Gleanings of the Week Ending December 10, 2011

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:

• The economics of Christmas lights – Seth Godin’s thoughts about why Christmas lights and good/free internet content are indicators of healthy communities
• Lassen Volcanic National Park – year long time lapse from the visitor center webcam…snow…plows…the melt…corn lilies
• Tools vs Insight – Another thoughtful piece from Seth Godin…we need to spend less time learning new tools and more time using them.
• Paper Stars – An interesting idea – maybe to use up odd bits of wrapping paper. They could be hung on a tree or wreath too.
• Future Agenda: The World in 2020 – Insights from a project to look at trends and predict what will happen by 2020.
• Crochet Chain Mini-Wreaths – Simple idea for tree ornaments
• Kepler 22-b…an Earth-like planet – Wow! 600 light years away is pretty far though.
• NASA Mars Rover Finds Mineral Vein Deposited by Water – The Opportunity rover just keeps going and going.
• Why Aren't We Smarter Already? Evolutionary Limits On Cognition – There is already evidence that there are not-so-good side effects to cognition enhancing drugs. Perhaps nature has it about right.
• Our Beautiful Planet…timelapse vignettes – A preview of Tom Lowe’s film. So beautiful.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 12, 2011

The items below were the cream of the articles from this past week!

1. 25 Inspiring Pictures of Snow - beautiful!
2. Castles in the Desert: Satellites Reveal Lost Cities of Libya - now if the country could become safe enough to find out more about them from the ground.
3. 5 Foods Threatened by Climate Change - Arrgh! Chocolate is one of them!
4. Cave Paintings Showed True Colors of Stone Age Horses - yes - there were spotted horses around at that time so the paintings are realistic rather than symbolic
5. Nature Notes: The Black Oaks Of Yosemite National Park, The Video - great visual about how the Indians processed the acorns for food
6. Impact of Space Weather - now that we are more dependent on satellites (for things like GPS), maybe we should be paying more attention 
7. New System of Intelligent Management of Street Lighting Enables 80% Savings in Energy - makes sense to only power lights when you need them, just like at home
8. Condors in Grand Canyon – 3 chicks - one has already died but the other two seem to be thriving; bit about trash being a potential threat quite depressing
9. Why we need public libraries is the future - for a subset of the reasons we need them today but very real and long term (it's not about books)