Paper Bags

I am increasingly disapproving of the proposed paper and plastic bag bans, that municipalities have been bringing forward in recent years. While I have several reusable bags, I don’t always have them on my truck or with me when I go to the store, especially when I stop taking the bus home.

Primary Tree Type Beebe Hill and Harvey Mountain

I would have no problem with them banning plastic bags in favor of free paper bags. Paper bags are more convenient and easier to then having to remember to bring back them to the store for recycling. Paper bags also support healthy forests, are compostable and recyclable with ordinary mixed-paper recycling.

 Sun thru White Pine

Plastic bags can pose a litter problem. But paper bags generally rot fairly quickly, don’t get caught on trees, and really have few downsides.

March 24, 2019 Morning

Good morning! Happy Sunday. Two weeks to 7:30 PM Sunset ๐ŸŒ‡. Sunny around the freezing point in Delmar, NY. ๐ŸŒž There is a southwest breeze at 6 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. No real snow left to report in the Delmar area.

Just got done with my waffles for breakfast ๐Ÿด and now I’m baking brownies to bring out to the folks house later. Just waiting for them to finish up. I was hoping they’d be done by nine but they still were uncooked in the middle. That Pyrex pan I use takes a long time to fully heat up. I hope it’s done soon, I’m biting at the chomp to get out on my walk ๐Ÿšถ to Five Rivers.

Today will have increasing clouds โ˜, with a high of 54 degrees at 3pm. Six degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical day around April 5th. I like April weather this time of year. West wind 6 to 11 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy in the morning, which became cloudy by afternoon. The high last year was 43 degrees. The record high of 69 was set in 1976. 5.5 inches of snow fell back in 1956.โ„

Right now it’s a beautiful morning with the birds ๐Ÿฆ a chirping. This morning before it gets cloudy I’m going hiking out to Five Rivers Environmental Education Center for a morning hike before it clouds โ›… up. I enjoy the walk out there almost as much as the preserve although part of the road is pretty narrow. ๐Ÿšถ

Later on today, I’m hoping it will be warm enough to unpack my camping gear from my truck and get into the crawl space in my apartment. โ›บ Left my truck pulled in for easy access for unpacking . Just really needs to be above fifty degrees to do that.

The sun will set at 7:12 pm with dusk around 7:40 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies ๐ŸŒƒ and temperatures around 48 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 22 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒฅ, with a low of 30 degrees at 6am. One degree above normal, which is similiar to a typical night around March 27th. West wind 3 to 7 mph. In 2018, we had partly cloudy in the evening, which became mostly sunny by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 28 degrees. The record low of 0 occurred back in 1875.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny ๐ŸŒž, with a high of 41 degrees at 4pm. Seven degrees below normal, which is similiar to a typical day around March 9th. Northwest wind 8 to 11 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy in the morning, which became cloudy by afternoon. The high last year was 44 degrees. The record high of 74 was set in 1910. 1.9 inches of snow fell back in 1960.โ„

Earlier in the day yesterday I went and visited my niece in Saratoga on her birthday. ๐ŸŽ‚ It was nice to see her but she was tired ๐Ÿ˜ด and kind of fell asleep. Then I went down to the library and uploaded the updated blog code. Turned out to be a sunny day but bitterly cold for late March. I got two shirts at JC Penny, I probably should have tried one on at the store but it matched the size I wrote down โœ’ so hopefully they’ll fit. I’ll try them on tomorrow and have the receipt but they looked like the Oxford shirts I like. Hopefully they’ll work out well and I’ll have enough clean shirts for six session days or maybe more next week.

Definitely that nighttime hike ๐ŸŒƒ in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve was the highlight of yesterday. It was fairly cold โ„ with the wind but I enjoyed it a lot. Didn’t see a lot of wildlife but I did hear some birds in the trees and the sunset followed by dusk then the stars were pretty. ๐Ÿ˜ Driving ๐Ÿš˜ home after dark wasn’t bad but it’s a dark night for sure but the headlights are well aimed on my truck.

Friday night I awoke with a bad Charlie horse ๐Ÿด in my leg and it was a bit stiff yesterday but it didn’t slow me down when I walked those 3 or so miles at the Pine Bush Preserve. Ouch. ๐Ÿ˜ฉNot sure what caused it but I didn’t have issues last night, but I made sure to be well hydrated before bed. โ˜•Maybe it was riding the exercise bike then kneeling for a while after getting tired of my hard chair working on code the other night. ๐Ÿ’ฃI don’t know or maybe I twisted my legs while in bed. At least now I’m feeling better.

I finally also need to go shopping this week – it’s been three weeks since I bought any major groceries or supplies. I didn’t shop at all last week except for milk ๐Ÿฎ and the previous week I only got $18 in groceries. ๐Ÿ It’s good, I’ve really cleaned out the pantry but now there are many things that I need to get to ensure that I have food ๐Ÿฒ during those long days and nights at work. I’m not super involved in the budget process but I have to be available when needs arises. I’m planning to buy things like frozen ravioli and pasta,๐Ÿ— chicken paddies, pasta, ๐Ÿฒhot dogs to cut up with beans ๐Ÿฃ for good eats. Always try to buy the biggest possible package in bulk and use my reusable containers both to reduce waste and save money ๐Ÿ’ต.

Spent more time last night some time making minor fixes and improvements to the backend of the blog. ๐Ÿ’ป Little things that make my life easier or improve the speed and usability of the blog. I also adjusted the code for my VMS sign to make it more ordered and useful to me.

Next Saturday looks to be quite nice in the long range for the Pine Bush Hike. ๐Ÿ˜ŽSaturday, partly sunny, with a high near 62. Maximum dew point of 43 at 1pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 51 degrees.๐Ÿšถ

In four weeks on April 21 the sun will be setting at 7:44 pm,๐ŸŒ„ which is 31 minutes and 56 seconds later then today. In 2018 on that day, we had sunny and temperatures between 60 and 34 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 61 and 39 degrees. The record high of 89 degrees was set back in 1923.

Looking ahead, 7:30 PM Sunset ๐ŸŒ‡ is in 2 weeks, Palm Sunday ๐ŸŒด is in 3 weeks, Easter ๐Ÿฐ is in 4 weeks, Cinco de Mayo ๐Ÿค  is in 6 weeks, Mothers Day ๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€ is in 7 weeks, Memorial Day Weekend Starts ๐Ÿ•๏ธ is in 2 months, Fathers Day ๐Ÿ‘จ is in 12 weeks, Latest Sunset ๐ŸŒ† is in 3 months, National Nude Day ๐Ÿ‘ฑ is in 16 weeks, Average High Falls To 79 ๏ธDegrees โ›ฑ๏ธ๏ธ๏ธ is in 5 months, Sunset Before 7:30 PM ๐ŸŒ† is in 23 weeks, Autumn ๐Ÿ‚ is in 26 weeks and Average High is 60 ๐Ÿ‚ is in 29 weeks.

8 Feet Snow Banks

To Search Through Millions of License Plates, Police Should Get a Warrant | Electronic Frontier Foundation

To Search Through Millions of License Plates, Police Should Get a Warrant | Electronic Frontier Foundation

"Earlier this week, EFF filed a brief in one of the first cases to consider whether the use of automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology implicates the Fourth Amendment. Our amicus brief, filed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in United States v. Yang, argues that when a U.S. Postal Service inspector used a commercial ALPR database to locate a suspected mail thief, it was a Fourth Amendment search that required a warrant."

"ALPRs are high-speed, computer-controlled camera systems. Some models can photograph up to 1,800 license plates every minute, and every week, law enforcement agencies across the country use these cameras to collect data on millions of license plates. The plate numbers, together with location, date, and time information, are uploaded to a central server, and made instantly available to other agencies. The data include photographs of the vehicle, and sometimes of its drivers and passengers. ALPRs are typically attached to vehicles, such as police cars, or can be mounted on street poles, highway overpasses, or mobile trailers."