Outside The Interzone

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Tuesday Tits

"The Bearded Tit (Panurus biarmicus, wingspan 17cm) is neither bearded nor a tit – it is a Moustachioed Reedling, but that title is hardly likely to catch on." Photo by Jeremy Early, at Nature Conservation Imaging.

Happy Feet!

How does a mathematician cope with constipation? He gets a pencil and paper and works it out.

How does a blogger deal with that sense of being backed up, bloated, and completely unable to discharge an appropriate load of bile on Tony effing Hayward and his wayward little oil corp? Happy puppy feet! (Via Balloon Juice)

Weather Alert

This from NOAA/NWS:

AN UNUSUALLY STRONG LATE SPRING PACIFIC JET STREAM WILL AIM A
UNUSUALLY MOIST BAND OF MOISTURE AT SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND
NORTHWEST OREGON TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY.

RAINFALL AMOUNTS TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY WILL LIKELY REACH INTO THE
2 TO 5 INCH RANGE AT THE COAST...IN THE COAST RANGE AND IN THE
CASCADES. AMOUNTS IN THE INTERIOR VALLEYS WILL LIKELY REACH THE
1 TO 1.5 INCH RANGE...WITH 1 TO 3 INCHES INCHES IN THE COLUMBIA
RIVER GORGE. SNOW LEVELS WILL BE NEAR OR ABOVE 8000 FEET FOR MOST
OF THIS EVENT. THE HEAVY RAIN ON SNOW WILL CAUSE DANGEROUSLY
UNSTABLE CONDITIONS FOR CLIMBERS ON THE AREA PEAKS. THE
POTENTIAL WILL ALSO BE INCREASED FOR DEBRIS FLOWS FROM THE LARGE
AMOUNTS OF RAIN.

AS A SURFACE LOW CENTER OF 975 MB CURLS UP TOWARD THE SOUTHERN
BRITISH COLUMBIA COAST TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY....THE STORM WILL
ALSO CAUSE QUITE STRONG WINDS FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR BOTH OVER THE
COASTAL WATERS AND ALONG THE COAST. GALE FORCE WIND WILL OCCUR
OVER THE COASTAL WATERS...WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 50 MPH ALONG
COASTAL HEADLANDS AND BEACHES TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY MORNING. THE
INTERIOR VALLEYS MAY EVEN SEE WIND GUSTS BETWEEN 25 TO 35 MPH BY
WEDNESDAY MORNING.

We had our spring back in January and February, so I guess we're getting our winter now. I for one enjoy vigorous weather- I'd rather have it put on a show than simply drizzle on me for days. 1-1.5 inches with gusts 25-35 counts as a show, but not enough of one to be scary, though enough to potentially cause power outages. Which are a damned nuisance. I also found it interesting that the weather service is pointing out the danger of debris flows. I heartily approve. In hilly SE Ohio, where I grew up, rural folks were very much aware of the dangers of flash floods. My sense, though, is that most Oregonians are blissfully unaware of the dangers of debris flows, despite the fact that several people are killed by them most years.

In other weather news, today marks the official beginning of hurricane season. Here's hoping they get the damned well shut down before a tropical storm forces workers to evacuate.

Monday, May 31, 2010

I Assumed This Was Shopped

I saw this earlier this afternoon at The Daily What; my first assumption was that it was photoshopped. Despite assurances it came from the Guatemalan Government, I held off posting it until I saw it picked up in a more trustworthy place.

Well, the NYT has picked it up, and I more or less trust them. "This astonishingly unnerving photograph was posted today on the Flickr.com feed of the Guatemalan goverment and shows a seemingly bottomless sinkhole that opened up on Sunday in Guatemala City as a swath of Central America was drenched by tropical storm Agatha." Yow! Below is a street-level view:

The full-size aerial view is hosted at Flickr (~1 MB). Also, for you Star Wars fans, "This is no cave!" (I'm pretty sure that one is photoshopped.)

Followup June 1: More photos and description at National Geographic.

Causing Morale Problems

DADT: never, ever. Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Gulf Spill: The Final Solution

BP has determined that if we just ignore it for 7 years, the reservoir will likely empty out, at which point the leak will stop. "It will take 7 years for the oil deposit below the Deepwater Horizon well to empty if left alone."

The "Top Kill" effort has officially failed. Progress on the relief wells continues, but the expected date for those to be in place is described in numerous articles as August, with some saying "at least" August. There is apparently one more strategy in line to be tried, though I haven't seen a nice catchy name for it yet. It involves cutting the bent and broken riser off of the top of the blowout preventer, then capping the open end. This is by no means an assured path to success, and over the short term, is actually likely to make things worse to much worse.

The riser is bent and kinked directly above the BOP, and the constrictions in the pipe caused by these twists is most likely restricting the flow. Cutting the riser off of the BOP will remove the restriction, allowing the flow to erupt at full force. Obama and BP are describing this as "open-heart surgery."

I just wish I was more confident this operation was being carried out by surgeons with at least a middle-school education, and with more than pointed sticks and knapped stone tools. I'm not.

Followup: Pharyngula has an excellent suggestion on how to hit BP, its executives, and every other driller in the Gulf where it'll hurt them most... if they haven't been behaving.