While this year’s rain hasn’t been enough to pull CA out of the drought, it *has* been enough to trigger wildflower season. I need to plan a hike (or at least a drive through the hills).
Links
Fascinating photos are coming in from Ceres. I always thought of it as a…
Fascinating photos are coming in from Ceres. I always thought of it as a big rock in space, an asteroid like those you see in The Empire Strikes back…but of course it's large enough to pull itself into a spheroid, and Plait makes the point that whether you call it an asteroid or a dwarf planet, it's a *world*.
On March 6, the Dawn spacecraft will ease into orbit around the largest asteroid in the main belt: Ceres.
As it approached Ceres on Feb. 19, Dawn took a series of images creating this amazing animation:
A lot of moderates only appear so because they hold extreme positions on opposite ends
https://www.vox.com/2014/7/8/5878293/lets-stop-using-the-word-moderate
Interesting analysis: A lot of moderates only appear so because they hold extreme positions on opposite ends of the political spectrum. (“Between the two of you, that was a perfect shot!”) The article says it’s time to stop using the term moderate. I think it’s also long past time to stop mapping politics to a single dimension.
Observations confirm CO2’s contribution to the greenhouse effect.
Observations confirm CO2's contribution to the greenhouse effect.
I thought that “blue is modern” article sounded familiar.
I thought that “blue is modern” article sounded familiar.
Not content with simply issuing a joke warrant for Queen Elsa for the cold snap…
Not content with simply issuing a joke warrant for Queen Elsa for the cold snap, one city actually hired an actress to stage an “arrest.”
It turns out there were actually two batches of cumin from two different suppliers…
It turns out there were actually two batches of cumin from two different suppliers that were contaminated with peanuts, both in Turkey, though they haven’t yet determined whether the contamination happened there or further up the chain. One of the batches was also contaminated with almonds.
Zen Pencils adapts Robet Fulghum’s quote on love (now with added Comic-Con).
ROBERT FULGHUM: A mutual weirdness
Zen Pencils adapts Robet Fulghum’s quote on love (now with added Comic-Con).
He’s got to sort his priorities out.
https://abc7.com/pets/man-glued-to-cellphone-misses-large-whale-2-feet-away/504369/
He's got to sort his priorities out.
Because probiotics are trendy these days, and news outfits tend to miss the detail:…
New Study: Combining Probiotics with Oral Immunotherapy for Peanut Allergy
Because probiotics are trendy these days, and news outfits tend to miss the detail: The study compared a *combination* of two therapies to a placebo. It didn’t compare probiotics+OIT to OIT alone, and other studies with OIT have had a comparable success rate. So there’s a good chance that the probiotics didn’t make a difference, and the effect was due entirely to the OIT.
Vaccinate your kids. They’ll be better off, and so will their classmates — including
https://www.cnn.com/2015/02/02/health/measles-how-bad-can-it-be/index.html
Vaccinate your kids. They'll be better off, and so will their classmates — including those who can't be vaccinated for medical reasons.
Misleading headline: “Blizzard Causes Mass Flight Cancellations at LAX”
https://patch.com/california/redondobeach/blizzard-causes-mass-flight-cancellations-lax
Now there's a misleading headline: “Blizzard Causes Mass Flight Cancellations at LAX” (looks out window): OK, it *is* gloomy out there…
I had really high hopes for a more normal winter after December, but the
https://www.kqed.org/science/26293/ridiculous-ridge-may-be-back-to-prolong-california-drought
I had really high hopes for a more normal winter after December, but the rain just kind of stopped a few weeks ago.
More on the cascading allergy recall resulting from one spice supplier’s peanut-contaminated batch of
More on the cascading allergy recall resulting from one spice supplier's peanut-contaminated batch of cumin.
If your password is on this list, you REALLY need a better one. Or…
If your password is on this list, you REALLY need a better one. Or better yet, use a password manager like LastPass or KeePass so you can use passwords that look like keysmashes and not have to worry about (a) remembering them or (b) someone guessing them.
An interesting read on optimism, pessimism, technology and the future… particularly in how it
https://www.oreilly.com/radar/the-computing-of-distrust/
An interesting read on optimism, pessimism, technology and the future… particularly in how it applies to running computer programs on networks, data or even hardware that you can't trust.
A time-lapse video made from 40 images of Comet Lovejoy showing its motion against
A time-lapse video made from 40 images of Comet Lovejoy showing its motion against the sky.
That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to take J on a nature walk now
That reminds me, I've been meaning to take J on a nature walk now that he's old enough to keep up.
As the headline says: Holy wow!
https://slate.com/technology/2015/01/comet-lovejoy-stunning-photo-by-gerald-rhemann.html
As the headline says: Holy wow!
Chestnut trees once dominated the forests of the eastern US, until a blight imported…
https://www.popsci.com/transgenic-chestnuts-roasting-open-fire/
Chestnut trees once dominated the forests of the eastern US, until a blight imported from Asia devastated them early last century. Its continued presence has prevented them from recovering. Now there's a project to repair the damage to the chestnut forests by inserting a gene from wheat that makes the trees resistant to the blight.