Musings

I just read (okay: skimmed) a WaPo article by Andrew Zaleski that describes a new operation for people with knee cartilage problems. Surgeons put a pellet of calcium carbonate derived from coral exoskeletons (yeah, the reef kind) in the bone. Over time, the pellet is absorbed and the body makes a gooey substance that acts rather like real cartilage. It’s a fast operation, albeit with a different recovery curve than knee replacement. Zaleski describes two other new approaches with good results.

I’ll try to remember this. Right now my knees are okay (knock on wood), but they have had issues, and I baby them frequently.

Date: 17 Sept 2024. Title (that I saw online): Not ready for a knee replacement? You might be able to fix your cartilage instead.

Posted at 10:06 PM | Comments Off on Surgical knee magic

We tried to see the eclipse…the partial eclipse of the moon…nope: too much cloud cover. It does seem a bit brighter where the moon is supposed to be, though?

Posted at 10:24 PM | Comments Off on Moon-watch

Here’s the color the sun left before the moon rose.

Posted at 10:56 PM | Comments Off on Pink-gold-orange

I prepared for rain, wind, and outer bands. We got some wind, not much rain, and lots and lots of overcast. I enjoyed the cool most of all. [Elsewhere, of course, they got dumped on.]

Posted at 9:16 PM | Comments Off on Very little eventing

Gravity is a dependable engineering principle. Oh, wait. Apparently it’s not a force, but a curvature of spacetime. Yikes.

Posted at 10:21 PM | Comments Off on Good luck with the fine print

We heard that we should anticipate a deluge this afternoon. This became revised downward to…variable low-level precipitation—and what actually happened was…less (shall we say). So, we strolled the park, focusing on this…phalanx, we deemed it.

Posted at 10:01 PM | Comments Off on Watching reality arrive

I can get mesmerized by patterns.

Posted at 10:25 PM | Comments Off on Leaf me be…

Here’s proof of autumn. There are colorful Asclepias species, like this one I’m guessing, that are not uncommon in gardens. I’m more attuned to A. syriaca (most likely), which however important to monarch butterfly caterpillars, is less commonly cultivated.

Note that winds from Francine will be arriving over the next 48 hrs, and I’m sure these floss/filaments soon will be lofting seeds widely in the neighborhood.

Posted at 9:36 PM | Comments Off on Change a’coming

I’m wondering how many fly traps are deployed in the debate arena.

Posted at 7:46 PM | Comments Off on Future-casting

Cherubim evolution shifted from earlier sphinx/lion/bull (ish) figures with eagle wings to the winged chubby babies of Christian imagery—like these. That’s sure a softening.

Posted at 8:39 PM | Comments Off on Hybridized creatures