Trump and the Times We Live In

In times like this, I miss our former president. He was such a calming voice, somebody who could talk with clarity and see both sides of the issue.

He would respect the rights of peaceful protesters, the right of Alt-Right to express their voice, and for those in opposition to speak too. He wouldn’t be picking sides, or trying to censor the opposition to his personal views.

I hope we can find somebody as smart, competent, and caring for our next president. I think President Obama will be eventually remembered as one of our country’s greatest presidents.

August 16, 2017 – Next Sixteen Weeks

As we head into the second half of August, average temperatures are dropping, with only one more week where the average temperature will be 80 or above. That said, we can still have very warm days — 100 degree weather in September is not unheard of — but is rare. September 9, 2016 was 89 degrees. Sunset times have already started to come much earlier, 33 minutes earlier then late June — and will only continueΒ to get earlier.

Week Date Dawn Sun-
rise
Sun-
set
Dusk Day Avg High Avg Low Record Hi Record Low
0 August 16 5:34 am 6:04 am 7:54 pm 8:24 pm 13:50 81 60 97 (1936) 41 (1972)
1 August 23 5:42 am 6:11 am 7:43 pm 8:13 pm 13:31 80 59 94 (1947) 44 (1988)
2 August 30 5:50 am 6:19 am 7:32 pm 8:00 pm 13:12 78 58 98 (1953) 38 (1982)
3 September 6 5:58 am 6:26 am 7:19 pm 7:48 pm 12:53 76 55 91 (1983) 38 (1938)
4 September 13 6:05 am 6:34 am 7:07 pm 7:35 pm 12:33 73 53 92 (1948) 37 (1964)
5 September 20 6:13 am 6:41 am 6:55 pm 7:23 pm 12:13 71 50 90 (1946) 30 (1979)
6 September 27 6:21 am 6:49 am 6:42 pm 7:10 pm 11:53 68 47 84 (1998) 24 (1947)
7 October 4 6:29 am 6:57 am 6:30 pm 6:58 pm 11:33 65 44 86 (1891) 26 (1948)
8 October 11 6:36 am 7:05 am 6:18 pm 6:46 pm 11:13 62 41 86 (1949) 22 (1943)
9 October 18 6:44 am 7:13 am 6:07 pm 6:35 pm 10:54 59 39 84 (2016) 22 (1978)
10 October 25 6:52 am 7:21 am 5:56 pm 6:25 pm 10:35 56 37 77 (1963) 19 (1981)
11 November 1 7:01 am 7:30 am 5:47 pm 6:16 pm 10:16 54 35 78 (1950) 22 (1964)
12 November 8 6:09 am 6:39 am 4:39 pm 5:08 pm 9:59 51 34 75 (1975) 18 (1971)
13 November 15 6:17 am 6:48 am 4:32 pm 5:02 pm 9:44 48 32 74 (1993) 14 (1939)
14 November 22 6:25 am 6:56 am 4:26 pm 4:57 pm 9:30 45 30 70 (1931) 9 (1969)
15 November 29 6:33 am 7:04 am 4:23 pm 4:54 pm 9:18 42 28 66 (2005) 3 (1875)
16 December 6 6:40 am 7:11 am 4:22 pm 4:53 pm 9:10 39 25 68 (2001) -5 (1901)

Flowers

Misplacing My Credit Card Sucks

About a week ago, I misplaced my credit card. At the time, I didn’t think much about it, and went ahead and canceled my card and had them mail me a new card. They told me it would be only 7-10 business days, and I assumed that was just a worse case scenario, but it turns out it wasn’t. It took a week and half for my new card to arrive.

I am somebody who prefers to us his credit card for as many purchases as possible. This way I don’t have to worry about losing spare change and I can keep better track of my purchases. I have a rewards card, but honestly, I don’t really care that much about the rewards. If I get rewards, so be it. I sometimes use them, sometimes I don’t.

Generally, I avoid auto-pay services like the plague. I know they can be budget busters. I buy refills for my phone every 6 months or a year, which is a bigger payment upfront, but I save later on. That does get withdrawn from the credit card, but not until next year. Always good to pay up front, borrowing sucks. I will have to update that later on. I do auto-pay by rent, electric and gas bill, and car and renter insurance directly from my bank. I don’t have cable TV or Internet, and haul my own trash to the transfer station. Fine, but those are essential, especially living in a rented apartment in the city. When I eventually move off grid, I won’t have any of those expenses except maybe car insurance.

I didn’t think it would be a real issue, until I remember my bus pass was linked to the credit card. I had forgotten my password to my CDTA Navigator bus pass service, so I had to get it reset because I was locked out of my account. So I had to wait a day for that to be reset by CDTA. Fine, but of course the buses take up to β€œtwo days” to sync money added to your card to the buses, because they load the fare data via wireless internet once a day, when the buses are returned to the garage for the night, and the fare boxes are unloaded. Fine. It turns out I had enough money to cover my bus fares but I kept a few extra quarters and bucks in my wallet.

Other then that, I didn’t anticipate much issues, although my debit card didn’t seem to work everywhere. I had that issue at Stewarts’ the other day. I don’t like only having the debit card, as I’d rather have two options for payment in case one card doesn’t work. I don’t carry much cash, and if my debit card fails for some reason, I really prefer to use my credit card. Moreover, the credit card is easier to manage – I don’t have to worry about overdrafting it – and it’s easier to review expenditures and pay it all off at once.

So be it.

Congress investigates antiwar demonstrators

Congress investigates antiwar demonstrators

"The House Un-American Activities Committee investigates Americans who have given aid to the Viet Cong with a view toward introducing legislation to make such activities illegal. Demonstrators disrupted the hearings and before it was over, more than 50 people were arrested for disorderly conduct. The Chairman of the subcommittee, Representative J. R. Pool (D-Texas) announced that the hearings had revealed that key leadership of groups supporting the Viet Cong were comprised of revolutionary, hard-core Communists."

Debian Celebrates Its 24th Birthday

Debian Celebrates Its 24th Birthday

Believe it or not, today marks the 24th year that Debian Linux distribution has been out in the wild. Next year, Debian Linux will be a quarter century old. While I've long switched from Debian to Ubuntu, the later still uses much of Debian's software, including the Debian Package Manager.

I am old enough to remember when Debian Linux was only 4 years old, and people ran kernel 1.8 on Linux/PPC. That was a few years ago -- actually two decades ago.

August 16, 2017 8 AM Update

Sixty eight degrees but with the dewpoint around 65 this morning, the fresh air feels nice on the express bus heading downtown. Didn’t quite leave my apartment by so called BOB time, aka 8:08 AM but I was to the express bus station in time. I’ve gotten good at crossing in crosswalks, you just stare down the motorists and step out into the crosswalk. Also, they’re done with the tacky McMansion that they built down the street, so no construction delays walking past that.

The sun will set at 7:54 pm with dusk around 8:24 pm, which is one minute and 29 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for mostly clear conditions and 75 degrees. The dew point will be 59 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 50 minutes of daytime, an decrease of 2 minutes and 33 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear, with a low of 55 degrees at 5am. Five degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 59 at 6pm. Northwest wind 3 to 8 mph. In 2016, we had partly cloudy skies with more clouds in the early hours of the next day. It was somewhat humid. It got down to 66 degrees. The record low of 40 occurred back in 1979.

I think I’m pretty much done with going to the park after work now. I like to leave at dusk because around then they start to chase people out around then. And dusk is getting closer to eight which doesn’t leave much time by the time I got home from work and have dinner unless it’s a really quick dinner. I guess I can always go to the library and sit outside if I want to use the wireless internet.

I am hoping I get those eclipse glasses soon.Β I was told they were mailed first class a week ago from Idaho, but they were non-machinable, so they may have gotten held up from the post office. They weren’t expensive, but if I don’t get them, I won’t have them for the eclipse.Β I need them by Friday, so I can take them camping, if I plan to use them on Monday.

I am still undecided on where I will go from Saturday to Wednesday.Β If I don’t get the glasses, I may very well go up to the Adirondacks, because the increased eclipse in Finger Lakes or Pennsylvania is meaningless if I don’t glasses to view it. I spent a lot of time — abit rainy days — in the Finger Lakes this summer, so I’m not sure if I want to go there. I do like the pool in the hot sun, and I didn’t have much of that on vacation, but I’m not sure if I want to do that. But If I go to the Adirondacks, I am going to need to buy a kayak paddle. Hopefully the Adirondack Kayak Warehouse in Amsterdam would have a paddle that would fit my size. I am also considering the Allegheny National Forest and maybe Erie, PA but that is a very long drive for a relatively short week.

Today in 1916, the Migratory Bird Treaty between Canada and the United States signed. It was designed to save Migratory Birds by giving them international protection for the first time by placing limits on hunting and other means of taking.In 1989, a solar flare from the Sun creates a geomagnetic storm that affects micro chips, leading to a halt of all trading on Toronto’s stock market.

Also, in 1993, Debian Linux is announced, it would become the basis of many forms of Linux like Ubuntu Linux, which is currently what I run on my laptop.

And in 1966, the House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong. The committee intends to introduce legislation making these activities illegal. Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 people are arrested.

As previously noted, next Wednesday is Last Day with Average High of 80 when the sun will be setting at 7:43 pm with dusk at 8:13 pm. On that day in 2016, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 80 and 50 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 80 degrees. We hit a record high of 94 back in 1947.