Recycling Is Suffering From System Failure; It’s Time for a System Redesign

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Recycling Is Suffering From System Failure; It’s Time for a System Redesign

Many of the goods and services we all rely on are created with the specific intent to lose value over time so that the consumer is stuck in an enforced consumption service cycle, which increases value for the producer, but not for the customer nor the planet. And the cost of dealing with all of this reduced value stuff is placed on the customer and local governments in the form of funding local waste management services.

Solar Cycle 25 Is Here. NASA, NOAA Scientists Explain What That Means | NASA

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Solar Cycle 25 Is Here. NASA, NOAA Scientists Explain What That Means | NASA

With solar minimum behind us, scientists expect the Sun’s activity to ramp up toward the next predicted maximum in July 2025. Doug Biesecker, panel co-chair and solar physicist at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) in Boulder, Colorado, said Solar Cycle 25 is anticipated to be as strong as the last solar cycle, which was a below-average cycle, but not without risk.

“Just because it’s a below-average solar cycle, doesn’t mean there is no risk of extreme space weather,” Biesecker said. “The Sun’s impact on our daily lives is real and is there. SWPC is staffed 24/7, 365 days a year because the Sun is always capable of giving us something to forecast.” 

September 15, 2020 Night

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Good evening! Mostly clear and 56 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌆 There is a south breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 44 degrees.

Nice night for sitting out back. 🌌 Sure gets dark early this time of year and with the public library closed due to the pandemic I’ve not been spending my evenings down there with my laptop 💻and I’ve been going out earlier in the evening for my walk. 🚶🏻 That’s good as it means earlier to bed.

All day the skies were hazy from the western wildfires. 🔥 Just kind of a dull gray, like maybe on a hazy summer day or modestly cloudy day but not really dark. A sign of the times, although not that uncommon in recent years. At least we’ve been spared hurricanes 🌀 so far for the year in Upstate NY.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 47 degrees at 4am. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 26th. South wind 6 to 9 mph. In 2019, we had cloudy 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 32 occurred back in 1964.

Tonight will have a Waining Crescent 🌘 Moon with 3% illuminated. The darkest hour is at 12:51 am, followed by dawn at 6:08 am, and sun starting to rise at 6:37 am in the east (85°) and last for 2 minutes and 55 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 4 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 7:14 am with sun in the east (92°). Tonight will have 11 hours and 32 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 50 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 75 degrees at 4pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 10th. Maximum dew point of 50 at 11am. South wind 9 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Going to be breezy. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 73 degrees. The record high of 92 was set in 1939.

In four weeks on October 13 the sun will be setting in the west (260°) at 6:15 pm,🌄 which is 48 minutes and 48 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 62 and 42 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 61 and 40 degrees. The record high of 81 degrees was set back in 1930.

Looking ahead, Autumn 🍂 is in 1 week, Average High is 60 🍂 is a month away, Daylight Savings Time Ends 🛥️ is in 7 weeks, Election Day 2019 🗳️ is in 7 weeks, Average High is 50 🍂 is in 8 weeks, December 🎄 is in 11 weeks, Bill of Rights Day 📜 is in 3 months, Days are Getting Longer ☀️ is in 14 weeks, Cold Moon 🌕 is in 15 weeks, National Bird Day 🐧 is in 16 weeks, 5:30 PM Dusk 🌆 is in 19 weeks and Ground Hog Day 🐻 is in 20 weeks.

Scenic Creek

2021 is going to be bad year in America regardless of who wins the election

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2021 is going to be bad year in America regardless of who wins the election

  • Its impossible to make all the money that has been printed over the past year disappear – and even if we have a competent president next year – he’s going to deal with it hang over
  • Inflation and higher interest rates will put a damper on economic growth and make everybody feel poorer
  • It’s going to be hard to get a lot of people back in the Labor Force after so many month outside of the work
  • The housing crisis is enormous, even if it’s paused for now by eviction moratorium – people aren’t going to instantly find back rent or missed mortgage payments
  • Even if a vaccine is available its unlikely to be hundred percent effective and health risks will remain for sensitive groups

Why Nobody Feels Rich

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Why Nobody Feels Rich

9/14/20 by NPR

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/112462030
Episode: https://play.podtrac.com/npr-510308/edge1.pod.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/hiddenbrain/2020/09/20200914_hiddenbrain_hb_p135_-_why_no_one_feels_rich_-_092020_-_final.mp3?awCollectionId=510308&awEpisodeId=912749547&orgId=1&topicId=1007&aggIds=423302056&d=2002&p=510308&story=912749547&t=podcast&e=912749547&size=31973892&ft=pod&f=510308

If you’ve ever flown in economy class on a plane, you probably had to walk through the first class cabin to get to your seat. Maybe you noticed the extra leg room. The freshly-poured champagne. Maybe you were annoyed, or envious. Social psychologist Keith Payne says we tend to compare ourselves with those who have more than us, but rarely with those who have less. This week, we revisit our 2019 episode on the psychology of income inequality, and how perceptions of our own wealth shape our lives.

It never seems like their is much money at the end of the week, pay day comes and money goes out. And the more money you make the less there is left after expenses and never ending inflation.

NPR

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Haze Spreads Across U.S. As Wildfires Continue To Tear Through The West : NPR

Wildfires in the Western U.S. continue to blaze, with much of the activity centered in California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

In Oregon and Washington, 28 large fires are burning across 1.5 million acres. But the Bureau of Land Management noted that growth has slowed for a number of the major fires. The large Beachie Creek Fire east of Salem, Ore., had recorded no new growth in the previous day.

Planet Money : NPR

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Should We Kill The $100 Bill? : Planet Money : NPR

Since the pandemic hit, the amount of paper dollars in the world has actually increased. There is now $2 trillion in paper dollars out in the world — roughly $200 billion more than there was at the start of the year. This bump was partly driven by pandemic panic, but not entirely. For years, as our daily use of cash has declined, the amount of paper money floating around has grown faster than the overall economy. And it's largely hundreds. There are more $100 bills than ones — enough to give every person in America $4,000 in hundreds.

Where is all that money? What are people doing with it? Nobody knows exactly. It's just pieces of paper out in the world! But we do have some ideas. People in developing countries are keeping their life savings in hundreds to protect themselves against unreliable local currencies and shaky banks. Also, lots and lots of people are using lots and lots of cash to evade taxes and to traffic in drugs, people and stolen merchandise.