Yes, Graupel. Never heard it either, but a twitter conversation this morning between Mike Augustyniak, Jason DeRusha and David Brauer introduced followers to Graupel, a form of freezing precip.
Later Mike said it probably wasn't Graupel, but someday there will be Graupel, and you'll be able to say: hmm. Graupely out there today. the picture on the right? Graupel under an electron microscope. Looks like a virus that attacts anti-lock braking systems.
HEY YOU Today's annoying second-person headline is a dilly, as they would have said in 1956. Or 1946. I'm not up on the exact period the word had its vogue. Anyway, get this, from the New Repubic:
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Is Still Missing. You Secretly Hope It Stays That Way.
No, I don't. Do you? Then this is the article for you, because it takes an that all-important existential angle to the news.
Here's the URL: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117024/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-may-never-be-found-we-secretly-hope
If there's anyone doing the hoping, it would appear to be the author and the editor, and they're hardly doing it in secret.
Related: that last STARTLING REVELATION about the plane has been walked back; Achenbach has the details, and points out the wisdom of being suspicious of everything you hear. I remember a guy on the radio saying the police had raided the pilot's house and found a flight simulator; why, the natural inference was he used this secret base to train someone else to fly the plane after the co-pilot and navigator had been disabled. Took about 20 seconds of clicking to find the story about the flight simulator, and another five to call up his own Youtube account. He's sitting in front of the simulator giving a lecture about saving money by fine-tuning your air conditioner. What else do we know about him? Quartz rounds up what he left behind on the internet. He liked to twist balloons into interesting shapes, was interested in atheism, and liked to cook.
