Ag Terrane @agterrane@qoto.org

This week the cats have taken to visiting me in the night to slumber next to me. One by one they come, cat by cat, paw by quiet paw, in some foreordained order forestalling conflict. At first I thought it was the inexorable force of my personality finally working upon them, orienting them to their rightful places as faithful companions and helpmates. Can any rough beast resist me?

But then I remembered I got a new weighted blanket and apparently they like it.

December 15, 1989, KLM Flight 867- a Boeing 747 jetliner carrying 231 passengers & 14 crew - on approach to Anchorage International Airport experienced loss of all 4 engines as volcanic ash from Mount Redoubt clogged the turbines 🌋✈️

https://tinyurl.com/ya838hn2

In the south of Burkina Faso lies a small village called Tiébélé. It's home to the Kassena people; one of the oldest ethnic groups that settled in the region in the 15th century.

Tiébélé is known for their amazing traditional Gurunsi architecture and elaborately decorated walls of their homes.

Dating back to the 16th century, wall decorating has always been a community project done by the women.

#Africa #African #WestAfrica #WestAfrican #BurkinaFaso #Architecture #Houses #Homes

And here is a little bit of the Aurora Australis from Magnet Bay, no trails this time, one of the cool little bays on Banks Peninsula

#photography #nature #naturephotography #landscapephotography #longexposure #NewZealand #PhotoMonday #astro #astrophotography

Good morning everyone.

Here is a 🧵 of Pew Research Center's striking findings from 2022
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/12/13/striking-findings-from-2022/ #PewResearch

#StarTrek

I know, the content warning sounds like a spam email header, but the White House will soon be reviving their free at-home COVID testing program.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/14/free-covid-home-test-program-restart-00073962

Starting tomorrow, you should be able to request tests via UPS from https://www.covid.gov/tests

In the meantime, people in limited areas including Seattle are be eligible for another free tests-by-mail program.

Another domain that looks like a spam site, but I've used https://www.sayyescovidhometest.org/ repeatedly.

I miss the naive old days when Bill Gates was the worst billionaire we could imagine

Es gibt immer mehr Hinweise, dass Musk Accounts aus der #Ukraine stark in der Reichweite einschränkt, oder sie gar nicht mehr in ihre Accounts kommen. Umso wichtiger hier auf Mastodon mehr zum Thema zu vernetzen und zu teilen.

I'm amazed that people trust Tesla FSD given what's known about Tesla processes, e.g., Tesla took an early Mobileye ADAS system (designed to recognize vehicle rears, to provide emergency braking in some circumstances), called it autopilot, and shipped it for general highway self driving.

By design, the system didn't recognize vehicles from all angles, so a Tesla drove full speed into the side of a semi.

That wasn't bad luck — it was inevitable that an early ADAS system would fail like this.

On this week's first episode of Serious Trouble: all about Sam Bankman-Fried. Extradition law! How his indictment is seriously weird and why! Why "saving" him from Congress is not a thing! Josh tries and fails to explain to Ken the difference between a quadrangle and a polycule! Jonah Hill's career prospects! And more.

https://www.serioustrouble.show/p/all-about-sbf#details

Apparently what Republicans got from the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is that homosexuality is bad and offering up your virgin daughters to be gang-raped is good, so no wonder they like referencing it.

#archaeology #landscapes from #lidar 27

Fort Craig #NewMexico was built in 1853 and by 1861 had become the largest fort in the Southwest, with a garrison of over 2,000. In 1862 the Confederate Army of New Mexico elected to bypass the fort on its march north to Santa Fe. Between 1863 and 1865 Fort Craig was the US Army headquarters during its prosecution of the Apache Wars. It was abandoned in 1885.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Craig

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Wars

#ArchaeologyLandscapeVisualization

150 years ago today - Dec. 14,1872: A damaging M6.8 #earthquake rocked northern #Washington State and southern #BC. One of the largest known shallow earthquakes in the #Cascadia Subduction Zone and followed by 100's of aftershocks. Felt strongly at Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver and as far north as central BC.
http://earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/historic-historique/events/18721215-en.php

The speed of light visualized on a cosmic scale.

Credit: @Physicsj

A few folks asked about my work so here goes…

I began as a marine biologist, but my career changed when I became a science fellow in the U.S. Congress bc I saw firsthand how infrequently #science informs #policy. So I started writing about that & co-founded the ngo Science Debate which gets candidates talking science policy.

Now I write & host Serving Up Science at PBS about food, climate & science. And my research explores how congressional staffers value & prioritize scientific information.