February 7

 Sort of sunny at the moment. I put another four rows into a lap blanket this morning. It is getting big enough that I will need to find a different place to put it between working. I also want to take the winter wreath apart because some of the flowers are badly faded. Sunshine does that. Looking at some of what I have left I think a trip to Michaels for some new items will come in the near future.

Anthropocene Magazine published a summary of a study of the carbon footprint of urban farming/gardening vs conventional field farming. The study is the first such study and it involved gardens and farms in several countries. I don't know enough of their methodology to criticize that. I would like to see more such studies. How we do things definitely affects how much pollutants and carbon is pumped into the environment. Such studies might give us ideas how we can make changes. However, I have long thought that the most significant changes will occur because individuals make changes in their own lives and influence changes at the local level.

Stray thought: I wonder if the verdict in case of the Crumbley mother will be a template for further prosecution of parents for involuntary manslaughter if their negligence enables their child in the commission of a mass shooting. The father's case goes to trial in the next couple of weeks.

Crooks & Liars reported that a couple of scientists propose a new category for hurricanes. The current system has a top rating of Category 5 but there is no upper limit. The new category would come in if the wind speed equalled or exceeded 192 mph. They looked back at hurricanes since around 1980 and found 5 would have qualified as Category 6 storms--ALL HAPPENED WITHIN THE LAST DECADE. It has only been a few years since the Australian meteorologists added a new color (bright purple) for exceedingly high temperatures over 50C (122F).