Good Tuesday morning.
In keeping with the never-ending summer theme, I bring you not one, but TWO beach-related items.
These are extra pertinent right about now, as I’m fairly certain many of us are actively planning for the upcoming holiday weekend, if not already in full-blown vacation mode.
First, it’s National Beach Day. Sandy beaches line more than 30 percent of the world’s coastlines, playing critical roles in local economies and cultures, and acting as natural buffers to coastal storms, which, as we know, as increasing in intensity and frequency due to climate change-induced extreme weather patterns.
By the way, if you really want to have your mind blown, consider this: Scientists estimate that the Earth contains 7.5 sextillion sand grains – 75 followed by 17 zeros.
Of course, we really don’t know for sure, since it’s impossible to get an exact count. But a group of researchers in Hawaii (of course) came up with the following formula:
Assume a grain of sand has an average size and calculate how many grains are in a teaspoon, then multiply by all the beaches and deserts in the world. The result: 7.5 x 1018 grains of sand, or seven quintillion, five hundred quadrillion grains.
BTW, fair warning, if you click on the aforementioned link, you’re going to go down a mathematical rabbit hole of how many stars there are versus grains of sand, and you might actually have to lie down for a while. Trust me, you should probably skip it if you want to be anything close to resembling productive today.
Anyway, back to sand.
Composed of different materials, depending on where you find it, sand comes in an array of colors such as white, black, green and pink. The most common component of sand is silicon dioxide in the form of quartz.
Just like pretty much everything else worth caring about, sandy beaches are threatened by climate change. In fact, half of the world’s beaches could disappear by the end of this century as a result of climate change-induced coastal erosion and rising seas, according to a 2020 study published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
OH, and another big threat to beaches? Humans, who are basically loving them to death by frequenting them and declining to take the trash they generate during those visits home – or at least deposit them in the nearest appropriate waste bin. Add that to all the junk that we throw into the ocean that washes up on the beach and you get one giant trash heap.
The worst, IMHO: Cigarette butts in the sand. Please, people, stop smoking already. Just stop. It’s bad for you. It’s bad for the environment. It’s just bad. Full stop.
OK, I’m down from the soap box now, and I did promise you a second beachy item, so here it is: It’s also International Whale Shark Day. Contrary to their rather confusing name, these animals ARE, in fact, all shark – the largest living version of their species. They can grow up to 14 meters in length (basically, picture a fish the size of a school bus) and weigh an average of 12 ton.
Their teeth, however, are very small – about six millimeters in length. Whale sharks are big, but not dangerous. They have never eaten a human, and probably would have difficulty doing so if they tried. They’re also endangered, and if you see one – they’re pretty easy to identify, as they’re covered in distinctive spots – don’t be scared, consider yourself lucky.
It might not be the best day for beach-going – or whale-spotting, for that matter – depending on where you are in the world. In the Capital Region, it’s going to be another warm day, (we’re under a heat advisory until 8 p.m. tonight), but it will be cloudy with scattered showers and thunderstorms as the day progresses.
In the headlines…
President Joe Biden will give a prime-time speech this week about how America’s “rights and freedoms are still under attack,” returning to the core message of his 2020 campaign as Americans are getting ready to vote in the November midterm elections.
Biden is scheduled to deliver the GOP-bashing speech Thursday outside the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was debated and approved and, later, the U.S. Constitution was written.
This will come a week after Biden returned to the campaign trail with a fiery speech in which he offered one of his sharpest rebukes of Republicans who have stuck to the credo of his predecessor, labeling it “semi-fascism”.
Biden is set to make stops in Milwaukee and Pittsburgh on Labor Day to celebrate “the dignity of American workers,” the White House announced.
Biden is stepping up his public appearances as he seeks to tout his legislative summer wins ahead of November’s midterm elections. He was born in Pennsylvania, and made his first official 2020 campaign appearance in Philadelphia in May 2019.
Biden’s plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student loans for tens of millions of Americans could erase the projected $300 billion deficit reduction that his hard-fought climate, drugs and tax legislation would generate over 10 years – by as much as two times.
The state of Utah is suing the Biden administration following a decision made last year to restore environmental protections for the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in the state’s red-rock desert.
The Biden administration plans to ask the U.S. Congress to approve an estimated $1.1 billion arms sale to Taiwan, including 60 anti-ship missiles and 100 air-to-air missiles amid heightened tensions with China.
The Justice Department said that the Supreme Court should not take up a case on citizenship rights for American Samoa.
A special Justice Department team has withheld from investigators some of the documents seized earlier this month from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home because they might include information protected by attorney-client privilege.
The Justice Department told a federal judge that its review of the records seized identified only a “limited set” that might “potentially” be attorney-client privileged.
Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen said the confidential documents found by investigators during the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago may have already been “given away,” and if not, he warns that Trump may use the information to hold America “hostage.”
The National Archives and Records Administration has faced a spike in threats and vitriol in the weeks since the FBI’s search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
Trump says he is using new “conclusive” information regarding Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and the FBI’s alleged burying of an investigation into his laptop to challenge the 2020 election and call for a new, impromptu election entirely.
Trump reportedly believes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is “stealing” some of his mannerisms, such as hand gestures and body language.
A Trump associate facing a Brooklyn federal trial is pushing to disqualify dozens of potential jurors who roasted the former president as the public figure they least admire — calling him “divisive, ignorant, racist, misogynistic, and dislikable in every way.”
The Biden administration is ending its program for free at-home COVID-19 tests due to a lack of congressional funding.
“Ordering through this program will be suspended on Friday, September 2 because Congress hasn’t provided additional funding to replenish the nation’s stockpile of tests,” the ordering website says.
In New York City, officials have closed many brick-and-mortar coronavirus testing sites, in a sign that the city is moving into a new phase of the pandemic: learning to live with the virus.
Authorities in China’s southern city of Shenzhen shut the world’s largest electronics market of Huaqiangbei and suspended service at 24 subway stations in a bid to curb an outbreak of COVID-19.
A group of people are still keeping mostly to themselves and taking other measures to minimize infection risks. Compromised immune systems and the risks of long Covid are among reasons they say they are maintaining caution.
First lady Jill Biden has tested negative for Covid-19 after a rebound case and will return to the Washington, DC, area today, communications director Elizabeth Alexander said in a statement.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan has tested positive for COVID-19 after experiencing mild, allergy-like symptoms.
“I am thankful I am fully vaccinated and boosted because as we have learned over the past two-plus years, my symptoms could be far worse,” Sheehan said in a statement.
Nine veteran police officers whom the city has tried to fire after the NYPD rejected their religious exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccination have sued to hold onto their jobs, according to recent court filings.
Despite near record-high office vacancies, Gov. Kathy Hochul has backed a real estate project at the New York transit hub of Penn Station that would be one of the largest in American history and features 10 towers of mostly offices.
Some New York Democrats, disaffected with rising crime and left-wing policy priorities, now say they are ditching their party’s nominee, Hochul, in favor of Republican challenger Lee Zeldin ahead of the Nov. 8 gubernatorial election.
The Bensonhurst-based New Era Democrats threw its weight behind Zeldin because “there has to be a change” in Albany, said club president John Orlando.
Hochul sparked intense outrage after lambasting New York Republican candidates during a speech last week, telling them to “get out of town” and “head to Florida” where they belong.
Zeldin is selling campaign merchandise that appears to reference a remark a veteran with PTSD made as he approached the congressman on stage at an event last month.
Hochul said that remote learning during the pandemic was a “mistake” that especially affected working women.
New York’s top court may have violated state law by allowing Chief Judge Janet DiFiore to vote for her interim successor.
Jeffrey Deskovic, 48, who spent 16 years in prison for a rape and murder he did not commit, calls DiFiore’s tenure “a complete failure.”
Some good-government groups want the state Supreme Court to appoint a special master to redraw state Assembly maps after the justice assigned to the case indicated he’s leaning toward letting the Independent Redistricting Commission do the job.
Adams said he plans to force even more cops to trade in their cushy desk and maintenance duties for the streets, after The Post reported uniformed precinct “plant managers” are being put back on patrol amid soaring crime.
The city won’t meet its 2027 deadline for shutting down the notorious jail complex on Rikers Island and building four replacement facilities, city Comptroller Brad Lander said, drawing strong pushback from Adams.
Adams all but declared “mission accomplished” in his campaign to move homeless people out of the city’s subway system.
Adams announced he would sign seven bills into law aimed at turning the tide on maternal mortality rates among African American women.
Adams said nearly 7,600 migrants have now arrived in New York City since May, a human crush that has sent city officials scrambling to find them adequate housing.
Adams dropped by a swanky Southampton charity event Saturday night decked out in a bright blue, floral outfit that made him look like a “Greek dancing with the stars” contestant.
The Big Apple’s embattled social services chief, Gary Jenkins, will be out of the office for nearly two weeks as the city’s shelter system strains under the weight of thousands of migrants arriving from the southern border.
Former three-term GOP Gov. George Pataki worries that the massive flood of migrants crossing the southern border could trigger another Sept. 11-type terrorist attack.
For the first time in recent memory, the city will schedule residential trash collection on the Labor Day holiday weekend, using a pool of Sanitation Department volunteers.
Despite refraining from offering any congressional endorsements this year, Adams held up House candidate Dan Goldman’s win in last week’s NY-10 primary as a sign that a “moderate” style of Democratic politics is prevailing among voters.
Rep. Mondaire Jones moved to remove his name from the Working Families Party line in the general election, adding some possible intrigue to the race featuring newly minted Democratic nominee Goldman.
How did Goldman, a first time candidate, pull off his victory? And why couldn’t progressives unify to stop it?
Adams announced that two online ghost gun retailers have stopped illegally selling and delivering gun components that are used to assemble illegal and untraceable firearms to New York City residents in the wake of lawsuits filed by his administration.
As New York officials move forward with the state’s plan to launch congestion pricing in Manhattan, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has turned to overblown claims in his effort to kill the program.
A 34-year-old worker at an Albany homeless center suffered critical injuries to his arms and lower leg when a man visiting the facility allegedly attacked him with a sword-like weapon, according to law enforcement officials.
The issue of student parties drawing large, rowdy crowds along Hudson Avenue in Albany continues to bedevil city and university leaders as police investigate an early Sunday morning shooting nearby that left six people wounded.
More than 100 New York State and local firefighters have been working throughout the past 24 hours to try to suppress wildfires that have already scorched an estimated 30 acres at the Minnewaska State Park Preserve near Napanoch in Ulster County.
California’s Legislature passed a bill to create a government panel that would set wages for an estimated half-million fast food workers in the state, a first-in-the-U.S. approach to workplace regulation that labor union backers hope will spread nationally.
The launch of NASA’s historic Artemis I moon mission was postponed after the team was unable to work through an issue with one of the rocket’s four engines.
NASA officials said it was too early to guess whether the rocket might be able to launch Friday, the next potential opportunity, or later. Mission managers will meet today to discuss their next steps.
Serena Williams’s Grand Slam singles career will live on for at least another match.
A former president, A-list actors and professional athletes were among the fans who packed into Arthur Ashe Stadium to watch Williams in the first round of the U.S. Open.
The MLB Players Association, which represents nearly 800 active baseball players, wants to add minor league players to its ranks, representing a labor shift that would allow the younger athletes to collectively bargain for better wages and playing conditions.
