This is the point at which, in the old days, would lead to two to four weeks of flat out writing all day and half the night, every day–no stopping, eating only what appeared at my side or (occasionally) on the kitchen table, as I made the final dash to the end of the first/rough Read More…
Category: science
Hockham Road Level Crossing: Example of Accident Investigation
This was just one of the accident/near-miss investigations I read from the RAIB site, thanks to Mike D sending me the link. It’s an excellent example (so were others, but this one had colored images enough to really “feel” the whole accident and its precursors on both the train side and the signallers’ side.) Read More…
Recovery In Progress
What you’re told, in the management books, is that after a planned fire, everything comes back just fine. Wild fires tend to be hotter, get out of control faster, and do more damage because they occur in the hottest weather when fire departments hope to goodness no fires start. There are enthusiasts for “prescribed fires.” Read More…
Miracle Rain: Recovery Starts
Ten days after the fire, and two days since any rain–but the 1.75 (approx) inches had a wonderful effect and revealed that for some of the burnt areas, the burn didn’t go below the surface. Image brightened to show the green bits more clearly Some areas are still all black, but some have little Read More…
Another New Species: Carolina Mantis
R- was in the barn, and spotted (because it jumped off the overturned water tub he was planning to sit on) a pale gray preying mantis (try saying that four times fast!) I’m off to BugGuide.net to see what I can find. Praying Mantis Stagmomantis carolina photo September 9, 2021, ID confirmed via BugGuide.net Read More…
80 Acres: Get the Light Right
Today I went up to Fox Pavilion, added water to the wildlife waterer, and then headed *down* the North fence Trail and not up it. Also about an hour later, so the sun would be higher. And as usual…getting the light right makes the pictures much, much better. There were four Black Vultures sitting together Read More…
80 Acres: Another New Plant
R- brought back a sedge that neither of us had seen before. We don’t have a field guide to sedges (if one exists) but we do have books that include *some* sedges. Correll & Johnston, the huge (old now) Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas should have all of the Texas sedges, but a) Read More…
Sticking the Landing: SpaceX
SpaceX deserves its own post here, to say “YAY!! Congratulations!” for sticking the landing on the barge today. This is my favorite video of the flight so far: http://tinyurl.com/zlcf38g Boo hiss to those who celebrated the four failures and the ones who today (on Twitter, for instance) claimed the landing was just reverse video. No, Read More…
Done
Well, probably. Sortakinda done. At 1:30 this afternoon, I made my final staggering plunge through the muck and mire to the finish line, having untangled various tangles and discovered yet more typos. I’d been up until 2:30 am Friday morning (NOT, mutter mutter, going out to photograph peak bluebonnets and plains nipple cactus, mutter mutter) Read More…
Monday Science on Twitter
A few more science accounts to follow on Twitter. Fascinating views of our planet from space, and how these data are used down below: https://twitter.com/NASAEarthData. Fascinating views of dwarf planet Ceres: https://twitter.com/NASA_Dawn. Variety of interesting geological bits and pieces at the US Geological Service account; today it’s induced seismicity. https://twitter.com/USGS Interested in monarch migration? Join Read More…