Well, I missed my v.p. diary taking a long nap in the hot afternoon after work today. I taught English to tenth graders, so I thought I'd share an anecdote about what I learned in school today.
We started out with silent reading and some writing practice, then I gave the students some notes on figurative language. After I had defined various terms and given examples, they had a bunch of worksheets to do, so I went over the directions with them and set them to work on that, telling them to ask me or the teacher's aide if they had any questions.
I got up again to point out that many (if not most) common literary figures of speech they would encounter in speaking or reading could be traced back in some form either to the Bible, Shakespeare or Cervantes.
I guess I always thought that at least the Medicine Bluffs would be safe from development. In fact, I just told someone today that it probably would be, since it is on an Army Base.
A federal judge has blocked the U.S. Army from starting a construction project at Fort Sill in Oklahoma out of concern for the religious rights of the Comanche Nation.
The tribe says it wasn't consulted about the development of a training service center near the foot of Medicine Bluffs, a sacred site at Fort Sill. Work was scheduled to begin on Monday until Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti issued a temporary restraining order.
"The court finds that, given the nature of the interests which plaintiffs in this case seek to protect, irreparable harm will result if the construction project commences," DeGiusti wrote in the five-page order.
Welcome to bookchat where you can talk about anything...books, plays, essays, and books on tape. You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.
The purpose of reading is to change and grow. Good literature, good music, and good movies challenge us to change our view of the world. We grow larger and stronger in spirit. We accept that challenge when we pick up a good book, listen to music, watch a movie and enter into the world the creator of the work presents.
In long novels, the main characters also grow and change. Watching this journey of the soul keeps us reading and makes the characters memorable.
That is why we can’t forget Natasha and Pierre in Tolstoy’s War and Peace. This is why we cannot forget Sidney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities. This is why Jo Marsh lives in our hearts as created by Louisa May Alcott in Little Women.
You can find more posts on climate change science, policy, and news on Climate 411.
Have you ever spent time scrolling through NASA's image gallery? Some of the pictures are absolutely mesmerizing. I particularly like "Blue Marble" (below the fold), which was stitched together using satellite data.
Satellites provide more than pretty pictures, though. Our ability to understand and predict climate change depends on continuous high-quality satellite data.
Unfortunately, this critical data stream is threatened by budget cuts and lack of political support. In 2005, the National Academies assessed the situation and deemed it "alarming". Three years later, the outlook has not improved.
Follow me over the fold to learn more about why this is important, how this critical resource is threatened, and what the next administration needs to do about it.
Generations of high school students have had to suffer because of this man. "Oh, sure," they'll tell you, "he accomplished a lot in his lifetime. The world changed because of him. But for the better?"
As they toil day after day in school, and night after night at home, all because of how Adolf changed our world, there is no respect for the mountain of scholarship he gave us.
There is no acknowledgment of what the civilized world would be without Adolf.
... wait, what?
Oh. Silly me.
On Aug. 20, 1917, Nobel Prize-winning chemist Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer died.
Today, a major decision was handed down by the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The short version is that a EPA (Bush II era) rule which prevents states and localities from requiring air polluters to monitor their emissions was struck down. But wait, there's more...
The second installation did not go over very well, and I accept the blame for it. It was without structure, and this one will have a bit.
This time there is a topic: petroleum. This is not to say that other questions are not welcome, but the focus of this post is questions regarding that substance.
You can find more posts on climate change science, policy, and news on Climate 411.
What does "wildlife conservation" mean to you? Setting aside land? Restoring habitat? Reducing local stresses to species or ecosystems? These are the conventional methods. But because of rapid climate change, scientists in a recent paper say this may not be enough:
[T]he future for many species and ecosystems is so bleak that assisted colonization might be their best chance.
Assisted colonization - moving species to sites where they aren't native - is a high-risk suggestion. There are many cases where introduced species have become invasive and wreaked havoc on economies, human health, and native ecosystems.
So why would some of the world's leading biologists make such a suggestion?
Last time was fun for me, and I hope the readers as well. We will try another episode, to see if this is viable.
Please consider this as an open thread for any and all questions related to science and technology. If I do not know an answer, I will say so and ask others in the community with expertise to reply.
As usual, I am dancing naked, and will not look up anything on Wikipedia or in reference books except for the times when some numbers are required, such as the heat of formation of items. Unfortunately, I can not keep all of those figures in my head.
The closest I’ve come to trying to understand genocide, is to imagine the worst, most disgusting, evil, dehumanizing, anti-evolutionary, shameless, insatiable, vile, and incomprehensible thing imaginable – and try multiplying that by infinity.
Of courage undaunted, possessing a firmness and perseverance of purpose which nothing but impossibilities could divert from its direction, ... honest, disinterested, liberal, of sound understanding and a fidelity to truth so scrupulous that whatever he should report would be as certain as if seen by ourselves, with all these qualifications as if selected and implanted by nature in one body for this express purpose, I could have no hesitation in confiding the enterprise to him.
Fitness Monday is a community series for health and fitness support. None of the hosts or diarists are professionals. Please consult your own general practitioner if you have questions.
Fit Kos-friends have more energy to elect more and better Democrats!
Hello everyone. This is my third sunset week in review. I wasn't going to do it again because there weren't many sunsets to choose from this past week.
But I browsed the photos this morning and found a few keepers;
Actually this was a pretty colorful week from my window.
If you haven't seen my sunset photos before, I live in a high rise in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. The river is the Hudson and the section of the Palisades I'm looking at is somewhere between Dumont and Alpine, New Jersey.
Below the fold is the best of a mostly overcast week.
I often write diaries having to do with science and technology, as those who read mine know. Tonight, I would like to try something a little different.
This post may be considered as an open thread for questions about science and technology, and I will take on all questions. I may not have answers for all, or even some, of them. If I do not know I will say so. I will not feed anyone a line of bull.
There exists the possibility that my take on any particular subject may be in error, and I ask the community to correct me if I am wrong. I have been wrong before, and appreciate the opportunity to expand my database of correct knowledge.
For anyone who hasn't seen any of these diaries, these photos are my dad's. I can't take responsibility for them. My dad travels to India quite frequently, and he always makes some time for birding. He sees some incredible birds there.
Welcome back to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew informs and entertains you with this week's news about science, space, and the environment.
There was a lunar eclipse today. Unfortunately, those of us in North America couldn't see it. To make up for it, here is a video of the last lunar eclipse back in February.
More on the eclipse and other science stories after the jump.
This is part of an ongoing series on how to cope with high food prices and lack of time to prepare and cook a healthy meal which fits nicely on WfD?. The last two editions are here and here.
Note that these diaries are only meant to suggest, they are in no way didactic and serve merely as pointers for those who are interested in this subject matter. I posted a piece on kitchen implements a couple of weeks ago and some clever wags mistook the list as gospel. Well, nothing is written in stone, take these diaries with a pinch of salt, so to speak.
In this one I'll concentrate on listing grain ingredients, condiments, spices and bottled sauces. The next one will deal with easy and quick to prepare & cook stir-fries, as they can be tasty, inexpensive and full of goodness, suitable for for carnivores, omnivores and strict vegans. Make sure you bookmark this series. Onwards!
I will not eat oysters. I want my food dead. Not sick, not wounded... dead
- Woody Allen
