Breaking stereotypes but just a little

http://xkcd.com/

Note that when you go to the original page, and do the traditional xkcd mouseover for minor punchline in the alt text, you get the tidbit that Uzbekistan is one of only two doubly landlocked countries. Before I look it up, I have to figure out what the other one is.

Now I want to get a blank map, with only coast lines, not borders, and fill it in like this. I can put about 2/3 of Africa and nearly all of South America. Eastern Europe and what my husband calls "Soviet Blockistan," or the parts of Asia and Europe that were formerly Soviet Union countries, are a lot harder.

The frontier is everywhere.

I want to come back in some-odd thousands of years and look back, just to see where we've come, and find out what this chunk of time means in the grand scheme of things.

I'm dreaming of a white Boxing Day

First: Go check out Dan's explanation of the meteorology that drove the blizzard. I'll wait. (My post is pure fluff.)

Okay, back? Here we go:

The timelapse video of the world filling with snow is fabulous. Poor little clcok!

December 2010 Blizzard Timelapse from Michael Black on Vimeo.

Yesterday's blizzard on the northeast coast of the United States hit hard, snarling the subways and traffic, and giving people either a night stuck on a train or in a station or airport, or else a day indoors staying warm..

A satellite camera took a great shot as it moved on, leaving people to shovel out and make snow angels.


(photo: NASA Goddard)

What was your Boxing Day Blizzard 2010 like? (I'm in the San Francisco bay area. Here, it was just cool and wet.)

rompin' in a winter wonderland!

Oooh, this video now contains geographilic information, so I can post it! Yay!

Bailey's human says:

I shot this video on VHS-C in my backyard, near Ward, Colorado (8,700' elevation) during a blizzard in the late 1990's; a local weatherman said it was the most measureable snow (if memory serves, it was 54" in 48 hours) from the least amount of moisture ever.

On the Earth Day of Christmas ....

For a proper Christmas celebration this year, check out last year's Twelve Days of Earth Science from
Highly Allochthonous. It's beautifully silly and fun, and I wish I'd thought of it - and might just copy the idea. :D

Basking Shark, Red Sea

Now I feel like I really must go kayaking in the Red Sea.

time-lapse solstice eclipse

My writing fu just seems stuck lately, what with planning for impending baby, some health issues, and .... well, I have no other excuses. But here's neat time-lapse video of last night's eclipse!

Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse from William Castleman on Vimeo.

I have a bookmark file full of things to write about, and rather than go on hiatus, I think I'll toss them up as I'm able. I apologize.

- Mary

Google Earth skydiving

I wonder if my acrophobia would kick in.

NYC historical photos - but from whom?

Aerial view of midtown Manhattan looking west from the East River
July 1944



I hope the original credits/copyright appear in the comments soon, here and/or in response to the flickr photo you can get to if you click through.

Here's another unattributed photo that I haven't found a source for. Would love to know, as I'm sure not all of these are in the public domain or creative commons. So many good photos like that are out there in the wild.



One of my favorite things about Flickr is that I can explore the creative commons photos there, and both use them and give credit where it is due.

our brightly colored slimy neighbors of the deepish

From the National Science Foundation

Sea slug species Elysia chlorotica feeding on Vaucheria litorea, a yellow-green algae. E. chlorotica sequesters chloroplasts from the algae into specialized cells lining the digestive diverticulum, and the chloroplasts are photosynthetically functional for 9 to 11 months. Nuclear-encoded, algal chloroplast genes necessary to the function of the sequestered chloroplasts have been horizontally transferred and integrated into the slug genome. (Date of Image: 2009)

Nudibranchs are SO COOL.

They poop poison if they don't ingest it as defense. They dress up as poisonous critters.

And many people don't even know they exist.
















Click through for image credit,
all are some form of creative commons licensed or otherwise allowed appropriate to this venue.

Winter in Star City

StarCity view (at -25 C)
Originally uploaded by europeanspaceagency.

Star City, Kazakhstan
November 2010
Temperature -25C

Saving the Coral Reef One Stitch at a Time

Saving the Coral Reef One Stitch at a Time - This gorgeous video isn't embeddable, but please go look. I'm currently not crocheting because my rheumatoid arthritis is acting up, but I would really love to know what your crafting work is, if you craft, and if there's a way you connect it to your love for the earth, or protecting the planet and its ecosphere.

Aurora Borealis from Tromsø, Norway

Aurora Borealis timelapse HD - Tromsø 2010 from Tor Even Mathisen on Vimeo.

The rate of timelapse if evident when the shots include moving clouds. In fact, where the clouds are thicker, the effect is glowing and magical.

little cat feet

San Francisco's fog is a lively, fluid, beautiful thing that keeps our midsummer beautifully moderate.

Summer in San Francisco from Michael Winokur on Vimeo.

Michael Winokur has put together a video showing our fog illuminated by lights, by sun, from above, from below, and (my favorite thing ever), as it pours like cream over the ridges of the Peninsula and Marin Headlands.

I found this via Sutro Tower (no, really - the Bay Bridge also tweets, I love the internet) on Twitter.

shimmering emerald curtains

I've never seen the Aurora Borealis, just the Aurora Australis - and it looks exactly like this, just from below:


(European Space Agency pic)

I saw it from -32.7ish latitude in South Australia -- quite far north, for an aurora.

It was one of the most magical experiences of my life, and though I'd love to see another aurora, I'll take what I can get.

reduce reuse recycle

Ann Arbor, Michigan
Originally uploaded by NathanAndrewWinters.

These are amazing statistics.

I have bags that I keep in the house, and bags that I keep in the car, and even one hanging from my purse, but somehow, too often I end up at the store with only one bag. When we don't have enough, I use paper bags, because we use those for other things around the house, then I can compost or recycle them.

Night Lights

Night Lights
Originally uploaded by europeanspaceagency.

I'm very curious about the illuminated yellow ring here. Could that possibly be illuminated water vapor in the atmosphere, or is it more likely to be an optical effect from the window or camera, or even an artifact? It doesn't seem to be the latter, but I know little about how the various elements in this sort of photography combine. And it seems too even and too far south to have anything to do with auroras, but I could be wrong there, too.

Thin crescent moon and Mars setting behind Sugarloaf Mountain

Thin crescent moon and Mars setting behind Sugarloaf Mountain
Originally uploaded by Unstrung Photo

Lovely video taken tonight. I don't know which Sugarloaf Mountain this is, but the photographer is from eastern Tennessee.

Do you know what's ridiculous about this map?

California to Hawaii

Driving directions to Honolulu, HI
14 days 22 hours
I-5 N
3,748 mi

California
1. Head west on Terrace Ave toward Tivy Valley Rd 266 ft
2. Terrace Ave turns slightly left and becomes Tivy Valley Rd 0.5 mi
3. Turn right at N Piedra Rd 3.8 mi
4. Turn right at CA-180 W/E Kings Canyon Rd Continue to follow CA-180 W 19.7 mi
5. Take exit 57A to merge onto CA-99 N toward Sacramento 132 mi
6. Continue onto CA-12 E 1.0 mi
7. Continue onto CA-99 N 31.7 mi
8. Take the exit toward San Francisco/I-80 W/I-5 W/CA-99 W 1.2 mi
9. Merge onto CA-99 N/Interstate 305 W 1.3 mi
10. Take the exit onto I-5 N toward Redding
Passing through Oregon
Entering Washington 757 mi
11. Take exit 169 for NE 45th St 0.3 mi
12. Slight left at 7th Ave NE 262 ft
13. Take the 1st left onto NE 45th St 0.7 mi
14. Turn left at Wallingford Ave N 0.9 mi
15. Turn right at N 34th St 292 ft
16. Take the 1st left onto Densmore Ave N 436 ft
17. Turn right at N Northlake Way 285 ft
18. Kayak across the Pacific Ocean
Entering Hawaii
2,756 mi
19. Continue straight 0.1 mi
20. Turn left at Kuilima Dr 0.5 mi
21. Take the 3rd right onto HI-83 W 12.4 mi
22. Continue straight onto HI-99 S/Kamehameha Hwy 6.5 mi
23. Slight left at HI-80 S/Kamehameha Hwy
Continue to follow Kamehameha Hwy2.1 mi
24. Take the ramp onto I-H-2 S 8.1 mi
25. Merge onto I-H-1 E 4.7 mi
26. Take exit 13B toward Halawa Hts. Stadium 0.3 mi
27. Merge onto I-H-201 E 4.1 mi
28. Merge onto I-H-1 E 2.3 mi
29. Take exit 21A for Hawai 61 toward Pali Hwy 0.2 mi
30. Keep right at the fork, follow signs for HI-61 S/Downtown and merge onto HI-61 S/Pali Hwy
Continue to follow Pali Hwy 0.4 mi
31. Continue onto Bishop St 0.2 mi
32. Turn left at S King St 0.3 mi
33. Turn left at Likelike St 446 ft

Honolulu, HI

It's just silly. Why would you waste time and gas driving to Puget Sound only to have to kayak that much farther to Honolulu? Kayaks are available for rental all along Monterey Bay, which is nice and central within California, as well as north and south along the entire coast.

Sheesh.

first rickroll in space

I love video of uncontrolled helium balloon descents.