September 23, 2018 Night

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Good evening! Mostly clear and 54 degrees in North Syracuse.🎡🌌 Calm wind. The dew point is 51 degrees. Autumn became a thing and then it got cool and clear. Remarkable how that happened so quickly.

I tell you, I think I saw some hints of color already hiking down this morning at the Old Erie Canal.🍂 It was a nice hike around six miles round trip but I did not like how tight the parking was at the Manlius Center lot or how many riders and runners there were on that part of the trail. Last time I hiked on the Old Erie Canal, I ended up parking farther east so I saw a different part of the canal.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌞 , with a low of 46 degrees at 4am. Two degrees below normal. Calm wind. In 2017, we had clear skies. It got down to 59 degrees. The record low of 27 occurred back in 1963.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous Moon 🌕 with 99% illuminated. Tomorrow is the Harvest Moon. The moon will set at 6:00 am. The sun will rise at 6:53 am with the first light at 6:25 am, which is one minute and 7 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 11 hours and 55 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞 , with a high of 69 degrees at 3pm. Typical temperature. Maximum dew point of 53 at 4pm. East wind 5 to 11 mph. It will be a nice autumn day. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 90 degrees which is the record high.

Next weekend looks like it might be perfect weather-wise. 😎 Next Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 64. Maximum dew point of 50 at 5pm. Next Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 64. Maximum dew point of 53 at 2pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 67 degrees. Should be a great autumn weekend.

Today my headphone jack broke on my laptop. It was my stupid fault rushing around half awake this morning forgetting to unplug my headphones before packing up my laptop. 🎧 I like listening to music and watching YouTube videos on my laptop. I tried pulling the broken antenna tip from the port with no luck. I determined my best course of action is to simply buy a USB to Audio DAC adapter and use the USB port to connect my headphones to. I could try to do Bluetooth but I find that can be buggy in Linux and honestly I don’t want to have to recharge my headphones all the time. Hopefully the DAC will be loud enough to drive my headphones. I ordered a $2 one from China and a $6 one from Texas with the hope I’ll have laptop audio working again by mid week. If it works out I’ll keep one plugged into the USB splitter and one in my bag so I can always use headphones with my laptop. I think this solution will work.

In four weeks on October 21 the sun will be setting at 6:11 pm,🌄 which is 47 minutes and 49 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2017 on that day, we had partly cloudy skies and temperatures between 74 and 40 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 58 and 38 degrees. The record high of 81 degrees was set back in 1979.

Looking ahead, Daylight Savings Time Ends 🛥️ is in 6 weeks, Veterans Day (Sunday) 🇺🇸 is in 7 weeks, Buy Nothing Day 🛍️ is in 2 months and First Sunday of Advent ✝️ is in 10 weeks.

Burberry, H&M, and Nike destroy unsold merch. An expert explains why.

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Burberry, H&M, and Nike destroy unsold merch. An expert explains why.

"The British luxury brand Burberry brought in $3.6 billion in revenue last year — and destroyed $36.8 million worth of its own merchandise."

"In July 2018, the brand admitted in its annual report that demolishing goods was just part of its strategy to preserve its reputation of exclusivity."

"Shoppers did not react well to this news. People vowed to boycott Burberry over its wastefulness, while members of Parliament demanded the British government crack down on the practice. The outrage worked: Burberry announced two weeks ago it would no longer destroy its excess product, effective immediately."

"Yet Burberry is hardly the only company to use this practice; it runs high to low, from Louis Vuitton to Nike. Brands destroy product as a way to maintain exclusivity through scarcity, but the precise details of who is doing it and why are not commonly publicized. Every now and then, though, bits of information will trickle out. Last year, for example, a Danish TV station revealed that the fast-fashion retailer H&M had burned 60 tons of new and unsold clothes since 2013."

Hog Farmers and the Hurricane

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One of the most insulting and infuriating things I’ve seen on social media is the numerous posts criticizing hog farmers for manure spill overflows when the hurricane’s flood waters inundated their farms. Manure spills are problematic for many reasons — including they can lead to fish kills due to depleted oxygen — but pig poop isn’t hazardous waste.

Hog farmers work long hours to take care of their pigs, they carefully manage their crops and their manure. They apply it to fields based on scientific formulas and measurements, to ensure it’s applied at a level that maximizes crop growth while protecting local waterways.

They’ve lost enormously from the hurricane — some despite heroic efforts lost livestock and many more have lost the crop they’ve worked tirelessly to produce to feed the animals that upon sale provides them with income necessary to provide for their families. Natural disasters are just that for all people involved. We shouldn’t be condemning those who work hard to produce delicious food for families to eat across the country.

Hadley Farm Barn

Thinking About Deleting Facebook

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I am increasingly thinking about deleting Facebook or at least blocking certain friends from commenting on my posts and hiding other posts.🐡 I fully understand the advantage of Facebook – it’s where everybody is at on the Internet – but I’ve increasingly gotten annoyed with all of the political posts and how people are dragging me into the politics of the day. I don’t even like politics but people say such stupid shit on Facebook. Facebook is a modern day swamp!🐸

For many years I banned comments on my blog. This was intentional. I’ve always preferred the long format for blogging, the greater effort it takes to compose one’s thoughts. Facebook and Twitter encourage sound bites, not reasoned discussions of the issues.😡 Facebook also encourages the spreading of elite opinion without commentary, which I think is a problem. Why should the political elite rule our political discussion? Why can’t average people give their opinions and evaluate things based on what they know?

It really is boring and uninteresting to repeat the rhetoric of one’s own political party without analysis or discussion. That’s the norm on Facebook. Echo chambers are boring, they are all but pointless. 😲What’s wrong with criticizing your own political party when you think they are doing the wrong thing? What? Because the other side might win a point or two? Are you insecure about the convictions of your own political party that all you can do is mindlessly repeat their rhetoric like a drone?