Posts from — July 2020

Position: 9.9N 45.9W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West [270°] near 12 mph [19 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Wind Gusts: 70 mph [110 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 35 miles [ 55 km].
Minimum central pressure: 998 mb ↓.

Currently about 1045 miles [1685 km] East of the Southern Windward Islands.

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.]

I had to go get bodily fluids siphoned off, one the joys of being old, and I found out why testing is backing up. I had an appointment and had to wait a half hour to get in. That was an hour better than the people who showed up without an appointment. They locked the door to keep the number of people in the waiting room to six as is stated on the outside door. We are having triple digit heat indexes, so outside is not exactly an ideal environment to wait.

The problem is this is one of only two labs in town and they do job and judicial drug testing, testing for doctors, and their lab is one of the two certified for COVID testing. If you are tested for COVID in this county it takes a week or 10 days to get a result.

Puppies may be the answer. There are studies in the US and Europe to see if dogs can tell if people have COVID by smelling test samples and/or body odor. While the studies need to continue, initial results are that some dogs are more accurate than some tests. If the large double blind studies confirm these results, COVID testing may be as straight forward as having a dog sniff you, with instant results. People could be tested passing through security in airports, or entering a large meeting space.

Apollo 11

Commander:

Neil A. Armstrong

Pilot: Columbia Command Module

Michael Collins, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF

Pilot: Eagle Lunar Module

Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr., Colonel, USAF

Launched: 16 July 1969 UT 13:32:00 (08:32:00 CDT)

Landed on Moon: 20 July 1969 UT 20:17:40 (15:17:40 CDT)

Landing Site: Mare Tranquillitatis – Sea of Tranquility (0.67 N, 23.47 E)

Returned to Earth: 24 July 1969 UT 16:50:35 (11:50:35 CDT)

It has been fifty-one years since a human first set foot on another natural body in the solar system and we have digressed to the point that we can’t duplicate that feat.

“Does every disaster movie start with a scientist being ignored?”

“Still, a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest” – Paul Simon The Boxer

The current wife of my former Congresscritter reports on the mess that is the Desantis response to the pandemic in Florida.

According to the US Census Bureau 19.7% of Florida’s population is under 18. That works out to approximately 4,231,000 children. The Florida Department of Health has a Pediatric Report on testing of this group. There have been 54,022 tests of members of the under 18 group and 16,797, 31.1%, tested positive for COVID-19.

The primary justification for reopening schools is that school-aged children aren’t “really” affected by the virus. It would appear that they have the virus in significant numbers and would be infecting the teachers and staff. The results would be schools closing in a couple of weeks because there wouldn’t be enough adults left to teach or maintain the schools.

It isn’t just the schools. Six weeks into the hurricane season the Miami Herald reports that Florida has closed the emergency operations center after 12 people on staff tested positive for COVID. If we can’t keep the EOC open why would anyone believe we can manage schools?

Everyone got an automatic extension until today to file their income tax returns, but Trump forgot or was unable to create a plan to make it possible for millions of people to actually have any income to tax because their jobs are gone.

[For a change, a live version of Taxman featuring George Harrison & Eric Clapton.]

La Fête Nationale
Bastille Day

Thank you for the help with the Revolution.

Some background.

Thanks to the incompetence of the governor and the ignorance of too many of our citizens, Florida has managed to demolish the former record for the number of new COVID cases in a single day:

According to state Department of Health statistics, 15,299 people tested positive, for a total of 269,811 cases, and 45 deaths were recorded.

California had the previous record of daily positive cases — 11,694, set on Wednesday. New York had 11,571 on April 15.

The numbers come at the end of a grim, record-breaking week as Florida reported 514 fatalities — an average of 73 per day. Three weeks ago, the state was averaging 30 deaths per day. Since the pandemic began in March, 4,346 people have died in Florida of COVID-19, the state says.

The good news is that many of the people contracting the virus are Republicans, so there will be fewer people to vote for Trump this November, and DeSantis in two years. Unfortunately they are murdering innocent people with their lack of concern.

Position: 42.4N 73.9W [ 4:00AM CDT 0900 UTC].
Movement: North [010°] near 17 mph [28 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [ 70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1001 mb ↑.

Currently about 30 miles [ 45 km] South of Albany, New York.

This is the last public advisory issued by the National Hurricane Center on this system.

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.]

That’s according to Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor.

According to Rebekah Jones’s site Florida COVID Action: today the Florida Department of Health is reporting that Florida had:

• 11,433 new cases today
• 65,837 new cases this week
• 244,151 cases since March 1^st
• 93 new deaths today
• 4203 deaths since March 1^st

So we shouldn’t be concerned that more than a quarter of all cases occurred this week? Florida is the location of a sixth of the daily count of new COVID cases for the entire US, but we shouldn’t worry 😈

There are a lot of out of state plates on the local roads, which means that cases are probably being exported to other states. This is a good thing because Florida only has 918 available ICU beds, that’s Key West to Pensacola less than a thousand beds.

Position: 41.0N 74.2W [10:00PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North [005°] near 17 mph [28 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1001 mb ↑.

Currently about 15 miles [ 30 km] Northwest of New York City.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for East Rockaway, New York to Watch Hill, Rhode Island including Long Island and Long Island Sound.

Fay made landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey at 4:00pm CDT.

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.]

Position: 36.3N 74.8W [10:00PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North [010°] near 8 mph [13 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [ 75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1005 mb.

Currently about 85 miles [ 140 km] North-Northeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Cape May, New Jersey to Watch Hill, Rhode Island including Long Island and Long Island Sound.

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.]

In my county we have gone from 5 COVID-19 deaths to 9 in two weeks. We are down to 5 ICU beds available, 4 of which are in the north county. We were at 200 cases for months and now we are approaching 1,000.

Yesterday CNN reported:

At least 56 intensive care units in Florida hospitals reached capacity on Tuesday, state officials said. Another 35 hospitals show ICU bed availability of 10% or less, according to the Agency for Health Care Administration in that state.

Trump’s Tulsa rally, protests ‘likely’ contributed to a surge in coronavirus cases, local health official says. He wants to do the same thing for New Hampshire, as we wait for the results of his Arizona rally.

We are running out of PPE again as the number of cases increase and he wants to open schools. He doesn’t know what he’s doing and has failed to provide any leadership.

In what can be considered ‘good’ news, the mayor of Houston has just told the Texas Republican Party that their convention at a Houston facility can’t be held under current circumstances. What is Trump going to do when a place he wants to hold a rally tells him they don’t have the medical facilities to support a Presidential visit?

Position: 42.7N 46.0W [ 4pM CDT 2100 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [055°] near 38 mph [61 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [ 75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 125 miles [205 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1005 mb ↓.

Currently about 445 miles [ 715 km] Southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland.

This is the last public advisory issued by the National Hurricane Center on this system.

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.]

Position: 37.2N 56.9W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [055°] near 35 mph [56 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 60 miles [ 95 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1008 mb ↓.

Currently about 685 miles [1100 km] South-Southwest of Cape Race, Newfoundland.

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.]