Belated National Donut Day 2016!

Last year, I added another holiday to the list I celebrate here, National Donut Day.  The day was yesterday, and ABC News marked it by posting Nuts for Donuts | International Donut Day 2016.

Of all the made-up national food holidays, National Doughnut Day may be the best. Find out the history behind the tasty treat and don't forget to celebrate by visiting your local donut shop!

At least the video sticks to the history of the holiday itself without going too much into that of the donut, which I have a family connection to.  Time to be a good environmentalist and recycle.

I'm descended from the brother of Johnny Fry, the first Pony Express rider out of St. Joseph, Missouri.  He's connected to the origin of donuts.

Fry quickly gained a reputation for never failing to deliver the mail, regardless of weather or danger, and was a fast rider, averaging a speed of 12.5 miles per hour, including all stops. Local lore says that the donut was invented as a cake for Fry to eat while speeding by young girls homes near Troy, Kansas.

This is also family lore.  My father told me that the girls would try to give him cakes and cookies, but he rode so fast that when they tried to give them to him, they would just crumble.  The solution was a fried cake with a hole in the middle, which he could hook like a ring on a carousel.  Thus the donut was invented.

That's a really cool story.  Unfortunately, it's not the accepted one.   Smithsonian Magazine gives credit to someone else a couple of decades earlier in The history of the doughnut...Johnny Fry and his female admirers are not mentioned at all, not even to debunk the legend.  Darn.  Just the same, Happy National Donut Day!

And a belated Happy National Donut Day to my readers!

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.

Dez's turn for an April driving update plus bonus gas prices

Dez turned over 51,000 miles on Wednesday April 27th, exactly six weeks after she passed 50,000 miles on March 16th.  That puts it right on the schedule I expected in this month's update for Pearl when I wrote I'll see how much the household is adding to the total when I update Dez at the end of the month."  That means my wife and I drove her car an average of 23.81 miles per day or 726.2 miles per standard month.  That's a lot more than the 9.9 miles/per day or 302.0 (301.98) miles per standard month we drove it between December and March and even more than the 16.67 miles per day or 508.33 miles per standard month we drove the car between October and December.  What increased the mileage so dramatically?  Simple--my wife took the car in for service, then drove to see our daughter in Chicago.  As I wrote in December, "sustainability is a priority, but so is family, and driving while gas is cheap makes keeping in touch more practical."

Combined with the 17.86 miles per day or 544.6 miles per standard month I drove Pearl this month, my wife and I drove a total average of 40.48 miles per day and 1270.8 miles per month.  WOW!  For once, we really are contributing to the trend of increased driving by Americans, as shown by this graph from Doug Short.

"Travel on all roads and streets changed by 5.6% (12.4 billion vehicle miles) for February 2016 as compared with February 2015." The less volatile 12-month moving average was up 0.39% month-over-month and 3.0% year-over-year.

As for what the immediate future holds, expect less driving for Pearl over the summer as I have fewer meetings to attend, I drive to only the nearest campus to teach, and I walk more as the weather improves.  That the sidewalk has been extended on the way to the nearest store will help, as does my having a Fitbit.  Nothing like monitoring my activity to induce me to walk more.

Dez will probably be more in line with the 16.67 miles per day or 508.33 miles per standard month she logged between October and December.  Consequently, the family will drive a little less next time.

Follow over the jump for the gas price report.

Solar Impulse 2 lands in California

The last I wrote about Solar Impulse 2, the plane had landed in Hawaii.  That was in July.  It took until yesterday for it to complete the next leg of its around-the-world flight.  CNN has the story in Solar-powered plane lands in California.

An experimental plane flying around the world without a single drop of fuel landed in California after a two-and-a-half day flight across the Pacific. Video footage from KGO.

CNN has more in Solar Impulse 2 lands in California after Pacific flight.

An experimental plane flying around the world without a single drop of fuel landed in California after a two-and-a-half day flight across the Pacific.

Piloted by Swiss explorer and psychiatrist Bertrand Piccard, Solar Impulse 2 touched down in Mountain View just before midnight (3 a.m. ET).
...
The plane took off from Hawaii on Thursday, resuming a journey that had stalled on the island of Oahu for almost 10 months.

Tomonews had more about that 10 month day last week in Solar Impulse to set to resume round-the-world journey in late April.

HONOLULU — Solar Impulse 2, an aircraft that is attempting to make the first round-the-world solar-powered flight, is set to resume its journey in late April.

Solar Impulse 2 left Abu Dhabi on March 9, 2015 and had flown to Muscat, Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Mandalay, Chongqing, Nanjing, Nagoya and Hawaii, where it has been grounded since July after its batteries were damaged on the trip from Japan.

The plane's batteries became overheated after a quick ascent on the first day during the flight from Nagoya to Hawaii. The batteries had to be replaced before the plane could resume flying.

"The first half of the adventure was already a success, because we showed that solar energy made it possible to fly five days and five nights, and remaining airborne longer than any plane in history," Bertrand Piccard, one of the two pilots of the plane told The Billionaire.

The plane is ready to depart in late April, depending on the weather. It will continue the remaining half of its journey from Hawaii to North America, southern Europe before returning to Abu Dhabi this summer.

As soon as I watched the video last week, I had a feeling the plane would be flying on Earth Day.  I was right.

Stay tuned for more updates on the plane's circumnavigation of the planet, including its stops in the U.S. and eventual return to Abu Dhabi.

Finally, both houses of Michigan's legislature pass a road bill

When the Michigan Senate passed a road funding bill, I wrote "Looks like it will be a long summer before this issue is resolved."  That was back in July.  A bill didn't finally pass both houses until after Election Day.  WXYZ has the story in State legislature approves road funding fix.


WXYZ followed up with the bureaucracy's reaction in MDOT responds to road funding plan.

Officials at the Michigan Department of Transportation are responding to Lansing's plan to fund road fixes.

That looks like good news, although it will come at a price. I'm not concerned about the direct costs of the bill, including the higher fuel taxes and registration fees.  I'm not even upset about the surcharge for electric and hybrid vehicles like mine; I've been expecting that for years.  Instead, I'm worried about the transfer of money from the general fund, which will impact other state services, like education.  That's why I wrote in June I was right to vote for Proposal 1, even if I was on the losing side of the largest defeat of a state ballot measure in Michigan history.  I'd rather have had that deal, as unwieldy as it was.  Oh, well, at least the roads will be better.

Monthly Meta for June 2015

June 2015 was the fourth consecutive month with more than 13,000 page views.  Before this streak began, the blog had reached 13,000+ page views in a month only three times.  It was also the most page views during June in the history of the blog.  I'm impressed with those statistics, but they weren't my readership goals for last month; these were.

June 2014 saw 11,998 page views, so the minimum goal is for 400 page views per day for a total of 12,000.  The medium goal is 12,400 to finish a day ahead and 12,600 for a five percent increase, each of which will require 413.33 and 420 page views per day respectively.  I'm trying to do that while posting no more than 43 entries during the month.  So far, I'm meeting all these goals.  Wish me luck on doing so for the rest of the month.

I succeeded in meeting all these goals.  The blog earned 13,114 page views, an increase of 9.3% over June 2014, well over my high goal for the month.  It did so from only 38 entries, five below the maximum I set for last month.  These numbers translate into rates of 437.1 page views per day and 345.1 page views per post.  The first is slightly higher than May's 443.61 page views per day, while the second is slightly lower than the same month's 352.62 page views per entry.  I'll take that, as I'm more interested in page views per day, which tell me that readership is still higher than last year.

While I don't make goals for comments, as any efforts I make to prompt more are less effective and predictable than what I can do to increase page views, last month was another good one for people responding to my posts at my blog.  Readers left 36 comments last month, the highest since February 2014 with 42 comments.  This is also the most per month so far this year.  I'd be pleasantly surprised if I could do that again this month, but I have no expectations.  Just the same, I'll celebrate this occasion  by awarding an honorable mention for most commented on entry to "Monthly meta for May 2015," which had 4 comments, enough to tie for second place.  However, it only got 85 page views.  In terms of comments per page view, it would have come in first!

The rest of the most commented on posts also made it into one or both of the ten most read lists for June, so I'll pass out those awards later.  Right now, I'm recognizing the most liked entry of the past month.  "'The Last Ship' returns and other summer TV fare" earned 22 pluses on Google Plus--all this with only 82 page views.  The post earned its "likes" though my sharing it in "The Last Ship" community on Google Plus, where the community members voted it up again and again.  That's one enthusiastic group of fans!  It's possible this may be the most "liked" entry on Google Plus in the history of the blog.

Follow over the jump for the top fourteen, which consists of the top ten for the month as of 11:59 PM EDT on June 30th plus three that had been on the list and the tenth most read entry actually posted during June, as well as my goals for July.

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!

Examiner.com article on Trump combing in second in Michigan

Walker leads Trump by a hair in Michigan

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has a mere one percent lead with fifteen percent over real estate mogul and reality television star Donald Trump and the rest of the Republican field in Michigan according to a poll released Tuesday, June 30, by Public Policy Polling.  Trump is in a three-way tie at fourteen percent with physician and Detroit native Ben Carson and former Florida Governor John Ellis "Jeb" Bush.  The rest of the Republican field has support in the single digits with Florida Senator Marco Rubio coming in closest at nine percent.

Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling, said in a statement "Donald Trump's in the top tier of the Republican field for a second consecutive week in our polling.  Time will tell how long the Trump Bump lasts, but it's at least two weeks at this point."

The same survey found former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with a commanding lead over the Democratic field at fifty-seven percent.  Bernie Sanders came in second, far behind Clinton at twenty-five percent.  The remaining Democratic contenders fell even farther behind with support in the single digits.

The poll also found that Clinton would defeat any of the Republican candidates in Michigan by margins of three to ten percent.  Kentucky Senator Rand Paul came in closest at three percent, while Trump and Texas Senator Raphael "Ted" Cruz would both lose to Clinton by ten percent.

Not only has Trump combed in second in New Hampshire poll once, he did it three more times, once again in New Hampshire, once nationally, and now here in Michigan.  Trump as Penguin for President is kicking butt, even if Univision has fired him.  Not only am I getting mileage out of him here at Crazy Eddie's Motie News (the second and third most read entries last month were about The Donald), I'm making some money covering him at Examiner.com.  I'll make even more if my readers support my reporting by clicking on the link in the headline.

Stay tuned for a celebration of Canada Day and this month's Nablopomo theme.  Hint, it's recycled.

Leap second today

I made the following program note in the middle of A drink for Father's Day on the Summer Solstice.

Normally, today is called "the longest day of the year."  That isn't strictly true.

While we say longest “day” in regards to Sunday, the 24-hour period known as a day won’t be any longer.

The longest actual “day” or 24-hour period of the year will actually be June 30th, during the leap second.  A full second has to be added to clocks to keep everything (atomic clocks, etc.) in synch with earth’s slowing rotation.  That’s truly the longest “day” for a while.

I'll see if I remember that factoid for the final entry of June.

I remembered!  Now follow over the jump for videos from TomoNews US and HBO's Last Week Tonight about tonight's leap second.

Driving update for June: Dez, plus bonus gas prices

Dez turned over 47,000 miles on Saturday, which means it's time for another driving update.  The previous update was on April 11, 77 days earlier, so my wife and I drove Dez an average of 12.99 miles per day and 396.10 miles per standard month of 30.5 days.  That's much less than the 16.39 miles per day and exactly 500 miles per standard month of 30.5 days we drove the car last time, but more than the 11.63 miles/day or 354.7 miles/month between Dez turning over 45,000 miles and 46,000.  Some of the return trip from Mount Pleasant contributed, but the higher baseline since we moved to a more car-dependent neighborhood remains.  Speaking of which, Ruby should turn over 92,000 miles next month.  Stay tuned for an update on her.

While my wife and I drove Dez less than during the previous update, the higher baseline shows that we're still contributing to the increased driving by Americans that has occurred since gas prices fell.  Bill McBride at Calculated Risk shared the latest statistics last Thursday in DOT: Vehicle Miles Driven increased 3.9% year-over-year in April, Rolling 12 Months at All Time High.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) reported:

Travel on all roads and streets changed by 3.9% (10.2 billion vehicle miles) for April 2015 as compared with April 2014.

Travel for the month is estimated to be 267.9 billion vehicle miles.

The seasonally adjusted vehicle miles traveled for April 2015 is 262.4 billion miles, a 3.7% (9.5 billion vehicle miles) increase over April 2014.

The following graph shows the rolling 12 month total vehicle miles driven to remove the seasonal factors.

Both McBride and I attribute the increased driving to lower gas prices.

In April 2015, gasoline averaged of $2.56 per gallon according to the EIA.  That was down significantly from April 2014 when prices averaged $3.74 per gallon.

The increased miles driven will probably cause more traffic deaths, which will prevent the prediction in The Atlantic that 2015 will be the first year since statistics have been kept that gun deaths will exceed automobile deaths in the U.S.  That's a topic for another entry.  Follow over the jump for the latest on gas prices.

'Falling Skies' vs. 'Defiance' for the final season premiere of 'Falling Skies'

I telegraphed the subject of today's post in the conclusion of 'The Last Ship' returns and other summer TV fare.

I'll do the same for "Falling Skies" and "Defiance" next week, when I'll elaborate on what I wrote in the footnote to Detroit fireworks show continues for yet another year.

The first season of "Defiance" reminded me of "Babylon 5," except on Earth.  The second season so far confirms that impression.  "Falling Skies" looks like "The Walking Dead" with aliens instead of zombies and other people as the antagonists and allies.  Given that I've mentioned "Babylon 5" only once until now, and that in passing, while I've mentioned "The Walking Dead" in at least nine entries so far, it should come as no surprise that I like "Falling Skies" more.

Stay tuned.

Despite the different inspirations for the two alien invasion series, the two shows followed common paths last season.  Both "Falling Skies" and "Defiance" introduced two tropes about controlling conquered populations, secular totalitarianism and religion in the form of a false Messiah.  In a further similarity, both shows had the daughter of the male lead as the false Messiah.  Furthermore, the fathers concluded the seasons by redeeming their daughters.  I think these are the kinds of coincidences that strike me as the result of something in the culture that both are responding to.

Follow over the jump for the rest of the essay along with a preview of the final season of "Falling Skies."

Good news from the Supreme Court this week

Yesterday's ruling to overturn bans on same-sex marriage was the culmination of a legal battle that began with A song for marriage equality in Michigan and continued through Another victory for marriage equality, Another good day for marriage equality in Michigan, and U.S. Supreme Court to hear Michigan marriage equality case.  It made one of the two predictions I made in Meanwhile, at the bottom of the ballot come true.

Two years ago, I told one of my students that there would be two changes in his lifetime propelled by his generation--marijuana legalization and marriage equality.

One down, one to go.

The other major decision this week was the final defeat of King vs. Burwell, which preserved the Affordable Care Act.  That's also good news, the likes of which hasn't been seen since I posted Reaction to the Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act three years ago.




For those of my readers who like the decisions, I offer Professor Farnsworth saying Good News Everyone, which I first featured in Farnsworth video meme.


For those who don't, here's a Free E-Card.


More good news happened this week outside the Supreme Court, which Infidel753 summarized with pictures in It's been a good week.  I agree.

Univision to Trump: "You're Fired!"

I promised "an entire post of recycled comments about Trump as Penguin for President" at the end of Trump combs in second in New Hampshire poll; hilarity ensues.  Those will have to wait, as Univision Dumps Miss USA Over Trump Comments.  Wotchit News reports.

A Univision network is dropping the Miss USA pageant and the company says it will cut all business ties with Donald Trump in a spiraling controversy over comments the Republican presidential candidate made recently about Mexican immigrants. Univision said Thursday it would pull the plug on its Spanish-language coverage of the pageant July 12 by its UniMas network. It also has severed its business relationship with the Miss Universe Organization, which produces the Miss USA pageant, due to what it called "insulting remarks about Mexican immigrants" by Trump, a part owner of Miss Universe.

Shorter Univision, "Trump, you're fired!"

That's not all, as Wotchit News also passed along NBC Mulls Whether to Air Miss USA Pageant.

A source tells The Hollywood Reporter that NBC is evaluating its commitment to the upcoming Miss USA pageant hours after Univision's decision to drop the program over comments made by Donald Trump. Preparation is already underway for the live event, which is set to broadcast from Baton Rouge, La., on July 12. NBC and Univision have aired the Miss USA pageant for the past 12 years. The Miss Universe Organization, which presents the Miss USA, Miss Teen USA and Miss Universe pageants, is a joint venture between Trump and NBCUniversal that dates back to 2002. NBCUniversal currently has a five-year, $13.5 million contract with Trump.

I doubt NBC will stop showing "Miss USA" but if they do, Trump might lose "Celebrity Apprentice," too.

Follow over the jump for Trump's response.

Trump combs in second in New Hampshire poll; hilarity ensues

It's been an interesting week since I wrote Trump is Penguin for President.   I linked to the entry over at We Hunted the Mammoth, where I compared trump to the equivalent candidate in 2012.

@Pandapool: Trump is running for president.
I am unsure if that is hilarious or frightening yet.

I'm on the side of hilarious.  For starters, my wife observed that Trump's announcement reminded her of Penguin running for Mayor of Gotham city.  I agree.  Both Trump and Penguin are cartoons of a poor person's idea of what a rich person is like.  It's just that Trump actually exists in real life.

As for future comic potential, I'm optimistic that Trump will provide as much material as Herman Cain and his Plan 999 from Outer Space did in 2011 and 2012.

So far, he has. Check out Trump in CNN's Trump's New Hampshire surprise.

John King, Nia-Malika Henderson and Robert Costa discuss the latest N.H. poll that puts Donald Trump as the runner-up for the Republican primary.

I doubt what Trump said about Jeb! is true, but it is funny.

For a more serious take, here's an analysis of the poll results from MSNBC: Donald Trump Ranks 2nd In NH Poll. Why?

Donald Trump is just behind Jeb Bush in New Hampshire, according to a new Suffolk University poll. The Morning Joe panel discusses.

The conventional wisdom is that Trump isn't winning the nomination, although he is having an effect, especially on Walker and Rubio.  Follow over the jump for more on Trump.

I missed World Giraffe Day on Sunday

In addition to Sunday being both Father's Day and the Summer Solstice, it was world Giraffe Day, as Michigan State University pointed out in yesterday's That's the spirit.

Speaking of giraffes, did you know last Sunday was not just Father’s Day but World Giraffe Day? Who knew there was such a thing? It was started by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation to celebrate the longest-necked animal on the longest day of the year and to bring awareness to the challenges they face in the wild.

Mongabay has more in Happy World Giraffe Day 2015.

World Giraffe Day was started in 2014 by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation to raise awareness about the animal with the longest neck. June 21st was selected because it is the longest day (Northern Hemisphere) and longest night (Southern Hemisphere) of the year.

While the giraffe is instantly recognizable to most people, few know that wild giraffes are in dire straights: since 1999 Africa's giraffe population has plummeted from 140,000 to about 80,000. That's less than a sixth of the wild elephant population.

Those numbers remind me that humans causing a sixth mass extinction has been in the news this week.  I'll get to that later.  Right now, I'll leave my readers with Planet Experts Presents: World Giraffe Day 2015.

In this video produced by Planet Expert Social Media Manager Ben Ellenbecker, we present the fearsome, frolicsome and adorable features of the tallest mammal on Earth, the giraffe. Visit Planet Experts and the Giraffe Conservation Foundation to learn more.

A belated happy World Giraffe Day to all my readers while I'm in another "I can't be all DOOM all the time" mood.

Tornadoes upstage fireworks in Michigan

The story I was expecting to write about today was another variation on Detroit fireworks show continues for yet another year.  It turns out nature had other plans, as WXYZ reported Detroit fireworks start time moved up one hour because of the approaching storm.

The start time for the Detroit fireworks has been moved up one hour because of incoming weather.

The show went on, as Detroit demands its entertainment, but the weather was worse than expected.  Follow over the jump for details.

Pope Francis and Congressional Climate Message Day

The big news from last week that I held off on commenting until today was Pope Francis urges people to combat climate change.  WOOD-TV reports.

Carl Apple of the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids talks about Pope Francis' recent stance on climate change.

I'm not surprised, as one of the answers to Where the Catholic Church stands on science and the environment, was that Francis's first act as Pope was to say that Catholics should protect the environment, the weak, and the poor.  I liked that message.  If you do, too, then today is your opportunity to do something about the environment, as it's Congressional Climate Message Day.  Here is a letter to the editor of the Fresno Bee describing today's action.

Are you concerned about climate change but don’t know what you can do about it?

On June 23, Citizens’ Climate Lobby will send almost 900 volunteers to Capitol Hill to lobby for legislation to put a price on carbon pollution. You can support them by letting your members of Congress know that you want them to take action on climate change.

On June 22, the day before CCL lobbies on the Hill, there will be a Congressional Climate Message Day (online link: citizensclimatelobby.org/ccmd/). Constituents will contact their members of Congress by phone and social media to register their support for legislation that will put a price on carbon. For information about this proposed legislation, go to citizensclimatelobby.org. A Regional Economic Models Inc. (online link: www.remi.com) study shows that pricing carbon would reduce carbon emissions, save lives, create jobs and increase the GDP.

Please mark your calendars for June 22 to take this action. To find your representatives and their contact information, go to congress.gov/members. The few minutes it takes to call, tweet or text your representatives will have a huge impact in our efforts to fight climate change.

Do it, even if the message will get the same response that Pope Francis received.  As the Associated Press reported, Republicans Shrug Off Pope's Climate Message.

Congressional Republicans are shrugging off Pope Francis' call for urgent action on climate change and dismissing his attempt to frame global warming as a moral issue.

I remember when the liberals in the church were the ones being called "Cafeteria Catholics."  The conservatives are now just as guilty, if not more so.

'The Last Ship' returns and other summer TV fare

If my readers have been counting, I promised three times that I would blog about the season premiere of "The Last Ship" tonight.  I'm making good on that promise, which I first made in the footnote to Razzies and Robocop this past February.

My wife and I are watching "The Last Ship." When I heard it was a Michael Bay show, I knew to expect a lot of action and things being blown up. I have not [been] disappointed.

Some Sunday this summer, I'm going to have to write about "The Last Ship," which is an OK post-apocalyptic drama that probably will seem more relevant and urgent after last year's Ebola epidemic.  For example, in a case of life imitating art, one of the Ebola treatments looked very similar to a treatment for the disease in the TV show.  That's not something I expect out of a Michael Bay production.

In the TV show, the ship's doctor transfuses blood from an immune person picked up during the voyage to the ship's crew who were infected in hopes of transferring her immunity to them.  That's what Scientific American described last summer in Blood Transfusions from Survivors Best Way to Fight Ebola.

Treating Ebola patients with blood transfusions from survivors of the disease should be the immediate priority among all the experimental therapies under consideration for this outbreak, World Health Organization (WHO) experts said Friday after reviewing the status of all the potential experimental therapies and vaccines. “We agreed that whole-blood therapies and convalescent serum may be used to treat Ebola virus disease and that all efforts must be invested into helping affected countries use them safely,” Marie-Paule Kieny, assistant director general for health systems and innovation at WHO told reporters. “This is something that would be ready near term.” None of the considered Ebola regimes have yet been adequately tested in humans.

Because survivors of an Ebola infection would typically have produced effective antibodies against the virus (otherwise they wouldn't have survived), transfusions of their blood into a newly infected individual may help that person survive the often fatal disease. Such blood preparations, drawn from volunteers, could be ready before the end of 2014, according to preliminary WHO estimates put out earlier this week. “We have to change the sense that there is no hope in this situation to a realistic hope,” Kieny said during a press conference Friday. She has called for other countries to help affected west African nations to build their capacity to safely do the blood drawing and preparation for what needs to be reinfused into the patients.

A Google search found that this treatment had been proposed back in 1999.  In that case, it looks less like a case of life imitating art, which it would seem to the uninformed, and more an example of a scriptwriter doing his or her homework.  Given how many examples TV Tropes lists of the show's various kinds of artistic license, I'm pleasantly surprised.  Here's to the show providing more victories of sense over sensation, although given that Michael Bay prefers sensation, I'm only guardedly optimistic.  Given the two trailers below, that's probably the right expectation to have.

When a global pandemic wipes out eighty percent of the planet's population, the crew of a lone naval destroyer must find a way to pull humanity from the brink of extinction.

Follow over the jump for more on this show and the rest of this summer's post-apocalyptic TV offerings, including the surprising addition of "Wayward Pines" to the genre.

A drink for Father's Day on the Summer Solstice

Today is both Father's Day and the Summer Solstice.  CBS in San Francisco reports on the coincidence of the two events in Summer Solstice, Father’s Day 2015 Align To Give Dads Sunniest Day Of Year.

The sunniest day of the year happens to fall on Father’s Day 2015, as the summer solstice occurs Sunday, June 21st, marking the astronomical and meteorological beginning of summer.
...
Various cultures from Swedish, Norse, Finnish, French, Spanish, Pagan, ancient British, and to even Catholics celebrating  St. John the Baptist’s day all mark the solstice in various ways, but key to many is appreciating the sun as its final direct rays blink out at the horizon around 8:30 p.m.

It will be more like 10 P.M. here in Michigan, but I digress.

Normally, today is called "the longest day of the year."  That isn't strictly true.

While we say longest “day” in regards to Sunday, the 24-hour period known as a day won’t be any longer.

The longest actual “day” or 24-hour period of the year will actually be June 30th, during the leap second.  A full second has to be added to clocks to keep everything (atomic clocks, etc.) in synch with earth’s slowing rotation.  That’s truly the longest “day” for a while.

I'll see if I remember that factoid for the final entry of June.

Enough science.  Follow over the jump as Dad gets a drink.

The full meme about cougars and Twinkies includes bacon

Two years ago, I posted A macro about Twinkies and cougars.  In the process of finding a new source for the image, I discovered the one I used was only half of the meme.  Here's all of it with a better punch line and a proposal for action.


I'm not sure this counts as the "something more serious" I mused about attempting today in Professor Farnsworth and Grumpy Cat agree about yesterday, but it will have to do.  Stay tuned for entries about the summer solstice, Fathers Day, and "The Last Ship" for the Sunday entertainment feature.