badgermind

Today is cloudy, muggy, and hot -- but considerably less hot than the past week. Today it's 81°F which is hot but "be careful not to overdo yardening" not "stay indoors until it cools off" hot.

I fed the birds. I refilled the thistle feeder. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a pair of mourning doves.

I put out water for the birds.









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Art pieces double as carbon-free air conditioning, inspired by ancient civilizations

Researchers at Virginia Tech have developed a 3D-printed evaporative cooling system made of hollow clay columns that can cool the surrounding air by up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

The columns are filled with water and sand, and when warm air passes through the porous clay exterior, water stored in the sand columns evaporates, which in turn, cools the air that passes through.

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People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

Do people in wealthier countries have a moral obligation to help those in poorer countries?


If you want to hold all the money, you have to pay all the bills. If you don't want to pay all the bills, make sure other folks have enough money to pay their own.

Also, there is no Planet B.  Climate change affects everyone -- but the people in wealthy countries who are causing it have thus far suffered less than people in poor countries who haven't caused it.  If you don't make it feasible for them to stay in their own countries, they will leave so they don't die, and wash up in wealthy countries.  This is already happening some, but you have seen nothing yet.  It will be like the waves of the sea beating the shore, over and over again, until people think they would give anything to make it stop.  And then it will stop.  And then people will wish, just as desperately, to have that many people ever again as the losses pile up and there aren't enough hands  left to hold up civilization.

Today is cloudy, muggy, and hot.  It's been raining off and on.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 6/27/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio. 

The first of the blackberry lilies is blooming.  :D

Today's theme is Hiking.

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Today we went out running errands.

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Today is mostly sunny and sweltering.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

How Earth's First, Unkillable Animals Saved the World
Sponges have survived every catastrophe and every mass extinction event that nature has thrown at them. And by being the little, filter-feeding, water-cleaning creatures that they are, sponges may have saved the world.

How Volcanoes Froze the Earth (Twice)
Over 600 million years ago, sheets of ice coated our planet on both land and sea. How did this happen? And most importantly for us, why did the planet eventually thaw again? The evidence for Snowball Earth is written on every continent today.





That's reassuring given the poor life choices of Homo sapiens today.