Rock stars get the chicks - but watch out

According to this Swim Daily entry (which includes as a bonus a nice picture of Kate Upton), there's a link to this article in which it is "confirmed" that Max George of the group The Wanted is now dating Nina Agdal - who not very long ago was dropped by Adam Levine of Maroon 5 in favor of a restart with another Victoria's Secret model, Behati Prinsloo.

Max George?  Not up on the latest Brit bands?  Well, that name rang a bell with me -- because Max George was the rock star that formerly dated, and was engaged to, stunning soap star and soon to be a world-ruling sex symbol, Michelle Keegan.  And Max George is the same bloke who lost Michelle Keegan because - get this - he cheated on her.

OK, that's not possible.   Well, I guess it was possible for him, because he's a rock star, but it wouldn't be possible for me.  Well, maybe it would be possible for me if I wasn't having sex regularly with Michelle if we were 'dating' - you know, once a year or so.   Maybe then I could contemplate seeking other outlets for my lust.

But Nina, Nina, Nina - this guy cheated on Michelle Keegan!  Can't you Google that?  I mean, if he can cheat on Michelle, he can cheat on anyone - even your fabulous self.  Now, like I said, the Michelle rule probably applies to you too - I mean, once a year with you would suit me just fine, but if you couldn't bring yourself to that, maybe I'd have to find another dance partner - but Max doesn't share my limitations. Apparently once he's conquested, he gets restless for another conquest, and being a rock star, apparently conquests are not much of a problem for him to acquire.  So I'd be very, very, very careful with this guy - especially since you've got some real experience with the fickleness of the rock star.  Good luck, and hopefully this will work out better than your last rock star.

OK, that wasn't fair.  But still, couldn't you find someone more reliable than a rock star who cheated on one of the world's most beautiful women?  I mean, c'mon, you're NINA AGDAL.  Normal men would worship you and devote their lives to making your every dream come true.  I truly hope you find fulfillment with Max, but if not, you can't say that you didn't see it coming.

And of course, since this is about Nina Agdal, it's an excuse to post a picture of Nina Agdal.

Or two of them.

Ahem, Max George, if you ever read this - either God has blessed you or you've got one hell of a deal with the Devil.  If it's the latter, enjoy the time you have left.

The Palace not doing so well

I was hoping that Crystal Palace would have a chance to stay in the Premier League after one season, but so far it isn't looking too good.   That means that they're letting their manager go.  Or he's leaving because he can't stay.  Or he's fired by mutual consent.  Anyway you phrase it, he's gone.  Sometimes a move like this makes things better, sometimes not.  Have to watch to see which way this one goes.


Ian Holloway: Crystal Palace boss departs Premier League strugglers

It didn't help that they played Arsenal this weekend - they lost 2-0.  It seems it was a "game effort", as the Brits might say, but they still lost.

This sonnet worked out well

yet never once the same

Indeed, it is not necessary, yet
it is a hoped-for aspect of the act --
the trustful giving which is unforgett-
able when first awarded whole, intact,
and pure, accompanied by expecta-
tion that it will be welcomed and embraced;
then touched, caressed, adored, and stimula-
ted toward a goal that is overt, yet graced
by innate beauty celebrated by
both images and words, repetitive
yet never once the same -- and in the eye
of the beholder what they freely give 
is therefore taken, held and then possessed
and for this reason are our minds obsessed.

Save energy, save money, save oil, save the planet

Reading this blog you'll be aware that by profession and conviction, I believe that nuclear power is going to be a very important energy source for the human race this century.  But I am also pretty certain that renewables are going to be important, and I am HIGHLY aware that for the best future we can have, we should use energy much more efficiently.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) thinks so too.

Energy Efficiency Is The World’s Most Important “Fuel,” IEA Says In New Report

Here's the press release from the IEA:
From hidden fuel to the world's first fuel?

Talking points: 

• From 2005 to 2010, efficiency measures saved the energy equivalent of USD 420 billion worth of oil in a group of 11 IEA member countries.
• Had it not been for energy efficiency measures implemented in past years, consumers in those 11 IEA member countries would now be consuming – and thus paying for – about two-thirds more energy than they currently use.
• In 2010 in those countries, the energy savings from efficiency measures exceeded the output from any other single fuel source. That year, the 11 IEA economies avoided burning 1.5 billion tonnes of oil equivalent thanks to efficiency improvements developed since 1974. By comparison, in 2010 those same economies consumed about 1 billion tonnes of oil equivalent from assets developed over the same period.

Pretty impressive numbers.

"The report notes that two key factors have driven the recent growth of the energy efficiency market: effective policies and the high price of energy."

Imagine what the USA could do if there was a war level effort to make our society more energy-efficient across all the economic strata.  Imagine what we could do if people believed this was so important that it should be done.

Even though we need nuclear energy, I'm in.  Who's with me?

“Energy efficiency has been called a ‘hidden fuel’, yet it is hiding in plain sight,” stated IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven. “Indeed, the degree of global investment in energy efficiency and the resulting energy savings are so massive that they beg the following question: is energy efficiency not just a hidden fuel but rather the world’s first fuel?”
Read more at http://cleantechnica.com/2013/10/25/energy-efficiency-worlds-important-fuel-iea-says-new-report/#AEGmrsmbJWCVskqG.99

“Energy efficiency has been called a ‘hidden fuel’, yet it is hiding in plain sight,” stated IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven. “Indeed, the degree of global investment in energy efficiency and the resulting energy savings are so massive that they beg the following question: is energy efficiency not just a hidden fuel but rather the world’s first fuel?”
Read more at http://cleantechnica.com/2013/10/25/energy-efficiency-worlds-important-fuel-iea-says-new-report/#AEGmrsmbJWCVskqG.99

“Energy efficiency has been called a ‘hidden fuel’, yet it is hiding in plain sight,” stated IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven. “Indeed, the degree of global investment in energy efficiency and the resulting energy savings are so massive that they beg the following question: is energy efficiency not just a hidden fuel but rather the world’s first fuel?”
Read more at http://cleantechnica.com/2013/10/25/energy-efficiency-worlds-important-fuel-iea-says-new-report/#AEGmrsmbJWCVskqG.99

Don't forget Oppy

The Mars Rover Opportunity is still reliably in action.  Controllers (despite the government shutdown) have situated it such that it will be in an advantageous orientation facing the Sun while it explores new territory, and will apparently be able to keep going even during the Martian winter -- with scheduled rest breaks to recharge its batteries.

Pretty remarkable for a robot. They're still looking for the mother lode of clay minerals, apparently.

Mars Rover Opportunity heads uphill

Key targets on the ridge include clay-bearing rocks identified from observations by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, which is on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The observations were specially designed to yield mineral maps with enhanced spatial resolution.

This segment of the crater's rim stands much higher than "Cape York," a segment to the north that Opportunity investigated for 20 months beginning in mid-2011.

"At Cape York, we found fantastic things," Squyres said. "Gypsum veins, clay-rich terrain, the spherules we call newberries. We know there are even larger exposures of clay-rich materials where we're headed. They might look like what we found at Cape York or they might be completely different."

Good luck, and keep on truckin'.

She still looks heavenly

The big news in Miranda Kerr's life is that her marriage to husband and father to her son Orlando Bloom is reportedly over. This is sad.  It's sad to see two stunning examples of good lookingness break up.  However, as we all know, the most happiest marriages are those in which the husband is not as good looking as the wife, and frequently the husband is also older, too.  In this case, the prettiness was on both sides, and thus this could never work out long term.  (But the private family movies would sure be something to see.)

But despite that, one of the world's most beautiful women must persist in her calling to be very beautiful, and for Miranda, this is easy as breathing.   In this Daily Mail article, Miranda models some clothes and then just shows how beautiful she is.  Face wise.  We've had ample photographic and video evidence of how beautiful the body is.  (Just search "Miranda Kerr" on this blog and you will find some examples I've previously chosen.)

Miranda Kerr beach-side photos

It's hard to overlook a volcanic caldera (unless it's under ice)

After a recent jökulhlaup (a flood of meltwater released from a glacier), scientists in Iceland suspected that one of their smaller icecaps might have a volcano or geothermal area under it, one that hadn't been discovered before.   So they decided to find out.

A new cauldron confirmed
This article describes the image from Landsat 8 that indicated the location of the caldera.  I grabbed that image and it is shown below.  The arrow points to the newly-described caldera.

New caldera found on Iceland glacier
According to this article, they sent an expedition to the icecap to confirm that it was indeed a previously unknown, under-ice volcanic caldera.  

Now, it's unlikely that it actually erupted;  more likely, geothermal heat melted enough water to cause the jökulhlaup.  But it's still interesting that a feature like this had lain undiscovered until now.

Here's the icecap, Hofsjökull, from a viewpoint closer than space.