Record low water levels in the Great Lakes

I first saw the news in an Associated Press story:

Two of the Great Lakes have hit their lowest water levels ever recorded, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Tuesday, capping more than a decade of below-normal rain and snowfall and higher temperatures that boost evaporation.

Measurements taken last month show Lake Huron and Lake Michigan have reached their lowest ebb since record keeping began in 1918, and the lakes could set additional records over the next few months, the corps said. The lakes were 29 inches below their long-term average and had declined 17 inches since January 2012.  The other Great Lakes - Superior, Erie and Ontario - were also well below average...

Scientists say lake levels are cyclical and controlled mostly by nature. They began a steep decline in the late 1990s and have usually lagged well below their historical averages since then.

But studies have shown that Huron and Michigan fell by 10 to 16 inches because of dredging over the years to deepen the navigational channel in the St. Clair River, most recently in the 1960s. Dredging of the river, which is on the south end of Lake Huron, accelerated the flow of water southward from the two lakes toward Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, and eventually into the Atlantic Ocean.

A CNN article gave more details of the economic consequences:

-- The coal trade on the Great Lakes declined 8.2% in 2012 from the previous year, and down a quarter off the 5-year-averge -- in large part due to falling water levels and a $200 million backlog in necessary dredging throughout the lakes, according to the Lake Carriers' Association.
-- Commercial fishing boats are finding it increasingly difficult to navigate some harbors, risking a downturn in a vital part of the Great Lakes economy...
-- Charter boat operations and other businesses in coastal communities that depend on tourism fear the impact lower water levels will have from spring to fall, when tens of thousands of people flow into the state to boat, fish, eat out and shop.

There's too little data to say the problem is a product of global warming, he said. It's also a cycle that's been seen before.  Lake levels were nearly this low in December 1964, and it's the March 1964 record that's likely to fall in the next few months.  There is hope, he said. Records dating back to 1918 would seem to indicate a cyclical pattern that could well result in record lake levels in the next few years, he said. Such swings occurred in the 1970s and 1980s after similar low points.

The embedded image at the top comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, which has an impressive interactive widget that allows you to view water levels and related data for all recorded history (and extrapolated back to the Paleolithic).

Depending on the slope of the shoreline, when you drop water levels a vertical foot, you may expose 5-10 feet of lakebed.  A concern for homeowners with docks and such, but also a boon for archaeological discoveries and for elderly retired men with metal detectors looking for old coins.

Miss Sausage Queen of 1955

Via Retronaut.

Anamorphosis

YouTube link.

Anamorphosis is a distorted projection or perspective requiring the viewer to use special devices or occupy a specific vantage point to reconstitute the image. The word "anamorphosis" is derived from the Greek prefix ana-, meaning back or again, and the word morphe, meaning shape or form.

There are two main types of anamorphosis: perspective (oblique) and mirror (catoptric). Examples of perspectival anamorphosis date to the early Renaissance (fifteenth century). Examples of mirror anamorphosis were first created in the late Renaissance (sixteenth century).

More details at Wikipedia, which also has pictures of other anamorphic illustrations, and a link to a commercially-available toy you can purchase to make your own.

Repurposing an old boot

A clever idea for a quick way to create a bird (or wasp) habitat.  I might try this in our woods and see what happens.

Via Neatorama.

The best British movies of all time

To help publicize the upcoming BAFTA awards, British film critic presented his choice of the top 49 British films of all time (listed here alphabetically):

Barry Lyndon (1975)
Black Narcissus (1947)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Brief Encounter (1945)
Chariots of Fire (1981)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Cruel Sea (1952)
The Dam Busters (1954)
Dr No (1958)
Don’t Look Now (1973)
Dracula (1958)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
The Full Monty (1997)
Gandhi (1982)
Get Carter (1971)
Gladiator (2000)
Great Expectations (1946)
Gregory’s Girl (1980)
Henry V (1944)
I Know Where I’m Going! (1945)
If… (1968)
The Ipcress File (1965)
Kes (1969)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
The King’s Speech (2010)
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
The Ladykillers (1955)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
Local Hero (1983)
The Long Good Friday (1979)
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979)
Naked (1993)
The Railway Children (1970)
The Red Shoes (1948)
The Remains of the Day (1993)
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)
Secrets & Lies (1995)
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
The Servant (1963)
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Skyfall (2012)
The Third Man (1949)
The 39 Steps (1935)
This Sporting Life (1963)
Trainspotting (1995)
Whisky Galore! (1949)
Zulu (1963)

Norman, who has been writing and broadcasting about films for five decades, said: “Ignoring for the moment the fact that you will certainly disagree with some, probably many, or maybe even all of my choices, which do you think is the one outstanding British film that I’ve left out? There are plenty to choose from because mine, like all such lists, is largely subjective.”

I would have included Brazil and The English Patient.

People don't rob banks as much anymore

Some would say now the banks rob the people.  Graphs from The Wall Street Journal, where the reasons for the trend are discussed.

Mitosis landscaping

A photograph of the campus of the University of California at Irvine, from the Bio Sci Peer Academic Advising's Facebook page, via Reddit.

Ephemeral art

YouTube link.

The work of "environmental artist" Tony Plant will not be appreciated by pragmatic utilitarians.

A mental health break found at The Dish.

Tulip fields in the Netherlands

From a gallery of 14 photos of tulip fields in the Netherlands posted in The Telegraph (credit for the one embedded above to Normann Szkop / Rex Features)

Poor Richard III - buried under the two-doors (updated)

Richard III just can't get a break.  Maybe it's true that he wasn't a nice guy, but there are arguments that he should be presumed innocent of the murder of the princes in the tower.  And after his death his Plantagenet relatives were murdered and executed by the Tudors, and his reputation was slimed for all eternity by a descendent of the Oxford who led the Tudor forces against Richard at the Battle of Bosworth Field.

And now...  The History Blog has the rest of the story:

One of his [Henry VII] first acts as monarch the day after the battle was to bring Richard’s body to nearby Leicester where it would be exposed, naked, and then hanged for all to see... the friars buried him unceremoniously in their abbey... In November of 1538, the Greyfriars abbey and church in Leicester was destroyed. There is no record from that time describing what happened to Richard’s tomb and remains... As the centuries passed, development entirely changed the cityscape and the exact location of Greyfriars church was lost...

University of Leicester experts used map regression analysis (a systematic comparison of different kinds of maps from different eras) to pinpoint the most likely site of the former Greyfriars church. It’s a parking lot used by the Leicester City Council... The parking lot was surveyed Friday with ground-penetrating radar, and several archaeological hot spots were identified. Today the excavation begins.

For more about the Greyfriars project and Richard III, see the University of Leicester’s microsite.

The History Blog also includes a video interview with the lead archaeologist on the project.

Addendum (Sept 2012): Archaeologists believe they have found Richard's skeleton:

The skeleton was an adult male, who appeared fit and strong. He had suffered significant trauma to the head where a blade had cut away part of the back of his skull; an injury consistent with battle.

A barbed arrow head was found lodged between vertebrae in his upper back, and spinal abnormalities pointed to the fact that he had severe scoliosis, a form of spinal curvature. This would have made his right shoulder appear visibly higher than his left, which is consistent with contemporary accounts of Richard’s appearance...

Miss Langley said: “This story has never reached a conclusion. The last two years of Richard’s life history were written by the Tudors and paint a picture of an evil hunchback with a withered arm.

“That is totally at odds with what we know about the last 30 years and it is quite normal for the vanquisher to paint a negative picture.

“Richard was responsible for a lot of the laws that today uphold personal freedom – the right to justice whether rich or poor, the presumption of innocence, the clear title of property – so everyone has an interest in being able to piece together his full story.”

DNA tests are expected to take 12 weeks."

Second Addendum  (Feb 2013):  The skeleton is confirmed as Richard's.  Here's a photograph of the rearticulated skeleton (via the BBC):

I'm impressed that the curvature is so low in the thoracic spine, and note that it's not from a vertebral collapse, which is probably why he was able to be so active, going to battle and all.  DNA from dental pulp has been matched to that of a living known descendant.  There are lots more details in The Guardian and elsewhere - enough to justify a new separate post, but I'm quite happy with the title I wrote for this post, so I'll just update it.

Meanwhile, in Fresno...

YouTube link.

This is NOT an Onion story.  I'll let the hitchhiker tell you why he struck "Jesus" with the hatchet...

Things banned in Leviticus

Selections from a compilation of 76 things, several of which are punishable by death:

2.     Failing to include salt in offerings to God (2:13)
3.     Eating fat (3:17)
4.     Eating blood (3:17)
12.   Letting your hair become unkempt (10:6)
13.   Tearing your clothes (10:6)
17.   Eating – or touching the carcass of – any seafood without fins or scales (11:10-12)
20.   Eating any animal which walks on all four and has paws (good news for cats) (11:27)
22.   Eating – or touching the carcass of – any creature which crawls on many legs, or its belly (11:41-42)
23.   Going to church within 33 days after giving birth to a boy (12:4)
24.   Going to church within 66 days after giving birth to a girl (12:5)
36.   Having sex with a woman during her period (18:19)
39.   Having sex with a man “as one does with a woman” (18:22)
42.   Reaping to the very edges of a field (19:9)
48.   Holding back the wages of an employee overnight (not well observed these days) (19:13)
50.   Perverting justice, showing partiality to either the poor or the rich (19:15)
54.   Mixing fabrics in clothing (19:19)
56.   Planting different seeds in the same field (19:19)
58.   Eating fruit from a tree within four years of planting it (19:23)
60.   Trimming your beard (19:27)
61.   Cutting your hair at the sides (19:27)
62.   Getting tattoos (19:28)
65.   Not standing in the presence of the elderly (19:32)
66.   Mistreating foreigners – “the foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born”  (19:33-34)
72.   Working on the Sabbath (23:3)
73.   Blasphemy (punishable by stoning to death) (24:14)
75.   Selling land permanently (25:23)

I have not cross-checked these with the Biblical referents, so its possible some are overstated, but the general sense is probably correct. 

I seem to have been guilty of 13 of these (I'm wearing mixed fabrics at this very moment).  I'm posting this not to mock, but to inquire how a modern, sensible Christian should reconcile the realities of daily life with the admonitions of the Old Testament.  Personally I ignore things like many of those listed above as historically valid but now outmoded.  This attitude of course then falls right into the criticism that "the Old Testament doesn't apply except for those parts we say do apply (so we create whatever Bible and religion we want) and the ludicrous stuff doesn't apply because of Jesus."  But then Jesus said "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I didn't come to destroy them, but to fulfill them."  And how could his coming erase some guidelines, but not others.  There doesn't seem to be an easy way out.

Ultra-fast archery

YouTube link.

The "Out of Eden Walk" will be 21,000 miles long

Here's the project:

On January 10th, 02013, Pulitzer prize winning journalist Paul Salopek will begin a seven year journey on foot from Ethiopia to Patagonia, following the footsteps of the first migration of humans across the planet 60,000 years ago. The journey will not be an easy one. It consists of 21,000 miles of wildly varying terrain and environments, with only what Salopek can fit in his backpack. Salopek will be writing “narrative core samples” every hundred miles to get an embedded, on-the-ground look at the issues that are defining our age.

Progress will be posted at this link (currently at mile 0 in Ethiopia).

More details and links here, in the blog of the Long Now Foundation, which "hopes to provide a counterpoint to today's accelerating culture and help make long-term thinking more common. We hope to creatively foster responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years" and where you can learn how geologic processes in the Cretaceous period helped determine voting patterns in the last presidential election:

Explained here.

Weekend linkdump

Just a reminder that things I post in a linkdump should not be viewed as less worthy of attention than material getting a full post.  It's a mixture of things of interest only to a limited audience, or items with no pictures, or things so popular they aren't "TYWK", or stuff I want to store for perusing in detail or linking to later.  But mostly a linkdump allows me to get away from the computer.  Today to crank up the snowblower again, sadly...

The sum of all the numbers on a roulette wheel is 666.

If you're opposed to Citizens United but don't know what to do about it, you could start by signing Al Franken's petition to call for a Constitutional amendment to overturn it.

If "Planet of the Apes" had been made in Minnesota.

The "Wind Map" depicts a live representation of wind direction and velocity in the United States.  It's beautiful because it's in constant motion, and I wish I could embed it, but here's a screencap:

If you own or live in a house, you should read (or bookmark) this column about water shut-off valves.  You may need to acceess yours in a hurry some day.

"Republican U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, who opposes abortion rights, mutually agreed with wife to abort not once but twice."

The mysterious "bloop sound" that was once attributed to whales or unknown marine life, has now been ascribed to "icequakes."

A Wall Street Journal article explains how to make money selling mud as a beauty treatment.

Bdelliod rotifers have gone 80 million years without sex (longer than you), but still have managed to evolve into 400 species.

A brief history of breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Someone is shooting and mutilating dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico.

Twenty nerdy science-joke cartoons. 

Everyone knows how wait staff in a restaurant can get back at you if you mistreat them.  Here is an discussion of what can happen if you are not nice to a hotel clerk.

The former editor of the OED "covertly deleted thousands of words because of their foreign origins and bizarrely blamed previous editors."

Godchecker is a website where you can look up information on 3,000 gods, including the one you believe in.

Are you Irish-Canadian or know someone who is?  Then you should bookmark "The Shamrock and the Maple Leaf, an exhibition of Irish-Canadian documentary heritage held by Library and Archives Canada. Here you will discover photographs, letters, books, music and other evidence of Ireland's vital influence on Canadian history and culture."

In 2005 "an Australian man built up so much static electricity in his clothes as he walked that he burned carpets, melted plastic and sparked a mass evacuation. Frank Clewer, of the western Victorian city of Warrnambool, was wearing a synthetic nylon jacket and a woollen shirt when he went for a job interview. As he walked into the building, the carpet ignited from the 40,000 volts of static electricity that had built up." [note: the veracity of this story has been questioned].

"Mexican waves are more likely to go clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the southern hemisphere, a researcher has claimed."

The director of renal transplantation at the University of Minnesota argues that people should be allowed to sell one of their kidneys.

Beer consumed in ancient Nubia contained a potent antibiotic (tetracycline), from contamination of the grain used in brewing the beer.

The marked answers on "bubble forms" on standardized tests can be analyzed "to catch students who hire proxies to take their SATs and teachers who change answers on their students’ high-stakes tests."  More on the subject here.

"Prison officials in the US state of Texas have abolished the traditional last meal request for inmates who are facing execution. The move came after a prisoner requested a huge meal then did not eat any of it, saying he was not hungry."

Canada's plastic $50 and $100 bills can melt. [maybe - see the Snopes article].

Bionic eye implants may offer progress in treating some forms of blindness.

For around $115,000, you get a 4-hour operation to install an antenna behind your eye, and a special pair of camera-equipped glasses that send signals to the antenna. The antenna is wired into your retina with around 60 electrodes, creating the equivalent of a 60-pixel display for your brain to interpret. The first users of the Argus II bionic eye report that they can see rough shapes and track the movement of objects, and slowly read large writing. The second bionic eye implant, the Bio-Retina developed by Nano Retina, is a whole lot more exciting. The Bio-Retina costs less — around the $60,000 mark — and instead of an external camera, the vision-restoring sensor is actually placed inside the eye, on top of the retina. The operation only takes 30 minutes and can be performed under local anesthetic.

All Zappo's employees can fly free on the company's private jets.

To better control prostitution, Zurich plans to approve "drive-in sex boxes." "The prostitutes who use the sex boxes will also have to take out medical insurance and buy a £26 licence in order to ply their trade. On top of that they will also have to feed five Swiss francs, about £3.30, into a roadside ticket machine each night when they clock on."

A new fish has been named after Barack Obama.  "Etheostoma Obama, is a relatively skinny orange and blue speckled fish topped by a brilliant fan-shaped fin, with bold orange stripes."

How to make "surprise balls" (a cool way to wrap up small gifts).

"An Eagle Mills, New York couple that lost their home to a fire last week, now has to pay $1,400 for the water used to combat the flames."

Some people claim to have become physically ill while watching the new Hobbit movie because of the unusual high-speed cinematography technique employed.

A Walk in the WorDs posted a list of linkdumps/linkfests.  By linking to his post, I'm promoting the process of "recursion."

A potentially rather valuable discussion thread at Reddit addresses the question "What is something you think everyone should have installed on their computer or laptop?"

Ever wanted to see the inside of a gold bullion vault?

It's now possible to search 15 years of the New York Times crossword puzzles, both for clues, and for their answers.  "Blog" for example, has been clued as a "post holder."

Helpful information for homeowners on how to prevent ice dams.

Impessive video: "After weeks of waiting, the filmakers witnessed 7.4 cubic km of ice crashing off the Ilulissat glacier in Greenland."  Related: watching meltwater rushing down a moulin.

A list of 80 real-life cheat codes.

"City buses across America increasingly have hidden microphones that track and record the conversations that take place on them..."

You can use Google Maps to look up mass animal deaths.

Historic photos from Cathedral Grove show how massive trees grew before humans arrived with saws. " Father's hollow trunk was so large that a person could walk erect inside it for 200 ft."

A possible answer to the D-Day pigeon riddle.

It's fairly commonplace to encounter videos of people solving scrambled Rubik's cubes blindfolder.  Here's one of a man solving an 8x8x8 Rubik's cube blindfolded.  The video is compressed from over an hour (about half of that study time) to show the entire process in about 7 minutes.

An article about flesh-eating beetles (dermestid beetles), with a video of their use in the laboratory.

"Brian Krebs reports on a terrifyingly real-seeming Point of Sale skimmer: a device that looks and feels just the thing you normally stick your credit-card into and then enter your pin into, which can print out a real-seeming receipt showing the transaction was approved by your bank. Instead, what this thing does is record your card number, PIN, and other information needed to replicate your card and use it to clean out your account."

A good (and presumably accurate) video explaining some misunderstandings in the public's understanding of the meaning of the terms "semi-automatic weapons" and "assault rifles."

How high can a tiger jump?  This high.

I enjoyed creating the embed image at the top, using the Pulp-O-Mizer, via Neatorama.

Enough for the day.  I'll close with this photo (cropped from the original), entitled "My mom told me that our new power strip wasn't working... Came to find this...":