July 2018 Unemployment

|

This interactive map shows the 160 communities where Local Area Unemployment Statistics are generated. All 62 counties in New York have an unemployment rate calculated monthly, along with the 98 cities, towns, and villages with a population greater then 25,000. You can zoom in into see individual villages and cities. Click to see one year of unemployment data. Monthly numbers are not seasonally adjusted, and in some regions of the state unemployment rises during certain periods of the year. You should only compare like months (e.g. July 2017 vs July 2018). You can download the data going back to 1970s here: https://www.labor.ny.gov/stats/LSLAUS.shtm

August 23, 2018 11:18 am Update

|

I keep getting this phone call from a number that I don’t know. Never leaves a voicemail. So I decided to call from a different phone with caller ID blocked, and guess what, that number is “disconnected”. I am sure this must be a legitimate call. ☎️

Piles of radioactive dirt greet visitors to Niagara Falls State Park

|

Piles of radioactive dirt greet visitors to Niagara Falls State Park

"Some public officials regarded the discovery as just another day in Niagara Falls, a city with a decades long legacy of toxic pollution." "Hey, this is Western New York. You dig in something that was put down in the 1940s or 1950s, you might find something you didn't expect," Niagara Falls City Planner Thomas DeSantis said. "Usually, it's not anything particularly hazardous." "They buried stuff back in the day without any rules," said DeSantis said. "This stuff turns up everywhere."

August 23, 2018 Morning

|

Good morning! Happy Thursday. Three weeks to State Primary Day 🗳️. It’s kind of late this year, almost mid-September due to 9/11 falling on a Tuesday. Mostly sunny and 60 degrees in Delmar. There is a west-northwest breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 53 degrees. A beautiful late summer morning, maybe a bit of haze in the sky but not too bad. I wonder if the haze is from the western wildfires again? Going to be a good long period of low humidity and sunny days.

A pleasant walk down to the express bus, 🚌 traffic is moving well no violence on the road today. Just a nice easy commute with lots of sun streaming through the windows of the bus. 😎I left right on time, made good time walking down there. Been trying to walk more, indeed after the three mile Pine Bush Hike last night, I went for another 2 1/2 mile walk making the big loop around the High School. All together yesterday, I probably walked 10 miles.🚶

Yesterday was the Save the Pine Bush Sunset hike, which was pretty nice although it clouded up by dusk and we really didn’t get to see any of the sunset.🌲 We did see some deer, and heard the crickets singing their song. We were back to the cars before it got too dark. I think I actually prefer night hikes alone in the Pine Bush, where I can set up the camera and go along at my own pace.🐸

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞 , with a high of 76 degrees at 3pm. Two degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 53 at 8am. Northwest wind 8 to 14 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies. The high last year was 77 degrees. The record high of 94 was set in 1947.

The sun will set at 7:43 pm with dusk around 8:13 pm, which is one minute and 36 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for mostly clear skies and 73 degrees. The dew point will be 53 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 32 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 40 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌞, with a low of 57 degrees at 5am. Two degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 54 at 8pm. West wind 5 to 7 mph becoming light and variable after midnight. In 2017, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 56 degrees. The record low of 42 occurred back in 1971.

On this day in 1970, César Chávez’s Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history, begins.🌱 I understand that farmers often struggle to make ends meet but workers like farmers should be treated fairly.✊

Still have no idea about tomorrow if I am going to get it off, but I if I do I plan to leave around day break for Cedar River Flow, getting out on the water hopefully by 10 AM.  But I’m not that hopeful, so it increasingly looks like I’ll have to work on Friday 🚣. If so, the plan is to go up to Piseco-Powley Road for the weekend, and Moss Island on Saturday.🌲 If it’s nice Labor Day Weekend, then maybe I’ll head up to Moose River Plains and Cedar River Flow. Either way you cut it, should be nice. I go up on the Northway early in the morning, rather then leaving a night, I won’t have to drive after dark and traffic will be light. 😎

Regardless, I will get packed tonight for camping, and either leave in the morning or after work. 🏕 I do need to pick up my glasses when I go shopping. 🤓 I think I can get everything I need at Shoprite grocery wise, although I may stop on the way up there to buy fire wood, especially if I leave on Friday after work as even with Piseco-Powley Road with the sun setting earlier, it will be dark when setting up. 🔥

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until State Primary Day 🗳️ when the sun will be setting at 7:08 pm with dusk at 7:36 pm. 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.