Posts from — September 2021

Día de la Independencia
Estados Unidos Mexicanos

¡Viva México!

Some background on 16 de Septiembre and El Grito de Dolores.

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.

Position: 30.0N 94.1W [10:00PM CDT 0300UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [060°] near 6 mph [ 9 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [ 70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1004 mb ↑.

Currently about 15 miles [ 20 km] West-Northwest of Port Arthur, Texas.

“Hurricane Nicholas made landfall near 1230 AM CDT (0530 UTC) on eastern part of the Matagorda Peninsula, about 10 miles (15 km) west-southwest of Sargent Beach, Texas.”

This is the last public advisory issued by the National Hurricane Center on this system.

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: 28.4N 95.8W [10:00PM CDT 0300UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [025°] near 10 mph [17 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 75 mph [120 kph].
Wind Gusts: 85 mph [135 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 115 miles [185 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 25 miles [ 35 km].
Minimum central pressure: 988 mb.

Currently about 20 miles [ 30 km] Southeast of Matagorda, Texas.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for the coast of Texas from Port O’Connor to Freeport.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the coast of Texas from North of Port Aransas to Sabine Pass.

A Storm Surge Warning is in effect from the the coast of Texas from Port Aransas to Sabine Pass including Galveston Bay, Aransas Bay, San Antonio Bay, and Matagorda Bay.

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for the coast of Texas from Freeport to San Luis Pass.

A Storm Surge Watch is in effect for Sabine Pass, Texas to Rutherford Beach, Louisiana.

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: 22.5N 95.5W [10:00PM CDT 0300UTC].
Movement: North [360°] near 2 mph [ 4 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 115 miles [185 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 35 miles [ 55 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1007 mb ↓.

Currently about 260 miles [ 415 km] South-Southeast of the Mouth of the Rio Grande.

The storm has lost its steering current at 7PM CDT and is just meandering in the Gulf.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the coast of Texas from the Mouth of the Rio Grande to High Island and the coast of Mexico from Barra el Mezquital to the U.S./Mexico border.

A Storm Surge Warning is in effect from the the coast of Texas from Port Aransas to San Luis Pass including Aransas Bay, San Antonio Bay, and Matagorda Bay.

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for the coast of Texas from Port Aransas to Freeport.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the coast of Texas from East of High Island to Sabine Pass.

A Storm Surge Watch is in effect for the coast of Texas from the Mouth of the Rio Grande to Port Aransas; San Luis Pass, Texas to Rutherford Beach, Louisiana, including Galveston Bay; Baffin Bay and Corpus Christi Bay.

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.]

Preamble of the Constitution of the United States:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

You can’t “insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare” with an epidemic raging through your population.

Our first President knew that before the country actually existed: George Washington and the First Mass Military Inoculation

On the 6th of January 1777, George Washington wrote to Dr. William Shippen Jr., ordering him to inoculate all of the forces that came through Philadelphia. He explained that: “Necessity not only authorizes but seems to require the measure, for should the disorder infect the Army . . . we should have more to dread from it, than from the Sword of the Enemy.” The urgency was real. Troops were scarce and encampments had turned into nomadic hospitals of festering disease, deterring further recruitment. Both Benedict Arnold and Benjamin Franklin, after surveying the havoc wreaked by Variola in the Canadian campaign, expressed fears that the virus would be the army’s ultimate downfall. ¹(Fenn 2001, 69)

¹Fenn, Elizabeth. Pox Americana: the Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82. New York: Hill and Wang, 2001. 370 p.

Vaccine mandates have been challenged before: Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905):

Justice John Marshall Harlan delivered the decision for a 7–2 majority that the Massachusetts law did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment.[2] The Court held that “in every well ordered society charged with the duty of conserving the safety of its members the rights of the individual in respect of his liberty may at times, under the pressure of great dangers, be subjected to such restraint, to be enforced by reasonable regulations, as the safety of the general public may demand” and that “[r]eal liberty for all could not exist under the operation of a principle which recognizes the right of each individual person to use his own [liberty], whether in respect of his person or his property, regardless of the injury that may be done to others.”

Shapiro at First Draft with The man who lived by the river and I with In other words use the old joke to highlight the concept:

God works in mysterious ways,
His wonders to perform.

William Cowper’s poem “Light Shining out of Darkness”

Speaking of which Leviticus 13:45 recommends wearing masks and social distancing for disease control.

If you don’t want to take the minimal measures required of a citizen, hie thee to the wilderness and let the society return to normal. You are getting people killed and spreading disease so you won’t be “inconvenienced”.

Position: 54.0N 48.2W [10:00AM CDT 1500UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [030°] near 48 mph [78 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 70 mph [110 kph].
Wind Gusts: 85 mph [135 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 310 miles [500 km].
Minimum central pressure: 963 mb ↓.

Currently about 550 miles [ 880 km] North-Northeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland.

All warnings and watches have been cancelled.

This is the last public advisory issued by the National Hurricane
Center on Larry.

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.]

September 11^th, 2001

In the intervening years we have spent hundreds of billions of dollars, trampled on peoples rights, created huge new government bureaucracies, and can’t respond as well as the third world to a natural disaster.

It seems like we are constantly being told that every new group that appears anywhere is capable of another 9/11 attack, so what is the point if we are no safer?

Richard Clarke: “Your government failed you. Those entrusted with protecting you failed you. And I failed you. We tried hard. But that doesn’t matter, because we failed. And for that failure, I would ask, once all the facts are out, for your understanding and for your forgiveness.“

When you enter the military your first health exam in basic training involves getting shots in both arms of all available vaccines for Americans. If you are going to deploy overseas, you get all available vaccines for your destination country. If you are Air Force Combat Air Crew with world-wide status you get all available vaccines in the world. I was on world-wide status as a Combat Air Crew member. There is no option to refuse, the vaccines are not a suggestion, they are an order and refusing is insubordination and a quick dishonorable discharge. If you are allergic to a vaccine, you will either lose your job and get some menial job until you are discharged ‘for the good of the service’ or possibly receive a medical discharge and pitiful pension.

On the night of September 9th this year’s winners of Ig® Nobel Prizes were announced:

BIOLOGY PRIZE [SWEDEN]:
Susanne Schötz for analyzing variations in purring, chirping, chattering, trilling, tweedling, murmuring, meowing, moaning, squeaking, hissing, yowling, howling, growling, and other modes of cat–human communication.
WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Susanne Schötz

ECOLOGY PRIZE [SPAIN. IRAN]:
Leila Satari, Alba Guillén, Àngela Vidal-Verdú, and Manuel Porcar, for using genetic analysis to identify the different species of bacteria that reside in wads of discarded chewing gum stuck on pavements in various countries.
WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Leila Satari, Alba Guillén, Àngela Vidal-Verdú, Manuel Porcar

CHEMISTRY PRIZE [GERMANY, UK, NEW ZEALAND, GREECE, CYPRUS, AUSTRIA]:
Jörg Wicker, Nicolas Krauter, Bettina Derstroff, Christof Stönner, Efstratios Bourtsoukidis, Achim Edtbauer, Jochen Wulf, Thomas Klüpfel, Stefan Kramer, and Jonathan Williams, for chemically analyzing the air inside movie theaters, to test whether the odors produced by an audience reliably indicate the levels of violence, sex, antisocial behavior, drug use, and bad language in the movie the audience is watching.
WHO TOOK PART IN THE CEREMONY: Jörg Wicker, Nicolas Krauter, Bettina Derstroff, Christof Stönner, Efstratios Bourtsoukidis, Achim Edtbauer, Jochen Wulf, Thomas Klüpfel, Stefan Kramer, Jonathan Williams
[Read more →]

I wrote too soon about oil spills caused by Ida. As the pictures of the oil-covered wildlife start to appear and the requests for old towels and Dawn ratchet up I read that the U.S. Coast Guard is investigating nearly 350 reported oil spills after Hurricane Ida:

The U.S. Coast Guard said it’s investigating reports of nearly 350 oil spill incidents in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida. The Category 4 storm, which hit Louisiana last month, shut down nearly 95% of the region’s crude oil and gas production.

“Coast Guard crews from across the nation…have deployed throughout Southeastern Louisiana to conduct hazard assessments in order to identify and prioritize threats to the environment and navigable waterways,” the Coast Guard said in a statement. “These assessments are essential to ensuring waterways are safe for marine traffic and ensuring that potential pollution hazards are expeditiously identified and mitigated.”

The volunteers are jumping into boats and scouring the area to pick up critters covered in crude to take back to wildlife rehab centers in hopes that some can be saved.

Position: 46.8N 54.9W [10:00PM CDT 0300UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [030°] near 47 mph [76 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 80 mph [130 kph].
Wind Gusts: 100 mph [160 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 255 miles [405 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 105 miles [165 km].
Minimum central pressure: 958 mb.

Currently about 85 miles [ 135 km] West of Cape Race, Newfoundland.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect from Arnold’s Cove to Jones Harbour, Newfoundland.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect from Francois to west of Arnold’s Cove, and from north of Jones Harbour to Fogo Island, Newfoundland.

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: 35.5N 62.3W [10:00PM CDT 0300UTC].
Movement: North [360°] near 25 mph [41 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 90 mph [150 kph].
Wind Gusts: 110 mph [175 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 230 miles [370 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 90 miles [150 km].
Minimum central pressure: 966 mb.

Currently about 265 miles [ 425 km] North-Northeast of Bermuda.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect from Arnold’s Cove to Jones Harbour, Newfoundland.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect from Lamaline to west of Arnold’s Cove, and from north of Jones Harbour to Bonavista, Newfoundland.

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: 32.5N 75.0W [10:00PM CDT 0300UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [070°] near 29 mph [46 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [ 70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1005 mb.

Currently about 285 miles [ 460 km] East of Charleston, South Carolina.

This is the last public advisory issued by the National Hurricane Center on this system.

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.]