One of the benefits of working at home (as has been noted prior to this post) is that you don't have to wear pants.
What might not have been noted is the benefits that accrue to the co-workers (or simply co-occupants) of the home office if one of the co-workers is not wearing pants.
(I think these pictures were advertising the adjustable computer stand. Consider it well-promoted.)
Just a couple of posts ago, I noted new research (and new news broadcasting) about how global warming aka climate change is causing glaciers to melt, with a focus on Alaska. That is not good.
Here's another aspect of the problem: the continuing decline in global ocean pH, aka ocean acidification. Bottom line: this isn't good either.
Ocean acidification: another planetary boundary crossed
Abstract:
Ocean acidification has been identified in the Planetary Boundary Framework as a planetary process approaching a boundary that could lead to unacceptable environmental change. Using revised estimates of pre-industrial aragonite saturation state, state-of-the-art data-model products, including uncertainties and assessing impact on ecological indicators, we improve upon the ocean acidification planetary boundary assessment and demonstrate that by 2020, the average global ocean conditions had already crossed into the uncertainty range of the ocean acidification boundary. This analysis was further extended to the subsurface ocean, revealing that up to 60% of the global subsurface ocean (down to 200 m) had crossed that boundary, compared to over 40% of the global surface ocean. These changes result in significant declines in suitable habitats for important calcifying species, including 43% reduction in habitat for tropical and subtropical coral reefs, up to 61% for polar pteropods, and 13% for coastal bivalves. By including these additional considerations, we suggest a revised boundary of 10% reduction from pre-industrial conditions more adequately prevents risk to marine ecosystems and their services; a benchmark which was surpassed by year 2000 across the entire surface ocean.
I always find it somewhat humorous the way the Daily Mail writes headlines. But they're a tabloid at heart, and that's how it's done.
The subject, Stacy Keibler (married to Jared Pobre now, not sure what her "official" name is), has now reached the age of 45, and is staying in somewhat astonishing shape, both in terms of age and child-bearing (3).
George Clooney's ex-girlfriend Stacy Keibler, 45, rocks a bikini... before he hits the Tony Awards
Below is Stacy in a different bikini shot that was also included in this insightful article.
After watching the NBC Nightly News tonight (August 8), which featured a story on the melting glacial ice of the Alps, I was reminded of this article, which features the melting ice of Alaska.
Alaska Will Lose 69% of Its Glacier Mass Under Current Climate Change Pledges
Consequences of the glacier mass loss include a nine-inch sea level rise and changes in biodiversity."Alaska, one of 19 glacier regions designated by the international team, would lose 69% of its glacier mass. Of those regions, which don’t include the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, Alaska has the third-highest glacier mass today, at 16,246 gigatons. Only the Antarctic islands/sub-Antarctic islands and northern Arctic Canada have more glacier mass."
"The team of 21 scientists from 10 countries used eight glacier models to calculate the potential ice loss of the more than 200,000 glaciers outside of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets under a wide range of global temperature scenarios relative to 2020. For each scenario, they assumed that temperatures would remain constant for thousands of years.
"Alaska, even under current climate conditions of 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels, would lose 37% of its glacier mass, the study finds. Ice loss rises under greater temperature increases: 41% lost at 2.7 degrees, 58% at 3.6 degrees, 69% at 4.9 degrees, 71% at 5.4 degrees and 80% at 7.2 degrees."
My sojourn to lighthouses on scattered islands of the Mediterranean Sea continues this week. I actually was looking at a different island, the remarkable Panarea, which is basically just a cone sticking out of the sea. I was a bit surprised that Panarea didn't have a lighthouse, and all that it has officially is a light on the jetty of the only harbor (which is here, if you need to know that).
Now, the famous islands in this group, known as the Aeolian Islands, are the active volcano Stromboli and the probably-will-be-active-again-eventually Vulcano, from which all volcanoes get their collective basic name. The other islands are Lipari (just north of Vulcano), Salina, the wind- and wave-sculpted Isola di Basiluzzo, the aforementioned Panarea, and other pieces of rock, notably Strombolicchio, with its incredibly situated lighthouse.
This week's featured lighthouse is the Faro di Punta Lingua, on Salina, which I think translates to the Lighthouse on Point Tongue. (I checked, and that's basically correct.) So for that location, click right here.
This is a small and unassuming lighthouse, but the location is pretty good, which explains all the ferry lines on the map.
The Lighthouse Directory provides this information:
"1920s or 1930s . Active; focal plane 13 m (43 ft); white flash every 3 s. 12 m (39 ft) cylindrical tower with lantern and gallery, adjoining but not attached to a 1-story keeper's house. Tower painted white; lantern dome is gray metallic. ... In 2019 the renovated keeper's house was opened as a museum, the Museo del Mare e del sale (Museum of the Sea and Salt). Located at the end of a spit in the village of Lingua, at the southeastern corner of Salina."
There are very few really close-up pictures of this one. But I did find the remarkable StreetView below. The visible island has to be Lipari. However, in the second picture, there's a conical peak that I think is Panarea, but I couldn't confirm that with any of the StreetView choices.
This repugnant initiative was just in the news.
Confederate memorial will be returned to Arlington Cemetery, Hegseth says
The memorial was removed in 2023 at the recommendation of a commission appointed by Congress to rid the military of Confederate symbols and names."The 32-foot bronze statue commissioned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy was unveiled at a ceremony presided over by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914, almost 50 years after the Civil War ended. Its supporters said it was dedicated in part to promote reconciliation between the North and the South. But critics said the memorial glorified the Southern cause and glossed over slavery, with elements such as a frieze showing an enslaved Black man following his owner and an enslaved woman — described on the cemetery’s website as a “mammy” — holding the baby of a Confederate officer."Yeah, it's about that.
Even more repugnantly, the current Secretary of Defense, who could also be the Secretary of Offensiveness, said this about it:
" “I’m proud to announce that Moses Ezekiel’s [see below the picture] beautiful and historic sculpture — often referred to as “The Reconciliation Monument” — will be rightfully be returned to Arlington National Cemetery near his burial site,” Hegseth posted on X, referring to the memorial’s creator. “It never should have been taken down by woke lemmings. Unlike the Left, we don’t believe in erasing American history — we honor it.”
Right, we honor the dishonorable. That much is clear.
I've got news for you, Mr. Secretary. The woke lemmings are on the march.
A bit more about Moses Ezekiel (the link goes to Wikipedia):
"Ezekiel was "the first American-born Jewish artist to receive international acclaim". Ezekiel was an ardent supporter, in both his writings and in his works, of the Lost Cause view of history, asserting that in the Battle of New Market he had "never fought for slavery, but for states' rights and for free trade."
"He has been described as a "Confederate expatriate" and a "proud Southerner" and the Confederate battle flag hung in his Rome studio for 40 years."
"Although Ezekiel never married, he had a daughter, Alice Johnson (1859–1924). According to a census document of July 14, 1860, Alice Johnson was 10 months old, suggesting she was born in September 1859. She would therefore have been conceived at the beginning of 1859 when Moses was 14. Her mother was Isabella, a "beautiful mulatt housemaid" of his father."
"[F]edor Encke accompanied Ezekiel on a visit to the United States. According to writer Michael Feldberg, Ezekiel and Encke had "a forty-five year homosexual relationship…that neither acknowledged publicly."
Ezekiel is buried in Arlington Cemetery, and his tomb and remains had been at the foot of the memorial. So basically, his place by the memorial is a place of honor for a Jewish homosexual who served in the traitorous Confederate army, who also just so happened to father an illegitimate mixed-race child with a family servant when he was just a teenager.
Did Secretary Hegseth know all of that?
But what, there's one thing more. Also from Wikipedia:
"On August 20, 2017, in the aftermath of the Unite the right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia — members of Ezekiel's extended family sent a letter to the Washington Post, asking for the Arlington monument's removal:
"Like most such monuments, this statue intended to rewrite history to justify the Confederacy and the subsequent racist Jim Crow laws. It glorifies the fight to own human beings, and, in its portrayal of African Americans, implies their collusion. As proud as our family may be of Moses's artistic prowess, we — some twenty Ezekiels — say remove that statue. Take it out of its honored spot in Arlington National Cemetery and put it in a museum that makes clear its oppressive history."
So that's what the Secretary is honoring by returning the memorial to Arlington Cemetery.
It would be humorous if it wasn't so despicable and odoriferous.
I'm not sure what prompted it, but I abruptly became concerned that I did not know what onyx was, exactly, other than a type of gemstone.
First, do not confuse it with "oryx". That's what this is:
What is onyx, then? According to a website that should know, onyx is "a variety of microcrystalline quartz, called chalcedony." That's also known as agate. It is most famous for being black, like below, but it doesn't have to be.
Following right behind the basic black is banded onyx, which is black and white, which polishes up quite nicely. There's also green and red onyx. Apparently it's also possible to make fake onyx with dyes and regular agate, which I don't think is the right thing to do.
As my final note, it can also be faceted like a diamond, but if it's black, that's hard to see.
