Posts from — September 2015

Position: 13.7N 37.5W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [305°] near 7 mph [11 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 35 miles [ 55 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1006 mb ↓.

Currently about 915 miles [1470 km] West of the Cape Verde Islands.

TD Ten has been upgraded to a tropical storm.

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: 18.3N 48.3W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [300°] near 9 mph [15 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 30 mph [ 45 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [ 70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1007 mb.

Currently about 880 miles [1420 km] East-Northeast of the Lesser Antilles.

Nine is forecast to become a remnant low later today.

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.]

Trying Times

You want what?

[Editor: Hadley is not terribly interested in moving so I can open the garbage can.]

Friday Ark

A major problem is that some school administrations are total morons, like the one in Irving, Texas.

If you have seen the picture put out by the Irving PD, that is not what the student brought to school. He built his clock and had it inside the pencil box. He never said it was a bomb, so I don’t understand why the police arrested him. It was the teachers and administrators who said it was a bomb which constitutes a ‘bomb hoax’.

This is an international story with the BBC reporting Ahmed Mohamed’s huge invite list – Facebook, White House, Twitter.

Bombs with timers are extremely rare this century, with cellphones, and remote controllers the choice of terrorists and other people of ill intent. If you called in the police for every student with a cellphone, a garage door opener, or a remote key for a car, you would empty the high schools and fill up the jails.

The school district has refused to admit they screwed up and have given Ahmed a three-day suspension. I doubt he cares at this point because he has already indicated that he isn’t going back to that school, nor does he need to.

[You really need to check out the BBC article because the snark is strong among the reactions to this situation.]

Position: 17.3N 45.3W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northwest [330°] near 7 mph [11 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [ 70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1007 mb ↑.

Currently about 1070 miles [1720 km] East of the Lesser Antilles.

Nine isn’t forecast to do much.

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 US Geological Survey provides the technical details on the magnitude 8.3 quake 46km West of Illapel, Chile today at 5:54:33 PM CDT.

The ABC covers the tsunami alert and evacuation orders:

Waves of up to three metres are possible along the coasts of Chile, Peru and French Polynesia, the Pacific Tsunami Center (PTWC) in Hawaii said.

The PTWC also issued an alert for waves of between 0.3 to 1 metres for Japan, Antarctica, and most of the South Pacific, including New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.

A tsunami warning has also been issued for Hawaii.

Waves triggered by the earthquake have been observed along Chile’s coast, the Chilean National Office of Emergency said.

The navy reported waves of up to 4.5 metres near the port city of Coquimbo.

Chile’s government has urged residents to evacuate from the coastline.

Essentially waves up to 15 feet could hit Chile with lesser heights elsewhere in the southern and central Pacific.

Position: 15.8N 45.1W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [310°] near 7 mph [11 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 30 mph [ 45 kph].
Wind Gusts: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1008 mb ↓.

Currently about 1075 miles [1735 km] East of the Lesser Antilles.

This system has been out there as an invest for a while and finally made the move to tropical status.

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.]

Neil Macdonald, the CBC’s senior correspondent and a headline writer have captured the mood of US politics in the article: Yeah, so’s your mom. The rat-like charm of Donald Trump.*

The paternal, indulgent smile usually worn by the barbered and tanned Republican establishment is gone.

In its place is whey-faced fear. The primary-season freakshow that once served the party’s interests so nicely now threatens to consume it.

Mainstream Republicans (admittedly a relative term nowadays) have lost control to a reality show star, a vulgar braggart who somehow manages to evince populism while flaunting extreme wealth and his membership in the .0001 per cent club.

Donald Trump transcends the freakshow, he’s the whole carnival in one man, and taking the car keys away from him isn’t going to be easy, if it can be done at all.

Actually today’s top story mentioned internationally was a sport’s injury: “Full-back Luke Shaw suffered a double fracture of his right leg in Manchester United’s Champions League loss at PSV Eindhoven.”

* That was the main page headline with a different headline when you go to the linked article.

Kentucky’s Pernicious Religious Scofflaw™ wants everyone to know that she didn’t really surrender. The BBC has the latest chapter in the saga of Kim Davis:

A Kentucky clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licences to gay couples has said she will not block the process but her name will not appear on the paperwork.

However, Kim Davis questioned on Monday whether licences without her signature would be valid.
…

“I don’t want to have this conflict. I don’t want to be in the spotlight. And I certainly don’t want to be a whipping post,” Ms Davis said. “I am no hero. I’m just a person that’s been transformed by the grace of God, who wants to work, be with my family. I just want to serve my neighbours quietly without violating my conscience.”

Shortly after Ms Davis addressed reporters, a deputy clerk issued a marriage licence to a lesbian couple without incident.

Despite Ms Davis’ claims, several Kentucky officials including the governor said the recently issued licences are valid.

Ms Davis may not understand the difference between a “whipping post” and a “whipping boy”, but she has figured out that annoying a Federal judge is not the path to a comfortable life.

The ABC reports on the downfall of the Prime Minister of Australia: Malcolm Turnbull to become prime minister after toppling Tony Abbott:

Prime Minister-designate Malcolm Turnbull says he will lead a “thoroughly Liberal government” and paid tribute to his predecessor, Tony Abbott, after winning a late-night ballot for the Liberal Party leadership.

The former communications minister defeated Mr Abbott 54 votes to 44 in a party room ballot which also saw Julie Bishop re-elected as deputy leader ahead of Kevin Andrews 70 votes to 30.

The new leadership team fronted the media just after 10:40pm (AEST) where Mr Turnbull said he was humbled by the honour bestowed on him.

Possibly because Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere, the Liberal Party is the rightwing conservative party in its political system. Prime Ministers are actually members of parliament who are the leaders of the winning political party. While the leaders are elected by the entire membership of some parties, the Australian Liberal Party limits participation to members of the party in parliament.

The BBC reports on the California wildfires:

The governor of California has declared a state of emergency after wildfires forced thousands of people to flee their homes in the north of the state.

Governor Jerry Brown said the fires had destroyed buildings in the Napa and Lake counties and threatened hundreds of others.

More than 1,300 people fled Middletown, north of San Francisco, as their homes were consumed by the flames.

Four firefighters who were badly burned are receiving treatment in hospital.

Three of the fires, the Rough Fire, the Butte Fire, and the Valley Fire have burned a combined 381.3 square miles destroying hundreds of homes and other structures.

Happy 5776!

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

Alas the contagion of Pernicious Religious Scofflaws™ has spread to our neighbors to the North.

The CBC reports on a case in Calgary, Alberta, Canada:

Jesse Rau, the Christian bus driver who said he would quit his job with Calgary Transit if forced to drive the city’s rainbow-coloured pride bus because of his religious beliefs, has been fired.

Mr. Rau was still on probation and not yet a permanent employee. Calgary Transit has not forced anyone to drive the “Pride Bus”, and had informed Mr. Rau that he wouldn’t be forced to drive the bus. Mr. Rau apparently felt that creating an image of himself as a martyr was more important than the truth. Calgary Transit had no intention of aiding his ambition and told him to go away.

CBC says: U.K. Labour Party picks anti-monarchist Jeremy Corbyn as leader

Veteran far-left legislator Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party on Saturday, a runaway victory that threatens to further divide the party as it struggles to recover from a heavy defeat in elections earlier this year.

Corbyn’s win is one of the biggest political shake-ups in British politics in decades, marking a sharp left turn for his party and a rejection of the more centrist policies of his predecessors.

The ABC says: Socialist Jeremy Corbyn crowned leader of UK’s Labour Party

Anti-austerity left-winger Jeremy Corbyn has been elected leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party in a landslide victory that could divide the party and cause headaches for the government on foreign policy.

While the BBC reports: Jeremy Corbyn wins Labour leadership contest and vows “fightback”

Jeremy Corbyn has promised to lead a Labour “fightback” after being elected the party’s new leader by a landslide.

The veteran left-winger got almost 60% of more than 400,000 votes cast, trouncing his rivals Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall.

So an anti-monarchist is crowned the leader after winning by a landslide of approximately 60% of votes in a four person contest despite being to the left of Marx, Lenin, and Mao and this is going to cause a split in the Labour Party because he doesn’t support the “centrist” policies that haven’t worked so well for the Party lately.

I seriously doubt Mr. Corbyn is going to move the desk from the Reading Room of the British Library that Karl used when writing Das Kapital to Number 10. Anyone who thinks that the path to victory is by advocating policies that will hurt your voters is seriously disturbed.

Update: Trump fooled into retweeting photo of socialist Labour Party leader