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Dolmen De Guadalperal - Spanish Stonehenge A drought occurring in the Valdecañas reservoir of the Tagus River has revealed the 7,000 year old monument for the first time in over 50 years. German archaeologist Hugo Obermaier had excavated the site in the 1920's.  The area was flooded in 1963 with the construction of a dam.   Though it appears to be an open air structure, it is believed that it was originally enclosed with a roof, and was a place of burial and worship of the sun.  Like Stonehenge in the UK, it is oriented around the summer solstice. Teams want to relocate the monument before it floods again and suffers further erosion. Obermaier found Roman remains, such as a coin, ceramic fragments and a grinding stone - they also found axes and flint knives as well as houses, charcoal and ash stains, suggesting a settlement was nearby. Link Wiki

We took a drive to check out our Lake of the Woods. Mighty wanted to swim with the ducks!  Or did he want to catch them...??

Space is one of my favorite science topics, and today is NASA's birthday. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was created when Congress passed legislation on this date, 1958.  It was done in response to the Soviet Union's 1957 launch of Sputnik I , a satellite which orbited Earth for 98 minutes.  A month later, they launched Sputnik II, carrying a dog named Laika.  In December of that year, the US tried to launch Vanguard  but it exploded shortly after takeoff. January 31, 1958 we launched Explorer I , which successfully orbited the earth. In May 1961, John F. Kennedy confirmed our commitment to winning the space race and putting a man on the moon.   On July 20, 1969 we achieved that goal with the Apollo 11  mission. On November 20, 1998 the International Space Station was launched and has been in orbit ever since. This provides a platform for scientific research in such areas as astrobiology, astronomy, physical sciences, materials science, s...

Designer Kansai Yamamoto passed away from leukemia on July 21 - he was famously known for dressing David Bowie during his Ziggy Stardust days. "Human energy is limitless." -Yamamoto An article stated that he also designed for Elton John and Stevie Wonder, but I wasn't able to find any for sure pieces. Images from  Google Search Wikipedia

Valentino Fall 2020 Haute Couture - Designer Pierpaolo Piccioli says these designs are "an extreme response" to the circumstances of a lockdown, a determination to overcome the technical difficulties of socially-distanced working and the impossibility of creating prints and embroideries. Vogue

Researchers at Tel Aviv University have conducted a study looking at brain connectivity in 130 mammalian species, including humans. The results contradict years of assumptions, but shouldn't really be that surprising.  "We discovered that brain connectivity - namely the efficiency of information transfer through the neural network - does not depend on either size or structure of any specific brain." "The brains of all mammals, from tiny mice through humans to large bulls and dolphins, exhibit equal connectivity." The brains were from already dead animals obtained from the Kimron Veterinary Institute. Many of these animals' brains had never before been MRI scanned, and so a unique database has also been generated through this study. The technology used detects white matter in the brain, and enabled researchers to reconstruct a neural network - neurons and their axons through which information travels, and the synapses where they meet....

My friend's schedule changes after this week, so this may be the last tasting we share together.  I intend to keep at it as I still have a list to go through, and it's a good post to make! This week is classified blues, folk, roots rock - The Asylum Street Spankers. This is the song that popped up on Pandora and got me interested. The band got started in 1994 playing covers on the streets of Austin.  In 1997 they started writing their own songs, sticking with the roots rock style.  Until 2004, they never played with amplification. In 2006 they released a satirical anti-war video/song that has received over one million views. This one's fun as it's a nod to the Beastie Boys. Cheers! This particular album was recorded using technology from the 1940's. The band dissolved in 2011.

Another relaxing day at the reservoir last weekend. And here's a throwback for Hammock Day . This was at our oasis spot in the Black Rock Desert. 2017

Moths make up the vast majority of the order Lepidoptera, thought to number 160,000 species, but many are still unknown. One guiding principle to tell a moth from a butterfly is to look at the antennae - butterflies have thin antennae and moths' are more feathery. Moths evolved long before butterflies, and are among the most diverse and successful creatures on the planet. Moths (and their caterpillars) can be pests, but they can have economic value as well, such as the silkworm.  It is farmed for the silk it makes for its cocoon. We all know moths are attracted to light, but we only have hypotheses, one of which is celestial orientation.  Studies have found that increased light pollution has led to a decline in populations and nocturnal pollination.  Wiki Days of the Year Moth Week

Designer Jacquemus showed his 2021 collection at a wheat field outside of Paris. Vogue