THE SUN IS throwing a fit. For the second time this week it has launched massive chunks of itself at us—from 93 million miles away.

Don’t be offended: This is all part of the normal solar weather cycle. Every so often, turbulence on the sun’s surface erupts, shooting radiation and ionized particles earth-ward. When it’s bad, it can fry satellites, and take them offline, disrupt the electrical power grid and expose astronauts and airline passengers to harmful radiation.

The solar storm that reached us yesterday turned out smaller than expected, causing no-known damage. But, if you were lucky, it did treat you to celestial nighttime light show.

Solar storms are what create the aurora borealis—the ethereal colored lights sometimes seen dancing in the night sky, especially at high altitudes.

But catching auroras from solar storms remains largely a matter of luck. Despite almost 200 years of working on solar storm predictions, scientists still have but a few hour’s warning that a storm’s a brewin’. And they have just a few minute’s warning about how intense it will be. So often people who spy the auroras have no idea they’re coming until they’ve arrived.

http://www.wired.com/2015/06/6-24-solar-storm/



An aurora captured by NASA astronaut Scott Kelley from the ISS, June 22, 2015. He sent this image out with a tweet: "The red curtain of an #aurora closes on another day. Good night from @space_station!#YearInSpace" NASA

Police say arrest follows investigation of June 6 breakout by Matt, Sweat

PLATTSBURGH — A guard from the Clinton Correctional Facility has been arrested for his alleged role in aiding the escape of two inmates from the maximum security prison in Dannemora on June 6.

Gene E. Palmer, 57, of Dannemora appeared in Plattsburgh Town Court late Wednesday on felony charges of promoting prison contraband and two counts of tampering with physical evidence. He also is charged with official misconduct, a misdemeanor.

He was held on $25,000 bail pending his formal arraignment Thursday night.

At the court's request, he turned over his multiple weapons stored at his home to a relative. Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie was concerned for Palmer's mental health and asked that he be detained. Palmer's lawyer Andrew Brockway asked the judge to release Palmer on his own recognizance because his wife is sick, but the judge said due to the nature of the charges Palmer should be held.

http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/CNN-reports-Dannemora-prison-guard-arrested-6347695.php



Gene E. Palmer, 57, of Dannemora appeared in Plattsburgh Town Court late Wednesday, June 24, 2015, on felony charges of promoting prison contraband and two counts of tampering with physical evidence. He was held on $25,000 bail pending his formal arraignment Thursday night. (Keshia Clukey/Times Union)

http://thedailyshow.cc.com/extended-interviews/wb5h9x/exclusive-al-franken-extended-interview

Great interview! He was absolutely the Al Franken we remember and loved!

Since 2009 the earthquake rate in the United States has more than sextupled. Two studies released this week by teams at the University of Colorado and Stanford University may show why.

From 1973 to 2008, the United States experienced an average of 21 earthquakes a year of magnitude 3.0 or higher. From 2009 to 2013, there were 99 a year, and in 2014, it jumped to 653 a year.

What changed?

Two studies released today, one in the journal Science Advances and the other in Science point to the same answer: wastewater disposal wells.

These studies arrive on the heels of the Oklahoma Geological Survey's announcement two months ago that it is “very likely that the majority of recent earthquakes, particularly those in central and north-central Oklahoma, are triggered by the injection of produced water in disposal wells.”

More: http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/0619/Sixfold-increase-in-US-earthquakes-may-be-caused-by-injection-wells-say-scientists



A new study ties high-rate injection wells like this salt water disposal well in Colorado to an enormous increase in the rate of earthquakes.

Tesla Motors Inc's Model S sedan already ditched petrol. Now two shareholders from Texas want the electric-car maker to stop using animal products as well.

At the company's annual meeting on Tuesday, Mark and Elizabeth Peters, shareholders from Hurst, Texas, urged Tesla to eliminate the use of animal-sourced materials for interior components such as leather seats. One of their proposals would reduce the use of such products, dropping them by 2019. The other asked Tesla to explore becoming the first "cruelty-free" premium car brand. Stockholders rejected both, according to a filing on Wednesday.

"Tesla does offer a vegan option to customers who express that this is a priority for them," Khobi Brooklyn, a company spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. "If they want no leather in their car, the customer would choose the Multi-Pattern black seats which have a synthetic leather trim and then custom-order a vegan steering wheel."

<snip>

Elizabeth Peters said her husband, Mark, had to go through "extreme measures" to get her a vegan Tesla as an anniversary gift.

"Tesla can continue to fill cars with the skins of sentient beings that suffer unspeakable horror," said Peters, who said she grew up on a veal farm. "Or, Tesla can adopt one of the many faux-leather interiors used by Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, BMW, Infiniti and others, that are cruelty-free."

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/world-business/tesla-shareholders-ask-musk-to-make-its-cars-go-vegan-20150611-ghlaz3.html


If they don't want leather in their car, customers can choose multi-pattern black seats with a synthetic leather trim and custom-order a vegan steering wheel. Photo: Mark Bean

leave 'have a nice day' note

In a sensational “Shawshank Redemption”-style prison break, a pair of cunning convicted murderers used power tools and tunnels to escape an upstate maximum-security penitentiary near the Canadian border.

A massive manhunt was underway Saturday after killers Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, were discovered missing from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, about 25 miles from Canada, officials said.

The inmates made their extraordinary dash to freedom after faking out guards with makeshift dummies made out of hooded sweatshirts to appear as if they were still sleeping inside their cells. And once officials discovered they were gone, they found a note from convicts telling them to "Have a nice day!"

“It was an elaborate plot,” Gov. Cuomo said after joining law enforcement authorities inside the prison, retracing the prisoners’ route.

“These are dangerous people,” he said. “They are nothing to be trifled with.”

More: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/convicted-killers-escape-n-y-prison-article-1.2248902


The escaped inmates left prison officials a note saying "Have a nice day!" on one of the steel pipes they apparently used to exit Clinton Correctional Facility, officials say.

He was extremely proactive during the Bush* years, spoke up and out for us when no one else would. If you notice, we have a John Conyers avatar. There was once a call for all DUers to change to a John Conyers avatar and so many did that you could no longer tell us apart, LOL.

And did you know that John Conyers is a DUer and has posted here? I think it was only once, but he went to the trouble of registering and posting and it got a lot of attention. I couldn't help noticing that the first poster who replied to the congressman had a John Conyers avatar...

Here he is:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=171568

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Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry kicked off his second presidential bid on Thursday with one distinction no other candidate in the field can claim: He's the only one running while under felony indictment.

Perry was indicted on abuse of power and coercion charges last August for threatening to veto funding for the state's public integrity unit, unless the Democratic district attorney leading the group resigned for driving while intoxicated.

The Republican and his lawyers maintain he acted lawfully as governor and have tried to get the case thrown out on Constitutional grounds. But those efforts have so far failed, meaning the unsuccessful 2012 candidate may be forced to take time away from town halls in Iowa for a courthouse in Austin, Texas.

Special prosecutor Michael McCrum recently wrote in a court filing that hundreds of pages of documents have been exchanged over the past nine months but "we are no closer to a resolution."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/rick-perry-still-fighting-indictment-campaign-begins-n369841

He really is growing up into a beautiful cat - had no idea what he'd look like since I found him as a tiny kitten in a parking lot. He's still a little wild, not exactly a lap cat yet, LOL, but he's still less than a year old and I love him a lot, too...

Felix

I got to see them in concert back in the '80s on one of their reunion tours, and they were still just the best. When I was too young to be aware of such things, my mother was part of a group that ushered at one of their concerts when they performed locally, must have been in the early '60s, wish so much I could have been there!


Peter, Paul, and Mary: If I Had A Hammer, Civil Rights March on Washington DC, 1963