Archiving my Twitter, Facebook and other social network activity
Not only does this use less water than running the faucet (I'm always surprised by how much that actually uses!), it makes it a lot easier to scrub when the pans are done soaking. For extra savings, nest them while soaking, or soak one at a time while you're working on other dishes and reuse the water from one pan to the next.
How to Terraform the Moon: It’ll be habitable, if a lot like Florida.
An interesting article by Gregory Benford on how terraforming the moon might go if you could launch about 100 icy comets at it to give it atmosphere and a faster day/night cycle, and use bioengineered algae to give it oxygen.
https://blog.flickr.net/en/2014/07/15/twitter-tuesday-the-coffee-selections/
Woo hoo! – My photo of a sun halo around a coffee mug made this week's Twitter Tuesday selections on the Flickr blog! (The other photos are a lot better IMO – I can only assume mine was included for the subject matter and not the composition or image quality.)
https://www.kqed.org/science/19415/californias-drought-is-hurting-farmers-more-than-food-consumers
“In a cruel paradox, federal climate watchers reported that overall, the contiguous U.S. just had its sixth wettest June on record, though drought persists throughout much of the southwest.” Yeah, that's been really annoying. Every time I read about heavy rains or storms or even flooding elsewhere in the country, I think, “Send some of that water over here!”
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/15/fcc-extends-deadline-user-comments-net-neutrality
Apparently all the last-minute comments crashed the website, so they're extending the deadline.
Southland’s reaction to scattered rain showers is classic
My favorite is “I like how it's trying to rain in LA. Cute.”
We've been doing this for a couple of months now. Admittedly our vegetable garden's not that big, but we haven't needed to use the hose for watering in all that time (much to J's annoyance).
Found at https://wateruseitwisely.com/100-ways-to-conserve/
Lee Vibber This explains why he was so happy to help me water with the hose!
Southland falls short of achieving 20% voluntary cut in water use
“Local water officials attribute the meek response in part to the conservation successes of recent years, which they say make it more difficult to realize further reductions.” Well, that and people who are still watering the sidewalks in the middle of the afternoon.
Also interesting: “Daily per capita use in Los Angeles dropped from a high of 187 gallons in fiscal year 1987 to a low of 122 gallons in fiscal year 2011. It crept up to 129 gallons last year. But the city’s overall water demand remains less than in 1970, despite the addition of 1 million residents.”
J: “I need twenty pounds of sleep.”
State Officials Consider Mandatory Limits on Outdoor Watering
Apparently the voluntary 20% reduction in residential water use has only averaged out to 5%.
“I thought you were going to get pants, not Darth Vader.”
https://www.eater.com/2014/6/19/6207199/how-restaurant-pros-are-handling-the-surge-of-food-allergies
It's always nice to see restaurants that not only recognize the reality and severity of food allergies (unlike those who dismiss allergies as lies made up by attention-seekers who want to feel special), but are willing to help the rising number of people who have allergies have a nice meal out.
New York Times joins Facebook fray: How a stale press release suddenly triggered media frenzy
It all started as a largely ignored paper about the number of positive and negative words people use in Facebook posts. Now it’s a major scandal. Yesterday the New York Times connected the Facebook experiment to suicides. The story was headlined, Should Facebook Manipulate Users, and it rests on…
It’s worth noting that the actual effect measured was MUCH smaller than the fallout from the fact that the experiment was conducted in the first place.
‘Pacific Rim 2’ May Be A Box Office Game-Changer
A business look at how weird it is that Pacific Rim is getting a sequel despite bombing in the US (it did a lot better internationally). There’s a mention of the passionate fan base as well. That’s one thing I noticed when it was out last year: People who actually went to see the movie overwhelmingly liked it. Even if it’s largely self-selection based on a narrow audience interested in watching giant robots vs. giant monsters, at least it speaks well to it being a *good* robot-vs-monster movie.
Always make sure your concerns about food are based on *real* factors, and not just “it has chemicals in it” or “that sounds icky.” Everything is made of chemicals, and a lot of those chemicals have intimidating names (just check out that ingredient statement on an all-natural banana). Not mentioned in the article, lots of hidden ingredients *we* might consider icky are eaten by other cultures without fear.
A new Cornell University study examines the origins of food fears, and possible remedies. It’s a survey of 1,008 mothers asking about foods they avoid and why.
Beyond a gadget: Google Glass is a boon to disabled
Uses for Google Glass you probably haven’t thought of.
Metro approves new train station to connect rail to LAX
Well, this is going to be interesting. Instead of Metro re-routing the Crenshaw Line into the airport (since they’ve already broken ground on it), LAX will run their own ultra-light train from the airport, through the offsite parking and the existing bus hub, to meet the Metro line at a transfer station. The weird thing is that the station they just approved is a very short walk from the one being planned for Century/Aviation. I’m not 100% sure, but I suspect I’ve been in train stations in other cities that are longer than the distance between these two stops.
One of the birds outside is singing notes from the Star Wars Cantina song.
Yep, *everything* is made of chemicals, even natural substances. And I was just saying something about vinegar/acetic acid the other day: Toxic in high concentrations, can be used as an herbicide or a cleaning agent, but you put it on salads without thinking twice.
If a “fact” is worth sharing with people, it’s worth taking a minute to (a) think about it and (b) fact-check it. If you don’t have time for that, don’t share it until you do. Otherwise, you’re wasting everyone’s time and spreading outright falsehoods.