Unsightly Mental Blemishes

The straw flowers are humble.

The lilies are bright and daring!

A bit of live-blogging…

8:15 Tonight’s chant appears to be “Because America Deserves Better!” if Governor Walker of Wisconsin is following the script. Which, oddly enough, happens to coincide with a trend in advertising of the last few years of telling consumers that they deserve this product or that product, with an intimation that what they’re getting is inferior.

So … what’s this deserve word? What has this target group done to deserve this upgrade?

OK, so it’s a thought we’ve all had, and we all know it’s just an advertising ploy, right? But here’s the flip side – it’s a victimization ploy. You know, someone has withheld something you deserve and, well, doesn’t that make you a victim? Of someone?

And resentful? Because your problems are someone else’s fault, someone’s intentional action has made your situation worse and it’s not your fault!

And ready to do something out of the ordinary to get it back?

Now I know why I loathe that particular advertising ploy. It virtually begs for supinity, for the strongman to take over and make it all better. The opposite of American self-sufficiency, no?

8:35 Now Senator Ted Cruz, who reportedly is maneuvering for the 2020 Presidential nomination even now, is giving his speech. Cloying, as he uses the recent tragedies. “We the people constrain government.” Now he’s telling us that “I want to be free” are the five most important words. How about “No more religious government“? (His father wishes to institute a theocracy.) Now we’re off to the lying races … too much to type … “choose your own doctor without Obamacare” … that is, if you can afford it at all. Does he know what health care prices were doing before Obamacare? And how rates of growth have dropped, while rates of insured have risen?

Now “don’t give it away to Russia!” He does know the Donald thinks Putin is great?

“States should be able to choose policies that reflect local values” … careful, Ted, isn’t that how the Civil War started? Not that my response is nuanced 🙂 Now to tar Hillary – she wants to control speech, even, according to him? Now a transition to Brexit … is he calling for secession? I hope he knows what Lawrence Wilkerson thinks of such an action.

8:51 Now he talks about the AME murderer, and I notice the applause is muted when he says the survivors forgave their attacker. What does that mean?

8:52 A desperate plea for voters to show up in November. Down-ballot fearfulness.

8:55 The audience sure sounds upset as Cruz wraps up a speech about some little girl. Cruz is about 4 steps above most of the other speakers, but his voice makes me cringe, and his willingness to lie makes it hard to take him – a Senator – seriously. And, according to Andrew Sullivan, who must be watching (I’m only listening):

Now, open war is breaking out, as the crowd is beginning to shout Cruz down. Watching Cruz get booed at this event is quite something. He’s being heckled and jeered – as Trump appears at the side of the stage as if to distract attention. Cruz leaves to a massive wall of hostile noise.

Well, well, well. Or is that part of Cruz’s master plan? He was definitely the most intellectually impressive of the 17 GOP candidates this season. I could see him making this part of his long game. Although upon reading earlier today that he’s already planning for 2020, it occurred to me that he might not be far enough right for the 2020 GOP – if it even exists.

9:30 I return to hear Newt is employing the shameful but traditional tactics of fear-mongering. He throws his net wide, leaning on some alleged historical expertise.

Too busy tonight for the rest, and tomorrow will be busy again. Apparently the folks in the donor suite are enraged at Cruz:

From @DanaBashCNN: Some people on donor suite level so angry at @tedcruz they called him disgrace to his face; one man had to be restrained…

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) July 21, 2016

Via Andrew, again.

Much like the GOP, the Iranian hardliners cannot believe they are not in power, as Ali Omidi makes clear in this AL Monitor article:

As the faction most opposed to the government, Iran’s hard-liners have made it their goal to make Hassan Rouhani the first Iranian president not to be re-elected for a second term. In fact, this objective was sought since their loss of the executive branch back in 2013. They simply cannot fathom being barred from the presidency for another five years until the 2021 presidential election. Thus, they’re determined to seize back control of the executive branch as soon as possible. …

At present, there are five key economic and political variables that can play an important role in determining whether Rouhani will get a second term.

First is the scapegoating of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for all current economic problems. Rouhani and his Cabinet look to the previous administration as the cause of the current economic dire straits. This is a line of reasoning that, even if valid, does not satisfy average — and particularly vulnerable — Iranians. In the Rouhani administration’s telling, even the most popular policies of the previous administration were wrong and problematic. Indeed, Minister of Roads and Urban Development Abbas Akhoundi has called the Mehr Housing Project a “disaster.”

Comments such as these are seen by the lower classes as a sign that the government does not represent them. These citizens question what Rouhani has done for them, since many of them were able to own homes and were also given a monthly income in the form of cash subsidies as a result of Ahmadinejad’s populist programs. Though the cash payments were disastrous for the economy, Rouhani has been unable to convince the poor that these kinds of policies are problematic.

The other four reasons have to do with the age and conduct of Rouhani’s Cabinet, the recession, the blocking of banking operations, and the conduct of certain domestic institutions over which he has no control, yet receives the blame. He clearly sees challenges for Rouhani. J. Matthew McInnis at AEI agrees there are headwinds, but Rouhani also has made some progress:

The new parliament may also help. There was never much hope for a moderate or reformist legislature after most of the moderate or reformist candidates were disqualified from running in the first place. But Rouhani, along with former president and ally Rafsanjani, was able to successfully target and oust many of his most difficult opponents in the February elections. With conservative Ali Larijani re-elected as speaker — with whom Rouhani has a strong working relationship — and even some reformists in deputy speaker roles, it will be a somewhat more manageable body. The key will be watching how the hardliners behave during this session. If they are able organize themselves into a coherent opposition (which has eluded them for years), that could spell trouble for Rouhani’s legislative agenda and the potential for a viable rival to emerge for the presidency.

Foreign Policy’s Special Correspondent thinks Rouhani has a good shot:

There is good reason, however, to think that Rouhani will be more adept at countering his rivals than Khatami ever was. Unlike the former reformist president, the incumbent has held some of the most senior security posts in the Islamic Republic. His recent election victory, on the heels of the nuclear deal, helps him prove that he is not a one-trick pony, but a canny operator whose deeper links within the elite can yield results. It won’t be easy to change how the Islamic Republic operates, but Rouhani is better positioned than any of his predecessors to give it a shot.

Some plump succulents for your delectation.

… I was fortunately busy with other matters and only caught part of the very end of RNC-2, where Dr. Carson seemed to think referencing “In God We Trust” on our currency has some sort of relevance to our successes – and failures – as a nation. I’m also curious why such a brilliant surgeon finds it so urgent to credit God with the successes of Man. Are the most reverent the most successful? There’s little correlation; and it’s disrespectful to those who’ve worked so hard to achieve so much. He’s basically telling them that all the time, effort, and discipline is irrelevant, since God really does it all. For those who can think clearly, and yet accept such an assertion, it must be quite the blow to one’s faith in the virtues of working hard.

And reading Andrew Sullivan’s second night of live-blogging, I must admit to feeling pity for him. He’s clearly feeling a lot of pain at watching the GOP melting into irrelevance. Read it backwards:

9:31 p.m. In the last few seconds, Paul Ryan got his mojo back in a call for unity. But the speech was painfully devoid of any praise for the nominee, and framed around supporting a “conservative governing majority,” rather than a president. Again, it’s pretty amazing for the speaker of the House not to mention in more than a cursory way the actual nominee of his own party. Beyond Awkward. I bet you Trump is pissed.

9:27 p.m. Ryan is dying up there. A reader writes:

Paul Ryan’s speech would be very good in 1988 or thereabouts. Today, it’s just pathetic and utterly detached from the Trumpers who don’t know whether to clap or not.

He’s now all but apologizing for speaking: “Last. Last point …” Jesus this is depressing.

9:26 p.m. A speaker actually mentioned “liberties”. Ryan is just offering some somewhat lame anti-progressive clichés. The crowd is talking among themselves.

9:20 p.m. Ryan is trying to make a change election argument. So far, awkward. No mention of any policies proposed by Trump.

9:19 p.m. Ryan invokes Lincoln. Graves spin.

While it may be enjoyable in a creepy sort of way, I’m dismayed that the best analogy for the RNC is to Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, who made her name through, let us say, excess cleavage. Given the lies and appeals to the “fever swamps right” emotions, its really base nature and disdain for facts and truth, it’s really how it all seems to be. A vast orgasmic week for the resentful.

A number of GOP officials have avoided this year’s RNC, supposedly because of concerns about violence, although the idea of riots seems to have faded. I think that was just an excuse, and that most of them were so embarrassed at the thought of associating with Trump that they just decided to find a reason not to be present. It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out now that he’s the official nominee. Will they support him? Subtly chip away at him while trying to retain their elective seats? The drama continues.

On Lawfare, John Bellinger notes the ratification of two more treaties (extradition treaties with Chile and the Dominican Republic), and notes this sets a record for a new low:

This brings to six the number of treaties approved by the Senate in the Obama Administration’s second term. (In 2014, the Senate approved four fisheries treaties.)  The Senate approved nine treaties in the Obama Administration’s first term, bringing to 15 the number of treaties approved by the Senate during the Obama Administration.  This is the fewest number of treaties approved by the Senate in a four-year period or eight-year period at least since World War II (and probably much longer — some intrepid law student will need to check).

In contrast, the Senate approved 163 treaties during the eight years of the Bush administration, including a record 90 treaties during the last two years of the Administration. Ironically, under a President who most Europeans and many international law professors are convinced did not believe in international law, the United States may have become party to more new treaty law than during any other eight-year period in U.S. history.

Perhaps I’m naive, but counting the number of ratified treaties and declaring this to be akin to a crisis because not enough law is being passed seems wildly inappropriate.

First, treaties come in wildly differing sizes. One treaty may cover an enormous subject, another a very slender subject. Would we equate an extradition treaty with,say, a treaty divvying up the Antarctica resources?

Second, as a metric it fails to account for the potential slothfulness of the Administration.

Third, it also fails to account for the potential spitefulness of the Senate. Or, to be polite, honest differences of opinion, as some would insist.

Fourth, it also fails to account for the need for new laws. I certainly have no idea how much need there is for more international law, although the Internet and software in general no doubt remain fertile areas.

To some extent, I have my doubts as to the worthiness of whipping out a tape measure how much law we currently have and need. However, since there is some worth in actually pointing fingers, probably the best measure is how many treaties are stuck in the pipeline, and even better, for how long? While companies often love backlogs as they show how popular their products have become, for the government sector it’s indicative of inefficiencies and even dangers. Numbers measuring these treaties, perhaps with risks attached or even modifying the numbers, might be far more useful than simply counting pieces of signed papers.

My Arts Editor adores a good sunflower, and while this season is not as successful as last season, she has a couple of specimens to work with. However, these are nothing like her very first batch from 9 years ago. They lined her secondary parking space at her old house as impossibly attentuated guards, warding against everything but the squirrels that ate them.

Anyway, here they are!

The Huffington Post reports the Green Restaurant Association has found tremendous food waste in the United States – enough to drop my jaw:

A single restaurant in the U.S. wastes about 100,000 pounds of food a year, according to the Green Restaurant Association, making them auspicious donors for hunger relief groups. But many restaurants are reluctant to give away their edible leftovers, citing fears of getting sued.

But they shouldn’t be so worried about backlash, experts say.

Because no such lawsuit has ever been waged.

Just a bit more of numbers…

Bon Appetit has 650 cafes nationwide and donated more than 286,000 pounds of food last year. Cummings said that’s a “low-ball” estimate though.

Restaurants are uniquely positioned to simultaneously tackle the country’s food waste and hunger issues.

In the U.S., up to 40 percent of food goes uneaten. Last year, one in six households didn’t have enough money for food.

Yet, even with the protections in place and the vast number of groups that pick up and deliver excess food, many restaurants will still rifle off a host of reasons that keep them from participating in the rescue effort.

The article goes on to explore the legalities of and obstacles to more efficient food use in the USA. I wonder if I should wander over to the fast food joint a block and a half away and ask if they know how much food they discard in a day …

Last time we discussed country actions in terms of climate change, it was the positive move of the Australians of electing Malcolm Turnbull. Now we may have what is being widely viewed as a setback, as new British PM Theresa May closes the Department for Energy and Climate Change. From CommonDreams:

May shuttered the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) on Thursday and moved responsibility for the environment to a new Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. The decision comes the same week as the U.K. government’s own advisers warned in a report that the nation was not ready for the inevitable consequences of climate change, including deadly heat waves and food and water shortages.

“This is shocking news. Less than a day into the job and it appears that the new prime minister has already downgraded action to tackle climate change, one of the biggest threats we face,” said Craig Bennett, CEO of the environmental group Friends of the Earth. “This week the government’s own advisors warned of ever growing risks to our businesses, homes and food if we don’t do more to cut fossil fuel pollution.”

CommonDreams may be dedicated to the Progressive movement, but actions such as this affect everyone, conservative and liberal, communist and anarchist, from London to Shanghai to San Francisco. The question is the direction of the affect, as it’s not clear to me the purpose of this new Department within the British government – the Climate Change section may be entirely subsumed by the Energy and Business sections and become ineffective, or (on the positive end) it may influence future regulations of companies doing business in the UK. I poked around but did not find an explanation of the change.

May’s views on climate change are not entirely clear.

…. can, unsurprisingly, really hurt those who happen to be neither God nor in Power. AL Monitor‘s Mohannad Sabry reports in September of 2013 on the plight of St. Catherine’s monastery in the Sinai region of Egypt, which was ordered, with little reason and no compensation, to shut down by security officials:

“Despite having more time to pray and practice, our priests live without crowds of visitors, we are suffering a major financial crisis, and we cannot cover the monastery’s expenses and dozens of families that we constantly support,” said Paolos, who wore his farming clothes covered in mud.

St. Catherine’s Monastery employs 400 workers from the surrounding community at its olive groves, grape farms, honey bee farms and several processing facilities including an olive oil press. As of the beginning of September, the monastery reserves decreased to a level that is barely enough to cover two months of expenditure.

“We respect the Egyptian government, and we will continue to close if they require the closure,” said Paolos, “But we will have to drastically cut down salaries and other expenditures. We are saddened to lose the income we shared with the Bedouin community.”

Meanwhile, the state authorities haven’t moved to help rescue the ailing community despite generating millions of dollars in revenues from hundreds of thousands of tourists who have visited St. Catherine’s over the past two decades.

One example of the income generated by the state is the entrance tickets imposed by the Ministry of Environment in 2004. Since then, every single tourist is required to pay $5 to enter the town of St. Catherine’s.

The monastery’s administration told Al-Monitor that it operated at full capacity between 2004 and 2011, receiving 4,000 visitors — mostly foreign tourists — five days a week. And even on the monastery’s days off, the town received hundreds of tourists climbing Mount Sinai and venturing around the mountains on Bedouin safari trips.

The local Bedouins offered camel rides and other camel based services, and were selling their camels to feed their camels – which they acknowledge was a disaster and, when the closedown would be lifted, would leave them without the ability to generate their former incomes.

Credit: Wikipedia

I wonder who benefited from it – at the ruinous expense of the occupants of St. Catherine’s. I have not tried to discover if the security-ordered shutdown was ever lifted, because I find this oddly to be an object lesson of what happens when man, rather than law, is in charge. With strength can easily come corruption, and Trump’s history with “justice” is such that I don’t doubt he’d immediately be manipulating the system for his betterment.

Oh, hurry up, election. I want to stop thinking about this bad joke of a nominee. “Presumptive nominee.”

I’ll confess I couldn’t stomach watching this first night in any detail (and I wonder just how many engineers could), but Andrew Sullivan, among many others, live-blogged it here if you like your convention coverage with an informed side helping of incredulity and even mourning, and a sprinkling of snark. Here’s his summary:

11:09 p.m [EDT]. Just mulling over the events tonight, there’s one obvious stand-out. I didn’t hear any specific policy proposals to tackle clearly stated public problems. It is almost as if governing, for the Republican right, is fundamentally about an attitude, rather than about experience or practicality or reasoning. The degeneracy of conservatism – its descent into literally mindless appeals to tribalism and fear and hatred – was on full display. You might also say the same about the religious right, the members of whom have eagerly embraced a racist, a nativist, a believer in war crimes, and a lover of the tyrants that conservatism once defined itself against. Their movement long lost any claim to a serious Christian conscience. But that they would so readily embrace such an unreconstructed pagan is indeed a revelation.

Which strikes me, honestly, as the results of third- and fourth-raters at work. While Colbert ridicules them on the television, I think this is just a continuation in theme of the entire primary season, because hardly anyone in the Republican race really came off as a competent politician. Maybe Kasich. Trump simply beat everyone by claiming he’d do this and do that, louder and more effectively than the rest – without saying how. By avoiding the “how” question, he lets the primary voters avoid doing anything hard, such as analysis and discussion.

And this is how much of the convention proceeded this evening – I did see parts of speeches by several mourning mothers, who blamed either Obama or Hillary for the deaths of their loved ones, and parts of other speeches proclaiming how Trump give America backbone once again, unlike Obama, who only killed Osama bin Laden, who took the nation into the overthrow of Libya, and thus gains some of the credit for the killing of the man responsible for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, etc. It’s thought-free, emotion-laden, and often devoid of facts.

The nation should really go into mourning for the loss of the party of Lincoln. A man of careful thought, it’s impossible to connect the two without incoherent laughter.

A bit of lawn watering yields this:

The following is not as aesthetic but does show what we believe to be the spider’s tunnel.

This is the off-year for the apple tree – last year it fruited to the amount of maybe 150 lbs. These shots courtesy of my Arts Editor …

Shows off the hostas….

The Quatermass Experiment (1953, aka The Creeping Unknown) is a surprisingly effective taut drama concerning the first flight into space. Three astronauts go up, but when the spacecraft comes back down, there’s only one left – and two empty suits. We follow along as the man in charge, Quatermass, bulldozes his way through British politeness towards finding out what happened to the missing astronauts – and what’s happening to the survivor.

This is a quality production. The acting is at a professional level; the characters are written with some lovely quirkiness, the pretty lady is not preserved, but bullheadedly takes her own initiative and pays the price; the extended search for the monster is well-written, full of twists, turns, horror, and suspense. That poor little girl. But the details were often handled with great respect, such as the live-TV crew that finds the monster in the midst of its documentary and desperately tries different cameras and finally switches to another host, all the while dealing with the police. Most shows would have just had them support the police, but in reality they would have had multiple responsibilities – and the movie shows that.

The special effects range the gamut from mundane to, for the era, quite spectacular. Not in a flashy way, but simply “I believe this” – I refer to the sequence in which the film from the spacecraft is under review. My Arts Editor and I were spellbound seeing this sequence, not only as it was a good reveal that something had happened during the flight, but it was also really very much within the realm of what you’d expect to see. A quiet professional take on the matter.

And yet, for all that the above may sound like a rave, it was, in some undefined way, a trifle flat. Perhaps it’s dated, since we know enough about space to know what is depicted is unlikely, although I suppose not impossible. Perhaps the British sensibilities of the era don’t quite work for an American such as myself. In the event, I wouldn’t mind hearing other opinions of this well-regarded film, which actually initially aired as a serial on the BBC, and, according to Wikipedia, cleared the British streets as everyone had to catch it each episode.

Lloyd Alter @ TreeHugger reports on the unpaving of America:

[John Laumer, author of Trend Watch: Unpaving Rural America “Back To The Stone Age“] noted that there were some environmental benefits and concerns that should be considered:

• Asphalt is a refining byproduct. Less will be needed (either way).
• Vehicle speed is slowed as a practical matter, which means higher mileage.
• Rolling friction is increased, which means more fuel consumed
• More car washing is required, absolutely.
• More erosive sediment movement from the cartway and into streams and lakes.
• More cracked windows and chipped paint and broken headlights, which mean more materials consumed.

…

So in the end everyone pays anyway; much higher gas consumption, and probably more car maintenance, more SUVs and fewer Prii or other smaller, lighter, energy efficient cars. Wouldn’t it make more sense just to have a road tax that covered the cost of actually maintaining the roads?

I’d rather pay a higher tax than replace my vehicles at shorter intervals. I should imagine there’s more safety issues involved as well.

For those who read The [Daily] Dish but didn’t receive Andrew’s notice about upcoming activities, I’ll reproduce his mail here.

Dear Dishheads,

It’s been a while but I’m excited/psyched/terrified to be live-blogging the two party conventions for the next fortnight. From 8 pm till closing each night, I’ll be glued to the TV and channeling my thoughts instantly – as in the olden times – except this time for New York Magazine at nymag.com. Chas Danner, an old Dish colleague who now works at New York, will be helping me filter the various Internet responses to the proceedings, and I truly hope you’ll come along for the ride.

We will, of course, be open to reader emails during the night – and the email address will be posted at the top of the live-blog. Think of it as a pop-up Dish for two weeks, a chance to gather round together again as the end of the republic nears.

Hope to see you next Monday night as the events unfold!

In Dishness,

andrew

I doubt I have the stomach for watching that much convention, but his live-blogging may be interesting.

Hyperobject.

Climate change – its impact, complexity and persistence – is hard for human brains to parse. In his 2013 book Hyperobjects, the philosopher Timothy Morton described how “things that are massively distributed in time and space relative to humans” defy our intuition. Global warming is one such hyperobject: a panel about the ocean hinted at others.

It stretches my brain. A little. A river would be another hyperobject.

[edited – added link and the following.] Thanks to “Face to face in the Arctic with a terrifying new sublime”, NewScientist, 2 July 2016, amended online later.

For those of you, like me, who don’t really understand the Israeli situation, here’s what appears to be admirable historical and current summary from Professor Asher Susser on Lawfare:

In the new regional reality, as some Arab states sink ever-deeper into crisis and disarray, and as the Sunni Arabs struggle with Shi’ite Iran’s hegemonic design, Israel has acquired genuine Arab allies who make common cause to contain Iranian influence. The days when Israel was alone against all the rest in the Arab world, as it had been in its early years, are over. Israel has lasting and stable peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan and a fledgling informal relationship with countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It is also building up relationships with the non-Arab states of the region. It has just signed a new agreement for reconciliation with Turkey and earlier in the year, Israel came to agreements for strategic cooperation with Greece and Cyprus.

Readers continue to remark on this thread:

Exactly. 42%? That’s fracking insane.

Yes, and (in chorus with many others) doesn’t bode well for the future of this country. On the other hand, I do not think they can be conceived of as a homogenuous bloc, but rather a fractured mess. Another:

I don’t think it is so much a pro-trump thing as it is anti-hillary.

Which is something I don’t really get. I was around 30 when President Clinton took office, and I’ve never really understood the profound enmity the Clintons seem to have acquired amongst the right wing. It’s certainly true she’s made mistakes – but then who doesn’t make mistakes when trying to run the government of the largest democracy in the world? To some extent, Bill’s high intelligence, along with his ability to take the issues of the opposition and make them his, makes their hatred of him more understandable; perhaps it just washes off on her.

First, the candy corn vine, which we had last year and is just starting to bloom this year.

And then for our move to yellow out in the garden…

I should imagine these are lilies, with a cleome in the background.

Last growing season Deb found picking the tomatoes – in particular the black cherry variety – back behind the garage (we have a detached alley garage) a frustrating experience. This season she’s experimenting with forcing the tomato plants to display their wares with more … enthusiasm! Her approach? Twine is affixed to the ground (via spike) and the garage’s soffit. Here, have a picture:

And then she’s encouraging the tomato plants to use the twine as support. Of course, it doesn’t do this naturally, so she has to put each vine on the string manually – but so long as they stay on the twine, it should simplify picking.

Finally, a side view just for giggles.

For reasons unbeknownst to me, some of the pictures may not show up. If this happens to you, click on the broken picture icon and they should – slowly – show up.

What does not have a subsurface ocean these days? Even Pluto is a candidate, as NewScientist (2 July 2016) suggests from an article in Geophysical Research Letters by Noah Hammond, Amy Bar, and Edgar Parmentier:

If Pluto still has an ocean, then global volume expansion would still be occurring, suggesting extensional tectonic activity could be ongoing. This is consistent with the observations of Moore et al. [2016] who suggest that the relative youth of tectonic features could be consistent with the partial freezing of an ocean. Additionally, tensional stresses at the surface and ocean pressurization, due to the ice shell thickening, could make cryovolcanic resurfacing more likely [Robuchon and Nimmo, 2011].

Or, as NewScientist puts it:

If it had frozen solid, the pressure from the outer ice would have squished the ocean into a denser form called ice-II, reducing its volume. Pluto would have contracted, covering it in wrinkles.

But New Horizons saw deep cracks instead, suggesting Pluto is slowly growing through the formation of normal ice, which has a larger volume than liquid water.

NASA suggests Pluto’s moon Charon may have had an ocean in the past.

If anything swims in that ocean, it’ll need anti-freeze for blood – like certain fish. Wondering about ice-II?

Ice II is a rhombohedral crystalline form of ice with a highly ordered structure. It is formed from ice Ih by compressing it at temperature of 198 K at 300 MPa or by decompressing ice V. When heated it undergoes transformation to ice III.[1] Ordinary water ice is known as ice Ih, (in the Bridgman nomenclature). Different types of ice, from ice II to ice XVI, have been created in the laboratory at different temperatures and pressures. It is thought that the cores of icy moons like Jupiter’s Ganymede may be made of ice II.

Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI via slate.com.

David Hambling reports in NewScientist (2 July 2016, paywall) how “hot ice” or crystsal icing may have taken Air France 447 down – and how it ties into climate change:

… one apparently minor detail is beginning to take on new significance: ice blockage in a sensor called a pitot tube, which measures air speed.

That shouldn’t have happened at 35,000 feet. According to our understanding of weather, it is not possible for ice to form at this altitude. …

Unlike normal icing, crystal icing happens at altitudes where water should not be liquid. The culprits are plumes of crystals around 40 micrometres across, no bigger than grains of flour, which are invisible to weather radar that pick up normal precipitation.

Because they’re solid, these crystals bounce off the wings and other areas equipped with sensors and defences. But when they land on the warmest parts of the plane – such as the engine or pitot tube – they melt. This also happens in contact with the heated windscreen, where they can cause the weird “rain” sometimes reported.

Once a layer has partially melted, it accretes more crystals. When these layers accumulate in the engine, they can stall it, or break off in solid chunks that damage the engine (see diagram).

Ice build-up in the sensors leads to more insidious damage. On flight 447, the ice crystals blocked the pitot tube, which started giving false readings, showing the plane flying too slowly.

[Edit] Here’s that diagram:

[End edit] And the connection to climate change?

There’s even a chance the problem could get worse. “The warmer, moister world predicted by climate change will have more convective instability, ” says Sue Gray, a meteorologist at the University of Reading, UK. “These systems will be more vigorous and more frequent.”

And according to a recent analysis by Rolls Royce engine labs, these increases in extreme weather could make the conditions in which crystal icing flourishes more frequent. In a presentation, Rory Clarkson, an engine specialist with the company, offered an inconvenient but undeniably safe answer: “Restrict operation during severe weather.”

What will this bring? Nothing but evil.

Where is the Martin Luther King, Jr. of today, one who realizes & communicates that violence begets violence, that we must come together in our shared needs, not our trivial differences? Neither side can win this fight, not in the long term – not the white supremacists, not those driven to terrible acts of revenge. They, both, are covered in blood and dishonor; their relatives & friends in disbelief and profound horror.