Lighthouse of the Week, June 26 - July 2, 2022: Poe Reef, Michigan, USA

 

I searched for "dangerous reef" & lighthouse and this one came up first.  I had previously mentioned it in this post about the Fourteen Foot Shoal lighthouse, because that one (Fourteen Foot) was operated from this one, Poe Reef.

First, about the dangerousness.  The Lighthouse Friends page about it says this: "From the southeast point of Bois Blanc Island, a spit covered with fifteen feet of water extends a mile into Lake Huron, and five-eighths of a mile beyond this spit lies dangerous Poe Reef, a detached shoal, with a least depth of just twelve feet." 

OK, so it is dangerous.  Thus and therefore, it has a lighthouse.  Apparently the lighthouse is now in private hands, as it was auctioned off, but it has a decent history.  (Still, if the shoal used to be dangerous, is it not dangerous anymore?)

So now from the Lighthouse Directory, the information below.  A link to Google Maps to show where it is at the end of the text. 

"1929 (lightship station established 1892). Active; focal plane 71 ft (21.5 m); white light, 1 s on, 1 s off. 60 ft (18 m) square cylindrical reinforced concrete tower with lantern and gallery, incorporating 3-story keeper's house and a fourth-floor watch room; solar-powered 375 mm lens. The tower is painted black with a broad white band encompassing two floors. ... In July 2017 the station was placed on auction sale by the General Services Administration, and in September it sold for $112,111. This sale failed to close when the high bidder defaulted, so the lighthouse was back on the auction block in 2019, selling in September for $97,000. The new owner has not been identified. Located on a shoal off Bois Blanc Island on the north side of the eastern entrance to South Channel about 6 miles (10 km) northeast of Cheboygan."

Four pictures of this one:

Would you like these in your garden?

 

If you would like these sculptures to decorate your garden, I think you have taste.

Some kind of taste, anyway.

Venus of Pietrasanta

Contemporary Venus Statue

Is he going after Big Bird next?

 

Senator Ted Cruz didn't like it when Elmo (from Sesame Street) got vaccinated.

Seriously, Senator, when you're not trying to send the country back to the 19th century, don't you think you could find better things to do with your time than criticize beloved characters on an educational children's show?

Ted Cruz tears into Sesame Street for 'aggressively advocating' vaccinating children under five with Elmo getting a shot and says they have 'ZERO scientific evidence'

Well, I'm  on the side of Big Bird and Elmo on this issue -- and definitely not on the side of the Big Turd, Senator Cruz.

No longer the headless Herc

 

Divers exploring a famous shipwreck may have found a head to with the body of a Hercules sculpture.

I'm sure the body finds that to be a relief.  (But not bas-relief.  Ha!)

Head of Hercules has been found

He's not much to look at yet.

As much as we might ever see

 

Demi Rose Mawby goes about this far, and no farther.

I guess it's more lucrative to tease fans to go to OnlyFans than in the olden days when Playboy and lad's mags would pay top dollar for the complete package.

Bepi-Colombo does a Mercury flyby

 

It isn't there yet, and won't be for a couple of years, with "there" being going into orbit around Mercury.  To do that, it has to do a lot of flybys to slow down enough.   But it just made a flyby and took a picture.

Here's the mission profile:  "With its two probes, BepiColombo will be the second mission ever to orbit Mercury and the most complex one."

And here's a picture (there are more at the link above), with some labeled craters.

Nothing wrong with this at all

 

Michelle Keegan in swimwear.   What's not to like?

Michelle Keegan sizzles in an array of skimpy swimwear as she poses up a storm for a sun-soaked photoshoot on the beach

It turns out (I didn't know this) that Michelle has created a swimwear line, called Orfila Bee.  When I first went there, I couldn't find any pictures of her, but she turned out on the About - Orfila Bee page.

She won't mind the advertising.

A future for nuclear power ... in space?

 

Well, seriously, this makes sense, if you want as much power as possible from the least mass that's possible.

NASA wants to put a nuclear reactor on the MOON by 2030: US space agency shortlists three design concepts that could turn Earth's satellite into an orbiting power station

Here's a more technical take:

NASA funds nuclear power systems for possible use on the moon

"The selected teams are led by Lockheed Martin, Westinghouse and IX (a joint venture of Intuitive Machines and X-Energy). Their aim in the next 12 months is to "provide NASA critical information from industry that can lead to a joint development of a full flight-certified fission power system," the agency stated."

So in the future, the Moon may glow from more than reflected sunlight.

This could be a problem

 

A community in South Africa may run out of water.

Completely.'

As the title of this post says, that could be a problem.

‘Day Zero’ water crisis looms on South Africa’s eastern cape

"On Monday, [Gqeberha] city officials announced that one of its four major dams had reached a level so low that barges trying to extract water sucked in mud instead. Another dam is expected to fail in the next two weeks, a third in about a month. Large parts of the city could be completely without running water by the end of the month, according to local officials."

Now, via conservation and a jury-rigged water system, they might avoid a worst-case scenario.  But the bad-case scenario is already here.

Yes

 

Background:  FINA is the governing body of the sport of international swimming.

FINA vote restricts transgender athletes in women’s competitions

"The policy, which goes into effect Monday, requires transgender swimmers to have completed their transition by 12 years old to compete in women’s competitions and to maintain their circulating testosterone below the levels of 2.5 nanomoles per liter. It effectively bars most transgender women from top swimming events, including the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee defers to each sport’s federation to determine athlete eligibility."

It's just common sense. Remarkably, it took the governing body of swimming to lead the way. 

Thank you, FINA.

Turn garbage into compost (all of it)

 

Who would have thought that worms (and bacteria, also mentioned here) could be our allies in the fight against all the waste and garbage we humans generate?

This Styrofoam-eating ‘superworm’ could help solve the garbage crisis

"In 2015, researchers from Stanford University revealed that mealworms could also survive on Styrofoam. The next year, Japanese scientists found bacteria that could eat plastic bottles. In April, researchers from the University of Texas found an enzyme which could digest polyethylene terephthalate, a plastic resin found in clothes, liquid and food containers."

However ...

"He said many researchers in this field, including the ones from Australia, will face several challenges in the years ahead. It will take time to study the gut enzymes of things like mealworms and superworms, and when they do, it is not guaranteed they can digest plastics at large levels at a very quick and efficient rate.

Rinke said he was excited by his research results but noted it will take time to develop into an industrial solution, estimating somewhere between five to 10 years."

Well, these things take time.

Hurry up and start eating, worms.

 

Lighthouse of the Week, June 19 - 25, 2022: Devils Island, Wisconsin, USA

 

I think it's been awhile since I featured a lighthouse in the United States (I won't bother to check when); but this is a good one, quite scenic, fairly remote, and also in a National Park Service property -- the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Lake Superior, officially part of Wisconsin.

If you think of "Devil's Island", you might think of the prison island off of French Guiana, made famous by Papillon.  Well, this lighthouse is on Devils Island (no apostrophe), which is a much nicer place.  The island coast is beautiful layered and caved lake cliffs, which form the foreground for pictures of the lighthouse.  Here's where it is.  I zoomed way out to show where it is in relation to Duluth, Minnesota, and Bayfield, Wisconsin.  This is to the west of the Keweenaw Peninsula, where Highway 41 ends, and where the Highway 41 end-to-end Streetview trek just recently ended on this blog.

The Lighthouse Directory has a lot of information about this one.

"1901 (station established 1891). Active; focal plane 100 ft (31 m); red flash every 10 s. 71 ft (21.5 m) round cylindrical cast iron tower with square pyramidal steel bracing, lantern and gallery. The original 3rd order Fresnel lens was removed by the Coast Guard in 1989 and then returned to the tower by the park service in 1992, but it is not in use; the active light is a solar-powered 190 mm lens mounted on the gallery. Tower painted white, lantern black. Two 2-story Queen Anne brick and wood keeper's houses (1891 and 1896), two brick oil houses, and other buildings. One of the keeper's houses includes an apartment for a resident caretaker during the summer season. Original wood fog signal building." ... 

"This is one of five Apostle Islands lighthouses closed for repairs during summer 2014; the keeper's house was restored inside and out and new concrete footings were poured for the light tower; the exterior and foundation of the fog signal building were also restored. The Devils Island and Outer Island (next entry) lights guide vessels around the northern end of the archipelago. Located on the northern tip of Devils Island, about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Point Detour on the mainland. Accessible only by boat"

There are quite a few pictures, too, as one would expect for a scenic location.

by Kathleen Pine

It's a lake -- with lots of ice on top

 

Just saw some recent articles about this new discovery of an Antarctic subglacial lake.  Lots to learn here, I would think.

Vast, City-Sized Lake Discovered Miles Below The Antarctic Ice Sheet

    "Lake Snow Eagle sits in a jagged canyon 1.6 kilometers deep, buried beneath the ice, but the radar reflections reveal that there's more than just water in the hidden lake. At the bottom of the lake sits a layer of unconsolidated sediment. 

    Given how long it takes sediment to accumulate in these subglacial environments, the team believes it must have been there for a very long time – perhaps since before the ice sheet even formed. 

     "This lake's been accumulating sediment over a very long time, potentially taking us through the period when Antarctica had no ice at all, to when it went into deep freeze," says glaciologist Martin Siegert of Imperial College London in the UK. 

     "We don't have a single record of all those events in one place, but the sediments at the bottom of this lake could be ideal." "

Where it is:

It's not easy living in the Philippines

 

The Philippines do not have it easy.  They regularly get hit by massive typhoons, they have a host of dangerously explosive volcanoes, they have a large coastal population that is being affected by sea level rise, the whole place is overpopulated and is Third World poor (sorry, but true);  they don't have a great deal of natural resources, and they have environmental and pollution problems.

I hadn't heard about this until recently, but Typhoon Megi (also called Odette) caused flooding and deadly landslides in April.

Philippines reels from tropical storm Megi as landslide death toll nears 70 with dozens still missing

This was a major landslide caused by Megi.

Disgusting, sickening, and nauseating

 

Lauren Boebert.

Jesus should have carried an AR-15.

And praying for our leaders like this, following.

It's hard to go lower when you're already this low.

Lauren Boebert tells church crowd that she prays for Biden's demise: "May his days be few"

"I do want you to know that I pray for our President. Psalm 109:8 says, 'May his days be few and another take his office.' Hallelujah! Glory to God," Boebert said, garnering applause from the crowd.

That's a clear statement of the problem;  there are many like-minded individuals. 

Follow-up:  On guns and Jesus, Lauren Boebert is a complete ignoramus  ← This is a very good commentary, by the way.

Lighthouse of the Week, June 12-18, 2022: Delimara, Malta

 

I've featured many lighthouses on islands in the Mediterranean Sea as Lighthouses of the Week, and there are probably still many more to find. When I checked on Malta, I discovered that the only one I had featured was a faux lighthouse in a marina.   So this time, I found a real lighthouse that's got some history (and looks like it at times).

This is the Delimara lighthouse, which is located here. This shows the entire island, so if you want a more local view, zoom right in.

I'm borrowing liberally from the Lighthouse Directory to provide the information below.

"1855. Reactivated (inactive from about 1990 to 2014); focal plane 35 m (115 ft); two white flashes every 12 s. Approx. 22 m (72 ft) octagonal stone tower with lantern and gallery, rising from a 2-story stone keeper's house. Lighthouse painted black with a white horizontal band. ... The Delimara Point Light served as the landfall light for ships arriving in Malta from the east. The lighthouse also marks the north side of the entrance to the fishing port of Marsaxlokk. The lighthouse deteriorated badly after being deactivated ... In March 2006 the Malta Maritime Authority donated the inactive lighthouse to the National Trust of Malta (Din l-Art Ħelwa), and in 2007-08 the Trust completed a restoration of the building. The lantern and Fresnel lens were restored in a second phase of the project, which was underway in late 2011 and was completed in 2014. In 2015 two apartments in the keeper's house were opened for vacation rental."

So below we have a video (with some funky music) and five pictures, one showing what the lighthouse looked like before restoration, and one that shows what the accommodations look like.

Hydrogen-powered airplanes?

 

In an effort to make air travel more environmentally-friendly, Wizz Air and Airbus are getting together on a venture to use hydrogen for air travel.

Sure hope this goes better than the Hindenburg. 

Wizz Air partners with Airbus on hydrogen-powered aircraft operations

"Through the recently signed agreement, Wizz Air "will analyze the potential for highly efficient, ultra-low-cost hydrogen-powered operations” and can collect detailed data regarding how operating hydrogen-powered aircraft could impact its business in the future. “We remain ambitious with our growth strategy to deliver on our commitment to make travel affordable for all while delivering a great customer experience on board one of the youngest and greenest fleets in Europe,” Johan Eidhagen, Chief People & ESG Officer, Wizz Air said. “We believe that growth and sustainability are not mutually exclusive, with leading-edge new technology paving the way to more sustainable air travel.”

Good luck.  

Hope it works.

But in case anyone is wondering if this will fly --- it already does.

Cummins hydrogen power takes flight

Et tu, Bennu?

 

Turns out that asteroid Bennu, which was visited and sampled by the OSIRIS-REx satellite, might possibly be a danger to Earth in a couple of centuries or so, collision-wise.

It's very unlikely that it will be, and maybe by then, if it really turns out to be a potential problem, one of two things might happen;   humanity has destroyed the environment of the planet and only a few remnants are holding on in remote regions of the world that are still habitable;  or humanity has advanced so much technologically that steering the asteroid to a non-collision course will be a piece of cake.

So there's time, either way.

This asteroid is one of the most likely to hit Earth. Here’s what it means for our future.

Don't hit us

Important news

 

No, not really.  

But this is the Daily Mail, and Demi Rose is important news on their pages.

Demi Rose flaunts her eye-popping assets in a strapless green and white swimsuit as she frolics poolside and sips on a cocktail in Ibiza

Demi Rose squeezes her jaw-dropping curves into a sexy red lace lingerie set as she poses for a sizzling snap in Ibiza

The bias on gun control

 

Even though there's word that Congress appears to have agreed on a minimal gun control bill that will pass both the House and the Senate and not get blocked by the filibuster, the sharp dichotomy by party affiliation on the issue is still quite striking, and disturbing.

Protect guns or combat violence? 7 in 10 Republicans say the former

"Overall, Americans were more likely to say that controlling gun violence is more important, 59 to 35 percent. Among gun owners, as you might expect, protecting gun rights was the majority position, although only barely.

The biggest divide, in fact, wasn’t on gun ownership. It was by party. Democrats said that controlling gun violence was more important by a nearly 90-point margin. Independents said the same, more narrowly. Among Republicans, though, more than two-thirds said protecting gun ownership was more important — a higher level of support than even among gun owners themselves."

This is not 'woke', Daily Mail

 

It should not be surprising that the Daily Mail, which is a conservative British tabloid, partly shown by the columns from Piers Morgan and Meghan McCain that they run, regularly features articles critical and biased against liberals and the Biden Presidential administration.  They do report the news, when they have to, so they aren't nearly as bad as Fox News and company.

But they are biased.  They've adopted Bidenflation for the current inflationary trend the U.S. is experiencing, even though to blame everything on Biden and his administration is way off the mark, given the war in Ukraine, supply chain problems, Chinese production problems, shipping bottlenecks, and more. 

Another thing that the Daily Mail does is label things "woke" -- such as liberal district attorneys, school boards that are lenient on gender identity, anti-racism measures, efforts to control obvious misogyny, etc.  In fact, there's an article here about everything the Daily Mail labels "woke".  It's somewhat humorous.

But this one is too much.  Because there are numerous places that were named before there was an awareness of the offensiveness of the name, and changes have been happening for years, long before this one.  And there is actually a committee to address this issue.  Think of Denali for Mount McKinley, the Haida Gwaii archipelago for the Queen Charlotte Islands, Uluru for Ayer's Rock.  Changing these names is not "woke", it recognizes the historical wrongs of colonialism and the persecution and deprivation practiced on native communities in numerous countries.

So, this article is way off-base.

Yellowstone goes woke and RENAMES Mount Doane as First Peoples Mountain after backlash over explorer Gustavus Doane who took part in massacre of 175 Blackfoot Native Americans in 1870

Given the Daily Mail's editorial outlook, they'd probably think it was "woke" to rename Grandstaff Canyon from what it was before -- Negro Bill Canyon.   (And the original name was a word starting with "n" that was more offensive than "Negro".) 

Plus, this isn't even a "Yellowstone" issue.  It's an action of the US Board on Geographic Names.  

This is great ... but are there more?

 

I read about the "rediscovery" of a Galapagueñian tortoise species that had been thought extinct for over 100 years.  There are lots of articles about this, so here's one.  This includes a link to the scientific article confirming the identification.

‘Fantastic giant tortoise,’ believed extinct, confirmed alive in the Galápagos

Now, if you don't know the Galapagos (and I don't know them well at all), Fernandina is the basically round island to the west of the largest island, Isabela, shaped like a reversed L.   If you look at it with a satellite view, it's basically all lava flows, and barely vegetated.  Not an easy island to explore;  but if the tortoises have to eat something, there isn't a lot of vegetated area, either.

So here's the problem;  the tortoise they found, named Fernanda, is the only one they found.  It's female, not sure how old (or how fertile) - what they'd really like to find is a male, and a fertile one, too, to try and get them to breed.  So searching barren Fernandina becomes something they want to do.  But it's not easy, at all.

So, good luck, Fernanda.  Hope they find a guy for you.

Hunting methods for lionfish off Bonaire

 

Lionfish are still a major Caribbean reef problem (along with stony coral disease, more on that later), and this New York Times article discusses what can be done to attempt to control them -- which is, primarily, kill and eat them.

Behold the Lionfish, as Transfixing as It Is Destructive

There are some concerns when doing this;  one of the main ones is the lionfish spines, which are poisonous.  So the hunters have developed a lionfish "keeper" -- a tube with a rubber seal at one end -- they can stuff a speared lionfish into, and then go get more.

And, as noted, they are edible.  Eat all you can.

Lighthouse of the Week, June 5-11, 2022: Kyogamisaki, Japan

I haven't visited Japan to see a Lighthouse of the Week for awhile;  so that's where this one is located.  To be more precise, it's on the main island of Honshu, north of Kyoto.  It seems to go by various translated names:  Kyoga Misaki, Kyogamisaki, or Kyougomisaki (as in the site below). 

It's on a high bluff, which you can see in the video at the end of the post. 

Things to do: Kyougomisaki Toudai Lighthouse

This is information from the Lighthouse Directory, which notes that this one of the few Japanese lighthouses with a Fresnel lens.  (You can see that in the pictures.)

"1898. Active; focal plane 148 m (486 ft); three white flashes every 20 s. 12.5 m (41 ft) round stone tower with lantern and gallery centered on a 1-story stone keeper's house. The 1st order Fresnel lens in use is said to be one of only six still functioning in Japan. Entire lighthouse painted white. ...

This beautiful and historic lighthouse stands on one of the most prominent capes of Japan's west coast, commanding a spectacular view and marking the west side of the entrance to Wakasa Bay. The lens has a range of 53 km (33 mi)."

Greenland narwhals at a cross ... roads

 

Greenland native hunters keep hunting narwhals, and they are apparently hunting too many.

The last hunt? Future in peril for ‘the unicorn of the sea’

To be clear, it's the Greenland population that's in trouble;  according to the article, there are an estimated 120,000 narwhals globally (which means the Arctic). 

"Greenland’s government introduced quotas for hunting narwhal for the first time in 2004, and also banned the lucrative export of their tusks. Narwhal meat is now the hunters’ most commercially prized product, and is distributed around the country from the hunting districts to be sold in Facebook groups and supermarkets, where it can fetch 500 Danish kroner (£57) a kilo.

Yet, despite hunting restrictions, populations are plummeting, according to surveys by the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, a government advisory body that monitors the environment. In 2008, surveys estimated there were about 1,900 narwhals in Ittoqqortoormiit, the main hunting location in east Greenland. At the last count in the area, in 2016, the population was put at about 400.

Scientists estimate that today the three hunting sites in the east – Ittoqqortoormiit, Tasiilaq and Kangerlussuaq fjord – have no more than 600 narwhals combined."

What shipwreck hunters dream of

 

If you haven't read about it, a shipwrecks were recently discovered off the coast of Colombia that is loaded with gold and treasure.  Seriously.  The one with the gold and treasure they've known about for some time, but they discovered two more wrecks nearby that were previously unknown.

Now, getting to the treasure constitutes be a problem;  it's very deep (950 meters), and there are competing claims on who would own whatever might get brought to the surface.  Colombia claims it, but the Spanish government say it was their ship, and apparently a group in Bolivia says it was originally their gold.

Sticky.

But still, it's a pretty impressive set of historical ship discoveries.

Colombia shares unprecedented images of treasure-laden wreck

Bill Barr is a supreme example of a political jerk

 

New WP article about Bill Barr's reaction to his handpicked dirtdigger John Durham losing his single case in the "investigation" of the Russian connections to the Trump campaign in 2016.

Bill Barr’s reign of innuendo — unmasked

"But Barr’s argument, that the innuendo Durham spread is “far more important” than proving actual wrongdoing, unmasks Barr’s perverted view of justice. He didn’t tap Durham (or John Bash, who handled the unmasking probe) primarily to prosecute criminal behavior. He launched the inquiries to tell a political “story.”

“Part of this operation is to try to get the real story out,” Barr told Fox News. “And I have said from the beginning, you know, if we can get convictions, if they are achievable, then John Durham will achieve them. But, the other aspect of this is to get the story out.” Bringing a case for such a purpose violates Justice Department policy."

Now, in the Washington Post article that provided the excerpt above, "policy" is linked -- to here. 

And that's a long document.  I looked at it.  As far as I can tell, the part that appears to have been violated is this, particularly the part I underlined.

"9-27.220 - GROUNDS FOR COMMENCING OR DECLINING PROSECUTION

The attorney for the government should commence or recommend federal prosecution if he/she believes that the person's conduct constitutes a federal offense, and that the admissible evidence will probably be sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction, unless (1) the prosecution would serve no substantial federal interest; (2) the person is subject to effective prosecution in another jurisdiction; or (3) there exists an adequate non-criminal alternative to prosecution.

Comment. Evidence sufficient to sustain a conviction is required under Rule 29(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, to avoid a judgment of acquittal. Moreover, both as a matter of fundamental fairness and in the interest of the efficient administration of justice, no prosecution should be initiated against any person unless the attorney for the government believes that the admissible evidence is sufficient to obtain and sustain a guilty verdict by an unbiased trier of fact."

So, if Barr thought it was more important to "get the story out" (however twisted and erroneous the story he wanted to get out was" than to secure a conviction, and he hadn't actually determined that there was enough evidence to get a conviction, that would violate this Justice Department policy.

Do you agree?

Heart of the storm

 

If you don't want to see what the inside of a tornado looks like, then don't watch the video in this article.

Rare shot of a tornado's swirling mouth caught by young stormchaser in Florida

If a video is too scary, here's a still capture.

Shaun White's girl

 

Shaun White, Olympic gold medalist snowboarder, has been dating actress Nina Dobrev for a considerable period of time now.  They appear happy together, and I hope, as I do for most relationship, that this is going to lead to long-term happiness and togetherness and all that entails.  Relationships either keep going or end, which can happen before or after marriage, of course.  Breakups can be tough, too.  So I wish the best for them.

Judging by the recent pictures, it appears that Shaun has not had a problem moving from the slopes to the curves.

Looking back at my posting history, it appears that I posted about Nina's curve-negotiating dress from last year's amFAR gala, too. 

Here's a Daily Mail article about the gala, and a picture for demonstration purposes. It's a really good dress.  And Shaun looks quite happy to be next to it/her.

Nina Dobrev flashes ample cleavage in peekaboo scarlet dress as she cuddles up to snowboarder beau Shaun White at amfAR Cannes Gala

The winner's girl

 

Marcus Ericsson of Sweden won last weekend's Indianapolis 500 car race.  As is often the case, his girlfriend was in the pits, which can't be an easy thing to do when at any time in the race your boyfriend/husband could go straight into a wall at around 190 miles per hour, or go flying through the air at nearly the same speed.  Race cars are safer than they used to be, but crazy accidents can still happen, and do.

And in this race, just when it looked like Ericsson was going to cruise to a victory, there was a crash (Jimmie Johnson, the NASCAR crossover) into the wall in a split-second, and that meant that there had to be a red flagged race stoppage, allowing all the chasing cars to get in nice and close, potentially allowing them to pass Marcus and take the checkered flag for themselves.  Dicey.  But Marcus managed to hold the lead and cross the finish line first, allowing everyone in the pits, including his short black dress - wearing girlfriend, to celebrate happily.

All of which made me want to find out who his girlfriend was.  So I did.  Her name is Iris Tritsaris Jondahl, and that's pretty much all I was able to determine. 

Her Instagram page, https://www.instagram.com/irisjooondahl/, has a few more pictures, and also informs us that she's from Greece, which explains the Tritsaris, but not the Jondahl.  

So here are a few pictures of Iris (and one with Marcus).  They went to New York after the race.