Posts from — September 2014

Chillin’

He’s back, Mom…

[Editor: Ms Underhouse and the kit steal my chair for a siesta.

Friday Ark

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.]

At Noon CDT Apple is releasing iOS8 which means that all of the cell networks and WiFi hotspots will be jammed to receive the ‘working’ symbol as the Apple servers grind their little spindles to molten destruction.

Releasing this to every device at the same time is definitely going to clog the ‘tubes’. It would be a good time to do something nefarious or nasty as communications will be crippled for a few hours.

I won’t try to use the iPAD today.

Position: 38.7N 48.2W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [060°] near 30 mph [48 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 85 mph [140 kph].
Wind Gusts: 100 mph [160 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 230 miles [370 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 80 miles [130 km].
Minimum central pressure: 958mb.

Currently about 1030 miles [1660 km] East-Northeast of Bermuda.

The storm is headed towards much cooler water which will drain its energy.

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 I were voting in the Scots’ independence election, David Cameron’s arguments against independence would convince me to vote for it. It is the policies and attitudes of politicians like Cameron that drive the independence movement.

Stephen Harper might consider finally buying new aircraft for his search and rescue crews so they don’t have to scavange parts from museums to keep the current aircraft flying. If Canada can afford to give military assistance to the Kurds, it should be able to buy some new aircraft for domestic search and rescue operations.

While I’ve been watching an Atlantic hurricane, one of my old haunts, Baja California got nailed. Jeff Masters reports that Category 3 Odile the Strongest Hurricane on Record to Hit Baja. It tore up Cabo San Lucas as is attested to by this eyewitness account.

Position: 32.3N 57.5W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [035°] near 17 mph [28 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 90 mph [150 kph].
Wind Gusts: 105 mph [165 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 185 miles [295 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 80 miles [130 km].
Minimum central pressure: 959mb ↑.

Currently about 495 miles [ 795 km] East-Northeast of Bermuda.

This is the first time in two seasons that there is a major hurricane [category 3 or higher] in the Atlantic basin.

After peaking this morning, the storm has begun weakening and lost its major hurricane status this afternoon.

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: 29.0N 56.9W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northwest [335°] near 13 mph [20 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 110 mph [175 kph].
Wind Gusts: 125 mph [200 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 175 miles [280 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 45 miles [ 75 km].
Minimum central pressure: 963mb.

Currently about 520 miles [ 840 km] East-Southeast 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.]

The Day of His Noodly Appendage

The holiest of holidays for Pastafarians, is of course the birthday of His Most Holy Prophet, Marco Polo (b. Sept 15, 1254), who brought the word of his Noodly Appendage back from the East. As Talk Like A Pirate Day falls on September 19th, this five-day period constitutes Holy Pasta Week, during which spaghetti is consumed liberally. With a nice Chianti until the last day when it’s grog for all.

Well, spam is tastier than the pemmican in the military survival pacs but … oh, sorry, wrong spam.

I noticed a new player – sites selling essays disguised as educational help sites. I assumed it was because of my post on the reaction to the student who wrote about ‘killing his neighbor’s pet dinosaur’ [The Kid Is Alright]. The insurance spam is directed towards my hurricane posts, so I assumed these guys would be spamming that post.

Well, that post is heavily spammed … by the guys promoting the ED drugs. The ‘educational help’ spam is all directed at Friday Cat Blogging. I write a post about a homework writing assignment but they spam cat pictures‽

I’ve been at this a long time, show a little respect and get me a better class of spammers.

Position: 26.2N 53.3W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [305°] near 15 mph [24 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 85 mph [140 kph].
Wind Gusts: 100 mph [160 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 15 miles [ 30 km].
Minimum central pressure: 982mb.

Currently about 835 miles [1345 km] Northeast of the northern Leeward 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.]

So Zero is building his ‘coalition of the willing’ to combat ISIS, except it can’t contain Syria or Iran because they have ‘cooties’. It will apparently contain Saudi Arabia and the Emirates who have been funding ISIS for years. Also we aren’t supposed to talk about Sunni-Shi’ia differences or the fact that this is a conflict about religion. This is all about ‘Terrorism’ which apparently doesn’t have any reason to exist.

This will not involve any troops on the ground … well, other than some advisors and trainers … and some troops for security of US facilities … and maybe provide some logistics support … The talk about ‘slippery slopes’ will cease immediately.

The political satire sphere is in a dither with the news that Toronto mayor Rob Ford has withdrawn from his re-election campaign because of a diagnosis of an ‘abdominal tumor’. His brother Doug has entered the race promising to continue the Ford policies and program. Political scientists should have more insight as to whether people voted for Rob Ford for his policies or his entertainment value. Doug has no entertainment value.

Position: 23.4N 48.5W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [305°] near 14 mph [22 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 65 mph [100 kph].
Wind Gusts: 80 mph [130 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 105 miles [165 km].
Minimum central pressure: 994mb ↓.

Currently about 1010 miles [1620 km] East-Northeast of the northern Leeward 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.]

Position: 19.5N 45.2W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [295°] near 13 mph [20 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [ 75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 70 miles [110 km].
Minimum central pressure: 998mb.

Currently about 1175 miles [1885 km] East of the northern Leeward 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.]