Weather

Ohio had severe weather conditions at the moment. The A judge ordered 15 polling stations in County Coyahuga, the county for Cleaveland, to reopen until 9:00pm.

7:58 p.m.
The Obama campaign has gone before a judge to try and get an order to have the polls remain open in Cuyahoga County until 9 p.m. The campaign claims there was a shortage of Democratic ballots that may have left some voters without the chance to vote. A higher number than expected number of Republican voters showed up at the polls Tuesday asking to switch parties and receive a Democratic ballot. A judge in Sandusky County already approved a similar measure requested by Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner. Brunner says there was a lack of Democratic ballots in that county due to the number of voters switching parties.

Read more at WKYC.COM's site.

I am finding I get lots of good info to pass on by getting on the mailing lists of particularly competent politicians. Here is some info from Florda CFO Alex Sink regarding the recent storms in Florida. I hope this is helpful for anyone who has been affected or knows someone who has been affected.

CFO SINK, TOURING STORM-HIT AREA, PROVIDES UPDATE ON SEARCH EFFORTS, LOCATION OF CONSUMER ASSISTANCE SITES

Florida’s Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal Alex Sink, who Friday afternoon toured the storm-ravaged Central Florida area with Governor Charlie Crist and Attorney General Bill McCollum, said search and rescue crews are reporting they have completed a primary search of impacted areas and are now conducting secondary searches.

CFO Sink also said that the Department of Financial Services, Division of Consumer Services, is now traveling into the area to set up mobile consumer assistance units in The Villages, Lady Lake, DeLand and Port Orange and expects to have those operating by 8 a.m. Saturday, and will be open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday. The department’s storm hotline, 1-800-22-STORM (1-800-227-8676) will remain in operation on Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“The damage is widespread and significant,” CFO Sink reported as she toured the area. “But our department is geared up to respond to this kind of devastation and we will be there for as long as it takes to make sure these storm victims get the help they need.”

It finally snowed in New York City! This will certainly cheer up my hairless monkeys, especially Thing2.

Thing 2 has been having "nightmares" with global warming, especially after he saw the previews for "An Inconvenient Truth". He's scared about the prospect of the New York City 'drowning' if the polar icecaps melt.

He doesn't want to see the Al Gore documentary.

I asked him why. I wanted to know why he was scared by a documentary but when he watches movies like Lord of the Rings and plays games like Half Life or Halo3, he barely blinks.

His answer?

"Mommy, those are fantasy; but global warming is real".

Scientists say 2007 may be warmest yet - Yahoo! News:

"The short-term effects of global warming on crop production are very uneven," said Daniel Hillel, a researcher at Columbia University's Center for Climate Systems Research. "I warn against making definitive predictions regarding any one season's weather."

What is clear is that the cumulative effect of El Nino and global warming are taking the Earth's temperatures to record heights.

"El Niño is an independent variable," Jones said. "But the underlying trends in the warming of the Earth is almost certainly a result of the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere."

You know what pisses me off the most?

Some trivia from the history books:

From: “The American Remembrancer, and Universal Tablet of Memory: (containing) A List of The Most Eminent Men, Whether in Ancient or Modern Times, with …..: as also The Most Memorable Events in History,…. The Whole being intended to from a comprehensive abridgement of History and Chronology, particularly of that part which relates to America”. James Hardie A.M. 1795 Entered according to Act of Congress

Selected entries related to frosts and other weather from the section, “Earthquakes, Famines, Inundations, Storms, Tempests, Frosts, Accidental Fires, &c.”

pp 200:
Frosts, remarkable; a severe one in Scotland, which lasted 14 weeks, 359; the sea of Pontus, and that between Constantinople and Scutari, 401; so severe a frost all over Britain, that the rivers were frozen up for above two months, 508: one so great, that the Danube was quite frozen over, 558; carriages were used on the Adriatic sea, 859; the Mediterranean sea was frozen over and passable in carts in 860; most of the rivers in England frozen over for two months, 908; the Thames frozen for 13 weeks, 923; a frost in England on midsummer day so vehement, that the corn and fruits were destroyed, 1035; the Mediterranean sea was frozen over and the merchants past their merchandise in carts, 1234; the Cattegat sea, between Norway and Denmark was frozen 1294; the sea from Sweden to Gothland frozen 1296; the Baltic was passable for foot passengers and horsemen for six weeks, in 1323; again in 1402; the sea between Constantinople and Iskodar was passable on ice, in 1620; a great frost in England for three months, with heavy snows, from December to March 1709; again when a fair was held on the Thames in 1716; a very severe frost in Russia, 1747; in America so severe in the winter of 1780 and 1781, that in January the passage between New York and Staten Island was practicable for the heaviest cannon; in England January 1789, when the Thames was crossed on the ice opposite the customs house, the tower, etc. This frost was at the same time general in Europe, particularly in Holland; frost and snow, with hail, in different parts of England at midsummer 1791; and in Italy and Spain in December following; the most remarkable frost in Europe which has happened in this century, was in the present winter 1794 and 1795, when the Zuyder sea in Holland was frozen over, a circumstance which has not happened in the memory of man. This frost was also intensely severe in Britain, Ireland, etc.

The heatwave is putting some serious stress on the New York City grid.

All of the East Village, Union Square and Gramercy Park, including Peter-Cooper and Stuyvesant Town, have been browned out. We just had someone from the administration knock on our doors to alert us that there may indeed be a blackout in our area.

I live two blocks away from the 14th Street ConEdison plant. I just saw a note posted next to our elevators that MetLife is shutting down one elevator in all their buildings and are denying people access to the laundry rooms in order to limit energy consumption within their properties.

I would not mind if this meant that we'd need to go up and down the stairs. Unfortunately, we live on a 12th floor.

If brownouts and blackouts only meant disruptions in electricity, I would not have a problem. I mean, I have a gas stove. The fridge, as long as it's closed, can ride out a few days of no wattage.

The problem we have in New York City is that brownouts and blackouts also mean potential water supply disruption. I learned this in 2002 during the blackout. I was out at a playground relatively close to Avenue D and from there we heard the boom and saw the plume of steam that signaled when the turbines screeched to a halt during during the blackout. We ran home and found almost a dozen elderly neighbors waiting to be helped up to their apartments. Since ours is the last floor, we helped them all. Once up, one of my next door neighbors and a native New Yorker commanded me to immediately fill up every pot and pan available as well as the tub. "In two more ours, the water will be off too." And what do you know, she was right.

So here are Liza's to-do's during a brown/blackout :

I got it right here, baby!

Photo courtesey of the National Weather Service

NOAA PREDICTS VERY ACTIVE 2006 NORTH ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON Residents in Hurricane Prone Areas Urged to Make Preparations
"For the 2006 north Atlantic hurricane season, NOAA is predicting 13 to 16 named storms, with eight to 10 becoming hurricanes, of which four to six could become 'major' hurricanes of Category 3 strength or higher," added retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.

On average, the north Atlantic hurricane season produces 11 named storms, with six becoming hurricanes, including two major hurricanes. In 2005, the Atlantic hurricane season contained a record 28 storms, including 15 hurricanes. Seven of these hurricanes were considered "major," of which a record four hit the United States. "Although NOAA is not forecasting a repeat of last year's season, the potential for hurricanes striking the U.S. is high," added Lautenbacher.

This has been the trip from hell. Nothwest is the WORST airline EVER. And this thing they call an airport?

UGH!

Can you believe I am still NOT in San Jose?

First off, the flight was delayed yesterday 4 hours due to weather conditions. Ok. I can live with that. But the airline, instead of taking measures to ensure people got to where they were going or stayed in NYC until further notice, they took us hostage in the airplane FOR FOUR HOURS.

Yes people.

I was with hundreds of other passengers for fours hours on a Northwest Airlines airplane. Four hours which they refused to find a way to get us out of the airplane. Four hours they refused to get people to a non NWA gate so they could be at least out of an airplane and on the ground. Four hours which they decided were necessary so they would not have to go through the extra cost of customer service.

Not only that. The flight was supposed to leave at 5:30pm. It's 9:45pm and instead of getting to a gate as instructed, the pilot decides to depart to Minneapolis.

The asshole says something to the effect : "We could wait another hour and a half for one of hours gates to open up or we could fly. We're flying."

Hurrah, right? No.