Why the world is running out of sand – BBC Future

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Why the world is running out of sand – BBC Future

It may be little more than grains of weathered rock, and can be found in deserts and on beaches around the world, but sand is also the world’s second most consumed natural resource.

A South African entrepreneur shot dead in September. Two Indian villagers killed in a gun battle in August. A Mexican environmental activist murdered in June.

Though separated by thousands of miles, these killings share an unlikely cause. They are some of the latest casualties in a growing wave of violence sparked by the struggle for one of the 21st Century’s most important, but least appreciated, commodities: ordinary sand.

Trivial though it may seem, sand is a critical ingredient of our lives. It is the primary raw material that modern cities are made from. The concrete used to construct shopping malls, offices, and apartment blocks, along with the asphalt we use to build roads connecting them, are largely just sand and gravel glued together. The glass in every window, windshield, and smart phone screen is made of melted-down sand. And even the silicon chips inside our phones and computers – along with virtually every other piece of electronic equipment in your home – are made from sand.

New findings give insight into a varied wolf diet — Furbearer Conservation

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Predator eat predator: New findings give insight into a varied wolf diet — Furbearer Conservation

When thinking about the parameters of a typical wolf diet, a common conjuring of likely candidates resembles common prey species such as wild ungulates and ranched livestock. Perhaps the occasional hare or small rodent.

Many studies focusing on the dietary trends of wolves across North America do, in fact, point out that ungulates are a staple. Multiple studies have referenced moose (Alces alces) as making up over 80% of a wolf’s diet. White-tailed deer (the most common prey in Minnesota), elk, caribou, and domestic livestock tend to also be popular and common fare - polarizing the debate of both wolf management and reintroduction in many parts of America.

However, as the Voyageurs Wolf Project of Minnesota highlights in a recent social media post, skilled predators like wolves can sometimes leave us all surprised with what they fancy for a meal.

Save the Pine Bush Dinner Tonight

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Save the Pine Bush
Vegetarian/Vegan Lasagna Dinner
Wednesday, November 20, 2019

6:00 PM Dinner • 7:00 Presentation

Hugh Johnson, Retired National Weather Service Meteorologist

will speak about …
How Trump could ruin our National Weather Service and trump our chances to reverse
climate change for good

at Westminster Presbyterian Church
85 Chestnut Street, Albany, NY

Always good lasagna

November 20, 2019 Morning

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Good morning! What day is it? Save the Pine Bush Dinner Day, of course. 🍲 Hugh Johnson’s presentation on the politicalization of the weather service by the Trump administration should be really interesting. Two weeks to Average High is 40 🌨. Cloudy with snow fog and mist and 33 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌁 Calm wind. There is a few piles of snow on the ground that are rapidly turning to mud. ️Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 10 pm. ☃️

Off bright 🔆 and early to bail out Big Red. At least he passed the inspection and he shouldn’t need much now with the extremely limited winter driving schedule 🚘 that I have. $75 bucks isn’t a big bail fee, but then again I heard they’re doing away with cash bail. Maybe they aren’t doing away with that kind of bail. I’ll transfer to the 905 and pick it up. I haven’t decided if I will drive downtown or head home after I pick it up. It would be kind of nice to drive home after the Pine Bush dinner but I don’t really want to deal with the inbound traffic and red-light cameras 🚥 in the city.

At least I got a good night’s sleep. 😴 For a while I’ve been really good at retiring to bed early and feeling good all day long at work but since I’ve been working on recoding the blog I’ve been staying up too late. Not good.

The one thing about riding the Early bus 🚍 is the creepy health department civil servant rides the bus and he wants to always wants to chat about such weird things. The guy is certainly an odd ball ⚽. I guess I can’t say much, he works for a living and pays taxes.

Today will have a slight chance of snow before 8am, then a slight chance of rain and snow between 8am and 11am, then a slight chance of rain after 11am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a high of 39 degrees at 12pm. Seven degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 6th. Calm wind becoming northwest 5 to 9 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had light snow in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 72 was set in 1991. 3.4 inches of snow fell back in 1961.❄

The sun will set at 4:29 pm with dusk around 4:59 pm, which is 45 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 36 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 36 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 58 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly clear ☁, with a low of 29 degrees at 5am. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 24th. Northwest wind 6 to 10 mph. In 2018, we had partly cloudy skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 17 degrees. The record low of 7 occurred back in 1879.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 41. Sunday, a chance of rain and snow showers before 11am, then a chance of rain showers between 11am and 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 42. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Typical average high for the weekend is 45 degrees.

Right now I’m leaning towards staying in town this weekend ✒ and finishing up the blog redesign because next week is a three day work week I believe and then I could spend the long weekend after Thanksgiving up north. But who knows – it could be cold and snowy by then. Tough decision. I miss nights 🌃 in the wilderness but camping for one night especially in the winter is a lot of work.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Average High is 40 🌨 when the sun will be setting at 4:22 pm with dusk at 4:54 pm. That means we’re in the meat 🍖 of winter through late February. On that day in 2018, we had mist showers, partly cloudy and temperatures between 39 and 21 degrees. We hit a record high of 63 back in 1998.

First overlook