Bogieblog

Hovering Around

I just know there would be a problem of texting while flying if these became standard on the roads!

Hey, and the definition of a bike (at least as far as NH is concerned), is that it has 2 or 3 wheels. Don't see no wheels, so don't go calling it a bike.

H/T to Scott.

Of Space Ports and the Space Tourism Industry

The Weekend Pundit features a Bill Whittle video about the economic realities of XCOR (the space flight company) moving from California to Texas. Although I have a few quibbles (I don't believe that the US is the most bankrupt country in the world, for example), there is a lot of truth there.

Loosing its Cool

Check out this planet that is so close to its star, that when the star has solar flares, the star loses a large amount of its gas, growing a tail like a comet. They have a video explaining the phenomena too.

[Illustration by NASA, ESA, and L. Calçada]

Thanks to Scott for the link.

New Names

I can't believe that Cop Car didn't break this news first, especially since I've been sitting on it for a couple of weeks. Or, maybe she did break the news, and I have forgotten it. Two elements of the periodic table have recieved their official names; Flerovium and Livermorium. Previously, the two elements had gone by the temporary names of ununquadium and ununhexium. They live in the segragated, violent neighborhoods of 114 and 116 on the table. Those sections of the chart are populated by the smashing together of two atoms to produce another - not a quiet, scenic neighborhood for sure.

Lawn Mowing - Green Style

The NH Audubon center is going green. It maintains some grasslands that are important for not only conservation efforts, but also for teaching. It has hired beneficiary lawn mowers - cattle. An area natural beef farmer will be moving cattle in and out as the grasslands need them. Around here, golden rod, milk weed, asters and other plants will move into grasslands or any area where tree canopy doesn't keep them in check and try to take over(ask me how I know).

The cattle, apparently don't mind the milky part of the milk weed, the crunchy stems of the asters, or the ticklish hairyness of the goldenrod. They also don't disturb the ground nesting birds like a machine would although the timing has to be controlled for when eggs and defensless chicks are present. As an added bonus, the cattle fertilize where they have been.

The flowers that are kept in check in the grasslands, will be allowed to grow in other designated areas, just not the areas large enough to encourage eastern meadow larks, bobolinks and savannah sparrows.

What a nice win/win situation. The farmer gets organic grazing for the cows for just the cost of trucking the cattle between grazing areas, and the Audubon society gets free, nature friendly mowing. Okay, so the cattle do produce greenhouse gasses, but at least they taste good when it is time to take them to market.

Tinnitus Cure?

Cop Car should be all ears on this one (ha, ha, ha, ha). Scientists may have discovered the secret to getting rid of tinnitus, from which she suffers. It is called Acoustic Coordinated Reset, or ACR. And much to my amusement, it is being made available to patients at a clinic on Harley Street (in England).

ACR matches the tone the sufferer hears and plays that on headsets for several hours a day. Apparently that shows the brain how boring the tone is and reduces the frequency of the brain making that noise itself.

For a more scientific (although not by much, since it isn't a scientific paper), go to the link and read the whole story.

Hoping for the Best

Thinking of everyone in the Midwest who are under the extreme tornado watches. Hope everyone stays safe!

Eagle Cam 2012

eaglets have hatched. I believe this nest is in Iowa, although I could be wrong.

Free desktop streaming application by Ustream

Bugged

One night this week, I saw a bug on the deck. The sighting was just after I had been on the deck, and the bug wasn't there then. I believe that Fuzzy had brought it up as a play toy. It was pretty large as demonstrated by the tape measure next to it:

The reason I am pretty sure that Fuzzy brought it up is because I think it is a Large Diving Beetle. As the name implies, it is primarily a water bug. However, according to my bug book, when the larva is fully grown, it creeps out of the water to pupate in moist earth. We have plenty of moist earth that it would be interested in (and a small stream out back).

Fuzzy was playing with it, although carefully as it was prone to jumping at the cat, instead of away. The larvea are voracious predators, according to the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects & Spiders, so the adult could probably could inflict a decent bite/pinch if given a chance. Last I saw, Fuzzy either batted it down the stairs, or carried it down the stairs.

I'm good, as long as it didn't end up inside the house!

Bird Count Slow Down

The bird counts have not gone well. We've had little snow this winter, since the 25.5" we got in October. All of that melted, and we have had precious little snow since then. Last weekend, we had several inches of packed snow still left over the ground; the only open spots were where we had shoveled/plowed, and just over the septic tank. It got warm enough during the week,that even most of that has melted (we actually had mud in the pathways yesterday).

The Audubon birdcount of last weekend netted a whole 13 birds of 5 species. So far for the GBBC, I have 5 birds of 3 species. Okay, I will admit that I forgot about this weekend's bird count, so didn't watch Friday, and didn't start watching until late afternoon yesterday. But I'm guessing that really, that has almost no bearing on the count so far. The bird feeders are rarely visited. And it's not that I miss seeing lots of birds (I've never seen bunches at a time), but that I've missed the flurry of activiby at the feeders. In fact, even with the squirrels making forays onto the deck, I rarely have to fill the feeders (every 2-3 weeks). Even the Blue Jays don't come out for their bread crumbs and peanuts - they are left on the platform feeder for days.

Well, an easy winter on us, means an easier winter for the birds, deer and other wildlife, so I shouldn't complain. Iy just seems lonelier without the birds flitting around