Posts from — August 2016

I have been tied down since Friday afternoon updating a Windows 7 box after a system reload. By now M$ should have been able to provide some form of consolidation instead of making people download dozens of files.

When I get this machine stabilized, I will have to reload my Win 7 laptop that was a victim of the Windows 10 attacks.

Position: 21.7N 50.1W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [305°] near 15 mph [24 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 50 mph [ 85 kph].
Wind Gusts: 65 mph [105 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 60 miles [ 95 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1004 mb ↓.

Currently about 825 miles [1330 km] East-Northeast of the Leeward Islands.

The storm was forecast to weaken today, but got stronger this evening.

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: 18.7N 45.5W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [295°] near 12 mph [19 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 80 miles [130 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1007 mb.

Currently about 1075 miles [1730 km] East of the Leeward Islands.

Fiona weakened slightly 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.]

Atrios apologizes for being wrong about the date for the debut of self-driving cars as Bloombreg reports on the introduction of a fleet of self-driving Volvo SUVs in Pittsburgh as part of pilot project by the car maker and Uber..

I assume that GPS will probably be involved and that both companies are aware of the problems associated with the movement of tectonic plates. This is addressed in this BBC article: Australia plans new co-ordinates to fix sat-nav gap. Note that the eventual introduction of self-driving vehicles is a stated reason for Australia’s action.

Position: 17.1N 41.8W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [305°] near 8 mph [13 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [ 75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 35 miles [ 55 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1006 mb.

Currently about 1180 miles [1900 km] West of the Cabo 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.]

Position: 15.5N 39.0W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [300°] near 16 mph [26 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 35 miles [ 55 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1006 mb.

Currently about 995 miles [1605 km] West of the Cabo 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.]

The system West-Southwest of Cabo Verde is almost a tropical depression. Currently it is forecast to be a central Atlantic annoyance to fish and shipping as it recurves to the North from its West-Northwest movement.

Trump to propose political tests for immigrants. Among the tests will be an immigrant’s attitude toward the LGBT community, because radical Muslims hate it … as do an awful lot of Republicans including Mike Pence. Trump wants to ensure that all immigrants are liberals?

The Australian version of the ‘Trumpets’ are just as crazy. –Anti-Islam group ‘Party for Freedom’ disrupts Sunday service in ‘racist stunt’ at Gosford’s Anglican church. Yes, the article tells us that a group of anti-Muslims dress up to look like their concept of Muslims and disrupt an Anglican church service. Apparently the whackoes were upset because the vicar was espousing the doctrine of Jesus and even saying nice things about immigrants on the church sign. Down here you would be fortunate if you would only be arrested for disrupting a religious service. If the wrong police force showed up your chances of being alive if dressed liked cartoon Arabs are not large, turkeys and Thanksgiving comes to mind..

Yesterday we reached 9¼ inches of rain for August, twice the normal average for the entire month, but not so bad when there have been areas in Louisiana that have gotten that much in a day. This isn’t a tropical storm, but a low pressure system that keeps drifting along the northern Gulf Coast.

Louisiana is in a state of emergency with hundreds of people having to be rescued. The water flows through the native white quartz sand we have over here. The only people who get flooded along the Florida coast are those who have been serious about growing grass. You can’t convince them it’s a message to stop with the grass.

Trump doesn’t understand that most of what he hears his supporters saying is not safe for the general audience. He hears these things and he repeats them as if they were common knowledge. He doesn’t know that the people cheering him on don’t believe the actual history of the United States – they believe the revisionist history of David Barton … the version where the slaves were well-fed and had good housing as they built the White House.

Among the Trumpets, Republicans are never the President when terrible things happen, like the attack on 9/11 or the global financial meltdown. The problem is that the media ignore the fact that Obama has been blamed for the formation of ISIS because he had to implement the troop draw down in the Status of Forces Agreement negotiated and signed by the Shrubbery. These sorts of things have been out there for months/years, and the media never bothered to address them until Drumpf says them, and he has a staff that assures him the statement is true.

The Republican base that supports Drumpf is from the Omega Zone, and until they can be convinced to return to this reality, it is wishful thinking to think you can negotiate with them.

Florida woman accidentally killed in police academy exercise: “Mary Knowlton, 73, was participating in a role-playing exercise when an officer mistakenly shot her with a live round, the Punta Gorda Police Department said.”

The officer probably changed the magazine in his weapon and neglected to clear the live round he had chambered. Even if you are firing blanks, you do not aim at a live target. The wad in a blank round can injure or kill.

This wasn’t an accident, the Punta Gorda Police Department was negligent and a woman died.

Drumpf came out with his “economic policy” based on the “Laughter Curve” that says the closer the tax rates approach zero the closer the government revenue approaches infinity. It hasn’t worked any of the times it has been tried since Reagan, so it must be tried again… 😈

Fair is fair. I ragged on Georgia cops who couldn’t tell the difference between okra and marijuana, so I have to note that Orlando cops can’t tell the difference between crystal meth and doughnut glaze.

Via Mustang Bobby a Mother Jones article highlighting the absurdity of trying to combat the Zika virus at the same time you are rejecting the expansion of Medicaid and trying to close down women’s health centers. Rick Scott, Florida’s Fraudster in Chief, says that he has $26 million in state funds to fight the disease, but no one can see any evidence that it is being spent.

At the Blackhats security conference in Vegas they are having a a “Hackers for Hillary” fundraiser. Some people are apparently annoyed that Drumpf seems to believe that you have be from the former Soviet Bloc to be a decent hacker.

Given all of the problems that the Dems have had with their e-mail systems, they should have used Hillary’s which was one of the few that wasn’t hacked. For all of the people who think that 30,000 is a lot of e-mails to delete – send me your e-mail address and I’ll send you my Spam folder which is nothing compared to what she must receive. The Shrubbery’s crew used RNC e-mail servers and deleted everything.

Earl died in the interior of Mexico. I’m watching a trough in the Gulf sitting the Big Bend/Armpit of Florida. It has provided me with thunderstorms every day for a week. Another area of interest is north of the Dominican Republic. There is a chance of the two systems meeting off the Atlantic Coast to provide some interesting weather next week.

In response to several Zika cases in Miami-Dade they have been saturation spraying malathion and have been approved for ‘Frankenbugs’, genetically modified mosquitoes to do battle with the Zika mosquitoes [ and after drinking the malathion in the outflow of a nuclear plant that was tainted by the algae blooms they bite all of the Cubans who then vote for Jill Stein…

Position: 19.0N 95.9W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West [275°] near 8 mph [13 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Wind Gusts: 70 mph [110 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 115 miles [195 km].
Minimum central pressure: 999 mb.

Currently about 25 miles [ 40 km] Southeast of Veracruz, Mexico.

At 10PM CST the storm is coming ashore near Veracruz.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect from Roca Partido northward to Tecolutla, Mexico.

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.]