After 15 months of everything being closed, masked up, and just generally werid, I am at the library working down at my laptop for the first time in literally over an year after work. While I didn’t go downtown to work today, I am certainly enjoying the nice cool air at the library tonight.
Delmar, New York
I went down to the library and worked inside for a couple of hours.
I went down to the library and worked inside for a couple of hours. 🖥
No mask, things are getting back to normal. I’ll probably start going down to the library more. I should also get some books. My phone plan renewed today with the hot spot for one month but next month I’ll reconsider based on how much I’m working downtown versus remote.
I’m skeptical about the climate act
Call me skeptical but I doubt that state will have the carry through to implement the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act‘s ambitious goals.
- New York will have to cut its total greenhouse-gas emissions (from 1990 levels) by 85% by 2050.
- The remaining 15% will have to be offset by reforestation, restoring wetlands, carbon capturing or other green projects.
- 70% of the state’s electricity will have to be produced by renewable sources like wind or hydro by 2030.
The last goal is probably the most absurd, as 2030 is basically ten years away, and we are currently only at 26% renewable energy, mostly coming from large scale hydro. Maybe if you count the state’s legacy nuclear power you can get closer to 50% but the biggest nuclear plants in the state – Indian Point are on their ways to being retired and replaced largely with large natural gas plants already largely built and expected to operate for generations to come.
The truth is that climate change goals are made to be broken, and quite possibly they are the least consequential part of the new law. More important may be the mandatory rules requiring government agencies to weigh climate impacts before moving forward on new projects. While such rules are not self enforcing, they provide citizens the ability to force government to at least consider climate impacts when approving new projects and consider lower carbon options going forward.
I’m certainly hopeful that we can meet these goals but hope is different than action. But they will motivate some change and some action – like the recycling goals of thirty years ago – and maybe lead to better public policy outcomes. Even if the ambitious goals aren’t reached maybe they’ll lead us to producing somewhat less carbon, just like the once ambitious and now almost entirely forgotten about recycling goals.
I just noticed that the Bethlehem Library is largely back to normal after the pandemic
I just noticed that the Bethlehem Library is largely back to normal after the pandemic. I will have to go down there and get some books and/or work down at the library. No more working out in the parking lot and I can take my muzzle off when inside the library and working.
There have been a lot of big changes in recent days as we bring back even more of the library experience you’d come to know and love in pre-pandemic times. It’s been a challenging couple of months, and we have been so grateful for your patience and flexibility as we worked hard to balance the services we provided with the health and safety of our community.
The library is now open for in-person use during the following hours:
- 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday
- 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday
- 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday
- noon-5 p.m. Sunday
Just a reminder: The library will be closed Saturday, June 19, in honor of the 156th anniversary of Juneteenth.
Following state guidelines lifting COVID-19 restrictions, the library is not requiring masks inside the building. Unvaccinated individuals will be responsible for their own mask usage. Anyone who chooses to wear a mask for any reason may do so.
June 16, 2021 Morning
Good morning! What day is it? Hump Day in the second half of June, of course. 🎇 I heard that the State of New York set off hazardous heavy metals in atmosphere above Albany last night to celebrate the pandemic being over in the minds of the politicians who mostly care about sales tax to create more patronage jobs for their in-bred relatives and get reelected. Four weeks to National Nude Day 👱. Needs to warm up a bit before I’ll want to do some skinny dipping with some rednecks after dark. Mostly sunny and 55 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a northwest breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 52 degrees.
A nice morning for the walk 🚶🏻 and it’s somewhat unfortunate that today is meeting day downtown. 💼 But during summer ☀ it’s a bit more casual. Tomorrow after work it’s Piseco-Powley Road for the Juneteenth Weekend. A lot of people out walking this morning 👪, probably because is a nice morning and we have permission from the politicians to go outside. I have a feeling nothing will change with muzzle wearing locally 😷, although get ten miles out of the city and you won’t find a single person wearing the muzzle. That said muzzles are still required on the bus 🚍 and at work.
Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 74 degrees at 3pm. Six degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 27th. Maximum dew point of 52 at 6am. Northwest wind 6 to 9 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with sunny skies in the afternoon. The high last year was 83 degrees. The record high of 96 was set in 1967.
Looking forward to getting home and having pancakes 🥞 with fruit. 🍓 I should get some fresh strawberries although the frozen ones are less waste. Then shower 🚿 and off to the bus. 🚏🚎 It’s nice when your pantry isn’t always empty and you have good things to eat. 🛒 Need to fill my propane tank tonight before heading to camp. ⛺ Running right on time so far.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:57 pm with sun having an altitude of 70.7° from the due south horizon (-0.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:53 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (297°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (304°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:36 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 28 seconds with dusk around 9:10 pm, which is 23 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the west-southwest (243°) at an altitude of 42° from the horizon, 234,309 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:56 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 67 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 18 minutes of daytime, an increase of 20 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 49 degrees at 5am. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 19th. West wind 5 to 9 mph becoming calm after midnight. In 2020, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 55 degrees. The record low of 44 occurred back in 1954.
Yesterday was kind of a dull day 💤 but that’s not uncommon this time of year at work. Busier day on tap today. During the down time yesterday worked on some GIS stuff for the blog 🗺 among other things. Did some writing 📝 and been thinking a lot about the things we discussed in therapy last week. What kind of community organizations should I get involved in, where should I go to meet people who aren’t Albany politicos? I got to research gun 🔫 clubs and look for girls on something like Farmers Only. Honestly that was the advice I’m paying the big bucks to get. 👩🏼 🐴 Need to settle down, spend more of my life shoveling horse manure I’m told.
On this day in 1911, IBM founded as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in Endicott, New York. 🖥. Money was made and wasted, the land covered with tricholoroethane. 💵 I remember back when we had IBM PCs in the office but now they are all made in China 🇨🇳.
The Juneteenth Weekend continues to look like a nice kick off to summer. 🏊🏻♂️ Friday, Juneteenth observed, mostly sunny, with a high near 79. Light southeast wind becoming south 6 to 11 mph in the morning. Saturday, showers likely, with thunderstorms also possible after 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 83. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Maximum dew point of 63 at 10am. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 78. Maximum dew point of 58 at 8pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 80 degrees.
Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until National Nude Day 👱 when the sun will be setting at 8:31 pm with dusk at 9:05 pm. On that day in 2020, we had mostly sunny, thunderstorm and temperatures between 84 and 67 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 84 degrees. We hit a record high of 99 back in 1995.
New sticker #moo
Summer Is Coming
The sun is close to being at it's furthest north angle of the year.
Taken on Friday June 5, 2020 at Delmar, New York.