October 24, 2020 Night

Good evening! Partly cloudy and 47 degrees in Delmar, NY. πŸŒƒ There is a northwest breeze at 15 mph. πŸƒ. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 2 am. β˜ƒοΈ

So far this autumn has been pretty warm most nights ♨, so freeze warnings ⚠ have been fairly occasional even though November is right around the corner. πŸ¦ƒBut today was a more seasonable day so I’m not shocked 😲. Warm enough earlier I had the windows open ⬜ but now they are definitely closed as it’s gotten cold. ⬛

Exploring the Touhey Preserve was interesting πŸ‚πŸ¦ƒπŸΎπŸΏοΈ but it’s pretty small with only one loop trail and a few views but it’s certainly not something I’d make a special trip to visit. Five Rivers was about the same, 🐦 πŸ•Š πŸ¦†πŸ¦— maybe a bit more crowded than I would expect on a Saturday evening and the sun sets pretty early this time of year.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌌, with a low of 34 degrees at 6am. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 4th. Northwest wind 7 to 15 mph. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 48 degrees. The record low of 19 occurred back in 1981.

Tonight will have a First Quarter πŸŒ“ Moon with 64% illuminated. At 8 PM, the moon was in the south (178Β°) at an altitude of 28Β° from the horizon, some 241,886 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. πŸš€ At the state speed limit of 55 mph, you’ll make it there by April 26th. Buckle up for safety! πŸ’Ί The Blue πŸ‘» 🌝 Moon is on Saturday, October 31. πŸŽƒ The darkest hour is at 12:40 am, followed by dawn at 6:52 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:20 am in the east-southeast (106Β°) and last for 3 minutes Sunrise is one minute and 13 seconds later than yesterday. πŸŒ„ The golden hour ends at 8:00 am with sun in the east-southeast (112Β°). Tonight will have 13 hours and 22 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 42 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 50 degrees at 3pm. Six degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 10th. North wind around 7 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 58 degrees. The record high of 77 was set in 1963. There was a dusting of snow in 2005.❄

Cool 😎 but sunny tomorrow. Not totally sure my plans but I want to spend some time outdoors πŸ‚like I did today. I probably should try to get to the store πŸ›’ and return my absentee ballot πŸ—³ if the lines aren’t too long at the Early Vote place although maybe Monday would be best for that but it depends on how busy work is that day – I’d want to go before people get home 🏑 from work and lines build. πŸ‘¨β€πŸ‘©β€πŸ‘¦πŸ—£οΈπŸ‘¨β€πŸ‘§β€πŸ‘¦πŸ˜· Voting isn’t a bad idea πŸ’‘ – but in no way in hell am I going to wait in line to do it especially when there are 55 hours of Early Voting remaining and 15 hours of Election Day voting πŸ—³ to say nothing of just mailing βœ‰ the absentee ballot.

I was disappointed to hear the RIAA issued a cease and desist order to get the youtube-dl program πŸ“Ί ⬇️ taken down from github. While I have the software for now I’m sure the YouTube website πŸ•Έ will be updated and the old program won’t no longer work. So no more downloading YouTube videos to watch at home. That said, I’m sure there will be other websites off shore that I can go to download YouTube videos or maybe even other non United States sites will provide updates to youtube-dl. πŸ—Ί One good thing about the internet is that if one country takes something offline it typically goes off shore, especially with software that has many legal uses and with something like this that’s a python script that is easy to patch and fix.

In four weeks on November 21 the sun will be setting in the west-southwest (243Β°) at 4:27 pm (Standard Time),πŸŒ„ which is one hour, 31 minutes and one second earlier then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had partly sunny, shallow fog and temperatures between 47 and 26 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 46 and 30 degrees. The record high of 70 degrees was set back in 1931.

Yes, pretty much Thanksgiving at that point. πŸ¦ƒ It won’t be long until it’s November which is usually my favorite month of the year. Going to be a busy November this year with work but I’m kind of looking forward to working downtown more next month 🏒, especially if they finally restore the express bus 🚍 service.

Looking ahead, Regular Deer Season in Southern Zone 🦌 is in 4 weeks, Small Business Saturday πŸ›οΈ is in 5 weeks, Repeal of Prohibition Day 🍺 is in 6 weeks, Christmas Eve πŸŽ… is in 2 months, Boxing Day πŸ₯Š is in 9 weeks, Static Electric Shock Day 🧼 is in 11 weeks, National Cheese Lovers Day πŸ§€ is in 13 weeks, Save the Pine Bush Turns 43 πŸ¦‹ is in 15 weeks, 5:30 PM Sunset πŸŒ† is in 17 weeks and Snow Moon πŸŒ• is in 18 weeks.

Shots – Health News : NPR

HHS Release Redacted Moderna COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine Contract : Shots – Health News : NPR

Even as the companies enlisted by the government's Operation Warp Speed project to develop COVID-19 vaccines say they're making quick progress, details of their lucrative federal contracts have been slow to emerge.

But late Friday the Department of Health and Human Services released its August contract with Moderna. When announcing the deal, HHS said it was worth $1.5 billion and would secure the first 100 million doses of the company's vaccine and the option to buy up to 400 million more.

The Plastic Myth and the Misunderstood Triangle

The Plastic Myth and the Misunderstood Triangle

The myth created around plastic recycling has been one of simplicity. We look for the familiar triangle arrows, then pop the waste in the recycling bin so it can be reused.

But the true purpose of those triangles has been misunderstood by the general public ever since their invention in the 1980s.

These triangles were actually created by the plastics industry and, according to a report provided to them in July 1993, were creating "unrealistic expectations" about what could be recycled. But they decided to keep using the codes.