Posts from — June 2017

I’m trying to get an apartment ready for a new tenant on the 1st, so I’ve been busy plumbing, and electricking, and tiling, and dooring and other fun things to make the apartment livable.

Position: 36.0N 89.6W [10AM CDT 1500 UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [075°] near 24 mph [39 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [ 70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1001 mb ↑.

Currently about 65 miles [ 105 km] North-Northeast of Memphis, Tennessee.

Cindy is hanging on and dumping rain on the Mississippi, Tennessee, and Ohio valleys potentially causing flooding.

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: 33.1N 93.5W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [025°] near 12 mph [19 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 20 mph [ 30 kph].
Wind Gusts: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1000 mb ↑.

Currently about 80 miles [ 130 km] North-Northeast of Shreveport, Louisiana.

Cindy has been downgraded to a tropical depression and will probably become a remnant low later today or early tomorrow. The storm is still generating rain that can produce flooding. All tropical warnings and watches have been cancelled.

At 4PM CDT reporting was transferred from the National Hurricane Center to the NWS Weather Prediction Center.

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.]

While TS Cindy is more than 400 miles to the Southwest of me, the outer bands arrived at 11PM on Monday and it has been raining since then. There have only been a few spurts of heavy rain and not a lot of lightning, but after 36 hours it starts to get on your nerves.

We are on track to get between 4 and 6 inches of rain before this is over, which will easily drain away at my house, but the fools who hauled in fill dirt and top soil to grow grass are going to need to bail and ‘man’ the wet/dry vacs.

The header for my local forecast –

Active Advisory: Hurricane Statement (), Tornado Watch, Flood Warning, Flash Flood Warning, Coastal Flood Advisory, High Surf Advisory, Coastal Hazard Statement, Flash Flood Watch, Wind Advisory

Active Notice: Coastal Flood Advisory, High Surf Advisory, Coastal Hazard Statement, Flash Flood Watch

Position: 28.3N 93.3W [ 7PM CDT 0000 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [315°] near 8 mph [13 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 50 mph [ 85 kph].
Wind Gusts: 65 mph [105 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 115 miles [185 km].
Minimum central pressure: 992 mb ↓.

Currently about 115 miles [ 185 km] Southeast of Galveston, Texas.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for San Luis Pass, Texas to the mouth of the Mississippi River.

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.]

Today at 11:24PM [CDT] is the Summer Solstice, technically considered the “first day of Summer”, but the mid Summer by much of Europe.

Many Wiccans celebrate the day as Litha, while computer programmers honor their predecessors, the druids, who build the first solid-state computing devices, the megaliths, like Stonehenge.

The Slavs celebrate St. John’s Night, Иван Купала [Ivan Kupala], the battle between the White god [Белобог – Belobog] and the Black god [Чёрнобог – Chyornobog] for control of the Sun. The Black god always wins and the night begins to expand.

The sound track to the battle is Иванова Ночь на Лысой Горе [Night on Bald Mountain ] by Модест Петрович Мусоргский [Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky], which everyone should play very loudly.

Position: 26.4N 91.0W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northwest [310°] near 7 mph [11 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Wind Gusts: 75 mph [120 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 275 miles [445 km].
Minimum central pressure: 997 mb.

Currently about 230 miles [ 365 km] South of Morgan City, Louisiana.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for San Luis Pass, Texas to the Alabama-Florida border including Metropolitan New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain.

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: 12.0N 67.3W [ 4PM CDT 2100 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [290°] near 22 mph [35 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1008 mb ↑.

Currently about 115 miles [ 190 km] East of Curacao.

All watches and warnings have been cancelled as Bret has weakened to a remnant tropical wave. This is the final NHC advisory.

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: 24.4N 89.5W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northwest [330°] near 8 mph [13 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 205 miles [335 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1000 mb ↓.

Currently about 325 miles [ 525 km] South of the mouth of the Mississippi River.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Intracoastal City to the Mouth of the Pearl River.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for West of Intracoastal City to High Island, Texas.

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: 10.0 61.3W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [285°] near 23 mph [37 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 80 miles [130 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1008 mb ↑.

Currently about 30 miles [ 45 km] South of Trinidad.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Trinidad,Tobago, Grenada, and Venezuela from Pedernales to Cumana including Isla de Margarita.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Bonaire, Curacao, and Aruba.

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: 7.9N 52.4W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West [280°] near 23 mph [37 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 60 miles [ 95 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1005 mb ↓.

Currently about 630 miles [1015 km] East-Southeast of Trinidad.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad,Tobago, and Grenada.

This is a new ‘product’ from the National Hurricane Center. This was a wave off of Africa whis appears to be on track to being a Tropical Storm. This advisory makes it easier for jurisdictions to issue tropical warnings and watches in advance of storms.

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.]

Atlantic Tropical Weather Outlook at 7am CDT:

A broad area of low pressure located over the northwestern Caribbean
Sea continues to produce a large area of disorganized showers and
thunderstorms. Gradual development of this system is expected while
it moves slowly northwestward across the Yucatan Peninsula later
today and over the southern or central Gulf of Mexico on Monday and
Tuesday, where a tropical or subtropical cyclone is likely to form.
Regardless of development, heavy rains are expected over portions of
Central America, the Yucatan Peninsula, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands,
and western Cuba during the next several days. An Air Force Reserve
Hurricane Hunter aircraft is scheduled to investigate this system
later today, if necessary.

According to the James Joyce Center

Bloomsday is a celebration that takes place both in Dublin and around the world. It celebrates Thursday 16 June 1904, which is the day depicted in James Joyce’s novel Ulysses. The day is named after Leopold Bloom, the central character in Ulysses. The novel follows the life and thoughts of Leopold Bloom and a host of other characters – real and fictional – from 8am on 16 June 1904 through to the early hours of the following morning.

Why not?

John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou in the meadow which is called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of June, 1215, signed the Great Charter in the presence of assorted heavily armed peers of the realm, who assured him it was the right thing to do.

The British Library has pictures of the Magna Carta available, but they are now requiring registration. Wikipedia has a nice discussion of the document.

The Magna Carta of 1297 is permanently residing in the US National Archives.

The Avalon Project has a translation of the 1215 version with an index and definitions.

John abided by the charter for several months, before he returned to business as normal, but the principle was established – no one is above the law.