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Brownsville Christmas Bird Count
I did the Brownsville Christmas Bird Count on December 27, a back-up date after heavy rains a week earlier made it unsafe, not to mention unbirdable. If you’re not from these parts, you might be thinking I traveled to southern Texas, but this is the CBC with the four-letter code ORBR, not TXBV. I’m talking […]
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My First Two Christmas Bird Counts of 2020
If it weren’t for the pandemic, I’d be packing, getting ready to travel to Oaxaca today. Since that tour was canceled, long ago, I’m doing a bunch of Christmas Bird Counts. And if it weren’t for the rather warm and very wet weather system flowing into northwestern Oregon right now, I’d be doing the Brownsville […]
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Four Consecutive Days of Birding in Oregon
The weekend before last was a like a splurge of birding for me – I was out watching birds away from my north Eugene yard on four consecutive days. It pains me to imagine what rarities I missed adding to my yard list, but I had a memorable time. This spree was spurred essentially by […]
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Oregon in Late Summer WINGS Tour
Recently I’ve had some not-so-subtle hints from friends that it’s been a long time since I’ve posted to my blog. I’ve been staying quite busy, and the garden has occupied a huge amount of that time (including putting up the produce), but there’s certainly no lack of bloggable topics from my little corner of paradise: […]
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Neutrinos Yield First Experimental Evidence of the CNO Energy-Production Mechanism of the Universe
Neutrinos Yield First Experimental Evidence of Catalyzed Fusion Dominant in Many Stars An international team of about 100 scientists of the Borexino Collaboration, including particle physicist Andrea Pocar at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, report in Nature this week detection of neutrinos from the sun, directly revealing for the first time that the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen (CNO) […]
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Some Like It Hot: Global Warming Triggered the Evolution of Giant Dinosaurs
Global warming triggered the evolution of giant dinosaurs. An international team of paleontologists, including LMU Professor Oliver Rauhut, finds evidence of rapid climate change 180 million years ago as the cause of the spread of the well-known long-necked dinosaurs. When we hear the word dinosaur, most of us probably immediately think of giant animals with […]
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UK borrowing hits highest October level on record
Government borrowing soared in October as the UK continued to support the economy during the pandemic. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said borrowing hit £22.3bn last month, the highest October figure since monthly records began in 1993. It underlines that the pandemic is having a “substantial effect” on the public finances, the ONS said. […]
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Small steps taken to make shipping greener
Delegates at a high-level meeting have agreed new guidelines intended to make shipping compatible with UN climate change goals. The London talks, organised by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), settled on a plan to align the industry with the Paris climate treaty. Scientists say ships are a key source of pollution, producing a billion tonnes […]
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15 countries form world’s largest trading bloc
China and 14 other countries agreed Sunday to set up the world’s largest trading bloc, encompassing nearly a third of all economic activity, in a deal many in Asia are hoping will help hasten a recovery from the shocks of the pandemic. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, was signed virtually on Sunday on […]
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Black Rock Desert Wanderings
The professor and pandemic life has, unfortunately, limited Aubrey and my opportunities to explore over the past year. However, two weeks ago we finally got away for Nevada Day–a statewide celebration of Nevada’s admission to the union 8 days prior to Abraham Lincoln’s re-election in 1864, made possible by a $70,000 (today’s dollars) telegram of […]
