Lighthouse of the Week, November 30 - December 6, 2014: Peggy's Point, Nova Scotia

Likely the most famous, most visited, and most photographed lighthouse in Nova Scotia, partly due to its situation on solid rock and partly due to its proximity to Halifax, Peggy's Point Lighthouse (also known as the Peggy's Cove Lighthouse) is well known.   If there was a lighthouse Hall of Fame, this one would certainly be in it.

So finding a "different" view of this one is a challenge.  I chose two.  See what you think.  The third one is a classic view, including the tourists.  Credit:  top, traveltop.net;  middle, "John" on Flickr;  bottom, found on gopixpic.com.

Easy leftover turkey dipping or sandwich sauce

This one is absurdly easy, but it is fabulous with leftover turkey.  We still have quite a bit left.

Mix one part Sweet Baby Ray's Original Barbecue Sauce with 2 parts Duke's Mayonnaise.

Once mixed, grab a fork and dip in cut pieces of cold leftover turkey.  Enjoy!

If you prefer a sandwich, just the sauce, turkey, fresh bread, and crisp romaine lettuce make a real tasty one.

(If you're feeling fancy, mix in a little dried basil or rosemary.)

Cheryl's evening look

Cheryl Fernandez-Versini (the former Cheryl Cole) was out on the town with her new young handsome hubby, and she looked absolutely fabulous. 


Cheryl Fernandez-Versini is stunning in strapless green dress as she attends charity gala with handsome husband Jean-Bernard

I sure hope that guy knows what he's got in her, treats her right, and has lots of sex with her.  That last part in particular shouldn't be too hard to accomplish, even if you aren't totally into huge backside rose tattoos.  I mean, after all, this is Cheryl we're talking about.

Absolute WOW factor.

Japan ready to restart reactor

With the fears engendered by the Fukushima event fading, Japan is ready to restart a reactor complex.  The local government of the Kagoshima prefecture has approved restarting of the Sendai reactors.  Like it or not (and I can understand why there's a general uneasiness), Japan need nuclear power.  Because they really don't have any other non-greenhouse gas generating options at this point.  I do think that they could get a substantial quantity of energy from tidal and even ocean current power.


Japan local government approves first reactor restart

"The local go-ahead came after the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said in September it believed the two units at Sendai met toughened safety standards introduced after the Fukushima accident in 2011.

The actual restart, however, is likely to be delayed until next year as technical procedures are still under way, including more NRA approvals for remedial work at the site."

At least one guy sees reason

According to this article from Nuclear Power Daily, Germany wants to stop using coal for energy after they've stopped using nuclear power for energy.   Noble goal, but ridiculous.

And one guy stepped up and said so.

"Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks has said that if Europe's biggest economy doesn't reduce coal use, it has no chance of meeting its 2020 target of cutting Earth-warming carbon emissions by 40 percent from three decades earlier.

Hendricks' cabinet colleague in charge of the economy and energy, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, sees things differently and has argued that coal is here to stay, citing energy security, cost and many thousands of jobs.

"We can't simultaneously get out of nuclear and coal," Gabriel, the leader of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) who co-govern with Merkel's conservatives, has said."

Das ist richtig.

Our fracking efforts have made this possible, it seems.

"The coal boom in Germany is in part an echo of US shale gas boom.

Cheap natural gas in the United States means coal is being exported to Europe where it undercuts expensive Russian gas, making cleaner and more flexible modern gas plants unprofitable, and several have shut down.

Another factor has been the collapse of the European emissions market, a system meant to factor in the environmental cost of burning fossil fuels. As the penalty for carbon emissions has dropped in price, coal plants have become more lucrative."

So, lacking more nuclear capacity, we keep burning more fossil fuels. Great. 

Volcanic activity takes an uptick

Volcanic activity around the world varies, obviously.  Sometimes there are a few more volcanoes erupting, sometimes a few less.  I would not try to prophesy the End Times based on what's currently erupting.

Be that as it may, the past few days have seen an uptick in volcanic activity, I think.  Here are three links to some of that activity:

A plume from Pavlof

Activity at Aso  (video)

A flow from Fogo  (four videos in this article)

Meanwhile, the lava flow that was threatening the Hawaiian village of Pahoa has backed off for the moment.  Hopefully it will get blocked completely and divert into a new, less destructive, direction.

How did the Daily Mail miss this?

The Daily Mail is usually all over any time a Victoria's Secret (or ex-Victoria's Secret) lingerie supermodel Angel offers up a picture of her extraordinariness on the social media.  Particularly if said picture is of her extraordinariness unencumbered by the ordinariness of clothing.  Now, Miranda Kerr, of whom I am referring to here, has been photographed totally unencumbered, allowing us mere mortals to have full view of her bosom and bottom.

So in this case, the artistic pic she provided on her own Instagram is actually quite mild, even though she's unclad.  It is the pose, the idea that we could imagine her in our own bed in such a position and state, that makes us appreciate it.   (This picture was taken by Chris Colls, who was also the photographer of what I consider Miranda's sexiest picture ever.)  Chris has my admiration for his work - and my envy for being the one that gets to do it.