Happy Birthday!

I missed it, but Mini-Amedeo turned one on November 16th.  I was probably knee-deep in some beers due to my papers finally being sent out.  That, and it was a Friday.

Thanks for reading!!

Giant Sequoias

National Geographic is publishing some majestic pictures of the 3,200 year old and second largest Giant Sequoia 'President' in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. 

Link, The Daily Mail summary: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2235452/Giant-sequoia-National-Geographic-pictures-giants-forest-Sierra-Nevada.html

Link, National Geographic: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/12/sequoias/quammen-text

Preview Shot:

Walking Again

::waves::  I'm back from a short blogging break.  I have three manuscripts in various levels of review/publication so I was very focused on that work for the past few weeks.  But, I'm back now!  Just in time for Thanksgiving!

I recently listed to a podcast on exoskeletons ("Stuff You Should Know").  As science minded as I am, I originally thought they were going to tell me how crustaceans and bugs made their hard skins, but exoskeletons also refers to the design of robotics to help human achievement.  These are machines that a human would physically wear while doing work.  DARPA recently asked for designs that will help soldiers carry heavier loads for longer periods, walk faster, and jump higher. 

One area they are truly amazing is helping those with paralysis to walk again.  Their muscles no longer respond to their central nervous system due to the severing of their spinal columns, but the robotics, acting as bones and muscle, can respond to other cues, such as leaning forward.  Here's an article from the New York Times about their progress.  Fascinating.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/technology/wearable-robots-that-can-help-people-walk-again.html

See ya, Sandy.

Sandy roared ashore between Sea Isle City and Avalon, NJ at 8pm last night as a Category 1 storm (maximum sustained winds of 80 mph).  This is 5 miles south of Atlantic City (pictures below) and just a few towns south of Ocean City, NJ (pictures below).

We made it through!  We didn't even lose power (but we did lose internet until this afternoon).  I went out to see the Schuylkill River cresting and was surprised to see it was much lower than last year's Hurricane Irene.  Unfortunately, many many places were not so lucky.


Ocean City, NJ High School:

Long Beach Island, NJ:

Ocean City, NJ (10th St):

Atlantic City, NJ (that's a piece of the boardwalk floating there):

World Trade Center / Freedom Tower construction site in NYC:

Stay safe during the clean up.  Be patient.  Some people, especially those along the Jersey shore and the people affected by the fire in Queens, were impacted deeply by this storm.
 

More Sandy...

       Well, I fail as an arm-chair meteorologist.  I've been watching Sandy's wind speed and central pressure over the past day.  Her winds were down to 75 mph and pressure was climbing well into the 900s mb.  I figured that the cooler waters up here would decrease the storm's strength, dropping it to a tropical storm before making landfall.  Mother Nature ruined that plan.  The storm is 205 miles from Atlantic City and packing 90 mile an hour winds.  That's a strong category 1 storm!

Sandy at ~ 8am:

Sandy at ~ 11am: