Locator: 48442ARCHIVES.
RFK, Jr: measles is now "a top priority." Or something to that effect. He apparently said the government is providing vaccines. Whatever that means. Again, cool, calm, and collected. No national lock down, no universal masking, no hysteria.
President Jill, link here.
Star gazing! Actually looking at the solar system line-up last night -- it didn't get dark enough early enough to see some of the early planets, but we saw several, of course, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus. And despite the urban light, not a problem for what we wanted to do. We were on one of the nicest bridges in the area with an unobstructed view. Next: the full moon March 14, 2025. Sophia's only complaints: no snacks. We will do better next time. LOL.
Never quit reading: reading the great literature and historical analyses that came out of WWI has helped me understand the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy yesterday -- the meeting in which Zelenskyy said there will be "no compromises" and Trump responded, and then "there will be no deal." Which I do believe is how deals work. The big question I have: why did Zelenskyy visit the White House yesterday. Either "something was lost in translation" when the meeting was scheduled or Zelenskyy backed out on his word.
For the birds:
- the Mesozoic Era: 252 to 66 mya
- the Age of Reptiles but also:
- birds and early mammals evolved, and flowering plants appeared
- the three periods
- Triassic
- Jurassic -- Archaeopteryx
- Cretaceous -- Baminornis
Now, from The WSJ: big headline, but essentially nothing more than confirming that true birds evolved during the Jurassic. Whoo-hoo!
For more than a century, scientists believed that a fossil of a winged dinosaur from the Jurassic Period discovered 160 years ago in Germany represented the earliest birds.
Now, researchers have unearthed another creature from the same period that more closely resembled the avians of today.
The findings indicate that birds evolved much earlier than previously thought. [Somewhat of an exaggeration/hyperbole.]
Weighing about 3.5 ounces, the newly discovered bird, known as Baminornis zhenghensis, had a short tail with some vertebrae fused into a stubby nubbin—a crucial aerodynamic feature of modern birds that shifts the body’s center of mass toward the wings, improving flight.
Primitive creatures with bone structures resembling modern birds weren’t believed to have appeared until nearly 20 million years later [a geologic blink of the eye], in the early Cretaceous Period. But the new fossil, uncovered in southeastern China in 2023, tells a different evolutionary story.
“If there are still any doubts about how birdy Archaeopteryx is,” he said, “Baminornis is undoubtedly a real bird.”
Aid to Ukraine, link here. I doubt this includes assets maintained, owned, operated by US military personnel and the expenses those US military personnel cost the US taxpayer. The numbers below work out to 20 cents / American /day vs 8 cents / Canadian / day.
BNY, link here.
