Alaska and President Obama

Denali, photo by AP, Boston Herald

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This headline jumped out at me today: Alaska-bound, Obama renames America's tallest peak.

One thing about Alaskans is they don't like being told what to do. We're so used to being free to chart our own ways, that someone from the "outside" ('outside' in Alaska usually means the lower forty-eight states; it can also mean not a member of the group) is automatically resisted. So, having President Obama tell me that Mount McKinley is now to be known as Denali rubs.

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Sydney Laurence, Mt. McKinley, Wikipedia

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However, I've always known it by both names and so have most of the people who have lived here for a while, so it's really nothing new. Denali (or McKinley) is like a jewel set near the center of the state. It's also a magnet for adventurers who want to prove themselves by climbing it. For information on climbing Denali, check out the National Park Service (NPS) FAQ page. In 2011 Fairbanks' daily newspaper, the Newsminer, published the piece, Charge climbers the cost: Mountain safety programs drain Denali's budget. In the article, it's said

Search and rescue costs, which rescue beneficiaries or insurance companies might pay, are over and above the $1.3 million dollar program cost and average about $200,000 per year. The cost of major rescue incidents is paid for out of funds appropriated by Congress for other NPS purposes. Annual rescue costs don’t impact the local Denali budget and programs, but do negatively impact other NPS programs nationally.

Denali may be beautiful, but it can also be deadly. In fact, living in Alaska can be deadly.

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Iceberg in Portage Lake, Alaska.net

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Speaking of rescues, this piece also caught my eye: Good Samaritans rescue hypothermic kayakers from Portage Lake. Portage Lake is about half-an-hour's drive from Anchorage. According to the U. S. Search and Rescue Task Force (USSARTF):

Expected Survival Time in Cold Water

Water Temperature	Exhaustion or Unconsciousness in	Expected Survival Time
70–80° F (21–27° C)	3–12 hours	3 hours – indefinitely
60–70° F (16–21° C)	2–7 hours	2–40 hours
50–60° F (10–16° C)	1–2 hours	1–6 hours
40–50° F (4–10° C)	30–60 minutes	1–3 hours
32.5–40° F (0–4° C)	15–30 minutes	30–90 minutes
<32° F (<0° C)	Under 15 minutes	Under 15–45 minutes

Still, it's good to see the President visit.  Welcome to Alaska, Mr. Obama.
-- Marge

Cartoons: walls real and conceptual

Today's cartoons are about walls, ones intended to separate people physically and ones that appear to separate. Wall Street is its own phenomenon.

China's economic woes (see The Great Fall of China) are causing quite a stir on Wall Street.

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Gary Varvel, The Week

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D. Trump wants to wall out Mexicans any way he can. Click this link for more of Trump's views on the issues this election.

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Steve Breen, The Week

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Many feel the NRA's stance (and lobby) on gun rights contributes to gun violence.

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Mike Luckovich, The Week

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-- Marge

DIY: plastic bottles repurposed

Lisa Be/Project Vortex, Hurricane Sandy Bottle Caps, Bored Panda

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According to Pristine Planet, "at least 50 million plastic bottles are thrown away" each day in the U.S. Here are some ways to recycle some of them.

DesignRulz offers 45 Ideas of How To Recycle Plastic Bottles. The article mentions work done by Michele Brand; she often works with the bases of plastic drink bottles. Here's a sample.

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Michele Brand, plastic bottle art, Design Rulz

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At Bored Panda there's 23 Creative Ways To Reuse Old Plastic Bottles. This lamp, designed by Yaroslav Olenev, is made of a large bluish plastic bottle and plastic spoons. There's an informative post about Olenev at Link Camp.

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Yaroslav Olenev, Spoon Lamp, Bored Panda

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Distractify in 26 Creative Ways To Repurpose A Plastic Bottle has some really useful ideas for those empty bottles; among them, a birdfeeder; a wasp/fly trap; and a protective lens case. BTW, Distractify says "approximately 100 million plastic bottles are used--and discarded--every day."

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Instructables, protective lens case, Distractify

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And Mudfooted also has an Artistic section, where there's this.

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Veronika Richterová, plastic bottle plants, Mudfooted

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-- Marge

Exploring Mudfooted

Zoologist Jolle Jolles publishes a blog titled Mudfooted where you can find some eye-catching photos. He states his purpose thus:

Mudfooted is about exploring the weird and wonderful natural world around us, about venturing outside and discovering new places as well as learning about wonderful nature and intriging science. It is a way of life! Mudfooted.com is the place to be inspired and get "muddy feet". 

Mudfooted came to my attention with an article on Unusual names for animal groups. Did you know that there is an implausibility of gnus? Or a parliament of burrowing owls? Or a flamboyance of flamingos?

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A flamboyance of flamingos, Mudfooted

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In the Animals section I found 10 Amazing Close-ups of Animal Faces. Here's one.

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Face of a Bateleur (Terathopius ecaudatus), a species of African eagle endemic south of the Sahara. Photo by Matthias Kretschmar. Mudfooted

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In the Nature section there's Amazing photos of waves that look like mountains.

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Mountains of water, photo by Ray Collins, Mudfooted

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The Science section gives New snail species discovered with semi-transparent shell.

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Lukina Jama–Trojama cave in Croatia, inset new species of snail (Zospeum tholussum), Mudfooted

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And Outdoors, the last section, yields The stunning floating Tianzi mountains.

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Tianzi mountains, Mudfooted

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You can see all in a visual archive.

-- Marge

Cartoons: Amazon, Ashley Madison, and the fifth party

Big news this week from the New York Times is the exposé of Amazon's work culture.

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Bob Gorell, The Week

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In a followup article the Times reports:

Until the publication of the article, Amazon’s management practices had been a matter of quiet debate in Seattle. But after the article was published and Mr. Bezos’s letter was released, current and former Amazonians wrote on social media, technology websites and The Times website to compare experiences and debate the strengths and weaknesses of the culture. Some defended the culture as highly demanding but humane, while others described feeling pummeled by unrelenting demands, over-the-top competition, and a feeling they could never meet the standards that the company boasts are “unreasonably high.”

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David Horsey, The Week

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Ashley Madison data has been dumped. If you want to know if you’re in the Ashley Madison leak, there are sites where you can check. Read the article.

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Paul Zenetti, The Week

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And, of course, Donald Trump cartoons are now obligatory.

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Bill Schorr, The Week

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Those disenchanted with the current political scene are talking about starting third, fourth and fifth parties.

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Tom Toles, The Week

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-- Marge

Beauty and the beast: behind the scenes

Dubi Preger (by LoraShalkar), Make-up Artist, Israel, Wikipedia

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Theatrical makeup can make an actor more beautiful, fit the role better, or look extremely repulsive. In the movies, sometimes a live actor isn't present at all. (No, not talking about CGI here.) For examples of cases where no actor was present, take a look at Movie makeup artists at work. IMDB has a list, last updated 30 Mar 2013, of The most Talented Special Makeup Visual Effects Artists of Movies.

A fun list is Zimbio's Many Faces - Actors Who've Worn Prosthetic Makeup.

If the beauty part of makeup is what interests you, check out Mr. Billy B's site. Some other celebrity makeup artists are Monika Blunder, Charlie Green, and Tom Pecheux. Here's a sample of  Billy B's work, found at his site.

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Usually when you start out in theater, you have to apply your own makeup. You might find these pointers from this wikiHow tutorial useful.

-- Marge

Science: the cosmic web

Cosmic Web, Open Science

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First of all, astronomers report an observed phenomenon called the cosmic web. The article It's Filamentary says more, including

The distribution of galaxies and matter in the universe is non-random.  Galaxies are organized, even today, in a manner resembling an enormous network – the cosmic web.  This web has dense regions made up of galaxy clusters and groups, sparsely populated regions devoid of galaxies, as well as the filaments that link overdense regions.

“The filaments are like bridges connecting the denser regions in the cosmic web,” [Benham] Darvish explained.  “Imagine threads woven into the web.”

Here's a 3D image of the cosmic web, posted at Dave Reneke's World of Space and Astronomy.

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The Cosmic Web in 3D, davidreneke

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Physics Today reported last week that astronomers observe a nascent galaxy stuck to the cosmic web.

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Nascent galaxy in cosmic web, Physics Today

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The article mentions a cosmic web imager. To see the lab setup, browse to Caltech's CWI page. Unfortunately, the photos are small. Here's a paper (PDF format) with larger images and some more information: The Keck Cosmic Web Imager.

Spectrography, interchangeable with spectroscopy, is the method used to observe this type of web. According to Wikipedia--

Spectroscopy and spectrography are terms used to refer to the measurement of radiation intensity as a function of wavelength and are often used to describe experimental spectroscopic methods. Spectral measurement devices are referred to as spectrometers, spectrophotometers, spectrographs or spectral analyzers.

For a more granular definition, check out Spectrometer, Spectroscope, and Spectrograph in SPIE's Optipedia. SPIE is an international society advancing an interdisciplinary approach to the science and application of light.

-- Marge

Cartoons: more truth than fiction

Honestly, I tried not to include a cartoon with Donald Trump in it...but failed.

This is what the GOP looks like these days.

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Bob Gorrell, The Week

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It occurs to me Trump is performing one very valuable service: he's sidestepping the Koch Brothers' influence on the election. Does he really expect to be elected or is he just playing the system?

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Pat Bagley, The Week

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Here's what the next GOP debate may look like.

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Nate Beeler, The Week

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This is interesting, sad but interesting: Camel kills American owner at wildlife park in Mexico resort. One theory is the camel did it for a Coke.

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Mike Luckovich, The Week

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Disturbing as this next image is...

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Adam Zyglis, The Week

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-- Marge

DIY: smartphone holograms and other holographic effects

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If you're fascinated by holographic images--the ones that seem to hang in the air--you've come to the right place.

Hot on the web right now is how to turn your smartphone into a 3d hologram projector. The video below will tell you how to make the setup needed. After that, google "hologram video" for images to put on your smartphone.

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There is other holographic magic going on, as well. The Celluon Magic Cube will project a usable keyboard onto a flat surface. The cube connects with your computer via "infrared layer combined with an optical sensor." A video is available on YouTube.

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Celluon Magic Cube

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The Daily Mail reports Star Wars-style moving holograms, saying

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have cracked a major technological hurdle to make low-cost, high quality holographic videos a reality.

Until now, the video hologram has generally been confined to science fiction, the most famous example being the projected image of Princess Leia in the first Star Wars film.

Is the model in the photo reading backward?

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3D holographic video, Daily Mail

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Perhaps most amazing is this interactive live holography by RealView Imaging.

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In case you didn't know, lasers are used to produce holograms. Here's How holograms work.

-- Marge

Science: A fluffy feathered poodle from hell

A reconstruction of the new short-armed and winged feathered dinosaur Zhenyuanlong suni from the Early Cretaceous (ca. 125 million years ago) of China is seen in this illustration image provided by the University of Edinburgh on July 15, 2015, Reuters

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Reuters reports that a new dinosaur fossil has been unearthed in northeastern China. Officially named Zhenyuanlong suni, University of Edinburgh paleontologist Steve Brusatte calls the bird-like meat-eater a "fluffy feathered poodle from hell." Researchers describe the probably flightless dinosaur as a

fast-running meat-eater was about 6 feet (1.8 meters) long and covered with simple hair-like feathers over much of its body, with large, quill-like feathers on its wings and long tail. 

Steve Brusatte, one of the discoverers and namer of the dinosaur, is quoted by Reuters:

 "If you saw this wing on its own, you would probably think that Zhenyuanlong could fly. But it's a fairly big raptor, and its arms are so short in proportion to its body, that I have a hard time believing that it could fly or glide or do anything in the air," Brusatte said.
More likely, Brusatte said, Zhenyuanlong used its wings for display the way a peacock uses its tail feathers to attract mates and intimidate rivals. Another possibility is using the wings to brood eggs in the nest...

Among paleontologists there are questions about why wings evolved and when they were first used for flight. "The oldest-known bird, crow-sized Archaeopteryx, lived about 150 million years ago.(Reuters)."

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Archaeopteryx. Illustration by Carl Buell, National Geographic

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The first feather was discovered in 1861 by workers in a German limestone quarry. Paleontologist Hermann von Meyer thought at first it was a forgery. When more evidence of feathered, bird-like dinosaurs was identified by von Meyer, he named his finds Archaeopteryx, meaning 'ancient wing'. Darwin, who had published The Origin of Species two years earlier saw it as hard proof of evolution. At the time many thought of Archaeopteryx as the primary example of bird evolution; since then other pathways have been identified.

Now Archaeopteryx is sinking back into the crowd of primitive birds and feathered dinosaurs. As Ed Yong has ably explained, a fresh wave of fossils are coming to light. They reinforce the argument that paleontologists have agreed on for a couple decades now: birds evolved from a lineage of dinosaurs called theropods. But it’s less clear now how exactly Archaeopteryx fits into that evolution. It might still be closely related to the ancestors of living birds, or there might be non-flying theropods that were more closely related. Combine this with the recent discoveries of heavily feathered dinosaurs–feathered down to their feet, in fact–and the possibility emerges that dinosaurs evolved into flyers more than once. We look up in the sky today and see the results of only one of those transitions (Carl Zimmer, National Geographic).

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Reconstruction of Aurornis xui. Credit: Masato Hattori. National Geographic

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Discoveries after Archaeopteryx have mostly muddied the water in the search for the first bird and which family of dinosaurs it evolved from. Two articles that discuss the possibilities are The Changing Science of Just-About-Birds and Not-Quite-Birds and New Candidate for World's First Bird.

-- Marge

Cartoons: mixed messages

Today's mix of cartoons includes a comment on Jon Stewart's departure from TV, one on mindless violence in theaters, and a perspective on the recent Republican debates.

Follow this link for a video of Jon Stewart’s final sign off for The Daily Show. He was one of the best for holding Fox News at bay. I'll miss that.

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Steve Sack, The Week

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CBS in Washington, DC, asks readers in a poll: Amid Recent Attacks, Do Movie Theaters Need More Security? Not many have answered yet so there's still time to have your say.

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Steve Kelley, The Week

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USA Today reports, "Thursday's Republican primary debate nabbed a huge 24 million viewers Thursday, ranking as the most-watched primary debate ever." I'm guessing Donald Trump was the reason.

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Bill Day, The Week

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-- Marge

Gone fishin'

Not really fishing, fish avoid my hook. But it's summer and I'm easily distracted. Here are a few images to fill in the gap.

Some artists working in real studios.

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Leanne Christie working on the January painting 2014, leannechristie

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Helen Frankenthaler, photographed by Ernst Haas (1969), the Bohmerian

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Kim Marcucci, kmarcucci

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-- Marge

10 Percent and urban legend

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Being attracted by the premise that we only use 10% of our brains, the other night I watched "Lucy," even though my (mostly) always logical son insisted that the premise was untrue. Most interesting was how increasingly ineffective the plot became when you doubted its basis. (Sorry, Scarlett and Morgan. You both did fine jobs.)

Urban legend can sneak up on us. And the myth that says we use only 10 percent of our brains is especially pervasive, because it has been around so long and many people use it to their advantage. Another interesting take on the 10-percent-of-brain myth is Humans Already Use Way, Way More Than 10% of Their Brains at the Atlantic Monthly.

For more myths that are circulating, check out Snopes.com. It's a must-see in our twitter-fueled society.

The quantity 10 percent seems to be a handy number, though. There's the Ten Percent Law or Rule of 10's in ecology that says

...during the transfer of energy from organic food from one trophic level to the next, only about ten percent of the energy from organic matter is stored as flesh. The remaining is lost during transfer, broken down in respiration, or lost to incomplete digestion by higher trophic levels. (Wikipedia)

Statistics has the 10% condition which

states that sample sizes should be no more than 10% of the population. Whenever samples are involved in statistics, check the 10% condition to ensure you have sound results. Some statisticians argue that a 5% condition is better than a 10% condition if you want to use a standard normal model.

What I wonder is how 10 percent represents the population.  Guess that's why I'm not a statistician.

In elementary physics class we learned that efficiency seldom exceeds 20 percent.

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However, looking for example of inefficient devices, I'm finding some relatively efficient ones: Diode-pumped solid-state lasers that range from 1 to 60% efficient; autos that range between 15 and 35% efficient, and large AC motors that approach an amazing 93% efficiency (article is about centrifugal pumps).

Since we've wandered from the 10-percent topic, here's the ninety-nine rule:

The first 90 percent of the code accounts for the first 90 percent of the development time. The remaining 10 percent of the code accounts for the other 90 percent of the development time.

—Tom Cargill, Bell Labs (Wikipedia)

-- Marge