Canadian Geese – Lake Dardanelle State Park, Arkansas, April 16, 2007

1000 words #8

Tonight’s dire weather related story on the evening news was on the fires in the west.  Brian Williams on NBC made it sound like this year’s fires are worse than normal.

However, like so many things recently, it ain’t quite as bad as it seems.  In fact, the acreage burned this year, so far, is less than 1/3 of the year-to-date average over the last 10 years.

Yes, it’s tragic for those affected, directly and indirectly, by the fires.  However, like so many other stories, it seems that subtle exaggeration is used to make the story more interesting and scary — cuz when you tell interesting and scary stories, more people are gonna watch, more people will see the ads, and the ratings will… 

In 2007, we delayed traveling to western Wyoming and Montana because of the fire situation.  This fire year is nothing compared to 2007… or 2008, 2009, 2010, or, the worst in the last 10 years, 2011.

Current national wildland fire information and forecasts are available online in places like the website of the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC).

By the year-to-date statistics, 2013 is, so far, a below normal year in both the number of fires and the acreage burned. In fact, it’s the lowest year in the 10 year record:

Current Fire Season Outlook

In its first 2013 fire outlook that extends through the summer months, the National Interagency Fire Center’s (NIFC) Predictive Services unit is forecasting above normal potential for significant fire activity in the West Coast states, the Southwest, and portions of Idaho and Montana. The potential in most of the rest of the country is expected to be normal or, in the case of much of the South, below normal.

In our yard, above the Arkansas River Valley, Arkansas, March 24, 2007

1000 words #7

Common Grackle – Fair Park, Dallas, Texas, March 18, 2007

1000 words #6

I’ve had a  Twitter account for a long time now, but only just recently started using it.  I only follow a few select people – and I have no desire to get into tweeting.  I follow these individuals for the information and links that they share, for the most part, not their tweet messages.  This one, though, resonated.  I thought I’d share it in a motivational poster kind of format.

Image credit: Some rights reserved by VinothChandar

Five unidentified prisoners of war in Confederate uniforms in front of their barracks at Camp Douglas Prison, Chicago, Illinois.

photograph : quarter-plate tintype, hand-colored ; 11.9 x 9.4 cm (case)

Donated by Tom Liljenquist; 2011

Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs; Ambrotype/Tintype photograph filing series; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Record page for image is here.

Cross posted from my Civil War Blog, Daily Observations from The Civil War.

__________

Note – This image has been digitally adjusted for one or more of the following:

• fade correction,
• color, contrast, and/or saturation enhancement
• selected spot removal.

Beggars, Alexandria, Egypt – Taken some time in 1900
Lantern slide; T. H. McAllister, Manufacturing Optician. 49 Nassau Street, New York.
Brooklyn Museum (image on flickr)

Aborigine’s house, Wilcannia, NSW, circa 1936 –  photographer Reverend Edward (“Ted”) Alexander Roberts
From the collection of the State Library  of New South Wales (image on flickr)

Hand colored lantern slide – Erwin Hinckley Barbour, J.L. Wortman, and James William Gidley on a “paleontological expedition for the Division of Vertebrate Mammals.” (From lantern slides found in the Division of Vertebrate Paleontology Records.)  Smithsonian Institution (image on flickr)

The references for this image give a date range of  1900-1935. Gidley died in 1831 at the age of 55.  None of these men look that old.  Barbour was ten years older than Gidley.  In 1908, Wortman went to Brownsville, Texas, opened a drug store, and spent the rest of his life as a pharmacist.  My guess is that this image is from some time in the late 19th century.

Photos have no known copyright restrictions.

[continue reading…]

A supercell near Booker, Texas from Mike Olbinski on Vimeo.