Posts from — September 2010

Position: 17.7N 42.5W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West [275°] near 17 mph [28 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 75 mph [120 kph].
Wind Gusts: 85 mph [135 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 115 miles [185 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 15 miles [ 30 km].
Minimum central pressure: 992 mb ↓.

Currently about 1275 miles [2050 km] East of the Leeward Islands.

As expected Igor is now a hurricane. Now we wait on the steering to harden, so we know where it’s going.

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.]

September 11^th, 2001

On September 11^th, 2001 approximately 3,000 people died and the individual most responsible is still at large – why?

In the intervening years we have spent hundreds of billions of dollars, trampled on peoples rights, created huge new government bureaucracies, and can’t respond as well as the third world to a natural disaster.

Richard Clarke: “Your government failed you. Those entrusted with protecting you failed you. And I failed you. We tried hard. But that doesn’t matter, because we failed. And for that failure, I would ask, once all the facts are out, for your understanding and for your forgiveness.“

From the 8:30AM MDT information release: Thomas’ Great Basin Type 1 Incident Management Team took command of the fire at 6 p.m. last evening. The containment lines held over-night and spot fires near residences were controlled.

Quick Fire Facts:

• Date started: September 6, 2010 Cause: Human (under investigation)
• Location: 5 miles W of downtown Boulder, CO Size: 6,422 acres
• Containment: 30% Estimated Containment Date: September 13, 2010
• Number of Personnel: 953 (15 crews) Aircraft: 5 helicopters
• Equipment: 134 engines, 37 water tenders Retardant: (156,012 gallons) cumulative
• Cost to Date: $ 4,000,000 Injuries to Date: 3
• Structures Lost/Damaged: 172 (169 residences)

The Red Flag conditions are expected again this afternoon, but the major increase in available resources should make the fire easier to contain than yesterday. The winds are still coming from the west, which is pushing the fire towards the city.

Local media is reporting that the city of Boulder has been busy cleaning out fuel sources on the west side of the city, and urging residents to do the same on their property. They are asking people to be prepared to evacuate on minimal notice.

Position: 17.1N 34.9W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [285°] near 21 mph [33 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Wind Gusts: 65 mph [105 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 45 miles [ 75 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1000 mb ↓.

Currently about 725 miles [1170 km] West of the Cape Verde Islands.

The storm moved out of the wind shear and dry air and has picked up the steering current.

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.]

Cats…Who Knows?

Not gonna happen…

[Editor: Excise demonstrates why you haven’t seen the indoor cats – they are on strike. There is something about this camera they really don’t like. They started out merely closing their eyes, but now they turn away.

Friday Ark

The Four Mile Canyon Fire started Monday, September 6^th, at approximately 10:00 AM about 5 miles West of Boulder, Colorado. They know the cause was “human”, but they don’t know if it was accidental or intentional.

The fire took off in steep terrain with a mixture of Douglas fir, Ponderosa pine, and grasses as fuel, pushed by low humidity and gusty winds. I have been monitoring it, but yesterday the humidity went up and the winds died, so it looked like they would be able to get it under control.

Well, Hermine intervened. The remnant low from Hermine that has been responsible for flooding and storms in Texas, Oklahoma and that general neighborhood, has kicked up the winds, and they aren’t the water-filled winds creating the havoc in the Southeast.

Currently the fire has burned more than 6350 acres and is 30% contained. So far the local Sheriff’s Department has confirmed that 169 homes have been destroyed. Only four people are reported missing, and there are no confirmed deaths. Twenty subdivisions west of Boulder have been evacuated and 3 major County Roads are closed because of the fire.

The Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests and the Pawnee National Grassland are affected and the fire has been elevated to a Type 1 Incident.

There are currently 550 firefighters 13 crews, 75 engines, 5 helicopters, and 7 air tankers at the scene, with more resources on the way.

It would seem that another group of whackos is upset that the whackos in Gainesville are stealing their schtick. McClatchy reports:

One of those angry at a Florida preacher’s plans to mark Sept. 11 by setting fire to copies of the Quran is Shirley Phelps Roper, a leader of the Westboro Baptist Church.
…

It’s that in 2008 she and her father’s Topeka flock set fire to a Quran in plain view on a Washington, D.C., street and nobody seemed to care.

“We did it a long time before this guy,” Phelps-Roper said by telephone from a street corner in downtown Chicago, scene of the latest Westboro picket — against Jews this time, not gays.

The difference could be that in 2008 many news media outlets had decided to ignore the group’s routine of spewing hatred at funerals of fallen American soldiers.

Well, Ms Phelps Roper is an attorney, and the Westboro Baptist Church does make the bulk of its money from law suits against people who object to their “performance art”, so this would be an obvious move.

The event in Gainesville is “news” only because the media decided to make it news. It has no more validity today than it had in 2008.

Position: 15.4N 28.0W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [295°] near 13 mph [20 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [ 70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1004 mb.

Currently about 245 miles [390 km] West of the southernmost Cape Verde 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.]

This Saturday a publicity hungry leader of a micro-church [30 people] has scheduled a stunt in Gainesville to gain some notoriety. This is not making the people of Gainesville happy.

First and foremost, Gainesville is the home of the University of Florida and this Saturday is a home game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. If this stunt interferes in any way with the tens of thousands of people who will show up to see that game, there will be trouble. College football is very serious business in Florida. [The compensation package for the football coach was $4 million/year the last time I heard.]

Next I would like to make clear that no one seems to know if this person is related to the Flavor Aid Fruitcake, but he is definitely not associated with Monty Python in any way.

John Locke was easily the most influential philosopher on the “Founding Fathers” of the United States. Parts of the Declaration of Independence are “borrowed” from his writings. His response to the questions of a friend, A Letter Concerning Toleration, is a guide to the thinking behind the First Amendment’s freedom of religion.

The simple fact is: intolerance towards any religion is unAmerican. It violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution.

Happy 5771!

At sunset Rosh Hashanah begins, so get your honey, challah, and apples ready.

Both Cookie Jill and Fallenmonk decided it was time to face the world today.

That’s the world for you. You finally get the place arranged the way you want it and you have to move.

Happy Birthday to y’all.

Rainfall in inches for cities and towns in Texas as of 10AM CDT

Georgetown 2.5 Ne 13.20
Cedar Park 1.0 Ese 12.99
Anderson Mill 1.4 Nw 12.71
Jollyville 2.1 Ssw 12.23
Killeen 2.9 Ssw 11.66
Leander 1.0 Sse 11.62
Austin 10.7 N 11.48
West Lake Hills 2.4 Nnw 11.08
Wells Branch 0.3 Wnw 11.00
Brushy Creek 2.3 Sw 11.00
Fort Hood Aaf/Killeen 10.72
Andice 1.6 Sw 10.21
Jarrell 0.3 S 10.20
Round Rock 3.0 N 10.05
Fort Worth 11.8 Nw 6.84
San Antonio/Stinson Muni Arpt 6.73
Houston 1.4 Ne 4.47

It is still raining in Central Texas.

Position: 13.8N 24.6W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West [270°] near 7 mph [11 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [ 75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 50 miles [ 80 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1005 mb.

Currently about 70 miles [115 km] South of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands.

This was the tropical wave that looked nasty while it was still over Africa.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the southern Cape Verde Islands including Maio, Sao Tiago, Fogo, and Brava.

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.]

Elayne of Elayne’s Journal is celebrating her eighth blogiversary™ today. Unfortunately she’s doing it from a hospital bed because of kidney problems.

My congratulations and best wishes go out to her, as Blogger comments doesn’t like people with their own websites.

She joins a number of others on the “Injured / Reserve” list of blogtopia™:

• PZ Myers of Pharyngula is recovering from a heart procedure;
• Jams O’Donnell of Poor Mouth is recovering from knee surgery and an encounter with Satan Cat;
• Steve Bates of Yellow Something Something is still dealing with complications of a foot wound; and
• Fallenmonk just returned after a family medical emergency.

Getting old isn’t easy.