Harvesting Christmas trees by helicopter

YouTube link.

A round trip every 30 seconds by an impressively skilled pilot.

Addendum:  A hat tip to reader Bucaneer for finding a companion video showing the process from the pilot's point of view (and confirming that each load is a cluster of trees, not a single tree).

YouTube link.

The corporate names of football bowl games

Consider, for example, the Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Compass Bowl.  It will compete for your attention with the Beef O'Brady's Bowl, the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, the AdvoCare V100 Bowl, and the S.D. County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.

I agree with StarTribune sports columnist Patrick Reusse, who offers some historical perspective in his column Bowls were better when named for fruits or flowers:

This was the makeup of major college football in 1959: The major conferences were Big Ten, Pacific Coast (in its last year before reforming), Big Eight, Southwest, Atlantic Coast and Southeastern. Notre Dame, Miami, Florida State and the major programs in the East were independents.

There were five traditional bowls for these teams: Rose (continuously since January 1916), Orange (1935), Sugar (1935), Cotton (1937) and Gator (1946). The Sun Bowl in El Paso and the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando were inviting teams from the second tier of college football.

There are now over 30 bowl games, seven of which this year are not even able to feature two teams with winning season records.  The concept of "tradition" has been diluted by frequent name changes.  The Bluebonnet Bowl morphed into the galleryfurniture.com Bowl, then the EV1.net Houston Bowl, then became the Texas Bowl, the Meinecke Car Care Bowl of Texas, and is now the Texas Bowl.

It's all about money.  It probably was in the 1960s as well, but it wasn't so blatant.

An alternative view of the attack on Pearl Harbor - updated

(originally posted in 2012)  There are lots of memorial posts on the internet today on the topic of Pearl Harbor.  At the risk of offending some readers, I'll post excerpts from this counterpoint, posted six years ago at The Independent Institute.

Ask a typical American how the United States got into World War II, and he will almost certainly tell you that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the Americans fought back. Ask him why the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and he will probably need some time to gather his thoughts. He might say that the Japanese were aggressive militarists who wanted to take over the world, or at least the Asia-Pacific part of it. Ask him what the United States did to provoke the Japanese, and he will probably say that the Americans did nothing: we were just minding our own business when the crazy Japanese, completely without justification, mounted a sneak attack on us, catching us totally by surprise in Hawaii on December 7, 1941...

In the late nineteenth century, Japan’s economy began to grow and to industrialize rapidly. Because Japan has few natural resources, many of the burgeoning industries had to rely on imported raw materials, such as coal, iron ore or steel scrap, tin, copper, bauxite, rubber, and petroleum. Without access to such imports, many of which came from the United States or from European colonies in southeast Asia, Japan’s industrial economy would have ground to a halt. By engaging in international trade, however, the Japanese had built a moderately advanced industrial economy by 1941...

When Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in 1933, the U.S. government fell under the control of a man who disliked the Japanese and harbored a romantic affection for the Chinese... Roosevelt also disliked the Germans (and of course Adolf Hitler), and he tended to favor the British in his personal relations and in world affairs...

Accordingly, the Roosevelt administration, while curtly dismissing Japanese diplomatic overtures to harmonize relations, imposed a series of increasingly stringent economic sanctions on Japan. In 1939 the United States terminated the 1911 commercial treaty with Japan. “On July 2, 1940, Roosevelt signed the Export Control Act, authorizing the President to license or prohibit the export of essential defense materials.” Under this authority, “[o]n July 31, exports of aviation motor fuels and lubricants and No. 1 heavy melting iron and steel scrap were restricted.” Next, in a move aimed at Japan, Roosevelt slapped an embargo, effective October 16, “on all exports of scrap iron and steel to destinations other than Britain and the nations of the Western Hemisphere.” Finally, on July 26, 1941, Roosevelt “froze Japanese assets in the United States, thus bringing commercial relations between the nations to an effective end. One week later Roosevelt embargoed the export of such grades of oil as still were in commercial flow to Japan.” The British and the Dutch followed suit, embargoing exports to Japan from their colonies in southeast Asia...

Foreign Minister Teijiro Toyoda had communicated to Ambassador Kichisaburo Nomura on July 31: “Commercial and economic relations between Japan and third countries, led by England and the United States, are gradually becoming so horribly strained that we cannot endure it much longer. Consequently, our Empire, to save its very life, must take measures to secure the raw materials of the South Seas.”

Addendum: A 2013 column in Salon ("Oil led to Pearl Harbor") provides additional information.

In the summer of 1941, before leaving for Placentia Bay, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had ordered a freeze on Japanese assets. That measure required the Japanese to seek and obtain licenses to export and pay for each shipment of goods from the United States, including oil.

This move was most distressing to the Japanese because they were dependent on the United States for most of their crude oil and refined petroleum products. However, Roosevelt did not want to trigger a war with Japan. His intention was to keep the oil flowing by continuing to grant licenses...

Acheson favored a “bullet-proof freeze” on oil shipments to Japan, claiming it would not provoke war because “no rational Japanese could believe that an attack on us could result in anything but disaster for his country.”

With breathtaking confidence in his own judgment, and ignoring the objections of others in the State Department, Acheson refused to grant licenses to Japan to pay for goods in dollars. That effectively ended Japan’s ability to ship oil and all other goods from the United States.

More at the link.

Why icicles have "ripples"

Distilled water produced an unrippled, carrot-shaped icicle. When the scientists added a pinch of sodium chloride, or table salt, regularly spaced ripples formed. When they added more, the ripples became wildly irregular.

The researchers have not been able to find a theory to explain why salt is crucial to ripple formation. Fortunately, nature doesn’t need a theory; the team found that water running off Toronto roofs had enough dissolved ions to make ripples on its own.

From a study published in the New Journal of Physics, via Science News and Boing Boing.

"Cannibal sandwiches" - a risky Midwestern delicacy

"Cannibal sandwiches," an appetizer featuring raw, lean ground beef served on cocktail bread, may be a Wisconsin tradition, but they are not safe, health officials said, noting that more than a dozen people became ill after consuming them last holiday season.

Health officials confirmed four cases tied to E. coli bacteria and 13 likely cases in people who ate the sandwiches at several gatherings late last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a report issued this week. The meat came from a Watertown market that later recalled more than 2,500 pounds of meat.

Cannibal sandwiches were tied to outbreaks in Wisconsin in 1972, 1978 and 1994. The appetizer, also called "tiger meat," "steak tartare" or simply "ground beef," is usually a simple dish of lean ground meat seasoned with salt and pepper on rye cocktail bread with sliced raw onion, said Milwaukee historian John Gurda, who served it at his 1977 wedding reception. Occasionally, a raw egg will be mixed with the meat.

Cannibal sandwiches have been a festive dish in German, Polish and other ethnic communities in the Milwaukee area since the 19th century... it was once common to see them at wedding receptions, meals following funerals and Christmas and New Year's Eve parties. The dish has become less common in recent years with greater awareness of the risks of uncooked meat and fewer people eating beef, but Gurda said he still runs into it...

His butcher shop sells 50 to 100 pounds of freshly ground round on Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve and perhaps a day before those holidays to people wishing to make cannibal sandwiches. Glenn's Market and Catering, the Watertown butcher involved in the recall, does a similar holiday business, vice president Jeff Roberts said.

Both stores label their ground beef with warnings about consuming raw or undercooked meat, but the men said it's unlikely people are buying it to cook. With the fat trimmed off before grinding, the meat is too lean to make a decent hamburger, Meyer said.

More details at the Madison.com source story.  Be aware of this when you attend holiday parties.  E. Coli is no fun.

Muggers use sticks as tools

Mugger crocodiles, that is:

As described by Dinets et al. (2013), Mugger crocodiles Crocodylus palustris in India and American alligators Alligator mississippiensis in the USA have both been observed to lie, partially submerged, beneath egret and heron colonies with sticks balanced across their snouts. Birds approach to collect the sticks for use in nest building and…

The occurrence of sticks on the crocodylians is not random: stick-displaying behaviour was most frequently observed both in those crocodylians living at rookeries and was exclusively observed during the egret and heron nesting season, being most frequent in late March and April (when the egrets and herons are working hard to find sticks) (Dinets et al. 2013).

The possibility that stick-displaying behaviour results from a random association between rookery-frequenting crocodylians and floating sticks was deemed unlikely by the authors, since floating sticks are extremely rare in the pools concerned, especially at the time of year concerned (partly this is because the local trees – baldcypresses and water tupelos – don’t shed twigs, but also because the nesting birds rapidly remove floating sticks for nest-building). Therefore, deliberate collection and employment of sticks by the crocodylians seems most likely.

More details at the Tetrapod Zoology blog of Scientific American.

TIL:  "Crocodylians" is an acceptible alternate spelling of "crocodilians."

Also:  They aren't called "mugger" crocodiles because they ambush their prey.  It's the opposite -

The name "mugger" is a borrowing of Hindi magar. This is in turn derived from Sanskrit makara "crocodile; mythical water monster; sign of the zodiac".

So the human malefactors are named after the crocs.  You learn something every day.

Photo credit: Vladinir Dinets

The "stealth wealth" of the Washington D.C. area

From the Washington Post, a story about the new owners of the former Robert F. Kennedy residence in northern Virginia:

Once a town whose bright stars were government leaders, the nation’s capital has become a moneyed metropolis where entrepreneurs whose wealth is often amassed by doing business with the government are the new elite...

Over the past 30 years, an influx of deep-pocketed CEOs, executives and company founders have helped drive the transformation of the area from a buttoned-down capital into the most highly educated and affluent place in the country...

In recent years, the Washington area has seen a dramatic rise in “1-percenters,” households that make about $400,000 or more. Their ranks have jumped 65 percent in the past decade, from 32,000 people to 53,000. That growth has spawned a plethora of high-end retail establishments, restaurants that serve $22 cocktails and $110-a-night pet spas with doggie lap pools...

Many of these newly rich are tight-lipped about their money and unlikely to make an ostentatious display of it, Wolford said. This is particularly true within the defense contracting industry, which boomed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“It really would be awkward if you rolled up in your ‘phat’ Bentley to the Department of Defense,” Wolford said. “It’s stealth wealth in Washington, D.C. You do not know who’s got money. It’s partly the culture of Washington and partly the fact that more and more really wealthy people are focused on maintaining their privacy.”

Crash test dogs (dummies)

YouTube link.

This video demonstrates that the presence of an unrestrained dog in the back seat of a vehicle poses a risk of lethal injury to the dog and to the driver.  The brief but bizarre "hanging" scene at about 0:37 illustrates that conventional harness restraints are not sufficient to prevent the dog being propelled forward, even during a low-speed collision.

O fortuna !

Fortuna
Giovanni Boccaccio, Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes (French translation by Laurent de Premierfait), Paris ca. 1410.
Bibliothèque de Genève, Ms. fr. 190/2, fol. 30v

Is it a coincidence that Boccaccio's portrayal of Fortuna shows her with 13 arms?

Found at the Discarded Image/Discarding Images tumblr.

Cheese brine for icy roads

From backwoods county highways to Milwaukee city streets, Wisconsin road crews will be using a new weapon in the war on winter accidents — cheese brine.

Brine is a liquid cheese-making byproduct; if you’ve bought fresh mozzarella, it often comes floating in the stuff. To cheese-makers, it’s a hassle — they spend many thousands of dollars to dispose of cheese brine each year, trucking it to wastewater treatment plants.

Bingo bango, cheese brine hit the highway. And in the first year alone, tiny Polk County saved $40,000 in rock salt costs. Conversely, F&A Dairy saved on brine disposal costs — to the tune of nearly $30,000. “Everybody wins,” says Chuck Engdahl, F&A’s wastewater manager.

Of course, there is an odor to consider. “What better to put on your roads than the scent of mozzarella?” quipped John Umhoefer, executive director of the Wisconsin Cheesemaker’s Association. Cute sound bite, but not altogether accurate.

In a recent report, the Milwaukee Department of Public Works noted cheese brine’s “distinctive odor.” Norby says this scent is tough to describe, but likens it to the smell of whey (not exactly a ringing endorsement). Still, he manages some cheesehead pride: “I don’t really mind it. Our roads smell like Wisconsin!”

The odor stems from organic matter, little bits of cheese flotsam left from the brining process. It’s these bits that make brine so effective as a road de-icer. Regular salt brine has a freezing point of 6 below zero, but cheese brine doesn’t freeze up until 21 below.

That last sentence is impressive.  You can read more about this at Modern Farmer.

The Color of the Year" is "radiant orchid"

At a time when anything goes in fashion, Pantone's heavily marketed "Color of the Year" announcement can raise eyebrows. These days, there is no 'It' hem length or cut or wash of jeans. So is there still any such thing as the color?..

Pantone, owned by Washington, D.C.-based Danaher Corp., each year polls graphic, industrial, fashion and other designers around the world, as well as manufacturers and retailers, asking what colors they plan to use in coming seasons. A color committee made up of Pantone executives and clients makes a pick based on the surveys, sales of color swatches and its experts' opinions.

By the time Pantone unveils its color of the year, designs for the year ahead are already in the works. But given the company's insider access—which amounts to a cheat sheet from style leaders—its choice tends to show insight. Emerald really did turn out to be a big color last year, and so did the red-orange "tangerine tango" the year before...

Ms. Eiseman hastens to note that odd color pairings are popular today. She declares this a new era in color, where people's clothes and even kitchen appliances are no longer matchy-matchy, and radiant orchid can share space on the counter with 2010's turquoise and other shades.

More at the Wall Street Journal, where you can see what "radiant orchid" looks like.

If you care.  (I'll be wearing blue, brown, green, and white.  For the seventh decade in a row.)

The Copenhagen Wheel

YouTube link.

Unlike other similar products coming to market... Superpedestrian's unit (which slots on to your back wheel) is not about powering up continually to save yourlazy legs. A series of sensors are embedded in the red casing, which track your speed, incline, pedal-pushing prowess and other factors, in order to calculate when you need the power most. As such, the battery-powered 5.5kg pack will save energy, while also recharging every time you brake, powering up to speeds of 32km/h with a range of 48km.

Interesting video - and not a "concept."  This device is commercially available via Superpedestrian.  Too bad it costs $700.

Via The Dish.

Arctic sea ice

I'll just leave this here.  And I'll save some of you the trouble of pointing out that the vertical scale does not go to zero (nor does the horizontal scale go to the beginning of time).

Found at National Geographic.

Colloquialisms

I've recently finished Stephen King's Doctor Sleep - a good book, but not one I plan to review here for the recommended books category.   While reading it, I encountered five colloquial phrases that were new to me, which I offer here for your consideration and comments (italics mine):

"People laugh their asses off and burn yea film, takin pitchers.  Watch this."

I've heard "yea" used to illustrate a size description ("we caught one nice walleye - it was about yea big") when some other maneuver with the hands or fingers is used to define the object.  I've never heard it used in the manner of the sentence above.

"Once away from I-80 and out in the toolies, they spread apart..."

When I lived in Kentucky, the corresponding local phrase was "out in the boonies [boondocks]."  Surprisingly, my dictionary says "boondock" is derived from a word in the Tagalog (Austronesian) language !  Where does "toolies" come from?

"She went into the bathroom for another glass of water because her mouth still tasted blick..."

Easy to understand; seems almost onomatopoeic for the action of a tongue being stuck out.

"Nothing to it.  Easy as knitting kitten-britches, as Momo liked to say."

This was unfamiliar even to our resident expert cat-lady.

"The key to survival in the world of rubes was to look as if you belonged, as if you were always on the goodfoot..."

We recently discussed being "left-footed," and "wrong-footed" would be not unfamiliar, but to be "on the goodfoot" was new and unexpected to me.

It's possible that some of these are neologisms coined by the author, but I suspect for the most part they are common colloquial phrases, though perhaps of a regional (or sub-regional) nature, maybe even restricted to the area near Maine.  Please feel free to chime in with a Comment if you have some experience with these words and phrases.

A loon surfaces

One of my favorite birds.  This photo, by Mike Murray, placed second in the annual photography competition at the HBW World Bird Photo Contest.  Lots of great photos at the link, including this one of bee-eaters by Kit Day: