On My California Roots
Lissa and I are making a quick trip to California, which has me musing on my roots. Joan Didion described those who created California as “not the self-satisfied, happy and content people, but the adventurous, the restless, and the daring.” I am anything but restless and daring (I hate moving across town), and I am [...]
Dangerous Climate Interference
James Hansen and company have a new paper attempting to define “dangerous climate interference” and suggest where we currently stand relative to their chosen standard. Their answer? Close: We examine potential criteria for dangerous climate change assuming that humanity wants to preserve planetary conditions similar to those in the period of civilization, thus near the [...]
On the Mosquito and the Minnow
Stuff I wrote elsewhere: Mosquitoes feasted Tuesday morning on dignitaries who gathered in the Rio Grande bosque to commemorate the release of the millionth Rio Grande silvery minnow. The minnow release was a celebration of efforts to save the fish from extinction. The mosquitoes were a reminder of an especially wet spring— nature cooperating with [...]
It’s Melting
New NASA data shows accelerated snowmelt in Greenland: To understand why these trends are important to track, Tedesco explained one of the consequences of melting snow. “Although wet and dry snow look similar at first glance, wet and re-frozen snow absorb more of the sun’s radiation, reflecting only 50-60 percent back into the atmosphere. Dry [...]
Security in the Student Ghetto
Boo Radley House Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck. Concerned by what I read in the comments on Duke City Fix, I dispatched Big Toe to Nora’s new neighborhood this afternoon to evaluate the security situation. Before he turned to science, BT trained with one of the famous Malaysian pirate ninjas, and he holds a black belt [...]
Crosstown Traffic
Crosstown TrafficOriginally uploaded by heinemanfleck. I had a friend years ago in California, Victor, who was fun to talk to because he was so bafflingly smart. Among his many interests (he also imagined the Internet before there was one) was the way we map our personal geographies of the world around us. I was thinking [...]
Drought in the Southeast
Six Month Standardized Precipitation Index Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck. Not exactly what you’d expect from an El Nino winter, when the typical pattern is to have wet anomalies across the southern tier of states in the continental U.S. and drier weather to the north. As obsessed as I am with southwestern climate, if you judge [...]
cactus flowers May 2007
cactus flowers May 2007 Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck. Lissa’s picture of one of her front yard cactus. In the desert, when it rains, they’re happy. And this May, it has rained.
Another Google Map Attempt
Last Sunday’s bike ride, and this is almost certainly invalid HTML, but if a map shows up, I’ve been victorious!
Carless in Albuquerque
J.A. Montalbano has been doing a delightful series this week in the Albuquerque Tribune on his adventures of going a week without driving his car. Today is telecommuting. My favorite bit of business was from day two at the bus stop: I left the house at 11:25 a.m. and got to the Rapid Ride stop [...]
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