tingilinde

kitka

KQED hosted the wonderful Eastern European vocal group Kitka yesterday.  They've been performing in the Bay Area for some time and performed some pieces from their Wintersongs concert - you can listen here., Many of these are quite old.  There's a neat Finnish reindeer herding song at about 21:25

 

 

how societies remember and forget

A neat paper was recently published in Nature that proposed a simple model for the decay of collective memory and attention.  SciAm jumped on it with an explainer and a clear video.

These things are generally messier, but a simple model is a good starting place.

 

 

great shakes

earthquake hazard maps

 

the oil industry's push to accelerate global warming

An opportunity with a Republican government  (via The New York Times)

 

public transit in the us

Comments on a new book about works and what doesn't..  

 

the new arctic

As more is learned about global warming, climate change in the Arctic looks increasingly dire. Our inaction and delay is a crime against the young and Nature.  

Bjarne notes a recent paper. 

 

The urgency of Arctic change

JamesOverlanda Edward Dunleab Jason E. Boxc Robert Corelld Martin Forsiuse Vladimir Kattsovf Morten Skovgård Olseng Janet Pawlakh Lars-Otto Reiersenh Muyin Wangai

Abstract
This article provides a synthesis of the latest observational trends and projections for the future of the Arctic. First, the Arctic is already changing rapidly as a result of climate change. Contemporary warm Arctic temperatures and large sea ice deficits (75% volume loss) demonstrate climate states outside of previous experience. Modeled changes of the Arctic cryosphere demonstrate that even limiting global temperature increases to near 2 °C will leave the Arctic a much different environment by mid-century with less snow and sea ice, melted permafrost, altered ecosystems, and a projected annual mean Arctic temperature increase of +4 °C. Second, even under ambitious emission reduction scenarios, high-latitude land ice melt, including Greenland, are foreseen to continue due to internal lags, leading to accelerating global sea level rise throughout the century. Third, future Arctic changes may in turn impact lower latitudes through tundra greenhouse gas release and shifts in ocean and atmospheric circulation. Arctic-specific radiative and heat storage feedbacks may become an obstacle to achieving a stabilized global climate. In light of these trends, the precautionary principle calls for early adaptation and mitigation actions.

changing the planet's biosphere

Agriculture has dramatically impacted the planet's ecosystem..  Greg points to a paper published by The Royal Society that uses the broiler chicken as an example.

 

The broiler chicken as a signal of a human reconfigured biosphere

 

Carys E. Bennett , Richard Thomas , Mark Williams , Jan Zalasiewicz , Matt Edgeworth , Holly Miller , Ben Coles , Alison Foster , Emily J. Burton and Upenyu Marume
Published:12 December 2018

Abstract

Changing patterns of human resource use and food consumption have profoundly impacted the Earth's biosphere. Until now, no individual taxa have been suggested as distinct and characteristic new morphospecies representing this change. Here we show that the domestic broiler chicken is one such potential marker. Human-directed changes in breeding, diet and farming practices demonstrate at least a doubling in body size from the late medieval period to the present in domesticated chickens, and an up to fivefold increase in body mass since the mid-twentieth century. Moreover, the skeletal morphology, pathology, bone geochemistry and genetics of modern broilers are demonstrably different to those of their ancestors. Physical and numerical changes to chickens in the second half of the twentieth century, i.e. during the putative Anthropocene Epoch, have been the most dramatic, with large increases in individual bird growth rate and population sizes. Broiler chickens, now unable to survive without human intervention, have a combined mass exceeding that of all other birds on Earth; this novel morphotype symbolizes the unprecedented human reconfiguration of the Earth's biosphere.

 

 

smartphone eyepiece adapter

I haven't seen one of these, but was given a solid recommendation,  The big feature is 3-axis adjustment.  Not terribly expense as these things go,

 

spreading christmas cheer

And a four year war with neighbors in Northern Idaho

a tip of the hat to Helen

 

andy serkis as theresa may

the airborne resistance

birds v drones

a tip of the hat to Om

home-brew lava

Trying to understand the dynamics of lava mixing with water using controlled experiments.

The page links to the paper as well as some videos.

 

 

taiwan and english

They want to make it an official language..

 

 

could trump be the best thing that could have happened for american democracy?

A piece by Paul Krugman.. the GOP is worse and Trump's awfulness makes us lucky he's their public face.

snip.

...

For whatever may happen to Donald Trump, his party has turned its back on democracy. And that should terrify you.

The fact is that the G.O.P., as currently constituted, is willing to do whatever it takes to seize and hold power. And as long as that remains true, and Republicans remain politically competitive, we will be one election away from losing democracy in America.

...

 

 

the first traffic light

gas powered and lethal

a tip of the hat to Sukie