In May 2019, the gravitational wave observatories LIGO and Virgo discovered the fusion of two black holes. One had a mass of 85 suns while the other had 66 solar masses. The event was named GW190521 and was the largest merger seen to date. It created a black hole with 142 solar masses, making it the first gravitational wave observation of a medium-mass black hole. However, the event also raised several questions.
One of the greatest puzzles concerns the masses of the two original black holes. According to star models, black holes created by the collapse of a large star cannot be larger than about 65 solar masses. While the smaller of the two is just below that limit, the larger is definitely not. How did the black hole with 85 solar masses form?
One idea is that it is the result of smaller mergers. If there is a tight system of 4 to 6 black holes, they may have merged into a single large black hole over time. However, this cluster would also have to orbit the black hole with 66 solar masses to create the GW190521 fusion. There is evidence to suggest that blackhole clusters may exist, but whether they can merge quickly enough to explain GW190521 is not clear. Recently a team suggested a different solution. They suggest that the GW190521 was not the merger of two black holes, but a merger of two proca stars.
The observed fusion event GW190521. Photo credit: R. Abbott et al. (LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration)
A proca star, or boson star as it is sometimes called, is a hypothetical object that corresponds to a white dwarf or neutron star. The building blocks of matter come in two general forms: fermions like electrons and quarks and bosons like gluons and Higgs. Fermions resist the same quantum state. When gravity tries to compress fermions, they push back through what is known as degeneracy pressure. This pressure prevents white dwarfs and neutron stars from collapsing under their weight.
Bosons have no problem with taking the same quantum state. When you super cool bosons, they can form a single quantum object known as a Bose Einsten condensate. Because of this, one might think that gravity would have no problem collapsing a mass of bosons into a black hole. However, it turns out that extremely dense bosons behave in unexpected ways in a strong gravitational field. The physics is pretty complicated, but the end result is that a boson star would reach a gravitational distance similar to that of white dwarfs and neutron stars. Hypothetically, a boson star like white dwarfs and neutron stars could be gravitationally stable. Even more. The degeneracy pressure is limited if white dwarfs cannot be larger than 1.4 solar masses and neutron stars can be larger than 2 – 3 solar masses. Under the right conditions, a boson star could easily have a mass of 85 suns or more.
A boson star as it would appear to the EHT. Photo credit: Olivares et al
Known boson matter failed to become a proca star, but certain dark matter theories suggest new types of bosons. When dark matter is made up of low-mass bosons, they can form into objects that are similar in size and mass to black holes. Since they would have strong magnetic fields (as opposed to black holes) we could possibly distinguish them from black holes by the way light lenses are around them. Or, as this latest work suggests, we may be able to identify them by their gravitational waves.
When the team looked at the data from the GW190521 event, it found that this was compatible with both a black hole merger and a proca star merger. The data agreed equally well with both models. Since the properties of a Proca star depend on the mass of the bosons that make up it, they used the GW190521 data to measure boson mass. The answer was extremely small. About one trillionth of the estimated neutrino masses.
None of this proves that Proca stars exist. All of the gravitational wave events that we have observed are perfectly explained by black hole fusions. However, the study gives us interesting ideas. A new bright boson particle could help us explain dark matter, and these dark matter particles could form into boson stars. It’s a bizarre idea, but we can’t rule it out just yet.
Reference: Juan Calderon Bustillo et al. “GW190521 as an amalgamation of proca stars: A potential new vector boson of 8.7 × 10? 13 eV.” Physical Review Letters 126.8 (2021): 081101.
Reference: Brito, Richard et al. “Proca Stars: Gravitation of Bose-Einstein Condensates from Solid Spin-1 Particles.” Physics Letters B 752 (2016): 291- 295.
Reference: Olivares, Hector, et al. “How to distinguish an accreting boson star from a black hole.” Royal Astronomical Society monthly bulletin 497.1 (2020): 521-535.
You never know what kind of reaction you will get on Twitter when it comes to Lil Uzi Vert and JT. However, yesterday things changed for the better between them. The way to the hearts of many people is through food, and JT seems to fall into that category. She tweeted, “I love crab legs,” and Uzi replied, “You’re on the way.” JT responded with a couple of laughing emojis and replied, “You raised her. Thank you.”
The roommates were all here to get Uzi food for JT. Supa Cent stepped into the shadow room and commented: “I love cowboy ribeyes, medium-sized, topped with crab meat and one side of Brussels sprouts and asparagus … * waiting. * “A few hours later, Uzi made another tweet about JT. He tweeted, “JT is the one.” The fans of the two like to see that, but unfortunately not everyone was here for them because of their exclamation. His ex-Brittany Boyd reportedly shared a message between her and Uzi that she shared on her Instagram story, which quickly hit Twitter.
The text messages were pretty one-sided, but they were very long and it seemed like she didn’t get over the situation she was having with him. JT wasn’t here for the news and was quick to clap again on Twitter. She tweeted, “Well, I tried to tell you a year ago that he lied! You called me mad Now you want to post a nick-a-nick. You really come out of character! Do not be silent, Frau Friede. I know how it moves. I tried to say. “She continued to tweet the text message and replied,” He’s asking me worse, but like in real life. He says the same thing about her. I’m not delusional anymore, I bet! “
Now the message remains in Brittany’s IG history, but so far it has not responded to JT. Meanwhile, Uzi continues to express his love for this “Dark Queen” on Twitter. Phew roommates, we’ll keep you updated as the saga between JT and Lil Uzi Vert continues!
Well, we can finally confirm where JJ Watt will play next season as the report comes from a fairly trustworthy source: JJ Watt.
The free agent defender brought news of his own signature on Monday and announced on Twitter that he would join the Cardinals. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Watt and the Cardinals have entered into a $ 31 million two-year deal with a $ 23 million guarantee.
MORE: What will Washington do at QB when Alex Smith is reportedly out?
The 31-year-old will reunite with old Texan teammate DeAndre Hopkins, who did his best to recruit Watt on Instagram. He recently posted a photo of the two hugging in the field with the caption, “Let’s finish what we started.”
With his announcement, Watt ended a wild period of speculation about where he would end up. There have been multiple reports of which teams he would be considering, and fans continuously dissected his social media posts in hopes of finding small clues as to his intentions. But Watt didn’t leave much room for interpretation with that last tweet – he’s on his way to Arizona now.
Watt was released by the Texans last month after running a 10 season run in Houston. After Watt was selected by the Texans with No. 11 in the 2011 NFL Draft, he quickly became one of the best players in the league. He won three Defensive Player of the Year awards and received five Pro Bowl nods.
In 16 games last season Watt had a total of 52 tackles, 14 tackles for a loss, five sacks, two forced fumbling and an interception, which he returned for a touchdown.
Guest “debunking the debunkers” by David Middleton
Setting the Stage
Why was Texas, ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) in particular, so unprepared for the onslaught of frigid weather? This was NOAA’s February temperature outlook map, released on January 31, 2021:
“A reminder: the climate outlook maps are not a forecast for the absolute temperature or precipitation amounts in February. Instead, they are the probability (percent chance) that February temperatures or precipitation will be in the upper, middle, or lower third of the climatological record (1981-2010) for February (note: the climatological record will shift to 1991-2020 later this year).” NOAA
20 days later, this was NOAA’s map of the number of hours below freezing for the week of Feb. 12-19, 2021:
In less than a week, we went from an outlook for about normal February temperatures to the forecast of an ice storm and then “the worst winter weather conditions seen locally in decades (if not on record)”… Radical would be an understatement.
The first hint I had of the approach of Winter Storm Younger Dryas was on Monday, February 8. Not being hurricane season, I wasn’t paying too close attention to the weather. The forecast on Monday was for possible freezing rain overnight on Wednesday… But the scary bit was a forecast of single digit low temperatures early in the week. It simply doesn’t get that cold in the DFW area. And as the days went by, the forecast kept getting worse.
The ice storm hit Wednesday night and caused this on Thurday…
And it just kept getting colder. By Sunday, February 14, it was snowing and temperatures were 41 °F below normal…
DFW Temperatures Jan. 26 to Feb. 25, 2021
This Arctic blast was essentially unprecedented…
Oklahoma City set a record for its longest straight period of temperatures at or below 20 degrees: 210 hours between Feb. 9 and 17 beat its previous record in 1983. The temperature dipped to minus-14 degrees on Feb. 16, the city’s lowest since 1899.
Dallas experienced its second-longest streak of temperatures at or below freezing and at or below 20 degrees, and reached its third-coldest temperature on record: minus-2 degrees.
Houston, which was placed under its first wind chill warning, observed a wind chill of 1 degree, its lowest since at least 1990, according to meteorologist Alex Lamers. Its high temperature of 25 degrees was its fourth coldest on record.
Kansas City set a record for the longest stretch with temperatures at or below 15 degrees, at 10 days.
Washington Post
February 16 was actually tied for the second lowest DFW temperature on record.
Coldest temp in over 70 years and the 2nd coldest temp ever recorded in the D-FW area On Feb. 16 the temperature dropped to -2°.
This ties the 2nd coldest temp ever recorded.
On Jan. 31, 1949 the temperature also dropped to -2°.
The only time it has been colder was -8° back on February 12, 1899.
3 days in a row of record lows Feb. 14, 15, and 16 all observed record low temps.
Feb. 14 the low was 9°, which shattered the old record of 15° set in 1936.
Feb. 15 the low was 4°, which shattered the old record of 15° set in 1909.
Feb. 16 the low was -2°, which shattered the old record of 12° set in 1903.
3 days of record cold high temperatures From Feb. 14 to 16, all three days observed record cold high temperatures.
This means the afternoon was the coldest on that date that is ever been observed.
Feb. 14 the high was 22°. This breaks the old record of 27° set in 1951.
Feb. 15 the high was 14°, which shattered the old record of 31° set in 1909.
Feb. 16 the high was 18°, which breaks the old record of 21° set in 1903.
WFAA
It also pretty well knocked out most of Texas wind power production… because Texas doesn’t winterize their wind turbines… Right?
Debunking the debunkers
Fact Check: Do Wind Turbines Really Fail in Cold Weather? It’s time to debunk the rumors.
By Brad Bergan
Feb 17, 2021
Crisis breeds confusion and the recent string of record-low temperatures amid this week’s cold and frosty weather conditions in Texas are no exception. But when the state’s power grid fell short of energy demands, misinformation spread like wildfire — arguing that frozen wind turbines are to blame for the blackout.
However, wind turbine installations don’t go up without substantial investment — which means planning for the kind of volatile weather much of the world is already seeing for the first time. The question is raised, then: Can wind turbines really fail in cold weather?
Wind turbines in cold environments typically ‘winterized’ Misinformation sparked when an image showing an Alpine helicopter de-icing wind turbines covered in frost or ice surfaced on social media. The implication was that frozen wind turbines were the cause of Texas’ series of power outages.
[…]
Interesting Engineering
Fact Check: “image showing an Alpine helicopter de-icing wind turbines covered in frost or ice” is a “meme“… Debunking a meme is like debunking The Onion or The Babylon Bee. The claim that “the implication was that frozen wind turbines were the cause of Texas’ series of power outages” is rated as moronic.
The interesting engineer went on to state that helicopter-assisted wind turbines are better for the climate than coal-fired power plants.
In fact, carbon emissions generated from de-icing a turbine — like in the Alpine Helicopter video and image — saves two days’ worth of emissions, relative to coal power.
Interesting Engineering
This may be true… But it’s not likely to be of much comfort to the 4.5 million Texans who lost power during the record-shattering cold stretch.
While I have no doubt that wind turbines are winterized in very cold places where fossil fuels and nuclear power have been effectively outlawed, Texas isn’t one of those sort of places. So… If Texas (ERCOT) wind turbines failed because they weren’t properly winterized, then the other grids hammered by Winter Storm Younger Dryas must have fared better… Right?
The Southwest Power Pool (SWPP) and Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) extend from Texas to the Canadian border.
Their wind power output did what ERCOT’s did… It failed.
Electricity generation from wind for ERCOT, SWPP and MISO
Here’s a funny, maybe coincidental, correlation:
ERCOT wind power generation vs departure from normal DFW temperature from Jan. 26, 2021 to Feb. 25, 2021
Note that the correlation is just as good when temperatures are above freezing. Why use DFW temperatures?
I live in Dallas and I remember 1983 and 2011.
The Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area was the first major metropolitan area in the ERCOT grid to be hammered.
The North Central Texas region had the highest electricity demand in the ERCOT grid.
Why were ERCOT and Texas hit so hard?
Why weren’t power outages nearly as bad in the SWPP and MISO grids? It might just have something to do with coal.
SWPP
MISO
ERCOT
Electricity generation from coal for ERCOT, SWPP and MISO
On the other hand, the fuel source receiving most of the blame from the lamestream media, outperformed the neighboring grids by a wide margin.
Electricity generation from natural gas for ERCOT, SWPP and MISO
The “failure” was the drop-off from 900,000 MWh/d on February 14 to 700,000 MWh/d on February 16. At this time, the explanations for this are anecdotal. Hopefully, the multitude of investigations will produce at least one dispassionate explanation for what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening again.
Let’s Make Orwell Fiction Again!
[W]hile frozen wind turbines have contributed to the state’s energy crisis, that type of energy has only slightly underperformed against published expectations for winter output.
NBC News
Wind typically accounts for 20-25% of ERCOT’s winter generation. Winter, particularly February, is actually a good wind season. According to the EIA, in February 2019 wind achieved a 41% capacity factor in Texas. ERCOT data indicate a 31% capacity factor in February 2019. Up until February 8, wind was exceeding expectations… Then the bottom dropped out for 10 days.
ERCOT wind capacity factor and DFW temperatures.
Wind’s failure occurred a full week before the power outages… When 25% of your team doesn’t show up for the game, the phrase “only slightly underperformed” is, at the very least, Orwellian.
Natural gas, the state’s dominant energy source, has provided drastically less energy than expected, according to experts and industry data.
NBC News
This is akin to saying that the Avengers performed drastically less well than expectations against Thanos in Infinity War.
Natural gas capacity factor and DFW temperatures.
About 60% of Texas natural gas generation consists of combined cycle (CC) power plants, which can exceed 80% capacity factors. Gas turbines and other combustion generators can ramp up and down quickly, but have low capacity factors. From Feb. 7-12, natural gas ramped up 10-20% to >60% and was operating like it normally does in August.
Technology
Time adjusted capacity (MW)
%
Ann
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Capacity Factors
Natural Gas – CC
41,095.7
60%
56.4
52.7
46.8
44.6
41.4
54.2
65.4
71.6
75.9
69.3
51.1
49.2
53.4
Natural Gas – GT
9,689.5
14%
33.8
31.9
29.2
28.6
28.0
32.7
35.9
40.5
42.9
38.7
32.8
31.3
33.0
Natural Gas – IC
908.5
1%
19.7
15.5
16.1
17.2
16.3
19.6
20.3
25.1
29.0
26.5
18.7
18.5
13.9
Natural Gas – ST
17,096.7
25%
14.8
6.8
6.0
8.8
8.4
13.2
18.3
24.6
34.8
24.4
15.4
8.5
7.8
EIA Texas Electricity Profile 2019
While natural gas generation should have been able to hold at a 60% capacity factor from Feb. 14-18, it clearly outperformed what is normally expected for this time of year.
Every part of the ERCOT system failed to some degree from Feb. 15-17.
ERCOT winter capacity and capacity factor by fuel type (EIA Hourly Grid Monitor and S&P Global Market Intelligence).
The narrative has been that conservatives have unfairly blamed the power failure on wind power in order to prop up fossil fuels. The narrative is a straw man.
No, Wind Farms Aren’t the Main Cause of the Texas Blackouts The state’s widespread electricity failure was largely caused by freezing natural gas pipelines. That didn’t stop advocates for fossil fuels from trying to shift blame.
By Dionne Searcey Feb. 17, 2021 As his state was racked by an electricity crisis that left millions of people without heat in frigid temperatures, the governor of Texas took to television to start placing blame.
His main target was renewable energy, suggesting that the systemwide collapse was caused by the failure of wind and solar power.
“It just shows that fossil fuel is necessary for the state of Texas as well as other states to make sure we will be able to heat our homes in the winter times and cool our homes in the summer times,” said Gov. Greg Abbott, speaking on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News. Other conservative talk-show hosts had already picked up the theme.
[…]
New York Times
Nothing in Gov. Abbott’s statement is false or misleading. While there were failures across the system, wind and solar failed almost totally a week before natural gas, coal and nuclear experienced their problems. On the coldest day since 1899, fossil fuels accounted for 83% of ERCOT’s electricity generation. Fossil fuels + nuclear accounted for 92%.
Orwellian efforts to exonerate wind & solar and place the blame on natural gas, coal and nuclear power are simply… Orwellian. Claiming that this is a “wake up call” for the United States to further degrade our energy infrastructure, because climate change is Orwellian on LSD and steroids…
White House climate czar to AP: Texas storm ‘a wake-up call’ The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The deadly winter storm that caused widespread power outages in Texas and other states is a “wake-up call” for the United States to build energy systems and other infrastructure that are more reliable and resilient in the face of extreme-weather events linked to climate change, President Joe Biden’s national climate adviser says.
[…]
“We’re going to push the clean energy, we’re going to push for better cars, but it’s also going to be about capturing the will of the public to actually face the challenges we’re facing today and meet them in a way that’s going to be beneficial to them,″ she said.
For example, Biden’s plans to provide 500,000 charging stations for electric cars and invest in battery technology are intended to make it easier for the public to participate in a clean-energy economy. “If we can lower that cost, and everybody knows they can get where they need to go when they need to get there” in an electric car, “we’ll get the kind of demand on the auto-sector side that we need,″ she said.
Similarly, if utilities are given the right incentives, they can meet Biden’s goal to have net-zero carbon emissions by 2035, McCarthy said. The head of a lobbying group for electric utilities said earlier this month that the 2035 date would be “an incredibly difficult situation to handle” for most U.S. providers.
[…]
Associated Press
Clearly, if the grid was devoid of natural gas & coal generation, more wind & solar generation, ERCOT was connected to SWPP & MISO (it already is connected to SWPP and Mexico) and we had 500,000 more EV charging stations… What? Winter Storm Younger Dryas wouldn’t have happened? The power failures wouldn’t have been so bad?
It’s time to make Orwell fiction again… MOFA!
Who, what, when, where and why?
Whatever happened to the 5 W’s? At this point we only know what, when and where. Yet, virtually all of the lamestream media are distorting the what and reporting conclusions about who and why based on anecdotal information and “expert” opinions.
We won’t know the “why” until we know exactly what failed:
Wind
Ice on blades?
Frozen turbines?
Poor wind conditions?
Poor cold weather performance in general?
Natural gas
Frozen wellheads and damaged separators?
Shut in production to avoid frozen wellheads and damaged separators?
Frozen pipeline control valves and/or hydrate plugging?
Low line pressure due to excess demand for heating and electricity?
Compressors knocked offline by power outages?
Frozen pipes in power plant cooling systems?
Power plants offline for maintenance in low demand season?
Coal
Frozen pipes in power plant cooling systems?
Frozen boilers?
Ice covered coal stacks?
Emissions restrictions?
Power plants offline for maintenance in low demand season?
We won’t know the “who” until we know the “why”.
Even worse, the politicians have already claimed to know what the solutions are. And in almost every case, the media and politicians are focusing on what they think should have been done differently over the past 20-50 years, rather than on what could have been done differently over the past 20-30 days, particularly what could have been done differently from February 5-14, 2021.
A worker who distributes vaccination cards as members of the public will be vaccinated at a drive-through vaccine center in Hyde near Manchester, UK on Friday January 8, 2021.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
UK health officials are keen to track down one in six people infected with a contagious variant of the coronavirus that was originally identified in Brazil.
Up to six cases of the new strain – named P.1 and classified as a “variant of concern” by global health experts – have been identified in the UK, three in Scotland and three in England.
What worries officials, however, is that one of the three cases found in England has not been traced. The government issued a statement on Sunday noting that two of the cases in England came from a South Gloucestershire household and had traveled to Brazil in the past.
The cases in South Gloucestershire, southeast England, were quickly followed up by a team from Public Health England and their contacts were identified and retested, the government said. All passengers on the same flight – Swiss Air flight LX318 from Sao Paulo via Zurich to London Heathrow on February 10 – were also followed by officials.
As a precautionary measure, health officials are stepping up testing of asymptomatic cases in the South Gloucestershire area and increasing sequencing of positive samples from the area.
The mysterious case
However, further research is ongoing into a separate third case of the variant identified in England. The health authorities are calling on anyone who did not receive the result of a Covid test carried out on February 12 or 13 to report.
“The person did not fill out their test registration card, so no follow-up details are available,” the government stated.
“We therefore ask anyone who took a test on February 12th or 13th and has not yet received the result or has an incomplete test registration card to call 119 in England or 0300 303 2713 in Scotland for assistance as soon as possible receive.”
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock will hold a meeting later Monday to inform UK lawmakers of all parties of the variant, the BBC reported.
Why are officials concerned?
Health officials are concerned because the variant first identified in Brazil is believed to be a more contagious strain of the coronavirus and could cause more severe infections. There are also concerns that it could make coronavirus vaccines less effective. However, this is not confirmed and research is being carried out to see if it is.
While scientists are doing this research, vaccine manufacturers are developing booster vaccinations for target variants.
The UK is already grappling with the spread of a far more contagious variant, which was responsible for an increase in cases over the winter. The strain has since become dominant in the country and has spread worldwide.
The latest weekly report from the World Health Organization said 101 countries have now reported cases of the variant first identified in the UK.
Regarding the strain found in Brazil, it said 29 countries have reported cases so far. This P.1 variant was first identified in four travelers from Brazil to Japan in January during a routine screening at Haneda Airport outside Tokyo.
The strain has been classified as “Concerning” because it has some crucial mutations with the variant first identified in South Africa. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the P.1 variant has a total of 17 unique mutations and was first detected in the US at the end of January.
regulate
When the first cases of this variant were discovered in the UK, people traveling from abroad had to self-isolate at home for 10 days.
However, that changed on February 15th and now travelers to the UK must be quarantined in hotels for 10 days at their own expense. In mid-January, Great Britain banned travelers from various South American countries from entering the country unless they had a right of residence.
The move was an attempt to prevent the spread of infectious variants and potentially undermine the previously successful introduction of the coronavirus vaccine in the country. The UK reached another milestone on Sunday after vaccinating 20 million people with a first dose of a Covid vaccine.
Dr. Susan Hopkins, PHE’s Strategic Response Director for Covid-19 and NHS Test and Trace Medical Advisor, said the new cases in the UK were identified thanks to the country’s advanced sequencing capabilities, “which means we are finding more variants and mutations than many other countries.” and are therefore able to act quickly. “
“The most important thing is that whatever the variant, Covid-19 spreads the same way. That means the measures taken to contain the spread won’t change,” she said, advocating good personal hygiene and leaving only the house for essential reasons.
Scotland’s Falls
The three cases identified in Scotland were found in people returning to Aberdeen from Brazil via Paris and London. These cases are not related to the three cases in England.
As required at the time, the individuals entered self-isolation upon their return to Scotland and subsequently tested positive for coronavirus. The people then self-isolate for the required 10-day period, the Scottish Government said in a statement.
Due to possible concerns about this variant, other passengers on the flight from London to Aberdeen were contacted, the Scottish government found.
Jodie Foster won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in the legal drama “The Mauretanian,” in which she plays the lawyer for a man imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay. Now it’s not uncommon for Foster to win an award – she’s an actress and director with an incredible career that has spanned decades. She starred in “Taxi Driver”, “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Contact” and has directed episodes of “Black Mirror” and “House of Cards”. Your trophy case is pretty full.
No, what’s unusual is that she thanked Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers during her acceptance speech.
JODIE FOSTER THANKS ONLY AARON RODGERS
– Mina Kimes (@minakimes) March 1, 2021
Jodie Foster wins the award for best supporting actress in a motion picture at the #GoldenGlobes. pic.twitter.com/UZlX7q7lu3
– Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) March 1, 2021
After further checking, there are at least two connections here. One, Shailene Woodley, who is engaged to Rodgers, is one of Foster’s co-stars. Second, Jodie Foster is a huge Packers fan – and Rodgers thanked her during his NFL MVP acceptance speech earlier this month.
Aaron Rodgers’ MVP acceptance speech (via @NFL) and yes, he uttered the words “engaged” and “engaged”.
pic.twitter.com/seRHmnPCr8
– Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) February 7, 2021
After her win on Sunday night, Foster made it clear she wasn’t introducing Woodley and Rodgers, but wasn’t shy about being a Packers fan.
“I’ve never met Aaron Rodgers, but it’s possible that I would love to talk about how much I love the Green Bay Packers,” Foster said in virtual backstage comment. “Sometimes I can talk a little too much about it, so Shailene was very aware of my enthusiasm for the team.”
Foster was shy when he previously responded to Rodgers’ thank you for a recent episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” She told Kimmel she would thank Rodgers the next time she got a chance. Well, she had a chance and kept her promise.
The Associated Press coverage was used in this story.
Extreme winter weather hit Texas hard this February. A mass of air from the Arctic extended deep into the United States from Canada, with disastrous consequences for the normally warm state. Along with snow and abnormally low temperatures, the state’s capacity to generate electricity has been severely reduced by weather-related equipment failures. Images hosted by NASA’s Earth Observatory show the effect of controlled, rolling power outages in the greater Houston area.
One image taken on February 7th shows Houston facing the arctic weather system, and another image, taken on February 16, shows large swaths of the city in the dark. The Earth Observatory conveniently superimposed the two images with a vertical slider that users can slide back and forth to highlight the effects of the power outages (or in low light).
The left picture shows Houston on the 7th before arctic weather. The right picture shows the effects of power outages on September 16. Take a look at the interactive comparison of NASA’s Earth Observatory in higher resolution. Credit NASA Earth Observatory
Each of these images is made up of night light data overlaid with Landsat images to make the city structure visible under the lights. The night light data comes from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite or VIIRS. This instrumentation suite is aboard the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) spacecraft.
VIIRS data is also used in NASA’s Black Marble, a program that studies the earth at night. Night light data is collected and processed by Black Marble in a variety of situations and for different events, such as the devastating impact of Hurricane Dorian 2019 on the Bahamas.
2016 Black Marble Image of the Earth at Night Photo Credit: NASA / Black Marble
Along with images of rolling blackouts in Texas in February 2021, the Earth Observatory released a global temperature map for February 15, focusing on North America, the heart of the continent. Dallas recorded a cooling temperature of only -16 ° C (4 ° F), which is lower than most of the high temperatures the Curiosity rover measured at Gale Crater on Mars!
Data from the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model was used to create this map of North America showing the extreme arctic weather on February 15, 2021. Credit NASA / GEOS
For those fascinated by satellite imagery of the Earth, it is worth digging deeper into what the Earth Observatory is up to. For example, users can explore this extraordinary global map. It features spectacular imagery and related stories for points around the world. Thousands of interactive points allow you to spend hours exploring incredibly detailed satellite imagery. If you have a habit of falling into Wikipedia rabbit holes, it will surely cause a similar itch.
The Suomi nuclear power plant satellite, which contains several instruments for mapping the earth, including VIIRS. Photo credit: NASA
The juxtaposed images of Houston’s power outages underscore the importance of scientific instruments in orbit facing home. When some people think about the space program, interplanetary missions like Mars Perseverance or cosmic observers like the Hubble Space Telescope often get most of their attention. While Perseverance and Hubble are undoubtedly remarkable and valuable programs, we often overlook the importance of earth-oriented missions. When was the last time you saw a big headline about the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership, let alone VIIRS? Programs like this deserve support and praise. There is something compelling to see such breathtaking images of our world, and the value of the scientific understanding that comes with it is immeasurable.
Follow Ralph Crewe on Twitter @RalphCrewe
See Ralph Crewe explore unusual and fascinating topics on YouTube
Jamie Lee Curtis caught everyone’s attention with her gorgeous outfit at the 2021 Golden Globes.
The 62-year-old actress appeared on stage at the annual awards ceremony on Sunday February 28th when she presented the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Film.
Curtis seemed to love life very much when she was delighted to present the award to the Mauritanian star Jodie Fosterwhom the True Lies star referred to as her “best friend”.
Whatever Curtis does, it’s clear she works for her as she was trending on social media after the awards show and a lot of users pondered how stunning she looked in her deep yellow dress.
One fan wrote: “Jamie Lee Curtis in my all time favorite look.”
Another person tweeted, “As we go into this week, Jamie Lee Curtis is confident.”
A third Twitter user wrote: “As I go to sleep, I pray that I am the same age as Jamie Lee Curtis. Amen.”
According to Michael Mann, the main obstacle to climate action is a coalition of Russian robots, Saudis, fossil fuel tycoons, Rupert Murdoch, Wikileaks and climate deniers.
Climatologist Michael E Mann: “Good people fall victim to extinction. I do it too sometimes’
Jonathan Watts @ Jonathanwatt Sun 28 Feb 2021 03.00 AEDT
The author and eminent climate researcher on the new tactics of deniers and why positive changes feel closer than in 20 years
…
Who is the enemy in the new climate war? There are interests in fossil fuels, climate change deniers, conservative media magnates who work with petrostate actors like Saudi Arabia and Russia. I call this the coalition of the unwilling.
If you had to find a single face that represents both the old and new climate wars, it would be Rupert Murdoch. Climate change is a topic that the Murdoch press has grappled with for years. The disinformation was evident last year when they blamed arsonists for the devastating Australian bushfires. This was a terrible attempt to divert attention from the root cause, climate change. Murdoch was confronted by his own son for the immorality of his practices.
We also need to recognize the increasing role of petrostate actors. Saudi Arabia has played an obstructive role. Russia has perfected cyber warfare and used it to meddle in other countries and disrupt action against climate change. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has made credible arguments for Russia’s efforts to hijack the 2016 presidential election and elect Trump. Russia wanted to end the US sanctions that stood in the way of a half-trillion dollar deal between Rosneft and ExxonMobil. It worked. Who did Trump appoint as his first Secretary of State? Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobil.
today Russia is using cyberware – bot armies and trolls – to trick climate activists into fighting each other and spreading arguments on social media. Russian trolls have tried to undermine carbon prices in Canada and Australia, and Russian fingerprints were found during the yellow vest protests in France
And WikiLeaks? Your book suggests you were involved? I’m not an expert, but there was a lot of investigative journalism about the role they played in the 2016 election. Julian Assange and WikiLeaks helped Donald Trump get elected, doing Putin’s bid in the process. Your fingerprints can be found all over the climate 10 years ago. British investigators have evidence of Russian involvement also in it.
I have news for you man, climate activists don’t need our help to argue. Just look at the battle between Michael Moore and the rest of the climate community over his eco-epic “Planet of the People” versus renewable energies. Or that fun time Naomi Oreskes called James Hansen a “denier” because of disagreements about nuclear power.
Of course, it helps that Michael Moore is part of the Climate Denier conspiracy. Moore’s insider attack “Planet der Menschen” against renewable energies and the climate establishment was masked by Maskirova.
The truth is that the previous paragraph is a joke. As far as I know, Michael Moore is not a fossil fuel agent. But do climate activists trust me to tell the truth? Perhaps some of them think I am mocking climate activists by showing a snippet of the truth, then laughing at it and expecting no one to believe my revelation.
For the third time in three races of the NASCAR Cup Series 2021 season, a new driver is on the podium. William Byron wins the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The win is Byron’s second in his career and after the 31st start he led a race high of 102 of 267 laps.
Denny Hamlin, the pole sitter who started on Sunday, was stopped for an unauthorized adjustment and started in the back of the field for the infraction. Even so, Hamlin battled for the lead at various stages of the race, but a pit lane violation set him back again and essentially ended his day.
Last week’s race winner, Christopher Bell, was 21st while Chris Buescher, who led much of the race, was 20th.
Sporting News followed live race updates and lap-by-lap highlights from Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race in Homestead. Follow below for full results of the Dixie Vodka 400.
MORE: Watch NASCAR live with fuboTV (7 days free trial)
(All times east.)
NASCAR at Homestead Results
Unofficial order of completion.
Item
driver
1.
William Byron
2.
Tyler Reddick
3.
Martin Truex
4th
Kyle Larson
5.
Kevin Harvick
6th
Michael McDowell
7th
Ryan Newman
8th.
Kurt Busch
9.
Alex Bowman
10.
Kyle Busch
11.
Denny Hamlin
12.
Austin Dillon
13th
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
14th
Chase Elliott
15th
Daniel Suarez
16.
Brad Keselowski
17th
Ross Chastain
18th
Chase Briscoe
19th
Chris Buscher
20th
Christopher Bell
21st
Ryan Preece
22nd
Bubba Wallace
23.
Cole Custer
24
Anthony Alfredo
25th
Joey Logano
26th
Justin Haley
27
Erik Jones
28.
Matt DiBenedetto
29
Ryan Blaney
30th
Aric Almirola
31.
Garrett Smithley
32.
Cody ware
33.
Josh Bilicki
34.
BJ McLeod
35.
Quin Houff
36.
Corey LaJoie (DNF)
37.
James Davison (DNF)
38.
Timmy Hill (DNF)
NASCAR at Homestead Live Updates, Highlights from Dixie Vodka 400
19:03 FINISH: William Byron takes the checkered flag home for the second time in his career and holds back a closing Tyler Reddick in the final lap.
6:55 pm: Single-digit rounds remaining, William Byron is pushed by Kyle Larson.
6:44 pm: With 28 laps to go, fuel is a problem for some, with William Byron still first, Kyle Larson and Martin Truex rounding out the top three.
6:32 pm: Kyle Busch entered the chat in the top 10.
6:28 pm: Byron, Truex, Larson, Custer, and Kurt Busch are the top 5 with 55 remaining. Fight for fifth place between Busch, Harvick and Keselowski.
6:26 pm: Denny Hamlin will restart on the 28th with 60 laps remaining. He’ll have to do the work.
6:21 pm: Denny Hamlin backwards (again) after accelerating on the pit lane.
6:12 pm: Seventy-two laps left, Byron still in the lead. Truex hot on his cock.
6 pm: After the restart, Chris Buescher fell to 19th place. 91 laps left, William Byron is currently in the lead, Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin are fighting for second place.
5:56 pm: Byron and Hamlin are 1-2 on the restart, and the field extends to five for a moment. Drivers fight for position.
5:45 pm: William Byron enters the second leg with a late rush. Denny Hamlin was pushing for 1st place, but Byron was pulling forward to finish the stage.
5:36 pm: Another warning flag goes out when Corey LaJoie walks into the garage. Stage 2 ends, six laps to go.
5:26 pm: Twenty-four laps before the second stage, Martin Truex leads the race for the first time this season. Bruescher still remains in second place. Timmy Hill and James Davison are both DNF today.
5:14 pm: The pit stops began in the middle of the second stage.
5:04 pm: Denny Hamlin pushed for 10th place and battled Kyle Larson for positioning. Pretty much the turning point for Hamlin.
4:58 pm: Chase Elliott takes first place in the restart but still has a tight pack behind him.
4:57 p.m .: We have a fresh start, Buescher, Keselowski, Bowman, Elliott, Logano round off the top 5. Byron and Larson are all fighting for their positions.
4:46 pm: Chris Buescher takes the first stage, his second stage win in his career.
4:42 pm: Eight laps before the first stage, Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher fight for the top spot. They are separated by tenths of a second. Martin Truex moves up to the top 5. Alex Bowman sneaks into third place.
4:39 pm: Denny Hamlin says he expects electrical problems after his AC power goes out. It turned out that the hose just popped out.
4:33 pm: Careful, Davison. Chris Buescher takes the lead.
4:27 pm: Kevin Harvick dropped out of the top 10 and Martin Truex is now in the top 10.
4:18 pm: Chris Buescher slips into second place, William Byron into third place. Joey Logano was fourth and Stenhouse fifth. Hamlin is still stuck in 20th place and not making up much space.
4:10 pm: Round 31 of 80 in stage 1 and we’re green again. Keselowski and Logano still 1-2 on the track. Denny Hamil until the 19th.
4:04 pm: The caution in the competition is over and the box is open.
4:01 pm: Keselowski manages to wrest the lead from Logano and gives his teammate a lead of 3 1/2 seconds.
3:53 pm: Logano, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick battle for their position, with Christopher Bell rounding out the top 5. Ricky Stenhouse and Kyle Larson vied for 10th place, but Larson easily moves into the top 10.
3:48 pm: We have a green flag and Logano is in front.
3:40 pm: Denny Hamlin on the back of the box and Logano on the front.
Engines about to be fired. Stages 80-80-107 (267 laps, 400.5 miles). Fuel run 61-66 laps. 10 sets of tires (including one set on the car). Beware of the round 25 competition. Backwards: Hamlin, Bowman & LaJoie for unapproved adjustments, Davison for 2x technical errors. On FOX @NASCARONFOX
– Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) February 28, 2021
3:38 pm: Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa gives drivers the opportunity to start their engines …
3:33 pm: The national anthem is sung, jets have flown over us and we are a short time away from race time.
3:23 pm: A little pre-race humor to get you going:
NASCAR race start time today
The green flag for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway is scheduled to fly at 3:48 p.m. ET.
Weather is a regular problem at NASCAR races in Florida, but this weekend can be an exception. The National Weather Service’s forecast for Homestead, Florida on Sunday is for sunny skies and temperatures in the low 80s. The only threat to drivers can be the wind; The NWS calls for southeast winds of 11 to 20 miles per hour with gusts of up to 24 miles per hour.
NASCAR lineup at Homestead
Here is the full grid for Sunday’s NASCAR race at Homestead-Miami Speedway:
