Posts from — August 2014

I was looking for coverage of the hurricane hitting Hawaii and I saw an ad by my ‘Net provider that implied that rival ‘Net providers in the area don’t have telephone support, but my provider does.

Sorry, but the other major provider is The Phone Company, and they definitely provide telephone support to their Internet customers, usually via the landline telephone that you were required to have to get DSL. They have an annoying menu system that you work through, then customer service reps, and if you stay on the line you will get to talk to one of their system engineers who can trace the line back to your specific modem and test it. I’ve had them overnight a new modem because the modem I was originally given couldn’t handle all of the tests that they wanted to run. They had already fixed the issue I called about, but were doing an upgrade that worked better with the new modems.

What was missing from the cable company ad was the fact that the package they were hawking includes telephone service that requires an Internet connection. If the ‘Net connection is down, you don’t have telephone service to call telephone support.

As for the general complaint that most Internet centered businesses depend on the ‘Net to provide support, that is a very valid complaint and something I’ve personally encountered with modem and router companies. I make a point before installing new equipment of going to their support web site and grabbing the docs and software updates before connecting the equipment. These days the only documentation that comes with hardware is the URL of the company’s support site. The days of the linen covered three-ring binders that used to accompany all software and hardware are long since over.

That is a picture of a bullet passing through sticks of colored chalk. It is something that Jim Bales, a regular commentator here, does in Real Life™. It confirms something I learned in my course on crime scene investigation as well as being a really neat photograph.

Oh, Iselle has gone post-tropical and Julio is still on track to pass 100+ miles to the Northeast of the Hawaiian Islands.

Position: 20.0N 159.5W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [290°] near 14 mph [22 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 85 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 80 miles [130 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1009 mb ↓.

Currently about 135 miles [ 220 km] Southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii.

The storm came ashore near Pahala on the Big Island at 8AM CDT and is weakening.

After attaining Category 3 status earlier Hurricane Julio is beginning to weaken and is still forecast to pass to the Northeast of the islands on Sunday as a Category 1/Tropical Storm. The main impact will be increased wave height on the northern coasts.

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.]

Hadley

Hi!

[Editor: After disappearing for weeks, the former ‘Kit’ is back and being called Hadley by my neighbor.

Friday Ark

Yesterday was the birthday of both Steve and NTodd and I was engaged with an extremely annoying old-fogey problem and more issues with government agencies.

Happy Birthday, Y’all!

Position: 19.1N 153.8W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West [280°] near 15 mph [24 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 75 mph [120 kph].
Wind Gusts: 90 mph [145 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 185 miles [295 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 35 miles [ 55 km].
Minimum central pressure: 992 mb ↑.

Currently about 95 miles [ 150 km] East-Southeast of Hilo, Hawaii.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for Hawaii County.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe, Oahu, Kauai, and Niihau.

The storm will probably hit the ‘Big Island’ of Hawaii as a minimal category 1 hurricane as there are signs of its weakening as it approaches. It is forecast to pass to the South of the other islands, but the strongest winds are found in the northern half of the storm.

Category 2 Hurricane Julio is forecast to pass just to the North of the islands on Sunday.

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.]

The BBC carried the news: Baroness Warsi quits as Foreign Office minister over Gaza

Foreign Office minister Baroness Warsi has resigned from the government, saying its policy on the crisis in Gaza is “morally indefensible”.

She wrote on her Twitter feed that she was leaving with “deep regret”.

Lady Warsi, who was previously chairman of the Conservative Party, became the first female Muslim cabinet minister when David Cameron took office in 2010.

The Muslim business community in Britain, predominately families who immigrated from Pakistan, is a major component of the Conservative Party.

The Baroness felt that simply saying that the situation in Gaza was terrible, while doing nothing about it and implying that Hamas was somehow responsible, was not a policy she could support.

Cameron’s statement in response to the resignation that included a line about the Baroness discussing this with him before going public with her resignation, must be particularly galling to Warsi who has been pushing for Britain to use its influence with Israel to stop the attacks on Gaza from the beginning.

While the IDF has withdrawn ground forces, the negotiations about something more permanent are taking place in Egypt. The Egyptians are moderating between Israel and Iran, because the Egyptians don’t talk to Hamas either, and Israel doesn’t talk to Iran or Hamas.

Position: 40.2N 62.7W [10AM CDT 1500 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [055°] near 31 mph [50 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 50 mph [ 85 kph].
Wind Gusts: 65 mph [105 kph].
Gale Force Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1006 mb.

Currently about 305 miles [ 495 km] South of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Bertha has transitioned to an Extra-tropical storm and no further advisories will be issued by the NHC.

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: 37.5N 68.1W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [045°] near 23 mph [37 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 50 mph [ 85 kph].
Wind Gusts: 65 mph [105 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1007 mb.

Currently about 545 miles [ 875 km] South-Southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Bertha will be paralleling the North American coast and finally turn more to the East as it weakens 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.]

Position: 31.3N 73.1W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [015°] near 20 mph [31 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 75 mph [120 kph].
Wind Gusts: 90 mph [145 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 125 miles [205 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 25 miles [ 35 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1001 mb ↑.

Currently about 490 miles [ 790 km] West of Bermuda.

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.]

If you did the job it is obvious what happened in the Baltic Sea the day after the Malaysian airliner was downed in the Ukraine. The information is in the CNN story, U.S. official: Spy plane flees Russian jet, radar; ends up over Sweden, but the people reporting it do not have a clue what actually happened.

First off, this was a reconnaissance aircraft, not a ‘spy plane’. What’s the difference you ask? If you look up the aircraft [RC-135 River Joint] you will note that is prominently marked as a US Air Force aircraft and even has a US flag on the vertical stabilizer as well as the large letters OF which identify it as belonging to the 55^th Wing at Offutt AFB, Nebraska. I can assure you that the CIA does not use vehicles marked “Central Intelligence Agency, Langley, Virginia” with US government license plates. These aircraft are more noticeably marked to prevent other governments from claiming that they didn’t know they were US aircraft.

Every nation that has radar scans their airspace, for air traffic control if nothing else, so this aircraft was certainly being scanned by Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. Being scanned by ground-based radars is not a cause for concern.

The only radars that “lock on” are associated with weapons systems, not air traffic control, and a “lock on” is a cause for concern for anyone who can detect it. Detection systems may soon become an option for airliners if things continue as they have recently.

Going into Swedish airspace was a good tactical move, as it removes the legal haggling over ‘international waters’ and brings Swedish air defense radars on-line to monitor the situation and record the data.

The Russians just bought a load of trouble for their Tu-95s that do reconnaissance in the Arctic. More testosterone poisoning…

Position: 24.9N 73.2W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [335°] near 17 mph [28 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 65 mph [100 kph].
Wind Gusts: 75 mph [120 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 160 miles [260 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1007 mb ↓.

Currently about 190 miles [ 305 km] East of Eleuthera Island.

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: 19.5N 69.7W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [310°] near 22 mph [35 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [ 75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 160 miles [260 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1010 mb.

Currently about 165 miles [ 265 km] Southeast of Grand Turk Island.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the Southeastern Bahamas including the Acklins, Crooked Island, Long Cay, the Inaguas, Mayaguana & the Ragged Islands; the Turks & Caicos Islands; and the eastern Dominican Republic from Cabo Frances Viejo to Isla Saona.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the Central Bahamas including Cat Island, the Exumas, Long Island, Rum Cay, and San Salvador.

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 Passing

Make way!

[Editor: Among CC’s many strange ways is suddenly deciding she must move to a new location for no apparent reason. She ignores everything when she does it, including the food I had just put down.

Friday Ark