Backseat Driver
Backseat Driver's JournalTo survive frigid nights, hummingbirds cool themselves to record-low temperatures
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/09/survive-frigid-nights-hummingbirds-cool-themselves-record-low-temperaturesHigh in the Andes, thousands of meters above sea level, speedy hummingbirds defy near-freezing temperatures. These tiny flyers endure the cold with a counterintuitive trick: They lower their body temperaturesometimes as much as 33°Cfor hours at a time, new research suggests.
Its a capacity thats just incredible, says Anusha Shankar, a physiological ecologist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, who was not involved with the study.
Among vertebrates, hummingbirds have the highest metabolism for their size. With a metabolic rate roughly 77 times that of an average human, they need to feed nearly continuously. But when it gets too cold or dark to forage, maintaining a normal body temperature is energetically draining. Instead, the small animals can cool their internal temperature by 10°C to 30°C. This slows their metabolism by as much as 95% and protects them from starvation, says Blair Wolf, a physiological ecologist at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
In this state, called torpor, a bird is motionless and unresponsive. You wouldnt even know it was alive if you picked it up, Wolf says. But when the morning comes and its time to feed, he says, the birds quickly warm themselves back up again. Its like hibernation but regulated on an even tighter schedule. [snip]
Dozens of scientific journals have vanished from the internet, and no one preserved them
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/09/dozens-scientific-journals-have-vanished-internet-and-no-one-preserved-themBy Jeffrey BrainardSep. 8, 2020 , 4:10 PM
Eighty-four online-only, open-access (OA) journals in the sciences, and nearly 100 more in the social sciences and humanities, have disappeared from the internet over the past 2 decades as publishers stopped maintaining them, potentially depriving scholars of useful research findings, a study has found.
An additional 900 journals published only online also may be at risk of vanishing because they are inactive, says a preprint posted on 3 September on the arXiv server. The number of OA journals tripled from 2009 to 2019, and on average the vanished titles operated for nearly 10 years before going dark, which might imply that a large number is yet to vanish, the authors write. [snip]
Cross-posted
https://democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=14048562Anybody follow this WSJ offering?
https://www.wsj.com/news/risk-compliance-journalI ask because I noticed this story there surfin' around: https://www.wsj.com/articles/treasury-and-delaware-sign-pact-to-boost-sanctions-enforcement-11599476400
I know it's Joe's home state...and TPTB associated with the WH (referring directly re: Cabinet Sec. Mnuchin) are 50% into sanctions enforcement but also 50% into hiding the sunlight of their own treacheries, past and present, and saying one thing; doing another without sunscreen...so could the Fed still really be digging a certain "white rabbit hole" deeper??? or the State of Delaware really be trying a tightened general atmosphere?
I've also read an old "white paper" (2016-seems the most recent?) from an international financial group of "watchers?, evaluators? of world economies headquartered in Paris, France, that summaries the US efforts as pretty good, but does recommend tightening individual State's regulatory compliance, especially one like Delaware known for favorable business climate, for more timely paper trails.
https://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/reports/mer4/MER-United-States-2016-Executive-Summary.pdf
Help - My bookmarks are a true mess...
Can I use some extension or other tool to alphabetize or catagorize my browser bookmarks?-
Introducing "The Breadbot" -
See the video at link.
https://www.krem.com/article/tech/breadbot-makes-debut-in-north-idaho/293-2daa6789-620f-4b76-adea-21b1c552fe03?fbclid=IwAR39qVyt5XnQRkSq_mNT5vjvTMwKxyZhaESHogrft8rZE8jEvpNBct5VKxY
snip...The devices, which measure ten feet by four-and-a-half feet, were designed specifically for grocery stores, according to the company. Wilkinson said that the Breadbot gives customers a fresher alternative to most brands of pre-sliced bread found on supermarket shelves.
"People can actually take bread home that is just out of the oven," he explained.
A description on the company's website states that the Breadbot "allows customers to know exactly where, when, and how, their bread was made."
The Breadbot is currently capable of producing 10 loaves an hour. Wilkinson said that the company is currently making two types of bread with more varieties in the works.
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LOL!
Play with photobooth here:
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/Scroll down mid page
I don't have any you-know-who photos saved, but YOU know what to do!
Give it your best shot and post it here, hehehe!
Cliff collapses in Grand Canyon revealing 313 million-year-old footprints, park says
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cliff-collapses-grand-canyon-revealing-170013155.htmlMaddie Capron
Miami HeraldAugust 20, 2020
A geology professor hiking in the Grand Canyon made a surprising discovery the oldest recorded tracks of their kind.
After a cliff collapsed in Grand Canyon National Park, a boulder with fossilized tracks was revealed, park officials said in a Thursday news release. The fossil footprints are about 313 million years old, according to researchers.
These are by far the oldest vertebrate tracks in Grand Canyon, which is known for its abundant fossil tracks Stephen Rowland, a paleontologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said in the news release. More significantly, they are among the oldest tracks on Earth of shelled-egg-laying animals, such as reptiles, and the earliest evidence of vertebrate animals walking in sand dunes.
The tracks were in plain view for many hikers, but werent discovered until Allan Krill, a Norwegian geology professor, was hiking with students and saw a boulder containing conspicuous fossil footprints, park officials said....snip
Banks start to buy home loans at below-market prices - Bloomberg
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3607489-banks-start-to-buy-home-loans-below-market-prices-bloomberg?utm_medium=email&utm_source=seeking_alpha&mail_subject=usb-banks-start-to-buy-home-loans-at-below-market-prices-bloomberg&utm_campaign=rta-stock-news&utm_content=link-3The halt on foreclosures of homes financed by government-backed mortgages implemented in March has an unintended consequence.
It's allowing banks and other lenders to buy mortgages out of bonds for less than their current market value, and, in the process, burn investors, Bloomberg reports.
Wells Fargo (WFC -1.6%) and U.S. Bancorp (USB -1.3%) have started buying, leading bond holders to eat the losses.
At the center of the transactions is Ginnie Mae, a government-owned corporation that guarantees the payment of principal and interest on bonds containing mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, and other government agencies.
Under Ginnie rules, banks and other lenders can buy loans out of mortgage...snip
In light of this snip from: https://www.barrons.com/articles/federal-reserve-tells-big-banks-how-much-a-capital-buffer-they-must-have-51597080906:
Big Banks Are Told How Much a Capital Buffer They Must Have. What It Means for Investors.
"The banks have until Oct. 1 to meet the requirement if they have not already done so. The Fed says it supports banks using their capital buffers to lend to businesses and households in a safe and sound manner. More at link.
Reading/watching too much sci-fi?
Apparently, another type of over-population is on its way...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8615541/Number-digital-bits-overtake-number-atoms-Earth-2170.html
The number of digital bits will overtake the number of atoms on Earth within 150 years, according to a new study that warns of an impending 'information catastrophe'.
By 2170, the world will be 'mostly computer simulated and dominated by digital bits and computer code', the study claims.
There will be 133 quindecillion (133 followed by 48 zeroes) bits in existence the same as the estimated number of atoms on the planet.
However, the power needed to support information transfer will equal all the power currently produced on Earth, leading to ethical and environmental concerns.
snip
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Do we need to make plans NOW for a literally "out-of-this-world" expandable/retrievable library/achive/depository?
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