THIS IS HUMP WEDNESDAY

I was planning to spend today making fun of things on Hump Day.  But there is the reality of  our world, so let me start with...:

• ...the tragedy of MH 17, and that 50-hearse procession today from a military airport in Eindhoven, Netherlands with tens of thousands standing in solemn respect along the roads, bringing tears to viewers.

• And, surely, there has to be a better solution for those waves of migrant children crossing our border with Mexico.  Nearly 100,000 will come this year and 150,000 more expected next year.  While the percentage of minors is increasing, they still represent less than 20% of the total.  Compared to 2000, though, the number of arrests  have dropped by a factor of almost five since 2000.  Males represent 94% of the total and most are from Central America, not Mexico.  And Congress is doing essentially nothing.  Two hours ago Republicans accused Democrats of stalling.  All the stalling before that involved Republicans.  In 59 immigration courts across the country, 243 judges are presiding over these cases.
• Plus, that Gaza War, where the death toll is 25 Palestinians to 1 Israeli.  Give some credit to Secretary of State John Kerry for trying to end this craziness.

Otherwise, I love that Geico camel.  Here is a minute and a half re-mix of Martin the Camel.  The voice, incidentally, is that of Chris Sullivan.

How many of you know that the new president of Indonesia is 53-year old Joko Widodo, a child of the slum?  He beat Prabowo Subianto (left), a retired army general and son-in-law of former authoritarian president Suharto.  Prabowo called the election a fraud.  In excess of  135 million Indonesians cast ballots, more than Americans voting in the 2012 American presidential election.  Obama spent his first, second and part of third grades here.

In another tragedy, the pine tree dedicated to Beetle George Harrison was killed by beatles.  No, make that:  The pine tree dedicated to Beatle George Harrison was killed by beetles.  In a decade, the tree had grown ten feet tall.  But bark beetles and ladybugs did it in.

I brought a Zippy's Kokua Pac to my University campus office today and after taking a photo, noticed yellow flowers on the lawn outside my window:

There are a dozen of these Gold Trees around my building, but only one is blooming.  There are also numerous rainbow shower trees in my parking lot:

Over the next few days I still plan to blog on:

global climate change, 

the latest on the risk of niacin, plus another medical reversal having to do with not needing to fast for your blood lipid test, 

progress on battery storage, and

a pathway for reducing climate change through ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC).

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