-8°F below zero this morning.
- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill!
Sunday, December 7, 2008
A WINTER STORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY.
A MORE SIGNIFICANT WINTER STORM SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO MOVE FROM THE
SOUTHERN PLAINS TO NORTHERN INDIANA MONDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. A BAND
OF HEAVY SNOW IS LOOKING LIKELY NORTH OF THE TRACK OF THE LOW. BASED
ON THE CURRENT EXPECTED TRACK OF THE LOW...THE HEAVY SNOW WOULD FALL
ACROSS PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN IOWA INTO SOUTHERN WISCONSIN
MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY. THE THREAT OF 6 OR MORE INCHES OF SNOW IS
INCREASING ALONG AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM CHARLES CITY AND DECORAH
IOWA TO VIROQUA AND ADAMS-FRIENDSHIP WISCONSIN. WINDS WILL INCREASE AS WELL ON
TUESDAY...CREATING AREAS OF BLOWING AND DRIFTING OF THE NEW SNOW.
A MORE SIGNIFICANT WINTER STORM SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO MOVE FROM THE
SOUTHERN PLAINS TO NORTHERN INDIANA MONDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. A BAND
OF HEAVY SNOW IS LOOKING LIKELY NORTH OF THE TRACK OF THE LOW. BASED
ON THE CURRENT EXPECTED TRACK OF THE LOW...THE HEAVY SNOW WOULD FALL
ACROSS PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN IOWA INTO SOUTHERN WISCONSIN
MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY. THE THREAT OF 6 OR MORE INCHES OF SNOW IS
INCREASING ALONG AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM CHARLES CITY AND DECORAH
IOWA TO VIROQUA AND ADAMS-FRIENDSHIP WISCONSIN. WINDS WILL INCREASE AS WELL ON
TUESDAY...CREATING AREAS OF BLOWING AND DRIFTING OF THE NEW SNOW.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
The whole day ruined!
Mrs. Reverend and I had the day off today.
Our original plan: I would start washing clothes before sunrise this morning. Then plow the driveway in between loads. Then her and I would go to Necedah and do a little riding before the Castle Rock Family ATV Club meeting and Christmas party.
The way it really went: I started the first load of laundry. It was just beginning to get light out and I was thinking of heading out to plow the driveway. The washer filled with water for it's final rinse cycle, and then, nothing! It stopped, never to run again. Full of clothes and water. The washer was nearly 20 years old. We paid $500 for it way back then. It had acted funny a few times in the last several years, but it always seemed to right itself and started working again. Not this time.
Got on the Internet and began to research washing machines. Home Depot seemed like the logical place to start. Since we were getting a new one, might as well go for one of those cool-looking front loaders! Oops, not us I guess. Seems that we would have to be fairly wealthy to afford one of those. The cheapest ones are $600+! Not for us poor people.
Home Depot showed a top-loader on their website, like we had, for only $259. And it showed that the Lake Delton store stocks it. Excellent. But, with my luck I thought it best to call first. Just as I thought, they didn't have one. Even sold the display model, I was told. The next cheapest they had, $379. Yes, I figured as much. They could order the $259 model, but that would do nothing for my clothes currently floating in the old washer.
Make a call to Home Depot in Wisconsin Rapids. I didn't even know there was one in the Rapids. Anyway, the person in the appliance department tells me that the Home Depot in the Rapids doesn't stock washing machines. And, as a matter of fact, they only have a dryer. Yes, one dryer, not that I was interested in one of those. In the Summer we dry our clothes Mother Nature's way, and in the Winter we do it the woodstove way. Save the money we don't have anywhere we can!
Now what? If I have to put $379 on Visa, then I guess that's what I have to do. But first a call to Adams Columbia Electric in Friendship. After being told the salesman was handling an emergency, then calling back later to be told he was busy with another customer (the Adams County way), then finally I was told they had one for $339! I never saw that coming. Anyway, haul ass up there and put it on the old Visa. They couldn't give me a receipt or anything because nobody works on Saturday that is able to ring it up for you (the Adams County way). Someone would take care of the transaction on Monday, I guess, and I was on my way home with our new washer.
Yank the old one out and hide it under the brush pile (hey, they charge to take appliances at the landfill, besides I might need a piece of sheet metal or something), rebuild the floor where the old washer legs fell through it (goddamn trailer house, toilet did the same thing), put the new washer on the newly rebuilt floor, then wash clothes! Just got done and still haven't plowed the driveway. That will have to wait until at least tomorrow.
No riding and partying for us today. :(
- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill!
Mrs. Reverend and I had the day off today.
Our original plan: I would start washing clothes before sunrise this morning. Then plow the driveway in between loads. Then her and I would go to Necedah and do a little riding before the Castle Rock Family ATV Club meeting and Christmas party.
The way it really went: I started the first load of laundry. It was just beginning to get light out and I was thinking of heading out to plow the driveway. The washer filled with water for it's final rinse cycle, and then, nothing! It stopped, never to run again. Full of clothes and water. The washer was nearly 20 years old. We paid $500 for it way back then. It had acted funny a few times in the last several years, but it always seemed to right itself and started working again. Not this time.
Got on the Internet and began to research washing machines. Home Depot seemed like the logical place to start. Since we were getting a new one, might as well go for one of those cool-looking front loaders! Oops, not us I guess. Seems that we would have to be fairly wealthy to afford one of those. The cheapest ones are $600+! Not for us poor people.
Home Depot showed a top-loader on their website, like we had, for only $259. And it showed that the Lake Delton store stocks it. Excellent. But, with my luck I thought it best to call first. Just as I thought, they didn't have one. Even sold the display model, I was told. The next cheapest they had, $379. Yes, I figured as much. They could order the $259 model, but that would do nothing for my clothes currently floating in the old washer.
Make a call to Home Depot in Wisconsin Rapids. I didn't even know there was one in the Rapids. Anyway, the person in the appliance department tells me that the Home Depot in the Rapids doesn't stock washing machines. And, as a matter of fact, they only have a dryer. Yes, one dryer, not that I was interested in one of those. In the Summer we dry our clothes Mother Nature's way, and in the Winter we do it the woodstove way. Save the money we don't have anywhere we can!
Now what? If I have to put $379 on Visa, then I guess that's what I have to do. But first a call to Adams Columbia Electric in Friendship. After being told the salesman was handling an emergency, then calling back later to be told he was busy with another customer (the Adams County way), then finally I was told they had one for $339! I never saw that coming. Anyway, haul ass up there and put it on the old Visa. They couldn't give me a receipt or anything because nobody works on Saturday that is able to ring it up for you (the Adams County way). Someone would take care of the transaction on Monday, I guess, and I was on my way home with our new washer.
Yank the old one out and hide it under the brush pile (hey, they charge to take appliances at the landfill, besides I might need a piece of sheet metal or something), rebuild the floor where the old washer legs fell through it (goddamn trailer house, toilet did the same thing), put the new washer on the newly rebuilt floor, then wash clothes! Just got done and still haven't plowed the driveway. That will have to wait until at least tomorrow.
No riding and partying for us today. :(
- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill!
India celebrates planting its flag on moon
India rejoiced Saturday at joining an elite club by planting its flag on the moon as the country's space agency released the first pictures of the cratered surface taken by its maiden lunar mission.
A probe sent late Friday from the orbiting mother spacecraft took pictures and gathered other data India needs for a future moon landing as it plummeted to a crash-landing at the moon's south pole, said Indian Space Research Organization spokesman B.R. Guruprasad.
The box-shaped probe was painted with India's saffron, white and green flag, sparking celebrations in the country that is striving to become a world power.
"The tricolor has landed," the Hindustan Times said in a banner headline, while The Asian Age proclaimed "India is big cheese."
As India's economy has boomed in recent years, it has sought to convert its newfound wealth — built on the nation's high-tech sector — into political and military clout. The moon mission comes just months after it finalized a deal with the United States that recognizes India as a nuclear power, and leaders hope the mission will further enhance its prestige.
"This momentous achievement shall be etched in the history of India as a grateful tribute to our scientific community for their resolute efforts to take India to a global leadership position," said Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling Congress party.
To date only the U.S., Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China — and now India — have sent missions to the moon.
But while the celebrations conjured up images akin to that of the U.S. flag unfurled on the moon by Apollo astronauts, India's flag is most likely scattered over a wide swath of the moon's Shackleton crater after the probe slammed into the surface at more than 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) per hour.
The violent landing was planned and Indian scientists hope to study the images and data sent back by the probe during its 25-minute descent to prepare for a future "soft" landing, Guruprasad told The Associated Press. It carried a video imaging system, a radar altimeter and a mass spectrometer.
The video imaging system took pictures of the moon's surface, while the altimeter measured the rate of descent of the probe and the mass spectrometer studied the extremely thin lunar atmosphere.
Guruprasad said the pictures that were released were raw images and that scientists had not yet analyzed the information sent by the probe.
It was the first stage of a two-year mission aimed at measuring not only the surface of the moon, but what lies beneath. The probe was one of 11 payloads on the spacecraft Chandrayaan-1. Chandrayaan means "moon craft" in ancient Sanskrit.
India plans to follow the mission by landing a rover on the moon in 2011 and, eventually, with a manned space program, though this has not been authorized yet.
source....
India rejoiced Saturday at joining an elite club by planting its flag on the moon as the country's space agency released the first pictures of the cratered surface taken by its maiden lunar mission.
A probe sent late Friday from the orbiting mother spacecraft took pictures and gathered other data India needs for a future moon landing as it plummeted to a crash-landing at the moon's south pole, said Indian Space Research Organization spokesman B.R. Guruprasad.
The box-shaped probe was painted with India's saffron, white and green flag, sparking celebrations in the country that is striving to become a world power.
"The tricolor has landed," the Hindustan Times said in a banner headline, while The Asian Age proclaimed "India is big cheese."
As India's economy has boomed in recent years, it has sought to convert its newfound wealth — built on the nation's high-tech sector — into political and military clout. The moon mission comes just months after it finalized a deal with the United States that recognizes India as a nuclear power, and leaders hope the mission will further enhance its prestige.
"This momentous achievement shall be etched in the history of India as a grateful tribute to our scientific community for their resolute efforts to take India to a global leadership position," said Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling Congress party.
To date only the U.S., Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China — and now India — have sent missions to the moon.
But while the celebrations conjured up images akin to that of the U.S. flag unfurled on the moon by Apollo astronauts, India's flag is most likely scattered over a wide swath of the moon's Shackleton crater after the probe slammed into the surface at more than 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) per hour.
The violent landing was planned and Indian scientists hope to study the images and data sent back by the probe during its 25-minute descent to prepare for a future "soft" landing, Guruprasad told The Associated Press. It carried a video imaging system, a radar altimeter and a mass spectrometer.
The video imaging system took pictures of the moon's surface, while the altimeter measured the rate of descent of the probe and the mass spectrometer studied the extremely thin lunar atmosphere.
Guruprasad said the pictures that were released were raw images and that scientists had not yet analyzed the information sent by the probe.
It was the first stage of a two-year mission aimed at measuring not only the surface of the moon, but what lies beneath. The probe was one of 11 payloads on the spacecraft Chandrayaan-1. Chandrayaan means "moon craft" in ancient Sanskrit.
India plans to follow the mission by landing a rover on the moon in 2011 and, eventually, with a manned space program, though this has not been authorized yet.
source....
Friday, December 5, 2008
A little more snow on the way.
They say 1 to 3 inches of snow again tonight. I guess tomorrow I'll finally have to plow. I've been putting it off. The first three inches we got, the ground was still too soft. I didn't want to run the dirt and stones threw my blower if I didn't have to. If we had gotten more than that, I would have had no choice. The money to purchase the snowblower was too hard to come by to ruin it unnecessarily.
The last 1.5 inches we got was no big deal so I left that on the ground too. Now I'm sure the ground is frozen hard enough.
0°F this morning at 2:30am. Nice and warm in the house though. One thing about wood heat is that it's quiet too. No loud furnace blower roaring or vibrating during the night. I have a couple little fans I run on low when it's really cold to help circulate the heat, but they're quiet.
Having a little extra trouble with one of my stupid teeth the last few days. One side of my face is swollen. Nothing much out of the ordinary for me though. The consequence of not having insurance I guess.
Mrs. Reverend's grandma passed away on Monday. We'll be heading to Medford for the funeral. Now all she has left is her mother, then she'll be the "old" generation in her family, like I am in mine.
- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill!
They say 1 to 3 inches of snow again tonight. I guess tomorrow I'll finally have to plow. I've been putting it off. The first three inches we got, the ground was still too soft. I didn't want to run the dirt and stones threw my blower if I didn't have to. If we had gotten more than that, I would have had no choice. The money to purchase the snowblower was too hard to come by to ruin it unnecessarily.
The last 1.5 inches we got was no big deal so I left that on the ground too. Now I'm sure the ground is frozen hard enough.
0°F this morning at 2:30am. Nice and warm in the house though. One thing about wood heat is that it's quiet too. No loud furnace blower roaring or vibrating during the night. I have a couple little fans I run on low when it's really cold to help circulate the heat, but they're quiet.
Having a little extra trouble with one of my stupid teeth the last few days. One side of my face is swollen. Nothing much out of the ordinary for me though. The consequence of not having insurance I guess.
Mrs. Reverend's grandma passed away on Monday. We'll be heading to Medford for the funeral. Now all she has left is her mother, then she'll be the "old" generation in her family, like I am in mine.
- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill!
Paranoia on the rise, experts say
"We are now starting to discover that madness is human and that we need to look at normal people to understand it," said Dr. Jim van Os, a professor of psychiatry at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.
Paranoia is defined as the exaggerated or unfounded fear that others are trying to hurt you. That includes thoughts that other people are trying to upset or annoy you, for example, by staring, laughing, or making unfriendly gestures.
Surveys of several thousands of people in Britain, the United States and elsewhere have found that rates of paranoia are slowly rising, although researchers' estimates of how many of us have paranoid thoughts varies widely, from 5 percent to 50 percent.
The post-Sept. 11 atmosphere and the war on terror have also increased levels of paranoia in the West, some experts said.
"We are bombarded with information about our alert status and we're told to report suspicious-looking characters," Penn said. "That primes people to be more paranoid."
Traumatic events can make people more vulnerable to having paranoid thoughts. Since the attacks, Penn said Americans have been conditioned to be more vigilant of anything out of the ordinary.
While heightened awareness may be good thing, Penn said it can also lead to false accusations and an atmosphere where strangers are negatively viewed.
That can result in more social isolation, hostility, and possibly even crime. And it can take a toll on physical health. More paranoia means more stress, a known risk factor for heart disease and strokes.
Still, some experts said that a little bit of paranoia could be helpful.
"In a world full of threat, it may be kind of beneficial for people to be on guard. It's good to be looking around and see who's following you and what's happening," Combs said. "Not everybody is trying to get you, but some people may be."
source....
"We are now starting to discover that madness is human and that we need to look at normal people to understand it," said Dr. Jim van Os, a professor of psychiatry at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.
Paranoia is defined as the exaggerated or unfounded fear that others are trying to hurt you. That includes thoughts that other people are trying to upset or annoy you, for example, by staring, laughing, or making unfriendly gestures.
Surveys of several thousands of people in Britain, the United States and elsewhere have found that rates of paranoia are slowly rising, although researchers' estimates of how many of us have paranoid thoughts varies widely, from 5 percent to 50 percent.
The post-Sept. 11 atmosphere and the war on terror have also increased levels of paranoia in the West, some experts said.
"We are bombarded with information about our alert status and we're told to report suspicious-looking characters," Penn said. "That primes people to be more paranoid."
Traumatic events can make people more vulnerable to having paranoid thoughts. Since the attacks, Penn said Americans have been conditioned to be more vigilant of anything out of the ordinary.
While heightened awareness may be good thing, Penn said it can also lead to false accusations and an atmosphere where strangers are negatively viewed.
That can result in more social isolation, hostility, and possibly even crime. And it can take a toll on physical health. More paranoia means more stress, a known risk factor for heart disease and strokes.
Still, some experts said that a little bit of paranoia could be helpful.
"In a world full of threat, it may be kind of beneficial for people to be on guard. It's good to be looking around and see who's following you and what's happening," Combs said. "Not everybody is trying to get you, but some people may be."
source....
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