Tag Archives: weather

Friday’s Theme Music

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, Re-blogs

In lieu of my own music post today, I give you my friend Michael’s “Friday Theme Music”. I’m not a big fan of Elvis — too much schmaltz & glitter, too much gyrating to suit me — but he did a few songs that I particularly like, and this is one of them. Thanks, Michael! Cheers!

Michael Seidel, writer

We’ve come to Friday. Full stop. What else needs said? Everyone has a Friday sense, a feel for what Friday means for them. We do that with every day, though, depending on schedules and activities, wants and needs, desires and confusion, determination and goals.

Rain is falling on this Oregon coast August 19th. The sun’s reappearance was dampened by clouds but still took place at 6:23 this morning. Turning away from Sol — which often invokes Pink Floyd and someone singing, “On the turning away” — takes place at 8:19 this evening. By that time, we’ll expect to be at 67 F, a small jump from our current 16 C. They say it feels like 60. Whatever, it’s loaded with soft salty fishy oceany fragrances sprinkled with dirt, sand, and asphalt, along with plant smells. Know that melange? It’s a relaxing scent to inhale, one that unfolds the soul and…

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Sunday’s Theme Music

Posted on by under animals, Bits 'n Pieces, History, Humour, music, Re-blogs

Since I didn’t do a music post this morning, and haven’t even given much thought to an afternoon post yet, I thought I’d share Michael’s great theme-music post with you … and you’ll have to laugh at his story about his fit-bit thingy! Thanks, Michael, for both the humour and the tune!

Michael Seidel, writer

The Neurons stuck “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” by Chicago into the morning mental music stream. I think the group may have been the Chicago Transit Authority when the song was recorded. It’s from 1970, when I was fourteen, instilling thoughts about what year it is and how old I am. The song was delivered when I looked to my wrist to check my Fitbit for the time. ‘Lo, it wasn’t there. Apparently, the FB faked me into believing all was well. Then its symptoms returned. I charged it and charged it again but had to remove it from my wrist because it was going off every three seconds — notification — which becomes v — notification — intrusive to m — notification — processes.

Yes, the Fitbit is no more. I thought about searching for DIY repairs. Had done that tentatively. Maybe later. Maybe I’ll purchase…

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Good Season(al Adjustment)

Posted on by under Political commentary, Re-blogs, Social commentary

This morning’s news is all about the February job report, which is favourable. In under an hour after the release of the report, Sean Spicer broke the Office of Management and Budget’s Statistical Policy Directive No. 3, which states that “employees of the Executive Branch shall not comment publicly on the data until at least one hour after the official release time.” But of course, the Trump administration could hardly wait to take credit, even though the credit is not truly theirs to take. Fellow-blogger Erik Hare, writing as Barataria, is my ‘go-to’ person for economic insight, and as always, he is one step ahead of the game with his analysis of this morning’s news, so I am sharing his post with you today. Thank you Erik, as always, for your valuable insight!

Barataria - The work of Erik Hare

By the time you read this, the big news is likely to be jobs. It hasn’t been a hot topic since the election, and most of what was said during that strange period wasn’t exactly true. The big job gains for February, along with a large round-up for January, make it impossible to ignore.

The economy has definitely turned around.

It’s all over but the shouting, of which there will be a lot. There is little doubt that Republicans will claim credit for a big turnaround in 2017, which will be utter crap. This has been a long time in the making and things have not been actually bad for a long time. Nevermind. Positive news will feed on itself and everyone will be happier.

But there is one final twist to the very good news – it’s really in the adjustment.

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Benign Random Thoughts

Posted on by under Humour, Random

I was working on a post about tolerance, same-sex marriage, homophobes, racists, etc., but suddenly I realized that I really didn’t feel like being deeply and seriously introspective today, so I decided to do a short, hopefully humorous piece instead. I like a good chuckle sometimes … it kind of clears out the cobwebs that build up around my brain. So, I have decided to write a single paragraph about five (5) random thoughts on this day. But “Oh wait”, you say … “aren’t ALL of your thoughts random?” Yeah, pretty much. But these are a lighter (as in less hefty) variety of random.

• On weather: I have heard from at least five people that this coming winter will be horrible, cold, snowy, icy, and I’ve even heard the word “catastrophic” used in conjunction with the upcoming winter. Where are these people getting this? From the forecasters and the Old Farmer’s Almanac. My first observation: aren’t these the same forecasters who, approximately six months ago, projected a terribly HOT summer with record-breaking highs? In July, which is typically the hottest month of the year here in the Midwest, with temps in the 90’s much of the month, we had only two days that actually made it to 90 degrees, and most days were in the mid 70’s to lower 80’s. Actually, most of July felt rather fall-like and generally quite comfortable. So, these are the forecasters who everybody is placing their trust and faith in as they stock up on salt, shovels and de-icer. Which reminds me … I need to hurry and buy a new shovel before they are all gone, since one of my kind neighbors pilfered mine this spring. At least they waited until after we had seen our last snow to steal my shovel. The same shovel, I might add, that I generously lent to every neighbor on the street at one time or another. But I’m not bitter … I’m not angry … I am just shaking my head and hoping they enjoy using my shovel. And as for those who are basing their predictions of gloom and doom on the Old Farmer’s Almanac … time to come on up out of the rabbit hole, peeps … I hate to be the one to break this to you, but the Old Farmer died long ago!!! The Old Farmer’s Almanac was first published in 1792. Remember who was president then? Yes, good ol’ George Washington. According to an article in Modern Farmer, “ … “Old Farmer’s Almanac”, which started in 1793, publish annual weather predictions based on their own unique (and entirely secret) forecasting formulas.” And just more brief comment on weather … Mother Nature has over-watered my flowers, parsley and onions and now they are all in varying stages of dead. Thanks, Mother N.

• On football: Please make it go away … SOON.

• On climate change: I am currently, as part of my interest in international relations, taking a course in Climate Change. One of the things they keep focusing on is trying to figure out how much methane is emitted, per animal, by grass-consuming animals such as sheep and cows. The part I loved was that they briefly noted that humans also emit CO2 in the process of breathing, but that they (climate-change scientists) have decided, at least for the time being, to leave that one alone, as the cost of trying to get humans to forgo that activity is just too high. WHEW … I was getting worried there …

• On procrastination: It takes me precisely three (3) minutes to change the furnace filter, so why do I procrastinate for a full month before actually getting around to it?

• On laundry: How in the heck does a family of three (3) people manage to dirty 13-15 loads of laundry EVERY week???

Okay … there were five random thoughts that are not political, contentious or controversial. If you want to know how hard this was, I started it on Tuesday and it has taken me until Thursday to come up with five such statements. (I’m not entirely sure the first one even qualifies as completely non-contentious, but it was intended to be humorous.) I think this says that my mind is not wired for random, non-controversial thought and that I would be better off to stick with my usual argumentative, opinionated random chatter. So, with that said, upcoming are posts on ISIS, the aforementioned same-sex marriage issue, Kim Jung Un, forgiveness, and whatever else pops into my cob-webby mind. Stay tuned, and until then ….

Cognito Ergo Sum

Why the Farmer’s Almanac Isn’t Used By Farmers (Anymore)