Posts from — August 2020

Position: 38.3N 70.0W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [065°] near 16 mph [26 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [ 75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 105 miles [165 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1006 mb ↓.

Currently about 250 miles [ 400 km] East-Southeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

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 57.4W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [300°] near 16 mph [26 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [ 75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 80 miles [130 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1005 mb ↑.

Currently about 375 miles [ 600 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.]

Position: 14.8N 52.2W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [300°] near 17 mph [28 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [ 75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 80 miles [130 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1005 mb.

Currently about 760 miles [1220 km] East-Southeast 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.]

Pink Floyd has the theme music for the majority of my e-mails these days: Money.

The only political ads I see are on blogs or media sites, normally because they are bad or funny. The media buyers seem to be throwing their money ‘preaching to the choir’. The latest screeching e-mail is that Trump was out fundraising Biden during some period.

First off, if you have been paying attention, you would know that a significant amount of that money is going to be skimmed off the top by various elements of the Trump organization. Don Jr’s girlfriend and Eric’s wife are each being paid $180k/month by the campaign for unknown reasons and campaign events are held at Trump properties wherever possible. (These are the same people who believe that $600/week for an unemployed single mother is outrageous.)

There is no evidence that the Biden campaign ‘overhead’ is anywhere near as expensive as Trump’s. So if his media buyer isn’t a crook, Biden’s money may actually buy twice as much as Trump’s. It isn’t how much you spend, it’s how you spend it. Hysteria over money is just annoying.

Position: 12.5N 47.1W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West [275°] near 15 mph [24 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [ 70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1007 mb.

Currently about 1135 miles [1825 km] East-Southeast 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: 11.7N 40.0W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West [280°] near 14 mph [22 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [ 70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1008 mb ↑.

Currently about 1205 miles [1940 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.]

Three of the four ‘Executive Orders’ Trump signed weren’t actually Executive Orders. Read the whole thing at Crooks & Liars, but basically this was another con during his break from playing golf.

As for the boost in unemployment payments, he is using FEMA emergency funds which means the states have to come up with $100 to get $300 more from FEMA. States and local governments are going broke dealing with the pandemic and and economic slow down.

He is suspending collection of withholding taxes, but you still owe them and have to pay them by the end of the year. This is an attack on Medicare and Social Security, and he flat stated he wants to stop funding those programs if he gets reelected.

Lebanon puts port officials under house arrest and declares a state of emergency after the explosion:

Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi had earlier told a local TV station that it appeared the blast was caused by the detonation of the ammonium nitrate that had been stored ever since it was confiscated from a cargo ship in 2014.

Ammonium nitrate is a common ingredient in fertilizer but can also be highly explosive.

The BBC has the best unclassified collection of before-and-after images. Their interactive pictures are the best way of understanding the scope of the destruction.

The Wikipedia article on ammonium nitrate includes some niche uses of the chemical:

Ammonium nitrate is used in some instant cold packs, as its dissolution in water is highly endothermic. It also was used, in combination with independently explosive “fuels” such as guanidine nitrate, as a cheaper (but less stable) alternative to 5-aminotetrazole in the inflators of airbags manufactured by Takata Corporation, which were recalled as unsafe after killing 14 people.

In the US it was the chemical involved in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy McVeigh which was 2 tons of ammonium nitrate and the 2013 explosion at the West Fertilizer Company in Texas where 240 tons of the chemical were stored.

It was estimated that the warehouse in Beirut had 2750 tonnes (approximately 3030 US tons) stored in it. The chemical becomes unstable at about 60% relative humidity, so storing it in a warehouse at a seaport was never a great idea.

According to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center August update an ‘extremely active’ hurricane season is possible for the Atlantic Basin:

The updated outlook calls for 19-25 named storms (winds of 39 mph or greater), of which 7-11 will become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or greater), including 3-6 major hurricanes (winds of 111 mph or greater). This update covers the entire six-month hurricane season, which ends Nov. 30, and includes the nine named storms to date.

If it goes to 25, they will fill in with Greek letters. There are only 21 names on the standard list with no names for the letters: Q,U,X,Y, or Z. After Wilfred will be Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta. In 2005 there were 27 names storms that went from Arlene to Zeta and included Katrina.

New York attorney general files lawsuit to dissolve the National Rifle Association:

(CNN) — New York Attorney General Letitia James announced she will attempt to dissolve the National Rifle Association, accusing its senior leadership of violating laws governing non-profit groups, using millions from the organization’s reserves for personal use and tax fraud.

In a news release Thursday morning, James, a Democrat, alleged that current and former NRA leadership “instituted a culture of self-dealing mismanagement” benefiting themselves, family, friends and favored vendors, leading the organization to lose more than $63 million in three years.

“The NRA’s influence has been so powerful that the organization went unchecked for decades while top executives funneled millions into their own pockets,” James said in the news release.

The NRA was chartered as a non-profit in New York State, so it is subject to the laws of New York State. Trump’s charity had to shut down for similar reasons.

The organization has been suffering hard times after the feud between then president Oliver North and VP-forever Wayne LaPierre went public. As usual LaPierre won, but then internal documents began leaking.

They used to be about safety and conservation, but then shifted to representing weapons manufacturers, rather than their members and became lobbyists.

OJT, on the job training, is a normal way of learning a lot of jobs. Read the books, take the classes, but the best way to learn the job is by actually doing it.

If you are someone like Trump, Mnuchin, or too many Senators who inherited their jobs and never actually had to start at the bottom, it is highly unlikely you have a clue about how the world works.

In the case of Unemployment Insurance, you go through NOJT, not on the job training, to figure out how to apply for benefits. The thing to know is that every state is different. The length on time you had on the job you lost, the length of time you will receive benefits, the amount of the benefit – all of these things vary from state to state.

In general you will receive 50% or less of the income you were paid at the job you lost and in Florida it only lasts 12 weeks. One thing everyone requires is that you continue to look for work. If you are offered a job similar to the one you lost and refuse it, you stop receiving the benefits.

The people who claim people don’t go back to work because they make more money staying home, are just ignorant assholes who need to be unemployed on November 3^rd, so they can learn how the system works.

Update: In Florida, the current and former GOP governors quarrel over unemployment aid, The former governor, Rick Scott, made the system as difficult as possible to use to keep his unemployment numbers low. Now DeSantis is having to deal with all of the angry unemployed people who aren’t getting their regular unemployment benefits, much less the $600 enhancement.

Position: 47.5N 71.8W [ 4AM CDT 0900 UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [015°] near 28 mph [44 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1000 mb.

Currently about 55 miles [ 90 km] North-Northwest of Quebec City, Quebec.

This is the last public advisory issued by the National Hurricane
Center on this system. Additional information on the post-tropical
cyclone can be found in products issued by the Canadian Hurricane Centre

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: 45.3N 72.5W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [020°] near 38 mph [61 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [ 75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 175 miles [280 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1000 mb ↑.

Currently about 45 miles [ 70 km] East-Southeast of Montreal, Quebec.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Merrimack River, Massachusetts to Stonington, Maine.

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 Florida Primary is scheduled for Tuesday, August 18^th, but the early voting period is established by the county Supervisor of Elections.

In Okaloosa County it starts on Saturday, August 8^th:

Early Voting for the August 18 Primary Election will be held August 8 – August 15, 2020, 9:00 am – 6:00 pm all days, including Sunday.

Check the web site of your county to find out when it happens and where to vote.

I have already voted by mail as soon as I received my ballot. When I receive my ballot for the general election, I will complete it and return it immediately so if I get hit by a truck, I will still have voted against Trump. If there is a heaven, voting for Trump will certainly get you banned.

[Note: I messed up earlier and had the wrong date on a header graphic – I apologize.]