You are hereFigures & Facts
Figures & Facts
19 Feb 2015 Happy Lunar New Year: it's universal. The Moon impacts us all: as the moon waxes & wanes, ocean tides rise & fall
Image courtesy physicalgeography.net, Johannes Schedler (Panther Observatory) / NASA, earthsky.org, and Channelkeeper / Morgan Coffe
Be tall to be there: Boston covered by 6-feet snow; 60000 tons of salt dumped onto roads; NY, Vermont help dig Massachusetts out
(quote)
*update* 2015/02/10
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans: "I hope it snows every day!" Homicides and other major crimes in the city have dropped by a whopping 34 percent so far this year, compared with the same period last year. Vehicle theft decreased by 46 percent, larceny by 35 percent, and burglaries by 32 percent, according to data provided by the Boston Police Department.
'murder-free' record New York City has gone 11 days without a homicide, its longest stretch without any on modern record, the New York Police Department said Friday. The record was broken midnight Thursday. It was the 11th full day without a reported homicide. Police Commissioner Bill Bratton hushed talk of the streak Friday on "CBS This Morning." "Shh ... we don't want to jinx it," Bratton told host Charlie Rose. "We're into our 12th day now, Charlie. Eleven is a record and let's keep it going."
What Should Boston Do With All That Snow? Desperate for snow-disposal solutions, Boston has asked the public for ideas read more »
Millions of GMO mosquitoes to be released in the Florida Keys if FDA allows experiment. Nightmare? At least 130,000 frightened
Dummy's simplest questions:
1. Can such kind of "experiment" be undone if consequences run wildly away from Florida Keys?
2. Will millions of flying mosquitoes "obey Lab's rules" to stay where they are released?
3. Mosquitoes, by nature, bite. How to guarantee the released males from mating with poisonous "super powerful" female mosquitoes (some spread deadly disease) whose offspring will survive?
(quote)
Millions of GMO Insects Could Be Released in Florida Keys
Never before have insects with modified DNA come so close to being set loose in a residential U.S. neighborhood.
Dengue and chikungunya are growing threats in the U.S., but some people are more frightened at the thought of being bitten by a genetically modified organism. More than 130,000 people signed a Change.org petition against the experiment.
genetically modified mosquitoes could have unintended consequences
Already, the Times reports, "3.5% of the insects in a lab test survived to adulthood despite presumably carrying the lethal gene."
Mosquitoes are considered one of the most dangerous creatures on the planet because of their ability to spread deadly diseases. read more »
Eiffel Tower dims, 3.7mil people march across France as world leaders join arm in arm in Paris for moving tribute to 17 slain
(quote)
DailyMail: 3.7 million people march across France as world leaders are joined in Paris for moving tribute to 17 victims
* An estimated 3.7million gathered in shows of solidarity across France today in tribute to those killed
* Unprecedented crowds were seen in Paris where millions walked the capital's streets chanting 'Je suis Charlie'
* World leaders linked arms to lead the proceedings
* President Francois Hollande began the march, poignantly telling crowds: 'Today, Paris is the capital of the world'
* Elsewhere crowds gathered in major world cities, with famous monuments illuminated in the Tricolor read more »
World largest solar bridge: 4400 panels end-to-end 1886-Victorian bridge on Thames w/ rail station 900000kwh of electricity/yr
The Blackfriars Railway Bridge, which houses the London Underground's Blackfriars station, opened recently and is covered end-to-end with solar panels, making it the largest solar bridge in the world. The bridge is covered with 4,400 solar panels which will produce about 900,000 kWh of electricity annually, or about 50 percent of the station's annual electricity output.
Solar-powered lights illuminate the 1,542-foot-long Kurilpa Bridge
(quote) read more »
Simple Math and Fact. 100 miles cost $3.45/electricity, $13.52/oil; Electric car owners $750-1200/yr richer, clean air for all
source/full size image at ucsusa.org
source/full size image at ucsusa.org
source/full size image at onelectriccars.com
(quote)
*update *
bloomberg.com - electric vehicle sales quintupled in 4 years with global sales of 288,500 units last year, more than five times the number in 2011, and manufacturers are preparing for more.
Huffington Post: 8 Things We Bet You Didn't Know About Electric Cars read more »
Sense makes sense. Nik Wallenda walks tightrope blindfolded between skyscrapers; 79-yo Icon Maggie Smith; Magic magician Randi
(quote)
"If a man loves the labour of his trade, apart from any question of success or fame, the gods have called him." - Robert Louis Stevenson
Maggie Smith interview for My Old Lady: 'If you have been around long enough you are an icon' - More famous than ever thanks to Downton Abbey, the 79-year-old actress tells Elizabeth Grice why she keeps going read more »
