The 2014 Ig® Nobel Prize Ceremony just started at 6PM EDT [Webcast started at 5:40PM EDT]. I’ll report on the awards later.

For those unfamiliar with the Ig Nobel Prizes – they are annual awards presented for research that is, on the surface, just weird or ridiculous, but may actually provide serious scientific value.

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The voters came out in huge numbers in Scotland to decide the question of possible separation from the United Kingdom. The results won’t be announced until around 7AM local time [2AM CDT].

The voting age in Scotland is now 16, which is the age when many young people start work in the UK if they aren’t continuing to attend university. Given the changes that Cameron has made to the working conditions of young people in the UK and the steep increase in university fees, the young voters are not likely to be supporters of the status quo.

Under British election laws and customs there is a media blackout on election results until the official announcement. There is no exit polling, nor the rush to declare a winner that characterizes US elections.

The Guardian has a video explainer for non-Brits.

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I updated the iPad and it went slowly. The download is 1 Gigabyte and you need about 6 Gigabytes of free space for the installation.

I didn’t need or want any of the spiffy new features, but I figured I had to keep the software current. I assume that all of the apps that I loaded will have updates soon, which will be annoying as the upgrade notices tend to occur when I want to use the thing for something other than to hold papers down on my desk.

Position: 39.9N 39.2W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: East [090°] near 17 mph [28 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 70 mph [110 kph].
Wind Gusts: 85 mph [135 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 205 miles [335 km].
Minimum central pressure: 980mb.

Currently about 570 miles [ 915 km] West-Northwest of Fayal Island in the Azores.

The storm is weakening in the cooler water.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]