We have 11 days left in the month, and it's already the 3rd-wettest January on record at Sacramento Executive Airport (which has been recording since 1941). We will have just one more large storm this month, coming in on Sunday, and it's likely we'll reach first place. After that, it's likely we'll have nothing until about February 5th.
For the record, these Januarys are:
Year Inches of Rain
1978 9.14
1997 9.05
2017 8.91
Using the longer record of the "Downtown" Sacramento met station (which goes back to 1877), we're already the 9th wettest January on record:
Year Inches of Rain
1911 12.72
1995 12.35
1896 9.76
1909 9.65
1978 9.61
1993 9.37
1916 9.35
1878 9.26
2017 8.94
Last night, I took a look at the CNFRC QPF forecast. It looks like we'll reach 10.50 inches of rain for the month, which will put us first and third on these lists, respectively.
Friday, January 20, 2017
Janis Joplin's Demo For "Me And Bobby McGee"
Sweet!:
When singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson penned the lyrics to “Me And Bobby McGee” in 1969, he supposedly had ex-lover Janis Joplin on his mind – but somehow, we don’t think he had any inkling of an idea that this would be one of the final songs ever recorded by the legend, or that it would go on to become her swan song.
Watching Popcorn Pop
Wow!
At 1,300 frames per second, the kernel leaps from the heating element, full of starch and joy, and explodes into its fluffy final form before tumbling down in a cloud of steam. Before it pops, the pressure inside reaches around 135 psi and its internal temperature hits 356 degrees fahrenheit.
But that’s not slow enough. At 30,000 FPS—1,250 times slower than real time—you can watch the kernel’s insides expand peel the hard hull apart like a rose blooming.
Trump's Inaugural Crowd Wasn't Large Enough, So They Used Obama's Crowds For Twitter
More cheese whiz:
The original image showed flag-waving crowds in front of the US Capitol.
But it was changed about an hour later, amid claims from Mr Trump's opponents that crowds at his inauguration were not as large as in 2013.
El Chapo Comes To New York
I guess Walter White turned down the DEA post:
Mexico’s most notorious drug kingpin, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who gained fame for his daring prison escapes and an interview with Hollywood stars while a fugitive, has been extradited to the United States to face trafficking and other charges, authorities from both countries said.
A plane carrying Guzman landed Thursday night at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip, N.Y., according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Awesome Protest
Caitland wonders:
"Don't grab me by the pussy. But here, stare at my tits because I'm mad at the patriarchy."I reply:
I don't understand what she was expecting to accomplish by doing this. I truly don't. Yeah, it's her right to peacefully protest. But really?
Dissonance and protest are bosom buddies.
Inauguration Day Protest Comes Right To You
Restless night. As the rains accelerated, I was out knocking down puddles before they became hazards. Went to bed again around six.
Woke up at noon. Missed going to any demonstrations. But one of the nice things about urban areas is, if you oversleep, they now have this app that delivers demonstrations to your doorstep:
Woke up at noon. Missed going to any demonstrations. But one of the nice things about urban areas is, if you oversleep, they now have this app that delivers demonstrations to your doorstep:
Thursday, January 19, 2017
As Dry As Arrakis Here In Sacramento
This week's Drought Monitor is out, and shows virtually no changes from last week. We're still as dry as Arrakis here in Sacramento.
Oh! The photo from yesterday! Of course!
Jordan Martinez stops everything to jerry-rig a rope in order to prevent The Anaconda from smacking into the wet overhead electrical line as it's drawn under the ground.
Oh! The photo from yesterday! Of course!
Jordan Martinez stops everything to jerry-rig a rope in order to prevent The Anaconda from smacking into the wet overhead electrical line as it's drawn under the ground.
More Hands Make Light Work
And so, as the plumbers cleaned up after themselves, I started cutting tree branches from the fallen limb.
Lots of work. Eventually the plumbers left.
Then the handyman next door came over. We started sawing on the main branches. I brought out my chain saw, but it no longer seems to work. So we used his Skilsaw and Sawzall and hacksaw instead.
I worried about him. I could hear his labored breathing. But we got the wood cut and he hauled the main branches away. I stacked the rest of the foliage for eventual removal by ordinary city means.
Lots of work. Eventually the plumbers left.
Then the handyman next door came over. We started sawing on the main branches. I brought out my chain saw, but it no longer seems to work. So we used his Skilsaw and Sawzall and hacksaw instead.
I worried about him. I could hear his labored breathing. But we got the wood cut and he hauled the main branches away. I stacked the rest of the foliage for eventual removal by ordinary city means.
Daylight Reveals Driveway Chaos
Busy morning. City inspector taking a look at my sewer line. Meanwhile, I'm looking at the fallen tree limb, which fell from next door's eucalyptus, and expertly avoided touching any city property, telephone lines or parked cars as it fell smack in my driveway.
Sure Is A Wet January Around Here
We have 13 days left in the month, and it's already the 7th-wettest January on record at Sacramento Executive Airport (which has been recording since 1941). Since we only need 1.02 inches to reach first place, and two more storms are forecast to arrive within the week, the likelihood we'll reach first place is very high.
For the record, these Januarys are:
Year Inches of rain
1978 9.14
1997 9.05
1995 8.81
1993 8.63
1969 8.50
1967 8.42
2017 8.12
Tomorrow I can look at the official downtown Sacramento precipitation readings, which go farther back, to 1877, and include even-more-epic Januarys (like 12.72 inches in 1911).
[UPDATE]
Using the longer record of the "Downtown" Sacramento met station (which goes back to 1877), we're already the 12th wettest January on record, with a good chunk of the month to go.
Year Inches of Rain
1911 12.72
1995 12.35
1896 9.76
1909 9.65
1978 9.61
1993 9.37
1916 9.35
1878 9.26
1969 8.90
1952 8.65
1895 8.42
2017 8.11
For the record, these Januarys are:
Year Inches of rain
1978 9.14
1997 9.05
1995 8.81
1993 8.63
1969 8.50
1967 8.42
2017 8.12
Tomorrow I can look at the official downtown Sacramento precipitation readings, which go farther back, to 1877, and include even-more-epic Januarys (like 12.72 inches in 1911).
[UPDATE]
Using the longer record of the "Downtown" Sacramento met station (which goes back to 1877), we're already the 12th wettest January on record, with a good chunk of the month to go.
Year Inches of Rain
1911 12.72
1995 12.35
1896 9.76
1909 9.65
1978 9.61
1993 9.37
1916 9.35
1878 9.26
1969 8.90
1952 8.65
1895 8.42
2017 8.11
Apocalypse Now
Given the strength of the storm that came roaring in today, I was reluctant to drive to Davis for the monthly DMTC Board Meeting this evening, but duty called.
I don't know what happened to Davis traffic tonight - presumably the high winds and horizontal rains - but traffic was bollixed worse than I had ever seen. The miles-long rows of automobile headlights in all directions made it appear as if everyone was trying to leave Davis all at once, just as I was arriving. It was the Apocalypse, and everyone heard the news but me.
At the Board Meeting, I silently fretted about the large oak tree that looms above my house. The momentum arm on its largest branch is incredible. It's just a matter of time before all that wood comes through my roof. Would it be tonight?
After the Board Meeting, I went shopping at Target, and was surprised again by just how few people were there. The roads were deserted in all directions. When it is the Apocalypse, you don't hang around.
The biggest surprise of all was arriving home in Sacramento and discovering a eucalyptus branch weighing several hundred pounds sitting in the driveway where I usually park. The young and vigorous eucalyptus tree growing next door had a hidden flaw. If I hadn't gone to the DMTC Board Meeting, my car would have been smashed. Meanwhile, the precarious oak tree remains as poised as ever. I'll break out the chain saw tomorrow morning.
Moral: Be contrary when the next Apocalypse comes around. Don't run away - make friends with the Zombies.
I don't know what happened to Davis traffic tonight - presumably the high winds and horizontal rains - but traffic was bollixed worse than I had ever seen. The miles-long rows of automobile headlights in all directions made it appear as if everyone was trying to leave Davis all at once, just as I was arriving. It was the Apocalypse, and everyone heard the news but me.
At the Board Meeting, I silently fretted about the large oak tree that looms above my house. The momentum arm on its largest branch is incredible. It's just a matter of time before all that wood comes through my roof. Would it be tonight?
After the Board Meeting, I went shopping at Target, and was surprised again by just how few people were there. The roads were deserted in all directions. When it is the Apocalypse, you don't hang around.
The biggest surprise of all was arriving home in Sacramento and discovering a eucalyptus branch weighing several hundred pounds sitting in the driveway where I usually park. The young and vigorous eucalyptus tree growing next door had a hidden flaw. If I hadn't gone to the DMTC Board Meeting, my car would have been smashed. Meanwhile, the precarious oak tree remains as poised as ever. I'll break out the chain saw tomorrow morning.
Moral: Be contrary when the next Apocalypse comes around. Don't run away - make friends with the Zombies.
Sewer Highlights
Worker ecstatic after finally succeeding in coaxing thick cable through broken-pipe section of sewer line.
Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda" comes to mind.
Jordan Martinez stops everything to jerry-rig a rope in order to prevent The Anaconda from smacking into the wet overhead electrical line as it's drawn under the ground.And so now the sewer line is in the ground, ready for inspection, before finishing cement work. I can use the facilities again. But with all the rain and digging, it's a real mud bowl out there.
Mud
The sewer workers arrived and started getting into the muck just as the arriving storm intensified. Fun!
We should stage a mud-wrestling competition. One of those girls-gone-wild things.
Not just girls. Invite guys too. The fellow who is digging the holes is strikingly-handsome.
Wonder if the passing DMV workers are game?
We should stage a mud-wrestling competition. One of those girls-gone-wild things.
Not just girls. Invite guys too. The fellow who is digging the holes is strikingly-handsome.
Wonder if the passing DMV workers are game?
New Mexico Rates 51st Among The 50 States
Come on, it's not THAT bad! The ABQ Journal article noted:
New Mexico ranked 51st among the 50 states ... New Mexico ranked particularly poorly on poverty (50th), unemployment (48th), violent crime rate (48th), divorce rate (46th) and the percentage of two-parent families (47th). The only relatively positive metrics were the infant mortality rate and the “family fun” ranking, in which the state ranked 18th. It was around the middle on child care costs (27th) and came in at 36th on housing affordability.Meanwhile:
To help with the evaluation process, WalletHub’s data team compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on 40 key indicators of family-friendliness. Our data set ranges from “median family salary” to “housing affordability” to “unemployment rate.” Read on for the complete ranking, relocation advice from experts and a full description of our methodology.
Sewer Line Repair Starts
The Cement Saw just revved up. And so, it starts. Out with the old sewer; in with the new.
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Things Are Looking Up
I guess this is optimism in today's America. Instead of gladiatorial combat, we'll merely perish cold and alone under bridges:
Kendzior agrees with Pepinsky that Trump-style authoritarianism won’t look like it does in other countries. The question, then, is how to make Americans care about the incremental degradation of constitutional values and political norms.
Puzzled By The Dissonance Regarding NM Snowpack
This article is pretty optimistic, but the Western Regional Climate Center maps show an average sort of winter. I wonder which narrative will win out?:
https://www.abqjournal.com/929039/weekend-rains-hit-records.html
https://www.abqjournal.com/929039/weekend-rains-hit-records.html
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A soggy weekend set rainfall records in Albuquerque and other New Mexico cities and added to a healthy snowpack shaping up in the state’s northern mountains.
High water content in the snowpack in New Mexico and Colorado bodes well for the spring runoff later this year.
“The snowpack is doing well,” National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Guyer said Monday. “So we’re going to have some runoff, finally.”
A good snowpack is welcome news, because New Mexico hasn’t had a good runoff since 2010. Last year was among the warmest on record, and a dry, windy spring robbed the state of much of its snowpack.
...Albuquerque International Sunport received 0.66 inch of rain Sunday, beating the previous Jan. 15 record of 0.48 inch, set in 1895.
Roswell received 0.33 inch of rain Sunday, beating a 1924 record. And Clayton in far northwestern New Mexico got 0.65 inch, beating a 1980 record.
But snowpack remains the state’s best news.
High-elevation areas of northern and central New Mexico have normal or above-normal snowpack, but the southern mountains are lagging, Guyer said.
Snowpack in the San Juan Basin around Chama is 177 percent of normal, packing 15 inches of liquid water, he said.
New Mexico also will benefit from Colorado’s healthy snowpack, which should feed New Mexico streams and rivers this spring.
In the Cumbres Pass area of Colorado, north of Chama, the snowpack has 26 inches of liquid water, Guyer said.
“That’s a lot of water,” he said.
Snowpack in New Mexico’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains is 150 percent of normal in some areas.
...The heaviest snowfall was recorded at the 10,000-foot Magdalena Ridge Observatory west of Socorro, which racked up at least 18 inches.
...Storm totals
Snowfall totals, Saturday and Sunday
Ski Santa Fe 15 inches
Ski Apache 14 inches
Sandia Peak Ski Area 14 inches
Angel Fire Resort 9 inches
Red River Ski Area 9 inches
Cuba 7 inches
Tucumcari 3 inches
Albuquerque rainfall totals, Saturday and Sunday
Coors and Coors Trail NW 1 inch
Arenal and Unser SW 0.98 inch
San Francisco and Barstow NE 0.98 inch
Constitution and Girard 0.98 inch
Irving and Golf Course NW 0.89 inch
Gibson and Carlisle SE 0.84 inch
Indian School and Tramway NE 0.84 inch
2015's "Jupiter Ascending" - Bureaucracy Scene
2015's "Jupiter Ascending" was a pretty bad sci-fi movie, but its Bureaucracy scene is pretty good:
Garry Kasparov Wonders
Garry Kasparov wonders:
I'm still waiting for Trump to say something about global affairs that hasn't literally been said first by the Kremlin.
A New Episode Of "The Twilight Zone"
Scottish Newspaper Sunday Herald Likens Trump’s Inauguration to ‘The Twilight Zone’ in TV Listing.
Noncooperation With Evil
“I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.”― Martin Luther King Jr.
APD Shootings Dramatically-Reduced From 2010
In the good news category, the Albuquerque Police Department has dramatically-reduced the number of times they fired their weapons. In 2010, they were shooting at everything that moved, including each other. A lot of people were injured and killed for no good reason. It was time to introduce some discipline:
Albuquerque police fired their weapons just seven times in the line of duty. It was the fewest by the department in a calendar year in at least seven years – and evidence, police officials say, that the hours of training officers have completed and policy changes called for in a settlement between the city and the U.S. Department of Justice are working.
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