September 22, 2020 Night

Good evening! Clear and 55 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌌There is a northwest breeze at 8 mph. πŸƒ. The dew point is 42 degrees.

This evening after work I was back over at John Wolcott’s house, continuing to look through his Fort Orange file. πŸ“‚ I found some interesting photos which I posted last night. βš’ It was a a nice evening but by the time I had dinner it was too late for the evening walk 🚢🏻.

I really enjoyed being downtown at working in a real office. 🏒 Simply said, my wooden chair on a painters bench isn’t really comfortable for working and both the cellular internet and the Wi-Fi at the library parking lot πŸ…Ώ are slow compared to working directly over the ethernet with the big monitor I have at the office. πŸ–₯️ I think as long as the pandemic remains in control I will start working downtown on Tuesdays going forward πŸ™, but heading in and staying late to avoid crowded buses. 🚌

Tonight will be clear πŸŒƒ, with a low of 48 degrees at 5am. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 24th. Northwest wind around 8 mph. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It was humid. It got down to 66 degrees. The record low of 32 occurred back in 1963.

Tonight will have a First Quarter πŸŒ“ Moon with 37% illuminated. At 10 PM, the moon was in the west-southwest (236Β°) at an altitude of 3Β° from the horizon, some 230,026 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 March 16th. Buckle up for safety! πŸ’ΊYou don’t want to get into a crash when you are on a rocket. The moon will set in the west-southwest (240Β°) at 10:20 pm. The Hunter 🏹 Moon is on Thursday, October 1. The darkest hour is at 12:49 am, followed by dawn at 6:16 am, and sun starting to rise at 6:44 am in the east (89Β°) and last for 2 minutes and 53 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 5 seconds later than yesterday. πŸŒ„ The golden hour ends at 7:21 am with sun in the east (95Β°). Tonight will have 11 hours and 52 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 72 degrees at 2pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 17th. Maximum dew point of 52 at 3pm. Northwest wind 7 to 15 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. It became humid as the day progressed. The high last year was 86 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1895.

Tomorrow I want to get packed up for camping πŸ• and go grocery shopping. πŸ›’ I am out of most food 🍲 so I ended up eating the last of the pasta I had at home which was okay πŸ‘ŒπŸ» but nothing to celebrate. I especially don’t like eating a lot of pasta before bed πŸ› but I was hungry and that’s all I had.

In four weeks on October 20 the sun will be setting in the west-southwest (256Β°) at 6:04 pm,πŸŒ„ which is 47 minutes and 23 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had partly cloudy, patches of fog and temperatures between 54 and 34 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 58 and 38 degrees. The record high of 80 degrees was set back in 1965.

That article on Vermont banning disposable glass bottles was definitely an interesting one. 🍢While many recycling programs claim to take back glass β™», in many cases its a scam because the recycled glass is just pulverized and used for landfill road backfill instead of gravel. Glass is such a nuisance in farm country to this day, it gets into hay and kills cows and cuts feet. Farm trash dumps are full of it because it doesn’t burn. πŸ”₯ Plastics may also be problematic but at least it tends not to be quite as harmful as glass, at least mechanically but it is more toxic ☠ when it goes up into smoke or is ground up in the water or soil. Honestly, the solution is more refillable containers like used to be common. As the sign at Byrne Dairy says, get your milk in (returnable/refillable) glass and have less trash. β¬‡οΈπŸ—‘

Looking ahead, Election Day 2019 πŸ—³οΈ is in 6 weeks, Average High is 50 πŸ‚ is in 7 weeks, Regular Deer Season in Southern Zone 🦌 is in 8 weeks, December πŸŽ„ is in 10 weeks, Bill of Rights Day πŸ“œ is in 12 weeks, Days are Getting Longer β˜€οΈ is in 3 months, Cold Moon πŸŒ• is in 14 weeks, National Bird Day 🐧 is in 15 weeks, 5:30 PM Dusk πŸŒ† is in 18 weeks and Ground Hog Day 🐻 is in 19 weeks.

Plains Road

What Hundreds of American Public Libraries Owe to Carnegie’s Disdain for Inherited Wealth

What Hundreds of American Public Libraries Owe to Carnegie’s Disdain for Inherited Wealth

Carnegie argued that handing large fortunes to the next generation wasted money, as it was unlikely that descendants would match the exceptional abilities that had created the wealth into which they were born. He also surmised that dynasties harm heirs by robbing their lives of purpose and meaning.

He practiced what he preached and was still actively giving in 1911 after he had already given away 90 percent of his wealth to causes he cared passionately about, especially libraries. As a pioneer of the kind of large-scale American philanthropy now practiced by the likes of Bill Gates and George Soros, he espoused a philosophy that many of today’s billionaires who want to leave their mark through good works are still following.

Quiet Waters

The waters of the East Branch were placid when I was paddling. I was a bit disappointed on how cloudy things had gotten though while I was up there.

Taken on Sunday September 22, 2019 at Notes.

West

This is looking West off of Pine Coble, towards New York State / White Rock in the Taconics.

Taken on Sunday September 6, 2009 at Pine Cobble.