|
|
 |
Reply
| |
Finals are done, I'm working on consulting and writing projects now, and trying to gear up for a holiday. This one is going to be truly about family, for given the $ straits, it's going to be all we can do to gather ourselves from far and wide. Holidays, for the last few years, have been something to endure...get through with the least emotional trauma, and I'm wondering what it's going to be like this year. For the first time since Dad died, I'm home with mom for Christmas. It's an odd experience to feel like I'm walking on eggshells around myself. Life is nothing if not odd... |
|
Reply
| | From:  _Xer | Sent: 12/11/2008 9:09 PM |
| Anybody seen Pikes today? If he’s finished with school for the calendar year, he’s probably out climbing some mountain. Hope he stays safe. |
|
Reply
| |
I saw dregs of Pikes over at the Headlines. As for the guv...wow. Put the EE in EEjit!!! Not often do words fail me to describe stupidity...but this guy defies description. |
|
Reply
| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 12/11/2008 10:41 PM |
| Seems he not only defies description but rational; thought as well. Wadda maroon! |
|
Reply
| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 12/11/2008 10:43 PM |
| Sorry bout that semi-colon. Thlipt thulmb. |
|
Reply
| |
Xer, I did grow up in New Mexico. I'd just started first grade, at age 6, when Mom put me on an airplane in Houston, and my Grandparents met said airplane in El Paso, and took me home to live with them 90 miles north in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Apparently some man on that airplane helped me write my mom a postcard during that trip. Mom kept it, and I have it now in my "Baby Book." That man (who remains totally unknown) even circled a window on the picture of the airplane on the postcard to indicate where I was supposedly sitting....  I've been back to Houston a few times for very brief visits in the mid 70's and early 80's. Last time I was there, I swore I'd never go back. Of course, that was before my son decided to make Houston home.....  That Illinois governor (however you spell his name...,) makes me wonder who makes his wigs? FABULOUS job, but I'm convinced that's a wig.....  |
|
Reply
| |
Hey xer. In and out. Wacky schedule this time of year. Lots of rehearsal and concert stuff happening, and coming up. I catch a few minutes here, here and there, when I can. It's inconsistant, if anything. Jen, I take each day, one day, one step at a time. It's all I can do. Snow in the south is unusual, but it happens. Last year, the entire north coast of Africa got a significant snow, that left a dusting on the Pyramids for the first time in history. |
|
Reply
| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 12/12/2008 8:27 AM |
Gryphon: Positively loved the story of the mysterious stranger on the plane. Perhaps the world was not as safe back then as we believed, but it sure was safer than it is now. Or is it? Could it be that we are just more paranoid now, thanks in large part to TV, movies, and sensationalistic news reporting?
I once swore I would never return to Houston, but I did, to see my mom and dad again, to bury my dad, and to help my mom clean out her garage. Never say never.
Surely it's not a wig. Looks more like a helmet carved from cedar and spray-painted black. |
|
Reply
| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 12/12/2008 8:31 AM |
Snow in the south is unusual, but it happens. Last year, the entire north coast of Africa got a significant snow, that left a dusting on the Pyramids for the first time in history.
Pikes, think about that, "unusual, but it happens," and, "for the first time in history?" Begs the question. |
|
Reply
| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 12/12/2008 9:27 AM |
MSN has been messing with me today, so I've no excuse to have not copied the last post before pressing 'send.' <sigh>
Pikes: As I remember, but shorter and simpler, I love concerts and rehearsals and am a bit jealous of you. Hope you're having fun with it all. And, I wish I could see/hear some of it. Be well, be safe, be happy my friend.
PS: I've already tried to post this second post about half a dozen times. This is my last try for the night. Whether it goes through or not this time I'm going to bed. G'night. |
|
Reply
| |
Pikes my pal...no worries...I was just letting Xer know that I'd seen you around.  |
|
Reply
| |
Pikes, think about that, "unusual, but it happens," and, "for the first time in history?" Begs the question. Not entirely certain of your intent. If I put my foot in mouth, forgive me. Snow, while rare in the deep south, has occurred. Only the Fla peninsula is "snow-free," thought temperature has dropped in Miami to make snow possible under the right conditions. The beaches of San Diego and Padre Island have had snow. The Pyramids last year was a chain jerk. In Algeria, up to six inches of snow fell right down to the ocean waterfront, more inland. Because of the palm research I do, I study this, keep track of unusual events like snow and cold where palms can be affected. The deep south is important because of one native palm, which I have growing here in Colorado. (Rhapidophyllum hystrix- the Needle Palm). I tested Sabal minor but determined they need more GDD than our climate provides in summer. Trachycarpus fortunei is the most exciting palm for me, because although it won't survive the ultimate low temperature hystrix will survive, it's recovery from lethal freeze defoliation is much faster, and doesn't require as much GDD to achieve equilibrium. Equilibrium is a term to describe when a palm achieves growth stage for trunk formation. For every frond it grows, it sheds one, producing the characteristic mop of fronds atop a tall, single trunk. My research produced the understanding of Decline, which is when defoliation occurs from lethal freeze, and the apical meristem isn't killed, the palm can recover. However, it must regrow at least the equivalent in mass, within one growing season, to avoid decline. If it can't regrow that 100% requirement, the palm enters a stage where it simply replaces lost mass, can't actually grow and achieve equilibrium, and eventually in several seasons, or more, finally dies from exhaustion. We determined that R. hystrix can withstand low temperature to about -10F, before lethal freeze of fronds occurs. For T. fortunei, the temperature floor is a range between 0F and -6F. We discovered that those with a sideways growing initial stem and root system, a common root anchoring mechanism among alpine slope plants that grow in soil that freezes, are able to resist lethal freeze a few degrees below 0F. I believe the ultimate floor is around -6F, learned from an event last winter at -7F, where our unprotected Trachycarpus defoliated, but by end of this summer, just barely surpassed the 100% foliar mass replacement necessary to avoid decline. When the neocons rant about global warming and global climate change, they have no idea of my background and understanding of these mechanics, the network of other scientists I share and swap research data with, or how closely involved some of my work is with understanding global climate change. Here is one of our Trachycarpus palms as it looked last October |
|
Reply
| |
As I remember, but shorter and simpler, I love concerts and rehearsals and am a bit jealous of you. Hope you're having fun with it all. And, I wish I could see/hear some of it. Be well, be safe, be happy my friend.
There is no rest for the wicked, and musicians never rest. Gigs tomorrow, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Thank God I don't have to do Messiah or Nutcracker again. I love them dearly, but have simply done them too many times for one lifetime. |
|
Reply
| |
no worries...I was just letting Xer know that I'd seen you around. Was I coming or going? Or both? |
|
Reply
| |
hehehe weeeeeeeeeeeeeelllllll... |
|
Reply
| | | From: _Xer | Sent: 12/13/2008 10:58 PM |
Yes, I'm Nutcrackered out also. It's a shame when you get burnt out on something 'cause the burnout lasts for a long time.
The Pyramids last year was a chain jerk. In Algeria, up to six inches of snow fell right down to the ocean waterfront, more inland.
Aha, I see. Never having had my chain jerked before this comes as quite a surprise to me. I thought I recalled neither you nor Cooter wanting to believe Global Warming is occurring or that is is caused, in large part this time, by mankind.
It doesn't bother me what others want to believe: The vast majority now of scientists in the world, except for a very few who get their funding from the oil companies, are in consensus, we are largely responsible for a phenomenon of warming of all the oceans occurring inexorably. The North Pole, where men used to die trying to reach the never before attained, has melted completely during some summers and Russia is trying to claim all drilling rights for oil in that region.
That, friends is reality. Large glaciers have been breaking off and melting from Antarctica for decades now. Glaciers are melting in Greenland that haven't melted in several ice ages, even I believe, some that haven't melted in over 100,000 years. Reality can have an ugly face, but that doesn't make it fantasy.
So, I don't mind if some of my friends would rather not accept harsh facts. It is up to each of us to find truth for ourselves, and I have long since stopped trying to convince people online anything. What is posted above is not to convince anyone, it is only a statement of facts as I have learned them.
If I have confused your beliefs with someone else's, please pardon my error. It still felt good to put my thoughts down were I could read them myself. It 's interesting sometimes to read things I have actually managed to continue learning with this used and abused old brain (during the 60's and 70's).
PS: I thought this was interesting:
The ice retreated to a record level in September when the Northwest Passage, the sea route through the Arctic Ocean, opened briefly for the first time in recorded history.
"What we've seen through the past few decades is the Arctic sea ice cover is becoming thinner and thinner as the system warms up," Serreze said.
Specific weather patterns will determine whether the North Pole's ice cover melts completely this summer, he said.
"Last year, we had sort of a perfect weather pattern to get rid of ice to open up that Northwest Passage," Serreze said. "This year, a different pattern can set up. so maybe we'll preserve some ice there. We're in a wait-and-see mode right now. We'll see what happens."
The brief lack of ice at the top of the globe will not bring any immediate consequences, he said.
"From the viewpoint of the science, the North Pole is just another point in the globe, but it does have this symbolic meaning," Serreze said. "There's supposed to be ice at the North Pole. The fact that we may not have any by the end of this summer could be quite a symbolic change."
Serreze said it's "just another indicator of the disappearing Arctic sea ice cover" but that it is happening so soon is "just astounding to me."
"Five years ago, to think that we'd even be talking about the possibility of the North Pole melting out in the summer, I would have never thought it," he said.
The melting, however, has been long seen as inevitable, he said.
"If you talked to me or other scientists just a few years ago, we were saying that we might lose all or most of the summer sea ice cover by anywhere from 2050 to 2100," Serreze said. "Then, recently, we kind of revised those estimates, maybe as early as 2030. Now, there's people out there saying it might be even before that. So, things are happening pretty quick up there."
Serreze said those who suggest that the Arctic meltdown is just part of a historic cycle are wrong.
"It's not cyclical at this point. I think we understand the physics behind this pretty well," he said. "We've known for at least 30 years, from our earliest climate models, that it's the Arctic where we'd see the first signs of global warming.
"It's a situation where we hate to say we told you so, but we told you so," he said.
Serreze said the Arctic sea ice will not be the same for decades.
"If we had a few cold years in a row, we could put sort of a temporary damper on it, but I think at this point going to an ice-free Arctic Ocean is inevitable," he said. "I don't think we can stop that now."
Reduced greenhouse gas emissions could "cool things down a bit," he said.
"It would recover fairly quickly, but it's just not going to happen for a while," he said. "I think we're committed at this point."
There are some positive aspects to the ice melting, he said. Ships could use the Northwest Passage to save time and energy by no longer having to travel through the Panama Canal or around Cape Horn.
"There's also, or course, oil at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean," he said. "Now, the irony of that is kind of clear, but the fact that we are opening up the Arctic Ocean does make it more accessible."
Mark Serreze, senior research scientist, the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/weather/06/27/north.pole.melting/
Scientifis American has another interesting read if anyone's interested.
Even though reported as a semi-joke, even FOX News and the Wall Street Journal have begun admitting the truth; Rubber Duckies to Help Track Speed of Melting Glaciers |
|
|
|
Free Forum Hosting
Important Announcement
First
Return to General