Monday, September 30, 2019

Sinister beauty of a different kind ...



The ocean, earth's untamed and unforgiving environment, comes equipped
with sinister beauty of a different kind.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

We're in deep shit


The latest IPCC report on the world's oceans is dire. If nothing is done, we are screwed.

B1. Global-scale glacier mass loss, permafrost thaw, and decline in snow cover and Arctic sea ice extent are projected to continue in the near-term (2031–2050) due to surface air temperature increases (high confidence), with unavoidable consequences for river runoff and local hazards (high confidence). The Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets are projected to lose mass at an increasing rate throughout the 21st century and beyond (high confidence). The rates and magnitudes of these cryospheric changes are projected to increase further in the second half of the 21st century in a high greenhouse gas emissions scenario (high confidence). Strong reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades are projected to reduce further changes after 2050 (high confidence). {2.2, 2.3, Cross-Chapter Box 6 in Chapter 2, 3.3, 3.4, Figure SPM.1, SPM Box SPM.1}


Deep shit indeed.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

The real deal ...



The real deal, a visualization of a black hole, courtesy Goddard Media Studios, is simply astounding.


Had to add this gem as the beauty of science never disappoints. 








Kip Thorne certainly nailed Gargantua in Interstellar without question.



Stellar without question. :)

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Before you go ... :)

Chatter ...



chat·ter
/ˈCHadər/

verb

      talk rapidly or incessantly about trivial matters.
      "the kids chattered and splashed at the edge of the lagoon"

noun

    1. incessant trivial talk.
       "a stream of idle chatter"

    2. a series of quick high-pitched sounds.
       "the chatter of a typewriter"

Paying attention comes to mind here when viewing this very cool video above. Enjoy.

But now, some researchers are trying a different approach, studying how the brain suppresses information rather than how it augments it. Perhaps more importantly, they’ve found that this process involves more ancient regions much deeper in the brain — regions not often considered when it comes to attention.

By doing so, scientists have also inadvertently started to take baby steps toward a better understanding of how body and mind — through automatic sensory experiences, physical movements and higher-level consciousness — are deeply and inextricably intertwined.


And so it goes - K Vonnegut

Biological Annihilation & then some ...



Agent Orange, the environmental president, is doing "good" in the world in terms of taking care of earth with one good deed after another with step one being the opening up of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and fracking interests and step 2, iniating 85 regulatory/environmental  rollbacks centered on, you guessed it, enhancing profits for the fossil fuel crowd along with significant others who pollute and compromise the environment in ways that truly boggle the mind.

To whit ...

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman. The Trump administration is finalizing plans to open one of the world’s last pristine wilderness regions, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, to oil and fracked gas drilling. The Arctic refuge is rich in biodiversity, home to caribou, polar bears, musk oxen and other species. Millions of migratory birds gather there from across the world, and whales reside just offshore. It’s also been home to generations of indigenous people for thousands of years..

& the aforementioned 85 rollbacks ...
President Trump has made eliminating federal regulations a priority. His administration, with help from Republicans in Congress, has often targeted environmental rules it sees as burdensome to the fossil fuel industry and other big businesses.

A New York Times analysis, based on research from Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School and other sources, counts more than 80 environmental rules and regulations on the way out under Mr. Trump.

Our list represents two types of policy changes: rules that were officially reversed and rollbacks still in progress. The Trump administration has released an aggressive schedule to try to finalize many of these rollbacks this year.

Remember, it's all about the money. Always has been, always will be save for the specter of climate change and what it portends to mankind as civilization moves ever further into the 21st century.

Friday, September 20, 2019

The power of lies ...



The lizard lives in a new documentary. Can't wait to see this as Cohn was truly a lizard where truth was just a notion and lies, when properly used, was his gateway to power, especially when serving as chief counsel for Tail Gunner Joe (Mcarthy) , the eminently mediocre Wisconson senator who unleashed the anti-communism hysteria back in the 1950s that blacklisted and ruined the careers of innocent people almost too numerous to count.



Luckily, Cohn's "success" in demonizing people came to an end when Joseph Welch asked the famous question of Mcarthy & company ... 



To be continued.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Killing me slowly/rev XXX


Biodiversity, you know, having enough flora and fauna to keep earth and us alive, is rather important to sustain unless one is in pursuit of money, an activity proving to be most disquieting in light of the fact 29% of all the birds in America (and Europe) have disappeared since 1969 as articulated in an NYTimes piece Birds Are Vanishing From North America







But insects are in trouble also.







And we haven't even discussed the decline of life in the oceans due to pollution, climate change and overfishing.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Asymmetrical Warfare/rev XX


War and its blood relative, terror, is now a digital play where, if one has money and access to digitally-driven tools of great accuracy and range, mayhem and death will ensue at bargain basement prices. To whit, the precise attack on the Saudi oilfields using cheap tech from North Korea, China and Iran.




On the political end, the first question to ask is, why is the US potentially getting involved in a self-inflicted wound by MBS when attacking Yemen, thus creating the Saudi version of Vietnam, something eloquently articulated by Ron Paul in a piece titled. Will Trump Take Neocon Bait and Attack Iran Over Saudi Strike?





Last but not least, the US Patriot Missles were useless against the drones and cruise missiles, something Putin alluded to when suggesting to SA that maybe buying the S-400 might be the better way to go.




It's a better deal is it not?

Plan A - Wargames 2019



Several months ago, researchers from Rutgers University, the University of Colorado Boulder, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research ran a simulation to see what a nuclear war between the US and Russia would do, and the findings were not pretty: Such a war would plunge the planet into a nuclear winter, with clouds of soot and smoke covering the planet. The study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, found that the nuclear detonations would inject about 147 million tons of soot into the atmosphere. That soot would then spread around the stratosphere, blanketing the Earth in darkness.

Not only would explosions, fires, and radiation exposure kill millions in targeted cities, but the resulting nuclear winter – which could last many years- would drastically alter the Earth’s climate. The growing season would be slashed by nearly 90 percent in some areas, and death by famine would threaten nearly all of the Earth’s 7.7 billion people.



Reassuring without question is it not and ... both countries are toast.

Last but not least, the 1984 WG original tells us not to play, right?



Friday, September 13, 2019

B&W + 2 ...


Game on ...


Channeling Saturn


D Lion et al


Gradient


Harbor Stage Theatre


Peony + 1


Queen Anne's Lace 

Monday, September 09, 2019

Tilts & Spins




A quick video show spin rates and tilts of our beloved planet that should include Pluto
but does not, for now. :)


Saturday, September 07, 2019

Frequency of ...

Frequency of ... courtesy XKCD. Note, the real deal blinks according to, you guessed it, the frequency of occurrence of said event. :)

Tuesday, September 03, 2019

The underground market ...



A cubic inch of soil contains about 7 billion fungal lifeforms and 1 billion bacteria. The complex interactions of these entities, in conjunction with their plant partners, is akin to a cutthroat marketplace where ruthless supply and demand dictate how zealously guarded resources are to be used by the parties in question is readily seen by the video above and the text below. Enjoy.

Kiers surrounded some nodules on soybean plants with an almost nitrogen-free air supply, making the bacteria in those nodules useless to the plant. She found that the plant reacted by shutting off the supply of oxygen to those bacteria, drastically reducing their reproduction. It seemed the relationship between the bacteria and the soybeans, far from being a happy friendship, was an uneasy détente, with the plant imposing crippling sanctions on any bacterial partners that failed to earn their keep. 

Kiers then switched from bacteria to fungi. While bacteria might nestle into the roots of select groups of plants, fungi are without question the masters of the underground domain. Certain fungi spread through vast areas and commingle with just about every plant they encounter, even sending thready tendrils known as hyphae directly into plants’ roots. (The name for these fungi — “mycorrhizae” — literally fuses the Latin myco-, meaning “of fungi,” with the Greek rhiza, or “root.”) Indeed, the mycorrhizal world forms a sort of inversion of the vegetable one, with branching fungal networks extending downward, mirroring the branching stems and limbs of the plants reaching skyward.

Factoids ...

But what really distinguishes the fungal world is its diversity and complexity. A spoonful of soil contains more microbial individuals than there are humans on Earth. “It’s the most species-dense habitat we have,” said Edith Hammer, a soil ecologist at Lund University in Sweden. A single plant might be swapping molecules with dozens of fungi — each of which might in turn be canoodling with an equal number of plants. It’s a promiscuous party down there.



The underground market ... indeed.

Sunday, September 01, 2019

Unicron ... lives!! :)



Unicron, the Transformer of transformers is alive and well as seen by this clip changing his evil eminence from sphere to character. Enjoy. :)

Introducing the first ever Transformers HASLAB project: Transformers War For Cybertron Unicron.

The Lord of Chaos. The Planet Eater. The Chaos Bringer. Unicron stands alone as the most menacing figure in Transformers lore, capable of devouring entire worlds and civilizations. He debuted in the 1986 film Transformers: The Movie and his insatiable appetite nearly brought the entire universe to its knees.

But his legacy transcends both space and time.

“I have summoned you here for a purpose.” - Unicron

Transformers fans may be mere humans, inhabiting a miniscule planet hardly worth consuming, but they are some of the most passionate fans out there. That’s why HASLAB, the Hasbro Pulse crowdsourcing platform, is the place to awaken such a massive project.

“Then it pleases me to be the first.” - Unicron

My son and I enjoy the original, especially when finding out it was Orsen Well's last professional act as the voice of Unicron. :)



Seems the 2020 version will be somewhat different as seen by this clip.



Methinks my son and I will check this out for old times sake. :)

Beyond pitch-black


Carbon nanotubes rule as they are virtually indestructible, possessing unique characteristics that promise to change how man does business on planet earth. When placed vertically on a substrate, said nanotubes create the ultimate black, reflecting just a tiny bit of light, thus resulting in a visual look akin to a black hole, an effect readily seen by the BMW above and a telescope assembly shown below, ready to be equipped with lenses as needs warrant, both of which are coated with Vantablack, the first commercially available carbon nanotube-based material being used for any application requiring the kind of absolute blackness that only this tech can provide.



Beyond pitch-black indeed.



Here's a video showing the origin and properties of this unique material.



Happy accident indeed.