An Interview With James Howard Kunstler
"Americaβs foremost critic of suburbia talks strip malls, environmentalism, and Christianity."
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"Americaβs foremost critic of suburbia talks strip malls, environmentalism, and Christianity."
Good evening! In less than 24 hours from now it will be going home time on the Thanksgiving Day Weekend. I see they have already put up the State Christmas tree and the electrician are busy wiring up the trees. It seems like it was just Christmas 2016. Time goes by so quickly when you get old. Winter starts in one month. I’m thirty five in two months.
Partly clear and 51 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south breeze at 14 mph with gusts up to 25 mph. Faster than downtown. I had to go running after my hat after I stepped out of the office building. It relatively warm tonight but that breeze makes it feel cool. It could be a lot more bitterly cold though. Traffic is sluggish on the old 787. I’m surprised, I would expect less traffic with the holidays coming up but maybe there is a crash ahead.
Tonight will have a slight chance of showers after 4am. Partly cloudy, with a low of 42 degrees at 6am. Eight degrees above normal. South wind 5 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2016, we had partly cloudy skies. It got down to 30 degrees. The record low of 9 occurred back in 1969.
Tonight will have a Waxing Crescent Moon with 12% illuminated with the moon setting at 7:07 pm. The First Quarter Moon is on Sunday night with mostly clear skies. The Cold Moon is on Sunday, December 3rd. The sun will rise at 6:55 am with the first light at 6:24 am, which is one minute and 12 seconds later than yesterday. Tonight will have 14 hours and 29 minutes of darkness, an increase of one minute and 53 seconds over last night.
Tomorrow will have a chance of showers before 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high of 44 degrees at 10am. One degrees below normal. South wind 5 to 15 mph becoming northwest in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 26 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had light snow in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 37 degrees. The record high of 70 was set in 1931. 9.1 inches of snow fell back in 1943.
Not a particularly nice weekend on tap. Saturday, a chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 47. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Sunday, a chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 39. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Typical average high for the weekend is 44 degrees.
I am now leaning towards spending the whole weekend up north. I would enjoy the quiet and getting away before the winter really sets in for the year. It’s going to get really snowy up north before you know it. I will have to buy some groceries on Buy Nothing Day but so be it. Hiking at Moreau Lake State Park will be nice but I definitely will be wearing my blaze orange. I may do some hunting on Sunday.
I have the spec sheet for the transistor, now I just need to calculate the size of resistors that I need to use. My LED driver works for a while really well until the transistors get hot and noisy and the Arduino stops providing PWM output. When it works, it is nice to precisely control the color to make a nice warm light, although I wish the leds were a bit brighter. I know that this can be done, I just need some math and help from the internet. I will head down to the library once I get home to do some research on the internet.
We are getting new phones in the office. We’ve had the same analog phones in the office for at least the past ten years I’ve worked, so the fancy voice over ip phones seem so modern. The speed dial will be helpful because I dial so many long distance numbers and those calls are a lot of digits. Also caller ID and other fancy features. No more guessing who is calling. I’m sure we are the last agency to upgrade to modern phones.
I got to leave at five o’clock tonight, because my communication plans are done. Been putting in some long days working on them. Hopefully tomorrow will be a quiet day and maybe I can get out of the office by three or four o’clock. It would be nice getting out of work when it’s not pitch black. Caught the express bus home which certainly ain’t express tonight with the crushing traffic heading out of the city. I actually don’t mind taking the later local bus home because it’s usually closer to on time and there is no traffic on the way home. I guess my mind will be changed when I start working later more often. This year if we pull all nighters, I think I will just pay for Uber or Lyft to avoid hitting a deer while sleepy. It’s worth the $20 the few times I work after 11:30 AM compared to getting into a wreck. I’ll probably ignore my own advice come March. But I rarely work that late and often when I’m that late there are buses running again in the morning. My suit is dry cleaned so I’m ready. You can’t get to summer without first going through winter.
In four weeks on December 19 the sun will be setting at 4:24 pm, which is 3 minutes and 4 seconds earlier then tonight. Before you know it, the sunsets will be getting later. December 9th to be exact. In 2016 on that day, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 23 and 8 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 35 and 20 degrees. The record high of 54 degrees was set back in 1895.
Looking ahead, National Hug Day is in 1 months, National Pie Day is in 9 weeks, Lame Duck Day is in 11 weeks, February Save the Pine Bush Dinner – 40th Anniversary is in 2 months, First Day of Spring is in 17 weeks, Election Day 2018 is in 50 weeks and Election Day 2020 is in 154 weeks.
When I was in college, my parents gave me a calling card to use at local payphones to call from college. And calling cards, even for long distance, were only like ten cents per minute. So I'm not that old.
Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Sunny and 38 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south breeze at 9 mph. 8:26 am rolls around and the express bus heads downtown, as I listen to Petula Clark’s Downtown. The lights are much brighter there, downtown, waiting for you downtown. 55 degrees and more clouds later. Not a half bad day for late November. I’m hoping for some nice days like this come December.
The sun will set at 4:27 pm with dusk around 4:58 pm, which is 41 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for mostly clear conditions and 53 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 14 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 32 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 53 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will have a slight chance of rain and snow showers after 4am. Increasing clouds, with a low of 37 degrees at 3am. Seven degrees above normal. South wind 6 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2016, we had partly cloudy skies. It got down to 30 degrees. The record low of 9 occurred back in 1969.
There seems to be a lot of traffic this morning. I wonder if the traffic is holiday related or if just a lot of people are going to work before the holiday. It seems like things were really backed up on Elm Ave and things are busy on Southern Boulevard too.
I got the Arduino replacements that I bought in the mail yesterday. They came fast. The replacement unit fixed the logic bugs I was having and the fried pins. But I’m still having trouble with the transistors using too much current when they warm up and abusing the Arduino, causing the pulse width modulation to shut down due to thermal conditionΒ and the transistor to vibrate with make a buzzing noise.
I also ran too much current through a resistor when I was testing things but nothing but a resistor fried that time. I hate to waste them but it’s cheaper then frying other components. I just need to print up the transistor spec sheet and do the math. I need a resistor to limit the maximum flow of current to the transistor and then an appropriate one to set the transistor to low when it should be low otherwise static will prevent it from going off.
Still hoping to get up to the Adirondacks this weekend. If I go far enough west, I can probably use my cross country skis but I expect little more than a dusting (if even that) farther east. Not sure I will go skiing though. I’m not ready for that this early in the year.Β Probably just heated tent camp off of NY 8. I am thinking about maybe doing some hiking up at Moreau Lake State Park on Friday, then camp maybe just one night, as Saturday looks somewhat wet but not icy, and Sunday will be just plain cold.
There are 2Β months until National Hug Day when the sun will be setting at 4:55 pm with dusk at 5:26 pm. You will want to hug to stay warm during that time of year, withΒ average high only about 30 degrees and lows dropping back down to 14 most nights.
Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Sunny and 35 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south breeze at 8 mph.
Today will be sunny, with a high of 55 degrees at 2pm. Nine degrees above normal. South wind 8 to 16 mph. A nice day. But breezy though and the wind will make it feel q bit chilly. More clouds though later. A year ago, we had light snow in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 34 degrees. The record high of 70 was set in 1931. 0.8 inches of snow fell back in 1937.