The BBC had this item in its Technology section: European trade committee votes to reject piracy treaty

MEPs on a key European parliamentary committee have voted to reject the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta) by 19 votes to 12.

Many regard it as the deathblow for the controversial treaty because the trade committee formally recommends how to vote to the wider parliament.

ACTA was another government gift to media conglomerates under the guise of protecting ‘intellectual property’. If it is ratified the media cons would be closer to their goal of controlling the ‘Net and eliminating all of the small content providers, while extracting even more money from people.

The entire reason for enacting intellectual property laws is to foster creativity. It has unfortunately been degraded into scheme that only rewards multinational corporations, not those that are actually creative, i.e. marketing has become more important that actual creation.

ACTA was just the latest in the campaign that included the SOPA and PIPA laws that the media cons are trying to get enacted in the US.

Position: 28.3N 85.9W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Nearly Stationary.
Maximum sustained winds: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Wind Gusts: 70 mph [110 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 200 miles [325 km].
Minimum central pressure: 991 mb ↑.

Currently about 110 miles [ 180 km] South-Southwest of Apalachicola, Florida.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the coast from the Mississippi-Alabama border East to the Suwannee River, Florida.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the coast from South of the Suwannee River to Englewood, Florida.

The forecast track has changed. It has moved from the central Texas coast to the mouth of the Mississippi River. Instead of going North, it is drifting Northeast and is currently almost due South of my location. The forecasters discussion admits that the trough might be strong enough to pull the storm to the East, rather than the ridge pushing it to the West.

In conclusion, it might hit the mouth of the Mississippi, or it might hit the ‘armpit’ of Florida, but they can’t sure. Just as long as it doesn’t pull an Elena and spend a couple of days wandering back and forth in the northern Gulf, unsure of where it wanted to go.

The 4PM update shows a totally new track forecast with Apalachicola as the new target. The Warning for Louisiana has been discontinued. From the local wind I knew that the storm was to the East of my location, but it is moving slowly, indicating weak steering, so anything is still possible. The slow movement also impedes strengthening as cooler water is pulled to the surface which reduces available energy.

Oh, great, since 7PM CDT it has just been sitting there going nowhere and dumping rain on the part of Florida in the Eastern time zone. The good news is that the Everglades needed more water flow and is getting it.

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.]