Elaine Morgan, who has done a many thing in her life and is also the chief proponent of the more recent version of the Aquatic Ape Theory, has died at the age of 92.
Dr Morgan only retired at the start of this year from writing a weekly column for the Western Mail after suffering ill health in 2012.
The coal miner’s daughter, who lived in Mountain Ash, Rhondda Cynon Taf, passed away on Friday morning, three weeks after suffering a stroke.
Her daughter-in-law Kim Morgan said: “She was an incredible woman and so inspirational to so many people.”
…
Her book The Descent of Woman became an international bestseller, turning her into a feminist hero who toured the US three times.
She went on to devote her attention increasingly to the subject of human origins.
She was awarded the OBE in 2009 for services to literature and education and earlier this year she was made an honorary freeman of Rhondda Cynon Taf.
Run is a short movie being made here in the Twin Cities by up and coming film maker Josh Mruz. I know about it because a friend of mine is in the film. It is about “a young woman getting chased by her past, hurdling through new obstacles, and recollecting the jumbled elements of her situation.” I’ve tried to trick them into telling me what exactly she is running from but I’m told this would spoil the film. However, when I suggested it might be dinosaurs, NOBODY SAID NO!
Anyway, I’m showing this to you because I want you to give them ten dollars (or more!) to help with this new film. If you give $20 you can have a credit in the film. If you give them $1000, you can play one of the dinosaurs that they refuse to admit are chasing the star!
Nasa Earth Observatory has a photograph of the recent derailment of a train of Bakken Crude burning and/or exploding in a small town in Quebec.
The image “was acquired at 6:59 GMT (2:59 a.m. local time) on July 6 by the instrument’s “day-night band,” which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe signals such as city lights, auroras, fires, and reflected moonlight. The image on the left, shown for comparison, was acquired by the same instrument on July 4, before the derailment. Light sources are not as crisp in the July 6 image because of cloud cover.”
The death total from this event is still unknown. I believe there are about 13 known dead but several are missing and believed to have been incinerated to the point where they may not be found.
We don’t know the full story yet, but it appears that the derailment may have been caused because the break system on the train was turned off by first responders who had come to put out a small fire, and in so doing, turned off the train’s engines. The engines were idling to power the break system, necessary because the train was parked on a grade. It would appear (this is a guess so far) that the oil cars tugged down slope and detached from the engine. This track is normally used at low speeds, between 5 and 10 mph or so, but the oil cars came into town at about 30mph, derailed, smushed together and caught on fire.
We do not know if pipelines are safer than rail (or other) transport of oil and other flammable materials. My guess is that while both systems would likely have very different problems, one may well be safer than the other, and one may be more energy efficient than the other (and one would involve more labor than the other). We are starting to see arguments that since rail is more dangerous (which it may or may not be) we should therefore build the Keystone XL pipeline. But this is like saying that since trained soldiers are better at operating weapons than others, we must therefore go to war. That’s crazy talk and I hope everyone gets that.
Anyway, it’s always interesting when something happens on Earth that can be seen from space. So there you go.
If you are embarrassed by breastfeeding that’s fine, that’s you. But do keep that to yourself and never, ever, act on that embarrassment. Also, it is possible that something is wrong with you and maybe you can have that fixed.
No, it turns out. Paul Douglass pointed me to this very interesting piece in Foreign Policy, from which I take a brief quote:
… The good neighbor has banked its economy on the cursed elixir of political dysfunction — oil. Flush with visions of becoming a global energy superpower, Canada’s government has taken up with pipeline evangelists, petroleum bullies, and climate change skeptics. Turns out the Boy Scout’s not just hooked on junk crude — he’s become a pusher. And that’s not even the worst of it.
With oil and gas now accounting for approximately a quarter of its export revenue, Canada has lost its famous politeness. Since the Conservative Party won a majority in Parliament in 2011, the federal government has eviscerated conservationists, indigenous nations, European commissioners, and just about anyone opposing unfettered oil production as unpatriotic radicals. It has muzzled climate change scientists, killed funding for environmental science of every stripe, and in a recent pair of unprecedented omnibus bills, systematically dismantled the country’s most significant long-cherished environmental laws.
The author of this transformation is Prime Minister Stephen Harper …
I understand Canada is going to start up its own version of FOX News!
Lonesome George Will Be on View at American Museum of Natural History
Museum will Oversee Preservation and Taxidermy of Famous Tortoise
Lonesome George, the 100-year-old (estimated) Pinta Island tortoise (Chelonoidis abingdoni)—the last of his kind—who died in June 2012, will be preserved for posterity by the same expert taxidermy and conservation team that worked on the acclaimed renovation of the Jill and Lewis Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals at the American Museum of Natural History. The world-famous giant tortoise, who continues to be an icon for conservation in Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands, will be on display at the Museum for a limited time starting this winter. Afterwards, Lonesome George will be returned to the Galápagos.
Lonesome George, weighing 200 pounds and measuring 5 feet long, was probably the most famous and most photographed giant tortoise in the world. He died at the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island in June 2012. Despite efforts to provide him with a mate, George never successfully reproduced and remained the last known member of his subspecies.
The Museum’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation works closely with the Galápagos National Park Service, the SUNY College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry, and the Galápagos Conservancy to understand the current role of tortoises in the larger ecosystem and to help conserve these magnificent animals. The four organizations are working together to prepare Lonesome George’s body and spread awareness of the importance of biodiversity conservation.
“We are honored to receive this incredibly important specimen and ultimately, put it on display for the public,” said Michael J. Novacek, senior vice president and provost of science at the American Museum of Natural History. “Our team of experts, using preservation and taxidermy techniques that have earned this institution recognition throughout the world, will ensure the legacy of Lonesome George lives on and is appreciated by future generations.”
“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the Galápagos National Park Service, SUNY ESF, and Galápagos Conservancy team to preserve such an important icon for the global conservation movement,” said Eleanor Sterling, director of the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History. “Together we will bring Lonesome George, both in his physical presence and message, before the international public in ways we hope have a lasting impact.”
Note: The top picture, from Wikipedia Commons, is NOT Lonesome George. That should be obvious, as it looks nothing like him, but I realized some people may not know that.
In the old days, it was believed that you would save gas by leaving your car running if you planned to use it again within a few minutes. That has probably become less true over time as cars have gotten more and more efficient over time. Apparently, idling your car for even something like 10 seconds uses more gas than turning it off and on again. This is caused by the use of fancy fuel systems that cars use now. This technology is, of course, leveraged in hybrids which turn their internal combustion engines off and on as needed.
Anyway, here is an infographic that provides the details. The simple answer is, no, idling the vehicle is generally not a good idea, so stop doing that.
In a ruling that assures further legal battles, the high court found that backers of Proposition 8 did not have the legal right to defend the voter-approved gay marriage ban in place of the governor and attorney general, who have refused to press appeals of a federal judge’s 2010 ruling finding the law unconstitutional.
It was a 5-4 decision, usual suspects.
Reminder: Who is on the Supreme Court matters.
Reminder: Who is in the White House matters to who is on the Supreme Court.
Reminder: Which party controls the Senate matters to the ability of whomever is in the White House to determine who is on the Supreme Court.
Reminder: The Senate has boneheaded rules so the above reminder isn’t just about a majority, but about a “supermajority” of 60/100.
Reminder: The Republicans want to restrict marriage, what you do in your bedroom, and reproductive rights of women. The Democrats don’t.
Reminder: Party politics is important, ignore that at your peril.
The Supreme Court of the United States has truck down the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” as unconstitutional. It was a 5-4 decision. A ruling on California Prop 8 is expected soon.
Section 3 of the law defines marriage as “a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife” and a spouse as “a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.” That provision had been struck down by eight lower courts before the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in United States v. Windsor.
This decision means that legally married same-sex couples are now entitled to the same federal benefits as married opposite sex couples.
Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion. Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alito dissented.
Reminder: Who is on the Supreme Court matters.
Reminder: Who is in the White House matters to who is on the Supreme Court.
Reminder: Which party controls the Senate matters to the ability of whomever is in the White House to determine who is on the Supreme Court.
Reminder: The Senate has boneheaded rules so the above reminder isn’t just about a majority, but about a “supermajority” of 60/100.
Reminder: The Republicans want to restrict marriage, what you do in your bedroom, and reproductive rights of women. The Democrats don’t.
Reminder: Party politics is important, ignore that at your peril.
And a win for everyone else. Ed Markey is projected to win the special election for the Senate seat recently vacated by John Kerry, who is now Secretary of State. When Hilary Clinton first announced that she’d be leaving that position, Republicans promised to stop Susan Rice from getting that seat, for totally bogus reasons. The real reason was to increase the chances that Kerry would be appointed in that position, so they could take that Senate seat in Massachusetts.
