Two contrasting French hairdos

"There is no hair more iconic, perhaps, than Marie Antoinette’s elaborately curled and beribboned wigs. Her daringly avant-garde style and her love of fashion took Versailles by storm, and the ladies of court were constantly trying to emulate the Queen’s frequently changing coiffure... One of the most well known trends of this period was for miniature models of war ships to be placed upon rolling waves of curls, in celebration of French Navy victories against the British."

"With the age of Revolution drawing to a close, in the Directoire period, came the most extraordinarily morbid new fashions; haircuts à la victime were all the rage for men and women - hair either closely and raggedly cropped, or cropped at the back with long curls in front, emulating the style given to those aristocrats unfortunate enough to go to the guillotine...

Dresses were in the style of underclothes, as this was how one met with Madame Guillotine - and a red ribbon was worn around the neck, grimly recalling the manner in which the aristocracy met its end."

Text and images via The Fiell Blog.

A map of over 200,000 earthquakes

From the Smithsonian:

Data visualizer John Nelson, working for IDV Solutions, compiled historical earthquake records to produce this gorgeous, and informative, map... Nelson chose to make the dots, which each represent an earthquake with a magnitude of 4 or higher, brighter or dimmer depending on the size of the quake.

A total of 203,186 earthquakes, from 1898 through 2003.  At the Smithsonian, a second map correlates the pattern with the world's tectonic plates.

Original image source.

Wherein I learn about "gestation crates"

Prompted by an article in the Wisconsin State Journal...

Madison-based Oscar Mayer said Friday it will work with its pork suppliers to make sure pregnant sows have more room. Oscar Mayer does not raise its own pigs.

By the end of 2022, the company plans to obtain pork from suppliers who can provide pregnant sows with housing that "allows for greater movement for the animal, while ensuring their comfort," instead of traditional stalls.

Pork providers Smithfield and Hormel have pledged to stop using the confining gestation crates by 2017, and Cargill already is 50 percent crate-free, the organization said. 

... I looked up a "gestation crate" at Wikipedia:

A gestation crate, also known as a sow stall, is a 2 metres (6.6 ft) x 60 centimetres (2.0 ft) metal enclosure used in intensive pig farming, in which a female breeding pig (sow) may be kept during pregnancy, and in effect for most of her adult life.

In the European Union, the crates are being phased out by 2013 after four weeks of pregnancy. They are already banned in Sweden and in the UK, and will be banned in Denmark in 2014. In the US, they have been banned in Florida since 2002, Arizona since 2006 California since late 2008 and the latest being Rhode Island from June 2012, making it the 9th state in US to enforce the ban...

Between 60 and 70 percent of sows are kept in crates during pregnancy in the United States, each pregnancy lasting four months, with an average of 2.5 litters every year. Sows, which can weigh 600 pounds (270 kg), spend most of their three or four years of adult life in crates, giving birth to between five and eight litters. As the sows grow larger, they no longer fit in the crates, and must sleep on their chests, unable to turn, until they are slaughtered.

More at the link for those interested.  Photo via Farm Sanctuary.

A disturbing image

A Palestinian woman whose house has been occupied by Jewish settlers argued with Israelis who came to celebrate Jerusalem Day in the mainly Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, Wednesday. (Ahmad Gharabli/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)

Leaving aside the politics of the region for the moment (if that's possible), the behavior shown is egregiously improper.

Addendum:  I ran a Google Image check with calendric restrictions and found this same image posted on the internet as early as Dec 25, 2007.  I don't understand why the Wall Street Journal was recycling old material as one of their "pictures of the week" in 2010.

One of the Pictures of the Week in the Wall Street Journal, via Reddit.

Two-parent households continue to decline

From a column in the New York Times:

Decades ago, single parenthood was largely limited to poor people and minorities. Now it is increasingly common across middle America...

While the decline of two-parent families is most striking in the bottom quarter, that is a familiar story and had largely occurred by 1990. Much of the recent growth has occurred in the second-lowest quarter, sometimes called the working class. In that group, the share of households with children headed by unmarried parents has soared to nearly 40 percent and the growth has continued in recent years...

Via The Dish.

The dark side of raising butterflies

Over the past four years I've written quite a few upbeat posts about the joys of raising caterpillars in order to release butterflies (we do this just for they simple pleasure of watching them fly away - not for any commercial gain).  It's not always fun and games, because as Tennyson said, Nature can be "red in tooth and claw."  This post will delineate one of the potential downsides - parasites.

The most common parasite we encounter, because we raise so many Monarchs, is Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, a protozoan that turns the chrysalis into black goo.  More about that some other time (maybe).  Today I'll post the life cycle of the Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) and a parasitic fly.

The butterfly is shown at the top.  It's common (sometimes focally abundant), and uses a variety of plants as hosts for it eggs, most noticeably nettles and false nettles.  Two years ago I wrote about my painful misadventure when I wandered into the neighborhood nettle patch in search of Red Admiral eggs and caterpillars.

But I did find some.  The eggs look like little green barrels on the nettle leaves -

- and the caterpillar that emerges, after passing through a cute little fuzzy stage, appears to be formidably protected -

- by an array of barbed spines along its body, evolved over millennia to fend off a variety of predators.  I had a dozen or so of these caterpillars, who voraciously consumed nettle leaves, forcing me back (warily) into the patch (wearing long sleeves, wielding long-handled forceps to grab the leaves) several times.  Eventually the cats were big enough to pupate, forming chrysalises in their container.  I got ready to photograph the emerging butterflies.

To my dismay, what emerged from almost all of the chrysalises was not a beautiful butterfly, but rather a fly larva.  I'll put the rest of the photos "below the fold" because of their "ick" factor in deference to those of you who are eating lunch at work.

Credit card skimmers INSIDE gas pumps

I've blogged the topic of credit card skimmers three times in the past.  I'll do it again this morning, because it's important.  From the StarTribune this week:

The devices, designed to copy and steal credit card information, were found installed last week in six of eight pumps at a New Hope gas station as part of an investigation that led to the arrest of a California couple. Sarkis Mkhsyan, 29, and Gohar Yesayan, 28, of Van Nuys, Calif., each were charged with nine felonies related to the scam...

A search of the couple's car uncovered elaborate software and a handwritten list of more than 100 local gas stations...

Goldstein said that older skimming devices used by criminals were visible if you knew where to look, but criminals now install the devices inside the pump. During a search of the couple's car, police found a screwdriver and cordless drill, along with a computer and the skimming software. "In short, it's very difficult for someone to know whether or not they are being victimized in this situation," he said...

Goldstein said it's safest for customers to pay for their gas inside the store, despite the inconvenience. If you do pay at the pump, he said, it's safer to use your credit card than your debit card; while money stolen from a debit account is gone, credit card companies often can stop illegal transactions. 

For those unfamiliar with this subject matter, here are the past posts:

The use of pocket-sized skimmers by restaurant employees.

Photos of a skimmer on the outside of an ATM.


Many gas pumps can be opened with the same key, regardless of brand.

A redlined neighborhood

From a photoessay at American Photo:

[Palíndromo Mészáros'] work documents the aftermath of a 2010 toxic waste spill in Western Hungary, which killed nine people and forced the evacuation of thousands. The material, released from an aluminum factory, has left a permanent mark on the villages in its path. Mészáros made a pair of supervised visits to the site in order to document the effects of the spill...

According to the Wikipedia entry on the Ajka alumina plant accident, "The red mud involved in the accident is a waste product of the Bayer process, which refines bauxite into a form of aluminium oxide called alumina... Iron(III) oxide, the compound from which the red color originates, is the main component, but it also contains other compounds."

Posted primarily for the bizarre visual effect rather than for its relevance to the environment.

Superhydrophobic coating on a toilet plunger

YouTube link. 

Apparently achieved by the application of nanotechnology:

This April 2010, NeverWet introduces their first product the Clean & Clear plunger. Imagine a plunger that never gets wet, never gets dirty and best of all virtually never lets any bacteria adhere to its surface. Nanotech coatings prevent water from ever touching a products surface thus making that product super hydrophobic, or easier said, super water repellent.

A comment thread at Reddit discusses the undefined risks of nanoparticles entering the water supply.  But it is a cool plunger.  Personally, I'd be more interested in a snow shovel that doesn't let a pound of wet snow stick to it after you toss a shovelful...

Did I just dodge an "upsell" from Subaru ?

"Upselling is a sales technique whereby a seller induces the customer to purchase more expensive items, upgrades, or other add-ons in an attempt to make a more profitable sale. Upselling usually involves marketing more profitable services or products but can also be simply exposing the customer to other options that were perhaps not considered previously. Upselling implies selling something that is more profitable or otherwise preferable for the seller instead of, or in addition to, the original sale."

Last year our family traded in an ancient Mazda Protege for a better-in-the-winter Subaru Forester.  This year I called to schedule a 15,000 mile maintenance, and the conversation went something like this:

Subaru:  "O.K., you're set for Tuesday morning.  Shall we include a cleaning of the caliper slides?"

Me:  "The what?"

Subaru:  [explanation that this involves inspecting and cleaning brake components "to prevent excessive brake wear."]

Me:  "If that's part of the maintenance, go ahead.  I'm still under warranty."

Subaru:  "This is not 'normal maintenance,' but it's something we recommend.  It would be about $70."

Me:  "Well, if it needs to be done, I also have that extended warranty that covers everything from wiper blades to key batteries..."

Subaru:  "The Extended Service Plan doesn't cover this."

Me:  "So it's not normal maintenance, but it's something you recommend??"

Subaru:  "Correct."

Me:  "What if I don't do it?"

Subaru:  "If you don't do it at 15,000 miles, we recommend you do it during the 30,000 mile maintenance."

Right.  You should do it now - or a year from now - to prevent damage to the brakes that would be covered by the warranty that Subaru would then have to pay for. 

I opted out, and had the same conversation with another employee when I brought the car in.  The service I did get was prompt and efficient and the staff were courteous, but this leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.  I'd welcome any comments from those more knowledgeable about cars than I am.  My wife and I like to get 200,000 miles from our cars over 10-12 years before trading them in.  Should I be more attentive to suggestions such as this one?

Dutch illusionist Hans Klok

YouTube link. 

You'll be tempted to hit the pause and rewind buttons during this video.

Renting out your home may be illegal

Excerpts from a story in Washington Monthly:

For more than a year now, New York City has been enforcing a new state law that makes it illegal for homeowners like Hogan to rent out their house or apartment for less than a month. All across the city, police raids have shut down hundreds of similar informal bed-and-breakfast establishments, with nearly 1,900 different violations issued in under twelve months. Often, the fees associated with the citations stretch into tens of thousands of dollars. Hogan was threatened with a $25,000 fine—all for marketing the empty rooms in his house.

Short-term vacation rentals have existed for years with little attempt by local governments to stamp them out. But thanks to the Internet, an industry that was once small and underground has, in a few short years, exploded into a multibillion-dollar worldwide business.

But an opportunity for some can be seen as a threat by others. Short-term vacation rentals like Hogan’s cut into the bottom line of some powerful interests, and those interests are pressing local governments to put a stop to the practice. The dynamics that have led to the crackdown in New York are playing out nationally—and internationally—as governments struggle with how, or whether, to accommodate a burgeoning new vacation rental industry. While some regulation and taxation of this new market is inevitable and necessary, the danger is that we may strangle precisely the kind of small, entrepreneurial markets we should be fostering...

The crackdown in New York is similar to ones happening in several major European cities. Paris, for instance, passed a law in 2005 banning the rental of any residential property for less than a year, and began enforcing that law in 2010. London is now engaging in a wave of enforcement in the run-up to the 2012 Summer Olympics...

Crackdowns against vacation rentals are also happening in other cities across the United States, in part for fiscal reasons: municipalities need the money. Cities like Palm Desert, California, and resort communities in Colorado have recently required short-term rental owners to buy permits and pay taxes, as well as abide by parking, trash, noise, and other ordinances. But these restrictions don’t seem unreasonable. The permits aren’t prohibitively expensive (a few hundred dollars), the taxes aren’t unfair, and unruly guests can legitimately upset neighbors...

The danger of any ordinance restricting commerce is that it will wind up protecting incumbent interests at the expense of new entrants into the market. So even the more reasonable-sounding laws bear watching. But if done right, these lighter rules could ensure that necessary taxes are paid, legitimate neighborhood concerns are respected, and average citizens are free to make use of an untapped, valuable asset: their own homes.

More at the link, via The Dish.

Joe Paterno loses his halo

A remarkable piece of public art you'll find in downtown State College is a painted wall mural approximately 100 feet long and 2 two stories tall. The mural entitled, Inspiration" is by mural artist, Michael Pilato. The painting is rather a unique work of art for it features real persons who have a connection to Centre County, Pennsylvania, and has embedded themes. Although the likeness of Coach Joe Paterno of Penn State University is easily recognizable, there are obviously other notable people such as the man holding 3 Olympic medals, a Heismann trophy winner, two soldiers from the Civil War and WWI, etc.

The above description of the Heister Street mural in State College was written years before the recent scandal.  The mural was an ongoing project to which the artist was adding images each year; when someone died, a halo was painted above their head; this year the artist painted over Joe Paterno's halo.

Pilato went on to explain that Sue Paterno has said her husband was never a saint, so he felt that the halo should be removed after the release of the Freeh report. A blue ribbon — symbolizing support for child abuse victims — remains on Paterno’s jacket.

Graham Spanier’s [college president] picture still remains on the mural, much to many viewers’ dismay. Pilato said, though, that he thinks someone else will remove Spanier before he does. People have already thrown eggs at Spanier’s painting.

Text from Onward State.  Image from Associated Press, via PennLive.

What will happen when the Ogallala runs dry ?

Mulligan began laying out a series of poster-size maps of the Panhandle. The first showed the base of the aquifer in burgundy. During the late Tertiary Period, he explained, the region we know as the Great Plains wasn’t composed of plains at all—it was a stony terrain of cliffs and valleys. Gradually that surface was buried by erosion sediment from the Rockies, which blanketed the region with the smooth surface of today’s plains. But underneath, the hills and valleys of the prehistoric landscape remain, forming the bottom of the Ogallala Aquifer.

Mulligan spread out a second map on top, which showed the same region, but in shades of blue instead of burgundy. “This is the saturated thickness of the Ogallala in 2004,” he said. “So that’s basically the available water.” The contours of the prehistoric landscape remained clear: where there had been hills, the water was shallow, and where there had been valleys, the water was deep.

Next Mulligan spread out a map recording the impact of wells, which were represented with hundreds of tiny dots. The burnt-orange shading on the map indicated a rapid rate of depletion. Mulligan said, “What you’re looking at is a drawdown on the order of five to six feet per year. So over the last fifteen years, it’s gone down eighty, ninety, one hundred feet.”

None of which, he went on, is likely to come back. For complex reasons involving wind, weather, and soil composition, the Ogallala does not recharge in the way one might expect. In fact, of the eight states above the aquifer, only Nebraska, with its sandhill dunes, is permeable enough to contribute any serious replenishment.

Now Mulligan spread out the last two maps of the region. The first was covered with crimson spots. “So what we did is, we highlighted all the areas that are less than thirty feet,” he said. “Thirty feet is kind of a magic number. You’re down to so little water that you’re not going to be able to pump nearly enough.” The map was almost a quarter red. “So that’s 2004,” he said, turning, “and this is 2030.” 

In the last map the Panhandle was nearly all red. “I look at that,” Mulligan said, “and I can only surmise that there will be very little irrigated agriculture on the high plains twenty years from now.”

“It’s hard to imagine what there will be,” I offered.

Mulligan smiled. “Just because we’re all born into this, we think that’s the way it’s supposed to be. But our human perspective is very biased.” 

Text excerpt and image from a fascinating article in this week's Harper's Magazine, entitled "Broken Heartland.  The looming collapse of agriculture on the Great Plains."

None of this is particularly "news."  I believe it's been known for decades that the water level in the aquifer is declining and will eventually be depleted.  The Texas/Oklahoma area cited above is particularly susceptible to depletion; there are other maps at Wikipedia showing the depth (and drawdown) of the aquifer in more northern states.  But with continued irrigation for agricultural purposes, it will gradually run dry.

What happens then?  That's what the article is about.  Some interesting ideas.

Ernest Hemingway has to put down one of his cats

From a February 22, 1953, letter from Ernest Hemingway to his close friend Gianfranco Ivancich...

Dear Gianfranco:

Just after I finished writing you and was putting the letter in the envelope Mary came down from the Torre and said, “Something terrible has happened to Willie.” I went out and found Willie with both his right legs broken: one at the hip, the other below the knee. A car must have run over him or somebody hit him with a club. He had come all the way home on the two feet of one side. It was a multiple compound fracture with much dirt in the wound and fragments protruding. But he purred and seemed sure that I could fix it.

I had René get a bowl of milk for him and René held him and caressed him and Willie was drinking the milk while I shot him through the head. I don’t think he could have suffered and the nerves had been crushed so his legs had not begun to really hurt. Monstruo wished to shoot him for me, but I could not delegate the responsibility or leave a chance of Will knowing anybody was killing him...

Have had to shoot people but never anyone I knew and loved for eleven years. Nor anyone that purred with two broken legs. 

The rest of the letter is in this month's Harper's Magazine.