Save the Pine Bush Vegetarian/Vegan Lasgana Dinner – Tonight, 6 PM

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Save the Pine Bush Vegetarian/Vegan Lasgana Dinner – Tonight, 6 PM

Earth Day Event

Lou Ismay, George Keleshian,
George Courtney and Steve Coyle
will speak about
Revolution for the Environment — Past and Future

The April dinner will open with a celebration of Lou Ismay for his work with PYE - Protect Your Environment Club at SUNY Albany. This is the 50th anniversary of the PYE Club and Lou Ismay’s Environmental Forum. Many of the founders of Save the Pine Bush met through PYE and projects they did while attending the Environmental Forum. George Keleshian, PYE president in 1973 and owner of One Energy/Zeroenergy Bldg. Inc., will speak about the history and projects of PYE, including litigation. Looking to the future, our speakers, George E. Courtney lll, a Senior Environmental Consultant, and Steve Coyle, owner of Town Green, an international urban planning consultant group and co-founder of the National Charrette Institute, will speak about the future for the environment including importance of resilient communities, clean water, flood control, urban planning and energy.

At the Westminster Presbyterian Church, 85 Chestnut Street, Albany, NY (people with cars can park in the lot near the door). All-you-can-eat lasagna dinner, with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options, salad, garlic bread and delicious desserts. Only $12 for adults, $6 for students, and $2 for children. People who make reservations are served first. For reservations, please leave a message for Rezsin Adams at 462-0891 or email pinebush@mac.com.

Empathy Might Not Be the Antidote To Poisonous Political Polarization – NPR

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Empathy Might Not Be the Antidote To Poisonous Political Polarization – NPR

Militia leader Ammon Bundy, famous for leading an armed standoff in Oregon, had a tender moment in November of last year. He recorded a Facebook post saying that perhaps President Trump's characterization of the migrant caravan on the U.S.-Mexico border was somewhat broad. Maybe they weren't all criminals, he said. "What about those who have come here for reasons of need?"

Bundy did not say he was breaking with Trump. He just asked his followers to put themselves in the shoes of "the fathers, the mothers, the children" who came to escape violence. It was a call for a truce grounded in empathy, the kind you might hear in a war zone, say, or an Easter Sunday sermon. Still, it was met with a swift and rageful response from his followers, so overwhelming that within days, Bundy decided to quit Facebook. Keeping It Civil: How To Talk Politics Without Letting Things Turn Ugly Civility Wars Keeping It Civil: How To Talk Politics Without Letting Things Turn Ugly

In an earlier era, Bundy's appeal might have resonated. But he failed to tune in to a critical shift in American culture — one that a handful of researchers have been tracking, with some alarm, for the past decade or so. Americans these days seem to be losing their appetite for empathy, especially the walk-a-mile-in-someone's-shoes Easter Sunday morning kind.

When I was growing up in the '70s, empathy was all the rage. The term was coined in 1908; then, social scientists and psychologists started more aggressively pushing the concept into the culture after World War II, basically out of fear. The idea was that we were all going to kill each other with nuclear weapons — or learn to see the world through each other's eyes. In my elementary school in the 1970s, which was not progressive or mushy in any way, we wrote letters to pretend Russian pen pals to teach us to open our hearts to our enemies.

Boulder

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This is such a massive boulder, kind of just plunked up on a rock ledge. And like many people before me, I tried to push it over with no luck.

Taken on Sunday April 5, 2009 at Overlook Mountain.

Hour Pond

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Hour Pond is a mid-sized pond located about a mile and half away from Thirteenth Lake, on a seasonally muddy trail. It generally follows streams, but does go up and over a ridge to get to this remote lake in the Siamese Ponds Wilderness.

Taken on Wednesday April 10, 2019 at Thirteenth Lake.

April 17, 2019 Morning

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Good morning! What day is it? Save the Pine Bush Dinner Day, of course. 😋 Should be a good one with lasagna and the SUNY Albany Protect Your Environment Club 🌎 from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Two weeks to May 🕊. Enjoy it before the black flies are out. Mostly sunny and 44 degrees at Elm Ave Park & Ride – CDTA. Calm wind. It’s warmed up quickly on this certain to be nice spring day. 🐝

It was a pleasant walk down to the express bus. 🚌 Lately the drivers have been parked at the bus stop early which gives me a little more time to work on blog posts as I wait to head downtown✍. Lots of sun, smooth commute downtown, and grass is greening up.🌿

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 63 degrees at 4pm. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 25th. That’s Arbor Day, a good day to celebrate trees 🌲and all they provide society like wood to burn. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had partly cloudy in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. The high last year was 45 degrees. The record high of 91 was set in 2002. .3 inches of snow fell back in 1965.❄

The sun will set at 7:39 pm with dusk around 8:09 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 60 degrees. There will be a southeast breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 30 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 43 seconds over yesterday.

That Pine Bush dinner should be a good one. 🍛Tastey dinner and a great presentation. I was thinking tonight would be a good time for going down to the park until I realized it was Pine Bush night.

Tonight will rain likely, mainly after 4am. Increasing clouds 🌧, with a low of 43 degrees at 5am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 1st. South wind 3 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2018, we had mostly clear in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 33 degrees. The record low of 21 occurred back in 1948.

It looks like after tonight through the day after Easter, 🐰 the day they celebrate in Western NY as Dingus Day, it’s going to be rather cloudy and wet. But depending on which forecast you look at the weather for the following weekend in the Adirondacks 🗻 looks pretty good. The snow is rapidly melting in the North Country for sure. It looks like a big warm up is ahead for the end of the month. With the rain we will be getting in Albany over the next few days followed by the heat, things will really be out in bloom. I don’t expect though for things to be very green when I’m up north, but blue skies would certainly be nice for camping, even if not as nice for fishing.⛺

Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts 👂 about both self improvement and studying spreadsheets about compound interest, savings and retirement. I do think going car less for a few years is an option to explore further but not until 2021 — it could save a lot of money. In the meantime, I’m researching different insurers and what I really should have on my policy. Won’t save a lot of money, but a little bit. I also been pricing out hunting camps and other remote off-grid properties, to see what I really need for resources to buy land in 10 years. Obviously, that has to be tied to some kind income going forward,  and probably just as important, some kind of affordable health insurance. But it’s good to have a realistic picture of the numbers and challenges ahead.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until May 🕊 when the sun will be setting at 7:55 pm with dusk at 8:26 pm. On that day in 2018, we had partly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 74 and 43 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 65 degrees. We hit a record high of 86 back in 2001.

Looking South West