No Plagues Today
No Plagues Today Originally uploaded by Malcolm Tredinnick. Malcolm caught this. Click through if you can’t read the fine print.
Archive of entries posted by jfleck
Science in Service of Society
Here in the arid west, one of the real pressing questions is the effect of reclaimed water on fairways and especially putting greens: Although deficit irrigating can be practiced for short periods, adequate LFs are essential for the long-term success of golf courses irrigated with reuse water. Good to know.
First Hummingbird Sighting
Big Toe Monitoring Birds Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck. Inkstain Staff Ornithologist Big Toe spotted the first hummingbird of spring yesterday (May 1), so I had him go back through the records of first hummingbird sightings at Inkstain World Headquarters. This sighting appears to be substantially later than in 2004 (April 20) and 2005 (April 16). …
Steve Brügge’s eighth graders have done their annual chemistry cartoons:
Puzzling Connections
From Amazon: We’ve noticed that customers who have expressed interest in Prediction: Science, Decision Making, and the Future of Nature by Orrin H. Pilkey have also ordered The Most Important Fish in the Sea: Menhaden and America by H. Bruce Franklin.
California Snowpack
On California’s dismal snowpack, from the Chron: The water content of the Sierra Nevada snowpack is at its lowest level in nearly 20 years — less than 40 percent of usual for this time of year, state water officials say. The size of the snowpack — the source for most of the state’s drinking water …
Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere
New Mexico and Colorado are about to enter Rio Grande Compact Article VII restrictions. That means Elephant Butte, the big reservoir down south, is too low, and we’re prohibited from upstream storage. The meat: In flirting with Rio Grande Compact restrictions, New Mexico finds itself in what has become a familiar situation, with the state’s …
Johnston Alive
Members of the European Parliament have been told Alan Johnston is alive: Members of the European Parliament have been told by Palestinian leaders that the kidnapped BBC correspondent, Alan Johnston, is alive. A 12-member delegation of MEPs were given the assurances in a meeting with Palestinian Deputy PM Azzam al-Ahmad in the West Bank city …
I Guess It Depends on Where You Are
Farm Group Says Rain Ends SA Drought: The South Australian Farmers Federation senior vice-president says recent rains mean the drought is as good as over and he expects farmers to start seeding as soon as the ground is dry enough. April Rains Fail to End NSW Drought: Despite a wet April in some parts of …
Water in the Desert
Albuquerque Wastewater Treatment Plant Outfall Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck. You’re looking at one of the largest tributaries in the Middle Rio Grande – the discharge from Albuquerque’s sewage treatment plant. I don’t know the exact numbers, but we’re putting something in the neighborhood of 60,000 acre feet of water per year into the river. Currently, …