Mashable: The terrifying moment a shark breaks into a cage with a diver inside.
Outfits routinely bait to bring in sharks. Everyone was lucky ... this time. So, want to still sit in a shark cage? NAH.
Outside Mag: Obituary - Great Barrier Reef (25 Million BC-2016).
Even this won’t nudge the impenetrable.
Guardian.UK: Jacques Cousteau sails again in new film.
A towering figurehead of the last century. How I miss him.
So, given the previous two posts ...
My weekend wasn’t wasted. And yet I spent most of my time looking, enjoying the scenery. I’d say northern NM is peaking all this week (barring rain to knock stuff down out of trees). The Santa Fe Ski Basin ... this week and next week both. But with Balloon Fiesta going, you’ll be better served to drive north and find other locales. The Ski Basin road is mobbed and unpleasant. The popularity of smartphones with cameras have just made everything worse. Last year I saw at least two runaway cars - people who so HAD to take a photo, they didn’t set the parking brake. Both ended safely within a couple of seconds. Still.
KTVQ: Montana man documents moments after grizzly bear attack.
Bear spray wasn’t enough. A momma with two cubs. The folks at the Grizzly Center I visited in Montana said two cans during this season - one on your chest for immediate grab and one on your belt if one isn’t enough. This makes me seriously consider about some of the short pistols made for the purpose as a backup (if you even have time to think). 80 yards - and they can run FAST.
The Atlantic: How Murderous Are Humans?
“Gómez’s team calculated that at the origin of Homo sapiens, we were six times more lethally violent than the average mammal, but about as violent as expected for a primate.” And you don’t want to be reincarnated as a meerkat.
Guardian.UK: Scientists reveal most accurate depiction of a dinosaur ever created.
It’s even smiling. I wonder.
DYT: Scientists Are Painting Eyes On Cows’ Butts To Stop Lions Getting Shot.
You’ve got to be kidding me. Brilliant, if it’s really that simple.
SF New Mexican: Tensions soar as more and more drifters call national parks home.
I’ve not encountered this. Yet.
PS Mag: Here’s Why the Navajo Nation Is Suing the EPA Over Colorado’s Mining Catastrophe
If you’re one of those nobs who thinks ‘sour grapes’, educate yourself as to why the Navajo feel the Feds seem intent on poisoning them to death.
Amazon.com: Pendleton Rainier National Park Full Blanket.
Pendleton has made a whole series for all the National Parks.
Devolving into quotes.
I always said I wouldn’t do it. But this is a good one, given natural and political events of this week: “If this earth should ever be destroyed, it will be by desire, by the lust of pleasure and self-gratification, by greed of the green frog skin, by people who are mindful of their own self, forgetting about the wants of others.” ― John (Fire) Lame Deer, Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions
Mashable: Poop-throwing monkey ruins little girls’ day at the zoo.
The girl in the pink threw first. Imagine sitting there all day in the heat, people taunting you for reactions. I dislike zoos.
Metafilter: CO2 is bad for you.
“In 2013, researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that carbon dioxide had measurable negative effects on human cognition at levels as low as 600 parts per million.” Maybe that explains the Trump phenomenon, and more.
PS Mag: America’s Latest 500-Year Rainstorm Is Underway Right Now in Louisiana.
“Today’s rainstorm in Louisiana is at least the eighth 500-year rainfall event across America in little more than a year, including similarly extreme downpours in Oklahoma last May, central Texas (twice: last May and last October), South Carolina last October, northern Louisiana this March, West Virginia in June, and Maryland last month.” Um ... and we’re going to do what, exactly? Sit on our thumbs some more, in polluting vehicles?
KPCC: Coyote attacks are increasing in Southern California. Why?
Of note. Esp. to NM’ans. Though this happened in CA, we had a wet beginning to last winter, and rodent populations skyrocketed. Those populations are dwindling now, so we have a lot of coyotes without a lot to eat. Careful while hiking with kids, walking pets or passing fixed garbage collection installations.
Atlas Obscura: See the ‘House-Sized’ Boulder that Shut Down This National Park Road.
Impressive. Biggest we get, on the Santa Fe Ski Basin road are head-sized ... perhaps Kardashian-butt-sized on occasion ... but that’s rare.
Mashable: Here’s how to watch the Perseid meteor shower ‘outburst event’ tonight.
They say this every year. In NM, they’ve been correct exactly once - and I chose to sleep through the lightshow, disbelieving the hype. Let’s hope this prediction’s better.
Atlas Obscura: Forest Burns After Man Set Used Toilet Paper Ablaze.
“Attempting to be extra fastidious, he then lit the toilet paper on fire. Then he watched, presumably horrified, as the toilet paper began to light the whole forest on fire.” Old thinking. If you want to be fastidious, pack it out. Wag bags and the perennial fave ‘poop shovel’ are indicated. Can’t find it at the moment, but there also used to be a tube you could dump human ejecta in and compress.
Guardian.UK: The climate crisis is already here – but no one’s telling us.
Journalists failing us. You can go to your local library, borrow microfilm, look through past years for remarkable weather events. You’ll find we’re already in uncharted territory. It’ll scare the bloody hell out of you. Unfortunately - and this is to state things very baldly and cynically - until masses of humans start dying in Western countries, nothing will be done.
Discover Mag: Want to avoid malaria? Just wear a chicken.
Some smell chicken. I smell business opportunity.
PS Mag: The Sand Fire in Santa Clarita Offers Omens of a Fiery Future.
“Southern California’s latest wildfire is a sign of things to come.” Um, no. Las Conchas was. To be honest, I think Cerro Grande [2000] was the harbinger. But Las Conchas burned roughly 1 acre per second - 43,000 acres - on the first day. Because we’re not near either of the two coasts, apparently precedent doesn’t matter.
Atlas Obscura: Photographing a Superpod of Sperm Whales.
Guardian.UK: South African super-telescope reveals distant galaxies and black holes.
San Antonio Exp/News: Woman falls to her death at Grand Canyon after posting image on cliff’s edge.
“She was stepping out of the way for another gentleman to kind of squeeze in, and unfortunately, Colleen kind of got tripped up on her own feet and fell backwards, fell into the canyon.” Frankly, I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more often. Ever been there to see a sunrise? People climb out all over the cliffs, hanging on by fingernails. I almost couldn’t watch the sunrise for worrying about multiple imminent deaths. It’s one thing for an adult to endeavor to win a Darwin Award, but when they take their toddlers/babies with them? [*shudder*]
