January 25, 2020 10 PM Update

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Good evening! Rain and 40 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a north breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The rain has done a number on the snow. ☃ ️Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 6 am. ☃️ It could have been a pretty good snow storm but too warm.

It was a nice Pine Bush Hike with three present. ☁ Kind of a dreary day for the Pine Bush hike. Just not a lot of sun but at least the rain held off. 🚶 Lots of nice views especially down by Willow Street. Knee is bothering me a bit again though. Got home, did some reading and riding on the exercise bike 🚲. Almost done with that book I’m reading 📖 on Rupert Murdock. Watched a little bit of the YouTube I downloaded. Made a big pot of pasta with veggies and meatballs for lunch, pollished off the rest for dinner. 🍝Road the exercise bike for over an hour maybe closer to two this evening.

The funeral for Chet was nice with 75 people there according to one of the ushers. 👪 Ran the gammot of folks from rural Fulton County in the Adirondacks where he grew up to DOT workers and sportsman he knew to folks from Save the Pine Bush. Nice celebration of a man who did so much for the community from all the work he did at the Sacandaga Conservation Association to helping children in Ghana through the Westminster Presbyterian Church to Save the Pine Bush. 🌲So many stories will go on told but I learned a lot from him during the Pine Bush dinners and hikes over the years. He was quite healthy and lived a good life until his sudden death at age 73 due to puemonia probably he contracted after black powder hunting in the Adirondacks this past autumn. 🍳 He was still getting up most days at 4:30 to help feed the several hundred homeless persons at the churches breakfast program several days a week.

Tonight will rain likely, mainly before midnight. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 32 degrees at 5am. 18 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 1st. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2019, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 14 degrees. The record low of -17 occurred back in 1920.

Tonight will have a Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon with 1% illuminated. At dusk you’ll see the moon in the west-southwest (241°) at an altitude of 4° from the horizon, some 248,307 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. 🚀 The Snow ❄ Moon is on Sunday, February 9. The darkest hour is at 12:08 am, followed by dawn at 6:47 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:17 am in the east-southeast (116°) and last for 3 minutes and 13 seconds. Sunrise is 48 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 8:00 am with sun in the east-southeast (123°) at an altitude of 6°. Tonight will have 14 hours and 16 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 8 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a slight chance of rain and snow showers before 11am, then a slight chance of rain showers between 11am and 1pm. Becoming partly sunny 🌦, with a high of 40 degrees at 1pm. Nine degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 4th. Southwest wind 3 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. The high last year was 28 degrees. The record high of 59 was set in 1950. 8.5 inches of snow fell back in 1949.❄

I probably should run to the store and pick up a few more supplies 🏬 but I don’t need all that much this week for shopping. I might wash the remaining salt off my truck tomorrow as the salt is washed off the roads and I don’t expect any more to be applied tomorrow. Might be too muddy to hike anywhere but the rail trail tomorrow.

In four weeks on February 22 the sun will be setting in the west-southwest (257°) at 5:35 pm,🌄 which is 36 minutes and 28 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had mostly cloudy skues and temperatures between 39 and 28 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 36 and 19 degrees. The record high of 68 degrees was set back in 1997.

Looking ahead, February 🌧 is in 1 week, Average High is 50 🌸 is in 9 weeks, Average High is 60 🌼 is in 12 weeks, Average High is 70 🐮 is in 16 weeks, Memorial Day Weekend Starts 🏕️ is in 17 weeks, Memorial Day 🇺🇸 is in 4 months, Last Day of Session 🏛 is in 21 weeks and Summer ️⛱️ is in 21 weeks.

Grafton Hills

Political Hobbyists Are Ruining Politics – The Atlantic

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Political Hobbyists Are Ruining Politics – The Atlantic

In other words, college-educated people, especially college-educated white people, do politics as hobbyists because they can. On the political left, they may say they fear President Donald Trump. They may lament polarization. But they are pretty comfortable with the status quo. They don’t have the same concrete needs as Matias’s community in Haverhill. Nor do they feel a sense of obligation, of “linked fate,” to people who have concrete needs such that they are willing to be their allies. They might front as allies on social media, but very few white liberals are actively engaging in face-to-face political organizations, committing their time to fighting for racial equality or any other issue they say they care about.

Is there an economic case for a $20 minimum wage?

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Is there an economic case for a $20 minimum wage?

The problem is that federal law sets the minimum wage in nominal dollars; it doesn't automatically increase with inflation, productivity, or anything else. In more recent decades, Congress has badly slacked off about raising it, and today's minimum wage is actually lower than 1968's once you adjust for inflation. In fact, if Congress had kept step with productivity growth, the minimum wage would've been $18.42 in 2014. And that's according to a conservative measure of productivity growth. By other productivity measures, the minimum wage should be $22.49 by 2024.

Introducing the Meat Based Carrot — Lonesome Lands

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Introducing the Meat Based Carrot — Lonesome Lands

A while back Goldman Sachs called "Meatless Meats, one of the hottest emerging trends."  There's just one problem. As you might have guessed, "meatless meats" don't exist anymore than carless cars, dirtless dirt, or moneyless money. What they really meant was fake meat, but being clear about their recommendations isn't exactly Goldman's strong suit. Over the last year the animal rights activist investors seem to have taken over Wall Street and Silicon Valley convincing everybody that fake meat is a great idea.  They have also taken over the publications ofForbes, Fortune,CNBC, and anything else an investor might be looking at.

January 25, 2020 Morning

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Good morning! It’s the weekend and the Save the Pine Bush Hike I’m leading from the Madison Avenue Extension at 9:30 AM. 🚶 Also Happy 5 PM Sunset 🌆! Next Saturday is February 🌧. Mostly cloudy and 26 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind. There is a inch of snow on the ground. ☃ If you are joining us for the hike, you might want to bring the microspikes. ️Things will start to thaw out at around 9 am. 🌡️

Today will have a chance of rain, snow, and sleet before noon, then definitely going rain later on this last Saturday of the January. 🌧 High of 39 degrees at 4pm. Eight degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 1st. I’m old enough to remember when it wCalm wind becoming north around 6 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow and sleet accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. The high last year was 35 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1938. 9.5 inches of snow fell back in 2000.❄

After the Pine Bush Hike, I have Chet’s wake to go to. 😐 I found my black tie and I’ll get cleaned up and go there. A lot of the older generation 👴 is passing away, a lot of good people and some less so too. He was one of the good ones for sure.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:08 pm with sun having an altitude of 28.3° from the due south horizon (-42.5° vs. 6/21). The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:17 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (237°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (245°) starting at 4:57 pm and lasts for 3 minutes and 13 seconds with dusk around 5:29 pm, which is one minute and 17 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:04 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 39 degrees. Forget about watching the 5 pm sunset. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 42 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 5 seconds over yesterday.

Finally got that USB hub I ordered from China two months ago. 💻 I wanted a second one to use at work to plug my laptop into as I frequently swap cables between my laptop and the work computer. 🔌 Nice little hub with switches and LED lighting. Only two dollars. 💵 Will be perfect for work. One thing I like about ordering from China is it comes with so much less packaging than anything you would get directly from the store. Unfortunately Trump and Cuomo are levying new taxes and shipping fees on things imported from China.

Tonight will rain before 1am, then a slight chance of snow showers after 5am. Patchy fog after 1am. 🌧 Low of 30 degrees at 6am. 16 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 27th. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. In 2019, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 14 degrees. The record low of -17 occurred back in 1920.

🌹🌻🌼Only 54 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼

That said, with today’s rain ☔ it will feel a lot more like spring than winter especially once most of the remaining snow melts away. And then next Saturday is February. Looks like for Ground Hog Day in Punxsutawney the Ground Hog won’t see his shadow, with the current forecast but that’s subject to change. That said in recent years with the warming climate the Ground Hog rarely sees his shadow. 🐻

As previously noted, next Saturday is February 🌧 when the sun will be setting at 5:08 pm with dusk at 5:37 pm. On that day in 2019, we had cold, sunny and temperatures between 18 and -8 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 65 back in 1989.

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