On-line Opinion Magazine…OK, it's a blog

Position: 18.0N 68.1W [10:00PM CDT 0300UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [300°] near 10 mph [17 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 85 mph [140 kph].
Wind Gusts: 100 mph [160 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 30 miles [ 45 km].
Minimum central pressure: 982 mb ↓.

Currently about 45 miles [ 75 km] South-Southeast of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for Puerto Rico, including Vieques & Culebra; for the coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Caucedo to Cabo Frances Viejo; Turks & Caicos Islands.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in for effect for the north coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Frances Viejo westward to Puerto Plata; Southeastern Bahamas, including the Acklins, Crooked Island, Long Cay, the Inaguas, Mayaguana, and the Ragged Islands.

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for the north coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Frances Viejo westward to Puerto Plata.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the south coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Caucedo westward to Barahona.

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 18 through 24, 2022

“Das war ein Vorspiel nur, dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen.” That is the original German. My English translation would be ‘That is but a prelude, where they burn books, they will in the end burn people.” It is from Heinrich Heine’s 1821 play Almansor.

John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird keep making the top ten of banned books. It makes no sense to me why people can’t just not read books they don’t like, and let other people make their own choices. But then again, I live in a county where people have a fit if children dress up as witches, wizards, or devils on Halloween, and have “harvest festivals” instead of Halloween parties… it’s really pathetic.

Position: 16.6N 64.9W [10:00PM CDT 0300UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [285°] near 8 mph [13 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Wind Gusts: 75 mph [120 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Minimum central pressure: 997 mb ↓.

Currently about 150 miles [ 240 km] Southeast of Ponce, Puerto Rico.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for Puerto Rico, including Vieques & Culebra; for the coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Caucedo to Cabo Frances Viejo.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in for effect for U.S. Virgin Islands; British Virgin Islands; the north coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Frances Viejo westward to Puerto Plata.

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for U.S. Virgin Islands; the north coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Frances Viejo westward to Puerto Plata.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the south coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Caucedo westward to Barahona.

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: 16.6N 62.2W [10:00PM CDT 0300UTC].
Movement: West [280°] near 15 mph [24 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Wind Gusts: 75 mph [120 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1002 mb.

Currently about 190 miles [ 300 km] East-Southeast of St. Croix.

At 4PM CDT the Leeward Islands are experiencing tropical storm conditions.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in for Saba & St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla, Guadeloupe, St. Barthelemy, St. Martin, Puerto Rico, including Vieques & Culebra, U.S. Virgin Islands. British Virgin Islands, and Cabo Caucedo, Dominican Republic on the south coast around the eastern portion of the island to Puerto Plata on the north coast.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Dominica, South coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Caucedo westward to Barahona.

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.]

Día de la Independencia
Estados Unidos Mexicanos

¡Viva México!

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

Position: 16.0N 56.9W [10:00PM CDT 0300UTC].
Movement: West [265°] near 15 mph [24 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 60 mph [ 95 kph].
Wind Gusts: 75 mph [120 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1005 mb.

Currently about 335 miles [ 535 km] East-Southeast of the Leeward Islands.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in for Saba & St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla, Guadeloupe, St. Barthelemy, and St. Martin.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Puerto Rico, including Vieques & Culebra, U.S. Virgin Islands, and British Virgin 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 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: 16.7N 52.0W [10:00PM CDT 0300UTC].
Movement: West [285°] near 16 mph [26 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 50 mph [ 85 kph].
Wind Gusts: 65 mph [100 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles [220 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1002 mb ↓.

Currently about 650 miles [1045 km] East of the Leeward Islands.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Saba and St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, and Anguilla.

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.]

This is an actual e-mail sent to me and it has all of the warning signs of a scam.

The from “James” with Nina’s gmail account. Legitimate business e-mails use business e-mail addresses.

The subject line list an “Invoice ID from PayPal”. PayPal uses Transaction ID that is a combination of letters and numbers almost 20 characters long and adds their “double P” graphic to everything.

It is Geek Squad from Best Buy not ‘Geek Tech PC support’.

Now the pressure: you are going to have almost $400 taken from your account if you don’t call the telephone number within 24 hours. If you call them they steal more than that from your account.

At the end you have a different name and they almost get Geek Squad correct.

There is a lot of this garbage going on at the moment targeting “Senior Citizens”.

Full test of the e-mail below the fold [Read more →]

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.“

Position: 43.6N 52.6W [ 4:00PM CDT 2100UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [025°] near 10 mph [17 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 85 mph [140 kph].
Wind Gusts: 100 mph [160 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 485 miles [780 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 90 miles [150 km].
Minimum central pressure: 964 mb ↑.

Currently about 215 miles [ 345 km] South of Cape Race, Newfoundland.

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: 38.1N 55.9W [10:00PM CDT 0300UTC].
Movement: Northeast [045°] near 29 mph [46 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 105 mph [165 kph].
Wind Gusts: 120 mph [195 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 275 miles [445 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 80 miles [130 km].
Minimum central pressure: 954 mb.

Currently about 610 miles [ 985 km] South-Southwest of Cape Race, 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: 31.3 63.7W [10:00PM CDT 0300UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [030°] near 15 mph [24 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 90 mph [150 kph].
Wind Gusts: 105 mph [170 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 185 miles [295 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 60 miles [ 95 km].
Minimum central pressure: 964 mb ↑.

Currently about 95 miles [ 150 km] Southeast of Bermuda.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Bermuda.

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: 47.9N 31.0W [10:00AM CDT 1500UTC].
Movement: North-Northeast [020°] near 16 mph [26 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 65 mph [100 kph].
Wind Gusts: 80 mph [130 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 230 miles [370 km].
Minimum central pressure: 973 mb ↑.

Currently about 715 miles [1145 km] North-Northwest of the Azores.

This is the final 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.]