Anyone know what’s going in there?

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The first of many more:

The last of Venezuela’s glaciers has disappeared, scientists say, despite an unusual government effort to save it.
The demise of La Corona, downgraded to an ice field after shrinking from more than 1,100 acres to less than five, makes this South American nation the only one in the Andes range without a glacier — but it’s unlikely to be the last. Scientists, who long predicted the end of La Corona, say warming temperatures will render the entire Northern Andes, which snakes through Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador, glacier-free by 2050.


“Our tropical glaciers are disappearing quickly since the Seventies,” said Alejandra Melfo, an astrophysicist at the University of the Andes in Mérida. “Now people are feeling the absence.”

As recently as 40 years ago, Venezuela boasted at least three glaciers, slow-moving masses of ice seen by scientists as sentinels of climate change. Although the country lies in the tropics, its southernmost point less than 50 miles from the equator, it also contains the northeastern end of the Andes, with 11 peaks rising past 15,000 feet above sea level.


The trio presided over Sierra Nevada national park in northwestern Venezuela, visible from Mérida. But as climate change caused temperatures to rise, scientists say, La Concha (The Conch) disappeared in 1990, and La Columna (The Column) followed in 2017. That left La Corona (The Crown), clinging to Humboldt Peak three miles up, the lone holdout.

In 2020, Melfo and three colleagues reported that La Corona, too, would soon go extinct.


“It is difficult to predict how much longer it will be,” they wrote in a research paper. “However, we can be certain that Venezuela will be the first Andean country to lose all of its glaciers in the next few years.”

The disappearance of the glaciers will not have a direct impact on the fresh water capacity of nearby rivers, Melfo said. The Venezuelan remnants stored far less water than the larger masses found farther north or south.

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The government of President Nicolás Maduro announced in December it was purchasing some 83,000 square feet of geothermal cover to safeguard what was left of La Corona. Mérida governor Jehyson Guzmán described the effort as “a grain of sand to provide protection to the last glacier in Venezuela” by reducing “the incidence of the sun’s rays on the rock that surrounds the glacier to prevent its heating.”
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The government said the polypropylene mesh, used to keep ski slopes cool, had been deployed in Switzerland to protect glaciers. But researchers at the University of Fribourg concluded in 2021 that the method was unfeasible. “A hypothetical application to the larger scale shows that saving Alpine glaciers by technological solutions is neither achievable nor affordable,” they wrote.

Scientists in Venezuela, meanwhile, warned that the cover would do more harm than good. “It is an illusory thing, a hallucination, it is completely absurd,” Julio Cesar Centeno, an adviser to the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development, told Agence France-Presse in March. He warned it would release harmful microplastics into the environment, and said he and others planned to ask Venezuela’s supreme court to stop the effort.
Neither the governor of Mérida nor the Ministry of Ecosocialism responded to requests for comment.


The International Cryosphere Climate Initiative, a network of researchers and policymakers focused on the Earth’s glaciers, ice sheets, sea ice and snow, says it’s not too late to take meaningful action against future degradation.

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“Humanity’s failure to cut CO2 emissions means that more eventual glacier loss is already locked in,” the organization posted last week on X. “But we can still save many if emissions are rapidly cut, which will have huge benefits for livelihoods and energy, water and food security across the world.”
In Mérida, the disappearance of La Corona was not unexpected.
“We had said goodbye to him a long time ago,” said Jayme Bautista, a mountaineer and environmental consultant. “It’s sad, but inevitable.”
“We stopped seeing ice on Bolívar Peak from Mérida in 2020,” said Luis Daniel Llambi, an ecologist at the University of the Andes and one of Melfo’s co-authors. “At this speed, we could have no ice left in just five years.”

I think I've found one for ya. Not sure the price though. I bet @ANYCHawk already has one.

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As I understand it, the ICC has not issued any arrest warrants yet, but the lead prosecutor has recommended that.

Rylo Huncho. 17 yr old rapper that accidentally killed himself. Yikes

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a 🧵

*trigger warning for Libs worldview*

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Well...not really a legend LOL...this guy:


On a total lark, after seeing a poster for an independent wrestling event at a brewery in my little town outside Atlanta, I went to the event.

It was definitely an indy show, but turns out it was unironically really good. They did a really excellent job and I enjoyed it. But this guy was carrying one of their titles and won his match. And when I was trying to figure out who some of the wrestlers were, I saw the connection. He's managed to get somewhere on the indy circuit at least.

The illegal charged with murdering a 25-year-old Michigan woman was deported under the Trump administration but later came back through the wide-open border. Just look at the hate on that animal's face. Thanks to jo biden and democrats everywhere including this board, the angel Ruby Garcia will never grace her parents again.

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Now this is how you sign a pleading. The thumbprint is a nice touch.

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Wonder when the average age of death hits below 50.

When are we going to ****ing get accountability DOJ?!?!?

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As well as a tariff increase from 25% to 100% on EVs, levies will rise from 7.5% to 25% on lithium batteries, from zero to 25% on critical minerals, from 25% to 50% on solar cells, and from 25% to 50% on semiconductors.

Tariffs on steel, aluminium and personal protective equipment – which range from zero to 7.5% – will rise to 25%.

Biden’s car tariffs are largely symbolic because Chinese EVs were virtually locked out of the US by tariffs imposed by Donald Trump during his presidency. However, lobby groups have suggested there is a future threat as Beijing seeks to use exports to compensate for the weakness of its domestic economy.

The Alliance for American Manufacturing has said the introduction of Chinese cars to the US market would be an “extinction-level event” for its carmakers.

more here

Had no idea Biden had lost that much support. Trump has doubled his support with this demographic.

Biden’s support among Black voters so far is 7 percentage points lower than it was at the same period in 2020, according to an NBC News average of national polls since April 1. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump’s support from Black voters has increased by 9 percentage points. But Biden still has the majority of support among Black voters, at 69% vs. Trump’s 18%.

This is becoming a WNBA board.


Kate Martin getting some minutes.
Playing with Megan G.

These teams a lot better than the Fire.

(Fever…. I’m old; brain fart. Got the first letter right at least.)

I guess this is a thing now. What sort of creative drinking did -- or still do - you used to do?

BORG, or “blackout rage gallon,” refers to a concoction often prepared in a gallon-size plastic jug. It typically contains vodka or other distilled alcohol, water, a flavor enhancer and an electrolyte powder or drink.

Didn’t think I would type that this morning when I woke up.

Governor says tweets directed at wrong person by three state legislators for the KC parade shooting are not covered by the state.

Our AG had previously said he would defend the three because tweeting was a state function.

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Noon on ABC
Liberty favored by 14.5

My in-laws aren't in the best of health; MIL is in an independent living cottage (needs to be in assisted living) and FIL has dementia and is in a TX State Veterans home.

My MIL has a medical and fiduciary POA for my FIL, but it's only a VA form which doesn't do squat outside of the VA. She has one checking account and two savings account, two of which are joint with her incapacitated husband. I'm listed as joint account owner on one account and need to get on the other two. To prevent a TL;DR post, I am the executor of their wills and both my wife and her sister want me to control their parents finances up either/both deaths. The biggest issue is if my MIL passes first, my FIL will have steady income (around $5k per month) until his death with zero outgoing.

A financial POA will get me on all their bank accounts. My question is, is that good enough or should I help them establish a trust now with me as a the trustee?