The Magnetic Field Is Shifting. The Poles May Flip. This Could Get Bad.

The Magnetic Field Is Shifting. The Poles May Flip. This Could Get Bad.

"The Earth’s magnetic field protects our planet from dangerous solar and cosmic rays, like a giant shield. As the poles switch places (or try to), that shield is weakened; scientists estimate that it could waste away to as little as a tenth of its usual force. The shield could be compromised for centuries while the poles move, allowing malevolent radiation closer to the surface of the planet for that whole time. Already, changes within the Earth have weakened the field over the South Atlantic so much that satellites exposed to the resulting radiation have experienced memory failure."

January 30, 2018 9 AM Update

Good morning! A rather cloudy Tuesday ☁ for President Trump’s and first State of Union Address. 👹Next Tuesday is Lame Duck Day. 🐤Snow flurries, cloudy skies and 24 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a north breeze at 6 mph. The skies will clear around 9 pm. I think I saw a few snow flurries around, but other then that, it’s just another late January gray winter day. But don’t worry, be happy. Spring is only just around the corner, or so I tell myself. 

🐣Only 49 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🐢

Today will be cloudy, with a high of 32 degrees at 1pm. One degree above normal. North wind 6 to 10 mph. Things will start to warm up more as we head into February,🌸 although I’m sure we are due for at least one more big arctic blast before it’s done. ❄A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies, clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 30 degrees. The record high of 56 was set in 2013. 11 inches of snow fell back in 1966.

The sun will set at 5:07 pm with dusk around 5:36 pm, which is one minute and 19 seconds later than yesterday.🌄 If I get out of work at 5 PM, there will still be a fair amount of daylight. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy conditions and 27 degrees. There will be a north-northwest breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 56 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 20 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a chance of snow showers, mainly before 9pm. Cloudy during the early evening, then gradual clearing, with a low of 11 degrees at 6am. Four degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around 0 at 6am; Northwest wind 9 to 13 mph. Fairly cold, but certainly a better way to end the month then how we started it in the in arctic blast. 🎢I might bring the heat up a few degrees this evening, just so things don’t get too cold, but I’m still reeling from the at $100 electricity and gas bill during the recent cold blast. 💣In the summer, I probably pay half that, and my budget is always so tight.  Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2017, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 11 degrees. The record low of -26 occurred back in 1948.

So I’m catching the late bus downtown, because despite my lights I was tired from the gray skies and didn’t get a early start. The funny thing was last night, my birthday I was in bed by nine and asleep by ten. I need to get back in the habit of getting to bed earlier. 💤I guess if I don’t run into my boss on the elevator I’ll be fine. 🏣 Tomorrow I plan to be in earlier.  The clock is built continued to glow into the night as there is another bug in the code, but at least it wasn’t flashing. I just need to set one more pin to low at night to shut off the lights. This time, I got up and unplugged it. I will fix all the bugs eventually. I like hacking away at my own code to make it better. 

As previously noted, next Tuesday is Lame Duck Day🐤 when the sun will be setting at 5:16 pm with dusk at 5:45 pm. When that happens, I’ll be home many nights before dusk is done. That’s always a nice sign that spring is coming.🌄 On that day in 2017, we had snow, mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 33 and 25 degrees.❄ Typically, the high temperature is 33 degrees. We hit a record high of 55 back in 1991.

January 29, 2018 Night

Good evening! So it’s official now, I’m no longer a Young Democrat, I’m an old one. 🎂🍰 My 35th Birthday came and went. Mostly cloudy ☁ and 29 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a north breeze at 7 mph. The skies will clear tomorrow around 10 pm. 

It was a pretty good birthday, 🎂figuring all that I had to work today and was stuck in the office late. 🏢I did get a chance though to go for a walk to Price Chopper and buy some coffee.β˜• Not a half bad sunset from my corner office overlooking the mountains, and I still make a decent amount of money even if it’s still never enough to fully make ends meet.🚍Ended up having to wait a while for the bus at 7:30, because I just missed the 6:45 home but that’s fine. I had my laptop with me and they have free internet at work. I could sit at my table in the office and work on my laptop while waiting for the bus. I probably could have gotten a free drink on my birthday but I’m a bit tired and feel somewhat congested so I refrained. I really have some mixed, maybe conflicted feeling about turning 35. I guess it means I’m finally an adult.  

Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 21 degrees at 6am.☁ Six degrees above normal. Maximum wind chill around 13 at 6am; North wind around 7 mph. In 2017, we had cloudy skies, clearing in the early hours of the next day. It got down to 17 degrees. The record low of -12 occurred back in 1965.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous Moon with 97% illuminated.The moon will set tomorrow at 6:18 am.🌕 The Blue Moon will be tomorrow with a chance of snow showers. The sun will rise at 7:11 am with the first light at 6:41 am, which is 58 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌄Tonight will have 14 hours and 4 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 20 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a slight chance of snow showers between 10am and 4pm.❄ Mostly cloudy, with a high of 29 degrees at 1pm. One degrees below normal. North wind 6 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies. The high last year was 30 degrees. The record high of 56 was set in 2013. 11 inches of snow fell back in 1966.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 24.β˜€ Sunday, scattered snow showers.❄  Cloudy, with a high near 33. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Typical average high for the weekend is 32 degrees.β›„

Seems like it might be too cold for camping, but maybe I can do some hiking locally. If Saturday looks like the best day I might see if I can go to my parents house for Sunday dinner then and stay home on Sunday because I don’t want to risk getting caught driving in a snow squall. After the rent was paid, there wasn’t a lot left over so I’m trying to save gas and avoid shopping this week as much as possible. 

Mom and Dad gave me a check for my birthday, which I used to buy a few more inexpensive electronic components – namely a box of Arduino Nanos, another LED display module, an Arduino SD Card socket, an Arduino GPS Module, and some PIR sensors to switch on lights or other devices when you walk into a room.💻📟 I think I spent less than $45 total. That’s real money on a tight budget but remember my big jacked up truck can easily suck down nearly twice that in gas, at least when prices are high.  I’m building up a pretty good electronics kit, and some neat projects but there always is more to build and learn.:idea: I’ve also learned that projects rarely ever get fully done when you build them yourself and can dream up improvements. I just love how you can plug things into those tiny Arduino Microcontrollers, write some code and build totally home, custom solutions to your needs.📝 It’s both fairly simple physical electronics and microcontrollers programming in C#. I haven’t done much with computers in recent years but I do like the stuff I am building now. 

In my 35th year, I hope to do a lot of traveling and camping. I’m just hoping the snow disappears early for the winter so I can get back to truck cap camping.🚚 I do need to find out why I’m not getting much power back to the truck cap though. I think I may have a blown fuse or a loose connection. ⚑I’ll figure it out when the weather gets nicer. I also want to finally get that solar panel mounted up top of the truck cap, so I can just park the truck in the sun to quickly and fully recharge the accessory battery. 

I do miss camping and traveling. I am thinking about this April doing that North Country trip I’ve been putting off. β›ΊIt’s a long trip to the Northern Adirondacks but there is some nice remote country up that way. Massena is nice too. For my November Road Trip, I’m thinking about Northern West Virginia, weather dependent. I kind of liked camping in Cannan Heights on Forest Road 13.🔥 Maybe see the famous bridge that is on the West Virginia state coin. I don’t know for sure though, as the days are so short in November. I still also want to see more of the state forests in Allegany County NY, especially the Klipnocky State Forest famous for the hairy women. 🌌

I’m tired and have been in bed before nine tonight. 💤The lights are off except for my phone and the variable message system. 💥Hopefully that will fully shut down tonight at eleven like it’s supposed to, and not leave the leds blinking making it hard to sleep. I’m sure if it doesn’t fully power off as it should now that I’ve fixed the code, I’ll will power it off by just unplugging it. 💫

In four weeks on February 26 the sun will be setting at 5:42 pm, which is 36 minutes and 15 seconds later then tonight.🌆 In 2017 on that day, we had rain, snow, cloudy skies and temperatures between 38 and 24 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 38 and 20 degrees. The record high of 63 degrees was set back in 1976.

Looking ahead, Presidents Day is in 3 weeks, Memorial Day is in 17 weeks, Labor Day is in 31 weeks and Columbus Day is in 36 weeks.

📢😎Only 115 days remain until the start of Memorial Day Weekend!🍔🍗✨

People are bragging about becoming 401k millionaires and posting their balances to social media

People are bragging about becoming 401k millionaires and posting their balances to social media

This is going to end very badly. Yes, I enjoyed many of the gains of the past year too, maybe even beating it percentage wise but at some point I know there will be a a major sell off and the grossly inflated numbers will come crashing down. But I don't care, I'm still 20-30 years off from retirement and have a significant amount in FDIC insured savings.

Coffee Pot

I’ve been considering buying a drip coffee pot. These days they aren’t really that expensive and for a few bucks over the base model, I could have one with a timer that would ensure by the time I got out of bed I would have hot coffee every morning – assuming that I bothered to set the timer, fill the machine with water and fresh grounds. Then again, all except the automatic switch, I could do the same with the camp percolator I currently own.

Right now, I use a camp percolator for all my coffee. It works fine, but it sure gets dirty and it’s somewhat messy dumping out the grounds and washing out the filter every morning. I ended up with coffee grounds all over my kitchen, accumulating in all the places that aren’t real easy to clean. In many ways, drip coffee machines are less messy, especially with the disposable paper filters that commonly used with them.

Drip coffee pots use less electricity and make much better coffee then the percolator, especially with my tendency to put the percolator on it and boil the heck out of the coffee until the grounds are incredibly bitter. I don’t use sugar or cream, just one percent milk, which ensures the coffee is as bitter as it can be. Maybe I should watch the percolator more carefully, and not walk off and do other things.

Making Coffee

Part of my problem with drip coffee pots is they use a lot amperage – even if it’s temporarily – to heat the water. Sure my electric stove does too, but sometime I envision living off grid without a high amperage electricity supply. I guess one of those high-tech drip coffee pots probably won’t last that long, but then I got to throw it out – which is a pain, because I don’t have trash pickup and would have to take it to the transfer station. Not to mention all those coffee filters and grounds, which are a wet mess, especially because I don’t have a compost bin where I live.

Most people a long time ago would have bought an coffee pot. But I think the percolator pot works fine for my purpose, no matter how grimy it gets or how awful bitter the coffee it makes. I don’t need excessive technology in my life that really serves no real purpose that some point I’ll have to pay to dispose of later on.