Monthly meta for May 2016

May 2016 was the second best month on the blog, surpassing April 2016 with 20,967 page views and 37 comments for 33 posts over 31 days.  That translates to 676.35 page views per day, 635.36 page views per post, 1.19 comments per day, and 1.12 comments per entry.  For the second consecutive complete month of the new blogging year, I'm still meeting or exceeding my goal of between 16,500 and 17,500 page views per month for the current blogging year.

I begin with the most pinned entry on Pinterest last month, "Drink recipes for July 4th from Tipsy Bartender" from July 4, 2015 with 10 pins and 2 likes.  It also earned 105 page views, including 38 from Pinterest.  A total of 90 page views came from Pinterest last month, 68 on the last week of May.

Two entries earned honorable mentions.  The first was "Happy Star Wars Day from North Star and NASA" from May 4, 2014 with 174 page views, enough to sneak it into the top at the end of the month and place it 13th overall.  It earned its readership from being shared at the drum corps groups and community on Facebook and Google Plus.

The second entry to earn an honorable mention was "Darth Vader on Dubstep" from May 4, 2013.  It earned 189 page views, enough to place it 11th overall by the last day of the month, by being shared at the Star Wars groups on Facebook and being retweeted several times on Twitter by someone else.

Follow over the jump for the top ten posts for May, both posted during the month and overall.  These included the most liked on Google Plus and the most commented on entry.

Full Strawberry Moon on Summer Solstice 2016

Happy Summer Solstice!  Enjoy this video about the celestial event!

Summer solstice 2016 is a once in a year event when you will find that days will be much longer as compared to the night or summer solstice will be the longest day of the year.  Solstice means stopping the sun so that it will attain a constant position but this event is wildly celebrated and welcomed by the people.  This year you will find the summer solstice 2016 on the 20th of June.

For more, read Brad Plumer's The summer solstice is Monday: 7 things to know about the longest day of the year on Vox.

The summer solstice is upon us: Monday, June 20, will be the longest day of 2016 for anyone living north of the equator. If pagan rituals are your thing, this is probably a big moment for you. If not, the solstice is still pretty neat. This year’s even includes a "strawberry moon," the first time that’s happened in 70 years.

Oh, yes, about that Strawberry Moon...

According to the Old Farmers’ Almanac, full moons in June were traditionally referred to as "strawberry moons" by Native Americans because that was the month strawberries were picked. In Europe, where strawberries aren’t native, full moons in June were known as "honey moons" or "full rose moons."

In 2016, the strawberry moon will happen to coincide with the summer solstice — the first time that’s happened in 70 years. This may strike you as a meaningless cosmic coincidence, but if you get a kick out of this stuff, the Slooh Observatory is hosting a strawberry moon viewing party.

First a full moon for Christmas and now this.  Cool.

For more full moon names, read The Wolf Moon, the first full moon of 2012, is tonight, which was the eighth most read entry of the first year of this blog.

'Star Trek' coins and stamps for the show's 50th anniversary

Yes, Canada has beaten the U.S. to the punch, at least with money.  Nerdist notes the irony of using "Star Trek" on money.

There may not be money in the United Federation of Planets, but there’s now legal Star Trek currency in Canada, courtesy of the Royal Canadian Mint. Although some of these financial arrangements sound like they were made by a Ferengi.

Via The Trek Collective, the Canadian Mint has announced its plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Trek by releasing a line of coins that can actually be used in financial transactions…if you were so inclined. Some of them are even reasonably priced. The $10 colored coins featuring Kirk, Spock, Uhura, and Scotty are only being sold for slightly over the face value, while the $20 silver coins featuring the Enterprise are being sold at face value.

Not only is Canada issuing coins, the country is also issuing stamps: Star Trek™ 50th anniversary – Canada Post Stamp Sightings.


The Canadians aren't having all the fun.  Follow over the jump for more.

Solar Impulse 2 in Allentown

Solar Impulse 2 left Dayton last week for Allentown, Pennsylvania.  Wochit News has the story in Solar-Powered Airplane Lands in Pennsylvania.

A solar-powered airplane has landed in Pennsylvania, about 17 hours after it took off from the Ohio hometown of America aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright. The Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2 landed at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown. The plane's departure from Dayton was delayed as project officials checked for possible damage after fans that keep the mobile hangar inflated had a power failure.

On the way, the pilot had some fun snapping an extreme selfie, as ABC News reported.

Solar Impulse pilot Bertrand Piccard snapped a sky-high selfie as he cruised toward Pennsylvania during the 13th leg of the plane's journey around the world.

The Swiss adventurer was able to memorialize his time in the cockpit by using what appears to be an extremely long selfie stick held outside the window of the solar-powered plane.

While in Allentown, the plane is attracting lots of visitors, with The Morning Call reporting Solar Impulse 2 draws thousands for up close look at Allentown airport.  5,000 free tickets were distributed for a one-day-only open house; 3,800 people attended the event.  The paper also reported when "the plane will take off for John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City as early as Thursday before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to land in Europe or Northern Africa."  Stay tuned.

ETA: Since I wrote the above, CBS in New York reported Solar-Powered Plane Set To Arrive At JFK Airport.  That should happen this evening, possibly after a flyover of the Statue of Liberty.  I'll have an update tomorrow or the day after.

Presidents on Memorial Day

For today's holiday, I'm going to do something more serious than last year's grilling over lava.  Instead, I'm harkening back to 2013's President Obama at Arlington for Memorial Day with Friday's Weekly Address: Remembering Our Fallen Heroes.

In this week’s address, President Obama solemnly reflected on the meaning of Memorial Day and recognized the sacrifices made by the American warriors who never made it back home.

That's not all.  ABC News brings its viewers Memorial Day | Presidents Honor the Fallen at Arlington National Cemetery.

Memorial Day 2016 | A look back at presidents on Memorial Day through the years.

Remember the serious reason for the holiday before lighting the grill.

Rabid Puppies infect 2016 Hugo nominees for movies and television

Last year's Hugo nominees for movies and television were marred by the efforts of two groups of reactionary fans--the Sad Puppies and the Rabid Puppies--to influence the nominees by stuffing the ballots through slate voting.  I found both sets of nominees flawed, especially those for "Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)," i.e., movies, although not fatally so.  Just the same, it was enough to prompt me to nominate shows for the "Serious Kitten Awards" at We Hunted The Mammoth.

The same thing happened this year, except that the Rabid Puppies had an even stronger effect than the Sad Puppies, which made things worse.  As Mike Glyer wrote at File 770, the result was "Puppies all the way down" as "Vox Day’s Rabid Puppies slate initially placed 64 of its 81 recommendations on the final ballot."  I'll leave the analysis on the literary awards and fan awards to others;* like last year, I'll concentrate on how the slate affected the nominees for movies and television.

Here are the nominees for media from io9.

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (LONG FORM) (2904 ballots)

• Avengers: Age of Ultron written and directed by Joss Whedon (Marvel Studios; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
• Ex Machina written and directed by Alex Garland (Film4; DNA Films; Universal Pictures)
• Mad Max: Fury Road written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, and Nico Lathouris, directed by George Miller (Village Roadshow Pictures; Kennedy Miller Mitchell; RatPac-Dune Entertainment; Warner Bros. Pictures)
• The Martian screenplay by Drew Goddard, directed by Ridley Scott (Scott Free Productions; Kinberg Genre; TSG Entertainment; 20th Century Fox)
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens written by Lawrence Kasdan, J. J. Abrams, and Michael Arndt, directed by J.J. Abrams (Lucasfilm Ltd.; Bad Robot Productions; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

Unlike last year, I think all of the nominees are worthy.  Only one of these, "Avengers: Age of Ultron," was purely a Rabid Puppies selection, but unlike "The Lego Movie," I think it's an acceptable nominee.  That doesn't mean I'd have put it on my ballot; instead, I'd have replaced it with "Jurassic World," which was the fifth movie on the list of six nominees for the Saturn Awards.  So, the Rabid Puppies didn't screw up the nominees in this category.  Besides, I doubt they'll win in the end.  "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" was not on their slate, but I think it's the favorite.  The other strong contenders would be "Ex Machina" and "Mad Max: Fury Road," also not on their slate, and "The Martian," which would probably have been nominated without their help.

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (SHORT FORM) (2219 ballots)

• Doctor Who: “Heaven Sent” written by Steven Moffat, directed by Rachel Talalay (BBC Television)
• Grimm: “Headache” written by Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt, directed by Jim Kouf (Universal Television; GK Productions; Hazy Mills Productions; Open 4 Business Productions; NBCUniversal Television Distribution)
• Jessica Jones: “AKA Smile” written by Scott Reynolds, Melissa Rosenberg, and Jamie King, directed by Michael Rymer (Marvel Television; ABC Studios; Tall Girls Productions; Netflix)
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: “The Cutie Map” Parts 1 and 2 written by Scott Sonneborn, M.A. Larson, and Meghan McCarthy, directed by Jayson Thiessen and Jim Miller (DHX Media/Vancouver; Hasbro Studios)
• Supernatural: “Just My Imagination” written by Jenny Klein, directed by Richard Speight Jr. (Kripke Enterprises; Wonderland Sound and Vision; Warner Bros. Television)

On the other hand, the Rabid Puppies had a stronger and more deleterious effect on the television nominees.  "Doctor Who" and "Jessica Jones" both belong here, but not the rest, which were all on the Rabid Puppies slate.  While I was pleasantly surprised last year by "Grimm" being nominated, that was tempered by the show coming in last place in last year's voting, losing to "No Award."  Ouch.  In addition, this season has not been as good as previous seasons, so even as a fan I can't support it.  As for "Supernatual," I'm a fan as well, but this show is getting long in the tooth and has seen better days.  Finally, "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic," while a good animated show, was pretty obviously put on the slate as a joke.

As for the shows that deserve to be nominated instead, I don't have to go any farther than the ones nominated for any of the categories in the 2016 Saturn Awards for Television plus "Penny Dreadful."  Any three of "Game of Thrones," "Outlander," "The 100," "The Expanse," "The Walking Dead," "Penny Dreadful," or even "The Strain" would be better than the three shows the Rapid Puppies got nominated.  Just the same, I expect the Puppies will lose out again, with the "Doctor Who" episode a heavy favorite.

*Two of those are about the blowback from one of the nominees for Best Short Story, "Space Raptor Butt Invasion" by Chuck Tingle.  Both Vox and We Hunted The Mammoth have hilarious summaries of how Tingle is doing his best to make Vox Day regret listing him on his slate.  Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Bill Maher on commencements, past and future

A week ago today, I attended my college's Commencement ceremony, where I watched my students from the past few years get their degrees. It was a wonderful experience, including the addresses by the student speaker and the former CEO of Garden Fresh. I'll be back for next year's ceremony.

Last night, Bill Maher had his own take on what ceremonies like that will be like in 25 years as part of New Rule – 2041 Commencement Address.

In his editorial New Rule, Bill has some harsh truths for college students and delivers a graduation speech to the Class of 2041.

Welcome to Dystopia!

This isn't the first time Bill has examined graduations. Here is last year's Graduation Caps – June 5, 2015.

It’s graduation time. And you know what that means – kids writing things on their mortarboards, like, “Hire Me” or “Thanks, Mom & Dad: I Love You.” Well, in these difficult times and with these millennials, the grad cap messages are a little different…

It turns out that Bill actually knows something about graduation speeches, having given one himself in 2014 to U.C. Berkeley's Winter Commencement.

Bill Maher gives the keynote address at UC Berkeley's Winter Commencement and graduation ceremony on Saturday, December 20, 2014.

That was worth listening to. Among all the doom, he was able to offer hope. Oh, look, a fellow Crazy Eddie!

Late night TV on Trump vs. Sanders debate

After I found out yesterday that Trump had finally collected a majority of delegates to the Republican convention, so he is now officially the presumptive nominee, I searched YouTube for an appropriately comedic reaction.  I found one in Stephen Colbert's Here's What Put Donald Trump Over The Top, although I've always thought Trump was over the top.

Hearing the news that Donald Trump has clinched the Republican nomination puts Stephen in the fetal position.

Yeah, Stephen, I wanted to lie down on hearing the news, too.

As viewers can see and hear, Trump's earning the nomination may have had top billing in the monologue, but it wasn't alone on stage.  The possibility of Sanders debating Trump shared the limelight and showed even more comedic potential.

One of the people responsible for the idea was Jimmy Kimmel, who had Trump and Sanders on as guests on consecutive nights.  Wednesday, Donald Trump told Jimmy he is willing todebate Bernie Sanders.

Donald Trump shares his opinion on the race between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton and agrees to debate Sanders under one condition.

The next night, Jimmy asked Senator Bernie Sanders about debating Trump.

Senator Sanders talks about the possibility of debating Donald Trump and competing against Secretary Hillary Clinton in California.

Jimmy even has an idea of what a Trump-Sanders debate would look and sound like.

Recently we showed what it looks like if you play Donald Trump at half-speed. We tried it with Bernie too, but it wasn’t as good. Then we slowed Trump down and sped Bernie up and Jimmy thinks that if they end up debating, he’d love it to go something like this.

It turns out that Comedy Central has already had their simulated Trump-Sanders debate back in March.

Bernie Sanders (James Adomian) and Donald Trump (Anthony Atamanuik) debate their likeness to Jesus and launch attack ads in the @midnight presidential debate.

A real debate would be more substantive, but it wouldn't be as funny.

As for whether it's a good idea, I'm not sure.  If it's bad for Clinton, she should debate Sanders one last time instead.  If it's good for Clinton, she should continue what she's doing, which is ignoring Sanders.  On the other hand, it would make for great TV.  Stay tuned.

ETA: Vox reports Never mind, Donald Trump doesn't want to debate Bernie Sanders after all.  Oh well, it was too good to be true.

Governor Snyder declares energy emergency in Michigan

I predicted "that price increases will likely stall out next week, at least until the Memorial Day weekend" in WXYZ on rising gas prices for May.  That didn't happen.  Instead, shows that the Detroit average jumped 12 cents to $2.47 on top of the previous week's 11 cent rise.  That was enough to prompt Governor Rick Snyder to declare an energy emergency, as WOOD-TV reported day before yesterday.

Gov. Rick Snyder issued the order as the state faces a potential gasoline shortage ahead of the long Memorial Day weekend.

I share Patrick DeHaan's skepticism about the effectiveness and timing of the order.  I expect the price increase to moderate before the weekend as well.

WXYZ also covered the issue.  While WOOD-TV focused on expert analysis, WXYZ went with their strength, reactions from people on the street.

Governor Rick Snyder has declared an energy emergency to combat rising gas prices going into the Memorial Day weekend.

People look and sound a little worried, but only a little.  This is more of an inconvenience than an emergency.

As for the situation after the holiday weekend, I expect prices to continue rising.  Oil-Price.Net lists yesterday's closing prices for WTI as $49.56 and Brent as $49.74.  Not only are those both above last Friday's $47.75 and $48.72 for Brent, WTI has set a new high for the year, while Brent is only a few cents below its high for the year, which it set last Wednesday, when WTI hit $48.95 and Brent hit $49.85.  The only good news is that RBOB closed yesterday at $1.64, exactly the same as it was last Friday and still two cents lower than its peak earlier this year at $1.66, a nine-month high.  That's probably why the U.S. average has only moved up a few cents from $2.28 to $2.31 over the past week.  It's also why I expect prices at the pump to decline a bit when the refinery and pipeline issues are fixed before rising again in late June and early July.

Census finds Detroit still shrinking in mid-decade estimate

Last week, the Census Bureau released its annual population estimates for 2015.  The results were generally predictable and so were the reactions.  WXYZ's response was to report Detroit out of top 20 cities.

Detroit's population decline has now pushed it out of the top 20 cities.

While the ongoing story of Detroit shrinking is the same one that I've been covering since the second post on this blog, I'm glad to note the good news that Downtown, Midtown, and the riverfront are growing and the rate of population loss is slowing.  When I wrote "It's an exciting time to live here, and I wouldn't miss it for the world" in April 2011, this is the kind of development, pun intended, I was hoping for.

MLive also covered this story, noting Denver knocks Detroit off list of 20 most populous U.S. cities and provided the following table.


Detroit didn't just fall behind Denver last year, it dropped below Seattle, too.  El Paso passed Detroit a year earlier.  The next cities to grow larger than Detroit proper will be Washington D.C. and Boston.

Not all the population news was bad, that is, if one favors population growth.  Fox 47 reported Lansing's Population is Growing.

Most cities in Michigan are losing population. But Lansing is one of the few that's actually growing.

Lansing is not alone.  MLive published a slideshow listing the five biggest gainers and losers in the state.  It lists Macomb Township, Novi, Shelby Township, Dearborn, and Southfield in the top five, along with Clinton Township and Canton Township gaining more than 3,000 people since 2010, followed by Lyon Township, which had the highest five-year percentage population growth rate of any municipality in the state, then Hamtramck, Pontiac, Sterling Heights, Farmington Hills, Birmingham, Rochester Hills, and Troy.  Detroit may be shrinking, but its suburbs are still booming.

So is Grand Rapids, as MLive reported.

Among Michigan's six cities with more than 100,000 people, Grand Rapids saw the biggest increase. Its population was estimated at 195,097 in 2015 -- up 848 people from the previous year.

Since 2010, Grand Rapids' population has increased by 7,043 people, or 3.7 percent. The only other place in Michigan with a bigger increase during that same period is Macomb Township, which grew by 7,299 people.

That growth is showing up in a boom in housing downtown, as WOOD-TV reported Downtown GR in the middle of ‘gangbuster economic moment’.

It doesn’t take an expert to look around and see the cranes dotting the Grand Rapids skyline and realize we are a growing city.

Detroit isn't the only big city in Michigan experiencing a revival of urban living.  As for a goal of 10,000 housing units in downtown Grand Rapids, that's ambitious, but I'm still in favor of it.  It will reduce sprawl and all its ills.

For more on this story, MLive has an interactive map showing population gain and loss for all municipalities in Michigan.  Have fun playing with it; you might learn something.

CNN and MSNBC interview Libertarian candidates William Weld and Gary Johnson

Over the weekend, Paul W. mentioned that the Libertarian national convention would be in Orlando this weekend and linked to Libertarian Gary Johnson picks former Mass. governor for VP at Politico.  I had the following reaction.

As for [William] Weld running with Johnson, that's a very serious ticket should the Libertarians actually choose both. They are serious about being the alternative to Trump and whoever he picks (please, let it be either Gingrich or Palin--the laughs will keep coming all the way to Election Day!) Too bad neither will meet the approval of William Kristol; the Libertarians are insufficiently hawkish and interventionist for his taste. He'd be better off with Hillary Clinton, but he'll never admit it. No wonder liberals call him "Captain Always Wrong."

As if on cue, CNN interviewed Weld on Sunday, just as they did Gary Johnson two weeks ago.

Today on CNN's State of the Union, Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld and Libertarian Vice Presidential Candidate, joined Jake Tapper to discuss his comparison between Trump and the Holocaust, gun control and more.

I still think 2016 could be a good year for minor party candidates and so does CNN.

MSNBC does as well.  The Sunday before, Chuck Todd interviewed Gary Johnson in the context of Calls For Alternative Candidates Grows.

Can Republicans rally around Donald Trump as the convention draws near or will disaffected Republicans seek an alternative option in November? Former GOP New Mexico Governor and Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson weighs in.

The Libertarian convention is this weekend.  Stay tuned for the results.

Solar Impulse 2 travels to Tulsa and Dayton

I concluded Solar Impulse 2 lands in Phoenix with a vague program note.

As for the plane's next stop, The Daily Mail reported "The solar-powered plane, which stores energy in batteries for when the sun is not shining, will make several stops across the United States, although the team is still examining potential destinations."  In other words, they don't know yet.  Stay tuned.

While I was looking elsewhere, the Solar Impulse team decided on their next stops.  First, Solar Impulse 2 arrives in Tulsa from May 13th.


After a week, the news became Solar Impulse 2 Makes an impact on Tulsa.

Solar Impulse 2 left for Dayton Ohio Saturday morning, but not before making an impact in Tulsa.

Looks like the plane succeeded in the educational part of its mission.

Saturday, the Associated Press reported Solar Impulse Lands At Home of Wright Brothers.

Solar powered plane travels from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Dayton, Ohio overnight to land at the city that is proud to be the hometown of the Wright Brothers.

USA Today also pointed out the significance of the location, but also of the date, pointing out that it was the 89th anniversary of Charles Lindbergh landing in Paris after his solo trans-Atlantic flight.

As for the next stage, AFP via Phys.org reported two more stops in the U.S. before flying over the Atlantic.

It may next fly to Pennsylvania as early as Tuesday, the team said. Its final destination in the United States is New York.

It could leave the day after tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

'Star Trek' trailers and news for a Sunday

I may geek out more about "Star Wars" on this blog than "Star Trek," but the universe of the United Federation of Planets and Star Fleet was my first science fiction media fandom.  As such, last week was a good week for me and others who share this particular enthusiasm.  First, Wednesday saw Star Trek Television Logo and First Look Teaser Revealed by CBS.

At the CBS Upfront presentation at Carnegie Hall in New York on May 18, CBS unveiled the logo for the new STAR TREK television series within the first-ever promotional video for the highly-anticipated program.

It's been more than a decade since "Star Trek: Enterprise" went off the air, resulting in no more new "Star Trek" on television.  The movies have had to fill the gap.  In fact, for once, the movies are leading the TV series.

Speaking of the movies, Paramount released Star Trek Beyond Trailer #2 on Friday.

To survive, they must go beyond. Watch the new trailer for Star Trek Beyond now!

Looks even more action-packed than the first two, which is saying something.  Then again, the director is the same one as for "Furious 7"; he knows how to film action.

The unveiling of the trailer saw more good news, as J.J. Abrams revealed Paramount is dropping their lawsuit against a Star Trek fan film, allowing it to live.

Aside from debuting the second trailer to the Justin Lin Directed Star Trek Beyond, JJ Abrams revealed to the Paramount's Star Trek event audience that CBS and Paramount Pictures would be dropping the lawsuit against Alec Peter, who was behind the upcoming fan film Star Trek Axanar. Abrams also let the crowd know that it was actually Beyond's Justin Lin who convinced Paramount and CBS to drop the suit. Usually fan-made projects are not a problem, but the assumption that most have come to is that because of the immense amount of crowdfunding that was done (over 600,000), the companies got uncomfortable with the project's large size.

Good news worthy of the series' fiftieth anniversary!

WXYZ on rising gas prices for May

Here's a video I could have used for Gas down while oil is up for May 2016, Gas prices spike in metro Detroit from WXYZ.

Drivers in metro Detroit may have noticed gas prices spiking in the area by nearly 20 cents in some places.

That price rise is showing up only weakly at the stations in my old neighborhood.  GasBuddy shows that regular has risen from $2.27 to $2.32 for the corner station and $2.29 for the stations down the street.

The Wall Street Journal reported higher prices than last week, listing Friday's closes for WTI at $47.75 and Brent at $48.72, both higher than the $46.21 and $47.83 a week ago today .  The good news is that both are lower than yesterday's prices, which are still on Oil-Price.Net, $48.16 for WTI and $48.81 for Brent, which were only a few cents below their closes on Wednesday, the highest of the year, when WTI hit $48.95 and Brent hit $49.85.  Credit firefighters keeping the wildfire from Alberta's oil sands for that change in the direction of oil prices.

RBOB has also risen week over week from $1.58 at the end of April through $1.59 last week to $1.64 today.  Like crude oil, that's lower than its peak earlier this year at $1.66, a nine-month high.  

The decline at the end of the week in energy futures suggests that price increases will likely stall out next week, at least until the Memorial Day weekend.  That should come as good news after the Detroit average jumping more than a dime from last week's $2.24 to $2.35 while the US average climbed from $2.22 to $2.28 over the same period.  On and especially after Memorial Day, I expect the seasonal increase from driving season will push prices up regardless of the price of oil.  The only question is how fast and how high.

Last month the hottest April on record

When I last posted about climate, I had good news in the form of the Paris Agreement on Climate being signed on Earth Day.  Today, I have not so good news to report from Newsy: NASA Data Shows Last Month Was The Hottest April On Record.

New data from NASA shows last month was the hottest April ever recorded.

At 0.24 degrees Celsius hotter than the previous April record in 2010, it may not sound like that much. But many are arguing that's shattering records for climate statistics.

One expert told The Independent that soon-to-be-released data could show the last 12 months in a row have all beaten their respective records for hottest months.

And The Guardian noted if all variables stay consistent, a hottest year on record should only happen once every 150 years. Yet in the last 20 years or so, we've seen five record-breaking years.

Higher temperatures could lead to worse air and water quality, higher rates of asthma and the spread of illnesses passed by insects.

A lot of this extra heat is trapped in the oceans as well. Warmer water is posing both area-specific problems, like the massive bleaching of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, and global problems, like rising sea levels.

ABC 7 in Denver put this record in context

.In April, the planet averaged 1.1 degrees Celsius warmer than the 20th century average.

That 1.1 degree difference marks the biggest departure in temperature for April, and fourth biggest departure when compared to the 1,636 months on record! The very recent months of March 2016, February 2016 and December 2015 are the only months to surpass that difference.

CNN shared the implications for the Paris Climate Agreement.

The data that just keeps getting worse has prompted scientists to declare a "climate emergency" and is already casting doubts on pledges made in the Paris agreement to keep temperature rises well below the 2 degrees Celsius that scientists say will have catastrophic consequences on the planet.

The agreement was hammered out in December but signed in record-breaking April, with the ambitious aim to cap temperature rises at 1.5 degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial levels.

I think 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average is already baked in and keeping the rise below 2 degrees will be a struggle.  That doesn't mean it isn't worth trying to make it happen, just that it will be difficult at best.  Wish us all luck; we'll need it.

WXYZ updated the Flint Water Crisis on Monday

After writing three entries about the Flint Water Crisis in April, I've been silent about it so for this month.  No more.  WXYZ posted three clips about the ongoing scandal to its YouTube channel on Monday, beginning with two that followed up on the Congressional inquiry into the matter.

First, Elijah Cummings wants to know more in Top member of Congress pressing Governor Snyder for answers.

One top member of Congress is pressing Governor Rick Snyder for answers on the Flint water crisis.

Here is the follow-up from later that night, Governor Snyder facing new questions over Flint water crisis.


It's not just Congress that is continuing to pursue the issue.  WXYZ reported on the results of two state investigations in New bombshell in Flint water crisis.

New information is leading to bombshell questions about the investigations into the Flint water crisis.

Looks like the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing, not that I disapprove of an independent investigation by the Michigan State Police.  Far from it. I trust their findings more than I do Schuette's.  He wants the Republican nomination for Governor in 2018 and doesn't want to do anything that might jeopardize it.

Mount St. Helens still active 36 years later

Today is the 36th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980.  Last year, I posted a documentary about the eruption and the recovery of the land around the volcano 30 years later.  Today, I'm examining what the volcano is doing now.

I begin with CNN reporting Swarm of earthquakes strike Mount St. Helens.

In the past eight weeks, more than 130 small earthquakes have trembled beneath the surface of Mount St. Helens.

On the one hand, don't worry because the repressurized magma might not erupt for years.  On the other hand, worry because the volcano has been erupting for years already; it's just doing it relatively harmlessly. National Geographic explains in TIL: Mount St. Helens Has a Baby Volcano Inside It.

On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens in Washington State erupted in the most explosive volcanic event in U.S. history. Fifty-seven people and countless animals died, a forest was leveled, and ash blanketed the region as far away as Minnesota.

The volcano remains active today, even as events are being held at the mountain to mark the 36th anniversary of the disaster. Proving that it still has power, over the past few years, Mount St. Helens has had "a baby volcano growing in its crater," says Stephanie Grocke, a volcanologist at the Smithsonian Institution and a National Geographic explorer.

Between 2004 and 2008, enough molten rock oozed out of the crater to pave a seven-lane highway from New York City to Portland, Oregon, notes Grocke. As such, the mountain remains a dangerous threat.

"The volcano is still living and breathing," says Grocke.

As I wrote last year, "An eruption like this won't cause the collapse of civilization, but it can certainly ruin a city.  Just ask the Romans."  Fortunately, Portland is far enough away to avoid the fate of Pompeii--I hope.

Drum corps for the Oregon primary

The campaign continues today with the Oregon Primary for both parties and the Kentucky Primary for Democrats.  With Trump unopposed, all the attention is now on Clinton and Sanders.  FiveThirtyEight does not have a forecast for either of today's contests, instead skipping ahead to California and New Jersey in June.  That's because polling has been very sparse.  Real Clear Politics lists only one poll for Oregon, which shows Clinton ahead 48% to 33%, and no polls for Kentucky.  I doubt that poll for Oregon, as do the reporters for the San Diego Union-Tribune, all of whom venturing an opinion predict Sanders will win it.  Three of four of them think Clinton will win Kentucky, but that state is a lot like West Virginia, which Sanders won.  I wouldn't be surprised if he wins Kentucky, too.

Enough of the political analysis.  Time to do what I suggested in the footnote to Solar Impulse 2 lands in Phoenix, post some marching music for my readers to enjoy while they await the election returns.  Today, I feature the Oregon Crusaders, beginning with 2014's Nevermore show.


Now, the finale of 2015's show.

Oregon Crusaders 2015
Semifinals run of "The Midnight Garden" on August 7, 2015
Featuring "Pumpkin Pursuit" by Patrick Doyle from Disney's 2015 version of "Cinderella"

That's it for this installment of the series.  The big finale will come on June 7, when I feature corps from California and New Jersey, two great drum corps states.

Gas down while oil is up for May 2016

A year ago Friday, I wrote Gas in stasis for now as oil rises off bottom.  At that time, "the corner station had lowered its price to $2.49, while the open stations down the street were still selling regular for $2.39."  Last Thursday, I drove past those stations for what might be the last time this month, and saw that all of them were selling regular at $2.27.  Not only is gas still cheaper than it was this time last year, it's lower than it was at the end of April, when the "corner station was selling gas for $2.29, while the two stations down the street were higher for once at $2.32."  Good news, but it may not last for long.  Bonddad wrote last week that Oil's Weekly Technical Picture Is Improving.

 Above is a weekly chart of West Texas Intermediate Crude.  The following are important technical developments:

1.) Prices moved above the 10, 20 and 50 day EMA.  These averages will now provide technical support rather than resistance.
2.) While momentum is still negative, it is rising and about to cross over the very important "0" level. 3.) Volume is high.  Volume spiked when prices fell into the mid-20s.  This could represent a selling climax.  Additionally, volume continues to increase as prices climb.
4.) Prices moved through the downward sloping trend line that that connects the mid-2015 and 4Q15 price highs.
5.) Prices remain in an uptrend.

In other words, expect oil to keep rising, adding to the usual price increase because of driving season.

Oil-Price.Net confirms the increase shown above, listing Friday's closes for WTI at $46.21 and Brent at $47.83.  WTI is above the $45.92 close at the end of April, while Brent is slightly below the  $48.13 it sold for two weeks ago.  RBOB has also risen slightly from $1.58 at the end of April to $1.59 now.  GasBuddy supports the trend, showing the Detroit average rising from $2.21 two weeks ago to $2.24 today.

My reaction to the above data was to fill up Dez yesterday at a station that was selling regular for $2.18 and midgrade for $2.48.  I don't expect gas will get any cheaper between now and July.

Detroit TV on Motor City Comic Con 2016

For today's Sunday entertainment feature, I'm going to do for Motor City Comic Con what I did for Youmacon a year and a half ago, explore the convention through the eyes of Detroit's media.  This year, I'll focus on how the local television stations cover it.  They seem to love it, with WXYZ, WJBK, and WWJ all uploading multiple reports to their YouTube channels on the event.  The most came from WXYZ,* who began hyping it a week in advance with Motor City Comic Con 2016 to be held May 13-15 in Novi.

BAM! POW! WOW! Motor City Comic Con 2016 gears up for its 27th annual, three-day, celebrity-filled metro Detroit comic event.

Video in this story comes from http://MotorCityGeek.com.

The promotion continued on Friday with Motor City Comic Con happening this weekend.

Motor City Comic Con is going on all weekend long at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi.

Follow over the jump for another promotional segment plus more reports from the convention floor.