There are natural desert shrubs along the road in front of our house. One of those is a small palo verde tree. I took advantage of its green color by hanging red Christmas ornaments on it. I think it looks festive and cute. Click on the image to enlarge.
Today’s unemployment decrease is explained over at The Patriot Post (emphasis added):
November employment numbers are out today and they bring mixed news. Bloomberg reports, “The jobless rate declined to 8.6 percent, the lowest since March 2009, from 9 percent, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Payrolls climbed 120,000, with more than half the hiring coming from retailers and temporary help agencies, after a revised 100,000 rise in October.” Seems like good news. Unfortunately, part of the reason is that 315,000 Americans left the workforce altogether. Another part is that retailers have hired seasonal help.
Bloomberg also notes, “The so-called underemployment rate — which includes part- time workers who’d prefer a full-time position and people who want work but have given up looking — decreased to 15.6 percent from 16.2 percent.” Furthermore, “The jobless rate has exceeded 8 percent since February 2009, the longest stretch of such levels of unemployment since monthly records began in 1948.” This long after the recession supposedly ended, things should be looking much brighter than this. Welcome to Obamanomics.
I don’t know what type of tree this is, but it has turned the nice shade of red over the last few weeks. Click on the image to enlarge.
I know that there are a lot of species with the “Christmas Cactus” nickname. We have several cholla on the property with that nickname but they look (and are) formidable as opposed to the flowers on this delicate succulent. I got this potted plant last week at the supermarket. Click on the image to enlarge.
I took this photo from the bridge over the Hassayampa River today on our way back from a shopping trip to Surprise, AZ. This is looking approximately north and parallel to the river bank. A month or two ago, all the vegetation would have been green but now some are turning to their fall colors. Click on the image to enlarge.
These colorful solar animations are always very interesting to me. Click animation below to view full-sized version.
From SpaceWeather.com:
A radiation storm that began on Nov. 26th when a magnetic filament erupted on the sun is subsiding. Nevertheless, the Earth-effects are just beginning. The same explosion that caused the radiation storm also hurled a CME into space at about 930 km/s (2 million mph). According to analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the CME will reach our planet on Nov. 28th at 17:21 UT (+/- 7 hours).
