Old songs are the best. This is one of my favorites.
I love when I can find a filmed performance by the actual artist, though the picture, and sometimes the sound, is of lesser quality. There are better audio versions of this song, if you would rather just listen.
What’s been on your mind? Got something you’d like to share? A topic to discuss? It’s Tuesday Night Open Thread.
Who wants to start?
NASA Releases New Image of Massive Greenland Iceberg
August 13, 2010
Antarctic glacier calves iceberg one-fourth size of Rhode Island
NASA / July 17, 2013
Southampton researcher helps to track Manhattan-sized iceberg to prevent shipping disruption
November 14, 2013
Iceberg the size of Manhattan could threaten shipping
November 14, 2013
Yikes!
… Any follow-up from the doomsayer media?
The Science of Soap – Here’s How it Kills the Coronavirus
Pall Thordarson/ The Guardian / 3/12/20Health authorities have been giving us two messages: once you have the virus there are no drugs that can kill it or help you get rid of it. But also, wash your hands to stop the virus spreading. This seems odd. You can’t, even for a million dollars, get a drug for the coronavirus – but your grandmother’s bar of soap kills the virus.
So why does soap work so well on the Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus and indeed most viruses? The short story: because the virus is a self-assembled nanoparticle in which the weakest link is the lipid (fatty) bilayer. Soap dissolves the fat membrane and the virus falls apart like a house of cards and dies – or rather, we should say it becomes inactive as viruses aren’t really alive.
The similarities between a virus and a hippie commune are striking.
And it turns out that most people touch their face once every two to five minutes.
Nature, the Nelson of the physical world, sits on our chest saying “Stop touching yourself! Stop touching yourself!”
Washing the virus off with water alone might work. But water is not good at competing with the strong, glue-like interactions between the skin and the virus. Water isn’t enough.
Soapy water is totally different. Soap contains fat-like substances known as amphiphiles, some of which are structurally very similar to the lipids in the virus membrane. The soap molecules “compete” with the lipids in the virus membrane. This is more or less how soap also removes normal dirt from the skin.
The soap not only loosens the “glue” between the virus and the skin but also the Velcro-like interactions that hold the proteins, lipids and RNA in the virus together.
Lather: the best medicine.
Straight Line of the Day: How can we tell if polar bears are Irish?
Ancestry of Polar Bears Traced to Ireland
Phys.org / July 7, 2011 / Pennsylvania State UniversityAn international team of scientists has discovered that the female ancestor of all living polar bears was a brown bear that lived in the vicinity of present-day Britain and Ireland just prior to the peak of the last ice age — 20,000 to 50,000 years ago.
…
Occasionally, the two species interbreed and produce hybrid bears.
…
“Whenever they come into contact, there seems to be little barrier to their mating.”
“Ah, the old sod.”
Went grocery shopping last night. Went down my shopping list and saw that paper towels were on the list. Toilet paper, too.
I have a paper towel rack — one — in the kitchen. And, I keep one or two paper towel rolls in the cabinet above the stove. When the cabinet is empty, I buy another two-pack. Been that way for years.
Similar with the TP. Four rolls. When I’m down to two, I get another four-pack. Been that way for years.
Now, the horde of idiots that are hoarding paper products have already ransacked the grocery stores. here There were single rolls of store brand paper towels, and I got two, like always.
But no TP.
There will be no follow-up post about that last point. You’re welcome.
