Whimbrel and Whimbrel's nest with chick and egg: ANWR
Photos from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, by PhD*Son
Read all about it here: http://shorebirdscience.org
The July 8th entry was written by PhD*Son, who also took the uncredited photos.
Dandy photos!
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading Dorothy L. Sayers' Clouds of Witness. It ends with a marvelous concatenation of coincidences careering into one another! Definitely a rollicking read; good fun.
The Whimbrel photos put me in mind of a paleontology article I read recently, pointing out that all the perching birds died after the K-T asteroid hit, because all or nearly all the forests on earth burnt. The ground- and water-dwelling birds survived and later repeated the evolution into perching birds.
DeleteAccording to an article I just read in this week's, er, last week's Economist, temps have risen some forty degrees F in Alaska in recent years. That's scary!
DeleteAyup.
Delete"Bills requiring prospective presidential candidates to disclose recent tax returns as a condition to appear on the ballot are currently pending in the following fourteen states: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
ReplyDelete"Similar legislation, introduced this year, failed in Maryland, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Virginia."
https://www.salon.com/2019/04/26/blue-states-move-to-block-donald-trump-from-2020-ballot/
To Survive in a Wetter World, Bangladeshis Raise Ducks, Not Chickens [Click]
ReplyDeleteComputer Scientists Are Concerned About Georgia’s New Voting Machines [Click] Another good argument for voting by mail.
New Election Systems Use Vulnerable Software [Click]
The last iteration of the Votomatic eliminated the notorious “hanging chads;” I really liked those. Inexpensive, quick and easy to use, small and lightweight. But the modern hand-marked, optical scan paper ballots are also pretty good. I simply can’t see any reason to get computers any more involved in voting—other than increasing the profits of the hardware and software manufacturers.
Pence Tours Migrant Detention Facility [Click] Sounds to me like significantly worse conditions than in an SPCA kennel. I wonder if Pence figures it is the prisoners’ fault for being sinful.
2020 Field May Winnow Before Voting Even Starts [Click] Yes, and the sun may rise yesterday.
This Death Star presidency is no ally for modern Britain [Click]
Why do billionaires keep presenting themselves as America's great new hope? [Click]
Ancient farming system being tried in Portugal [Click]
As for voting by mail:
Delete1. It is d----d inconvenient. At least for me, walking to my precinct on election day is easier than walking to the mail box. Plus, this necessarily involves marking a paper ballot by hand. That is, holding a magnifier in one hand and a pen in the other. A chose I don't particularly care for. Not to mention that I can't figure out has someone functionally blind could do it at all.
2. I don't trust the people who are going to count those ballots. Well, that's an exaggeration. But I have distinctly less confidence in their fairness and honesty than I do in a computer's. Everybody assumes there is no such thing as a crooked politician any more. I'm not that sure.
A more general comment: Everybody seems to be worried about hackers changing a few votes at the precinct level. [snort] Any hacker with enough brains to be dangerous is going to go after the county-level tabulations.
DeleteOops-- I misplaced me reply re vote by mail, Bill; scroll down.
DeleteButtigieg stakes out a position to the right of most Republicans, let alone most Democrats, on health care and college tuition. [Click] I don’t think this is going to play well…
ReplyDeleteMessage from Sen. Mike Gravel:
ReplyDelete"Folks, we are less than 7,000 unique donors from our goal - this is incredible. We have until Tuesday to qualify for the debates by reaching 65,000 total unique donors before the DNC cuts the field. We want to make it crystal clear to Tom Perez and CNN that Senator Gravel and this incredible anti-war, pro-sex worker leftist campaign and all of our supporters have earned a voice on stage."
I really want to see Mike on that stage. If anyone hasn't contributed yet, can you chip in $1?
I second the motion. Out of sheer cussedness if nothing else. I got a good laugh out of the option to contribute $4.20 and did so (some time back).
DeleteI got that e-mail yesterday too. Having contributed in the Spring, I did my bit yesterday by sharing to FB and Twitter and joining both his personal and campaign pages. We really need his voice in the debates.
DeleteInteresting that voting by mail is difficult for you, Bill; it's easy as pie for me. Official voter information materials and sample ballot arrive by mail, then the real ballot. There is provision for voting with assistance. Return envelope postage paid. Typically, most of the campaign advertising arrives after I have voted. There isn't a polling place in our precinct; it has been 100% vote by mail since before we got here, about 25 years ago. If I wanted to, I could find a polling place and hand my ballot in there, but I am sure it would be beyond reasonable walking distance. If I go the the county clerk's office downtown I can vote several hours before the caucuses convene in Iowa, and I continue to toy with that idea because then I can't be influenced by the outcomes in IA, NH etc.
DeleteUPDATE: Gravel has hit the 65,000 donor mark needed to qualify! We did it!
DeleteSpektr-RG: Powerful X-ray telescope launches to map cosmos [Click] WOW! Germany and Russia work together to do REALLY BIG science! Reading up on it, I see that NASA helped with some of the design and fabrication studies.
ReplyDeleteResearch on anthropogenic earthquakes [Click]
The Guardian view on Britain and Iran: a game for losers [Click]
It Won’t Be Easy to Make the Third Debate [Click] So far Biden, Buttigieg, Harris, Sanders and Warren are in; it looks like O’Rourke and Booker have decent chances.
ReplyDeleteP.S.: Booker qualifies on polls, but not yet on individual donors; that's another potential target for a one dollar donation. O'Rourke doesn't make the grade on polls. But waiting to see what transpires in the second debate would seem reasonable; I expect that more than one candidate (I almost said "contestant") will try to take Biden down a peg or two; neither Warren nor Sanders has to do that, but it might be the best way for someone in the second rank to move up. Just my speculation, that.
DeleteBiden and Sanders start to mix it up over medical insurance. [Click]
ReplyDeleteI donno. Biden just kind'a gives me the creeps.
DeleteI just don't see Joe becoming President; his time is past, and if he doesn't realize it that is rather sad. Attacking Bernie as he did seems to betray a loss of confidence that he is the anointed one.
DeleteOf course photos do not always depict people to their best advantage, but in quite a few photos Biden looks OLD. And I think it is fair to say that he doesn't seem very sharp. And he has SO MUCH political baggage. And outdated conditioned responses. If he is attacking Bernie, I think he must doubt his own chances of success. I
DeleteI fixed the typo in the title out front. That's a chick in the nest (not a check)...LOL.
ReplyDeleteOy Oy Oy. We realised at 8:00pm that we were supposed to be at the theatre, having purchased season tickets including for tonight...at 8:00pm. Sigh. We decided to skip it rather than arrive 25 min late for a play we've never seen. But, oh we had fabulous seats! And oh man we did this for the first play this season too! (Only that time we realised it three days later. This time we realised it just barely too late. We mentioned going earlier in the day, but then Wil took a longer nap than planned and I got thinking of other things. Ah well. We are not perfect yet.
Well, you supported a worthy cause, listener. Not having the structure of a conventional job anymore, I have much more need for an appointment book.
DeleteTop Puerto Rico officials resign in group chat scandal that ensnares governor [Click] OOPS!
ReplyDeleteLeaked Memo Says Trump Killed Iran Deal to Spite Obama [Click]
Suspected leaker of Kim Darroch cables identified – report [Click]
I don't think that middle headline is any news.
DeleteAgreed.
Delete