While the trails where well routed and slightly muddy, there certainly where pools of standing water on top of the mountain from all of the rain of recent.
Taken on Sunday April 17, 2011 at Bennett Hill Preserve.But that story shifted on Tuesday after federal health officials recommended a temporary halt in the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, after a handful of reports about blood clots surfaced among the millions of people who have received the shot.
Many doctors argue this sort of delay should actually be seen as a positive for vaccine safety: officials are paying close attention to the reports of side effects and acting quickly to maintain public confidence in the vaccination effort.
But experts who follow internet trends are bracing for the worst when it comes to how this news is understood and received by the public.
"This is what I would call the perfect storm for misinformation," said Jennifer Granston at Zignal Labs, a media intelligence platform.
Right now, state and local government enjoys paying zero taxes on property and buildings it owns, on energy it consumes, on facilities it operates. City halls, government buildings, prisons, parks, even enormous the beautiful buildings owned by the police and owned the Pentagon are currently untaxed. There is an enormous amount of government property that should be taxed, but currently isn’t — because of antiquated laws that prohibit government from taxing other layers of government.
Imagine for a minute if the State of New York was required to pay both local and federal taxes on the Empire State Plaza. For one thing, such a lavish building complex would have never been built. But even if was built, they would have used much cheaper materials, to avoid paying so much in local and federal taxes. Likewise, imagine if the City of Albany had to pay state and federal taxes on City Hall — it would have been long ago sold off to private developers — who would turn this beautiful old building into a hotel, conference center or dinning hall. Government would move to an efficient, non-descript building in a lower-cost part of the city.
Likewise, imagine if the City of Albany had to pay state and federal income tax on fines, property tax payments, other forms of revenue. The City of Albany would likely find it necessary to cut services, and find economies — as they would be making less money on each dollar they brought in. Yes, local property taxes and fines might increase to cover some of the cost of paying taxes to other levels of government — but also local government would shrink. Correspondingly, the state and federal governments could cut their taxes, because the federal and state governments would be collecting income tax on the city’s fines, taxes, and other sources of revenue.
Taxes are a proven method of reducing spending. At first it might seem silly for government to tax each other layer of government, but taxes on government spending will discourage more government spending, leading to a smaller, more efficient government. No more lavish government buildings, no more lavish spending on politicians or bureaucrats, just a government that is a lean servant of the people. The more you think about it, taxing government could not only lead to more revenue, but also less government.
Good morning! Happy April 15th, which is normally tax day. 💰 ! But this year for some reason, the pandemic or maybe because people don’t like to be rushed to do taxes, they put it off. But I got my federal refund back. Next Thursday is Earth Day 🌎 . I am sure all the coal rollers are well aware of that fact. Rain showers and 52 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a east-southeast breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 45 degrees. The skies will clear Monday around 5 am. Going to be a rather rainy next two days, then fairly cloudy come the weekend. Maybe some snow in the mountains, especially the Green Mountains but I don’t expect it to last long at this point.
That COVID vaccine really knocked me out yesterday, 💉 at least for a few hours. Then I took a full-dose of sleeping medication, and I slept like a baby but this morning I am in a bit of a haze between the dark and cloudy skies and my general inability to get going. So I skipped my morning walk, and I doubt I’ll do my evening walk but maybe I’ll do laps around the apartment later.
Today will rain. 🌧 High of 53 degrees at 11am. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 4th. Maximum dew point of 47 at 10am. 🏖️ Southeast wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. A year ago, we had light snow in the morning, which became partly cloudy by afternoon. The high last year was 48 degrees. The record high of 86 was set in 2003. 2.4 inches of snow fell back in 2014.❄
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:56 pm with sun having an altitude of 57.3° from the due south horizon (-13.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:00 pm with the sun in the west (278°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (284°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:38 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 59 seconds with dusk around 8:06 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west (270°) at an altitude of 33° from the horizon, 251,336 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:42 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 47 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 24 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 45 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will rain before 4am, then rain and snow. 🌧 Low of 37 degrees at 6am. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 14th. North wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. In 2020, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 33 degrees. The record low of 22 occurred back in 1981.
Not a particularly nice weekend on tap. 😞 Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 54. North wind 6 to 8 mph. Sunday, a chance of showers after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 58. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Typical average high for the weekend is 59 degrees. As thought, not going to be a really sunny weekend but might be good for fishing. 🎣 I still think I want to get out of town, although plans could change. Next weekend almost looks nice, but I am not sure if next weekend will otherwise work for my schedule and I kind of want to get out of town before the black flies take over the woods.
As previously noted, next Thursday is Earth Day 🌎 when the sun will be setting at 7:45 pm with dusk at 8:15 pm. On that day in 2020, we had cold, partly sunny, snow showers and temperatures between 46 and 30 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 61 degrees. We hit a record high of 86 back in 1985.
