The downside of deer

They are attractive animals, but an editorial from Bloomberg News (via the StarTribune) explains that there are negative features to consider, especially when the population expands:

There were about 1.09 million deer-vehicle collisions from June 2010 to June 2011, State Farm Insurance reports, with average property damage of more than $3,000 an accident. Add to that a billion or so dollars for agricultural damage. Deer carry ticks that spread Lyme disease. And their voracious chomping has resulted in "ghost forests" -- particularly in the Northeast.



If a forest is healthy, it will support about 15 deer per square mile, and many scientists say that a degraded patch can't be restored unless the population is about five per square mile. Compare that target with the actual deer densities: Some areas of the United States have 40 to 50 of them in a square mile, with much higher estimates in some Eastern suburbs.



In New Jersey, one-third of the remaining species of native plants are endangered, largely because of deer. Many warblers, thrushes and dozens of other ground-nesting birds lose the protection of native plants, and some species of native pollinators -- butterflies, moths, beetles -- vanish...



The hunters who are supposed to control the deer want to keep the numbers up so they have a better chance of shooting a buck. They support changes such as the New Jersey measure to allow bow hunting closer to houses, but they generally oppose efforts to reduce the deer population...

via TYWKIWDBI ("Tai-Wiki-Widbee") http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-downside-of-deer.html

WWII "war sand" on the beaches of Normandy

As much as four percent of the sand on the beaches of Normandy consists of shrapnel left over from D-Day. In a post about this at BLDGBLOG, Geoff Manaugh references a book called "Sand: The Never-Ending Story." The book is about the science and culture of sand, from the ocean floor to Mars. Written by geologist Michael Welland, it sounds like a fascinating read!

(Normandy sand microscopy image by Earle McBride, Univ of Texas)

via Boing Boing http://boingboing.net/2012/08/13/wwii-war-sand-on-the-beach.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29

Watch a plane crash from inside the cockpit

This is a view of a small plane crashing into some trees from inside the cockpit (two of the passengers were filming with GoPro cameras). Although everyone survived, the pilot got pretty banged and bloodied so viewer beware.

After flying up into the mountains for a morning hike in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness we were planning on flying to a small mountain town for dinner. Due to warming temperatures there was an increase in density altitude and we had a hard time getting adequate lift. After taking off we hit an air pocket that made us rapidly loose altitude, pushing us down into the trees.

The plane just takes an amazingly long time to get off the ground...shouldn't that have been a clue to the pilot that something wasn't right? But the most fascinating part of the video is after the crash and they find the camera again and start filming themselves and each other...it's just surreal, especially the part where one of them checks the pilot. (via ★mouser)

Tags: video



via kottke.org http://kottke.org/12/08/watch-a-plane-crash-from-inside-the-cockpit

Look at this solar trike tear down the road

[Video Link] As soon as I get my hands on some quiodes I'll build myself one of these Solar Powered Warrior Tadpole Trikes, too!

via Boing Boing http://boingboing.net/2012/08/13/look-at-this-solar-trike-tear.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29

Census Bureau Releases Its First Mobile App Providing Real-Time Statistics on U.S. Economy

The U.S. Census Bureau released its first-ever mobile application, “America’s Economy,” which will provide constantly updated statistics on the U.S. economy, including monthly economic indicators, trends, along with a schedule of upcoming announcements. The app, which is currently available for Android mobile device users, combines statistics from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

America’s Economy is the first mobile app from the Census Bureau that provides smartphone and tablet users with the real-time government statistics that drive business hiring, sales and production decisions and assist economists, researchers, planners and policymakers. The economic indicators track monthly and quarterly trends in industries, such as employment, housing construction, international trade, personal income, retail sales and manufacturing.

The America’s Economy app has been developed as part of the Census Bureau’s Web Transformation Project and fulfills a key goal of President Obama’s recently announced Digital Strategy to provide federal employees and the general public with greater access to government information and services. The creation of this app is also consistent with the Census Bureau’s longtime mission of providing accurate statistics about the nation’s growth and changes using 21st century technology to make that information available more quickly and easily.

“The America’s Economy app will empower anyone needing information about the U.S. economy with timely statistics right on their mobile devices,” said Census Bureau Director Robert Groves. “The release of this app is an example of our commitment to giving taxpayers faster and easier access to the statistics we produce, including the Economic Census, that impact the lives of all Americans.”

The following 16 key economic indicators will be available as part of the initial release of the app:

Census Bureau

• Advance Monthly Retail Sales

• New Residential Construction

• New Residential Sales

• Construction Spending

• International Trade

• Advance Report Durable Goods

• Business Inventories

• Manufacturers’ Goods

• Monthly Wholesale

• Homeownership Rate

• Quarterly Services Survey

• QFR – Retail Trade

• QFR – Manufacturing

Bureau of Economic Analysis:

• Gross Domestic Product

• Personal Income and Outlays

Bureau of Labor Statistics:

• Unemployment Rate

Users will be able to set alerts to receive notifications when economic indicators are updated. They can also add statistical release schedules to their personal calendars. When each indicator is released, users can also share the news on both Facebook and Twitter.

America’s Economy is available now for Android users and is expected be available for Apple smartphone and tablet users in the Apple App Store in the coming weeks. America’s Economy is the first of three planned apps from the Census Bureau that will be made available over the next several months. Each app will be available for Apple and Android smartphones.

Learn more about the economic data produced by the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of Labor Statistics produces.

via Data Detectives http://nysdca.blogspot.com/2012/08/census-bureau-releases-its-first-mobile.html

The Ultimate People Fainting Compilation

(via Poor MoJo)

via Cynical-C http://www.cynical-c.com/2012/08/13/the-ultimate-people-fainting-compilation/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cynical-c%2FnxDH+%28Cynical-C+Blog%29

Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu

Writer John Updike published more than fifty books, and won the Pulitzer Prize twice. He also wrote for The New Yorker for more than fifty years, often about baseball. One of his best known essays described the last game in the career of Boston Red Sox slugger Ted Williams. It was intended as a rebuke to a Boston columnist who noted the occasion by saying, essentially, that Williams was overrated. Updike countered that argument, not with statistical analysis but with an examination of the love that New Englanders had for their hero. He wrote:

"The affair between Boston and Ted Williams has been no mere summer romance; it has been a marriage, composed of spats, mutual disappointments, and, toward the end, a mellowing hoard of shared memories."

In that final game, in his final time at the plate, Williams capped his 22-year career by hitting a home run. Updike described the scene:

"Like a feather caught in a vortex, Williams ran around the square of bases at the center of our beseeching screaming. He ran as he always ran out home runs—hurriedly, unsmiling, head down, as if our praise were a storm of rain to get out of. He didn't tip his cap. Though we thumped, wept, and chanted "We want Ted" for minutes after he hid in the dugout, he did not come back. Our noise for some seconds passed beyond excitement into a kind of immense open anguish, a wailing, a cry to be saved. But immortality is nontransferable. The papers said that the other players, and even the umpires on the field, begged him to come out and acknowledge us in some way, but he never had and did not now. Gods do not answer letters."

Updike died in 2009. His Williams essay was just republished in book form.