Hollow PointBoard

Maurice Sendup, King of All Wild Things, is proud to host the fourth annual Royal Ass Côte Races.

Named after the wild donkeys that run free along its diamond sands, the Ass Côte is home to some of Where the Wild Things Are's most spectacular scenery.

Encouraged with carrots, wild donkeys dash across the sands, competing to be crowned ‘Royal Ass of the Year’.

Sponsor a Donkey

Until the 16th June, a limited number of nations may sponsor a donkey on a first-come, first-served basis. The sponsors may choose a name for their donkey, which will be painlessly tattooed on the animal. Want-to-be sponsors should telegram All Wild Things with the name that they would like tattooed on their ass.

Back Up Your Ass

From Tuesday 16th to Saturday 20th June, all nations are invited to Where the Wild Things Are to cheer for their favourite donkey via our open-to-all poll. The donkey with the most support will be crowned ‘Royal Ass of the Year’.

Players may use puppets to vote for more than one donkey, but it is prohibited to use puppets to vote more than once for the same donkey. Any idiot can stuff a poll using puppets. The challenge here is to convince as many real people as possible to support your donkey.

The sponsor funds raised will go to preserving the pristine Ass Côte for perpetuity as a nature reserve.

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Watch the Live Action!

Read the 2020 commentary

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Eighty-five nations supported Royal Ass Côte 2019

Read the 2019 commentary

View the 2019 results.

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One hundred and eighty-eight nations supported Royal Ass Côte 2018

Read the 2018 commentary

View the 2018 results.

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Ninety-nine nations supported Royal Ass Côte 2017

Watch the 2017 opening ceremony

Read the 2017 commentary

View the 2017 results

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Sponsors so far:

Donkey Name	Nation	Distance ran (furlongs)
Dat Ass	Feoras	-
Earthbound	Finmany	-
Grand Galleass	Jehovahs witness	-
Kamehameha	ScotlandSerenity	-
Maksim the Moscow Mule	Drunkndisorderly	-
Mother of the Mojave	Hermes Express 123	-
Okey Donkey	Mathuvan union	-
Omega	The red society	-
Salad Ass	Caduceo	-
The Wild Behind	New bergslagen	-

Hi I am here to give you some news.
News:The US and Brazilian presidents, Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, are pushing for a joint research effort on using a drug to treat Covid-19 that has been linked to increased deaths in virus patients.

Trump has repeatedly touted use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, even admitting to taking it himself as a preventative measure. US health bosses have cautioned against its use outside of a hospital setting because of a risk of heart problems.

The White House said Trump and Bolsonaro “expressed their mutual appreciation for the longstanding collaboration on health issues between the two countries”, discussing the US delivery of 2m doses of the controversial drug to Brazil and a “joint research effort to help further evaluate the safety and efficacy of hydroxychloroquine for both prophylaxis and the early treatment of the coronavirus”.

Just south of Alaska in British Columbia, Canada, amid the rugged countryside of Wells Gray Provincial Park, the entrance to a cave was discovered in 2018 that was so vast it could comfortably fit the entire Statue of Liberty in the antechamber.

Reporting on the discovery at the time, GNN covered an interview with John Pollack, an archeological surveyor and governor of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. He explained to Canadian Geographic the enormity of his expedition’s find.

“The opening is 100 meters long by 60 meters wide, and when you’re standing on the edge looking down into it, your line of sight is nearly 600 feet [183 meters],” added Pollack. “You don’t get lines of sight of 600 feet in Canadian caves — it just doesn’t happen. And this is a shaft. It goes down quite precipitously, it had a large amount of water flowing into it and is wide open for as far down (as) we’ve gone.”

“The scale of this thing is just huge.” he added.

Despite its entrance ranging 330 feet wide and 200 feet deep, it went undetected for so long, geologists believe, because a plug of ice had formed underneath a significant pile of snow. The steadily warming climate since the 1940’s, as confirmed by geological survey and satellite imagery, eventually caused the ice to collapse, revealing the scope of the massive feature.

MORE: Himalayan Mountaintops Visible for the First Time in 30 Years as Air Pollution Continues to Plummet in India

The Sarlacc Pit – Two Years on
Since its discovery in 2018, scientists have had very little opportunities to study the cave—which they nicknamed the Sarlacc Pit after the iconic monster in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi—due to the small window of time it can be safely explored. The snows must be gone and the water level of the river running down into it has to be sufficiently low—phenomena that only occur during September and some of October.

The shaft at the opening consists of layers of recumbent folds of marble and garnet mica schist, with minor quartzite. In places, the marble has distributed quartz grains that stand out in relief against the calcite and sandy limestone. The scientists used a helicopter, camera, and later, software, to produce a spatially correct 3D model of the visible portions of the entrance.

Catherine Hickson
“The Disappearing River,” near the Hare Indian River Plateau in NWT, is one of the finest examples of a sinking river in Canada, but this Wells Gray cave’s flow is significantly larger, with a uniquely dramatic, vertical shaft of huge proportions.

For now, to ensure the cave can be examined in a pristine condition, authorities have placed fines in excess of $1,000,000 for trespassing to deter rock climbers, plunderers, and Instagram travel influencers.

“We think it may connect to a much more ancient cave system,” Catherine Hickson, one of the scientists who discovered the cave, told CBC.

Catherine Hickson
Unfortunately according to Hickson, the warming of the climate is almost certainly responsible for the cave’s unveiling, an umbral stain on the otherwise sunny news of the discovery.

“This collapse is likely related to climate change as evidenced by the gradual recession of glaciers in the immediate area,” read the paper, published in February, 2020, in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.

But Hickson and other geologists admit the melt has “opened up a tantalizing opportunity” to explore what might be the largest cave entrance of its kind in Canada.

CHECK OUT: One Million ‘Wonder Plant’ Seedlings Are Planted in Wales to Fight Climate Crisis—and Create Healthy Seas

The paper concluded that the cave has an unknown depth and lateral extent, but based on the suspected resurgence feature it is expected to be at least 500 yards deep (460m) and 1.34 miles in long (2.16 km).

Official naming of the cave has been postponed, even now 2 years after its discovery, until First Nations cultures can be consulted.

“What we don’t know is the state of those open passages, how far they go,” she said. “We know that in other caves around the world, there’s life that has been adapted to that extreme environment,” says Hickson.
Tropical Storm Cristobal a U.S. Gulf Coast Threat After Making Landfall Along Mexico's Bay of Campeche Coast
By weather.com meteorologistsless than an hour agoweather.com
00:44
Tropical Storm Cristobal Set to Make Landfall
Meteorologist Domenica Davis tells us where the storm is headed next.
At a Glance
Tropical Storm Cristobal formed in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday.
A tropical storm warning has been posted along the Mexican coast.
Cristobal is likely to linger over land in eastern Mexico through Friday.
Beyond that, it is expected to move toward the U.S. Gulf Coast late Sunday or early Monday.
Some impacts, including heavy rain and high surf, should reach the U.S. Gulf Coast beginning Saturday.
Areas near the U.S. Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida should monitor the progress of Cristobal.
Cristobal was spawned by a large system called a Central American Gyre and the remnants of a former Eastern Pacific tropical storm.
This gyre and Cristobal will produce torrential rain and life-threatening flooding and mudslides in Mexico and Central America.
Tropical Storm Cristobal made landfall in Mexico Wednesday morning, will continue to pound Mexico and Central America with life-threatening, flooding rain, and then track toward the U.S. Gulf Coast later this weekend bringing a threat of flooding rain, high surf, coastal flooding and winds.

The center of Cristobal moved ashore just west of Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico, in the far western side of Campeche state just after 8:30 a.m. CDT Wednesday, with winds of 60 mph.

Cristobal continues to drift south-southeast at less than 5 mph.

A tropical storm warning continues along the Mexican coast from Campeche westward to Coatzacoalcos. The National Hurricane Center said tropical-storm-force winds (39-plus mph) are affecting portions of the warning area.

(MORE: Is An Active Hurricane Season Guaranteed After Two Early Storms?)

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Current Storm Status and Projected Path
(The red-shaded area denotes the potential path of the center of the tropical cyclone. It's important to note that impacts (particularly heavy rain, high surf, coastal flooding and strong winds) with any tropical cyclone usually spread beyond its forecast path.)
Cristobal became the record-earliest-in-season third named Atlantic storm - previously held by Tropical Storm Colin on June 5, 2016 - Tuesday in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. Last year, the "C" storm, Chantal, didn't develop until Aug. 20.

U.S. Gulf Coast Forecast
Cristobal will linger inland or near the Bay of Campeche coast of eastern Mexico through Friday, lacking any significant steering winds aloft. It may weaken to a tropical depression before it emerges back into the Bay of Campeche or Gulf of Mexico later Friday.

This weekend, however, it's expected to be drawn northward into the Gulf of Mexico through a break in subtropical high pressure.

That could bring Cristobal near the northern U.S. Gulf Coast by later Sunday anywhere from the upper Texas coast to the Alabama Gulf Coast. It remains too soon to determine exactly where this system would come ashore.

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Cristobal Steering
Early-June storms like Cristobal tend to be lopsided, with significant impacts far from the track of the center.

In this case, with a northward-moving Cristobal in the Gulf of Mexico, we expect a plume of deep, tropical moisture to wring out heavy rain well east of the center, as far east as the Florida Peninsula.

Also, increasing winds over the Gulf of Mexico will drive high surf to the beaches of the Gulf Coast, particularly to the east of the track from Louisiana to southwest Florida, generating dangerous rip currents and coastal flooding.

These far-reaching impacts are expected to increase beginning Saturday, and may persist into early Monday.

So, Cristobal is yet another case where the forecast path will not tell the whole story of impacts.

(MORE: Why the Projected Path Doesn't Always Tell the Full Story)

image
Rainfall Outlook and Forecast Path
(This should be interpreted as a broad outlook of where the heaviest rain may fall and may shift based on the forecast path of the tropical cyclone. Higher amounts may occur where bands of rain stall over a period of a few hours. The current forecast path of the center of Cristobal from the National Hurricane Center is shown by the red path.)
Cristobal's intensity forecast is a bit complicated.

First up, as mentioned earlier, Cristobal will interact with land in Mexico the next few days. Just how far inland it will track in Mexico is a bit uncertain. The farther away it moves from the warm Bay of Campeche water, the weaker it may become.

Wind shear, the change in wind speed and/or direction with height that typically hinders intensification of tropical cyclones, is expected to be present in the Gulf of Mexico as Cristobal heads northward.

image
Current Satellite and Wind Shear
(Areas of clouds are shown in white. Areas of strong wind shear, the difference in wind speed and direction with height, are shown in purple. High wind shear is hostile to mature tropical cyclones and those trying to develop.)
Gulf of Mexico water temperatures are currently warmer than average for early June and warm enough to support tropical development but not as warm as midsummer, and deep heat content is lacking in the western Gulf.

These factors should keep a lid on significant intensification of this system as it nears the U.S. Gulf Coast late in the weekend. For now, the most likely scenario is a tropical storm landfall.

(MORE: A Brief History of June Tropical Storms and Hurricanes)

image
Water Temperature Departures From Average
(Areas where water temperatures are warmer/cooler than average are shown by progressively darker yellow/blue contours.)
Interests along the Gulf coasts of the U.S. and Mexico should monitor Cristobal's progress closely. Check back to weather.com for updates over the next several days. If anything, this is a reminder to refresh or develop your hurricane plan now.

Major Flood Threat in Mexico, Central America
The most serious threat right now is for more inundating rain over areas that have already been clobbered with torrential rain and deadly flooding in southern Mexico and Central America.

The National Hurricane Center said parts of the Pacific coasts of El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico's Chiapas state picked up 20 inches of rain last weekend. Another 10 to 20 inches of rain, with locally higher amounts, is expected the next several days in those areas, as well as other Mexican states.

(MORE: Central America, Mexico Tropical Cyclones Have a Deadly History)

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Rainfall Forecast
Life-threatening flooding and mudslides are likely in these areas, particularly in hilly or mountainous terrain.

In addition to Cristobal, this rainfall is also being fueled by what's called a Central American Gyre, or CAG. This "gyre" is a large, broad area of low pressure that often forms in late spring and early fall over Central America and the western Caribbean Sea.

Flooding from former Eastern Pacific Tropical Storm Amanda and its remnants caused damage and killed several people in El Salvador last weekend.

Amanda's leftover energy and spin played a role in triggering the development of Tropical Depression Three in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico Monday afternoon, which then strengthened into Tropical Storm Cristobal on Tuesday.

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Current Satellite
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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