In 2020 Census, Big Efforts in Some States. In Others, Not So Much. – The New York Times

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In 2020 Census, Big Efforts in Some States. In Others, Not So Much. – The New York Times

Next month, California will uncork a $187 million campaign to prod its nearly 40 million residents to participate in the 2020 census. Neighborhoods across the state have been computer-ranked by how likely residents are to fill out census forms. Custom marketing campaigns are being focus-grouped. Nonprofit organizations have been showered with grants to boost response in hard-to-count areas.

Texas has a campaign, too — a shoestring campaign. Although the state’s 29 million residents make it second in population only to California, the Texas Legislature has declined to spend any money to see that they are counted. A volunteer corps of civic groups, philanthropies, local governments and others are trying to fill the breach.

MWRA – How the Deer Island Treatment Plant Works

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MWRA – How the Deer Island Treatment Plant Works

MWRA's Deer Island Sewage Treatment Plant is the centerpiece of MWRA' $3.8 billion program to protect Boston Harbor against pollution from Metropolitan Boston's sewer systems.

The plant removes human, household, business and industrial pollutants from wastewater that originates in homes and businesses in 43 greater Boston communities. In compliance with all federal and state environmental standards and subject to the precedent-setting discharge permit issued for the plant by EPA and DEP, its treated wastewater can be released to the marine environment.

Being that everybody's talking about the Boston Harbor today, it's good to learn about the Deer Island Treatment plant that is helping to reduce the dirty water that tea was once dumped into.

December 16, 2019 Morning

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Good morning! Happy Tea Party Day 🐍! I should wear my Don’t Tread on Me shirt 👚, that is after work. I’ve always kind of admired them a bit for giving the Finger 👆to the British. Yeah, many of the original tea partiers were puritanical religious bigots ✝ against the Quakers who would be eventually run off to the Quaker State, besides being angry about the excessive taxes and regulations on the American frontier. 🐺 Next Monday is Festivus 🍖. The holiday for the rest of us, including those who prefer coffee ☕ to tea on the morning. I like it good and strong 💪 in my perculator pot. 💭 That said I recommend separating out your coffee grounds and tea bags and composting the source separated organic waste 🐽, the S-SOW as the guberment likes to say. Plus if you burn it 🔥 coffee grounds don’t burn well — better to fertilize the fields and the garden.

This morning mostly cloudy and 26 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a west-northwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. There are 0.5 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ But we are getting a few more inches on Tuesday of nuisance snow ⛄. ️Things will start to thaw out at around noontime. 🌡️

It looks like I am going to be into work late today. 🚌 It just was a few too minutes late to make the walk down to the express bus, and I missed the earlier local. The normal local I would take is running about 15 minutes late, so I’ll have to clock in late, ⏲ and then maybe stay a few minutes later in the evening — but I think I should still be able to catch the express bus as it normally isn’t to State and Swan until 5:14 PM.

The one neat thing is I guess I won some of the paintings at the Save the Pine Bush Raffle 🦋, so I’ll have some Christmas presents to give away. 🖼 I didn’t think much of it — I just bought a bunch of raffle tickets to support Save the Pine Bush. Honestly, I ended up spending less money then I expected at the Save the Pine Bush benefit, but maybe I’ll give a bigger check at the dinner on Wednesday night. Or send them in a check. Tonight I have another Save the Pine Bush meeting to go to.👪

Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 33 degrees at 1pm. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 23rd. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming light and variable in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became light drizzle by afternoon. The high last year was 36 degrees. The record high of 55 was set in 1971. 9.5 inches of snow fell back in 1981.❄

The sun will set at 4:22 pm with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 16 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 31 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 9 hours and 4 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 26 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will snow likely, mainly after 4am. Mostly cloudy 🌨, with a low of 23 degrees at 3am. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 12th. Maximum wind chill around 23 at 6pm; Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible. In 2018, we had light rain in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 30 degrees. The record low of -8 occurred back in 1942.

So yeah, the Boston Tea Party 🍵 happened today in Boston 1773 and would lead to the Intolerable Acts and ultimately the American Revolution. 🐍 They dumped a bunch of over taxed nasty Indian Tea into the Boston Harbor ⚓ and said to the world 🌍 we are going to grow our own. 🌽🍎🍄🐷🐮 I have a lot of respect for their individualistic spirit. And it’s not like pig shit 💩 is going to ruin our environment.

Honestly, I do agree strongly with the tea partierers that jack-booted thugs 🐍 are the greatest threat to our liberty, and we spend too much money on the war department and the police — and we worship them like they’re God and not government bureaucrats enforcing often unjust and bigoted laws. 👮 If we had fewer laws, we’d all be better off. When I own my own land, I want the government to stay off it, let me burn whatever I want, shoot my guns, farm and slaughter my own animals. 🐔🐖🐐🔫 You do your thing, I’ll do mine.

Today in 1965, the Vietnam War would escalate. General William Westmoreland sends U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara a request for 243,000 more men by the end of 1966. 💣And in Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first major American city to default on its financial obligations since the Great Depression in 1977 💰with Mayor Kunich at the helm. He was quite the flash in the pan when he ran for president a few times as a peace ✌ candidate by the you haven’t heard much from him lately. I think I might have even voted for him one or two times. ❎ A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late.

Cloudy oh so cloudy weekend ahead before Christmas. ☁ Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 31. Sunday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 37. Typical average high for the weekend is 34 degrees. My hopes off getting up to the Adirondacks after the Pine Bush Hike seem increasingly dashed. 🗻 But the forecast could change by then and if it doesn’t happen I am still going to the Finger Lakes National Forest in two weeks. ⛺

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Make Your Dream Come True Day 🏡 when the sun will be setting at 4:44 pm with dusk at 5:15 pm. On that day in 2019, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 23 and 10 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 30 degrees. We hit a record high of 71 back in 1932.

Overlooking the Hill