NPR

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A Jackson Pollock Painting Gets A Touch-Up Ҁ” And The Public’s Invited To Watch : NPR

"Jackson Pollock's painting Number 1, 1949, is a swirl of multi-colored, spaghettied paint, dripped, flung and slung across a 5-by-8-foot canvas. It's a textured work β€” including nails and a bee (we'll get to that later) β€” and in the nearly 70 years since its creation, it's attracted a fair bit of dust, dirt and grime."

"That's where conservator Chris Stavroudis comes in: His job is to clean the painting using swabs, solvents, and tiny brushes. For the last several months, he's been hard at work, once a week, in full view of the public, in a gallery at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles."

"Pollock used all sorts of paints β€” oil paint, house paint, car paint, radiator paint β€” and they all aged and got dirty in different ways. Working with the Getty Conservation Institute, Stavroudis did tests to see what kind of cleaning was needed."

Spies Are More Common, and Boring, Than You Think

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Spies Are More Common, and Boring, Than You Think

"One former American counterintelligence officer estimated that there were about 100,000 foreign agents spying on the U.S., working for about 60 to 80 nations. To put that in perspective, there are about 50,000 coal miners in the U.S., or half the number of foreign spies."

"But I wonder if the actual number of foreign spies isn’t larger yet. John Negroponte, former director of national intelligence, admitted in 2006 that the U.S. was deploying about 100,000 spies around the world. Given that the U.S. is the world’s technology and military leader, and yet has a relatively small share of global population, is it so crazy to think the number of people spying on us is larger than that?"

August 6, 2018 Morning

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Good morning! Monday’s come back around again.Β πŸ™„Β What an awful Monday. Four weeks to Labor Day πŸ‘¨β€πŸ­. Mostly sunny and 77 degrees in Elsmere. Calm wind. The dew point is 70 degrees. The muggy weather ends Wednesday around 7 pm. πŸ˜“Β But for today, it will be one of the hottest days of summer. Looking forward to the cooler, nice fall weather that comes eventually after Labor Day. Maybe I’ll get a chance to get up to Moose River Plains in later September to see the leaves.🍁

Today is going to be a hot one. I wish I was still on summer vacation, perfect weather for beach time. 🏊 But reality bites, I’m on my way to work, alas late. Well, late due to my toilet issues. Next weekend looks nice, I might get out of town. Maybe the Southern Adirondacks or maybe Schoharie County.Β πŸ•Β To be decided, it’s a long ways out, the forecast could change.β›ˆ

The toilet issues came to a head this morning, πŸ’©with the toilet refusing to shut off when I flushed it. Landlords been called, he’s sending over the plumber today. It’s been giving me issues on an off now for weeks now – especially after I was out of town for a few weeks. I offered to pay for the broken toilet tank lid, so hopefully things will be good by the time I get home. 🚽 Having the broken toilet tank lid replaced — which broke the last time I was fiddling with the valve — will be nice as it keeps coming apart. I figure one less thing to give me aggravation when I get home. At least it involves only water and not shit.

Today will be sunny and hot 🌞, with a high of 91 degrees at 4pm. Nine degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 72 at 10am. Heat index values as high as 98. Calm wind becoming southwest around 6 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 76 degrees. The record high of 98 was set in 1900.

The sun will set at 8:08 pm with dusk around 8:40 pm, which is one minute and 17 seconds earlier than yesterday. πŸŒ‡ At sunset, look for mostly clear skies and 83 degrees. The dew point will be 71 degrees. The heat index around sunset will be 77. β›± There will be a south-southwest breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 14 hours and 15 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 20 seconds over yesterday.

This evening, I plan to go to car wash, and clean-off Big Red.Β πŸ›€Β He is really muddy after vacation in the Finger Lakes National Forest,Β especially after the mud on the roads on Friday evening. I’m sure washing the truck will be a nice cool activity after work. I also need to go to the store to pick up a few more supplies.Β πŸ›Β I think with the earlier nights now in Albany with August well underway, getting out to the park with a book will become more difficult after work.

Tonight will be partly cloudy ☁, with a low of 71 degrees at 5am. 10 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 72 at 6pm. South wind 3 to 6 mph. In 2017, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 57 degrees. The record low of 46 occurred back in 1994. It’s going to be a hot and sticky night tonight.Β Assuming my toilet is fixed tonight, I will probably hang out back with a cold beer or two. 🍺 Annoying that it had to break when it did.

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Labor Day πŸ‘¨β€πŸ­ when the sun will be setting at 7:25 pm with dusk at 7:54 pm. On that day in 2017, we had rain, drizzle, heavy fog, shallow fog, patches of fog, mist, cloudy skies and temperatures between 58 and 51 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 77 degrees. We hit a record high of 100 back in 1953.