Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Environment

Winter Solstice

winter-solstice.jpg

ephemeris.jpgHappy First Day of Winter! Although the seasonal temperatures are going to continue to be cool or cold, the good news is that the days from this point forward (in the northern hemisphere) will be getting longer until the June Summer Solstice.

I got a screenshot from Archaeoastronomy dot com showing the position of the Earth in our orbit today. In ninety days when we arrive at the vernal equinox, the weather should be warm and the flowers on the cacti will be opening.

I also put a screenshot from the ephemeris on our family blog to the right, showing the less than ten hours of daylight that we get here on this day. As I mentioned above, the days will now be getting longer. The times shown in the graphic are Arizona local.

21 Dec 2014 by Astronomy Environment

Gentle Desert Rain

Droplets on Palo Verde

We have been getting delightful rain showers for the last two days. The forecast says it is just about over, though. We welcome the rain anytime in the desert as long as it isn’t one of those destructive microbursts like we had last summer.

This picture was taken during a lull in the shower activity. I noticed the water droplets clinging to the Palo Verde out front and thought they looked very pretty. Click on the image to enlarge.

04 Dec 2014 by Arizona Environment Photography

Tesla Fail

Tesla Fail

Early this year, the Town of Wickenburg authorized a lease of several parking spots at the Downtown Courthouse to Tesla Motors for the purpose of installing several Supercharger Stations for the Tesla electric cart (not an actual automobile IMHO). Tesla did install six of the stations within walking distance to all of the downtown attractions and businesses, but the chargers seem to seldom be in use.

I think Tesla sold the Town on the “Field of Dreams” concept that if they built it, Greenbat Tesla owners would flock to Wickenburg to spend money while charging their glorified golf carts for free. It isn’t happening. Six stalls? Really?

I asked one of the town public works people who pays for the electricity. Tesla pays, was the answer and not the town. Now, I’m a bit skeptical that Tesla foots the cost of the stations and bills associated with them. I’m sure that the US Government (read TAXPAYERS) heavily subsidize Tesla and the other hydraulic hallucination* electric car companies such that there is the usual waste of revenue going toward these projects and thus down the economic drain hole.

* a paraphrase for “Wet Dream.”

03 Dec 2014 by Environment Global Warming Greenbats Whacko Politics

Real Time Lightning Monitor

Lightning Monitor

I ran across this interesting site last week while surfing. Blitzortung is a near real-time display of recent lightning strikes worldwide. The image above was from yesterday, but I just checked the site a few minutes ago and there is a line of strikes across the southeast US as I write this.

The color of the individual strike pixels is time-dependent; white indicates very recent strikes (less than 20 minutes), while dark red indicates oldest (up to two hours old). As you watch the display, each strike is surrounded by an expanding circle for a second or two. The green radial lines each extend to the location of a detector in the network reporting the recent strike and are also only displayed a short time.

I recall from my piloting days a device called a “storm scope” which also reported azimuth and distance information for lightning strikes. It was much less expensive than airborne radar and was effective for guiding aircraft around the more intense storms. Blitzortung is the first on-line display of this nature that I have found.

24 Nov 2014 by Environment Technobabble

Sunset Colors

Sunset Colors

This sunset image was in the file from a week ago. We get a lot of nice, colorful sunsets like this year around. Luckily, we didn’t have a dense cloud cover for yesterday’s eclipse.

The weekend forecast is for more clear skies and we will be looking the International Space Station tomorrow evening. At our location, the ISS will pass over just before seven PM AZ time. I might try and photograph the passing, but no guarantees. 😉

Click on the image to enlarge.

24 Oct 2014 by Arizona Environment Photography

Gas Guzzler vs. Economy Car?

Big and Little Gas

On our way into Southern Cal today, we passed this RV that was towing one of those funny (and ugly) little economy cars. I guess the mindset being that if we burn x gallons per mile getting where we go, we can make up for it by cramming ourselves into our towed ride which gets beaucoup miles per gallon and tour the local area after parking the big dude in the RV park. I think that unless they drive hundreds and hundreds of miles locally, they may not completely offset each other’s gas consumption.

Now, don’t get me wrong – we all know the energy “crisis” is a complete fraud and I have no problem with consumers consuming whatever resources thy can afford. We do the same when we travel. It just seems to me that if you’re going to consume “precious” resources, that you should be towing a Hummer and not that pathetic little Nissan POS. Just sayin’.

29 Sep 2014 by Environment Travel Wanderlust

The New Red

green.pngI forget where I found this graphic. Maybe at The Patriot Post. At any rate, I like the not-so-subtle comparison of the current administration to the Communist Party.

The EPA and other .gov agencies, the media and the hard left (but I repeat myself) continually foist the Global Warming Climate Change Climate Disruption nonsense on the public knowing full well that it is all unmitigated bovine feces. The whole charade is merely a method to allow government to gain control over energy resources because, obviously, it is ALL about government gaining control with progressives.

I found the following snark in the Patriot Post Daily Digest for Friday:

Comedian Jimmy Fallon:

“The federal government is starting to plan for climate change by making extended forecasts that can help people plan for extreme weather — because what can go wrong when you combine the efficiency of government with the accuracy of weathermen?”

26 Sep 2014 by Environment Global Warming Greenbats Whacko Politics

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