Welcome Summer, VI

Welcome Summer, V

Welcome Summer, IV

Welcome Summer, III

Welcome Summer, II

Welcome Summer, I

Happy Father's Day

If you still have your father, your Dad, I hope you've told him you love him.



I hope, for both your sakes, you can.

And happy Father's Day out there, to all the Dads.

Entertainment Overnight -- Fourth of July

Entertainment Overnight -- Summertime

Kansas City In Top Ten Cities Facing the "Most Danger Days"

With the warming of the planet, proven, scientifically, it becomes important to know what's in front of us.
There's a rather important article out last month from the online environmental magazine Grist:

Top 10 cities facing the most “danger days” due to climate change

So what is a "danger day"?

A danger day is when the combination of heat and humidity (also known as the heat index) make it feel like it’s 105 degrees F or hotter. Warming temperatures are about to push U.S. cities into a new regime where danger days happen regularly.
With the globe's warming temperatures, it's projected we will continue to have ever-climbing temperatures.

Of the 144 U.S. cities Climate Central analyzed, only 12 of them averaged more than one danger day per year since 1950. Most of those cities are clustered in the South where humidity tends to be worst in the morning while temperatures peak in the late afternoon.

But by 2030, a whopping 85 cities — home to nearly third of the U.S. population — are projected to deal with at least 20 danger days annually. Only nine cities are projected to experience less than one danger day per year. By 2050, just three cities could have as little as one danger day per year, while 109 cities that are home to 125 million Americans will experience 20 danger days or greater annually.

So where does this tend to look likely to hit worst? Where, in the nation, will be most heated and have the most of these "danger days"? Here are the top 10 cities projected now. And look who's right about in the middle of it all:

There is a lot of the Midwest there. Tulsa, Oklahoma, Jackson, Missouri, Wichita, Kansas all along with our own Kansas City.

Some of the ripple effects?

All that added heat will change the daily rhythm of life across the U.S. The impact on health will be a top concern, particularly for children and senior citizens. When the heat index rises above 105°F, heat exhaustion can set in and cause fainting, dizziness, confusion and vomiting. When humidity crosses 60 percent, the body also loses its ability to cool itself by sweating. Hot, humid conditions have made high school football a focal point for heat exhaustion as heat-related deaths have tripled since 1994.

Some states and cities have responded by setting up rules to cancel sports practices based on the weather forecasts while others have cooling centers and warning systems to help deal with oppressive conditions. Rising temperatures mean those plans will have to be adjusted and relied upon more regularly.

Outdoor laborers will see their productivity fall. According to findings in the Risky Business report, the productivity of farmers, construction workers, landscapers, and others who work outside could drop by 3 percent by century’s end.

It will also drive up how much people spend on energy as air conditioning goes from being handy to being a necessity. If greenhouse gas emissions continue on their current trend, energy expenditures could rise by up to 7 percent by 2050 and 21 percent by 2100. That added capacity will strain the electricity grid, and even violent crime could rise.

Once again, it doesn't look pretty, ladies and gentlemen.

It would be nice if our legislators---all of them---would start taking action on climate change. Heaven knows some in the business community and the lots of the military, both, already have.

See You In September

Entertainment Overnight -- Summer's Almost Gone

A truck and tractor pull like no other

Because this one was Peculiar:

Yesterday's headlines on climate

Read 'em and weep:

Texas Panhandle Wildfire Destroys 156 Structures

Wildfire Forces 20000 Evacuations Near San Diego

Smokin' hot heat wave in Bay Area to continue 

Arizona Town Near Grand Canyon Runs Low on Water

And it's May.

Only May, not Summer or June or July or August.

It doesn't look good.

Quote of the day--on friends and friendship

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy;  they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”   

--Marcel Proust

Longest day of the year and then a "Supermoon"

All this weekend:

On that "blue moon"

Tomorrow night, folks, we are to have a "blue moon"--a rare event. It is a 2nd full moon in the same month. Being that it's also August, it would be a really large, full moon, too.

So you know, the forecast for weather, due to Tropical Depression Isaac that's headed this way, we are to get clouds and rain tomorrow and tomorrow night.

What's it mean?

The closest we're going to get to seeing that big, beautiful, late Summer full, blue moon is tonight. It's actually right now.

Just so you know.

So, get out there, and take it in.

Cheers.

American wildfires, 2012

Statistics on wildfires in America just now:

--Right this moment, there are 62--count 'em, 62--"uncontained, large fires" burning across America.

--Those 62 fires are raging in 10 states, with most of them in the West.

--In July this year alone, 2,014,395 acres burned. The average over 10 years is 1,585,656 acres burned.

--Wildfires this year burned states from Arizona and New Mexico clear up to Idaho and Washington, inclusive.

--"By mid-July, there were 32 large wildfires active across the nation, entirely across the western states — two in both Washington and Nevada; three in California and Montana; four in Oregon, Idaho, and Arizona; and five in Utah and Wyoming."

--"On July 31st, there were 29 large wildfires active nationwide. Two fires were active in Florida..."

--"In total, 20 fires were active across the western states of California, Colorado, Utah, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming."

I ask you, do you ever remember a Summer--or even a whole year--when so much of our nation was consumed by wildfires?

Because I sure don't.

And as if that isn't enough, it's even a problem for our Northern neighbor, Canada:

Rare wildfires threaten Canadian polar bear habitat

(Reuters) - Wildfires sparked by lightning near Canada's Hudson Bay are threatening the habitat of polar bears, encroaching on the old tree roots and frozen soil where females make their dens, a conservation expert on the big, white bears said on Thursday.

Polar bears are more typically threatened by the melting of sea ice, which they use as platforms for hunting seals, their main prey. But those who live near Hudson Bay spend their summers resting up on shore when the bay thaws, living in dens dug in the frozen soil among the roots of stunted spruce trees.

Come to your own conclusions.

Links: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/fire/

http://www.nifc.gov/nicc/sitreprt.pdf

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2904/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/16/us-polarbears-wildfires-idUSBRE87F1FF20120816

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/17/us-usa-wildfires-west-idUSBRE87F19Y20120817?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

Topsy-turvy Summer

It seems like we had August in June and July and we're having--what?--June in August?

I'll take this, for sure.

Here's hoping on that rain for Thursday.

On humankind

We're great at spectacle, we humans.

Aren't we?

We'll spend thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars on big, beautiful, dazzling, even decadent ceremonies and celebrations.

We aren't worth a damn at clothing, feeding, housing or seeing to the health of the poor, though, are we?

Tragic.

Damn shame.

It would be nice if we cared.