The end of the year

 

I'll let the lovely and luscious Jocelyn Binder take us out of 2021 in fine form.

Exercise your anxiety away

 

I've known this for years, but science now confirms that exercise (especially exercise conducted hard and fast) relieves anxiety better than any kind of drug.

Physical exercise reduces chronic anxiety better than drugs

"The researchers found that the more intense the training sessions were, the more they lowered participants’ anxiety levels. “There was a significant intensity trend for improvement – that is, the more intensely they exercised, the more their anxiety symptoms improved,” explained study lead author Malin Henriksson, a doctoral student at the University of Gothenburg."

This is good bad news, I think

 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell losing support?  

I'll vote "aye" for that.

52% of REPUBLICANS disapprove of Mitch McConnell: New poll shows Senate Minority Leader is one of the least popular U.S. leaders with Trump upping his bid to have him replaced

"Just 46 percent of McConnell's fellow Republicans approve of his job in the Senate, while a decisive 52-point majority disapprove.

The overwhelming dissatisfaction in the Senate's longest-serving GOP leader could leave him in a vulnerable position -- especially with Donald Trump and his supporters hammering away at McConnell's credibility for months.

...

McConnell has been a favorite punching bag of Trump's, who most recently called him a 'broken old crow' for voting in favor of Biden's $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal and then allowing Democrats to raise the US debt limit.

In an interview with Fox less than 10 days ago, Trump declared: 'Mitch McConnell’s a disaster. The Republicans have to get a new leader.'

And in September, the Wall Street Journal had reported that Trump was making calls to allies in the Senate and other supporters to gauge if they too felt it was time for a leadership change."

With regard to that last part, it's been time for a leadership change for a LONG time. Not sure if Trump and his fellow crooks can get this done, but I sure wouldn't mind if he did.  Then they can go to jail.

Haven't seen Izzy for awhile

I know that this blog has several posts about supermodel Izabel Goulart -- who has one of the more extraordinary modeling physiques in the business, even in this current era of body inclusiveness.  No matter what the trend, lean, leggy, and luxuriant will probably always be in demand.  (Luxuriant?  Yes, the hair.)

But I know that I haven't had a post about Izzy for awhile, which means that after I saw this Daily Mail article, I had to bring it to the fore.

Izabel Goulart gets into the Christmas spirit wearing a tiny red bikini on the beach in St. Barts with fiance Kevin Trapp

Not much to report;  she was on the beach with her fiance (they've been in that state for a few years), they were getting photographed doing pairs beach yoga, and she was wearing very little, which is normal on the beach for a supermodel.

So let's see what the Mail was covering and what wasn't covered. 

Nice view for the end of the year.

Her abs are outstanding, all the time.

By the way, there was another article with more views (gotta love the paparazzi for getting the best shots).

Why sardines follow the current to nowhere

 

It's one of the great spectacles of the oceanic world -- a huge number of sardines following a coastal current around the southern coast of Africa, pursued by sharks, dolphins, seabirds, etc.

The thing is, they aren't going anywhere.  Their only destination is the gullets of what eats them.

So why do they go there?   Turn out it is mostly an accidental phenomenon.

Mystery of Doomed Sardine Migration Is Finally Solved
Pulses of cold seawater mislead millions of sardines into swimming along the South African coast to their death

"One popular explanation holds that the sardines participating in the run belong to a distinct eastern subpopulation that evolved in the Indian Ocean, so the fish are migrating to ancestral spawning territories there by instinct. But a genomic analysis of hundreds of South African sardines reveals that those in the run hail from the Atlantic Ocean, suggesting that the spectacular migration may serve no benefit to the fish and instead traps them in hostile waters, researchers wrote this fall in Science Advances.

“We're used to adaptations benefitting an organism, but it doesn't always work that way,” says Jessica Glass, a marine biologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who was not involved in the study. “These animals are doing something that doesn't actually benefit them in the long term.”

So if it doesn't benefit them, why do they do it?

"Sardines from the Atlantic Ocean sometimes stray too far into warm southern waters, where they may encounter brief pulses of cold, nutrient-rich water upwelling along the coast that reminds them of their home range in the Atlantic, he says. The cold-adapted fish unwittingly follow these waters northeast only to become stranded in warmer Indian Ocean waters when the upwelling ceases. Already suffering biologically from the warm conditions, the sardines are assaulted from the air and sea by countless predators."

So, to put it simply, they take a wrong turn at the cold current.

Safety in numbers (sort of):

A really good egg

 

Scientists/researchers/paleontologists/explorers -- whatever they are, these guys found a dinosaur egg with a fully-developed dinosaur embryo inside.

And that doesn't happen very often.

Impeccably preserved dinosaur embryo looks as if it 'died yesterday'

"Baby Yingliang's egg — unearthed in the city of Ganzhou, in southeastern China, in 2000 — wasn't analyzed until 2015. That's when Yingliang Group, a Chinese stone company that had acquired the egg and put it into storage, rediscovered the fossil during the construction of Yingliang Stone Natural History Museum, a public museum in Xiamen, China. 

 "Fossil preparation was conducted and revealed the beautiful skeleton of the embryo," Ma said. "It is one of the best-preserved dinosaur embryos ever reported in science." "

Finally, we know for sure; bigger IS better

 

Bigger is better;  at least when it comes to the centers of the cerebrum devoted to the pleasures of the flesh.

Brain region linked to clitoral stimulation is discovered - and is in bigger in women who have more SEX

"The study involved stimulating the clitorises of 20 women aged 18 to 45 while their brains were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)."

Ah, yes, the joys of research.  (Reading the article, their method was very non-invasive.  But clearly some of the subjects enjoy a more hands-on experience.)

Lighthouse of the Week, December 26, 2021 - January 1, 2022: Nida Lighthouse, Lithuania

 

There's no particular New Year's significance to this lighthouse -- I discovered it because I encountered the geographical placename "Curonian Lagoon", wondered where that was, and then after that was ascertained, I wondered if there were any lighthouses in that locale.  And there was this one.

It's called the Nida Lighthouse, and it's in Neringa, and there is a page about it at the "Visit Neringa" Web site that has a lot of detailed information.  

So we can learn this in the history of it:

"Construction of the first Nida Lighthouse began during the 2nd half of the 19th century after the war of German unification. The hexagonal, red-brick, 27 metre-heigh tower was built at the same time when the 51.4-metre-high Urbas Hill was being afforested. For that purpose, a special plank road was paved towards the peak. The lighthouse began operating on October 20, 1874. It could then be reached by a cobblestone path containing 200 steps, which have survived to the present day. This cobblestone path was built by the French soldiers who were taken captive in 1870-1871 by Germans during the Franco-Prussian War . A Fresnel lantern was installed in the old Nida lighthouse. It used a mineral oil burner. Every 10 seconds, it produced a 4-second flash visible at the sea for a distance of 21 nautical miles. The first lighthouse in Nida functioned until the end of the WWII, when it was blown up in 1944 by the withdrawing German soldiers."

So after it got blowed up, they build a new one, which is the present-day one, described thusly:

"The present-day Nida lighthouse is a reinforced concrete tower of cylindrical shape with horizontal red and white stripes. Its height is 29.3 metres. The lighthouse transmits white-light signals which can be seen at the sea for 41 km (22 nautical miles). The lighthouse is located approximately 900 metres away from the sea and is 79 metres above the sea level. Nida Lighthouse as well as Klaipėda Lighthouse have been added to the global books of light signs (Lith. pasaulio šviesos ženklų knygos), marine charts and described in water piloting books (Lith. locija). Until November 2016, the old lighting system functioned in the lighthouse. It had as many as 6 lamps installed, and only one was lit at a time. When this lamp used to burn out, another lamp would switch on."

And where is it?  Well, as you might have guessed by now, it's next to the Curonian Lagoon, actually situated on the Curonian Spit, at the top of Urbas Hill.  Zoom in to verify;  I zoomed out to show both spit and lagoon.

And having provided all that, now I provide pictures.  It's a classic candy-cane striped paint job.

The Highway 41 Streetview trek is on the road again in the Upper Peninsula

 

A few more views as the trek heads northward and endward.  Hard to believe this will be completed early in 2022.

On the road again.

Highway 41 curved to the east briefly at the top of the Little Bay de Noc, and here just outside Rapid River, turns north again.

It's getting lonely up here. Highway 41 goes north on the western side of the Hiawatha National Forest here.

Bearing slightly to the west at Trenary, Michigan.



The next trek post will be in the New Year!

Steve Hanks had a way with women

 

I've posted a few times before about artist Steve Hanks, who sadly passed away in 2015.  He was a remarkable and skilled artist, specializing in watercolors, and depicting women with stunning realistic beauty.  

I saw this picture recently, which reminded me of how beautiful his work was, and how beautiful many of his models were as well.  This one is entitled "A Delicate Touch".

This is so, so wrong

 

If you follow swimming and sport, you've probably heard about Lia Thomas.  If/when (and I hope "if" turns into something that doesn't happen) Thomas breaks Katie Ledecky's national college (NCAA) and American record in the 500-yard freestyle at this year's NCAA formerly Women's National Division I Swimming Championships, there will be a lot more news about this.  Right now, it's simmering under the surface, so to speak.

However, this opinion from a transgender athlete is just so, so wrong.

Ivy League swimming champion becomes target of transphobic rhetoric

Here's the opinion:

“We’ve never seen a transgender NCAA champion, and Lia is not likely to do it either,” Harper said. “But even if she did win an NCAA championship, we should see a few trans women each and every year winning NCAA Division 1 championships. So at some point it has to happen, and this idea that it’s some horrible miscarriage of justice that Lia is successful just doesn’t add up.”

 (By the way, Joanna Harper is a trans woman and a competitive runner.)

That part I underlined is the wrong part.  When an athlete has an unfair advantage -- which Lia Thomas does when competing against biological women -- then they should not win Division I women's championships, and it does not have to happen. 

There may be, and probably are, college sports in which trans women do not have a built-in physical advantage over biological women.  (Chess, archery, riflery qualify.)  So if trans women compete against biological women in those sports and win championships, fine. But in sports where they do have an advantage, that advantage needs to be completely eliminated for them to compete fairly --- and that's not easy to do.

I have more thoughts on this, which I hope to express soon.

Fly the pugilist skies

 

Well, there has been a lot of news about the increasing altercations on airplanes, due to nerves being on edge and idiots not wearing masks (how hard is that really?).  But this Daily Mail headline typo makes it sound a lot worse than it is.

I mean, seriously ... not everyone taking an airplane to a holiday destination is going to get into a fighr, right?

Another asteroid for OSIRIS-REx

 

Remember OSIRIS-REx?  It may be forgotten in all the more recent space and solar system news (James Webb telescope, we'll get back to that, the Parker Solar Probe dipping into the solar corona, Hubble Space Telescope working again, the next Landsat launch and first light, the test mission to see if a collision can move an asteroid) -- but OSIRIS-REx sampled an asteroid and is on its way back to Earth to drop off the samples in 2023.

After that, it turns out the working satellite can go see another asteroid, which got famous as one which had a chance (for awhile) of hitting Earth in the future.  It won't, but it's still interesting.

NASA Mission Could Blast an Asteroid That Once Menaced Earth

Lighthouse of the Week, December 19-25, 2021: Cana Island, Wisconsin, USA

 

This week, which ends on Christmas Day, I went to a place that frequently gets a white Christmas -- the Door Peninsula of Wisconsin.  The Highway 41 end-to-end Streetview trek didn't divert to the Door Peninsula when it went through Green Bay, but that's the way to get there from Highway 41.  

This lighthouse is on Cana Island, and that's pretty much everything that's on Cana Island.  Let me revise that -- it's the only thing on Cana Island.  Cana Island can at times be called a peninsula, depending on the water level, and it's possible to walk to it over the causeway, which is probably manmade, or at least man-maintained.  

Causeway video:  

  

Where is it?  Here, near Bailey's Harbor, on the Lake Michigan side of the Door Peninsula.

It has a pretty good history;  the Lighthouse Directory entry is excerpted below.

"1870. Active; focal plane 89 ft (27 m); continuous white light. 81 ft (24.5 m) round tower with lantern and gallery, built of brick but encased in steel since 1902, attached to a 1-1/2 story brick keeper's house. The original 3rd order Fresnel lens is still in use. Lighthouse is white; lantern roof is black. The keeper's house is a museum staffed by the Door County Maritime Museum. ... Located on a tiny island connected by a low causeway to the mainland, at the end of Cana Island Road off county route Q about 5 miles (8 km) northeast of Baileys Harbor (watch carefully for small Cana Island signs at intersections)." 

I always like it when the Fresnel lens is still working. 

Here's a Web page about it:   Few People Know There's a Wisconsin Island You Can Walk To

Below are five pictures, one quite wintry and Christmas-y, and a video of the causeway.

by Dan Anderson

by Neal Grosskopf

Highway 41 goes beyond Escanaba

 

As promised, the Highway 41 end-to-end Streetview trek has crossed the Escanaba, and the next stop on the other side is the Log Cabin Bar and Grill.

Log Cabin Bar and Grill -- looking inland.

The Log Cabin Bar and Grill has a great waterfront view -- this is the Little Bay de Noc.

Passing by Gladstone, Michigan. We'll take one look at Gladstone waterfront.

 

Saunders Point on the Gladstone waterfront -- an embedded panorama that shows what I think this place looks like much of the time (even now, with shorter winters because of climate change, it still gets really cold up here).

Back south down the coast a bit, Gladstone also has a small 30-foot lighthouse.

 

The trek will next get back on the road and continue northward.

Lighthouse of the Week, December 12-18, 2021: Dicke Berta, Cuxhaven, Germany

 

I've done a lot of Lighthouses of the Week by now, and finding new ones is a challenge (though I know there are many years worth of lighthouses still available).  This time I was casting about for a way to find one, and I decided, simply, to search for "fat lighthouse".   And what popped up quite noticeably in the search results was a lighthouse named "Dicke Berta", which translates to "Fat Bertha".

You get what you ask for, sometimes.  And this is what I needed.

I'm going to borrow heavily from the Lighthouse Directory for this one.  But first, here's where it is.

And below is what I extracted from the Lighthouse Directory about it.

"1897 (station established 1871). Inactive since 1983. 13 m (43 ft) round cylindrical steel tower with lantern and gallery. Lighthouse painted white, lantern and gallery black. ... The Altenbruch station has always been crucial for navigators entering the Elbe [River]; from the 16th century sailors steered by the twin towers of the Altenbruch church. Hamburg built a wooden lighthouse on the dike in 1871 and in 1897 replaced it with this tower, which was immediately nicknamed Dicke Berta (Fat Bertha). Huelse also has a postcard view of the 1871 beacon. The lighthouse carried the front light of a range; the rear light was the 34 m (112 ft) cast iron Osterende-Groden Oberfeuer, nicknamed Schlanke Anna (Skinny Anna). Between 1915 and 1918 Dicke Berta was taken down and rebuilt a short distance away because of a change in the range line. The range was replaced in 1968 by the Altenbruch-Wehldorf range, but Dicke Berta remained active until 1983. The lighthouse was then transferred to a preservation society, which has restored the building. The building has since become a popular site for weddings. Located near the Altenbruch harbor."

As you will see on the map, it's near Cuxhaven and north of Bremerhaven.  And I recently featured a Denmark lighthouse on the islands to the north, off the Danish coast.

So, now that you've read about Dicke Berta, let's all see Dicke Berta.

I'd ask for the vegan option

 

I say that because technically this would qualify as meat.

I think.

Uganda airlines to add fried grasshopper to its menu

Clearly I'm not Ugandan, because this option, called "nsenene", is a Ugandan delicacy.  

Well, maybe if I'm ever in Uganda ...

Preach the word, Jennifer Rubin

 

Tremendous column from Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin, who doesn't shy away from truth or danger.

Opinion: Eight ways the House select committee is changing the conversation on Jan. 6

"We have yet another reminder of Republicans’ spinelessness as they continue to scrape and bow before Trump. They know how he conspired to shred our democracy and willfully refused to try to short-circuit the Capitol siege for hours. The vivid text messages recall how they have chosen to ignore or forget the peril Trump created for them and our democracy — all to stay in his good graces."

It may be that the tide is turning ... but the currents are slow. Time is of the essence.

Women in white robes

 

Women wearing white robes, and providing the impression that is the only thing they are wearing, is a pictorial theme I find quite exciting.

Three examples from their Instagram stories:

"Killer Katrin" -- Ekaterina Novikova

Lindsay Pelas

Nicole Ross / Nika Kolosova  (can't translate the question, sorry!)

In favor of expanding the Court

 

Just passing this on -- with an excerpt.

The Supreme Court isn’t well. The only hope for a cure is more justices.

EXCERPT:

"But make no mistake: In voting to submit the report to the president neither of us cast a vote of confidence in the Supreme Court itself. Sadly, we no longer have that confidence, given three things: first, the dubious legitimacy of the way some justices were appointed; second, what Justice Sonia Sotomayor rightly called the “stench” of politics hovering over this court’s deliberations about the most contentious issues; and third, the anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian direction of this court’s decisions about matters such as voting rights, gerrymandering and the corrupting effects of dark money."

Yes, we knew that dubious legitimacy was an issue right when Bitchy Mitchy McConnell put up the blockade against Merrick Garland's appointment.

And this is just one issue of the Republican march toward absolute power.

That's a funny-looking plane

 

The Otto Aviation Celera 500L is a very unusual looking plane.  It's been marketed as a business and "utility" plane, whatever that means.

For one thing, the single prop (that bothers me) is at the rear of the plane.  For two, it has an ovoid fuselage, which is supposed to aid laminar flow and give it high fuel efficiency.

It's not real big -- seats six.

The prototype is already flying and being tested;  the goal is to have the Celera 500L sold and flying in 2025.

Otto Celera 500L completes early testing

Remarkably good news

 

The new news is -- Nunes is out (of Congress).

While there's a lot of poor and bad news coming down the pike, this is a piece of goodness.

He's taking the helm of Donald Trump's purported social media engine, which may or may not be a scam (more on that later, if interest permits).   

Meanwhile, let's just say goodbye to Nunes and hope that the door smacks him on the ass on his way out.

Rep. Devin Nunes to leave Congress to become Trump media company CEO

"Phil Arballo, a Democratic business executive who unsuccessfully challenged Nunes in 2020 and is running for the seat in 2022, responded to the news of Nunes’s retirement with a two-word statement: “Good riddance.”

There are a few more forceful (and profane) two-word sendoffs, but I'll let that one suffice.

Did I overlook posting this picture of Julianne Hough?

 

I went back through my blog and apparently I didn't post this pic.  Now, Julianne and Brooks Laich split, marriage-wise;  Brooks is now living up north with a Nordic cross-fit champ, while Julianne is Kinrgizing, judging DWTS when Derek is down (briefly) with a Covid breakthrough, and has been linked (at least by the Daily Mail) with a male model.  And she's got some wine biz going with bestie Nina Dobrev, too.

But in the past (I think this year) she posted this fine angle shot from some summery downtime.  Can't fault the photographer's POV.

They should grant him immunity

 

I just read (more than one place) that Trump insurrectin advisor, lawyer John Eastman, is going to take the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying in front of the House committee on the January 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol building.

Eastman is the guy that concocted the whole plan to try and convince VP Pence that he could stymie the certification of the election by questioning/throwing out electors from certain states, thereby putting the process into Congressional overtime where the unbalanced Republicanness of the Congress could vote to put Donald Trump into a second term.

Eastman is cooked as a lawyer, and probably a professor.  His only career move now would likely be appearances on Newsmax.  His bio says he's a former professor and dean at Chapman University School of Law.  Unless they're offering classes in Constitutional overthrow, I doubt he's teaching much these days.

So ... compel him to testify.  Offer him full immunity.  Because if he testifies, he can nail everyone that was in the room reading his revolutional ideas TO THE FRIGGIN' WALL.

All you need is one songbird.  Then the rest of the obstinants will just be seen for what they are -- criminals. 

Obviously this is a well-known legal play.  Eastman is a small-scale target.  Use him to get the goods on the real crooks, the Meadowses, Clarks, Bannons, and of course, the Big Guy.

It would work.  Don't wait, Congress.

Trump lawyer John Eastman will plead the Fifth because his testimony could be used to 'mount a criminal investigation against him,' his attorney tells January 6 committee probing the Capitol riot

Here's more about the possibility from the Washington Post.

Trump’s lawyers are pleading the Fifth. Congress can still make them talk.

"Finally, even if Clark [same applies for Eastman] does have a valid Fifth Amendment privilege, federal law allows the committee to seek a judicial ruling immunizing him for his testimony. That would overcome the Fifth Amendment privilege and force Clark to answer the committee’s questions without fear of self-incrimination."

Further down:

"As attorneys, Clark and Eastman reportedly tried to use their law licenses to help Trump’s effort to attack and overturn the 2020 election and deprive voters of a most sacred civil right. Now they seek shelter behind the critically important civil liberty guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment. That may be their prerogative, however ironic. But it does not shield their testimony and their documents from scrutiny. Congress has the tools to drive accountability forward. It should use them."

Highway 41 end-to-end Streetview trek: Escape to Escanaba

 

"Escape to Escanaba" has to be a Chamber of Commerce slogan somewhere in this Upper Peninsula coastal town/city.  (It's hard to know where to draw the line between town and city sometimes, especially because a small population enclave might be the largest populated area in the vicinity.  So Escanaba is one of the main population centers in the UP;  let's keep it at that.

Crossing the Ford River

Now in Escanaba, Highway 41 turns north (left). However, we'll take a look at the waterfront.

Escanaba Municipal Beach, on the Little Bay de Noc.

Sand Point Lighthouse

This view looks toward Bay College. https://www.baycollege.edu/

Crossing the Escanaba River.

What lies beyond the Escanaba River?   I'll show it next time.

But he's OK with strangling and damaging the global economy

 

Mitch McConnell didn't want the U.S. government to shutdown this week.  After all, he and his minions want to cause bigger problems.

Mitch McConnell smacks down the GOP shutdown brigade, warning of 'chaos and uncertainty' if the federal government closes its doors

"McConnell also reiterated his belief that the government wouldn't end up closing its doors. "We're not going to shut the government down," he said. "That makes no sense for anyone. Almost no one on either side thinks it's a good idea."

News for Mitch:   there are a LOT of things that the GOP is doing that make no sense for anyone.  Any chance you could stop pushing for all of those?

Probably not, you fatuous prig.

Putting another place on the list

 

I've been to Paris.  I've seen the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Napoleon's Tomb, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame (many years before the fire), the Pompidou Centre, the Bastille ... and some other places, most of them well-known, a couple more obscure. But there are many places still to see, I've learned, if I ever return there.

The strange thing is, I never appreciated the Pantheon.  In fact, I truly never heard of "The Pantheon" until I saw an article about the original Unknown Soldier, who was in fact French.  The original idea for the Unknown Soldier was to have his grave at the Pantheon (where other famous French notables are buried), but they changed their plans and buried him under the Arc de Triomphe.  However, he was honored at the Pantheon before he was moved to the Arc by a solemn procession.

But recently, Josephine Baker was honored with a burial at the Pantheon, and I saw a picture of the interior, which is quite dramatic, very cathedral-like.  So now, if I ever visit Paris again, I have another place to see.

(By the way, this confused me a bit;  Baker is actually buried in Monaco, so they created a coffin filled with soil from various locations meaningful to her for the enshrinement in the Pantheon.)

Here's a Streetview, in case you're wondering what it looks like.

If you REALLY want to travel in style

 

I occasionally check in with the high-end of the economic spectrum -- so this article about a fully-customized traveling jet definitely grabbed my interest.

Superyacht in the sky? Lufthansa Technik unveils ‘EXPLORER’ luxury cabin concept

One aspect of the design is a cockpit that allows a couple of people to watch the pilots and the view out the front window.

So I guess you could have an ad campaign for the exclusive set that might be able to afford it:  

"Fly the Wealthy Skies"

One thing is clear -- Republicans put party above people

 

There has been quite a bit of commentary like this lately (and I even saw an animated cartoon at Daily Kos on the same subject), but I'll go with more mainstream commentary on it.

The GOP doesn’t care about the suffering it causes — even among its own base

"Should unnecessary deaths and economic hardship increase because of covid-19, you can bet Republicans will consider it a triumph — so long as they win the House majority. Their willingness to increase suffering is many things (irresponsible, un-Christian, unpatriotic, cruel), but it is not “pro-life.” Maybe their constituents will start to notice."

We can hope, but they don't seem to be noticing yet.

Lighthouse of the Week, November 28 - December 4, 2021: Blackwell Island, New York, USA

 

Because New York City is a city around a harbor that several rivers flow into, it shouldn't be surprising that there are lighthouses around New York City.  But this one might surprise some people, as it's located right in the middle of the East River.   Sometimes, Roosevelt Island might surprise some people, as it is located right in the middle of the East River, too. It used to be a place where there were prisons and hospitals and sanitariums (and similar), when it was called Blackwell Island.   Now, with some new development, it was renamed Roosevelt Island.  It's connected to Queens by a bridge and to Manhattan by a tramway (which I'd like to ride someday, especially if I can see Spiderman.)

So let's get some lighthouse history.  This is from the Lighthouse Friends page on this lighthouse.

"This 50-foot-tall, gray gneiss, Gothic-style lighthouse was built in 1872. It is not an official Coast Guard lighthouse, but it was commissioned by the city. The lighthouse’s purpose was to “effectually light” the nearby New York City Insane Asylum for boats navigating the treacherous Hell Gate waters. It was designed by architect James Renwick, Jr., whose other works include Smallpox Hospital and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Inmate labor was probably used in the city-run project, but to elaborate much on its construction is to explore legend."

The Lighthouse Directory adds:

"1872 (James Renwick, Jr.). Reactivated (inactive 1940s-1998; always unofficial and charted as a landmark); focal plane 52 ft (16 m); continuous white light. 50 ft (15 m) octagonal cylindrical stone tower with lantern and gallery. The tower is unpainted gray stone; lantern painted black. ... The lighthouse was built for the city of New York by convicts from the city's former Blackwell Island Prison. The lighthouse was restored in 1998, thanks to an anonymous $120,000 donation to the city."

Below, pictures and a river view (from Google Streetview).

View from the river; the lighthouse is at the left.

The anti-vaxx Republican blame game

 

Stellar political cartoonist Mike Luckovich comments.

I typed in "Fomes"

 

As I have mentioned occasionally before, when I need to get to Google, I will occasionally type in a random wordlike combination of letters and see what comes up.   As I've also mentioned occasionally, frequently this discovers a raunchy or off-color definition in the Urban Dictionary.

But less occasionally, the wordlike combination turns out to be a word or name that I didn't know previously was a word or name.  That was the case recently when I type in "Fomes".

Fomes, it turns out, is a type of big fungi, with a common shape that is described as "hoof-like", and it can be called "Hoof Fungus". 

More on that here from First Nature (a great Web site):  

Fomes fomentarius 

And what we find from that site is the Otzi the Iceman was carrying some of this when he met his end in the high Alps.  The reason was probably because this fungus burns slowly, helping to start a fire.  For that reason, it's also called "Tinder Fungus". 

Here are three fotographic examples of Fomes: