by Doctor Science
Two seasonal or timely observations:
A rare event: a Titan Arum flower opened yesterday at Cornell University:
The bloom begins to open on Sunday, March 18, 2012.
You can follow the flower's brief but pungent life via livestreamed video. They'll probably try to pollinate it sometime this morning.
Meanwhile, far, far, FAR away ...
Antarctic Sue is starting her fourth winter at the South Pole. She's posting at least one picture a day. This week is sunset:
"17 March: Now that darkness is approaching, Ethan or I visit the steam vents on the roof to chip off the ice and crusted snow every day. (these vents are from the bathrooms and the galley.) we took over this task from the maintenance guys to limit the amount of roof traffic once our science cameras turn on."
You might want to start with her first post for the winter.
One of the world-changing things about the Internet is the way it changes the size and shape of the world we know. Sorry, Thomas Friedman, the world has never been *less* flat.
I should think the shape the world is in falls toward "not so good", but that could just be prejudice on my part. As for Tommy, aye, the takedowns are http://jilliancyork.com/2011/12/14/the-definitive-collection-of-thomas-friedman-takedowns/>legion.
Posted by: bobbyp | March 19, 2012 at 03:52 PM
It is not a flower, but an inflorescence, that is a structure made up (in this case) of very many tiny flowers.
Posted by: David Margolies | March 19, 2012 at 05:14 PM
Thank you for the pointer to Antarctic Sue. Her pictures strike me as intensely science fictional: wasteland, large machinery, no other people visible.
Some of that's clearly selection, since she talks about other people in the posts. But it's a remarkably severe, isolating and beautiful set of images.
Posted by: evilrooster | March 19, 2012 at 05:30 PM