Weather Forecast

As seen over at xkcd:

[permalink]  [explain]

In reality, this summer's weather has been, if not exactly awful, awfully weird.  Started cold through May, then high-summer hot for June, and now since the start of July it's just been rain.  My tomato plants are Not Pleased.  Maybe August will get back to the normal hot-n-sunny & pop-up thunderstorms.  Maybe?

Well anyway, it is getting into hurricane season a little here, so the comic isn't entirely inaccurate.  It did leave out the Plague of Black Widows we had in '06 though.  That part wasn't any fun.

R.I.P. J.J. Cale

Quick article at the BBC, and more at his Wikipedia page.  Seems it was a heart attack.

One of the all-time great songwriter/singers.  Glad I got to see him play in 1986.  He put on a good, if minimalist show.  He and the band walked out on stage and started playing.  Two songs in, he paused to note that nobody was dancing and there was a lot of room up the center aisle and across in front of the stage, then they launched into the next song.  So people jumped up and stared dancing, and that was it for the next two hours.  Hey, we we were all there for the music, didn't give a damn about anything else!

Visualizing Wi-Fi

Beautiful, yeah?
More here.

It's a Nice Picture

But can you guess what it is?

As usual, the comments section is open.

On the Nature of Natural Laws

Over at SMBC.

The Best Zombie Flick You'll See All Summer

And it's only 7 minutes long.

CARGO at YouTube.

No kiddin', it's probably the best zombie flick out right now.

Newly Discovered Pandoravirus Stretches Limits of "Alive?" Even Further

These suckers are big, like small-to-medium bacteria.  The size of the genetic code base alone is astounding:

The discovery was just announced in the journal Science.  That article is paywalled, but there's a nice pop article over at io9 and (of course/already) an article at Wikipedia.

These things raise a host of questions about the line between non-living and living.  They can't reproduce on their own (non-living), but their complexity overlaps with that of eukaryotes.  They have a primitive cell wall (sort of), but can't make their own proteins.  And most of the genetic sequence is like nothing we've ever seen before.  What the hell?

Reality is truly weirder than anything we could dream up.

Characteristics of People Who Attract Mosquitoes

There's a short article on the topic over at Yahoo Health.

In the interest of brevity here's the list:

• Blood Type O.  I am screwed from the start.
• Beer Drinkers.  I am SO screwed.
• During Full Moon.  OK, so I'll watch out for that.  Werewolves too.
• Stinky Feet.  Man... I'd better go buy some more deet.
• Preggers.  OK, safe on this one.
• Outdoor Exercise.  You mean like mountain biking?  Not looking good.
• Dark Clothes.  Like bike shorts.  Damn.  Explains a lot though.

OK, off to work.  It may be in a swamp, but it's air conditioned.

Lazy Mag Seasonal: Backwoods Belgian

In the grocery store this evening I stumbled onto a new Lazy Magnolia seasonal brew, Backwoods Belgian.  Described as "Belgian golden ale with honeysuckle tea," well, that's exactly what it tastes like.  Fairly light taste but with a good smooth mouth feel, and sweet with honeysuckle.  It's good for one bottle every now and again.

Cheers y'all.

Settled? Increasingly Possibly.

<permalink at xkcd>

It is a strong case.  I'm still holding out hope for a clear picture of an ivorybill though.

11,000... almost.

I'll get there tomorrow, weather and work permitting.

Coffee and the Brain

Explained over at PhD Comics.
I'm still researching on the matter.  Now where did my cup go?

July's 4th Ward Cleaver is Up

At the usual place.

It's Alive!

Lake Vostok that is.  Samples taken by scientists team with fairly normal-ish microbes.  Academic paper.  General press article.  Geothermal vents are a likely source of energy keeping the isolated ecosystem alive.

Huh.

New Art: X-20 Launch

Fresh from the brush of the Darling Daughter:

Original pic of X-20 on pad:

If all this mystifies you, here's some light reading over at Wikipedia.

CX Sunday Adventures

Sure, now it's Friday morning.  But I did go riding last weekend, and here's a nice pic from atop the bridge.

Can't look at that plaque without this song coming to mind.