling of Hooper Strait MD) with hexagonal frame keeper's quarters, painted white; lantern removed 1967. 155 mm solar-powered lens on 6 ft (1.8 m) mast centered on the roof. The original 4th order Fresnel lens is on display at the Fort Morgan Museum."
And also this: Learn the history behind Alabama’s 136-year-old Middle Bay Lighthouse
One of the biggest archaeological finds of this year was this sword, which somehow got tossed into the ocean by a Crusader.
I had to blink a few times when I read this headline; the pictures of the place being sold are pretty impressive, so if you've got a hankering to live in upscale Manhattan digs and can get financed for a $23.5 million, go for it.
Even though it's impressive, I don't think the Daily Mail had to include two identical pictures of the bathroom. (Since they had two, I borrowed one.)
The place they're buying is $42.5 million.
The previously-mentioned bathroom is shown below. That black column doesn't seem quite right, though.
Another in a continuing series of events that demonstrate the vital need for increased and effective gun control laws.
"MOBILE, Ala. — Police in Alabama say a 19-year-old man has been arrested in a shooting that wounded five people near a stadium where a high school football game was being played. Mobile police said Jai Scott of Semmes, Alabama, was charged Saturday with five counts of attempted murder, news outlets reported. The motive for the shooting has not been announced. ... The shooting occurred near the exit ramp at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, where Vigor and Williamson high schools were playing, Mobile police Chief Paul Prine told reporters."
Basically, nobody should be near a public event like a high school football game with a gun. But sadly, that's not going to change unless there's enough disgust and indignation.
On Instagram, she's @natalee.007. In real life, she goes by either Nata Lee or Natalie Lee.
She's one of the world's purest female beauties.
I think I've posted one or two pictures of her here in the past, but I couldn't immediately find them. There are many pictures of her, and many of them are very good. (Most of them are taken by her awesomely lucky paramour, by the name of Mavrin.)
I may discuss and display her more in the future. But for now, I thought this simple ensemble, basic black, would be a great introduction.
She has a big tattoo on one leg, which detracts a little from the purity, but not much.
Really good article from the Washington Post, as one would expect:
A global energy crisis casts shadow on crucial climate summit
"But, in the short term, other pressures may stall the momentum toward such action. In various parts of the world, governments are reckoning with a severe rise in energy prices. Surging costs for natural gas and shortages of coal have led to significant spikes in the price of electricity — tripling from the previous year in some European countries. The prospect of a cold winter with skyrocketing heating bills may weigh far more heavily on most people’s minds than the distant, abstracted calculations that guide climate action.
“The energy supply crisis is showing how difficult ending the dependence on fossil fuels would be,” Bloomberg News noted. “China is driving demand for coal as it tries to secure the fuel to keep the lights on and factories running. Europe, which remains reliant on gas supplies from Russia, is seeing its companies seeking more coal for electricity generation ahead of winter with gas prices at record highs and supply hard to come by.”
Here's some more:
“We need to now recognize that decarbonization will only work when you’ve much more fully decarbonized,” Bim Afolami, a Conservative member of Britain’s parliament, told Bloomberg News. “This shows being in a transition phase — a half-in, half-out approach — leaves you vulnerable in this way.”
Well, I know one thing that could be done pretty fast -- lots more solar panels over parking lots. But I've said that before, of course.
Since it's autumn in the north (hemispherically), the next couple of lighthouses will be lighthouses with fall colors. The first is the Marquette Harbor lighthouse on the Lake Superior shore Michigan's Upper Peninsula, adjacent to the town of Marquette.
A quick summary from the Lighthouse Directory (which has a lot of text about this one):
"1866 (station established 1853). Active; focal plane 77 ft (23.5 m); white flash every 10 s. 40 ft (12 m) square cylindrical brick tower with lantern and gallery attached church-style to a 2-1/2 story brick keeper's house. A DCB-24 aerobeacon from this lighthouse on display at the Marquette Maritime Museum. The original 4th order Fresnel lens was transferred to the Breakwater Outer Light (next entry) in 1908 and is now also on display at the museum. Lighthouse painted bright red; lantern and gallery painted white with a red roof. The second story of the building was added in 1906. Fog signal building (1881) connected to the lighthouse by a long catwalk. This was an active Coast Guard station until 2002; the Coast Guard then leased the lighthouse to the museum, which began offering guided tours during the summer season. In 2003 the first floor was restored with the help of high school shop students and in 2005 a $40,000 state grant funded restoration of the exterior. In 2013 a fund drive was underway for repairs to the building and repainting. The exterior was painted in the spring of 2015. On 30 July 2016 the lighthouse was transferred to city ownership during the celebration of its 150th birthday. In September 2019 the city opened Lighthouse Park surrounding the lighthouse, maritime museum, and Coast Guard building."
While I expect you're waiting for the exciting entry into Michigan, we won't get there this time. We have to drive through Marinette, Wisconsin first.
Since the Highway 41 end-to-end Streetview trek has visited Peshtigo, Wisconsin, I figured that this past week the lighthouse of the week would be the Peshtigo Reef Lighthouse. It's about three miles out in Green Bay from the western shore of Green Bay.
Lighthouse Friends has a really great page on it:
This page informs us that the bottom of the lighthouse is wider and keepers could stay there in emergencies if necessary. I'm not sure if it was ever necessary, and I'm not sure I'd want to be the one out there if it was.
Prior to the placing of the lighthouse on the reef, a lightship was stationed there to warn other ships of the danger. The lighthouse started work in 1936.
According to the Lighthouse Directory:
"1936 (lightship station established 1906). Active; focal plane 72 ft (22 m); white flash every 6 s. 72 ft (22 m) round steel tower with lantern and gallery, mounted on a concrete crib. Lighthouse painted white with a single broad red band; lantern is black."
When a volcano erupts in a populated area, there can be property destruction, danger, and death. The Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma (Canary Islands) has caused that, though I don't believe there have been any deaths, thankfully.
At the same time, there is savage, powerful, and undeniable beauty. Now that we have drones that can go where men do not dare to go, we can see the volcanic fury up close and very personal, but the drones take the heat.
This video is extraordinary.
Appropriate that I am posting this on the day after the 150th anniversary of the Great Peshtigo Fire, somewhat overshadowed in history by another fire, in a city through which Highway 41 also passes, i.e., Chicago. (I never even noted that connection until this very moment.) So this posting in the end-to-end Streetview trek visits downtown Peshtigo.
Fitness model and influencer Hope Beel recently went into the jungle, and the results were pleasing.
As I write this, there may be a temporary hiatus in the debt ceiling madness of the GOP in Congress, led by the chief madman, Mitch McConnell. But still, it's worth looking back to be informed.
Senate Democrats appear open to short-term debt ceiling reprieve from GOP"Just the mere prospect of a nation unable to pay its bills cost the U.S. economy as much as $180 billion and 1.2 million jobs by 2015, according to some experts, as it upended the stock market and stoked anxiety among business leaders. Congress only defused the crisis after adopting significant caps on spending at federal health and education agencies — and on other domestic programs — that only expired this year."
(And nobody like sequestration.)
Triops are some very weird invertebrate/crustaceans. So if they were as big as monsters in old monster movies, this warning might be concerning.
It's OK, they aren't that big. But they are strange.
This is the third in a series of "weird" lighthouses. This time, the Lighthouse of the Week features coastal South Carolina, on Sullivan's Island, which is right here. Sullivan's Island is part of greater Charleston, and it's not very far from Fort Sumter, which has a certain notable connection to the American Civil War.
Looking at the lighthouse, it looks rectangular, white at the bottom, black on the top. So let's find out a bit more about it.
First of all, it has it's own Web site: SullivansIsland.com
That Web site tells us that this lighthouse is fairly new, as lighthouses go, having been built in 1962.
It also has an elevator, and air-conditioning. Once owned by the Coast Guard, it's now operated by the Coast Guard but owned by the National Park Service, under the auspices of the Fort Sumter National Monument.
The Lighthouse Directory gives us some basics:
"1962. Active; focal plane 163 ft (50 m); two quick white flashes, separated by 5 s, every 30 s. 140 ft (43 m) aluminum (steel-framed) trapezoidal tower with overhanging lantern, top half black, lower half white; DCB-24 aerobeacon."
While lava fountain and lava lake volcanoes have been getting lots of press recently (La Palma's Cumbre volcano and Kilauea, of course), Alaska's Great Sitkin (in the Aleutian Islands) has been puffing and bursting for quite awhile. Winter is coming, so the Alaska Volcano Observatory had a couple of these pictures from the summer, when it was visible.
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah -- might have really happened like that!
Now we're moving north of Oconto.
