While I can see the resemblance between Joe Biden and Billy Redden, the famous Banjo Player in Deliverance back in 1973, I thin the same can’t be said today. That said, once you see it you can’t go back.
Super Duty dreams and off-grid schemes.
Ventura Highway
“Chewing on a piece of grass
Walking down the road
Tell me, how long you gonna stay here Joe?
Some people say this town don’t look good in snow
You don’t care, I know”
~ America, Ventura Highway
Public Defenders Allege NYPD Is Inventing A Crime Spike To Kill Bail Reform – Gothamist
Defense attorneys, meanwhile, say the reported increase in street crimes doesn't hold up to statistical scrutiny. In a joint statement, the city's public defender services noted that, even as grand theft auto complaints have skyrocketed more than 60 percent, their collective caseloads with that charge have actually decreased 9 percent.
"The only way to reconcile this is to conclude that the NYPD's repeated claims of rising crime are a story of their own making," read a statement, attributed to Legal Aid Society, Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defenders, NY County Defender Services and the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem.
"It's clear proof that the NYPD has been up-charging, and that when these cases make it to a district attorney, prosecutors reject the charges that the NYPD are touting because they know they cannot stand up to even the most cursory legal scrutiny."
Albany for many years was home to the Upstate New York’s largest All Electric Building
Albany for many years was home to the Upstate New York’s largest All Electric Building.🔌
One Commerce Plaza was an all electric building until 2006, they used reversing valves on the air conditioning units to provide heat. But the system had one costly flaw — they had to use electric resistant heaters to bring the air temperature to above 40 degrees on cold days, which made the building very costly to operate in prolonged cold spells winter.
Now, One Commerce Plaza uses gas pre-heaters, but they don’t heat the building to 72 degrees. Instead, the rather small gas heater brings the outside air to around 45 degrees, then air conditioner units with their reversing valves, compress the heat from “warmed up air” to a comfortable 72 degrees for the offices.
January 15, 2020 Night
Good evening! Partly clear and 35 degrees at One Commerce Plaza. Calm wind.Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 5 pm. ☃️
It was a good Pine Bush Dinner and now I’m home and in bed. 🍲 Bus was right on time but I took a sleeping pill as I don’t want to be kept up by the decaf coffee ☕ I had at the dinner. Not a terrible day, fairly busy but productive. Kind of sad :| with the death of Chet, who was a big time black powder hunter and ronaduvue outdoorsman who wore full costume and a Pine Bush activist starting with decades ago. Those old school black powder guys are the real woodsman. Seemed perfectly fine 👌 until he missed the last dinner and was dead less than a month later. I guess if your going to die of old age it’s best to happen quickly.
The whole tire burning thing they talked about at the dinner was concerning ⭕ but I’m not a scientist so I don’t know. It is a new cement plant went it comes to the on site emissions controls. But on the other side, synthetic rubber is so nasty to burn especially if you plan on burning thousands of tires a day or roughly 45% of the state’s tire production every year . 💭 Things add up even with pollution controls. Little more than a farmer starting a brush pile with a tractor tire on a big ol mid west cattle farm 🐂. I did sign the petition calling for a local law on it but I’m not really sure what a difference it makes. Just don’t know about the things government approves.💀
It’s always funny people after the Pine Bush dinner ask if I want I ride home. 🚙 But after hearing that lecture about the impacts of tire disposal I figured it best to take the bus home. 🚍 Plus I like my quiet time riding the bus. The bus is one of the few times in the day I have all to myself with no other scheduled or potential activity. Cars are such problematic things in cities although I like my big jacked up truck with the 35 inch tires that will probably have to landfilled or incinerated by the end of the year, maybe at La Farge as nobody actually knows if they are already burning 🔥 tires there under their BUD permit.
Tonight will rain and snow likely before 4am, then rain likely between 4am and 5am, then a chance of rain and snow after 5am. Increasing clouds 🌧, with a low of 35 degrees at 9pm. 21 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 8th. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 9 mph after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. Going to be too warm. Sloppy but not that bad locally. 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 23 degrees. The record low of -16 occurred back in 1971.
Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous 🌖Moon with 67% illuminated. The moon will rise at 10:36 pm. The darkest hour is at 12:05 am, followed by dawn at 6:52 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:23 am in the east-southeast (119°) and last for 3 minutes and 19 seconds. Sunrise is 27 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 8:07 am with sun in the southeast (126°) at an altitude of 6°. Tonight will have 14 hours and 35 minutes of darkness, a decrease of one minute and 39 seconds over last night.
Tomorrow will have a chance of rain and snow showers before 3pm, then a slight chance of snow showers between 3pm and 4pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a high of 40 degrees at 11am. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 4th. Breezy, with a northwest wind 11 to 16 mph increasing to 20 to 25 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 46 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. A year ago, we had light snow in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 1995. 15.1 inches of snow fell back in 1945.❄
Got home 🏡 and something was rotting in my garbage can and it really stunk. 👃 I think it might have been the ice cream container. I don’t know but I put it outside. I dug out with my hands, ✋ I’m not afraid to touch garbage, and I try to reuse garbage bags as long as possible as I try to use one as long as possible – why pay for something your going to ultimately burn? 🔥 That said I do often buy firewood to use in camp, especially in the winter. ⛺
I signed the Bernie Sanders petition 📃 today. It doesn’t matter, I’m not committed to vote ❎ for him but it helps ensures he is on the New York ballot. I’ll look and see come April which candidate to support. I think by then we will have a better chance of knowing where the candidates stand on the issues. I am still somewhat leaning towards Elizabeth Warren but in 2016 I voted for Bernie Sanders although at that point I didn’t have strong thoughts on either candidate and ultimately voted for Jill Stein in the general election.
Looking at the Empire Plaza heading down to Chestnut Street 🌰 I was thinking 💭 how beautiful and graceful the Empire Plaza is. I know people bitch about the cost of lighting the Plaza in the evening – it’s not cheap – and it means a lot of coal or gas is burned but it is graceful. I can dream a lot of better places 🌆 but Albany is my home for at least a few more years. I make too much money 💵 , I still have my family locally 👪 to just walk away at this point. I know there are better places out west, great small towns without the craziness 😜 of the city but I’m here for now, it’s my home.
Do I get too invested in Albany? No, I’m trying to structure my life without too many entanglements locally. 🔗 I am not politically involved, I’m not fighting for social justice except for the work with Save the Pine Bush. 🌲I don’t own a lot of stuff or property so I’m not tied down. I have a lot of concerns about the CCA deal the activists are fighting for that would have the town by only green sources of electricity but I’m remaining quiet, observing 🔭 but not saying anything beyond some observations on the blog. It just seems like community choice aggregation doesn’t really bring in much more green energy ⚡ electricity is fungible but I could be wrong. I still dream of living in a small town out west somewhere on an off grid property. Off grid all my power not from the gas generator would be renewable.
In four weeks on February 12 the sun will be setting in the west-southwest (252°) at 5:22 pm,🌄 which is 35 minutes and 58 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had snow and temperatures between 21 and 15 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 34 and 17 degrees. The record high of 55 degrees was set back in 1932.
Looking ahead, 37th Birthday 🎉 is in 2 weeks, February Save the Pine Dinner 🦋 is in 5 weeks, Average High is 40 ☀️ is in 7 weeks, Ides of March ✝ is in 2 months, April Fools Day 🤡 is in 11 weeks, Pink Moon 🌕 is in 12 weeks, Tax Day 💰 is in 3 months, Earth Day 🌎 is in 14 weeks, Latest Sunset 🌆 is in 23 weeks and Inauguration Day 2021 👴🏻 is in 53 weeks.
December 18, 2019 Night
Good evening! Cold, cloudy, windy around 20 degrees at the One Commerce Plaza but feels much colder waiting for the bus. ❄ There is a west-northwest breeze at 14 mph. 🍃. The current wind chill is 7. There are 4 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at Sunday around 11 am. 🌡️
The Pine Bush Dinner 🌲 was good but I started feeling so exhausted and achy by the end of it. 😴 Maybe it just was the thought of waiting outside for the bus in the cold around 9 pm. So I left early. It’s not like I haven’t heard the same old music 🎶 acts before, after 15 years or more of involvement the holiday parties all start to seem alike. Cavagahan’s granddaughter is a very talented folk singer. 🎸 I sure hope that the Lyme isn’t coming back, making me sick – I feel so awful by the end of the evening. 🐜 Only have a day or two of the doxycycline left and then if I sicker after the holidays I’ll have to visit my doctor 😷 again.
Once I get home I’ll probably take my doxycycline 💊 and I will probably retire to bed. I’m hoping after some sleep I’ll be feeling better. I left the heat turned up before I left for work so I expect it should be comfortable and warm when I get home. 🏡 I’m glad the doxycycline is almost done, as it’s a pain to remember even if it no longer makes me feel sick in the morning.
Tonight will have a slight chance of snow showers before 1am. Partly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 5 degrees at 6am. 15 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -10 at 6am; Northwest wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 16 degrees. The record low of -13 occurred back in 1973.
Tonight will have a Waning Crescent Moon 🌘 with 39% illuminated with the moon rising at 11:40 pm. The moon will rise at 12:00 am. The New Moon is next Wednesday. The is on Wednesday night. The sun will rise at 7:20 am with the first light at 6:47 am, which is 39 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 14 hours and 57 minutes of darkness, an increase of 15 seconds over last night.
Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 18 degrees at 2pm. 17 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -10 at 6am; Northwest wind 11 to 14 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 37 degrees. The record high of 54 was set in 1895. 7.8 inches of snow fell back in 2008.❄
A bitterly cold ❄ day tomorrow. Not sure if I’m going to walk down to the express bus 🚍 or take the local in. I really do like the walk but not if that wind is really biting like tonight.
I ordered an USB 18650 battery 🔋 charger on Amazon today and are going to pick up an extra pair of batteries to use with my LED lantern 🏮 mom and dad are getting me for Christmas. I probably eventually will also get an 18650 based LED flashlight though my existing ones work fine and truth is I could use ordinary NiMH rechargable batteries in my existing flashlights too.
I am looking forward to my camping trip in two weeks ⛺ but I wonder how muddy it will be. It might be above freezing in the day time which might mean not a lot of snow but a lot of mud. I’m still thinking about the Finger Lakes National Forest but if it looks like I’ll only be able to camp for three nights due to the weather I might stay somewhere closer to home.
I do need to test my propane camp lantern 🏮 that I cleaned this weekend. I’m thinking it will work well now but I haven’t hooked up mantles or tried it out. I’m trying to figure out what I can hang it from to test it out back, not sure if I have a good place near my apartment to string a rope. I’ve thought about getting one of those lantern posts that people use but I’ve heard their unstable especially when the tank is near empty and often break or bend when dropped.
I have to reorder my contact lens 👀 online. My prescription is probably expired, actually it is but I know they don’t actually stop you from buying it online. I would have ordered them last summer when I had a valid script but I knew worse comes to worse my insurance now partially pays for yearly exams for contacts. That said, I hate going to my eye doctor, they’re jerks, always trying to upsell you and charge you for extras. 👓 I’m sure they work on a commission and low profit margins but the local place I usually go to is the absolute worse. I’ve been to other eye places but both of them have subsequently closed.
I often think some of the zero waste ♻ stuff is kind of silly but I guess it’s probably good behavior if you live in a city and are an urbanite. I’d rather focus on plainly consuming less, dumping the occasional apple core in with the gut pile or manure pile 💩 on my land, burn the majority of whatever I buy that is packaged 🔥 and recycle the cans and glass as a last resort. ♻ I want to use wood for heat and a minimal solar system for small electrical loads and a few lights but nothing big and fancy. I guess I’m not into saving the earth 🌎 but doing what is right for myself and my land. I want to see wild land remain wild 🐺 and not turned into luxury parks for the ulta wealth. I don’t see much difference in what the zero waste folks are proposing and overall waste generation 🚮 – they’re not willing to attack consumerism, take out food 🍲 or waste more generally in our lives. As it stands right now, I buy a lot in bulk and a lot of frozen fruit and vegetables do my actual food waste is minuscule and most of the plastic wrappers probably get burnt or something like that. 🔥
In four weeks on January 15 the sun will be setting at 4:46 pm,🌄 which is 23 minutes and 5 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had mostly cloudy skies, some snow showers and temperatures between 33 and 10 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 30 and 14 degrees. The record high of 65 degrees was set back in 1995.
Looking ahead, Bubble Bath Day 🧼 is in 3 weeks, National Bird Day 🐦 is in 4 weeks, Winnie the Pooh Day 🍯 is a month away, 37th Birthday 🎉 is in 6 weeks, National Drink Wine Day 🍷 is in 2 months, Average High is 40 ☀️ is in 11 weeks, April Fools Day 🤡 is in 15 weeks, Pink Moon 🌕 is in 16 weeks, Tax Day 💰 is in 17 weeks, Average High is 60 🌼 is in 4 months, Earth Day 🌎 is in 18 weeks, Flower Moon 🌕 is in 5 months and Inauguration Day 2021 👴🏻 is in 57 weeks.
