Nature News from Jake Sigg
1. Job opportunity in Watsonville
2. Governor Schwarzenegger needs to hear from you on a raft of bills
3. Historian Greg Gaar will be presenting a slide show on the natural history of San Francisco October 13
4. Pacifica disgraces itself on Sharp Park
5. Ecology 101
6. Mixed signals from Washington on Bay-Delta/Dianne Feinstein sells out endangered species
7. Ken Burns' magnificent national park series/Hetch Hetchy
8. Food and farming: Wendell Barry's wisdom
9. Conservation grazing technical workshop October 30
10. Siemens: Used slave labor in Third Reich, now aiding Holocaust denier
11. Nutrition items: Importance of potassium-rich foods
12. Feedback
13. The Rebirth of Environmentalism
14. Dammed Crazy: What Do California's Water Woes Teach Us?
15. Newly-discovered waterfall in Pacifica: field trip this Saturday 10
16. Ospreys in action
17. This year's Ig Nobel Prizes
18. The problem with government conspiracies is that bureaucrats are incompetent and people can’t keep their mouths shut
19. However, the Moon landings were faked, and Daylight Savings Time is responsible for climate warming
20. Is our galaxy running out of gas?
21. Park steward CD being sold at SF Symphony Store
22. It's against the law in Tennessee to....
1. Watsonville Wetlands Watch seeks Environmental Education Specialist
Watsonville Wetlands Watch seeks an Environmental Education Specialist to coordinate and facilitate outdoor wetland-based activities for youth of the Pajaro Valley. The ideal candidate will be bilingual in English and Spanish, have experience coordinating and providing environmental education to youth ages 8-18 and will have a background in wetland ecology and inquiry-based learning. Watsonville Wetlands Watch provides a fun and supportive work environment and we are looking for a team player who is creative, passionate about the environment, and loves working with children. Desired qualifications include bachelor’s degree in an environmentally-related field plus two years experience, excellent organization and teaching skills, the ability to take initiative and work independently, and experience designing student activities. Work will include recruiting program participants, scheduling and coordinating activities, leading field trips, training and supervising teen staff and volunteer docents, and maintaining program files. This position requires own transportation and insurance and must be able to drive a minimum of three students to field trip sites. This is a part-time 20 hours/week position and pays $16/hour- sick, vacation and holidays. To view the full job description please go to http://www.watsonvillewetlandswatch.org. Please send a cover letter and resume by October 6th to Noëlle Antolin at noelle@watsonvillewetlandswatch.org or by mail to P.O. Box 1239 Freedom, Ca 95019
Noëlle Antolin Education Director Watsonville Wetlands Watch t (831)728-1156 f (831)728-6944
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2. From California League of Conservation Voters
Key legislation is now on the governor's desk that, if signed into law, would reduce global warming pollutants in the state, guarantee access to clean drinking water, reduce our exposure to toxins, safeguard our state parks, and more.
These bills will have little to no cost to the state but will contribute to a safer, cleaner, greener future for Californians.
When faced with decisions on environmental legislation in past years, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has landed squarely in the middle of the road by siding with industry nearly as often as not. Since 2003, he has signed little over half of our priority legislation -- a record that he can improve this year.
You can help us overpower the deep pockets of industry lobbyists by adding your grassroots voice to ours. Please take action and urge Governor Schwarzenegger to sign high-priority environmental bills by next Sunday, October 11 (the deadline for him to sign bills passed in 2009 into law).
Take action today:
Please call or fax Governor Schwarzenegger, urging him to sign the following bills (click for more info on each):
• AB 1404, to reduce global warming emissions at home
• SB 757, to reduce our exposure to toxic lead
• AB 1242, to guarantee Californians access to healthy water
• SB 372 & SB 679, to protect California's state parks
• SB 14 & AB 64, to strengthen California's Renewable Energy Standard.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-2841, ext. 0
Fax: (916) 558-3160
Note: A call is one of the most valuable ways to make your voice heard. Though hold times can be up to a few minutes, the immediate public feedback to the governor's office makes a big difference and receives more consideration than an email.
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3. Historian Greg Gaar will be presenting a slide show on the natural history of San Francisco at the Glen Park Association Fall Meeting, Tuesday, October 13, 7:00pm, Glen Park Recreation Center. His presentation will show historic photos of the native sand dunes, grasslands, trees, lakes, creeks and bay shore with emphasis on Glen Park, Mt. Davidson and Twin Peaks.
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4. Ellen Edelson reports:
This Thursday,evening Oct 8, at the SF Naturalist Society's meeting (http://www.sfns.org), Brent Plater, environmental lawyer and director of Restore Sharp Park, will give a talk called "Twain's Frog & the Beautiful Serpent"--on the history of and current concerns about Pacifica's Sharp Park golf course and its endangered resident red-legged frog and SF garter snake. The talk will be held at the Randall Museum in SF (www.randallmuseum.org) and starts at 7:30 pm.
I urge all of you to attend and bring others with you. He has new material and it is important that we keep up with this important issue. Moreover, after the experience of last Friday night in Pacifica, we need to show Brent a massive outpouring of support and appreciation for his hard and dedicated work to save those imperiled animals from "extinction by a thousand cuts".
I attended the talk by Brent and Dr Carlos Davidson at the Pacifica Community Center last Friday night, hosted by the Santa Clara Valley CNPS. I was not surprised by the presence of the golfers,but their unruliness and disrespect was taken to new heights. Worse, Pacifica city councilman (and former mayor), Jim Vreeland was there drunk and most belligerent. CNPS host, Arvind Kumar, had to turn on the lights three times during the presentation to ask the thugs to behave or please leave. The heckling got such that Arvind suggested a peace officer may need to be called in. The current mayor sat on her hands and was utterly useless as a leader.
We got through the presentations eventually, but nerves were certainly frayed. I would like to see the house packed on Thursday in a show of support and appreciation for Brent and his hard work for this cause.
I doubt the golfers or the city officials of Pacifica will make the trek to the Randall Museum, but I forewarned Patrick Schlemmer, the SF Naturalist Society leader, just in case.
Let's show that SF can attend a talk on a controversial subject (although not so much here, admittedly) and present ourselves in a courteous and respectful manner. Several (well-behaved!) Pacificans will be there to show their support as well!
Here are some email excerpts post-Friday evening:
From myself (ie, Ellen Edelson):
The heckling and other rude, disruptive behavior by the handful of golfers should also be publicly chastised. I applaud Brent, Carlos and Arvind for keeping their cool and countering the disrespectful outbursts with unreciprocated courtesy and professionalism.
From Ron Maykel;
Thanks for the invite (to the Randall). I must confess the conduct was one of the worst experiences of a public meeting I have had. The out-of-character conduct is not uncommon in this town. I have lived in this town for nearly 40 years and find their to be a paucity of well mannered and sensitive people. But that's another story.
From Brent Plater:
Make sure to get the word out about the unacceptable behavior last night on Riptide, the Tribune, etc. When a city councilmember shows up drunk and truculent at a community lecture, people need to know about it.
I will share my letter to the editor of the (Pacifica) Tribune with any of you who ask.
See you Thursday. (Whether or not you can attend, check out the website: restoresharppark.org,for information.)
_________________
Here is the Pacifica Tribune story: http://www.mercurynews.com/pacifica
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5. Ecology 101
Three hundred trout are needed to support one man for a year. The trout, in turn, must consume 90,000 frogs, that must consume 27 million grasshoppers that live off of 1,000 tons of grass. G Tyler Miller, Jr, American chemist (1971)
“It’s the tiger salamander
And the red-legged frog
Yellow-legged frog
And all the legged frogs
For it’s them that I love
And it’s them that I owe
For it’s their getting by
That’s my getting by.”
Bruce Delgado sung at Cal-IPC Symposium 2007
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6. MIXED SIGNALS FROM WASHINGTON ON FATE OF BAY-DELTA
While the California Legislature continues to work on a comprehensive package of Delta bills, the Obama Administration entered the fray on Tuesday with six federal agencies signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) establishing a Federal Bay-Delta Leadership Committee.
Over the next several months, the Leadership Committee will coordinate with the state and key stakeholders to develop a federal action plan. The plan will look at habitat restoration, climate change mitigation, water efficiency and recycling, and land stewardship programs that benefit the Delta ecosystem.
However, California Senator Dianne Feinstein may hamper the attempt more than help, since she's suggesting that the Endangered Species Act should be waived "as fast as we can" to temporarily transfer Delta water to Central Valley agribusinesses. She has also called for a National Academy of Sciences review of the recent Endangered Species Act Biological Opinions that have helped protect Delta smelt and salmon fisheries.
“Man, biologically considered...is the most formidable of all the beasts of prey, and, indeed, the only one that preys systematically on its own species.” William James
“They have poisoned the Thames and killed the fish in the river. A little further development of the same wisdom and science will complete the poisoning of the air, and kill the dwellers on the banks...I almost think it is the destiny of science to exterminate the human race.” Thomas Love Peacock, Gryll Grange, 1860
“To me the question of the environment is more ominous than that of peace and war. We will have regional conflicts and use of force, but world conflicts I do not believe will happen any longer. But the environment, that is a creeping danger. I’m more worried about global warming than I am about any major military conflict.”
Hans Blix, head of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission, 12 March 2003
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7. To those who missed Ken Burns' magnificent series on our national parks: beg, borrow, or steal a copy. It was rich and multi-dimensional: not only excellent research and filming of unbelievable--yes, unbelievable, and always will be--phenomena and scenery, but also a history of human actions and interactions. Some may be surprised at the difficulties faced--including extreme hostility--and how much chance came into play, including the maneuvering that brought about San Francisco's shameful drowning of Hetch Hetchy Valley.
We owe so much to so few--but isn't it always that way in human affairs?
Letters to the Chronicle: Friday, October 1, 2004 S.F. scolded for seizing a national treasure
Editor -- Your editorial ("The Hetch Hetchy fantasy," Sept. 29) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein's comments sorely miss a central issue: Yosemite National Park, which includes Hetch Hetchy Valley, was established by Congress in 1890 "for all to enjoy." The entire park legally belongs to the people of the United States, not just San Franciscans.
While politically driven and legally manipulated in 1913 by the likes of Gifford Pinchot, John Raker, Mayor James Phelan and others, the establishment of O'Shaughnessy Dam was clearly a grave mistake, which is not "easy to look back" on. Now is the best time in 80 years to take a hard look forward toward correcting an enormous wrongdoing and finally restoring this once-pristine valley to its rightful owners, the people of the United States.
As Environmental Defense and others have shown the answers are out there, but it will only happen if we have the collective vision and goodwill to find them.
STEPHEN ATTELL, Burlingame
Editor -- Your editorial regarding the restoration of Hetch Hetchy was one-sided. The Chronicle should be providing a comprehensive look at all options.
After the failure of the press over Iraq, you should not fall into place so quickly behind current political leaders.
BART WRIGHT, Oakland
Editor -- Hetch Hetchy Valley does not belong to San Francisco -- it is part of Yosemite National Park, which belongs to all of us.
We would not build a refinery in the Everglades, or an outlet mall at the foot of the Statue of Liberty. A dam does not belong in Yosemite.
Shall we let it be said that people of the Bay Area are in favor of environmental conservation only when it does not inconvenience them? How long will it take before the first charge of "hypocrite" is made?
Saying that the dam was a mistake, but we can't correct it now, is not good enough. If feasible and practical, this is a chance to restore an unmatched scenic treasure to the nation.
MAUREEN FITZPATRICK
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8. From Garden for the Environment newsletter/website:
Wendell Berry's Wisdom
Michael Pollan, The Nation
"The national conversation unfolding around the subject of food and farming really began in the 1970s, with the work of writers like Wendell Berry..."
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090921/pollan
This article is adapted from Michael Pollan's introduction to Bringing It to the Table, a collection of Wendell Berry's writings out this fall from Counterpoint.
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9. The Natural Resources Conservation Service and the San Mateo Resources Conservation District are partnering with Peninsula Permaculture to bring to you a very interesting conservation grazing technical workshop.
Don't miss the opportunity to join us October 30th from 10-4 at TOTO ranch in San Gregorio, CA to learn about carbon sequestration, conservation ranching and more.
Agriculture operations can build soils that increase crop and pasture production and help address the growing opportunity for carbon sequestration. This one-day workshop will describe how you can improve your soils and increase the ability to harvest rainwater where it falls using a range of integrated regenerative agriculture techniques such as Keyline Design, Holistic Management, Soil Food Web, Integrated Agroforestry and other carbon farming strategies.
Toto Ranch is located at 20080 Cabrillo Hwy S. Half Moon Bay, CA 94019. The ranch is 9 miles south of Half Moon Bay, on the east side of hwy 1. It is the only driveway between Tunitas Creek Rd. and Stage Rd. There is a large gravel turn out on the west side across from Toto ranch.
For more information visit:
Workshop Details or Contact Susan Osofsky 650.938.9300 x18
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10. "...A textbook example of what democracies should not do was provided last year by a joint venture between Siemens and Nokia. This sold the Iranian regime a sophisticated system with which it can monitor the internet: emails, internet phone calls and social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, much used by Iranian protesters. So a German company, Siemens, which used slave labour during the Third Reich, sold a Holocaust-denying president the instruments with which he can persecute young Iranians. Think of that every time you buy something made by Siemens." Excerpt from Timothy Garton Ash article in Guardian Weekly 02.10.09
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11. From Agricultural Research, October 2009
Hairy Vetch Boosts Tomato Phytonutrients
Members of the Vicia genus known as “hairy vetch” are viny, moderately winter-hardy legumes that are often grown to stabilize roadbanks or to serve as forage for grazing animals. Since they fix atmospheric nitrogen, they are a rich source of that critical plant nutrient.
Now research has shown that planting tomatoes in fields of killed and rolled hairy vetch, which serves as a mulch, activates some of the metabolic pathways and genes that make tomato plants more vigorous—and their fruit more tasty and nutritious. The effect is similar to that obtained by inserting the ySAMdc gene into tomato plants, which is known to increase production of polyamines.
How the fruit of regular tomatoes grown in hairy vetch mulch becomes so nutritionally similar to fruit produced by ySAMdc-modified tomatoes isn’t yet understood. But when both modified and unmodified tomatoes were grown in hairy vetch mulch, a buildup of amino acids, choline, and other nutrients and antioxidants was seen to occur in the fruit, and the ySAMdc-modified tomatoes contained even more nutrients—and at much higher levels—than unmodified ones.
Researchers think that the polyamines may act as signaling molecules and steer metabolic pathways so fruits produce more phytonutrients.
Potassium-Rich Foods Preserve Muscle Mass
The typical American diet generates tiny amounts of acid each day. As people age, they develop a mild metabolic acidosis that increases slowly over time and appears to trigger a muscle-wasting response. So researchers looked at links between lean body mass and diets relatively high in potassium-rich, alkaline-residue-producing fruits and vegetables to see whether these foods could influence lean tissue mass. They conducted a cross-sectional analysis on a subset of nearly 400 male and female volunteers aged 65 or older who had completed a 3-year osteoporosis-intervention trial.
The volunteers’ physical activity, height and weight, and percentage of lean body mass were measured at the start of the study and at 3 years. Their urinary potassium was measured at the start of the study, and their dietary data was collected at 18 months.
Regression model results indicated that volunteers with potassium-rich diets could expect to have 3.6 more pounds of lean tissue mass than volunteers with half the higher potassium intake. According to the study’s authors, this almost offsets the 4.4 pounds of lean tissue that healthy men and women 65 and over typically lose in a decade. (See next item for potassium-rich foods. JS)
The following item is from Agricultural Research March 2007
Nutrient-loaded mushrooms
Who'd have though that the often-overlooked culinary mushroom offered consumers key nutrients like copper, potassium, folate, and niacin? That's what nutrient analysis of seven varieties of mushrooms--crimini, enoki, maitake, oyster, portabella, shiitake, and white button--has shown. Samples gathered from markets countrywide have been analyzed for their carbohydrate, fat, fiber, protein, vitamin, and mineral contents, along with ergosterol, a precursor to vitamin D.
Four varieties were analyzed raw, but portabella, shiitake, and white button mushrooms were analyzed after cooking--to determine the effect of cooking on their nutrient content. Most nutrients were fully retained, while a few dropped to 80-95 percent.
All mushrooms were found to provide a significant amount of copper, a trace element that helps the body produce red blood cells and drives a variety of chemical reactions that are key to human health. They also provide significant amounts of potasssium, which helps maintain normal heart rhythm, fluid balance, and muscle and nerve function.
(One portabella mushroom contains more potassium than a banana, another food famous for its potassium, according to another Agricultural Research article. JS)
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A dollar spent in a locally owned business is worth three times as much to the local economy as one spent in a chain store. Sierra, Mar-Apr 2007
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12. Feedback
Ted Kipping:
Dear Jake. Thank you for your Sisyphean environ/blog. As a student in New York at Columbia University, I gave walks about the campus celebrating "Great Moments Revealed In Stone" visible in the facing stone of the buildings as well as the foyer and lobby pavers. Including some fancy fossils as well. A great idea to revitalize for SF!
Re the Ribbon Gum, like yourself, I too am an admirer of the genus and also especially of Eucalyptus viminalis. From a tree huggers viewpoint and especially a climber/arborist's it is a more refined tree in every respect when compared to E. globulus. The latter is in nature an understory tree and therefore an opportunist. That is why it gets greedy in both growth (180-220 feet tall) and reproduction. It's always looking over its shoulder expecting to be overgrown and shaded out by E. regnans ( 300-400+ feet). Ribbonbark is its own climax species and so is not in a big rush to get what it can while it can. I do love many individuals of E. globulus but not the species in the same categorical way I do E. viminalis. Ted Kipping
Thanks, Ted; encouragement is always appreciated. I need it I need it.
I feared that I might get some indignant mail because of praising ribbon gum. It's good to hear from someone who shares my enthusiasm for it. I may yet get mail.
Burton Meyer:
Regarding No. 23 military spending, Not only would we speak German, but Hitler and possibly Stalin and their descendants would be ruling. Many of us would be dead.
Clark Natwick:
Hi Jake, Thanks to one of the postings in Nature News I am receiving relief from severe knee pain. I went to the Blue Bucket Eco Fair for the free compost and visited all the info booths. One booth offered free acupuncture - the Health & Enviroonmental Resource Ctr.
I have had 3 sessions of free acupuncture. All three sessions were helpful. I also received 3 bags of free compost & I am utilizing that also.
Thank you for the amazing Nature News and all its benefits.
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13. Dr. Douglas Bevington has released his new book: The Rebirth of Environmentalism. The book tells the story of the small but highly effective grassroots groups that have achieved remarkable success in protecting endangered species and forests in the United States. Filled with inspiring stories of activists, groups, and campaigns that most readers will not have encountered before, The Rebirth of Environmentalism explores how grassroots biodiversity groups have had such a big impact despite their scant resources, and presents valuable lessons that can help the environmental movement as a whole—as well as other social movements—become more effective.
“The environmental movement is an ecosystem of its own, and Douglas Bevington does a fine job examining the understory that flourishes in the shade of the big green groups. This will be a useful text for those trying to figure out how to build the global warming movement in the years ahead.” —Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
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14. Dammed Crazy: What Do California's Water Woes Teach Us?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lori-pottinger/dammed-crazy-what-do-cali_b_307160.html
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15.
Saturday, 10 October 10 am
Pacifica's least-known waterfall (San Mateo County)
Leaders: Ian Butler and Jake Sigg
A spectacular 60' waterfall in the midst of a metropolitan area of a million people--and unknown? Hello?
An occasional fisherman or other curious people may have visited it, so it wasn't completely unknown. But it wasn't until Ian Butler chanced upon it and decided the world should take notice that it was "discovered". Jake was delighted that such a gem existed and has joined Ian in introducing the world to it.
The descent to the bottom of the fall--the only place from which it can be viewed--is very steep and requires a modicum of physical agility. The water flows about 300' to the ocean, and the beach is small, isolated, and frequented by sea birds. The stream and the cliffs harbor at least 26 species of native plants in good health, including liverworts and mosses. A few of the plants are locally rare.
RSVP, and for meeting instructions: jakesigg@earthlink.net 415-731-3028, or Ian Butler, ianbutler@netzero.net.
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16. ospreys in action: http://www.miguellasa.com/photos/sspopup.mg?AlbumID=1001578
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17. 60-SECOND SCIENCE PODCAST: Ig Nobel Prizes Awarded
On the eve of the Nobel Prize announcements, the Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded at Harvard, for studies into knuckle-cracking and other vital medical and scientific research
http://cl.exct.net/?qs=c31bd168922ec77988c64020e72eee757a40c695ec378ed853214ea0af8375c5
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18.
….“Just because you’re paranoid don’t mean they’re not after you.”
But as former Nixon aide G. Gordon Liddy once told me (and he should know!), the problem with government conspiracies is that bureaucrats are incompetent and people can’t keep their mouths shut. Complex conspiracies are difficult to pull off, and so many people want their quarter hour of fame that even the Men in Black couldn’t squelch the squealers from spilling the beans. So there’s a good chance that the more elaborate a conspiracy theory is, and the more people that would need to be involved, the less likely it is true.
Why do people believe in highly improbable conspiracies? In previous columns I have provided partial answers, citing patternicity (the tendency to find meaningful patterns in random noise) and agenticity (the bent to believe the world is controlled by invisible intentional agents). Conspiracy theories connect the dots of random events into meaningful patterns and then infuse those patterns with intentional agency. Add to those propensities the confirmation bias (which seeks and finds confirmatory evidence for what we already believe) and the hindsight bias (which tailors after-the-fact explanations to what we already know happened), and we have the foundation for conspiratorial cognition.
Examples of these processes can be found in journalist Arthur Goldwag’s marvelous new book, Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies, which covers everything from the Freemasons, the Illuminati and the Bilderberg Group to black helicopters and the New World Order. “When something momentous happens, everything leading up to and away from the event seems momentous, too. Even the most trivial detail seems to glow with significance”.
…What should we believe? Transcendentalists tend to believe that everything is interconnected and that all events happen for a reason. Empiricists tend to think that randomness and coincidence interact with the causal net of our world and that belief should depend on evidence for each individual claim. The problem for skepticism is that transcendentalism is intuitive; empiricism is not. Or as folk rock group Buffalo Springfield once intoned: Paranoia strikes deep. Into your life it will creep ...
Excerpts from Michael Shermer’s Skeptic column in Scientific American September 2009
As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand. Josh Billings (1818-1885)
The wish to believe, even against evidence, fuels all the pseudosciences from astrology to creationism. Isaac Asimov
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19. Reason and science
Some 15 million Americans believe the moon landings were faked. They never drank the Tang. Millions more are convinced that Elvis lives and that the sun revolves around the Earth, which is approximately 6,000 years old.
Reason and science have their fans, but many Americans find faith more appealing. For example, the National Academy of Sciences has decreed the evidence for climate change unmistakable, but that won't stop Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, R, from declaring it a hoax, and he's not alone.
"I don't think the human effect is significant," says Harrison "Moon Rock" Schmitt, the last astronaut to (allegedly) explore the lunar surface. Global warming skeptics have many crackpot theories. My favorite came from a housewife in Arkansas, who insists that daylight savings is to blame: "It's that extra hour of sunlight." From Randy Udall, High Country News 17 August 2009
(Dont' worry, dearie; Daylight Savings will end in three weeks.)
And an Arizona state senator has faith: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtzJhTfQiMA
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Here we have a baby. It is composed of a bald head and a pair of lungs. Eugene Field, American poet/humorist 1850-1895
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20. Is our galaxy running out of gas?
New results suggest the Milky Way is creating so many stars that it may run out of gas in a billion years.
To the most casual observer, the night sky gives the impression that it hasn’t changed since time immemorial. A closer look, however, reveals the Milky Way Galaxy’s ongoing cycles of cosmic death and rebirth.
The plane of our Milky Way is chock full of star-forming regions. Astronomers estimate that, all told, those regions add some 5 solar masses of new stars to the galaxy per year. But that figure may soon have to be ratcheted up…Of the approximately 6,000 stars visible to the naked eye on a dark night, most have significantly more mass than the Sun and are intrinsically luminous. These high-mass stars live fast and die young, exploding as supernovae less than 50 million years after their births. Yet the vast majority of the Milky Way’s estimated 400 billion stars are middle-aged or older and have less mass than the Sun. These cool, reddish stars don’t radiate much visible light. Instead, they generate invisible infrared radiation (heat). So, to learn the details of Milky Way star formation, astronomers need to expand their vision beyond the visible.
That’s just what they’ve done…Results…have started to change scientists’ view of star formation in the Milky Way. Early results hint that the galaxy’s current frenzy of star birth can’t be sustained for more than a billion years.
Excerpt from Astronomy, January 2009
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21. Browsing through the CD/DVD section of the SF Symphony Store, I was pleasantly surprised to find an album by one of our park stewards, Gary Schwantes--the Ultra World X-tet. We've even infiltrated the Symphony!
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22. It's against the law in parts of Tennessee:
To lasso a fish
To sing "It ain't gonna rain no more no more"
For frogs to croak after 11 pm
Scribbled notes from saysyou.net; details may be wrong. I missed the towns that declared these illegal.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
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