Lighthouse of the Week, December 25-31, 2022: Whitby High Light, Whitby, UK

 

I decided to end the year with the third Whitby lighthouse, the High Light.  It's a highlight of the tour. (Sorry).

This is where it is, slightly outside of the town proper.

Information about it, from the Lighthouse Directory again.

"1858 (James Walker). Active; focal plane 73 m (240 ft); white or red light, depending on direction, 5 s on 5 s off. 13 m (43 ft) octagonal brick tower with lantern and gallery, painted white, attached to 1-story keeper's house. ...  Located atop a cliff about 3 km (2 mi) east of Whitby Harbour."

This page has more information and some pictures:  Whitby Lighthouse

Four pictures of the Whitby High Light are provided below.

Lighthouse of the Week, December 18-24, 2022: Whitby West Pier Lighthouse, UK

 

In the previous installment of the Lighthouse of the Week, the Whitby East Pier Light was featured.  This time, the week's lighthouse will be the West Pier Lighthouse.  But first, let's talk a little about Whitby.

If you are somewhat versed in literature (and it doesn't have to be a lot), you might recognize the name of the coastal town of Whitby. If not, I won't keep you in suspense, but the book can (and will) -- Whitby was the town in England that was the English setting for Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.  Whitby was where the Count purchased a number of properties and deployed his caskets (complete with native soil) around the town, so he'd have a place to nap during the day.  And Whitby is also where Drac sunk his teeth into the local populace, specifically the Harker sisters, Lucy and Mina. 

Here's more about that:  Dracula in Whitby

The Whitby Abbey, which appears in the book, is particularly gothic, just right for a horror story, then and even now.

So now, about the lighthouse.

The Whitby West Pier Lighthouse is in the same place as the East Pier Lighthouse, except it's on the other side.

This picture makes it clearer.

The West Pier Lighthouse is the taller one on the right in this photograph.

More information is provided by the Lighthouse Directory (of course).

"1831. Generally inactive since about 1914; a green light is displayed when a vessel is expected and it is safe to enter the harbor. 25 m (83 ft) round cylindrical fluted stone tower with lantern and gallery, mounted on a square base. Tower unpainted, lantern painted white with a black dome. ... The Whitby piers were extended in 1914 and the active lights were moved to wood skeletal towers at the ends of the extensions."

There are lots of pictures, so shown below are four of them.

Every now and then

 

Before clearing a site and digging foundations for buildings and homes, in many places a survey is required to make sure that historical or religiously important artifacts and sites aren't accidentally dug up, covered over, dessicrated, or destroyed.

And when digging in a place with as much historical and religiously important stuff all over the place like in England, every now and then something pretty darned amazing is found, 

This was one of those times.

A 1,300-Year-Old Gold Necklace Found in an Early Christian Burial in England Is a ‘Once-in-a-Lifetime Discovery,’ Says Archaeologist

The so-called "Harpole Treasure," which scholars think may have belonged to a female religious leader, will be featured on BBC Two's "Digging for Britain."

Here's the necklace as found, and reconstructed.

Don't forget how low Republicans can go

 

This case has been heard by the Supreme Court, but of course they haven't decided it yet.  The article has one lovely piece of paragraphic prose that demonstrates the thinking of some members of the GOP.

I’m the Governor of North Carolina. This Fringe Claim Before the Supreme Court Would Upend Democracy.

Here's the quodacious quote:

"Republicans in the [North Carolina] legislature have also gerrymandered districts in diabolical ways. In 2016, state Republicans drew a congressional redistricting map that favored Republicans 10 to 3. They did so, the Republican chairman of a legislative redistricting committee explained, “because I do not believe it’s possible to draw a map with 11 Republicans and two Democrats.”

Now, Democrats have been guilty of gerrymandering when the pen is in their hands (as my home state of Maryland demonstrates).  There should be a nationwide standard of how to draw fair congressional districts.  But the case under consideration would go in the opposite direction, and it shouldn't.  Because if legislatures are in charge of drawing the districts and that can't be questioned, I'm almost certain Republicans could draw maps that favor their party in every district in the state.  Democrats, naively, might still leave a couple of districts for the minority, even if they don't want to.

Where has she been?

 

Stella Maxwell was on everyone's top 10 hottest women lists a couple of years ago (and #1 on one particular list in 2016), but she has seemed to fade away a bit, and she's not 25 anymore, either.  She had a couple of high profile same-sex relationships (Miley Cyrus and Kristen Stewart), and her brand of sexy, nearly waifish slenderness got knocked aside by Victoria's Secret in favor of multiple body shapes and sizes. In her world-dominant phase, she was quite fetching.

According to Wikipedia, she's still the "face" of Max Factor cosmetics.  And Wikipedia also says she signed with IMG Models in March 2021, and this is the end of 2022, so I'm not sure if she's still with them.

But this is about a Stella Maxwell sighting at the British Fashion Awards, per the article linked below.

British Fashion Awards 2022: Stella Maxwell exudes confidence in a chic baby blue glimmering gown as the supermodel joins fellow celebs at the star-studded evening in London

I don't think she needs the Diet Coke. 

Underneath the curl

 

This is a remarkable collection of surf photographs, taken under breaking waves.   I'm sure it takes skill to recognize the right moment in the right place. 

The photographer's name is Sean Scott. 

Behind the Barrels

Here's an example (not an image from the article).  I'm particularly intrigued by the "coils" that are under the main barrel.  I'm sure there's an analysis of these somewhere.

What makes water taste good?

 

I have been to places where the tap water tasted really good, almost sweet.   So here's an article that gets into the explanation for that.  As one could readily assume, it's about chemistry, and that is influenced by geology (if the water is mineral water bottled at the source).

The Taste of Water, as Explained by Water Sommeliers

"Water that has a lot of sodium chloride (aka salt) will obviously taste salty, while water with a lot of magnesium will either be sweet or bitter, depending on the person drinking it."

As I said above, I've been to places where the water tasted sweet, so apparently that's what Mg²⁺ does for me.

Epic art

 

There are some remarkable fantasy / sci-fi images on the Web, if you look around for them.

Here's one:

It's called "The Dressing Room", by WLOP.

More from this artist is here:

Art Station - WLOP

Through the clouds, dimly

 

The James Webb Space Telescope isn't only good at finding the oldest galaxies in the Universe.  It's also good at observing weather patterns on planetary moons that have atmospheres.

Of course, there aren't many of those, at least with appreciable atmospheres. In fact, there's only one moon in this Solar System with an appreciable atmosphere, Saturn's moon Titan.

So now it turns out that Titan has weather.

Webb and Keck telescopes team up to track clouds on Saturn's moon Titan

"By comparing different images captured by Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), we soon confirmed that a bright spot visible in Titan's northern hemisphere was in fact a large cloud. Not long after, we noticed a second cloud. Detecting clouds is exciting because it validates long-held predictions from computer models about Titan's climate, that clouds would form readily in the mid-northern hemisphere during its late summertime when the surface is warmed by the sun."

So, Titan has an atmosphere, and because it has clouds at certain times and in certain places, that atmosphere has weather.  Science!

Caption for the above:

"Evolution of clouds on Titan over 30 hours between Nov. 4 and Nov. 6, as seen by near-infrared cameras on the James Webb Space Telescope (top) and Keck Telescope. Titan’s trailing hemisphere seen here is rotating from left (dawn) to right (evening) as seen from Earth and the sun. Cloud A appears to be rotating into view, while Cloud B appears to be either dissipating, or moving behind Titan’s limb. Clouds are not long-lasting on Titan or Earth, so those seen on Nov. 4 may not be the same as those seen on Nov. 6. (Image credit: NASA/STScI/Keck Observatory/Judy Schmidt)"

Worth the time

 

Alfredo Omaña Padron is a glamour photographer.  (Meaning he photographs hot women in sexy situations.)

If you are interested, here's where he posts his shots on Instagram.

alfredoomanapadron

Here are two quickly-extracted samples of his work.  One of his featured / favorite models is Marissa Everhart, who I have discussed and featured on this blog earlier in its history.  Marissa, and her hat, is the first picture.   The second picture is of Laetitia Bouffard-Roupe, a fitness model, ballet dancer, and a woman that Alfredo likes to show in unique poses in nature. 

Two new minerals from space

 

Interesting article about the discovery of two new minerals from a big meteorite that landed in Somalia (but if the Daily Mail caption is correct, it was closer to Italy).

Two 'alien' minerals never before seen on Earth are discovered in a 14-ton meteorite that crashed in Somalia two years ago

Here's the verbatim caption from the article on a picture that shows the meteorite.

"The 14-ton meteorite (pictured) crashed into Semolina in 2020. It is the ninth largest ever found on Earth"

The following is more scientifically-minded, from the University of Alberta.

New minerals discovered in massive meteorite may reveal clues to asteroid formation

"The two newly discovered minerals have been named elaliite and elkinstantonite. The first receives its name from the meteorite itself, dubbed the “El Ali” meteorite because it was found in near the town of El Ali, in the Hiiraan region of Somalia. Herd named the second mineral after Lindy Elkins-Tanton, vice president of the ASU Interplanetary Initiative, professor at Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration and principal investigator of NASA’s upcoming Psyche mission."

I was mildly surprised that I had not heard of this meteorite in Somalia before. It turns out it wasn't a recent impact, but was identified as a meteorite in 2020.  A lot was happening in 2020, so I missed this piece of information. (I'm not  a regular reader of The Meteoritical Bulletin.)

This is the official description of the El Ali meteorite.  Enjoy. 

 

When the rivers run low, change the rivers

 

Both the Mississippi River and the Colorado River are at very low levels (or were, earlier in the year).  This can cause many different kinds of problems, as discussed in this New York Times op-ed.  But the author thinks that coming up with new ways to use rivers will help fix the problems.

It's optimistic, because if the rain and snow don't fall, it's hard to raise the rivers and fill the reservoirs.  So we'll see if  "radical new thinking" can change the course of the rivers, and ours with them.

Long Stretches of the Mississippi River Have Run Dry. What’s Next?

"Radical new thinking is the only way to make sure our rivers endure. The good news is that we are already reimagining what rivers can do — and what they can be."

 

It's a bit late for the perfume commercial, but ...

 

Starting around September, all the fragrance companies start running (and re-running) their perfume and cologne commercials.  This year, I saw Estee Lauder's commercial for the Beautiful Magnolia fragrance, and I should have been able to immediately identify the actress fronting the brand, but I didn't.

It was Ana de Armas, who looked spectacular -- which is not difficult for her to do.

If you haven't seen it/her, below are two images from the commercial, and the commercial itself.

- 

Pink hotels, not little houses

 

Article from Fodor's Travel on pink hotels is picturesque (and indubitably pink):

In a Barbie World: 12 Stunning Pink Hotels

I've been in the pink five times, based on this;

I've seen or visited the pink hotels in St. Petersburg Beach (The Don Cesar), Honolulu (Royal Hawaiian), Hamilton, Bermuda (Princess), La Jolla, CA (La Valencia), and I've been near Cobbler's Cove (Barbados).

This is the Hamilton Princess:

Marcus is right (and righteous) on guns

 

Washington Post's Ruth Marcus hits hard in this one:

On guns, originalism is insanity

"The aftershocks of Bruen are just beginning to work their way through the lower courts; Counts’s ruling might not stand. Even under the high court’s grudging approach to gun regulation, it is possible to uphold this restriction. The court in Bruen emphasized that the Second Amendment protects the right of “ordinary, law-abiding, adult citizens” to carry guns outside the home. Someone arrested for assaulting an intimate partner and subjected to a protective order issued by a judge is neither ordinary — let’s hope — nor law-abiding. And, as the Justice Department argued in the Perez-Gallan case, the Second Amendment was “adopted against a historical backdrop that allowed disarming dangerous persons.”

But the evidence of fallout from Bruen is alarming. Last month, a federal judge in New York invalidated a state gun law passed in the aftermath of Bruen that restricted guns at summer camps, among other places; he reasoned that there weren’t such camps in Colonial times. In September, Counts struck down a federal law that prohibited those indicted on felony charges, but not yet convicted, from possessing guns. “There are no illusions about this case’s real-world consequences — certainly valid public policy and safety concerns exist,” he acknowledged. “Yet Bruen framed those concerns solely as a historical analysis. This Court follows that framework.”

Yes, that's insane. Disturbing and awful, too.

Lighthouse of the Week, December 11-17, 2022: Whitby East Pier Light, UK

 

This is a two-part Lighthouse of the Week (and yes, this one is late).  Might even be a three-parter. That's because there are two lights by the entrance to this harbor, which is literarily -- I spelled that right -- notable.  More on that in the next installment.  This time, we'll go straight to the light.

Location-wise, it's here.

Here's more:  Whitby Lighthouses

The info on the Whitby East Pier Light:

"1855. Inactive since about 1914. 17 m (55 ft) round cylindrical stone tower with lantern and gallery, mounted on a square base. Tower unpainted, lantern painted white with a black dome. ... The Whitby piers were extended in 1914, and the active lights were moved to wood skeletal towers at the ends of the extensions. Located at the original end of the east pier; accessible by walking the pier. Site open, tower closed."

Finally, pictures of the East Pier Light:

 

Innovative thinking

 

Using the current cause of climate change, carbon dioxide, to address one of the problems with energy systems that are not generating carbon dioxide (i.e., wind and solar) is a good idea.

The main problem with wind and solar is that they can generate electricity and over-produce electricity when the Sun is shining and the wind is blowing, but they can't do that when the Sun isn't shining (for solar) and the wind isn't blowing (for wind).

So when they are over-producing, how can you store it?   Well, in a battery.  And this is a different kind of battery.

World’s first CO2 battery is ‘missing piece’ in renewable energy puzzle

How does it work?  Like this:

"The battery works by condensing CO2 and storing it as a liquid under pressure. When electricity is needed, the liquid CO2 is heated and converted into a gas, which powers a turbine."

That little bit of heat used to convert the liquid to gas should be a lot less than the energy produced by the phase change from liquid to gas, so this should work (and the article says there's a working megawatt plant on the island of Sardinia, so apparently it does work).

Now all we need is commercial level nuclear fusion.

The dragon's blood tree still lives -- but there are less of them

 

Good read from the Guardian.

Saving the dragon’s blood: how an island refused to let a legendary tree die out

"Most trees draw water from the soil and up their roots to the leaves; dragon’s blood trees can also do the reverse, taking water from the air and passing it into the soil. Scientists suggest that the unique shape of the dragon’s blood tree is an adaptation to life in its arid environment, allowing the trees to capture moisture from the fog and clouds, a process called horizontal precipitation capture. Researchers estimate that each dragon’s blood tree can inject several times more water into the soil than the local environment captures as rainfall, providing a critical component of the island’s hydrological system.

“One dragon’s blood tree brings a huge amount of water into the system,” says Kay Van Damme, a European researcher at Ghent University in Belgium and Mendel University, who is also the chair of the UK-based volunteer group Friends of Socotra and has worked on the island since the late 1990s. “If you lose a tree, you also lose hundreds of litres of water each year that would otherwise go into the system,” he says."

And how they're saving it, a combination of keeping track of mature trees and growing juvenile trees, which grow slow:

"Today, the saplings no longer require regular watering, but Keabanni still visits every few days to guard against the persistent threat of goats. He estimates that the animals have eaten about 200 saplings over the years, and almost all the 600 surviving plants have been gnawed at the ends.

Once the saplings have grown tall enough, the dragon’s blood trees will be moved to the wild. But dragon’s blood trees are exceptionally slow growing, only 2.65cm over a five-year period."

Yes, they grow very slow.

This is the resin that gives the tree its name:

Truly, unrelentingly brutal

 

The drought in Africa is bad.  

And a warning - the pictures in this article are very disturbing. But they are unfortunately real.

Kenya's plains of the dead: Animal corpses cover the land as even the Maasai people say they have not seen a drought like it after three years without rain

Scientists likely know the reason for this.  But science and technology can't fix it.

Multi-year La Niña events and multi-season drought in the Horn of Africa

Here's the abstract (which is all that I can read, but maybe I'll buy it for Christmas).  I did the underlining.

"One of the primary sources of predictability for seasonal hydroclimate forecasts are sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the tropical Pacific, including the El Niño Southern Oscillation. Multi-year La Niña events in particular may be both predictable at long lead times and favor drought in the bimodal rainfall regions of East Africa. However, SST patterns in the tropical Pacific and adjacent ocean basins often differ substantially between first- and second-year La Niñas, which can change how these events affect regional climate. Here, we demonstrate that multi-year La Niña events favor drought in the Horn of Africa in three consecutive seasons (OND-MAM-OND). But they do not tend to increase the probability of a fourth season of drought owing to the sea surface temperatures and associated atmospheric teleconnections in the MAM long rains season following second-year La Niña events. First-year La Niñas tend to have both greater subsidence over the Horn of Africa, associated with warmer waters in the West Pacific that enhance the Walker Circulation, and greater cross-continental moisture transport, associated with a warm Tropical Atlantic, as compared to second-year La Niñas. Both the increased subsidence and enhanced cross-continental moisture transport favors drought in the Horn of Africa. Our results provide physical understanding of the sources and limitations of predictability for using multi-year La Niña forecasts to predict drought in the Horn of Africa."

A pithy comment from the NY Times

 

I extracted the following comment from this New York Times op-ed by Ezra Klein:

Three Theories That Explain This Strange Moment

"Voters are pretty good at sensing what parties and politicians actually care about. Inflation may be a problem, but Republicans never credibly presented themselves as a solution. Today’s Republican Party is obsessed with critical race theory and whether Dr. Seuss is being canceled. It is not obsessed with economic growth and health care policy."

OK, that's just true.  Republicans don't care so much about making the country better and having government assist in all the ways it could, they are concerned with using government to enforce their socially-minded and socially-biased viewpoints on the country.  And they get upset when they find out society is not in agreement with their viewpoints on a wide range of issues.

How to fix soccer's biggest problem - overtime and PKs in championship games

 

(Heck of a way to win a championship in front of millions of people)

I didn't get to this quite as quickly as I thought I would, but there's still time, because the World Cup isn't over.   And it may end the way that many of the knockout stage games have ended (and also the NCAA Division I championship game this year, and I think both men's and women's NCAA Championship Division I games last year, and many more through the past years, at every level of the sport) ...

with overtime and penalty kicks.

Regular club season soccer, like the English Premier League, or La Liga, or Bundesliga, or Major League Soccer, or the National Women's Soccer League, etc. - allow games to end in a tie.  In the standings, a tie means one point for each team, whereas if a team wins, it gets three points, and zilch for the loser.  The final standings are determined by points.  That's fine.

But in tournaments when a winner must be determined (not like the group stage), if the regular time ends in a tie, they add extra time, which in the World Cup is two 15-minute periods, and then penalty kicks.  Because it's so hard to score in soccer, PKs are frequently the outcome.  Unlike ice hockey, which will keep playing at full-strength in a tournament until someone wins (in the regular season NHL, they do a five-minute overtime and then penalty shots, but not in the Stanley Cup), soccer can't do that. The players would be exhausted, and the game could continue for hours.  And before PKs, sometimes it did.

But PKs seem like a cheap and unsatisfying way to end a major championship game.  So, modeled on the NHL regular season, I have an alternative idea.

In the extra time period, play 9-on-9.  I.e, 8 players on the field, and the goalkeeper.

Why?  Because having more space on the field means it's easier to score.  And it would be easier for some of the sport's big stars to score.  And people like seeing that happen.

Unlike the NHL, it wouldn't be sudden death/victory.  Each team could score multiple goals.  And if it was still tied at the end of extra time, it could still go to PKs.  For those that don't want to see that aspect of the sport go away, it would still be a possibility.  

It doesn't change the nature of the game, it doesn't affect the regular season method of determining a champion, and it doesn't detract from fan's enjoymen -- in fact, it should enhance it.  Because it's more exciting, though perhaps not more nerve-wracking, to watch the game on the field, and not a glorified coin flip to end some of the biggest sporting events in the world.

Discussion welcome, if anybody care.

This could actually be a really great idea

 

Several years ago I thought that making the Chesapeake Bay a national park (or monument, or national valuable shoreline, or something) might be a good idea.  One of the reasons I thought that might be a good idea was that by giving it a status like that, its value would be better recognized and it would be easier to carry out preservation moves and strategies.

So when I saw this article, I thought it might be a really great idea.  And I hope it gets to whatever constitutes the finish line.

Chesapeake Bay could become national recreation area

"If anything, the proposed national recognition of the bay’s importance and its impact on American history is long overdue, said Joel Dunn, president and chief executive of the Chesapeake Conservancy.

“This place, the Chesapeake, is the birthplace of American identity,” Dunn said. “It’s just as spectacular as Yellowstone or Yosemite, and it’s as great as the Great Smokies or as grand as the Grand Tetons. ... But, despite all that amazing nature, culture and history, it’s not represented in the park system.”

I have to agree with that.

Here's more about the really great idea.

Chesapeake National Recreation Area

Meanwhile, back in Maryland

 

I am well behind on my political commentary, but I felt this Washington Post editorial board editorial about how well the Republicans are doing in Maryland was worth posting.

They made a big mistake. I guess there were so few of them voting in the primary that their Trumpian candidate got the nomination for governor, and it was downhill, fast, from there. A Trumpian candidate will not do well in this state.  And he didn't. 

This election is a chronicle of a disaster foretold for Maryland’s GOP

"Mr. Hogan himself publicly questioned the mental stability of state Del. Dan Cox, the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee, who flirted with QAnon and called former vice president Mike Pence a “traitor” for refusing to block Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. The governor endorsed neither Mr. Cox nor the Republican candidate for attorney general, Michael Peroutka. Mr. Peroutka regards the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, not as a terrorist assault but an inside job — and, glorifying the Civil War South, calls himself a “true Confederate.” Mr. Cox lost by more than 20 points; Mr. Peroutka by nearly as much."

Well, in Maryland at least, we prefer our candidates to be sane, to begin with. And we also prefer the Democratic, most of the time.

Coffee saves the world

 

Well, my title might be a bit of an exaggeration, despite the bean's magical properties.  But this article describes how coffee trees that live in the shade of the forest growth, coffee trees bred to be resistant to what climate change could do to them, could help save the rain forest in Mozambique.

Climate-resistant coffee trees could save Mozambique rainforest

    "MOUNT GORONGOSA, Mozambique, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Park warden Pedro Muagura sees hope for the future as he picks a ripe handful of cherry red coffee beans from a more resistant variety of coffee trees introduced to communities farming around Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park.

    The prospect of a more reliable harvest from the crop, which thrives in the shade of indigenous trees, has given people living around Gorongosa a longer-term incentive to protect a rainforest that has lost more than 100 hectares of tree cover per year over the past four decades."

The article says that the trees are "resistant to pests, disease, drought and prolonged rainy seasons".

That is quite impressive.

Lighthouse of the Week, December 4-10, 2022: Southport Lighthouse, Wisconsin, USA

 

Because the state of Wisconsin has a lot of coastline, it has quite a few lighthouses (even a few on inland lakes).  So the Lighthouse of the Week has featured many of them.  This one is about as far south in Wisconsin as it is possible to go on the Lake Michigan coast, as it's located near Kenosha.

It is no longer a working lighthouse, which is too bad because both the lighthouse and the lighthouse keeper's house are good-looking and well-preserved.  (Sometimes people say that about me.  Not many people, though.)  The lighthouse and keeper's house are now a museum.

If you aren't familiar with this locale, here is a locator map. I zoomed out so it's possible to see Kenosha, the Illinois/Wisconsin border, and even Highway 41, subject of many posts on this blog on the end-to-end Highway 41 Streetview trek.

I'll let the Lighthouse Directory tell us more.

"1866 (station established 1848). Inactive as an official light since 1906, when it was replaced by the pierhead light (below); a decorative light is displayed to recognize donations to the maintenance fund of the lighthouse. 300 mm lens. 52 ft (16 m) round brick tower with lantern and gallery, attached to 2-story brick keeper's house; 300 mm lens. The lantern is a replica (1994); the original lantern was removed in 1913. Lighthouse is unpainted; lantern painted black. The keeper's house remained in service to about 1940."

Here's the link to the Lighthouse Directory's Southeast Wisconsin page;  scroll to the bottom to find more about this lighthouse (with links to even more information). 

Here are four pictures (one historic) but I imagine it is oft-photographed.

There's more Demi Rose where that came from

 

A lot more, in fact.  But this will do for now.

Choose your favorite end-of-the-world scenario

 

A good comprehensive article by the Washington Post's Joel Achenbach on how the world might end.  Or civilization.  Or humanity.  Or all of the above.

Storms! Nukes! Climate Calamity! Killer Robots!

Astute observation:

"Also worth remembering: There’s no reason to think that multiple existential risks can’t happen simultaneously. Like a supervolcano erupting just when the killer robots announce they’re taking over (good, let them handle it).

The point is, the Menu of Doom is even longer than the one they give you at the Cheesecake Factory. Historian Niall Ferguson, author of “Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe,” told me, “Future historians will find it ironic that we had so many debates about climate change when something else was about to smash us.”

So what's it going to be?  We'd like to know before it's too late. (Or too early, depending on your place on the timeline.)

She IS good

 

A little bit of late sports news;  Caroline Garcia of France (?) won the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) finals back in early November.  The ? is due to the fact that Garcia seems more likely to be a Spanish or Mexican name.

I had not heard much about her, but she appears to have some shot-making skills.  At age 29, she's moved up the rankings fast this year (it helped to get over a foot injury).  Based on what they were saying about her at the U.S. Open, I thought she might get into the final, but it was Ons Jabeur's day.  Hopefully Garcia can have a few more good days at the majors.

A point of news about Gemma

 

Actress Gemma Arterton, who has a nice acting career after getting noticed (and then offed) in Quantum of Solace, has turned up pregnant.  Likely her husband had something to do with that.

Pregnant Gemma Arterton cradles her baby bump as she steps out with husband Rory Keenan after confirming she's expecting her first child

This probably had something to do with it, too.

I'm going to talk more about this

 

I've been meaning and hoping to talk about this issue for probably years.  But the World Cup is going on now, and in a few hours the round of 16 will start.  That's the knockout stage, where one team has to win.  And in soccer/football, sometimes that's a problem, because soccer/football is a low-scoring sport.  And so, after playing 90 regular minutes + stoppage time, and then 30 overtime minutes + stoppage time, if the score is still tied, the hard-fought match will be decided by ...

... penalty kicks.

And I think that's the main thing wrong with soccer/football: the way major championships are decided. Numerous championships have been decided this way, and it seems to be such a low-excitement way to end what should be a very exciting sporting event.

I have a better idea, and shortly I will finally state it.

Meanwhile, my example is the Major League Soccer MLS Cup championship game, which was settled by ... 

... penalty kicks.

LAFC 3-3 Philadelphia (3-0 on penalties): Ilie Sanchez scores the decisive penalty to win a thrilling MLS Cup, with Gareth Bale scoring a 129th minute EQUALIZER after his goalkeeper got sent off for making a tackle that broke his own LEG

Well, OK, that was a bit more interesting.  There were actually six goals, and two in the overtime, including Bale's late header.  But that isn't always the case. The interestingness of this game could be due to the slightly lower level of skill at the MLS level compared to the World Cup, because more skill means better defense and that means less goal scoring, usually.

So I will provide my idea in the next few posts.

Hint ... it's about overtime.

Lighthouse of the Week, November 27 - December 3, 2022: Napo'opo'o Light, Hawaii (Big Island), USA

 

You have to make sure you use the right spelling of this lighthouse in Hawaii, because if you leave out the apostrophes (which probably have a name in Hawaiian), then it could be perceived and pronounced differently.

I chose this one not because it's beautiful, or in a great place (though it's not bad), or historic, though there is history nearby, as you will read.  I chose it because it's on the Big Island of Hawaii, and that's in the news this week because the Big Island's Big Volcano, Mauna Loa, started erupting.  I remember when it last erupted in 1984, and I was starting to think it might not do it again while I was alive.  But it went from quaky but not in a state of imminent eruption on Sunday to erupting on Monday.  The art of volcanic eruption prediction still needs some refinement, it would appear.

So, the light:  here's where it is.  That's a satellite view (same as from the Lighthouse Directory); the lighthouse is centered in the view. Change to maps and zoom out to locate it geographically. Where it is also happens to be is close to the monument to Captain James Cook, who had the misfortune to have a misundertanding about some items that were taken by the native Hawaiians (they apparently thought they were gifts, he said they were stolen) and the resulting confrontation resulted in his untimely demise.  

So now let's learn about it:

"1922 (station established 1908). Active; focal plane 27 ft (8 m); white flash every 6 s. 22 ft (6.5 m) square pyramidal reinforced concrete tower, painted white."

Because that's about all there is, I'm also linking to the Lighthouse Friends page on this one, which is where I acquired two of the three pictures shown below.

Minor light of Hawai'i - Napo'opo'o Lighthouse

So now the limited selection of pictures.  Note, however, that the lighthouse is standing on basalt, and that came from Mauna Loa.

A pretty girl post

 

Another Instagram find;  this is Celeste Decaesstecker, who indicates on her Instagram page that she's a fashion model.

I tend to think that's accurate. 

She's from Belgium.  And that's just about all I need to know.

Why do Republicans mistrust, distrust, and not believe what science says?

 

This is a really good article from Scientific American.   

Hey, if you're a Republican, and you don't believe that human activity is changing the Earth's climate ...

or, if you have a loved one that didn't get vaccinated against COVID-19, and, well, died ...

or, if you don't think the Earth is billions of years old ... (sorry if that causes a religious problem) ...

this is one reason why.  A very BIG reason.

The Reason Some Republicans Mistrust Science: Their Leaders Tell Them To

"Fair enough, but why do so many Republicans distrust government, including government science, and think scientists are “always getting it wrong”? A large part of the answer is that this is what the party's spokespeople have been saying for 40 years, from the early days of acid rain to our ongoing debates about climate change. It was [pollster Frank] Luntz himself who, more than 20 years ago, designed the Republican party's strategy to fight climate change by insisting there was no scientific consensus on the issue. It has mostly been Republican governors resisting mask mandates, even when science showed they slowed the spread of COVID-19. And it was, by and large, Republican governors lifting those mandates in the spring, even while Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, begged them not to."

My take, and my recommendation:  trust the scientists -- they know what they're talking about.  At least most of the time.  But if a Republican in a position of power (like a governor, or a Congressperson, or a Senator) tells you that the scientists are wrong, they are the ones that very likely in error.

So I don't forget

 

This is a documentary about the changing state of Greenland.

I didn't want to lose it.

Greenland - An Icy and Magical World

Candice is still sweet

 

Candice Swanepoel may have moved on from her Victoria's Secret angel days.  And she's also given birth to two sons, so obviously she doesn't have to try to keep herself in tip-top model shape.

But clearly she still does.

Candice Swanepoel flaunts her toned tummy in a skimpy animal-print bikini as she promotes her sustainable swimwear line on Instagram

Is this a responsible gun owner?

 

Gun advocates say that guns kept in the house or carried on their person are for self-defense;  protection against random burglars and house invaders.  (Or armed insurrectionists, if you don't like them.)

And then something like this happens.  Is it worth it?

North Carolina toddler, 2, accidentally shot and killed himself after finding his father's loaded gun in his pickup truck

"Prosecutors say the young boy had climbed into his dad's pickup truck through an open door, where he found the loaded Smith & Wesson .40-caliber handgun in the front seat. He then started to play with the weapon, and accidentally shot himself in the head."

I'm totally confident that his father did not want this to happen.

But it did.

Guns kill innocent people.

Another reason to detest Senator Josh Hawley

 

Though sadly Mitch McConnell is probably still the minority leader (happy that it's still the minority, said that he's still the leader), Kevin McCarthy's leadership fate is still unclear.

Congressional Republicans panic as they watch their lead dwindle

But this is really about Senator Josh Hawley. It comes at the end of this article.

"In an interview published Friday, Hawley told RealClearPolitics, “I’m not going to support the current leadership in the party,” citing gun control and climate-change legislation. “We surrendered when we should’ve fought.”

I've got one word to describe that quote, and him in general.

Ass.

I guess I'm not the only one to think so, especially after the speed he demonstrated when actually threatened by gun-toting Republicans on January 6th, 2021.

Big Ben rings again

 

In case you missed it, I didn't -- the long-ongoing renovation of Big Ben, the big clock next to the Parliament building, is finally done.   So the gong show can ring out again.

Big Ben bongs again five years and $95 million later

Of course, if they ever decide to start over from the foundations, they could do this:

Cassandrish

 

Cassandra, if you don't know, was a prophet of doom that no one believed. (It was basically because the god Apollo wanted her for a sexual conquest, but she turned him down.)  So now if someone is called a Cassandra, that means that they're prophesying doom but not getting much traction with the general populace.

This NY Times article is a bit Cassandrish.

We Need to Rethink How to Adapt to the Climate Crisis

"This propensity to rebuild in ways we know are not safe must change. What if Fort Myers Beach had prepared not just for today’s climate threats — preparation that clearly was inadequate for a hurricane like Ian — but also for threats decades ahead, when seas will be higher, rainfall more torrential and storms rapidly intensifying in unpredictable ways? That’s the question scientists and innovative leaders should be training their sights on, in Florida and elsewhere."

So, is anyone who needs to listen to this hearing it?  Is anybody that matters paying attention.

I fear that no one is.  Especially in Florida.

 

Cassandra tried to warn her father (the king) and the rest of the Trojans that there were Greeks in that horse.  But nobody listened to her.

How did he get so much ammunition?

 

As I write this, there have been several mass shootings since the one that this post is about.  And somehow in this mass shooting only two people were killed other than the 19-year old who carried it out.

But he could have killed a lot more.  He had over 600 rounds of ammunition.

How does someone get that much ammunition -- especially a 19-year old kid?

Something is definitely wrong in this country. 

PICTURED: St Louis school shooter who was armed with AR-15 and 600 ROUNDS of ammunition before he killed student, 16, and teacher - and left chilling note describing himself as a loner

Really? 

Yes, a real reason to cool things off

 

There are many, many reasons to advocate for addressing climate change/global warming, which I do.  At the top of the list is the endangerment of cold-climate organisms and ecosystems.

And at the top of that list is penguins.  Antarctica may seem resistant to the warming climate, but it really isn't, and the lifestyle of those accustomed to its harshness can actually be threatened if the climate becomes less harsh.

Climate change threatens emperor penguins with extinction, officials say

"While sea ice around Antarctica has proved more durable than ice near the North Pole, nearly all emperor penguin colonies in the southern continent would be pushed to the brink of extinction by the end of the century without dramatic cuts to global greenhouse gas emissions, scientists projected last year."