William O. Douglas
I hope Donald J. Trump nominates a judge in the model of William O. Douglas. As he once said, "The Constitution is not neutral. It was designed to take the government off the backs of the people ...."
January 31, 2017 Evening
“It snowed for a while today then it stopped. Now it’s all just slop. Wintery slop!”
Good evening! Light snow and 27 degrees in City of Albany. There is a southeast breeze at 7 mph.
We had an emergency evacuation of the skyscraper I work in downtown. It was a lot of stairs to go down, especially in a suit and tie with dress shoes on. Fortunately we didn’t have to wait outside because they got the alarm off shortly after I got down to the lobby.
Waxing Crescent Moon tonight with 30% illuminated. The moon will set around 10:59 pm. The First Quarter Moon is on Saturday night with partly cloudy expected. The Full “Snow” Moon is on Saturday, February 11th. The sun will rise at 7:08 am with the first light at 6:39 am, which is 1 minutes and 2 seconds earlier then yesterday. Tonight will have 13 hours and 59 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 24 seconds over last night.
Tonight will snow, mainly before 3am. The snow will end with a low of 24 degrees at 4am. Nine degrees above normal. Southeast wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible. In 2016, it got down to 35 degrees with periods of rain. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1920.
More snow later but I’m not concerned about tomorrow as I expect it to stop early. Probably the sidewalks down to the express bus will be fine by morning. I might walk down to the library later.
A nice weekend coming up with somewhat cool temperatures. Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 27. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 31.Typical average high for the weekend is 32 degrees.
In four weeks on February 28 the sun will be setting at 5:44 pm, which is 36 minutes later then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 57 and 32 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 38 and 20 degrees. The record high of 63 degrees was set back in 1903. Tomorrow it will be four weeks until March 1st.
Looking ahead, Valentines Day is in 2 weeks, Spring is in 7 weeks, Average High is 50 is in 8 weeks, Tax Day is in 11 weeks, Average High is 70 is in 15 weeks and Independence Day is in 22 weeks.
The Paranoid Style in American Politics
"American politics has often been an arena for angry minds. In recent years we have seen angry minds at work mainly among extreme right-wingers, who have now demonstrated in the Goldwater movement how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority."
"But behind this I believe there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wing. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind."
DEC forest rangers rescue two in Greene County
"The first one occurred just after 1 p.m. when DEC received a call reporting that a 26-year-old woman who was hiking along the base of the upper falls at Kaaterskill Falls slipped and fell roughly 80 feet, suffering head trauma and other injuries. Nine forest rangers, assisted by several local firefighters, secured the woman and safely transported her to an awaiting helicopter, where she was airlifted to Albany Medical Center."
"The woman, who was reported Monday in fair condition, was determined to be hiking on an undesignated trail."
"Just after 2 p.m., Greene County 911 reported a 27-year-old man who had been ice climbing in Platte Cove in the Dark Side area fell some 50 feet, suffering head and back injuries. Eleven forest rangers, some of whom had been tending to the first victim, responded and secured the man. He was walked out with the assistance of a technical rope system and was transported to Albany Medical Center."
Richard Hoffsteader Quote
“Any historian of warfare knows that it is in good part a comedy of errors and a museum of incompetence; but if for every error and every act of incompetence one can substitute an act of treason, we can see how many points of fascinating interpretation are open to the paranoid imagination: treason in high places can be found at almost every turning — and in the end the real mystery, for one who reads the primary works of paranoid scholarship, is not how the United States has been brought to its present dangerous position, but how it has managed to survive at all.”
January 31, 2017 9 AM Update
“Like most months, January came and went quickly. I don’t mind the changes because it keeps things from getting boring.”
At twelve degrees this morning it will be one of the coldest mornings of the year, so far. Lots of sun though. At least for now. Even though this year wasn’t as warm as last one, winter lacks the fury that it once did. 27 degrees later with snow coming in this afternoon. Not a big storm, but enough to leave some on the ground and possibly interfere with the evening commute. Never got to the grocery store this weekend, so I am going to have to be creative for the meals the next few days. Pasta with parmesan and peas and oniona for lunch today. Doesn’t sound bad. I have a lot of food at home although I’m just missing a lot of random ingredients. I need to get some potassium fertilizer for my Christmas cactus. I’m going over John Wolcott’s house tomorrow to pick up a CD of Save the Pine Bush photos to put together a PowerPoint slide show for the next dinner.
The sun will set at 5:08 pm with dusk around 5:38 pm, which is 1 minute and 19 seconds later than yesterday. Today will have 9 hours and 59 minutes of daylight, an increase of 2 minutes and 22 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will snow, mainly between 8pm and 3am. Cloudy, with a low of 23 degrees at 4am. Eight degrees above normal. Southeast wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible. In 2016, it got down to 35 degrees with periods of rain. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1920.
As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Valentines Day when the sun will be setting at 5:27 pm with dusk at 5:55 pm. On that day in 2016, we had sunny skies and temperatures between 8 and -13 degrees. That was the coldest day of last winter. Typically, the high temperature is 34 degrees. We hit a record high of 63 back in 1946.