If I had a billion dollars:

I'd pay off my bills and the house, put away a little for a rainy day, and give the rest to the Magnificent Democratic Underground.

This place is as American as it gets. It is The Best Thing. It has educated me, comforted me, and kept me alive.

There is no other place like it.

Love. This. Place. Heart and soul.

Live long and prosper, Skinner. Live long and prosper, EarlG.

During Pandemic, Earthquake Scientists Detect Longest Period of Seismic Stillness on Record.

As coronavirus cases spread across the globe, governments shut down businesses and humans retreated into their homes.

International shipping slowed, cruise ships docked and ocean noise was measurably less, giving relief to whales, which are highly sensitive to noise. California’s shelter-in-place order forced a huge number of cars off the streets, and bears lazily strolled across typically busy roads in Yosemite.

The coronavirus pandemic and shelter-in-place orders offered a unique opportunity to study the natural world without the usual human cacophony.

An international team of 76 scientists from around the world has now quantified this moment of quiet, what some have called the “seismic silence” and “anthropause.”

The geoscientists analyzed readings from more than 300 stations scattered around the globe and discovered that the shutdowns caused a period of seismic stillness that was longer and more sustained than anything their instruments had recorded before.

Excellent street art from the Sacramento BLM protests.

I walked past it for a week without seeing it. Looked like some spilled tar. Then suddenly --



Brilliant.

On 10th between I and J next to Cesar Chaevez Park. There are also beautiful murals still popping up, most of them painted over the plywood covering windows of downtown stores. I'll capture and post next week.