NY Times:
Barbaro the ‘erector set’, resting comfortably in a beautiful place, could he be overbred?
Reuters:
Earth-solar cycle spurs greenhouse gases - studies. I linked another bit of research before, that said the Sun wasn’t a major factor. Turn around, find a new ‘mitigating factor.’
NY Times:
NY Times:
Startling injury at Preakness Ends Barbaro’s quest. The pounds of stress on fine (yet strong) thoroughbred bones is inconceivable. Barbaro, my best to you. At least your jockey had the brains to take care of you first, instead of trying to ‘tough it out.’
Guardian.UK:
A mystery! Piano found buried on Britain’s highest mountain.
Just think ...
your day could be worse.
SF New Mexican:
Colorado farmers near breaking point after state shuts down wells. Some ruthless individuals buy land, separate the water rights from the real estate, and sell both. Ignorant empty-nesters buy the land, build huge homes ... but have no official water rights, though they may have wells. When drought comes, tough luck. You didn’t read the fine print?
This is one of those cases now where knowledge of history is vital. This is why New Mexico can’t go back and renegotiate for more water from our neighboring states ... we have fewer Congresspersons than we had at the turn of the century, in ratio to our neighboring states. We’d lose what little we have if we made even a peep. There’s a whole lot of grandfatherin’ goin’ on ...
SF New Mexican:
Various and sundry. Wild horse contraception, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe is using the tried-and-true “noone votes against children’s needs” to get their way for their new building plans in downtown, and La Bajada hill is too steep for the proposed train line.
SF New Mexican:
Gila plans to use herbicide to kill salt cedar. See the comments area at the bottom for a link to a PDF about the herbicide. Salt cedar is the West’s equivalent to the South’s kudzu. Pretty when it flowers in pink, but water-hungry. With the drought firmly in place, we can’t be complacent about invasive water-wasteful species.
CNN:
West’s cultural treasures could be history. Energy, minerals and livestock are taking precedence over science, history, culture, posterity.
Times Online.UK:
CSM:
Plumbing the mysteries of clouds. “For example, we can’t tell you how much water in the atmosphere is in the form of ice ... [snip] ... We can’t even tell you what fraction of clouds that cover our skies produce rain or snow.”
NY Times Europe:
Migrating Birds Didn’t Carry Flu. “All we have are a few snapshots of the virus. What we need is a movie of its life cycle.”
NY Times:
Leaving the Wild, and Rather Liking the Change.
SF New Mexican:
Wind gusts kick up damage. I had to pile boulders on my lawn furniture last evening to keep it from sailing away.
Reuters:
US farm economy revs up ethanol-fueled engines. There’s a shortfall now, and it could be filled in the short term by cheap Brazilian ethanol, bringing down the price of gas relatively swiftly ... except we have a $0.54 cent ethanol tariff.
SF New Mexican:
Missing the flow: Reservoirs along the Rio Grande predicted at lowest levels since 2002. Firefighters battle blazes near San Marcial, Shiprock. Valles Caldera bans cattle due to drought.
Yesterday we had about 12 hours of spitting rain via thunderstorms, though the local weather stations are reporting only trace amounts (in the thousandths of an inch). I know I had at least a 1/4 inch of hail on the ground for a while there, so I wonder at the accuracy of those precip measurements. And the mountains usually get more ...
Hey ...
we’ve got thunderstorms [12:13PM MST]. Brings much-needed water, and I’m grateful ... but also brings lightning, a huge risk for our very dry landscapes draped with thousands of dead piñon trees.
[1:25PM MST] Graupel and hail have now shredded the first iris of the season. Bummer. At least I got the potted flowers under the portal ...
LiveScience:
Evolution happens faster at the equator. “The researchers found that tropical plants had more than twice the rate of base substitution compared to their temperate cousins.”
CNN:
Yellowstone explores wireless world. You can imagine the plethora of people with little black or silver items jammed in their ears, shouting in the air: “Old Faithful’s erupting ... right now! Yes! Isn’t it cool?” Does that add to the miracle of nature? Not to me.
Related: Professors want their classes ‘unwired’.
SF New Mexican:
Proof that in dry years, prairie dogs do climb trees.
SF New Mexican:
Experts: Watershed in good shape. An interesting item mentioned: “Karen Bagne, a wildlife biologist conducting a study to see if thinning threatened wildlife in the watershed, said many bird species had increased after the thinning.”
SF New Mexican/AP:
Everything you want to know about naked mole-rats.
SF New Mexican:
Five wolves to be released in Gila forest area.
SF New Mexican:
Rooster ordered to move. Some local color to get your minds off oil prices this fine Saturday. Be sure to check the comments at the bottom.
