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Bad health 🧑‍⚕️

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People have real reason to be unsatisfied with public health in America. After decades of public health campaigns, most well meaning, the effective useful lifespan of the average American is stuck at 66 years old. Beyond that age, the average American is in poor health and unable to live a full life due to a serious health issue such as diabetes, heart attack, gout, breathing difficulties etc. Not all Americans but averaged together, beyond 66 years of age more Americans are severely crippled then not. And that’s a big failure of public health.

While it’s true that on paper American lifespans are longer than 50 years ago, much of that lifespan is not in good health. We’ve been warned for decades about the dangers of smoking and chemicals, when it’s really the sugars, fats, salts, and lack of exercise in every day life that’s killing Americans. Public health has failed to make a difference where it really matters.

Will bringing back cigarette smoking to office buildings and beef fat drenched French fries make Americans more healthy? Probably not. One unhealthy behavior doesn’t cancel out another. But the promises of banning such things has been a clear failure because it’s occurred at a time when cities only became more car dependent and people are eating more processed foods and walking less. Javon’s paradox!

It’s not like seatbelts in cars – it’s well established fact that drivers who use seatbelts are more reckless – though there are clear benefits to be buckled up during a crash. But it still makes for drivers who drive more recklessly and are more likely to get in an accident in the first place, as they know the risk of dying is lower in a crash then operating without safety equipment! There is an net benefit, but it’s not at a cost of more crashes.

Cpp Tutorials

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Cpp Tutorials

These tutorials explain the C language from its basics up to the newest features introduced by C 11. Chapters have a practical orientation, with example programs in all sections to start practicing what is being explained right away.

Happy Tea Party Day 🐍

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I bet the authorities in Boston wouldn’t approve of dumping source separated organic waste into the Boston harbor these days.

Good morning! Snow flurries and 32 degrees at the Elm Ave Park and Ride. ❄ There is a south-southeast breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. There are 2 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️The skies will clear tomorrow around 7 am.

I decided that I would take the bus 🚍 in as it’s pretty wet with the fresh snow 🌨️ we got last night and I don’t know if it will turn to rain ☔ by evening. It wouldn’t matter that much if I didn’t have a two mile ride back downtown at the end of the day. Tomorrow is going to be a much better day for riding to work 🚴.

Today will have a chance of snow before 9am, then a chance of rain and snow between 9am and 11am, then a chance of drizzle after 11am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a high of 41 degrees at 3pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 8th. South wind 6 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning, which became light snow by afternoon. The high last year was 35 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 2021. 9.5 inches of snow fell back in 1981.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:52 am with sun having an altitude of 24.1° from the due south horizon (-46.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:38 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (238°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:24 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 25 seconds with dusk around 4:55 pm, which is 18 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:32 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 40 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 7 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 22 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will rain likely with a chance of drizzle before 1am, then rain, mainly between 1am and 5am. ☔ Temperature rising to around 47 by 2am. South wind 9 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2023, we had light snow in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 31 degrees. The record low of 8 occurred back in 1942.

Today in 1965, the Vietnam War would escalate. 🪖General William Westmoreland sends U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara a request for 243,000 more men by the end of 1966. 🇻🇳And in Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first major American city to default on its financial obligations since the Great Depression. 🏭 But Kusinach saved public power in the city, even if it didn’t make the creditors very happy.

Cool this weekend with temperatures running 14 degrees below normal but otherwise sunny. 🥶 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 27. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 19. Typical average high for the weekend is 37 degrees.

Looking ahead, next Monday is Festivus 🍖 when the sun will be setting at 4:27 pm with dusk at 4:58 pm. On that day in 2023, we had rain and temperatures between 53 and 9 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 36 degrees. We hit a record high of 64 back in 1990.

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Cold start to our Sunday morning 🥶

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Rode down to the hardware store bright and early this morning, to get some hardware to mount the bike lock on. It was refreshing but cold. It was a good excuse to get some exercise and feel the cold on my face, even if they didn’t have size bolt that I need.

Good morning! Partly cloudy and 17 degrees in Delmar, NY. ⛅ Calm wind. Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 8 am. 🌡️ No weather above freezing though for this weekend. And maybe snow later on. I’m still hoping that it stops early enough that I can ride in tomorrow, as yesterday the snow was gone off the bike trail, though I do need to top off the brake fluid on my bike as my front brake sin’t working.

Today will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 32 degrees at 3pm. Six degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around January 15th. Cold but not that cold. Calm wind becoming south around 6 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 33 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 2015. 8.2 inches of snow fell back in 1968.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:52 am with sun having an altitude of 24.1° from the due south horizon (-46.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:38 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:24 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 25 seconds with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 16 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waining Gibbous 🌖 Moon in the northeast (54°) at an altitude of 4° from the horizon, 234,367 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:31 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 31 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 7 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 26 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will snow likely, mainly after 1am. Cloudy 🌨, with a low of 27 degrees at 8pm. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 2nd. Southeast wind 3 to 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of around an inch possible. In 2023, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 33 degrees. The record low of -11 occurred back in 1917.

I am thinking about taking off the second half of the week to go camping, 🏕 or at least spend less time in the office, as the year comes to a close. So far the second half of the week looks nice, though maybe snowy. ⛄ Winter camping is fun, as long as I’m somewhere I don’t have to worry about getting stuck. And it’s not too cold with the wind. Regardless, I have to use the time up before the end of the year, so if it’s really cold and wet, I can stay home and read. 📕

On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed under the weight of rush-hour traffic, resulting in the deaths of 46 people. 🌉 Two of the victims were never found. The Silver Bridge was an eyebar-chain suspension bridge built in 1928 and named for the color of its aluminum paint. The bridge carried U.S. Route 35 over the Ohio River, connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio. Investigation of the wreckage pointed to the cause of the collapse being the failure of a single eyebar in a suspension chain, due to a small defect 0.1 inches (2.5 mm) deep. Analysis showed that the bridge was carrying much heavier loads than it had originally been designed for and had been poorly maintained. The collapsed bridge was replaced by the Silver Memorial Bridge, which was completed in 1969.

Also, today in 2000, was an the end of an era at the infamous Chernobyl Power Plant generating power. ☢ Reactor No. 4 was the site of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, and the power plant is now within a large restricted area known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Both the zone and the former power plant are administered by the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management. The three remaining reactors remained operational after the accident; all three were eventually shut down by 2000, and the plant remains in the process of decommissioning as of 2019. Nuclear clean-up is scheduled for completion in 2065. The toxic legacy remains, long after the nuclear power plant stops generating.

As previously noted, next Sunday is Days are Getting Longer ☀️ when the sun will be setting at 4:27 pm with dusk at 4:57 pm. On that day in 2023, we had partly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 34 and 19 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 36 degrees. We hit a record high of 60 back in 1990.

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