Saw my first two bumblebees of the year; at least, I thing they were bumblebees:
"Radhika Nagpal, an associate professor at Harvard University and a member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, is part of a group working on creating a colony of robotic bees, an effort that received a $10 million economic stimulus grant last year from the National Science Foundation.
The stimuloot took a 2x4 to a Terminator beehive?
The ultimate goal of the project is to create robotic bees that mimic those in nature — a colony that could pollinate crops, emulating bees’ ability to hover, fly from flower to flower, and work with others to scout or forage.
With a LITTLE GOVERNMENT VIDEO CAMERA for a STINGER!
The technology will require scientists to develop tiny, lightweight sensors and advanced computer programming to get a bunch of flying robots to coordinate movement.
Like the robot monkeys in "Great Expectations?"
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Also see: Look Up in the Sky! It's a Bird, it's a Plane, it's an... INSECT SPY DRONE?
The Terminator Was NOT a Movie
You know the fir$t order of bu$ine$$ here by now, right?
"In the business of restoration; Dozens of cleanup firms in Massachusetts vie for customers after flooding" by Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff | March 27, 2010
STOUGHTON — They consider disaster relief work recession proof....
Yeah, great.
But most homeowners end up paying for flood messes out of pocket, even though many initially believe the government or insurance will pay the bill, Cisco Holland, a manager at Servpro, a flood cleanup company, said....
I'm telling you, it's the same everywhere in this country!
The AMERICAN CITIZEN who is a DECENT, HARD-WORKING, PLAY-by-the-RULES PERSON is getting ROYALLY SCREWED!
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Related: President thanks relief workers as area waits for waters to recede
Yeah, but that isn't why he came.
Of course, Glob always has us looking where the sun don't shine.
"After the rains, the reckoning; A host of side effects — some horrible, some happy — from a record dose of H2O" by Milton Valencia, Globe Staff | April 3, 2010
Over the next several days, weeks, and months, the storms are bound to have a host of measurable impacts that go way beyond that dreary statistic of 14-plus inches of rain, a record, that fell in March....
Conservationists warn that even when the sun arrives, hikers and walkers should be aware that walking on muddy trails causes greater than normal damage....
Then do not go there.
Municipalities that have been struggling financially will see new costs in repairs to roads and facilities and in overtime pay for emergency response workers....
Yeah, thanks for chipping in.
State and local officials will have to inspect dams that are already in dangerous condition....
Related: MSM Monitor Under a Cloud and Ready to Burst
A little more on that later.
The ocean was also hit. Environmental officials temporarily closed shell-fishing beds Tuesday, a requirement because of the amount of rain the area received and the threat of sending polluted runoff into the beds, creating a burden for a fragile fishing industry.
Shellfish beds were ordered to close earlier in March, but were reopened after testing found no contaminants.
So says the lying , couldn't care less about your health (in fact, they would like you sick) government.
“Generally, we might see one rain closure a year, but this is crazy, back to back,’’ said Skip Bennet of Island Creek Oysters in Duxbury. The closure could not have come at a worse time, he said: The full moon has created ideal tides for harvesting the shellfish....
I thought I heard something barking a few nights ago.
Officials are also monitoring the storm’s effect on wildlife, from fish to muskrats to beavers....
In some cases, fish have been left on roadways after flood water receded.Road kill cafe special?
Even beavers and muskrats have been displaced, because rivers have risen above the lodges they built up along streams.
Now, when THEIR HOUSES FLOOD, holy buckteeth!!
Expect more water in vernal pools, meaning more tadpoles and more frogs and more spring peepers. But that could mean more mosquitoes, too.
Great, with the marsh just over yonder, yaaaay! Already see the water gnats out in force.
David Henley, superintendent of the Middlesex Mosquito Control Project, said the storm could have flushed away mosquito larvae. But at the same time, larvae could thrive in the swelling woodland swamps and wetlands. It may take weeks to find out....
No, I can tell you right now. They will be swarming. Lived here all my life. I know.
Who you going to listen to, me or a lying, agenda-pushing paper that thinks your head is full of shaaaaving cream!
The
Sigh.
See: Boston Globe Strikes Out
Update: Yankees 6, Red Sox 4
Awwwwww.
But the rain had at one point aggravated plans for a full opening at the New England Country Club in Bellingham. Officials expect the course to open today.
I'll get to golf in a minute, too.
If anyone can see the good in all this, it’s a plumber. Kevin L. Cotter, business manager for the Plumbers & Gasfitters Local 12 union, said service plumbers have seen such a spike in business — all those basements — they are struggling to keep up.
Yeah, that's great, Glob, pfft!
“Everyone’s so busy, no one’s able to respond,’’ he said. “In some parts you have surging sewers; then you have ground water coming through foundations. It all depends on the water in the neighborhood.’’
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So what are they looking at around yonder?
"Hope after a deluge; Resilient residents focus on cleaning up and drying out" by David Abel, Globe Staff | April 3, 2010
EAST BRIDGEWATER — It was a familiar feeling from Cranston, R.I., to Amesbury, where hundreds of homeowners throughout the region breathed in the warm air as they took stock of the damage wrought by the record rains of the past month....
I couldn't resist the photograph for obvious reasons.
Residents checked out the damage to the Bridge Street bridge in Bridgewater yesterday. (George B. Rizer for The Boston Globe)
Yeah, stay away from those holes with the strollers, 'kay?
Wouldn't want those little people getting hurt!
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And it's getting better and better:
"As waters recede, business returning to normal in Mass." by Kathleen Burge, Globe Staff | April 4, 2010
On another dry, hot day, as temperatures hit 76 in Boston and a few degrees higher north and west of the city, work continued around the state to clean up damage from the record rains of the past month....
Flood warnings were decreasing as rivers began to shrink, said Peter Judge, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency....
In Massachusetts, the forecast shows a slight chance of rain tomorrow night and Thursday...
Yesterday, the sun and blue skies over Boston had people out in droves, although no records were broken....
Meanwhile, Rhode Island officials were also working to repair damage from the flooding. In Cranston yesterday, the city’s Fire Department was pumping out basements, including some with 4 feet of water....
See: Around New England: The Roads of Rhode Island
One of Boston’s Super Ducks amphibious vehicles, which usually gives tours around Boston, headed to Rhode Island to help National Grid utility workers get to substations and switching terminals in Providence. Thousands of Rhode Island residents still do not have power, and crews of utility workers need to reach equipment that is sometimes underwater....
And who knows when they will get it back.
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Of course the fault is ALL YOURS, citizen!
"Pavement is a culprit in flooding; Hard surfaces worsen runoff, contamination during heavy rain" by Beth Daley, Globe Staff | April 5, 2010
Do you blame Mother Nature for last week’s apocalyptic flooding?
Your own driveway might have contributed to the mess.
No. Mine is crap.
Probably should have redone it years ago, but.... I don't like smelly chemicals seeping into my ground water.
State and federal environmental officials say flooding in many places has been exacerbated by the roads, patios, parking lots, and, yes, driveways that define our urban and suburban landscapes.
Instead of rain seeping into soil around homes and malls to be stored in the earth, it pours off rooftops, sidewalks, and streets into storm drains, which quickly funnel the water to streams and rivers. That increases the likelihood of flooding from already swollen rivers — and of pollutants reaching waterways....
I sick of the Globe's environmental guilt trip.
I never profited from it, either, so why should I feel guilty?
“The collective way we live as a society creates acres and acres of impervious surfaces we didn’t have before,’’ said Maria Rose, Newton’s environmental engineer. “Larger homes, bigger box stores, and shopping centers — as well as tennis courts, pools, and patios, have all added to the problem.’’
Related: Wealthy Responsible For Global Warming
Yeah, you never hear anything about scaling back the castles; it's all CARBON TAX, CARBON TAX, CARBON TAX, commissions, commissions, commissions.
State and federal officials said they have no data on how much pavement has contributed to flooding, but....
Rain runoff also carries contaminants from the built-up landscape — dog feces, oil, bits of metal from cars, and lawn chemicals....
Yeah, the REAL DANGERS.
Also see: De Plane! De Plane!
Have a glass, why don't you?
"Sun warms hearts as storm cleanup slogs on" by Jeannie Nuss and Noah Bierman, Globe Correspondent | Globe Staff | April 5, 2010
Residents from Fall River to Quincy spent their Easter drying out basements and sorting through water-logged belongings instead of hunting for colored eggs.
Jacquelyn Travis from Quincy:
“It was Armageddon around here,’’ she said.
Seem to have a theme going, 'eh?
Summer-like temperatures yesterday soared into the 70s, with Boston hitting 77 degrees, breaking the previous record of 75 set in 1950, according to the National Weather Service in Taunton.
I'm getting tired of the implied agenda-pushing, because you know at what they are hinting.
Let's see if they report the cold snap coming this weekend with as much verve.
“I figure the weather’s nice, might as well take advantage,’’ she said. “The birds are chirping. What more could I ask for?’’
Yes, I like listening to them in the mornings.
Farther south in Rehoboth, Joyce Coleman’s granddaughters searched for Easter eggs and blew bubbles in her yard on Wheeler Street, a few hundred feet from where heavy rain washed out a bridge Wednesday morning. The gaping hole in the middle of the Wheeler Street bridge was the town’s worst battle wound....
EVERYTHING has to have WAR TERMINOLOGY ATTACHED TO IT in the newspaper! Gee whiz!!
HOW SAD!!!
Forecasters say the next few days should be mostly dry and unseasonably warm with temperatures reaching into the 70s today and tomorrow and into the 80s Wednesday.
Yes, that's right.
The normal high this time of year is 52 degrees, said Kim Buttrick, a meteorologist with the Weather Service.
I'm sorry, I just no longer believe government or newspapers after ClimateGate.
There may be a sprinkling of rain tonight and possibly up to an inch Friday, but new flooding is not expected, Buttrick said....
Please, no more!
At least that eases the pressure on a few dams:
"State sues owners of dams seen as unsafe; Names Pittsfield, Plympton sites" by John M. Guilfoil, Globe Staff | April 6, 2010
Attorney General Martha Coakley has filed suit against the private owners of two of the worst-maintained and most potentially dangerous dams in Massachusetts, asserting that they defied state orders and failed to make repairs necessary to protect local residents.
In the two lawsuits, the state alleges that owners in Pittsfield and Plympton defied state orders and failed to repair dams deemed unsafe and potentially deadly to residents.
Of course, the state is never in trouble for neglect and can do whatever the heck it wants.
J. Barrett Hollister, owner of the Bel Air Dam on the Housatonic River in Pittsfield, and Roger W. O’Neil Jr., owner of Dennett’s Pond Dam in Plympton, are named as defendants. Neither owner returned calls seeking comment yesterday. The two lawsuits mark the first time the state has taken such legal action against dam owners....
If the MSM and state motives were not so pure you would almost think they are scapegoating people.
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And that golf game?
NEW YORK — The big question is whether his tarnished image can work anything close to its old magic for them and the golf industry, which has been going through tough times of its own because of the weak economy....
Like I really care about... arrrrgh!
I'm glad it's nice outside because I'm going back out.
The industry has seen an unprecedented slump because of the weak economy and unseasonably wet weather, which also depresses playing, said Tom Stine, cofounder of Golf Datatech LLC, a market research firm....
I'm depressed reading this slop.
Aww, golf can't get its swing back? Pfft!
You know what that guy is, right, readers?
Let me give you a bit of a clue:
"A gnawing problem; In the race to rout rats and calm nerves in the North End, he’s the big cheese" by Meghan E. Irons, Globe Staff | March 31, 2010
Pedro Torres, a burly 53-year-old with a bushy mustache, is the city’s latest defense against the furry creatures terrorizing the North End.
Apocalypse, Armageddon, Terrorists.
Think the jewspaper is trying to subliminally drive your mind in a certain direction?
After helping to cut the rat infestation in the Fenway and Back Bay, the 30-year veteran has been called to work his magic in the North End and curb the widespread fear the rats are evoking....
Related: From Bats to Rats and Everything In Between in Boston
John Meaney, who directs the city’s Environmental Services, insists the North End’s rat problem is no worse than infestations in Dorchester, South Boston, or Allston-Brighton.
Back there again, though, huh?
Fueled by more than 1,500 resident complaints last year, city health inspectors have been setting baits in catch basins and along sewer lines, educating residents on cutting off the rodents’ food supply, and writing up violators of the city’s sanitation codes — people who leave out trash for days, for example. Violators could face fines of $300 a day....
Always with the fines and taxes for their failures!
Eradicating rats is indeed an uphill battle in the North End, where the residential properties and businesses stand shoulder to shoulder and tensions run high over who is most to blame for the problem.
You dirty rat!
“We do have an epidemic in the North End,’’ said Maryann Valares, a lifelong North Ender and sales clerk at Mike’s Pastry. “But I don’t know what can be done about it. It’s part of the environment. It’s like bears in the woods.’’
Do bears crap in the woods?
Residents who have formed a neighborhood watch of sorts for rats have had little luck in quashing the problem. The city recently abandoned a program for morning-only trash pickups, and an effort to get business owners to spend 10 minutes a day cleaning up drew few participants.
Rats thrive in the North End’s aging sewer lines. Likened to sex addicts, they have a litter every few months and can have up to 12 per year.
They been watching porn?
Quiet by day, the rats claw their way through flower beds or cracks in pavements and walls to feast on trash into the night. Sightings have varied from a bunch bounding up Fulton Street to a few in front of the Old North Church on Salem Street....
I'm not wanting to see a hint of one no matter where I am.
You can have your city, Boston; I'll keep the country town I call home.
--more--"
Also see:
Do Not Eat at the Boston Globe
Rats Deserting a Sinking Ship
Follow 'em.
