Category Archives: Around the World

More than a century

The Washington Post: Meet two amazing women who are still working at the age of 102. Yes, 102. “Everyone asks the centenarians: “What’s your secret?“ The answer is pretty simple: work.”

Of my grandparents, my grandmothers died at ages 88 and 91, one grandfather died in his seventies of diabetes and his unwillingness to take medication for it, and the other grandfather is still alive and quite well at 92, so we’ll see how long I’ll be able to make it. The women in the article are certainly people out of whose book I might take a leaf.

Link via MetaFilter.

Hole-Punch Cloud

Fallstreak Holes

“A fallstreak hole, also known as a hole punch cloud, punch hole cloud, skypunch, canal cloud or cloud hole, is a large circular or elliptical gap that can appear in cirrocumulus or altocumulus clouds. Such holes are formed when the water temperature in the clouds is below freezing but the water has not frozen yet due to the lack of ice nucleation (see supercooled water). When ice crystals do form it will set off a domino effect, due to the Bergeron process, causing the water droplets around the crystals to evaporate: this leaves a large, often circular, hole in the cloud.”

Deutsch: Hole-Punch Cloud.

I first stumbled upon this hole punch cloud, which was photographed in Korumburra, Australia, a few days ago. It has a sort of “rainbow” inside, which is explained in this National Geographic article from last year: Explaining Rare ‘Hole Punch’ Cloud With Rainbow in the Middle.

Here’s another great example, a sundog inside a hole-punch cloud (bigger version of the photo).

A Google image search finds lots of other great photos.

Speechless – sprachlos

New York Times: Paris Attacks Were an ‘Act of War’ by ISIS, Hollande Says.

“President François Hollande on Saturday blamed the Islamic State for the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday, as the death toll rose to 127 victims, with 300 others hospitalized, 80 of them in critical condition. He declared three days of national mourning, and said that military troops would patrol the capital. France remained under a nationwide state of emergency.”

The Attacks in Paris: What Happened at Each Location.

Die Zeit: Live Blog zu den Pariser Anschlägen. Anschläge in Paris: Terror in Frankreich – Übersicht über alle Artikel zum Thema.

MetaFilter: In Paris, something terrible is happening.

Adventure of a Lifetime – at 80

MetaFilter: Adventure of a Lifetime (at age 80)

Dale Sanders paddled the Mississippi from source to sea in 80 days, turning 80 years old during the trip and making him the oldest person to have accomplished this journey.

Dale Sanders has a weblog and YouTube channel.

You can watch eleven weekly updates on Vimeo: Adventureitus Productions’s Videos, or use these individual links: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11. The one for week 12 is still missing.