Autumnal Equinox 2015 in Northern Hemisphere on Wednesday, Sept. 23

Summary: Wednesday, Sept. 23, is the happening date for autumnal equinox 2015 in the Northern Hemisphere.

view of instant of autumnal equinox 2015 from 150122759 kilometers above 0 degrees north latitude 40 degrees west longitude: John Walker, Public Domain, via Fourmilab Switzerland

In the Northern Hemisphere, summer officially ends and autumn officially begins on the autumnal equinox, which occurs annually, usually on Sept. 22 or 23, and rarely on the 24th.

The rare falling of the autumnal  equinox on Sept. 24 is occasioned by Earth’s orbit of 365.25 days around the sun within the context of the Gregorian calendar, the modern Western calendar introduced in 1582 by Gregory XIII, Pope of the Catholic Church from May 13, 1572, until his death on April 10, 1585.

The extra quarter of a day for Earth’s orbit translates into a later occurrence of the autumnal equinox by six hours each year that ultimately leads to the placement of the autumnal equinox on Sept. 24. Last happening in 1931, the late date occurs again in around four centuries, in 2303, as part of the 400-year cycle of repetitive patterning to keep equinoxes at nearly the same date every year.

The autumnal equinox, also known as September equinox, marks the placement of the noon sun directly overhead, known as its zenith, as viewed from the Earth’s equator.

With the sun rising due east and setting due west on September’s equinox, the date celebrates approximately equal lengths of day and night worldwide, reflecting the word’s meaning of “equal night” (Latin: aequus, “equal” + nox, “night”).

Disparity between daytime and nighttime hours emerges in October, with the sun’s rising south of due east and setting south of due west producing shorter days and longer nights in the Northern Hemisphere.

With seasons reversed between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, September’s equinox is known as the spring equinox south of the equator. In October, the Southern Hemisphere is welcoming spring’s longer days and shorter nights.

The autumnal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere happens in 2015 at 8:21 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which equates to a range from early morning to late evening in U.S. time zones.

The equinox starts at 1:21 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT).

Onset occurs at 2:21 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time (MDT).

The equinox begins at 3:21 a.m. Central Daylight Time (CDT).

Onset occurs at 4:21 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

The equinox starts at 5:21 a.m. Atlantic Daylight Time (ADT).

Onset occurs at 9:21 p.m. Samoa Standard Time (SST).

The equinox occurs at 6:21 a.m. Chamorro Standard Time (ChST).

As suggested by Bruce McClure, chief writer for EarthSky Tonight, celebration of autumnal equinox 2015 could include noting the placements of the rising and setting sun in the skies as revelatory of exact directions of due east and due west, respectively. Linked with familiar landmarks, the exact directional identification serves as a helpful tool for backyard astronomy specifically and for geographical orientation generally.

equinox with noon sun in highest position in sky (= zenith), directly overhead: Tau’olunga, CC BY SA 2.5 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

view of autumnal equinox 2015 from 150122759 kilometers above 0 degrees north 40 degrees west: John Walker, Public Domain, via Fourmilab Switzerland @ https://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Earth

equinox with noon sun in highest position in sky (= zenith), directly overhead: Tau’olunga, CC BY SA 2.5 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Equinox-0.jpg

For further information:

Breyer, Melissa. “8 things you didn’t know about the autumnal equinox.” MNN.com > Earth Matters > Climate & Weather. Sept. 22, 2014.
Available @ http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/climate-weather/stories/8-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-autumnal-equinox

McClure, Bruce. "Dates of sun's entry into each zodiac constellation." EarthSky > Science Wire > Space. Aug. 10, 2015.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/space/can-i-find-a-list-of-zodiacal-constellations-with-degrees

McClure, Bruce. “Sun over Earth’s equator at equinox.” EarthSky > Tonight > Sep 22 – Sep 22. Sept. 22, 2015.
Available @ http://earthsky.org/tonight/sun-over-earths-equator-at-equinox

Virginia Opossum Didelphus virginiana: Only Marsupial of Canada and US

Summary: Virginia Opossum (Didelphus virginiana) is the only marsupial native to Canada and the U.S. The nocturnal scavenger's greatest threat is from cars.

North American Opossum carrying at least eight joeys on her back; Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2012, 12:09: Specialjake, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Didelphus virginiana is a New World mammal native to North America from southeastern Canada through Central America. Canadian native range occurs in a thin sliver across southern Ontario and southern Quebec. Mexican native range encompasses all states except for Baja California. Central American range includes all countries except for Panama. In the United States, Didelphus virginiana claims homelands east of the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf and Atlantic coasts.

Due to intentional introductions during the Great Depression (1929–ca. 1941), Didelphus virginiana successfully ranges along the Pacific coast, from California northward to Washington. From its base in the Pacific Northwest, Didelphus virginiana is expanding into southern British Columbia, Canada’s westernmost province.

Didelphus virginiana is known commonly in English as North American opossum or as Virginia opossum.

The word opossum derives from *wa˙p- aʔθemw, the name given to the native marsupial by the Powhatan tribe of Tidewater Virginia. Transcribed into English as apousom, *wa˙p- aʔθemw means "white animal or dog" (*wa˙p- "white" + *-aʔθemw- "dog, animal").

Versatility in habitat acceptance promotes the characteristic flexibility of Virginia Opossum’s range. When possible, the Virginia Opossum selects thicket and woodland habitats in proximity to streams and swamps as ideal sites for denning in abandoned burrows, hollow logs, and tree cavities.

Virginia Opossum claims unique status as the only marsupial native to Canada and the United States. Marsupials join monotremes (egg layers) and placentals as the three extant, or living, divisions of mammals. Marsupials characteristically carry their young, known as joeys, in pouches or pseudo-pouches of temporary skin folds.

As a medium-sized mammal, the Virginia Opossum generally is sized similarly to a housecat. Total length, from snout to base of tail, ranges from about 13 to 37 inches (35 to 94 centimeters). The long tail contributes an additional 8.5 to 18.5 inches (21.59 to 46.99 centimeters) to their silhouette.

A long white head extends into a snout with long whiskers and a pink nose. Large, leaf-shaped black ears lack fur or hair, rendering them, along with the long naked tail, susceptible to frostbite.

The coat gives a gray to black impression. Northern populations, which feature a much thicker underfur than southern populations, have black-tipped, white underfur covered with a protective coat of greyish guard hairs.

A prehensile tail wraps around branches and opposable thumbs on hind feet enable grasping, gripping, and holding.

As a nocturnal feeder, the Virginia Opossum scavenges for an omnivorous smorgasbord of aquatic and land animals, berries, fruits, garbage, and vegetation. The Virginia Opossum includes in its environmental cleanup diet a penchant for carrion, or dead animals. The Virginia Opossum fearlessly hunts snakes and exhibits immunity to venom.

“Playing possum” is the Virginia Opossum’s legendary strategy to fool predators. No nuance is missed in the Virginia Opossum’s believable, dramatic feigning of death, which may last for 6-plus hours. Eyes are glazed; tongue hangs out; a foul, green anal fluid is emitted; breathing and heart rate are virtually undetectable.

Nevertheless, predators strike at the Virginia Opossum primarily from both air and land. Air attacks are launched by such fearsome predators as Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), Barred Owl (Strix varia) and Great Horned Owl (Buteo virginianus). Land strikes are conducted by such wily mammals as coyotes (Canis latrans) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes).

The greatest threat comes from humans, who have hunted Virginia Opossum as game animal and as fur. Poorly sighted, the Virginia Opossum suffers high mortality from humans in vehicles as accidental or intentional roadkill.

Especially the traditional cuisine of the southeastern United States has featured Virginia Opossum-based recipes for jerky, pie, roast, soup, and stew. The marsupial's meat is described as a sweet white meat.

Virginia opossums in my yard: Virginia Opossums often trek the north-to-south expanse of my yard, moving from the lush field on the northern border to the vast meadow to the south.

This year a female Virginia Opossum, her back mounded with half a dozen joeys, strolled carefully and determinedly southward across the lower terrace in front of my house’s front porch.

Happily the field, meadow and trees framing my yard meet the needs of the unobtrusive Virginia Opossum population so they never seem to venture near the busy rural-suburban highway that runs past my home.

Prehensile tail and opposable thumbs enable Virginia Opossum to be avid, skillful climbers; Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) in juniper tree in northeastern Ohio; Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008, 17:25: Mark A. Wilson (Wilson44691), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

North American Opossum carrying at least eight joeys on her back; Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2012, 12:09: Specialjake, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Didelphis_virginiana_with_young.JPG

Prehensile tail and opposable thumbs enable Virginia Opossum to be avid, skillful climbers; Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) in juniper tree in northeastern Ohio; Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008, 17:25: Mark A. Wilson (Wilson44691), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Possum122708.JPG

Cloud Iridescence: Colorful Light via Small Water Droplets or Crystals

Summary: The phenomenon of cloud iridescence, colorful light via small water droplets or crystals, happened for Costa Rica's Independence Day, Sept. 15.

cloud iridescence over Costa Rica, September 2015: 101.5 TODAY RADIO @1015todayradio, via Twitter, Sep. 21, 2015

Cloud iridescence is an unusual phenomenon occasioned by the diffraction, or scattering, of light by clusters of small, uniformly sized ice crystals or water droplets in thin areas of clouds, especially at cloud edges. The cumulative effect of the encounter between light rays and each crystal or droplet is a rainbow of pastel or vivid colors. The effect is similar to colors displayed in oil films on water.

Iridescence occurs most frequently in higher altitude clouds, such as altocumulus, cirrocumulus, cirrus and lenticular clouds. Either the sun’s direct light or reflected light via the moon may trigger cloud iridescence. The sun’s blinding rays often interfere with daytime viewing of cloud iridescence.

Iridescence refers to the rainbow-like optical effect of light on a surface determined by angle of illumination and angle of observation. The word iridescence (Ancient Greek: word ἶρις, iris, “rainbow” + Latin suffix: -escent, “becoming, resembling”) derives from Iris, a goddess in Ancient Greek mythology who personified the rainbow.

Particle size and distribution as well as the cloud’s optical thickness determine the patchwork of colors presented by iridescent clouds. The combination of white light in high content with scattered colors accounts for the low-purity pastel nature of iridescent clouds.

Cloud iridescence occurred on Costa Rica’s Independence Day, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015. Reports of visibility of the iridescent cloud centered on San José, national capital of Costa Rica and provincial capital of San José province. Sightings also were reported over San José province’s western neighbor, Puntarenas province, in Parrita canton on Costa Rica’s central Pacific coast.

Angela Fritz, deputy weather editor for The Washington Post, describes the iridescence as taking place in a pileus, or “cap,” cloud, which tops a cumulus cloud in a flat, wispy shape during early stages of thunderstorm development. The sun’s position behind the developing, stormy cumulus cloud encourages easy observation of iridescence as light rays, scattered by the thin layer of crystals or droplets in the pileus cloud, present a spectacular, rainbow-colored palette.

Some observers of the iridescent cloud over Costa Rica on the Central American country's Independent Day celebration, Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2015, labeled the photos that they shared via Instagram with the hashtag #ElcieloExtraño (“strange sky”). The colorful display is only a natural phenomenon celebrating the passage of moonlight or sunlight through a thin-layered area of small, uniformly sized water droplets or ice crystals in a cloud.

The unexpected viewing during daytime is thanks to cooperation from the sun.

Megiston via YouTube Sep. 18, 2015: "Amazing 'end of times' lights form among clouds over Costa Rica"

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credit:

cloud iridescence over Costa Rica, September 2015: 101.5 TODAY RADIO @1015todayradio, via Twitter, Sep. 21, 2015, @ https://twitter.com/1015todayradio/status/646048778076581888

"Amazing 'end of times' lights form among clouds over Costa Rica," uploaded Sep. 18, 2015, by Megiston to YouTube, @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lEvNaMqZnQ

For further information:

101.5 TODAY RADIO @1015todayradio. "This looks pretty Awesome!!! ~ 'Cloud Iridescence' spotted in Costa Rica http://abcn.ws/1LrS43A." Twitter. Sep. 21, 2015.
Available @ https://twitter.com/1015todayradio/status/646048778076581888

Fritz, Angela. “End of days? Nope. Here’s the real science behind the ‘mysterious’ Costa Rica cloud.” The Washington Post > Capital Weather Gang. Sep. 18, 2015.
Available @ https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/09/18/end-of-days-nope-heres-the-real-science-behind-the-mysterious-costa-rica-cloud/

Megiston. "Amazing 'end of times' lights form among clouds over Costa Rica." YouTube. Sep. 18, 2015.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lEvNaMqZnQ

Earth Tidal Forces Contribute to Orientation of Lobate Scarps on Moon

Summary: Earth tidal forces influence orientation of lunar lobate scarps, according to findings of a five-year study released Sept. 21 in Geology journal.

Prominent lobate fault scarp in Vitello Cluster, one of 3,200-plus discovered via Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) images; blues = lower elevations; reds = higher elevations; credit NASA/LRO: Karl B Hille, "NASA’s LRO Discovers Earth’s Pull is ‘Massaging’ our Moon," NASA news release Sep. 15, 2015, Generally not subject to copyright in the United States, via NASA

Gravitational forces from the moon and the sun reach out to the Earth to influence rising and falling tides. In turn, the Earth’s gravitational tidal forces reach back to the moon to contribute to the formation of solid body tides that reshape the lunar landscape and cinch its diameter.

Launched June 18, 2009, as a robotic spacecraft by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) carries six instruments, including the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) that consists of a pair of narrow-angle push-broom imaging cameras (NAC) and one wide-angle camera (WAC).

After reviewing the crisp topography revealed via NAC’s high-resolution images of 0.5 to 2 meters (1.64 to 6.56 feet) per pixel, a research team led by Thomas Watters, Smithsonian senior scientist with Washington D.C.’s National Air and Space Museum, reported in August 2010 via Science journal the discovery of 14 previously undetected lobate thrust-fault scarps, or ridges: Cabeus, Campbell, Gregory, Guyot J, Nansen F, Paraskevopoulos H, Poisson, Rozhdestvenskiy 1 and 2, Shoemaker, Simpelius, Slipher and Timaeus. About 70 lobate scarps were discovered via the limited high-resolution Apollo Panoramic Camera, which collected images covering about 15 percent of the lunar surface during the last three Apollo missions (Apollo 15, July 30–Aug. 2, 1972; Apollo 16, April 20-23, 1972; Apollo 17, Dec. 11–14, 1972).

After five years of viewing over 70 percent of the lunar surface via over 1 million lunar surface images generated by LRO’s narrow and wide angle cameras, the team reported in September 2015 in Geology journal the discernment of over 3,200 thrust scarps. The tally identifies lobate scarps as the Moon’s most common, broadly distributed landform.

Forming as breaks in near-surface materials from pressure on the lunar crust as the moon contracted during cooling of its core, lobate thrust faults present lobed outlines with their curved or scalloped edges. Thrust faults uplift crustal materials to form ridges known as scarps.

Lobate scarps are present as common landforms on Earth and the solar system’s three other inner, terrestrial or earthlike, planets of Mercury, Venus and Mars. Lobate scarps on the moon are small-scale features, with typical lengths of less than 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) and relief of only tens of meters (32.8+ feet). Contrastingly, on scale with Earth’s largest thrust fault structures, lobate scarps on Mars and Mercury may extrude over 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) above the surface and measure lengths of hundreds of kilometers (62.1+ miles).

In their global distribution over the moon’s surface, fault scarps reveal an overall orientation pattern of north-south at low- to mid-latitudes and east-west at high latitudes. Global contraction, which produces random orientations, is the force responsible for the scarps’ creation but not for their orientation pattern.

The overall pattern is reflective of local illumination bias, whereby features perpendicularly oriented to local light direction are enhanced. Illumination direction is east or west at the equator and north or south at the poles. Nevertheless, significant deviations to local illumination bias exist at all latitudes, such as north- to south-oriented scarps amid dominant east-west orientations in high latitudes, and thereby eliminate the illumination effect as the dominant factor in orientation patterns.

Following through on early suspicions of Earth’s tidal forces as a contributing factor, Thomas Watters’ team superimposed a model of tidal force-influenced predictions onto mapped fault orientations and achieved a striking fit. According to the team’s model, peak stresses occur at apogee, the orbital point of furthest distance between moon and Earth.

Based upon such youthful features as crisp appearance, crosscutting with small-diameter impact craters, infilling rates of associated graben (downthrown-produced valley flanked by scarps), and small scale, Thomas Watters’ team places the lobate scarps’ timeline as less than 50 Ma (50,000,000 million years ago) and suggests that they may still be undergoing active formation today. The tidal force-scarp orientation interaction between Earth and moon reflects the intricate dynamism of the solar system in general and of the Earth and moon specifically.

The Earth continues to emerge as more than the moon’s placeholder, and the moon continues to emerge as more than the Earth’s nightlight and tidal puppeteer.

map of locations of over 3,200 lobate thrust fault scarps (red lines) with orientation vectors (black double arrows) on Moon; credit NASA/LRO: Karl B Hille, "NASA’s LRO Discovers Earth’s Pull is ‘Massaging’ our Moon," NASA news release Sep. 15, 2015, Generally not subject to copyright in the United States, via NASA

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Prominent lobate fault scarp in Vitello Cluster, one of 3,200-plus discovered via Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) images; blues = lower elevations; reds = higher elevations; credit NASA/LRO: Karl B Hille, "NASA’s LRO Discovers Earth’s Pull is ‘Massaging’ our Moon," NASA news release Sep. 15, 2015, Generally not subject to copyright in the United States, via NASA @ https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasas-lro-discovers-earths-pull-is-massaging-our-moon/

map of locations of over 3,200 lobate thrust fault scarps (red lines) with orientation vectors (black double arrows) on Moon; credit NASA/LRO: Karl B Hille, "NASA’s LRO Discovers Earth’s Pull is ‘Massaging’ our Moon," NASA news release Sep. 15, 2015, Generally not subject to copyright in the United States, via NASA @ https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasas-lro-discovers-earths-pull-is-massaging-our-moon/

For further information:

Neal-Jones, Nancy, and William Steigerwald. “NASA’s LRO Discovers Earth’s Pull is ‘Massaging’ our Moon.” NASA > Press Release > Solar System and Beyond. Sept. 15, 2015.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/goddard/shrinking-moon-tides

Neal-Jones, Nancy, and William Steigerwald. “NASA’s LRO Reveals ‘Incredible Shrinking Moon.’” NASA > Missions > Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Goddard Release No. 10-072. Aug. 19, 2010.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/shrinking-moon.html

Watters, Thomas R., et al. “Evidence of Recent Thrust Faulting on the Moon Revealed by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera.” Science, vol. 329, no. 5994 (Aug. 20, 2010): 936–940.
Available @ http://www.sciencemag.org/content/329/5994/936.full.pdf

Watters, Thomas R., Mark S. Robinson, Geoffrey C. Collins, Maria E. Banks, Katie Daud, Nathan R. Williams, and Michelle M. Selvans. “Global thrust faulting on the Moon and the influence of tidal stresses.” Geology, vol. 43, no. 10 (Sept. 21, 2015): 851–854.
Available @ http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/43/10/851.full.pdf

North American Green Anole: Green-Brown Body, Round Tail, Wedged Snout

Summary: Grassy, woody North American green anole habitats get four-legged, 20-clawed, wedge-snouted green-brown bodies with gray-white-pink-gray dewlaps.

male green anole (Anolis carolinensis), also known as American green anole or Carolina anole; Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Collier County, southwestern Florida; Friday, Feb. 29, 2008, 12:51: Euku, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

North American green anole habitats appear in distribution ranges, far wider than their five, Florida-only introduced relatives, from Virginia through the Florida Keys, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina and everywhere in-between.

Green anoles bear their common name for body color and for anole membership in the Iguanidae family of iguanid lizards of America, Fiji, Madagascar and Tonga. The species Anolis carolinensis carries the subspecies names Anolis carolinensis carolinensis and Anolis carolinensis seminolus for South Carolina specimen standards and for Seminole culture-influenced Florida-only biogeographies. Descriptions in 1832 by Friedrich Siegmund Voigt (Oct. 1, 1781-Dec. 10, 1850) and in 1991 by Thomas Lynn Vance respectively decide extra-Florida and intra-Florida subspecies designations.

Green anole life cycles expect piedmont and plain climber vines, palm fronds, shrubs, tall grasses, tree boles and vertical surfaces in brushy clearings and moist forests.

March through September fit green anole life cycles into bark, brown, crested, knight and large-headed anole-like spring through fall, spring through summer and summer breeding seasons.

Adults get brown makeovers when they go basking with juveniles on sunny branches, posts, trunks and walls and green reversions back on arboreal, higher, shaded perches. They hear through external ear openings even though they have distance vision-based behavior-signaling, color-changing communication systems and territorial defenses of chest-inflating, head-bobbing, push-ups, tail-cutting and throat-extending. Territorial defenses involve such behavioral signals as strong jaws clamping sharp teeth onto long tongues and such color changes as green faces black-patching between the eyes.

Agro-industrialists, breeders, collectors, polluters and predatory brown anoles, brown tree snakes, curly-tailed lizards, kestrels, lizard cuckoos, pearly-eyed thrashers and tarantulas jeopardize North American green anole habitats.

Green anoles know brief courtships and internal fertilizations of oval eggs that females keep laying at rates of one every 14 days from April through September.

Mothers-to-be lace themselves around calcium carbonate-shelled, 0.49-inch (12.5-millimeter) by 0.37-inch (9.3-millimeter) eggs even though incubation lasts five to seven weeks in leaf-littered soil or rotting wood. Eggs maintain oxygen-permeable chlorion coverings around gas-exchanging, waste-removing allantois membranes around yolk sacs whose umbilical cord blood vessels move nutrients through liquid-membraned amniotic sacs into embryos. Ambushed, arboreal, crawling, day-active, flying, stalked, terrestrial ants, beetles, centipedes, cockroaches, crickets, flies, gnats, grasshoppers, millipedes, mosquitoes, moths, slugs, snails, spiders, termites and weevils nourish adults.

North American green anole habitats offer season's coldest temperature ranges, northward to southward, from 5 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 15 to minus 1.11 degrees Celsius).

Two- to 2.6-inch (50.8- to 66.04-millimeter), 0.01-ounce (0.27-gram) hatchlings prefer daytime, humid temperatures above 75 degrees Fahrenheit (23.88 degrees Celsius) during 6- to 8-month physical maturations.

Four to 8 inches (10.16 to 20.3 centimeters) and 0.07 to 0.21 ounces (2 to 3 grams) respectively queue up as mature total lengths and weights. Adults reveal gray-white-pink-red dewlaps (neck-throat folds), jaw ledge-attached teeth, long, wedge-shaped snouts, movable lower and upper eyelids, round-tailed, scaly-skinned green-brown bodies and four five-clawed, five-padded legs. Dual mobile eyelids, shape-shifting crystalline lenses and two cornea-moisturizing glands and vibration-sensitive external openings, tympanic membranes and tympanic cavity-sheltered stirrup-shaped stapes respectively scan sights and sounds.

Grassy, woody southeastern North American green anole habitats turn up dry, four-legged, green-brown, long-, wedge-snouted, round-tailed, scaly-skinned bodies with gray-white-pink-red dewlaps and 20 clawed, padded toes.

Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis), under synonym Anolius carolinensis; depiction by Italian-born scientific illustrator J. Sera, lithograph by George Lehman/Lehman & Duval Lithographers; J.E. Holbrook's North American Herpetology (1836), vol. I, Plate VII, opposite page 67: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

male green anole (Anolis carolinensis), also known as American green anole or Carolina anole; Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Collier County, southwestern Florida; Friday, Feb. 29, 2008, 12:51: Euku, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Male_Anolis_carolinensis.jpg

Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis), under synonym Anolius carolinensis; depiction by Italian-born scientific illustrator J. Sera, lithograph by George Lehman/Lehman & Duval Lithographers; J.E. Holbrook's North American Herpetology (1836), vol. I, Plate VII, opposite page 67: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35765084;
Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLibrary), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/61021753@N02/6046606274/

For further information:

Catesby, Mark. 1743. "Lacertus Viridus Carolinensis. The Green Lizard of Carolina." The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands: Containing the Figures of Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Serpents, Insects, and Plants: Particularly the Forest-Trees, Shrubs, and Other Plants, Not Hitherto Described, or Very Incorrectly Figured by Authors. Vol. II: 65-66; T. 65. London, England: Author, MDCCXLIII.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13414323
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40680293

Cuvier, Georges, Baron; and F.S. (Friedrich Siegmund) Voigt. 1832. "6. A. carolinensis." In Baron von Cuvier's Das Thierreich, Geordnet Nach Seiner Organisation: als Grundlage der Naturgeschichte der Thiere und Einleitung in die Vergleichende Anatomie. Zweiter Band (die Reptilien und Fische enthaltend): 71. Leipzig, Germany: F.A. Brockhaus, 1832.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/19004690

Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. Volume 7, Reptiles, edited by Michael Hutchins, James B. Murphy, and Neil Schlager. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2003.

Holbrook, John Edwards. 1836. "Anolius Carolinensis. -- Cuvier. Plate VII." North American Herpetology; Or, A Description of the Reptiles Inhabiting the United States. Vol. I: 67-70; Plate VII. Philadelphia PA: J. Dobson.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35765084

Uetz, Peter. "Anolis carolinensis Voigt, 1832." Reptile Database.
Available @ http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Anolis&species=carolinensis&search_param=%28%28search%3D%27anolis+carolinensis%27%29%29

EPA to Volkswagen: Recall 482,000 Diesel Cars Sold in US 2009 to 2015

Summary: A Volkswagen recall ordered in September 2015 by US Environmental Protection Agency concerns 482,000 diesel cars sold in US with defeat device software.

2009 VW Golf TDI, now under recall, at 2010 Washington Auto Show, Walter E. Washington, Convention Center, downtown Washington DC; Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010, 20:00: Mariordo Mario Roberto Duran Ortiz, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

On Friday, Sept. 18, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) directed German automaker Volkswagen (VW) to recall roughly 482,000 diesel passenger cars sold in the United States between 2009 and 2015 with illegally installed software.

Known as a defeat device, the stealthy software turns on full emissions control systems during periodic state emissions testing in order to conceal emission of pollutant nitrogen oxide, a contributor to ozone and smog and a factor in such health conditions as asthma and other respiratory diseases. With controls disengaged for normal driving situations, the diesel-fueled vehicles exhibit improved performance, especially with acceleration and torque (rotation), while also fouling the air with pollutants at a level as much as 40 times the allowable amount under the Clean Air Act (CAA).

The recall affects diesel-fueled vehicles sold in the United States between 2009 and 2015. Totaling roughly 482,000 vehicles, the recall pertains to: Audi A3, 2009–2015; Beetle, 2009–2015; Golf, 2009–2015; Jetta, 2009–2015; and Passat, 2014–2015.

Within the next year, Volkswagen is required to send recall notices to owners of affected vehicles and to provide repairs at no cost to vehicle owners.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices also in San Francisco, California, and Berlin, Germany, the international Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) is an independent, non-profit environmental think tank focused on reducing climate change and benefiting public health through improved energy efficiency and environmental performance of air, road and marine transportation. Cars and trucks are responsible for nearly one-fifth of all global-warming emissions in the United States. The transportation sector, which includes planes, ships and trains as well as cars and trucks, accounts for almost 30 percent of all global-warming emissions in the United States.

While researching diesel vehicles, the ICCT discovered emission discrepancies between laboratory and road tests on Volkswagen cars. Upon notification of the discrepancies, the Environmental Protection Agency conducted tests which led to identification of the defeat device software.

The EPA is conducting ongoing investigations into the illegal software in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice and the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Established in 1967 as a department within the California Environmental Protection Agency, CARB has issued a separate notice of violation to Volkswagen.

Findings of the Justice Department could lead to fines or penalties for Volkswagen. Under the Clean Air Act, automakers may receive maximum fines of $37,500 per recalled vehicle. Pursuant to the investigation, Volkswagen could face a possible total fine of over $18 billion ($37,500 x 482,000 vehicles = $18,075,000,000).

As Charles Dickens (Feb. 7, 1812–June 9, 1870) aptly and timelessly noted in the opening words of his historical novel, A Tale of Two Cities (1859):

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . . .”

2015 may have seemed like the best of times for Volkswagen as the automaker achieved its mammoth goal, set in 2007 and targeted for 2018, of becoming the world’s largest automaker. Grasping the worldwide sales pinnacle three years ahead of goal, Volkswagen closed the six month period of January through June 2015 with sales of 5.04 million, thereby besting Toyota’s sales of 5.02 million.

Volkswagen’s moneyed report at the end of July 2015 is now overshadowed, 1.5 months later, by the worst-of-times announcement of the EPA-ordered recall for alleged, intentional violation of the Clean Air Act. Since 2007, Audi USA has inspired consumer confidence with its promising slogan, Truth in Engineering, which may seem stale to disheartened owners of Audi A3 recall vehicles.

More than the possibility of hefty fines, the erosion in consumer confidence -- at least in the United States, if not throughout the world -- is priceless.

Four-ringed logo of Volkswagen’s Audi, one of world’s luxury automobile bestsellers; sold since 2007 in US with slogan "Truth in Engineering"; Sunday, Dec. 28, 2014, 16:48:16: Juste Remi (juste.remi), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

2009 VW Golf TDI, now under recall, at 2010 Washington Auto Show, Walter E. Washington, Convention Center, downtown Washington DC; Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010, 20:00: Mariordo Mario Roberto Duran Ortiz, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VW_Golf_TDI_Clean_Diesel_WAS_2010_8983.JPG

Four-ringed logo of Volkswagen’s Audi, one of world’s luxury automobile bestsellers; sold since 2007 in US with slogan "Truth in Engineering"; Sunday, Dec. 28, 2014, 16:48:16: Juste Remi (juste.remi), CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/juste-remi/15510552454/

For further information:

Davenport, Coral, and Jack Ewing. “VW Is Said to Cheat on Diesel Emissions; U.S. to Order Big Recall.” The New York Times > Business Day. Sept. 18, 2015.
Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/19/business/volkswagen-is-ordered-to-recall-nearly-500000-vehicles-over-emissions-software.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone

Trudell, Craig, and masatsugu horie. “VW Passes Toyorta to Lead Global Sales in First Half of 2015.” BloombergBusiness > News. July 28, 2015.
Available @ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-28/vw-overtakes-toyota-for-global-sales-lead-in-first-half

Johnny Depp: Unstoppable Star Power From Jack Sparrow to Whitey Bulger

Summary: Johnny Depp exudes unstoppable star power in carefully crafted roles and places fourth in the Numbers Bankability Index™ for August 2015.

Johnny Depp at press conference of Black Mass, 2015 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Monday, Sep. 14, 2015, 13:27: GabboT, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Did anyone ever see Johnny Depp (born June 9, 1963) coming while he whiled his time as a teen idol for four seasons on 21 Jump Street, a police procedural TV series of 103 episodes airing from April 12, 1987, to April 27, 1991?

The young Kentuckian displayed his commitment to acting by turning in performances that delighted his fans and by honoring his contract despite his personal disenchantment with the series’ branding, intrusive publicity that he felt turned him into a product.

With release from his Jump Street contract, Johnny set about carving a career based upon roles of interest to him rather than upon potential for box office success. In 1984 Johnny appeared in his first feature film role as Glen Lantz, nightmare-tormented victim of vengeful ghost Fred “Freddy” Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street, the first in a series of nine slasher films created by birdwatcher and horror film actor/director/producer/writer Wesley “Wes” Craven (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015).

Johnny’s sixth film role, as Edward Scissorhands in the 1990 romantic dark fantasy film Edward Scissorhands by Tim Burton (born Aug. 25, 1958), proved the charm for Johnny. The film’s critical and commercial success established Johnny as a leading Hollywood actor and kicked off more than two decades of close friendship with Tim Burton and collaborative roles in the quirky director-producer’s films, from Ed Wood in 1994 to upcoming Alice Through the Looking Glass, set for release May 27, 2016.

Three films featuring Johnny Depp were scheduled for theatrical release or festival debut in 2015.

Mortdecai, an action comedy film directed by David Koepp (born June 9, 1963), was released Jan. 23, 2015. Mortdecai has been declared a box office bomb.

Friday, Sept. 18, 2015, is the worldwide theatrical release date for Black Mass. The true crime drama is directed by Scott Cooper (born April 20, 1970). Black Mass premiered Friday, Sept. 4, 2015, at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival.

Friday, Sept. 18, 2015, is also the scheduled debut for London Fields, a noir crime thriller directed by Mathew Cullen (born ca. 1977), at the 40th Toronto International Film Festival, held Sept. 10–20, 2015. On Thursday, Sept. 17, London Fields was pulled from the festival’s film list because of an uncertain creative vision, occasioned by Mathew Cullen’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday, Sept. 15, in Los Angeles Superior Court and claiming fraudulent revisions to the film by its producers.

Johnny Depp’s star power derives from charismatic, memorable, quirky performances as lead actor in 34 films with worldwide aggregate box receipts of $7,244,689,129.

The Numbers Bankability Index™ for August 2015 recognizes the value brought to the film industry by Johnny Depp. His fourth-place ranking situates Johnny Depp between Brad Pitt in third place and Tom Cruise in fifth place.

Johnny Depp plunges into his roles, sometimes disappearing altogether into his carefully crafted characterizations.

Such especially is the case in his role in Black Mass (released Sept. 18, 2015). As true life mobster, James “Whitey” Bulger Jr. (born Sept. 3, 1929), Johnny masks his photogenic face with silicone prosthetics and his tousled hair with a receding hairline wig. He hides his expressive brown eyes under icy blue contact lenses and unsettles his smile with off-putting, stained teeth.

Perhaps Johnny Depp’s unique mystique as a privacy-prizing individual and as an impassioned actor may be best deciphered by Marlon Brando’s advice and by Johnny’s faith.

Method actor Marlon Brando (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004), with whom Johnny acted in Don Juan de Marco (1994) and The Brave (1997), advised that “Life is a birdsong,” i.e., short, so make the most of each moment.

On Oct. 16, 2011, as guest on Larry King Live, Johnny exemplified his personal faith as expressed in his belief in his two children, Lily-Rose Melody (born May 27, 1999) and John “Jack” Christopher III (born April 9, 2002), and in his belief that “. . . as long as you keep moving forward, just keep walking forward, things will be all right.”

Johnny Depp (left) and Tom Cruise (right) flank mega-hit producer Jerry Bruckheimer at ceremony honoring the Top Gun and Pirates of the Caribbean producer with star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, Monday, June 24, 2013: Angela George, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Johnny Depp at press conference of Black Mass, 2015 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Monday, Sep. 14, 2015, 13:27: GabboT, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black_Mass_PC_34_(21429307126).jpg

Johnny Depp (left) and Tom Cruise (right) flank mega-hit producer Jerry Bruckheimer at ceremony honoring the Top Gun and Pirates of the Caribbean producer with star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, Monday, June 24, 2013: Angela George, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JohnnyDeppJerryBruckheimerTomCruiseHWOFJune2013.jpg

For further information:

“Bankability Index for August, 2015.” The Numbers® > The Numbers Bankability Index™.
Available @ http://www.the-numbers.com/bankability

“Larry King Special: Johnny Depp.” CNN > Transcripts > Larry King Live. Aired October 16, 2011.
Available @ http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1110/16/lkl.01.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Tom Cruise's Star Power Revives Doug Limon Sci Fi Project Luna Park." Earth and Space News. Friday, Sept. 11, 2015.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/09/tom-cruises-star-power-revives-doug.html

Whitaker, Sam A. Johnny Depp: Kentucky & Hollywood. Data Stream Books, 2015.

WWF and TBWAParis: Before It’s Too Late 2008 Graphic of Forest as Lungs

Summary: In April 2008 World Wide Fund for Nature WWF and TBWAParis released a timely graphic, "Lungs: Before it's too late," to spotlight the deforestation crisis.

“Lungs: Before it’s too late” by WWF and TBWAParis: Brett Jordan, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) raises awareness of challenges to biodiversity conservation and to ecological footprint reduction throughout the world via innovative as well as traditional methods and strategies.

In 2008 WWF’s satellite office in Paris, France, teamed with international advertising agency TBWA Worldwide’s Paris branch, TBWA\Paris, to create a graphic advertisement spotlighting the importance of forests in global ecosystems and the catastrophic threats of deforestation to the planet’s well-being.

Erik Vervroegen, president and executive creative director of TBWAParis from 2003 to 2009, led the project, with Caroline Khelif, Leopold Billard and Julien Conter as art directors. Entitled “Lungs” with a caption “Before It’s Too Late” and the WWF panda logo in the lower right, the graphic was released in April 2008.

Under an overcast sky, a landscape of forests and open land primarily is colored in shades of light and dark green. Two large, leaf-shaped, densely forested tracts, extensively dissected by sinuous rivers, dominate the print advertisement’s foreground and center.

In the right foreground one of the tracts exhibits deep, ground-level gouging. Amber brown barrenness deforms over 50 percent of the right tract.

The leaf-shaped tracts, ribboned with rivers and deformed by deforestation of a portion of one tract, are reminiscent of cone-shaped lungs, branched with pulmonary capillaries and deformed by removal of a section of one lobe. Lungs process air during breathing, favoring oxygen and expelling carbon dioxide.

Trees filter the air flowing around Earth to finesse the carbon dioxide-oxygen exchange, absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. Oxygen released by one large tree provides a sufficient supply for two people.

The caption “Before it’s too late” spotlights the catastrophic challenges ensuing from deforestation that threaten well-being for all life on Earth. Although a study published online Sept. 2, 2012, in Nature presented a dazzling global tally of 3.04 trillion trees, deforestation removes 15 billion annually from the Earth’s surface. Led by Thomas W. Crowther of Yale Climate and Energy Institute, the study finds that the worldwide total tree count has been reduced by approximately 46 percent since the beginnings of human civilization.

Although commissioned almost 7.5 years ago, the WWF and TBWAParis print advertisement graphically and timely calls for responsible commitment to reversing the chain of catastrophic events unleashed by the chemical imbalances created by excessive deforestation. It is not too late for effective actions, inspired by “Lungs: Before it’s too late,” to affirm the awesome power of visual imagery.

tree density at the square-kilometer pixel scale; global map produced from satellite imagery, forest inventories and supercomputer technologies; T. (Thomas) W. Crowther et al. (37 co-authors), "Mapping tree density at a global scale," Nature, vol. 525 (published Sep. 2, 2015): credit Crowther, et al.: No usage restrictions, via EurekAlert!

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

“Lungs: Before it’s too late” by WWF and TBWAParis: Brett Jordan, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/x1brett/3408368805/

tree density at the square-kilometer pixel scale; global map produced from satellite imagery, forest inventories and supercomputer technologies; T. (Thomas) W. Crowther et al. (37 co-authors), "Mapping tree density at a global scale," Nature, vol. 525 (published Sep. 2, 2015): credit Crowther, et al.: No usage restrictions, via EurekAlert! @ https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/543357; (EurekAlert! news release @ https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/484045); (former URL @ https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/98493.php?from=305194)

For further information:

Crowther, T.W., et. al. "Mapping Tree Density at a Global Scale." Nature, vol. 525 (Sept. 10, 2015): 201-205.
Available @ http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v525/n7568/full/nature14967.html

WWF International. "Think About the Rainforest." YouTube. May 22, 2008.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPHMXiw-XaA