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Position: 38.3N 55.2W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [055°] near 28 mph [44 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 50 mph [ 80 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1007 mb ↓.

Currently about 680 miles [1095 km] Northeast of Bermuda.

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: 35.0N 61.4W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [050°] near 9 mph [15 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [ 75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 60 miles [ 95 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1006 mb ↓.

Currently about 270 miles [ 435 km] Northeast of 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.]

This is the “new & improved” tax filing deadline due to COVID-19 and the stimulus bill.

As it isn’t the original day, instead of the original version – Stevie Ray Vaughn covers it.

It’s the third Saturday in May, so it’s Armed Forces Day which is a hemorrhoid if you are in the armed forces. This is a day for parades and static displays on bases, and most importantly a lost day off as you are required to “volunteer” to participate in the “festivities”.

As what my units did was classified and not suited to static displays of equipment or answering questions from the community, we were used for clean up before and after the event as well as our normal duty rotation at the “office”. Why isn’t it a day off at a barbecue and picnic at a beach or park? If you want to see a military disaster, watch members of the regular Air Force attempt to march in unison in a parade, something most of them haven’t done since basic training.

That final lawnmower has been put on a back burner as I have been working on a computer problem for a friend. It is an intermittent disconnect from the Internet. I finally told him to take the modem and router back to the cable company and get new ones. That seems to have solved the problem. I own my modem and router and have not been experiencing any problems. Not paying the monthly equipment rental fee has covered the cost of the equipment years ago.

I have finally received all of the bits and pieces required to finish rebuilding my big box and will probably be “smoke testing” my efforts in the next couple of days, if the tenants don’t break anything.

I have also gathered the parts necessary to work on the kitchen faucet, so I will be trying not to flood the kitchen later in the week.

Oh, I managed to reattach a trim piece on the car that was knocked off by the tree. I used stainless steel screws instead of black duct tape, which was the consensus solution among the tenants.

I have put up the Tropical Weather sites on the side bar because the National Hurricane Center is coming on line before the official start of the Hurricane Season on June 1st. Tropical Storm Andres formed today off the Pacific Coast of Mexico and the Atlantic season could start at any time.

Wikipedia usually has to “lock” its Cinco de Mayo page. I suspect it may be related to the sudden appearance of sites opposing the celebration of this semi-holiday and others who have a hissy fit about any Mexican holiday being celebrated in the US.

In Mexico Cinco de Mayo or Batalla de Puebla, is only a really big celebration in the state of Puebla, where the battle took place.

The Mexican army won the Batalla de Puebla on May the 5^th, 1862, but the French went on to Mexico City in 1863 after receiving reinforcements and installed Emperor Maximilian.

It has the status of St. Patrick’s Day in the US, an excuse to eat different food, and drink different booze, and be obnoxious show an interest in other cultures.

Margaritas, tacos, and the destruction of piñatas, that’s what it is really about.

The May Day association with labor is all American, and just as controversial as everything of any consequence in history. The day is tied to a strike for the eight-hour day and the so-called “Haymarket Riot” of 1886. When it comes to “riots” and the Chicago police are involved, you are not going to find a single truth.

The dynamic duo that mucked up the Pledge of Allegiance, Dwight Eisenhower and his Republican Congress, made May 1^st both Law Day and Loyalty Day so those Commie working people wouldn’t get any ideas about having rights.

It’s Hexennacht, but there is no Blocksberg available for dancing down here and it is so soggy that bonfires are out of the question.

Of course the Church grabbed this holiday too and called it Walpurgisnacht in honor of one of their Anglo-Saxon saints, rather than good German witches [Hexen]. The Celts celebrate Beltaine at this time of the year. It is considered the beginning of summer in much of Europe.

Archæoastronomy

While I’ve been dealing with some weather [including a tree falling on my car]; the insane laws being passed in this state; and the dull and boring bits required to continue life [buying and preparing food, cleaning the house, caring for the cats, etc.]; I’ve been required to repair lawn mowers and my main computer.

I’m not a small engine mechanic, but I know how to find parts and YouTube videos that show you how to fix them [normally, get a new carburetor, fuel line, fuel & air filters, spark plug, and change the oil]. Basically – I have the tools and I can rebuild them….

I was adding memory to my big box, and that went so smoothly I decided to install an SSD as the Boot drive for Windows. After installing the the SSD the system couldn’t see either of the two hard drives. So, I have the new motherboard and the updated memory, and am waiting for the AMD Ryzen 5 3400G to be delivered. I can’t really complain as the machine lasted 9 years.

If I get the last lawn mower up and running, and the computer back together, I finally have all of the bits and pieces to replace the kitchen and bathroom faucets. I’ve had the faucets for months, but designing the transition from the existing plumbing to new faucets took some research.

Meanwhile we have put a helicopter on Mars that is zipping around. In a related vein: Billionaire Elon Musk has offered inventors $US100 million ($129 million) on Earth Day to fight global warming by developing carbon dioxide removal technology for the “largest incentive prize in history”. I think he needs to look at the NASA Mars program: MOXIE device aboard Perseverance rover uses electrolysis to produce oxygen from CO₂. It has been a few years [OK, decades] since my last Chemistry course, but if the oxygen is taken away from carbon dioxide, you are left with carbon. If you scale up MOXIE, you can supply hospitals with oxygen and provide carbon for carbon fiber, graphene, and other uses.

Today is World Penguin Day. Krill is the appropriate gift – well for a penguin…

It is ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand, which is similar to the American Veterans Day, in that it began as a remembrance of World War I, and has become more generalized over the years.

“Anzac Day commemorates the involvement of Australian and New Zealand troops in a World War I campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey.”

The Gallipoli Campaign began as a Winston Churchill [then First Lord of the Admiralty] plan that spun out of control and got a lot of people killed on both sides with nothing much changing, but then, that was quite common in World War I.

Peter Weir made a movie, Gallipoli, which, if nothing else, proves that Sergeant Alvin York, and T.E. Lawrence weren’t the only people who fought in World War I.

[Note: The date is April 25 which April 24 in the US because of the time difference.]

Saint George is the patron saint of England, Georgia [the country], Bulgaria, Portugal, Catalonia, and the city of Moscow. Orthodox countries tend to celebrate George on November 23^rd.

PETA condemns George for his senseless slaughter of dragons. The YWCA condemns the condemnation and wants to know when PETA is going to volunteer to be DragonChow™

“The date as decided by UNESCO as it was also the death and birth anniversary of William Shakespeare, a world famous author. The date also coincided with the death anniversary of Miguel de Cervantes, who was a noted Spanish author. Some other well known authors whose birth or death anniversary falls on this day are Maurice Druon, Josep Pla and Halldor Laxness.”