July 19, 2018 Morning

Good morning! Happy Thursday. With today’s forecast you will be happy unless you are planning to spend it at the beach, where it might feel a bit cool. Sunny and 63 degrees in Delmar. 🌞 Calm wind. The dew point is 51 degrees.

I was running a bit late but I took a quick shower and skipped breakfast and caught the earlier bus downtown. 🏦I have a nine o’clock meeting so I couldn’t afford to be late this morning. β˜•I’ll get some coffee when I get into the office I guess and have an early lunch.

Today will be sunny 🌞 , with a high of 82 degrees at 4pm. Typical for today. Maximum dew point of 51 at 8am. Calm wind becoming northwest around 5 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 86 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1904.

The sun will set at 8:28 pm with dusk around 9:01 pm, which is 47 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for clear skies and75 degrees. The dew point will be 50 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 14 hours and 52 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 42 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be clear 🌃, with a low of 58 degrees at 4am. Seven degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 54 at 5am. Calm wind. In 2017, we had mostly cloudy skies, clearing in the early hours of the next day. It was humid. It got down to 68 degrees. The record low of 49 occurred back in 1974.

Today is going to be a really nice day. You better get out and enjoy it because the big sign in my bedroom is flashing out that there are only 15 weeks until November. 🐸 A week from now when I go on summer vacation it will feel like summer is basically done by the time I return. But in the mean time I’m looking forward to this weekends trip and then summer vacation the following weekend. Depending on the weather and my work schedule, I hope to leave from work next Friday and head out to Brookfield the first night before heading down to the Finger Lakes via Montezuma and US 20 on Saturday – just like last year.

I am a bit concerned with the 8-14 day outlook showing cool wet weather to push in for the end of the month, but I’ll try to have a good vacation regardless of the weather. 💦 Maybe the pattern will change again back to hot and dry but I’ve been concerned that I might have a bad week for vacation ever since it was so hot and dry to start out August. Everything has to balance out to the averages after time it seems. 📉 Like last year, I think I will spend the balance of the week in the Finger Lakes although I guess I could still change my mind as the week progresses. 😎

On this day, there was the Great New York City Fire of 1845: The last great fire to affect Manhattan began early in the morning and was subdued that afternoon. The fire killed 4 firefighters, 26 civilians, and destroyed 345 buildings. 🚒Always be careful with matches, in densely packed urban areas with lots of wooden buildings.🔥

Looking ahead, there are 8 weeks until State Primary Day 🗳️ when the sun will be setting at 7:08 pm with dusk at 7:36 pm.β˜‘ Good that the sun sets relatively late on that day because that makes it easier to get to the polls on the only election that really matters in Albany County or New York State for that matter. Casting protest votes in November is fun but it doesn’t really matter. On that day in 2017, we had rain, fog, shallow fog, patches of fog, mist, mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 79 and 50 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 73 degrees. We hit a record high of 92 back in 1948.

July 18, 2018 Night

Good evening! Clear and 65 degrees in Westerlo. There is a northwest breeze at 7 mph. πŸƒ. The dew point is 48 degrees. With that low dew point, it’s a very pleasant evening for sure. Out at my parents house tonight, camping out back. Got the lights hooked up and a few of the flags.

Tonight will be clear πŸŒƒ , with a low of 51 degrees at 5am. 11 degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 49 at 10pm. Northwest wind 3 to 7 mph. In 2017, we had partly cloudy skies with more clouds in the early hours of the next day. It was sticky. It got down to 69 degrees. The record low of 47 occurred back in 1875. Great weather for sleeping.

Tonight will have a First Quarter with 44% illuminated with the moon setting at 12:13 am. The moon will rise at 1:07 pm. The First Quarter Moon will be tonight. The Buck Moon 🌝 is on Thursday, July 26th. The sun will rise at 5:34 am with the first light at 5:01 am, which is 53 seconds later than yesterday. πŸŒ„ Tonight will have 9 hours and 6 minutes of darkness, an increase of one minute and 40 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞 , with a high of 82 degrees at 3pm. One degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 51 at 6pm. Light northwest wind. A year ago, we had cloudy skies, clearing in the afternoon. It was sticky. The high last year was 86 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1904.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. πŸ˜• Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 82. Maximum dew point of 59 at 8pm. Sunday, showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 79. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Maximum dew point of 68 at 2pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 83 degrees.

Continues to seem like it will be a nice weekend, especially on Saturday. Definately planning on heading up to the Piseco-Powley Road and paddling along Lily Lake. 🌼

I ordered a $10 inverter for my truck cap to power the light strings and the alike. I like the small inverters, as I can plug them directly into the truck cap rather than run an extension cord from the cab where the big inverter is located. There small don’t take much room and can be used anywhere. The led strings only use a few watts and I don’t care about the cleanliness of the power as the light strings don’t care with their simple bridge rectifiers. Maybe the flag light has a switching mode power supply with a transformer in it but again that doesn’t really care about the mains frequency or power quality. Cheap works for my purposes.

In four weeks on August 15 the sun will be setting at 7:56 pm,πŸŒ„ which is 32 minutes and 29 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2017 on that day, we had rain, mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 79 and 64 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 81 and 60 degrees. The record high of 96 degrees was set back in 1959.

Looking ahead, August 🌻 is in 2 weeks, Altamon Fair Opens 🎑 is in 4 weeks, State Fair Opens 🎑 is in 5 weeks, Last Sunset After 7 PM πŸŒ† is in 11 weeks, Halloween πŸ›₯️ is in 15 weeks, Day After Election Day πŸ›€ is in 16 weeks, Boxing Day πŸ₯Š is in 23 weeks and Inauguration Day 2021 πŸ‘΄πŸ» is in 131 weeks.

Wet Firewood

Lots of smoke. But with some careful fire building, I eventually was able to get a nice roaring campfire.

Taken on Saturday July 15, 2017 at Whitehouse, NY.

Remembering Rev. Robert Hudnut, 84, reformer who challenged Albany machine – Times Union

Remembering Rev. Robert Hudnut, 84, reformer who challenged Albany machine – Times Union

"CURE was a seat-of-the-pants political party created by ordinary people fed up with the Democratic machine's stranglehold. "We didn't have political experience and we didn't have anyone else to run for mayor," Liddle said. "It wasn't naivete on our part. Bob was our only choice. Nobody else wanted to run."

"The CURE platform was built around an eight-point "Bill of Rights for Albanians" that challenged decades-long oligarchic rule of political boss Dan O'Connell and Mayor Corning. They blamed the city's stagnation on the 11-term "mayor for life." The reformers targeted inadequate public services, deteriorated city facilities, hostility toward business entrepreneurs, rampant cronyism, no-bid city contracts and retaliation against political dissidents."

Could We Ban Encryption?

Encryption exists not just for security of transaction, it also provides technology companies with a wide variety of legal protection from foreign governments.