Cartoons: what's that again?

Today's cartoons take a look at health studies, chickenhawks, and one pipeline that has no oil and probably never will.

Health studies may be bad for your health.

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Walt Handelsman, The Week

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So, what is a chickenhawk? Writing for the Atlantic in an article titled "The Tragedy of the American Military", James Fallows describes America as a

...Chickenhawk Nation, based on the derisive term for those eager to go to war, as long as someone else is going. It would be the story of a country willing to do anything for its military except take it seriously. As a result, what happens to all institutions that escape serious external scrutiny and engagement has happened to our military. Outsiders treat it both too reverently and too cavalierly, as if regarding its members as heroes makes up for committing them to unending, unwinnable missions and denying them anything like the political mindshare we give to other major public undertakings, from medical care to public education to environmental rules.

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Pat Bagley, The Week

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In my mind the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is coupled with the NSA's spying (or 'surveillance') on just about everyone. This is partially true. For the skinny on why Congress wants to defund DHS and what this may mean, take a look at Forbes' article "The Silver Lining Of A Partial DHS Shutdown."

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Tom Toles, The Week

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-- Marge

DIY: get ready for spring

15 sky planters, ceiling-suspended indoor herb garden, Green Follower

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I know it's out there somewhere, spring that is. So to get past these warmish, but uncertainly so, days and brown earth, bare tree vistas, let's look forward to spring and summer. What better way to do it than plan your garden and plant the starts.

Even if you don't have the land for a garden, you can put together an herb garden on your deck or porch. If even that is not available, how about a kitchen herb garden (this one's year-round). For planting outside one of the most important things is to know your zone. Orchids in the great Alaskan outdoors don't quite work. Even basil, usually planted from seed outdoors, doesn't do well here if not started indoors or in a greenhouse (if you're lucky enough to have one).

This collection of webpages on starting seeds indoors will get you going: Burpee, the seed seller (your seeds don't have to be only vegetables); Organic Gardening; and Popular Mechanics. Martha Stewart has an excellent photo essay on herb basics that includes the requirements for growing plants of all kinds.

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Herb Basic, Martha Stewart

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If you decide that a kitchen garden best suits your needs, there are many options, some quite expensive. For simple container solutions, take a look at the selection offered by Green Follower. Organic Gardening has a list of the "10 Best Herbs for Indoors." One of my favorites is parsley--it's pretty and nothing beats fresh parsley when cooking. Five garden kits are reviewed at About > Indoor Gardening. At Urban Gardens you can find an article on 6 Types of Hydroponic Gardening Systems and Countertop Planters, plus some historical information. And don't forget to check out 'indoor herb garden kits' at Amazon.

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parsley, Organic Gardening

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Getting your hands dirty can be a good thing.

-- Marge

Small miracles from the kitchen

Olive Tree Seeks Caring Family for Long-Distance Relationship, Olive Oil Times

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Gizmag recently published "Olive oil ingredient leads cancer cells to their death," based on research by a group of scientists at Rutgers and NYC's Hunter College. This is great news. It has been established that olive oil has many benefits. And I've been a big fan of it because it supplies the body with HDL and "HDL cholesterol is considered “good” cholesterol because it helps remove LDL cholesterol from the arteries." A dissenting opinion on the benefits of olive oil with respect to good vs. bad fats comes from Pritikin, a low-fat, high-fiber diet reviewed at WebMD. For a compendium of the current wisdom on fats, take a look at "Choosing Healthy Fats" by Helpguide.

Another amazing substance you can find in your kitchen is baking soda. Besides its use as a leavening agent, it can remove odors and gently scour countertop stains. Care2 lists "51 Fantastic Uses for Baking Soda."

Then there's white vinegar. It cleans your coffeepot; is a counter-measure against fruit flies; and will loosen chewing gum on upholstery and carpets. For "23 Ingenious Uses for White Vinegar," check out this article. BTW, Care2's byline is "the world's largest community for good" and there you can start a petition to improve your community.

Combining baking soda and vinegar in a slow drain and adding boiling water will clear it out. This comes up when you google it.

Here's a short list of Kitchen Cure Alls from the dailyhiit blog.

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Kitchen cure-alls, dailyhiit

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-- Marge

Cartoons: the elephant in the room

Today's mix includes cartoonists' comments on the recent FCC (Federal Communications Commission) ruling on net neutrality, the Republican Party, jobs for potential terrorists, and pizza delivery via drone.

It's beginning to look like even some Republicans are unhappy with their party.

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Mike Luckovich, The Week

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Apparently, Americans are ready and waiting for delivery by drone.

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Chan Lowe, The Week

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Michael Tomasky at the Daily Beast admits: "Yes, I’ll Say It: Marie Harf Had a Point." Few in the news media appear to agree.

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Michael Ramirez, The Week

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In this cartoon the FCC is portrayed as antiquated. Lawrence Lessig says it's the internet in America that's behind the times:

Defenders of the status quo are now frantically filling the tubes with FUD about the FCC's decision. But as you work through this FUD, keep one basic fact clear. Relative to practically every other comparable nation, America's broadband sucks. Seriously, sucks. Even France beats us in cost and quality. And as the genius Yochai Benkler established in the monumental report by the Berkman Center commissioned by the FCC after Obama was elected, the single most important reason our broadband sucks is the sell-out regulatory strategy of the prior decade at least. Nations that imposed neutrality-like rules beat us, in cost and quality. They have more competition, faster growth, and better access. So for anyone remotely connected to reality-based policy making, it has been clear forever that America made a wrong turn in its regulatory strategy, and that we needed an about face.

BTW, FUD stands for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.

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Nate Beeler, The Week

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IMHO, with respect to net neutrality and many other federal issues, the elephant in the room is American worship of the almighty dollar.

-- Marge

DIY: take air in, let air out

The art of breathing, pure

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"Breathing is something all humans do to live" may be a given, but most of us forget about breathing -- we just do it. And often badly. For example, when I'm working at the computer and concentrating on something, I forget to breathe.

For survival there's a 'Rule of Threes': you can last 3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter in extreme conditions, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. There are variations, of course, but then this is a rule. Some have survived 8 to 10 days without water and we used to practice holding our breaths for 7 minutes. But rules are rules, right?

So why bother learning to breathe better? Because many disciplines teach that correct breathing is essential for success. Disciplines such as sports, music (especially singing), and yoga. Breathing is also touted as a way to relax and revitalize. I've put together a playlist that demonstrates some of the rationales and breathing techniques. At the end of the playlist is a lovely example of what music training can do.

Some webpages that talk about breathing are Time Magazine: "6 Breathing Exercises;" Sing Wise: "Correct Breathing and 'Support' for Singing;" Livestrong: "Sports Breathing Techniques;" and DoYogaWithMe: "Yoga Breathing Exercises – Pranayama Videos."

Here's a video you may enjoy that shows how musical training can be applied.

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-- Marge

Suspended leaps, controlled spins

Sergei Polunin-David LaChapelle, "Take Me to Church" by Hozier, YouTube

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A video of Sergei Polunin dancing, directed by David Lachapelle, crossed my radar the other day.

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The sheer athleticism of danseurs (male ballet dancers in French; in Italian it's ballerino, as opposed to ballerina), is to me a wonder to behold. Beatifully controlled, visually exciting athleticism.

I know of two other well-known dancers in this discipline: Nureyev and Baryshnikov. Nureyev is most often seen dancing with Margot Fonteyn, as seen below in Les Sylphides, Waltz No. 7.

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Baryshnikov's leaps amaze. For seconds he seems suspended in the air.

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As an aside, I include this video because of the dramatic, well-designed sets. The music is nice, too.

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Any post about ballet would be lacking if the amount of hard, sweaty work that these finished, fairytale productions require weren't mentioned. If you get a chance and the dancemaster permits, visit a local ballet studio to see what I mean. Here's a sneak peak at rehearsals for "The Nutcracker" by the Royal New Zealand Ballet.

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If ballet looks to you like it could be a good way to exercise, there's a series of workout DVDs produced by the New York City Ballet and available at Amazon. You can preview a DVD here.

-- Marge

Cartoons: Already missing Jon Stewart

"Jon Stewart to Leave 'The Daily Show' This Year," says the Rolling Stone. And it's sad news indeed. For me Jon Stewart is the voice of reason in a stridently polarized world. His forte was commenting on the news of the day.

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John Darkow, The Week

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Another reporter, this one supposedly a 'real' one, is leaving his post, having been shot down for gross inaccuracies, "Brian Williams' False 2003 Iraq Helicopter Claim Draws Scrutiny To Other War Exploits."

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Adam Zyglis, The Week

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Forbes has an interesting comparison of the two: "Brian Williams, Jon Stewart And The Line Between Real And Fake News."

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Chris Britt, The Week

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Meanwhile, more trouble on the internet superhighway: "Cost of Anthem's data breach likely to exceed $100 million."

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Gary Varvel, The Week

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And, of course, my (almost) weekly shot at the filthy rich.

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Walt Handelsman, The Week

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-- Marge

DIY: presenting your best face

Getting a good mobile selfie can be a challenge. (Your shower curtain in the background likely says something about your social life or absence thereof.) As you probably know, there are apps for processing your mugshot, beautifying it, and changing the background. Here's a survey of them.

Two list articles that give some good information are at Bustle and dotComplicated. There are so many more apps available. If you're paying for the app, try to pick one that has a review rating greater than 4, less than that is too buggy.

If beauty, or retouching, is your main concern, then an app like Facetune is what you want. Here's an example of what it does.

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Facetune Example, First Coast News

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Photo Editor Pro (Android, free) offers many options including frames, filters, stickers, and one-tap auto enhance.

Photobucket has a mobile app available for both Apple and Android. With it you can animate via a GIF maker; add filters, text, stickers, and more; and auto backup to their site.

What caught my attention though are the special effects you can achieve with your mobile phone with some apps like Slow Shutter Cam, Image Blender, and Tiny Planet Photos. Unfortunately these are only available for Apple devices. According to AppCrawler, there are some some photo apps available for Android that will accomplish slow shutter effects. Below are samples of Slow Shutter and Image Blender. There's a group on Flickr that illustrates the many amazing effects you can get with an image blender app.

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screenshot, Slow Shutter Cam, iTunes

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Michelle Robinson, Image Blender Group, Flickr

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An article at Mashable also lists some apps for mobile photo editing; a gallery is included.

-- Marge

So what's the weather like today

Got nothin' in the way of a topic today, so I'm looking at the weather around the U.S. and touching on the weather in the UK.

Freezing rain, snow, and sleet hit New York; and a storm with more snow is predicted. A headline from Syracuse says "So much snow that some schools in Central New York won't start on time."

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Syracuse University students from the Alpha Phi Sorority skate at the Clinton Square
ice rink Sunday afternoon. (Michael Greenlar | mgreenlar@syracuse.com

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Meanwhile a warning of fire danger was posted for Tulsa, Oklahoma on the 6th. The danger is due to dry conditions and high winds.

In both the Northwest and most of Alaska snow levels have been low this year. In Alaska sled makers and mushers are preparing for warm-weather competitions (Iditarod and other dogsled races). A map of the current state of Alaska's snowfall can be found at the National Weather Service site.

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A musher and dog team cross the ice between the Rohn and Nikolai checkpoints in Alaska during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday, March 5, 2013. The Anchorage Daily News / Bill Roth, Sacramento Bee

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In Los Angeles a dog was rescued from the swollen Los Angeles river. After several years of drought, a 'River of Rain' is falling on California.

The UK is enduring what they call the 'winter misery'. Here's an article about heavy snows on the 5th. Other articles talk about low temperatures and torrential rains, all in the space of February 2015.

Miami, Florida, is balmy, for now.

-- Marge

Cartoons: red dots are the new black

With measles outbreaks in California, Ohio, and South Dakota social disapproval of anti-vaxxers is loud and wide. Where our attention is directed, cartoonists can but follow.

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Walt Handelsman, The Week

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Drew Sheneman, The Week

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Tom Toles, The Week

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Steve Sack, The Week

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Not to worry, smallpox--the ancient scourge of mankind--will most likely be used in bio-warfare.

-- Marge

DIY: easy winter trips to warmer places

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After the chilly, snowy surprises of this winter, a desire to be someplace warmer is understandable. You can go to sunny, calming places with a few clicks of your mouse and relax. No airport security, no sardines-in-a-tin-can plane seating, and no serious dents to your wallet.

To remind you what you may be slipping away from here's a video by the Weather Channel's Brainstorm Team about wind chill.

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Places I'm suggesting that you visit are in the metaverse, namely Second Life and Landmark (the game).

Second Life is virtual world like no other. There you can build, script (hopefully your build and not to grief other players), form social bonds, dance, outfit and shape your avatar--the list is virtually endless. There's an emphasis on creativity. You can play for free, but membership has its perks. Getting started can be a steep learning curve, but that's true of many MMORPGs as well. Sign up at the Second Life website.

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Landmark is currently in closed beta, so if you want to get in you'll have to acquire a beta key. Walmart and GameStop may still be offering them--I'm not sure. You can also gain access through Steam (a Settler pack is $19.99). If you belong to a guild, it may be offering give-away keys; a friend who plays may have extras. Landmark interests me in several ways, but mostly I continue to want to see how the voxel-based world develops and what the developers come up with next. BTW, the developers interact directly with the players, a refreshing difference from many MMORPGs I've seen. The blog Procedural World discusses voxel development in detail.

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You can also find these last two videos in my YouTube channel playlists under the title De-stressing in virtual worlds.

-- Marge

Hubble is winking out

NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage, star-forming region NGC3603, SpaceTelescope

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Hubble, aka the HST, has given us hundreds, maybe thousands of images of space, like the one above. But it's reaching the end of its lifetime. Scientists say it could  survive through 2020. Many of us watched with great interest as it was being built. A synopsis of Hubble's story is available at the Hubble site. Its optics are amazing. For a detailed description of the telescope's construction, check out Science Clarified's article. Unfortunately, Hubble's mirror in the newly deployed device "was the wrong shape and could not focus properly (Science Clarified)". If you're interested in such here's a link to NASA's Optical Systems Failure Report (a large PDF).

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Grinding the Hubble mirror, Science Clarified

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Hot in the news right now is a possible replacement for Hubble, one that doesn't require grinding mirrors or transporting a payload of 24,500 pounds. It's called the Aragoscope, and its technology is revolutionary (when is space technology not?). It's being developed at the University of Colorado-Boulder and scientists there say that it could "provide images up to 1,000 times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope." This is an illustration of the concept.

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WebsterCash, Aragoscope illustration, Centauri Dreams

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The idea originates with Webster Cash and he describes it thus in an article at Centauri Dreams:

Unlike a starshade, the Aragoscope would be circular in shape, an opaque disk whose diffracted light is directed toward a pinhole camera at its center, then to a telescope that provides extremely high resolution views of stellar objects.  

Cash has also developed the starshade concept, but is now calling the Aragoscopy phase 2 of his efforts to develop a new kind of telescope. Paul Gilster at Centauri Dreams comments:

It’s intriguing that the Aragoscope, in some ways, turns Cash’s earlier starshade concepts on their head, aiming for high resolution rather than high contrast. “I spent a lot of time understanding the physics of destroying diffractive waves very efficiently,” he told the magazine. “In the process, it’s not hard to see that you can use those detractive waves to create images.”

Deploying the Aragoscope would be much simpler to launch than the HST, as described by CBS:

The opaque space disk would be made of a strong, dark, plastic-like material (think Hefty bag) that could be launched in a compressed fashion like a parachute, and then unfurled in orbit. The space shield would be tethered to the telescope at distances from tens to hundreds of miles depending on the size of the disk, said Harness [doctoral student Anthony Harness of the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences].

More information is available at Gizmag and Popular Mechanics.

-- Marge