Science, peace, economics, and literature winners for Nobel Prize Day 2025

Happy Nobel Prize Day! I begin today's celebration with BBC News reporting Physics Nobel Prize awarded to three scientists for work on quantum computing.

The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis for their work on quantum mechanics that is paving the way for a new generation of very powerful computers.

"There is no advanced technology used today that does not rely on quantum mechanics, including mobile phones, cameras... and fibre optic cables," said the Nobel committee.

The announcement was made by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences at a news conference in Stockholm, Sweden.

The three winners will share prize money of 11 million Swedish kronor (£872,000).

Yay, three physicists from the University of California, even if they aren't from my undergraduate alma mater, UCLA!

Next, DW News reporting Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded "for the development of metal–organic frameworks".

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi "for the development of metal–organic frameworks." The new type of molecular architecture developed by the group allows for "large cavities in which molecules can flow in and out. Researchers have used them to harvest water from desert air, extract pollutants from water, capture carbon dioxide and store hydrogen," according to the award-giving body. Their research could provide solutions for combatting climate change.

"A small amount of such material can be almost like Hermione's handbag in Harry Potter. It can store huge amounts of gas in a tiny volume," Heiner Linke, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said during a press conference.

This looks like a very useful discovery. So does the next prize, Nobel Prize for medicine awarded to immune system researchers, as Al Jazeera English reported.

The Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to Mary E Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi for their work on the functioning of the human immune system.
The award, announced by Sweden’s Karolinska Institute on Monday, will be presented to the trio in December for “their groundbreaking discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance that prevents the immune system from harming the body”.
The research “relates to how we keep our immune system under control so we can fight all imaginable microbes and still avoid autoimmune disease”, said Marie Wahren-Herlenius, a rheumatology professor at the Karolinska Institute.
The prize of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1.17m) is to be shared equally between Brunkow and Ramsdell, both 64, of the United States and Japan’s Sakaguchi, 74.
The king of Sweden will also present them with gold medals.

Al Jazeera’s Paul Rhys reports from Stockholm.

This advancement could help me personally, as I am a cancer survivor and Type I diabetic, an autoimmune disease. May I live long enough for the science to advance enough to improve my condition.

Follow over the jump for the non-science prizes.

Earth Overshoot Day 2023 is five days later than last year — progress, but not good enough

Today is 2023's Earth Overshoot Day, which is five days later than last year. As I wrote yesterday, "Good news and progress, but not enough to post Professor Farnsworth." TaiwanPlus News, an outlet I'd never heard of before today, has the story from the island nation's perspective in Earth Overshoot Day Falls on August 2 as Growth Outpaces Resources.

This year, Earth Overshoot Day falls on August 2nd. Humanity is pursuing development too quickly for Mother Nature to replenish the resources we use. Earth Overshoot Day demonstrates at what point in the year humanity has exhausted its resource budget for that year.

Reporter(s): Alex Chen/Sally Jensen

Other than cutting off the clip a second or two late, which made for a slightly uncomfortable silence at the end, (ETA: TaiwanPlus News took down that video and uploaded one that cut off on time, so I replaced the former with the latter. It's an improvement). I thought that was an informative report with a fresh viewpoint. That helps to get the point across for a day I've been observing since 2017, when it also fell on August 2nd. That's stagnation, not progress.

Euronews included some actions in the description of Earth Overshoot Day: Humanity burns through planet's yearly resources by 2 August.

The date can be pushed back by embracing changes like 15-minute cities, low-carbon energy and reforestation.

Euronews' fact checker was asleep on the job, as the U.N. estimated that the human population passed 8 billion last November. Also, the description mentions "15-minute cities," but the video itslf didn't, so I looked it up.

The idea is that everything a person needs should be within a 15-minute walk or cycle from any point in the city.

This includes work, shopping, education, healthcare, leisure and any other amenities a person may need in their regular life.

The idea has been promoted by leading academics and urban planners in recent years who promote a world where walking would once again become our most common mode of transport.

As I suspected, it means cities composed of walkable neighborhoods. The ITV article I quoted calls the concept controversial, but I have no problems with it. While I love the wildlife I share my property with, I occasionally miss my old walkable neighborhood in Royal Oak. Too bad it was cheaper to buy a house elsewhere.

I conclude with the most viewed video I found about today, Schneider Electric asking Christmas in August?

Christmas in August? That’s silly, but so is using up a year’s resources before the end of summer.

By Earth Overshoot Day on August 2nd, we’ve depleted resources that should last us until after Christmas. Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s demand for natural resources exceeds what our planet can regenerate in a year.

It’s time to act now. With sustainable practices, we can #MoveTheDate.

No, this isn't the way I want to celebrate Christmas early, either. How about you?

Debbie Dingell delivers paczki and talks about democracy on WDIV in Detroit for Fat Tuesday

Happy Paczki Day AKA Fat Tuesday! Like last year, I begin with Rep. Debbie Dingell delivers paczkis to Local 4 (and tells us what she's working on), an annual tradition of the representative and WDIV/Click On Detroit.

In a well-loved tradition, U.S. Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell brought paczkis to our newsroom for Fat Tuesday -- and she's updating us on what she's currently working on.

I'm glad Dingell is settling into her not-so-new district after the game of redistricting musical chairs that shuffled Michigan's U.S. representatives around last year. I'm also glad that she pointed out that the war in Ukraine has become a war for democracy and that Biden's trip takes him to Poland, where he can eat paczki in their home country. Euronews reports on his arrival in US President Joe Biden in Poland after a surprise visit to Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden arrived in Poland Monday night after making a surprise visit to Kyiv in a show of solidarity with Ukraine just days before the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion.

Looking forward to writing more about Biden's trip in coming days.

I conclude by returning to metro Detroit with CBS Detroit's Detroit bakery prepares for Paczki Day.

On Tuesday, Feb. 21, hundreds of the Polish pasties will be sold, and one bakery in Detroit is preparing for the influx of customers[.]

It wasn't until I moved to Michigan and discovered paczki that I found out why today is Fat Tuesday. Here's to spreading that knowledge to my readers.

Democracy Now, Euronews, and NBC News on World AIDS Day — remembering one pandemic in the midst of another

Today is World AIDS Day, a day I haven't observed here for six years and both of those times I was late.* Today, I am finally celebrating it on time with three video stories about the AIDS pandemic in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I begin with Democracy Now's World AIDS Day Is Grim Reminder of an Ongoing Epidemic, with 700,000 Dead from HIV/AIDS in 2019.

December 1 is World AIDS Day, and as the world waits on an effective vaccine for COVID-19, we look at the ongoing AIDS epidemic and how the coronavirus has threatened treatment for those living with HIV. Author and journalism professor Steven Thrasher says the coronavirus has amplified racial, class and other disparities, just as AIDS has done for decades, and that treatments must have an antiracist and anti-capitalist foundation in order to be successful. "HIV/AIDS has continued to kill way too many people. Almost 700,000 people died last year," says Thrasher. "The problem is not just the drugs. It's the conditions around people's lives that lead them to become affected by viruses."

Including this video reminded me of two things unrelated to either HIV or coronavirus. First, although I have a label for Democracy Now, I haven't used it since 2013. The second is about Democracy Now's position on the Media Bias Chart. Ad Fontes Media, the organization that created and maintains the Media Bias Chart, "rates Democracy Now as hyper-partisan left in terms of bias and as mixed reliability in terms of reliability." That's probably why I haven't used Democracy Now as a source of serious news during the past seven years. Still, it did a good job of reporting on the story even as it filtered the news through its point of view, which is very anti-capitalist. I don't think they're wrong, but I am taking their perspective into account.

The next video I'm sharing, World Aids day: WHO calling on leaders [to] maintain HIV services during pandemic from Euronews in English, frames its story from a more neutral and international position.



WHO calling on leaders [to] maintain HIV services during pandemic
HIV testing and other services are like all other medical services during the COVID-19 pandemic; people are taking less advantage of them and resources are being diverted to treating people infected with the novel coronavirus. That's not good for the patients of other diseases.

By the way, the original video had "ton" instead of "to." The prompted me to respond with "To maintain, not 'ton maintain,' although the services are worth 'a ton,' whether it's 2000 pounds or 1000 kg." I hope that gentle reminder inspires them to correct the title and video description.

Finally, I am sharing AIDS Victims Remembered By Loved Ones In World AIDS Day Tribute from NBC News.

Watch as loved ones of AIDS victims share their emotional stories and tributes from the AIDS Memorial Instagram account on World AIDS Day.

In addition to remembering to care for the living, we should remember the many dead from the disease.

*Today is also Giving Tuesday and one of two Rosa Parks Days. I celebrated Giving Tuesday this year over at the Coffee Party USA blog. Please surf over there to support my favorite nonprofit. I last celebrated Rosa Parks Day in 2018. When I next honor her memory, I might follow through on writing about her Detroit connections, which I wrote were "a story for another day." Not today, but maybe next year. Stay tuned.

Post-election pandemic update — 10 million total U.S. cases, record daily cases, COVID-19 vaccine, and transition team task force

Yesterday, I telegraphed my choices for today.*

I'm looking forward to a break from the election here. Whether my next post will be about entertainment or the COVID-19 pandemic, I don't know yet. Stay tuned.

It's the pandemic. I begin with the bad news from ABC, At least a dozen states report record hospitalizations due to COVID-19.

Utah's governor is placing the state under a mask mandate, and now there are concerns about celebrations in the streets and on sports fields. ABC's Alex Presha reports.

While one of the chyrons displayed that the U.S. has passed 10 million cases, the narration didn't seem to include that statistic, so I'm adding the following from Reuters: U.S. crosses 10 million COVID-19 cases as third wave of infections surges.

The United States became the first nation worldwide since the pandemic began to surpass 10 million coronavirus infections, according to a Reuters tally on Sunday, as the third wave of the COVID-19 virus surges across the nation.

The grim milestone came on the same day as global coronavirus cases exceeded 50 million.

The United states has reported about a million cases in the past 10 days, the highest rate of infections since the nation reported its first novel coronavirus case in Washington state 293 days ago.

The country reported a record 131,420 COVID-19 cases on Saturday and has reported over 100,000 infections five times in the past seven days, according to a Reuters tally.

The U.S. latest reported seven-day average of 105,600 daily cases, ramped up by at least 29%, is more than the combined average for India and France, two of the worst affected countries in Asia and Europe.

More than 237,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 since the illness caused by the coronavirus first emerged in China late last year.

That's the bad news. Now the good news, Vaccine 90% effective in trial as cases surge.

Dr. Richard Besser weighs in on Pfizer's newly announced two-shot vaccine, possible efficacy and production as COVID cases surge in the U.S.

Next summer or fall? That means that my response to my favorite supermarket checker's question "when do [you] think things will return to normal?" as "spring of next year, when a vaccine becomes available" was too optimistic. I wasn't being pessimistic enough!

George Stephanopoulus teased the next interview in the video above, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo talks about the rise in COVID-19 cases.

As multiple states see a rise in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, Cuomo weighs in on what President-elect Biden can do with his coronavirus plan.

Governor Cuomo thinks it's good news-bad news as well, but the bad news is different. He's not confident that the Trump Administration's plan to distribute the vaccine will be sufficient. Based on Trump's handling of the pandemic, I agree. However, if the vaccine is ready for distribution in the summer, then it will be the Biden Administration overseeing it, which I have more confidence in. With Joe Biden creating a COVID-19 task force already, that looks good. Watch COVID-19 task force announced as Biden plans transition to White House from Euronews about that news.

President-elect Joe Biden says dealing with the pandemic will be his top priority - a move backed by the head of the World Health Organization.

I wish Biden luck with this. Not only does he need it, we the American people do, too!

*I forgot I had a third choice, Hurricane Eta, which is breaking most of the records set by Hurricane Delta, including the most named systems in the Atlantic during a single season, previously held by the 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season. I might get to that later, certainly if there is another named system. In the meantime, my prediction that there could be a system designated as Theta looks very good, while Lambda or Mu is still within the realm of possibility. Stay tuned.

Earth Overshoot Day 2020 delayed more than three weeks because of coronavirus pandemic

I closed today's Vox explains why wearing face masks became political in the U.S. with a programming note: "Today is Earth Overshoot Day, so stay tuned for a brief post about how the the coronavirus response has reduced human environmental impact." With that, I'm sharing two videos. The first comes from Euronews, Humans have now consumed the Earth's natural resources for the year, which highlights the bad news about the day.

It's called "Overshoot Day", the moment each year when we humans have used up more natural resources than the Earth can renew in 12 months.

Only at the end does Euronews point out that this year is an anomaly because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

News 9 from India did a much more thorough job in Pandemic effect: Consumption of earth’s resources drops.

[According to r]esearchers at Global Overshoot Day, the rate at which humanity is consuming the Earth’s resources declined this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the video pointed out that earlier recessions had reduced humanity's ecological footprint before, the results has usually delayed Earth Overshoot Day by days, not weeks, if at all, and can be short-lived. The record of past Earth Overshoot Days shows that the Great Recession of 2007-2009 merely stalled the date at August 14th in 2008 and pushed it back 4 days to August 18th in 2009. In 2010, it advanced 11 days to August 7th. The 2001 recession merely slowed down the trend, with the date moving back 1 day from September 22nd to September 23rd. Before that, the Gulf War recession of 1991-1992 held the date at October 12th during 1992-1993. The longest lasting effect was from the double-dip recession (Reagan Recession) of 1980-1982, when it took 5 years for the date to return to November 4th. As for this year, it's the latest date for Earth Overshoot Day since 2005, when it fell on August 25th. I don't expect it will be this late next year.

Enough history. How effective have I been at reducing my footprint this past year? Follow over the jump.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on Brexit, which is now delayed until October 31, plus John Oliver for the eighth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News

I concluded Trump Administration designating Iranian Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization updates 'U.S. leaving Iran nuclear agreement pushes U.S. oil price above $70 plus driving update for May 2018: Pearl,' a top post of the eighth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News by telling my readers to "stay tuned" as "The next entry in the series will feature a John Oliver video on Brexit to update all of the top posts from last year about John Oliver."  Without any further ado, I present Brexit III.

The UK could officially leave the European Union next month, which would be a huge change with hugely damaging consequences.

When the segment aired, Brexit was scheduled for March 29th.  Since then, it's been delayed twice, first for April 12th, which is tomorrow, then today it was postponed again until October 31st.  Euronews has the story in Live: EU leaders offer Theresa May a Brexit delay til Oct 31.

The Brexit delay, according to Reuters, would also be reviewed in June. According to diplomats, French President Emmanuel Macron opposed the efforts by the summit to give the British Prime Minister another year.

Well, that will make for a Happy Halloween, whether or not the date gets changed at the end of June.  Speaking of which, I haven't focused on Brexit here since I wrote Oil falls after Brexit vote, pushing prices even lower nearly three years ago.  It looks like I'll have to start paying attention again, if only to see if it will actually happen.

Follow over the jump for all of the top posts from the eighth year of this blog that featured John Oliver videos.

COP24 concludes with delegates reaching consensus on how to implement the Paris Climate Agreement

Delegates to COP24, the U.N. climate conference in Poland, have finished their work, apparently successfully.  Euronews reported SaturdayCOP24 announces agreement in Katowice.

The COP24 United Nations climate talks needed overtime and frantic negotiations to succeed, but the success now means nearly 200 nations have a rulebook to follow to implement the 2015 Paris climate accord.

Not all the details have been worked out, as Euronews also reported COP24 agreement sidesteps financial issues.

Observers give guarded welcome to climate change deal.

I suspect money will always be a sticking point.

Even though President Trump has pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement, prompting criticism and mockery from The Weather Channel, Elon Musk, John Oliver, and French President Emmanuel Macron, the U.S. will not formally leave until 2020 and an American delegation to the conference participated in the negotiations.  PBS NewsHour reported on the conference and especially the U.S. role in them in How a global effort could deliver solutions on climate change.

In Poland, a U.N. climate conference concluded with consensus on several ways to achieve the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global temperature increases. But with a lack of U.S. support, is the progress enough? Nat Keohane, senior vice president of the Environmental Defense Fund, joins William Brangham to discuss international transparency, renewable energy and "urgency" around climate change.

Given that the conference started with a report stating that humans weren't doing enough to slow down climate change, it was an encouraging outcome, one that prompts me to repeat what I wrote when the Paris Agreement was being negotiated three years ago.

[T]he not good enough but better than nothing solution that Grist predicted will be ratified.  I'm enough of a realist that I'll take better than nothing now in the hope of getting good enough later.

It's still not good enough, but I think it's getting better.  Here's to that progress continuing.

2018 on track to be fourth-warmest ever

When I last checked in on climate and weather extremes, I reported Record heat scorches southern California and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere.  That hot summer has continued and the result is that 2018 Is Shaping Up to Be the Fourth-Hottest Year. Yet We’re Still Not Prepared for Global Warming according to the New York Times.

This summer of fire and swelter looks a lot like the future that scientists have been warning about in the era of climate change, and it’s revealing in real time how unprepared much of the world remains for life on a hotter planet.

The disruptions to everyday life have been far-reaching and devastating. In California, firefighters are racing to control what has become the largest fire in state history. Harvests of staple grains like wheat and corn are expected to dip this year, in some cases sharply, in countries as different as Sweden and El Salvador. In Europe, nuclear power plants have had to shut down because the river water that cools the reactors was too warm. Heat waves on four continents have brought electricity grids crashing.

And dozens of heat-related deaths in Japan this summer offered a foretaste of what researchers warn could be big increases in mortality from extreme heat. A study last month in the journal PLOS Medicine projected a fivefold rise for the United States by 2080. The outlook for less wealthy countries is worse; for the Philippines, researchers forecast 12 times more deaths.

Globally, this is shaping up to be the fourth-hottest year on record. The only years hotter were the three previous ones. That string of records is part of an accelerating climb in temperatures since the start of the industrial age that scientists say is clear evidence of climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions.

About the only good news is that this year will be cooler than 2017, the second hottest year on record according to NASA.  That's the global picture.  A lot of localities will see new high temperature records set.  Newsy reported on one of them, July was California's hottest month on record

The heat certainly contributed to California's intense wildfire season.

That was July.  The heat has continued in my old home town of Woodland Hills, where CBS Los Angeles reported from there about triple-digit temperatures.

People were out and about trying to figure out how to cope with SoCal's most recent heat wave. Lisa Sigell reports.

Hey, I swam in that pool as a kid, so this report literally hits home.  Also, I don't remember heat waves this bad or this frequent growing up, so things have definitely changed.

Speaking of heat waves, one is hitting Europe as well.  The New York Times reported on that in Scorching Summer in Europe Signals Long-Term Climate Changes.

In Northern Europe, this summer feels like a modern-day version of the biblical plagues. Cows are practically dying of thirst in Switzerland, fires are gobbling up timber in Sweden, the majestic Dachstein glacier is melting in Austria.

In London, stores are running out of fans and air-conditioners. In Greenland, an iceberg may break off a piece so large that it could trigger a tsunami that destroys settlements on shore. Last week, Sweden’s highest peak, Kebnekaise mountain, no longer was in first place after its glacier tip melted.

Southern Europe is even hotter. Temperatures in Spain and Portugal are expected to reach 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit this weekend. On Saturday, several places in Portugal experienced record highs, and over the past week, two people have died in Spain from the high temperatures, and a third in Portugal.
...
“In the past, we had this kind of heat wave once every 10 years, and now we have them every two years or something like that,” said François-Marie Bréon, a climatologist and deputy director of the Laboratory of Climate and Environmental Science, a research institute affiliated with France’s National Center for Scientific Research. “That’s really the sign of climate change: We have heat waves that aren’t necessarily more intense but that are more and more frequent.”

Words are one thing, but images are another.  To see them, watch Europe sizzles as heatwave continues from Euronews, which came out after the New York Times article.

Firefighters in Portugal and Spain were on high alert over the weekend as the heatwave continued across Europe…

All of that is in the present.  What about the future?  Euronews has an answer to that in Heatwave Deaths: Global study predicts dramatic increase in fatalities.

Global study predicts dramatic increase in heatwave deaths due to climate change.

Not only is climate change here, but it's going to get worse.  Unless people prepare and try to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, thousands more will die every year from heat waves, to say nothing of the other effects of increasing temperature, changing rainfall, and rising sea levels.

Science fiction, activism, science, and economics for Nobel Prize Day 2017

For the Sunday entertainment entry, I'm going to do what I did last year for Bob Dylan, feature the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.  Normally, I'd have done this in October, when the winners are announced, but I was too busy writing about the News and Documentary Emmy Awards.  However, I have a second chance today, as it's Nobel Prize Day.

The Nobel Laureates are announced at the beginning of October each year. A couple of months later, on 10 December, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, they receive their prizes from the Swedish King – a Nobel diploma, a medal, and 10 million Swedish crowns per prize. All Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, except for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is awarded in Oslo, Norway. (When Alfred Nobel was alive, Norway and Sweden were united under one monarch, until 1905 when Norway became an independent kingdom with its own king.)

Euronews has the story in Kazuo Ishiguro wins 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature.

British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro has been announced as the winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature.

It was announced by Professor Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy.

Japanese-born Ishiguro won the prize for uncovering "the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world," the Swedish Academy said on awarding the nine million crown ($1.1 million/936,000 euros) prize.

While his most famous novel is probably the Booker Prize winner "The Remains of the Day," which was made into an Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning movie, Ishiguro deserves being mentioned here because of his dystopian science fiction novel "Never Let Me Go" and fantasy novel "The Buried Giant."  The former was made into a movie written by Alex Garland and starring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, and Kiera Knightley that was nominated for five Saturn Awards, Best Science Fiction Film, Best Actress for Mulligan, Best Supporting Actor for Garfield, Best Supporting Actor for Knightley, and Best Writing for Garland; Garfield won.*  Yes, a speculative fiction writer won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

That's not unheard of.  The question Was any science-fiction or fantasy author ever awarded the Nobel prize for literature? attracted a list of laureates who have written speculative fiction in the answers, including Doris Lessing, William Golding, Rudyard Kipling, Hermann Hesse, and William Butler Yeats.  Still, all are the kind of authors I examined in Part II of When did speculative fiction go 'mainstream'? When SF novels became best-sellers -- authors who made their reputations writing mainstream works and only later wrote speculative fiction, particularly science fiction.  Ishiguro fits that mold.  I won't hold that against him; I'm just happy a speculative fiction author won.

Follow over the jump as the Nobel Prizes shift from fantasy to reality.

Women's March on Washington today, pussyhats optional

Yesterday, I staged my own little protest on this blog with Counterprogramming for The Resistance.  Today is a much bigger demonstration, the Women's March on Washington.  Euronews has a light-hearted report on the event in Best pussyhat forward as America's Women prepare to defy Trump.

It might become the biggest protest event in US history. This Saturday, tens of thousands of people or more are supposed to take to the streets of Washington DC to join the "Women's march", an anti-Trump protest event supporting solidarity for minorities.

The pussyhats will show up in other reports, but not the next one from PBS NewsHour, Women’s March leaders aim for ‘solidarity against misogyny’.

On Saturday, another crowd will gather on the National Mall -- not to celebrate, but to advocate. William Brangham talks with Bob Bland and Carmen Perez, co-chairs of the Women's March On Washington, about the organization’s mission to protect women’s rights, creating a safe space for difficult conversations on sensitive issues and remembering that “we’re all people first.”

Women and men from Michigan are coming to the event.  WOOD-TV of Grand Rapids reported Local protesters head to Washington for women’s march.  Pussyhats make an appearance.

A march likely to have historic turnout will ask President Donald Trump to respect women’s rights as he begins his presidency.

The distinctive pink headgear also appear in WXYZ's More than 100 metro Detroit women heading to Washington for Women's March.


Note the mention of Michigan locations mentioned in both of the last two videos.  My wife and I won't be traveling to Washington, but we do plan to attend one of the Michigan events, most likely the one in Ann Arbor.  If so, I'll report on it next week.

In the meantime, stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment entry.  I plan on writing on the results of the People's Choice Awards.

WWF reports massive loss of wildlife populations

Yesterday's story about Trump's star on Hollywood Walk of Fame demolished upset me.  Somehow it hit a little close to home, pun intended.*  That written, I'm not in one of my "I can't be all DOOM all the time" moods, so I'm posting today about something even more depressing, if less personally threatening -- the loss of wildlife populations.  Take it away, Euronews!

By 2020 the earth's population of mammals, birds, fish and invertebrate species will have declined by more than 60% since 1970, putting the world on course for the first mass extinction of animal life since the dinosaurs.

Note that this is a massive loss of individuals, not of species; 60% of the planet's animal biodiversity will not disappear in the next four years.  Still, it is concerning and if it doesn't stop, extinctions will follow.  One of those might be of the Irrawady Dolphin, one population of which was just declared functionally extinct, as Newsy reports.

Nets and other fishing gear are so dangerous to dolphins that the Irrawaddy dolphin is functionally extinct.

Now I am in "I can't be all DOOM all the time" mood, so it's time to post a positive wildlife story.  CNN reports California wants its grizzly bears back.

The animal is on its state flag, but California hasn't seen a grizzly since the 1920s. Now some want to bring the bear back, CNN's Dan Simon reports.

I had this idea when I was a kid, but of course it went nowhere, so I'm glad to see that someone else has brought it back and made people take the proposal seriously.  That makes me feel better already.

*I grew up in Los Angeles, did my M.S. research in the shadow of Hollywood, and write a lot about entertainment on this blog, so my reaction shouldn't come as a surprise to my readers.

Solar Impulse 2 crossed the Atlantic while I was focused on Brexit

While I was paying attention to Brexit and its aftermath, I was ignoring one of my usual stories, Solar Impulse 2.  At the same time that the U.K. was voting on whether to leave the E.U., it was completing its flight from New York City to Seville, Spain.  Euronews has video of Solar Impulse ll welcomed to Seville Airport by Spanish Air Force.

Solar Impulse II has landed in the Spain's Seville Airport after an often turbulent flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

The experimental solar-powered plane was welcomed by the Spanish Air Force's aerobatic team with an impressive display.

Here's the fighter squadron giving Solar Impulse 2 a colorful welcome.


Wow!

Of course, one of my entries would not be complete without a reaction from the pilot explaining why this flight is taking place.  Take it away, CNN!

Piccard had been preparing for the flight for "years and years," saying he'd been long inspired by the pioneers who wanted to cross the Atlantic to prove their way of transportation was mature.

"I met [American aviator] Charles Lindbergh when I was a child. I saw the balloons, the airships, the hot air balloons, steamboats -- you know, every means of transportation wanted to cross the Atlantic, and now for the first time it's a solar-powered airplane," he said.

"What I'd like to show with my team is that clean technology today is showing incredible goals. You can fly now longer without fuel than with fuel, and you fly with the force of nature, you fly with the sun. It's the new era now for energy and this is really what we'd like to inspire people to do," he said.

CNN also explains where the plane will fly next.

After crossing the Atlantic, Borschberg is now scheduled to fly to Egypt, and Piccard will likely pilot the plane on the final, historic leg from there back to Abu Dhabi.

They plan to fly the final leg of the journey by late summer, completing a 27,000-mile (35,000-kilometer) trip around the world.

Good luck and safe travels!

Solar Impulse 2 lands at JFK Airport

I concluded Solar Impulse 2 in Allentown with this addendum.

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.

That ended up not happening for nearly two weeks.  Apparently, the final leg of the plane's trip across the U.S. was delayed because of weather.  It finally happened early this morning, when Euronews reported Solar plane sets down in NYC as round the world trip continues.

Solar Impulse 2 has landed in New York after crossing the United States in its historic bid to circle the globe.

The single-seat solar-powered airplane flew over the city and the Statue of Liberty in the Big Apple before touching down at JFK airport at around 4 a.m local time.

The Swiss team flying the aircraft in a campaign to build support for clean energy technologies hopes eventually to complete its circumnavigation in Abu Dhabi, where the journey began in March last year.

Congratulations and good luck on the next leg flying across the Atlantic.  Be ready for the Lucky Lindbergh comparisons.

Solar Impulse 2 lands in Phoenix

I teased "I might do this again next week for the Indiana primary, in which case I'll feature the Indiana and Purdue University marching bands in addition to the Star United minicorps" at the conclusion of Drum corps for the Pennsylvania and Connecticut primaries.  I'm not feeling it today.*

Instead, I'm following up on Solar Impulse 2 lands in California with the next leg of the trip.  Euronews has the video in Bye bye San Francisco, destination Phoenix for Solar Impulse 2.

The plane Solar Impulse 2 took off from San Francisco early on Monday heading for Phoenix, Arizona - the latest leg of its trip around the world to promote clean energy.

The Arizona Republic has the rest of the story in Solar plane lands in Phoenix area as global trek continues.

Solar Impulse 2, a solar-powered airplane making its way around the world, made its long-awaited stop in the Phoenix area Monday, touching down to cheers and applause, but otherwise nearly silently, at Phoenix Goodyear Airport at 8:55 p.m.

The Swiss-made plane had taken off from Mountain View, Calif., for Arizona shortly after 5 a.m. Monday to continue its global journey using only energy from the sun.

Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg was at the helm of the plane that began circumnavigating the earth more than a year ago.

"It was a beautiful flight from California to Arizona," Borschberg, 63, told a large crowd that had gathered at the airport shortly after disembarking. He hardly looked like someone who had just spent 16 hours by himself in a single-seater plane.

The timing of the flight was fortuitous, coinciding with a debate over the future of solar power in Arizona.

When asked if their timing was meant to coincide with an ongoing debate in Arizona over solar-energy subsidies, Piccard said it was not.

"We did not plan to come during the debate," he said. "But if it helps, we'll be happy."

The Solar Impulse project has always been about delivering a message, Piccard said, more than delivering passengers. The plane is meant to spark a conversation about renewable and efficient energy.

"There are reliable, profitable solutions to have clean energy and to save energy." Piccard said. "When you see an airplane like Solar Impulse, it's not science fiction. It is the present."

That's part of the message in the AFP video about Solar Impulse 2.

Solar Impulse 2, an experimental aircraft flying around the world to draw attention to clean energy technologies, is to take flight again on Monday, organizers said.VIDEOGRAPHIC

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.

*I might do it for the Oregon Primary.  At least there is an active competitive drum corps on the field there, the Oregon Crusaders.

Drink to Chernobyl 30 years later

I introduced Drink to nuclear reactors on the anniversary of Three Mile Island by noting the proximity on the calendar of the three most famous nuclear disasters.

March is a good month for this drink.  Fukushima happened on March 11, 2011, and Three Mile Island happened on March 28, 1979.  As for Chernobyl, that has to wait until next month, when April 26 will be the 30th anniversary of the disaster.

That was yesterday.  I then concluded with this program note.

I already have an appropriate drink selected for the 30th anniversary of Chernobyl...

With that introduction, I'll leave the serious observations of yesterday's anniversary over the jump and begin with the drink humor from Tipsy Bartender: How to make the Nuclear Rainbow.

It's a beautiful drink and it's very potent....THE NUCLEAR RAINBOW! This is a layered cocktail with a gorgeous array of colors. This drink is all about presentation and perfect for impressing your friends with your awesome bartending skills! The layering effect takes some practice so watch and learn how to do it successfully. Layering is a great skill to have in your repertoire and if you can master it you'll be able to make all kinds of badass cocktails like this one!
...
NUCLEAR RAINBOW
1oz Melon Liqueur
1oz Sweet & Sour
1oz Grenadine
1oz Blue Curacao
1oz Bacardi 151

I picked this drink because of the colors seen from the open reactor core.

A shimmering plume of rainbow-colored light shot straight up, lighting the sky for miles. According to our guide, some residents rushed closer to watch the exploding reactor — unaware of the danger — later claiming it was the most beautiful thing they’d ever seen.

On that note, follow over the jump for more serious videos about the disaster.

Fukushima triple disaster five years later

As I mentioned yesterday, today marks the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima triple disaster.  Eurohews comemmorates the occasion in Japan: Fukushima wounds still deep, five years on.

Japan's Emperor Akihito led the tributes, five years on from the Fukushima disaster on Friday, but for those who lived through it, the wounds have far from healed.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also paid his respects at a memorial ceremony in Tokyo as across the country people bowed their heads in silence at exactly 2:46 pm local time.

Flags at central government buildings were at half-mast, some draped in black.  All the trains on Tokyo's vast underground paused for a minute.

That's looking back.  Agence France Presse (AFP) looks ahead as well in Dismantling Fukushima.

Japan on Friday marked five years since an enormous 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck along Japan's northeast coast. Thousands are working on the decades-long decommissioning process. They perform delicate work to make the volatile reactors safer.

Forty years--that makes my use of the decade label appropriate in ways I hadn't anticipated.

Chewbacca arrested as Darth Vader campaigns for Mayor of Odessa, Ukraine

Last year, I reported on the aborted campaign of Darth Vader for President of Ukraine.

[S]omeone posing as Darth Vader ran for President of Ukraine on the Internet Party ticket this spring before his candidacy was rejected.  Too bad about that.  His campaign would have been more fun to report on that what actually happened in Ukraine this summer.

The Dark Lord of the Sith granted my wish, as he's now running for Mayor of Odessa.

Darth Vader is among the candidates vying for the post of Mayor in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa.  He joins Peking Duck and a man calling himself Putin in the leadership race.

Unfortunately, things are running about as smoothly as last time.  Follow over the jump for the Sith Lord's misfortunes.

Hiroshima 70 years later

With all the attention I gave to the GOP debate yesterday, I neglected an event that has more direct bearing on the theme of this blog, the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.  For a blog about the collapse of civilization to ignore the beginning of the time when nuclear weapons were feared and expected to be the most likely cause of the end of civilization would be a shameful act of neglect.  Under the guise of "better late than never," I'm avoiding this dereliction of my duty as a doomer blogger by commemorating the anniversary a day later.

I begin with Test Tube News explaining the history behind Why The U.S. Dropped A Nuclear Bomb On Japan.

It has been 70 years since the U.S. dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. What was the reasoning behind this devastating act of war?

That was the beginning of a nuclear-armed world.  What's it like nearly a lifetime later?  Follow over the jump for the answers.

Solar Impulse 2 sets record as it lands in Hawaii

I told my readers to "stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment entry and an update on Solar Impulse 2" at the end of Drink recipes for July 4th from Tipsy Bartender.  It's time to make good on the first with Solar Impulse 2 makes history from CNN.

Watch the Solar Impulse 2 plane make history as it lands in Hawaii. CNN's David Molko has more.

Wotchit's Solar-Powered Plane Lands In Hawaii, Smashes Nonstop Record has a better explanation.

A Swiss man attempting to circumnavigate the globe with an aircraft powered only by the sun's energy landed in Hawaii on Friday. Pilot Andre Borschberg made a record-breaking five-day nonstop solo flight across the Pacific Ocean from Japan. The Solar Impulse 2 is the first aircraft to fly day and night without any fuel. Borschberg's 120-hour voyage shattered the 76-hour record for nonstop flight by late American adventurer Steve Fossett in 2006 on the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer.

As for what's happening next, Euronews reports in Solar Impulse completes record flight across Pacific.


Welcome to America, Solar Impulse 2.  Next stop, Phoenix!