I haven't done this for awhile, and there is much more to do.
So, though there's a lot of backstory, let's just be upfront with Lucia Javorcekova.
There is even a connection to Olympic sports: more on that later.
New research has revealed that the lakes and streams and rivers of hydrocarbons on Saturn's moon Titan actually have waves (real small ones) and currents (caused by proximity to the big planet with the rings).
The researchers used Cassini radar data, but used a different method to analyze it, utilizing signals received on Earth.
How clever of them (I am indeed impressed).
Saturn's moon Titan has bad surfing
The blue areas in the image below are the methane/ethane lakes in the north polar region of the big moon.
If you want to jump right in (to the science), here's the paper reference: Surface properties of the seas of Titan as revealed by Cassini mission bistatic radar experiments
This came up on a TV show (you'll have to guess where, I'm not telling) and I did more research on it.
It's definitely real. And if you want to actually have the Cozidho das Furnas experience, you have to do some traveling.
So what is it, if you don't have the gastronomic chops to know already?
It's food, cooked in a special way. That's my grab-the-audience statement.
It means "cooked from the furnace", which doesn't give too much away.
This gives more:
Cozido das Furnas: Your Meal Cooked by a Volcano
" “Cozido” is a traditional Portuguese dish composed of various meats (for example: bacon, ribs, chicken, chouriço and morcela, a Portuguese blood sausage) and vegetables (cabbage, potatoes, carrots are the most common), boiled together. It’s a hearty meal, to say the least! But in Furnas, the cozido is special because it’s cooked in a large pot, which is then placed underground and cooked by the steam from the hot springs. The meal is slowly cooked for approximately five hours before you get to enjoy it."If you're wondering about the spelling, I've seen it both ways. I liked the version with the "h".
Using the JWST (that's the James Webb Space Telescope), planetary astronomers might have found a planet bigger than Earth that might have surface water.
Lots of big "ifs" involved, but if we need a destination and can build ships to cross the void (see "generation ships" in your Google searching), maybe this would be a place to go.
James Webb Space Telescope suggests this exoplanet is our 'best bet' at finding an alien ocean"This is the first time we have ever seen a hint of an atmosphere on a habitable zone rocky or ice-rich exoplanet," Ryan MacDonald, a NASA Sagan Fellow in the University of Michigan's Department of Astronomy, who aided the analysis of LHS 1140 b's atmosphere, said in the statement. Per Macdonald, the team might have even found evidence of "air" on it. "
A couple of times in my life I happened to drive by the Cahokia mound near St. Louis, Missouri (on the Illinois side). The central mound is so big that you can see it from the interstate. I know it was a Native American mound, and big, and built as the center structure of a fairly large city. But I didn't know a lot more than that.
Now I do.
Scientists unearth more clues about mystery American civilization that vanished 600 years ago"Dr Mueller said she now envisions a scenario, not unlike many of today's modern and fast-evolving cities, where new generations sometimes move out to other areas over time for a variety of cultural, familial or economic reasons.Monk's Mound (the big one):
'I don't envision a scene where thousands of people were suddenly streaming out of town,' she said in a press statement.
'People probably just spread out to be near kin or to find different opportunities.'
Cahokia was intentionally built on a flood plain along the Mississippi River, across the river from the modern day city of St Louis, now home to Washington University.
The benefits of this flood plain, according to Dr Mueller, might explain why drought conditions do not appear to have undermined the Cahokian's agricultural projects.
The two researchers also noted that the tribe was a sophisticated society whose food storage systems for grains and other foods would have aided them in riding out most potential droughts."
I never did get back to that Wimbledon prediction. One of my picks made the final -- Jasmine Paolini -- where she was surprisingly defeated by the surprising (but deserving) Barbora Krejcikova. Sadly, I don't think Paolini's run will last -- she doesn't have all the physical attributes, mainly size and strength -- to stand against the power of a Swiatek or a Rybakina or a Sabalenka, and of course, Krejcikova. I thought she might have a path to the win after the second set of the final, but after a break following that set, Krejcikova came back, picked her game up, and played just enough better to win.
What I'm noting here, however, is that Paolini had to win an epic match against Donna Vekic just to get to the final, and that one went all the way to a match tiebreak. Vekic was in tears (see below), both due to emotion and pain, at the end. Despite that, I noticed that she also seemed quite pretty. Vekic may have maxed out here, career-wise, but a Wimbledon semi-final is still a strong achievement.
A short search confirmed that this sportswoman has a glam side, too. And we are all the better for it.
While Jurassic Park is very, very, very likely impossible (there isn't any good dinosaur DNA anywhere), the attempts to recreate mammoths and other Ice Age (Pleistocene) megafauna might have a chance to succeed. So if you want to take your grandkids to see a big woolly elephant, it could happen.
Freeze-dried woolly mammoths share their genetic secrets with scientists
"Eriona Hysolli, head of biological sciences at Colossal Biosciences — a company working to reintroduce a version of the woolly mammoth to the Arctic — said the 3D chromosome structures the authors found “could reveal features of the genome that might be relevant to mammoth de-extinction.”
The authors said they hope their work will inspire similar studies on other dehydrated tissues, including those hot-air dried by nature or intentionally mummified."
Recently, I saw a webcam scene of Biarritz, France. Biarritz is on the coast, but not the famous Mediterranean coast of France (where the Tour de France finished this year, because the Paris Olympic Games were about to get started). Rather, Biarritz is on the southern French coast on the Bay of Biscay, not far north of the border with Spain.
I wondered if Biarritz has a lighthouse; it does. And I featured it a few years ago.
So, since I was in the vicinity, I looked around for other lighthouses. And just a few miles down the coast, and just over the Spanish border, is the Cape Higuer Lighthouse.
This map shows both where Cape Higuer and Biarritz are located, and the border, too.
You will likely note that the place names don't look Spanish; that's because they are from the Basque language.
The Lighthouse Directory now provides the pertinent information on the Cape Higuer light:
"1881 (station established 1855). Active; focal plane 65 m (213 ft); two white flashes every 10 s. 21 m (69 ft) 2-stage round cylindrical stone tower with lantern and two galleries, the lower stage square and the upper stage octagonal, attached to a 1-story stone keeper's house. Building painted white with unpainted stone trim; the upper stage appears white with unpainted gray stone vertical stripes. The lantern is painted red, very unusual for a Spanish lighthouse. ... The original lighthouse was destroyed during the Carlist civil war in 1874. Cabo Higuer shelters the entrance to the Bahía de Txingudi (Baie de Chingoudy), an international harbor that serves both Hondarribia, Spain, and Hendaye, France."
And I will provide three pictures of the Cape Higuer Lighthouse below.
The Daily Mail has the article first:
You can read that. However, let's find the actual study it's based on.
Deeper and stronger North Atlantic Gyre during the Last Glacial Maximum"Subtropical gyre (STG) depth and strength are controlled by wind stress curl and surface buoyancy forcing. Modern hydrographic data reveal that the STG extends to a depth of about 1 km in the Northwest Atlantic, with its maximum depth defined by the base of the subtropical thermocline. Despite the likelihood of greater wind stress curl and surface buoyancy loss during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), previous work suggests minimal change in the depth of the glacial STG. Here we show a sharp glacial water mass boundary between 33° N and 36° N extending down to between 2.0 and 2.5 km—approximately 1 km deeper than today. Our findings arise from benthic foraminiferal δ18O profiles from sediment cores in two depth transects at Cape Hatteras (36–39° N) and Blake Outer Ridge (29–34° N) in the Northwest Atlantic. This result suggests that the STG, including the Gulf Stream, was deeper and stronger during the LGM than at present, which we attribute to increased glacial wind stress curl, as supported by climate model simulations, as well as greater glacial production of denser subtropical mode waters (STMWs). Our data suggest (1) that subtropical waters probably contributed to the geochemical signature of what is conventionally identified as Glacial North Atlantic Intermediate Water (GNAIW) and (2) the STG helped sustain continued buoyancy loss, water mass conversion and northwards meridional heat transport (MHT) in the glacial North Atlantic."
"He adds: 'There is the subtropical loop—that the Gulf Stream is part of—and a subpolar loop, which carries heat further northwards into the Arctic.Now, one thing that isn't mentioned here, though it may be in the paper, is that the Gulf Stream supplies the salty water that when cooled off becomes the dense water that sinks. That's called deepwater formation.
'During the last ice age, our findings show that the subtropical loop was stronger than it is today, whereas the subpolar loop is thought to have been weaker.'
One of the biggest concerns is that warming global temperatures will disrupt the engine which drives that subtropical loop.
As ocean water meets ice around Greenland in the sub-polar North Atlantic it rapidly cools, becoming extremely dense and salty.
This causes the water to plunge downwards, pulling hot water in behind it and creating a vast circulation pattern.
But as freshwater from Greenland's Ice sheet melts it is diluting these cold salty waters and making them less dense."
"Likewise, the authors of this paper point out that recent studies indicate climate change is already weakening the strong North Atlantic winds which help drive the Gulf Stream."So, weaker winds mean weaker Gulf Stream flow, which means less salt into the north Atlantic, which combined with more fresh water from the melting Greenland ice (and nearby) means less dense surface waters, which means less deepwater formation. And that leaves more cold air at the surface, which means a European cooldown.
A couple of posts ago I noted that a very nice skeleton of a Stegosaurus (dinosaur) was being auctioned by Sotheby's on July 17th. The auction house estimated it would go for $4 - 6 million USD.
Well, it went for a little more than that. And it's clear the buyer (name revealed below) has a lot of money.
Let me repeat that. A lot of money.
Billionaire collector Ken Griffin buys Stegosaurus skeleton for record $45m at Sotheby’s
I can't blame the Daily Mail for this one. Because they're reporting on an actual scientific study.
Unique study reveals why men and women make different noises during sex"Dr Anikin said: ‘Putting all these observations together, what emerges is a picture of two distinct vocal behaviors: effortful grunts or strategically deployed controlled moans at low arousal...and spontaneous vocal bursts once arousal exceeds a certain threshold.I mean, that is something we need to know, right?
‘Men mostly sigh and grunt until the arousal level becomes very high; women either have a lower threshold for vocalizing (producing moans) or perhaps are used to exaggerating their expressive behaviors.’ "
It's been relatively quiet for several months, but no one can keep a good volcano down for too long.
Fireworks on July 4th in Italy! (And yes, as I write this, I'm only 2 weeks behind.)
Mt. Etna eruption: Sicilian cities covered in ash
An intriguing article from the New York Times:
I Was a Republican Partisan. It Altered the Way I Saw the World.
"I write often about American polarization, including about how the red-blue divide is perhaps less illuminating than the gap between engaged and disengaged Americans, in which an exhausted majority encounters the highly polarized activist wings of both parties and shrinks back from the fray. This dynamic helps explain why our political culture feels so stagnant. The wings aren’t changing each other’s minds — hard-core Democrats aren’t going to persuade hard-core Republicans — but they’re also not reaching sufficient numbers of persuadable voters to break America’s partisan deadlock."Two:
"In 2020, when I was doing research for my book about the growing danger of partisan division, I began to learn more about what extreme partisanship does not only to our hearts but also to our minds. It can deeply and profoundly distort the way we view the world. We become so emotionally and spiritually invested in the outcome of a political contest that we can inadvertently become disconnected from reality."
Three:
"You see this reality most plainly in the daily Republican theatrics surrounding Trump’s criminal indictments. Rather than wrestle seriously with the profoundly troubling claims against him, they treat the criminal cases as proof of Democratic perfidy. They believe every claim against Hunter and Joe Biden and not a single claim against Trump."
To sum up, there is a solid core of Republican voters who don't care how execrable Donald Trump is. They are partisans, members of the GOP tribe, cultists in the Cult of the Orange Messiah. No matter how many reasons there are to clearly vote against him because of the massive danger he poses to American democracy and the norms of our society, they ignore those reasons and will still vote.
So we are left with hoping that the persuadable can be persuaded when Joe Biden drops out of the race (as I write this, there are increasing indications he will), so there will be a considerably reduced level of concern about the fitness of the Democrat candidate for office, and then the way to run the campaign is all about the dangerousness of the Donald.
Yes, a troubled kid took a shot at him and missed. That doesn't make Donald any less dangerous, and probably even makes him more dangerous, as he appears more "chosen". But he's really just a con man criminal, sexual deviant, and master manipulator with no fitness to be the leader of this country.
This lighthouse was recently featured in a Bing.com Image of the Day. Though from many angles it looks remote and isolated, it's actually just a few minutes from downtown Victoria, British Columbia. It has history, too; it's the oldest lighthouse in the province.
So, as I usually do, here's where it is: Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse NHS
Also as usual, here is the excerpted Lighthouse Directory entry:
"1860. Active; focal plane 21.5 m (71 ft); white or red light (depending on direction), 2 s on, 2 s off. 14.5 m (48 ft) round brick tower with lantern and gallery, painted white; lantern painted red. Tower floodlit at night. Lighthouse attached to the original 2-story brick keeper's house, which is painted bright red. This is the oldest lighthouse in British Columbia and a national historic site. The keeper's house is operated as a lighthouse museum. ... In June 2009 the federal government appropriated $1.56 million to restore the lighthouse. Work was completed in time for the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the light in 2010. Located on a small island, connected to the mainland by a causeway, at the western entrance to Esquimalt Harbour, off Ocean Boulevard in Colwood west of Victoria."
A couple more sites about this one:
Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Site of Canada (Parks Canada)'
Fisgard, BC (Lighthouse Friends)
I've got five pictures next. I'm sure there are videos, but finding them shouldn't be hard, so go searching.
Search this blog with the name "Bendtner" and you'll see I did several posts about the checkered (and I use that word correctly) career of Danish soccer star and gallivanteur (noun) Nicklas Bendtner.
So where do wild-and-crazy soccer stars go when their career is over?
Read on:
And because I've been doing this so long, many of my early pictures of Bendtner and uber-wealthy Caroline Luel-Brockdorff (it didn't last, but it did produce a child) have been swallowed up by a Blogger shift that I haven't had time to remedy (and it would take a long time to fix everything that got bollixed up). So I'll go get one. After all, that's why I noticed him first.
Recently, for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit spectacle, TikTok influencer Alix Earle posed with some white things. See below.
So, this reminded me of something, and as the title of the post says, I can't be the only one that was reminded thusly.
I.e., let's compare to Botticelli's The Birth of Venus:
Just posting this for the rare people that might be interested:
Gifted Chinese singer/actress (occasional dancer) Joey Yung, aka Yung Choyee, is doing a residency in Macau.
More about that here:
ETERNITY: Joey Yung Live in Macau
She also has an Instagram, with a couple of clips from the show:
In-depth journalism from CNN.
Why sex is better in hotels -- and other confessions of a constant traveler
So, I'm sure you are wondering at this point, why is sex better in hotels?
But really, only one of their 7 points is about why sex is better in hotels. The other six points are about why life is better in hotels. With some exceptions, I tend to agree. I've also had good sex in hotels.
But let's get to it. Why is sex better in hotels, then?
Simply put, because you can have wild sex.
That's it, that's why. Now go check into a hotel, preferably with a partner, and get to it.
Here's an example to get you started. (It's tasteful, unlike a lot of other ones that were easily findable.)
I'll just go with the Daily Mail article on this one, and one of the weirder pictures.
Blaze of glory! Stunning image of man leaping through fire during Hindu ritual, the dancing Northern Lights and a bizarre formation of earth on Argentina's salt pans are among the winners of National Geographic Traveller Photography Competition
I say that, with the assumption that I had a really really big office.
But if anyone else wants a Stegosaurus skeleton in their office, there's one up for auction this week, on July 17th, actually.
Read all about it:
World’s largest stegosaurus skeleton to be auctioned for millions
A lot of jokes have been made about bumblebees, like someone 'proving' they can't fly when they obviously can (and movies, like Transformers), but the truth is, they are important pollinators. And that's why climate change is a concern for bumblebee survival and reproduction.
Scientists Reveal 'Major' New Factor in Bumblebee Decline"The decline in populations and ranges of several species of bumblebees may be explained by issues of overheating of the nests and the brood," Peter Kevan of the University of Guelph in Canada and lead author of the study said in a statement. "The constraints on the survival of the bumblebee brood indicate that heat is likely a major factor, with heating of the nest above about 35 degrees Celsius being lethal, despite the remarkable capacity of bumblebees to thermoregulate."I.e., warmer conditions aren't good for bumblebees.
I have featured several lighthouses in Wales before, some of which were located on places that were hard to pronounce. OK, this one is too. It's located on the island of Ynys Llanddwyn, which is pronounced "anis shan-dwyn", and its actual name is Tŵr Mawr, pronounced "tour marr", and which means "great tower".
So where is this lighthouse on Ynys Llanddwyn? Well, it's located here. It might not look like an island, but when the tide is high, it is. I zoomed out so it's possible to see where it is with respect to Liverpool.
This one is fairly famous, because it's hard to sail into or out of the Irish Sea without going by it. It doesn't look like a "classic" lighthouse, because it might have been a windmill first.
Wikipedia has this entry about it; below is what the Lighthouse Directory includes.
"1845. Inactive since 1975 but charted as a daybeacon. 11 m (36 ft) round old-style stone tower attached to a keeper's house; photos appear to show abandoned lights atop the tower. Lighthouse painted white. ... In 2004 the lighthouse was repainted with its lower half red for its appearance in the movie Half Light starring Demi Moore. ... Located at the southern tip of the peninsula, a short distance west of the active beacon."Now for the pictures. There are some good ones.
I'm always happy to see Princess Charlene of Monaco looking healthy, because it was worrying when she wasn't looking healthy. This is definitely better.
Princess Charlene of Monaco cuts a glamorous figure at the principality's Formula 1 Grand Prix on Sunday
As I was going to say, going into week 2 of the fortnight, my top 3 picks for the winner on the women's side are Elena Rybakina, Jelena Ostapenko, and Coco Gauff.
Well, those were my picks. Gauff got surprisingly knocked out by fellow Yank Emma Navarro a few hours before I wrote this.
So now who's my third pick? I'm going to go with Paolini. Which basically means I'm going with the top seeds, except for Danielle Collins, who is seeded 11th compared to Ostapenko's 13th seed.
Ostapenko looks fit, and she smashes the ball, which should work on the grass.
Rybakina looks like Rybakina, which is to say, d*mn.
I will mention the men; Sinner or Alcaraz should win it. I'd really like to see Zverev win one, but I just don't think he has both the game and the resolve to take the championship.
Sad to say this about a goalkeeper, but if he's scoring too much, he may be less effective at preventing scoring.
Read on.
German goalkeeper Kevin Trapp has endured a difficult season at Frankfurt"Trapp and Goulart have been engaged since 2018, although they are yet to tie the knot.
At the start of their relationship when Trapp was playing for PSG, Goulart opened up on their sex life, claiming Trapp put a strict rule in place if his team lost.
'Kevin and I make love a lot — four or five times a week,' she said.
'But if he has played in an important game and his team loses, I can make myself beautiful, have my nails done and wear my best lingerie - and there still won’t be any sex.'
Frankfurt now appear to believe Goulart has started to have a greater impact on Trapp in recent times, leading to a dip in performances on the pitch."
So maybe now they're having sex after losses? Because considering this is about Izabel Goulart, I can see why if one of the incentives for winning was having sex with her after a win, the motivation would definitely be there.
Let me illustrate.
A few months ago, I noted that Crystal Palace was in a familiar position of not quite being safe from relegation in the Premier League.
Well, to put it simply, that changed. Part of the reason was the change in managers, I think. Another reason was that both Eberichi Eze and Michael Olise finally got healthy at the same time.
So what happened? The Eagles (hardly anyone calls them that, but that's their team name) started winning. They ended up 10th (which they've done before), only 3 points from ninth, but then there was a big gap to Manchester United in 8th with 60 points compared to Palace's 49.
In the second half of March, things looked bad, with two 1-1 draws to Luton Town and Nottingham Forest, and they started April with a 1-0 loss to Bournemouth and a 4-2 loss to Manchester City. At that point, there wasn't a lot of reason to hope.
Then this happened.
14 April 2024 Liverpool 0–1 Crystal Palace
21 April 202 Crystal Palace 5–2 West Ham United
24 April 2024 Crystal Palace 2–0 Newcastle United
27 April 2024 Fulham 1–1 Crystal Palace
6 May 2024 Crystal Palace 4–0 Manchester United
11 May 2024 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1–3 Crystal Palace
19 May 2024 Crystal Palace 5–0 Aston Villa
Over the years, I've featured several lighthouses in Norway as the Lighthouse of the Week. There have been mainland lighthouses and island lighthouses. And there are probably still many more, because Norway has a lot of coastline.
However, I'm a bit surprised I missed this one. It's the Lindesnes Fyr (fyr means lighthouse in Norwegian, if you hadn't guessed), and it's the southernmost lighthouse in the whole country. For a mapped reminder of where that is, click right here.
The history of this one goes back centuries, because according to a couple of sources, the first light lit at this location to guide ships was lit in 1656. Let's find out more from the Lighthouse Directory. And there's quite a lot.
"1915 (station established 1656). Active: focal plane 50 m (164 ft); continuous white light with a more intense flash every 20 s. 16 m (52 ft) round cast iron tower with lantern and gallery, adjacent to a 1-story keeper's house. The 1854 1st order Fresnel lens (transferred from an older tower) is in use. Tower and house painted white; lantern and gallery painted red. The keeper's house is now in use as a lighthouse museum. ... For westbound ships the light also serves as the rear light of a range. This is one of Norway's best known and most historic lighthouses, marking the southernmost point of the Norwegian mainland and the entrance to the Skaggerak and the Baltic Sea from the North Sea. The first tower was in use only briefly in 1656. A more permanent lighthouse (one of a pair, Markøy being the twin) was built in 1725, and new towers were built in 1822 and in 1854. A preservation foundation was formed in 1992 and the station was opened to visitors soon thereafter. The station was staffed until 2003; after it was automated the site became a museum and a very popular tourist attraction. There is a visitor center, restaurant, and gift shop in addition to the historic buildings."Impressive, right?
It's a really great looking place. However, there's nothing near it.
Literally.
Gargantuan Florida home with its own moat hits market for jaw-dropping price
Château Artisan hit the market for the dizzying sum of $21.8 million
It's just oNe letter. But it's a useful oNe.
Have you ever heard of the Am Bauchaille?
Up until a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't heard of it either. But then I did.
Watch and learn. (Getting to it is half the fun.)
If I was to travel to virtually any one of the destinations in the article I'm linking to, I probably wouldn't stay at the hotel all day admiring the view. They are all located in places that are worthy of exploration and adventure. But I believe I'd still admire the view if I stayed at any of these hotels.
For sheer end-of-the-worldliness, I'd have to go with the Tierra Atacama Hotel and Spa in Antofagasta, Chile. Unfortunately, according to their website at that link, they're currently close for renovations and refreshing through March 2025. Maybe now is the time to plan the trip -- it's a long way to go.
10 Hotels with the Best Views in the World
Here's a view from the Tierra Atacama Hotel and Spa.
