But it sure is nice to leave work at five o’clock. Traffic is light tonight and once I’m home, I’ll make dinner 🍲 and then I’ll have to decide if I should ride the exercise bike 🚲 or go for a walk. 🚶 Heading past Stewart’s it looks like so far gas prices haven’t climbed much ⛽ but we’ll see how much they go up in the coming weeks with Iran. 💣
Fire scientists have known for decades that fires — especially large fires — could disperse potentially dangerous embers, but it's only in more recent years that the role of embers has begun to influence building regulations in Australia.
A 2010 paper published by Australia's national research agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, suggested that the vast majority of homes that burn during bushfires are ignited by embers.
In the last decade, "we've shifted toward a recognition that ember attack on the house, and on things around the house, is the process that's most dominant in causing houses to ignite, and therefore [we're] focusing on building design and landscaping design that's more resistant to embers," says Justin Leonard, a research leader in bushfire urban design at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
One of the ranch families I follow on Facebook lives in Oklahoma has to worry about wildfire a fair bit, and has their whole farm operation planned in such a way to limit and slow fire should it approach their barns and homestead. It's really a fascinating science, for those who have to deal with fire every day as part of their lives. Planned right, fire can be an asset not a threat to an ecosystem.
New York City’s public housing stock is teeming with trash — chutes stuffed beyond capacity, stairwells strewn with litter, bins for regular refuse overflowing with misplaced cans and bottles.
With 173,762 apartments whose residents virtually never recycle, the New York City Housing Authority offers one of the single best opportunities for Mayor Bill de Blasio to get a handle on the city’s runaway trash problem.
Yet as of last April, public housing residents were separating just 1.5 percent of the cans and bottles that make up about one-third of their trash stream — a function of decades of neglect by city officials who did not bother installing adequate recycling bins until the threat of a lawsuit.
Separation of food scraps that comprise another one-third of the garbage haul has been scarce, according to the housing authority’s 2019 waste management report.
“The consensus among NYCHA residents and staff alike is that garbage is everywhere, disorganized, and much too visible an intrusion on everyday quality of life,” the report stated. “NYCHA residents deserve better.”
The city’s residential waste challenges transcend the housing authority. Plastic Amazon packaging, “fast fashion” shopping and relatively meager penalties for recycling violations contribute to New York underperforming many other large American cities in recycling its garbage.
Bad listeners are not necessarily bad people. You likely have a dear friend, family member, or maybe a romantic partner who is a terrible listener. Perhaps you, yourself, are not the best listener. And you could be forgiven since, in many ways, you’ve been conditioned not to listen. Think back to when you were a little kid. If a parent said, “Listen to me!” (perhaps while holding you firmly by the shoulders), it’s a good bet you weren’t going to like what was coming next. When your teacher, Little League coach, or camp counselor beckoned, “Listen up!” what followed was usually a bunch of rules, instructions, and limits on your fun.
Next Monday is the 4:45 PM sunset. 🌆 Then it only gets later as spring approaches. 🌹
4:45 pm sunset – Monday, January 13
5:00 pm sunset – Saturday, January 25
5:15 pm sunset – Thursday, February 6
5:30 pm sunset – Monday, February 17
5:45 pm sunset – Saturday, February 29
Daylight Savings Time Begins – Sunset on Sunday, March 8 is at 6:53 pm
7:00 pm sunset – Friday, March 13
7:15 pm sunset – Wednesday, March 25
7:30 pm sunset – Wednesday, April 8
7:45 pm sunset – Tuesday, April 21
8:00 pm sunset – Monday, May 4
8:15 pm sunset – Monday, May 18
