Random Comment Thread

For those of us ready to say goodbye to 2020, there is at least one point in the US that's already saying "goodnight" to it today.

 
bjdeming said:
For those of us ready to say goodbye to 2020, there is at least one point in the US that's already saying "goodnight" to it today.

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This aspect of Alaska amazes and freaks me out for some reason!!
 



I could handle it if it was like this most of the time (and I had daily access to a light box). What's surprising is all the forests and other plants that grew up there before the cold came. They must have gone dormant in winter -- maybe people sort of do, too, now?
 
Hey Huntsville peeps... what happened to Charles Pitman... understand he has quit his law practice. Reason?
 
ghost said:
Hey Huntsville peeps... what happened to Charles Pitman... understand he has quit his law practice. Reason?
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I moved a year and half ago but didn't he take on a partner at his firm? I remember reading on AL.com that he was in a tough divorce at some point. Wondering if bringing on the parter was part of selling his practice to move somewhere else.

On a personal note, the company that I used to work for was located next to his office. On one occasion he walked over and joined our fundraising events and made a donation. He was always pleasant and I wish him luck in whatever he ends up doing.
 
For a short period, the practice was operating as Pitman and Petro. Now it's just Petro, Pitman is out of the picture. Google will lead you to various rumors regarding what happened.
 
My google skills are lacking, but I am very tired.
 
I thought this was the Moon.



No, it is "a" moon -- Jupiter's Ganymede. The Juno images apparently are coming in. Mind. Boggled.
 
I am curious as to what kind of illegal fireworks would have caused this type of explosion. That is intense.
 
Meanwhile, in Alaska, the salmon are running. The bears and gulls know this.



It's hard, being a salmon.
 
Well it is Alabama
Posted by meteorologist Brad Travis on FB....

May be an image of outdoors
From the City of Athens,AL…
Athens firefighters rescued a woman tonight who was swimming inside a 70-foot high water tank filled with 350,000 gallons of water.
The woman, who is not being identified, broke into a fence barrier and climbed the ladder to the top of the tank on Elm Street. A retired Athens Police Officer, Doug Duran, who lives nearby, saw her and contacted authorities.
Police, firefighters and Water Dept. personnel responded. Firefighters Hunter Campbell and Coty Collins climbed the tank and found her swimming inside and convinced her to come to them. They secured her with a harness, got her over the edge and walked down the ladder with her.
Police Chief Floyd Johnson said officers are carrying her for a mental evaluation.
Water/Wastewater Department Manager Jimmy Junkin said personnel will drain the tank tonight and remove any debris.
 
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ghost said:
Well it is Alabama
Posted by meteorologist Brad Travis on FB....

May be an image of outdoors
From the City of Athens,AL…
Athens firefighters rescued a woman tonight who was swimming inside a 70-foot high water tank filled with 350,000 gallons of water.
The woman, who is not being identified, broke into a fence barrier and climbed the ladder to the top of the tank on Elm Street. A retired Athens Police Officer, Doug Duran, who lives nearby, saw her and contacted authorities.
Police, firefighters and Water Dept. personnel responded. Firefighters Hunter Campbell and Coty Collins climbed the tank and found her swimming inside and convinced her to come to them. They secured her with a harness, got her over the edge and walked down the ladder with her.
Police Chief Floyd Johnson said officers are carrying her for a mental evaluation.
Water/Wastewater Department Manager Jimmy Junkin said personnel will drain the tank tonight and remove any debris.
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The line that go me the most…
“Personnel will drain the tank tonight and remove any debris”
Ewwwwww!!
 
Didn't know where else to put this; have been wondering about the insurance industry ever since the wildfires, and New Orleans -- and then it just got worse!

Based on provisional data, Munich Re found that storms, floods, wildfires, earthquakes, and other extreme weather events destroyed assets totalling US$280 billion in 2021, a dramatic increase from US$210 billion in 2020 and US$166 billion in 2019. According to the reinsurance giant, roughly US$120 billion of the US$280 billion total losses were insured, which is up from $82 billion in 2020 and $57 billion in 2019.

The USA accounted for a significant share of natural disaster losses in 2021, costing around US$145 billion, of which approximately US$85 billion was insured. Both figures (total and insured losses) were significantly higher than the prior two years, trumping $100 billion total losses with $67 billion insured in 2020, and $52 billion total losses with $26 billion insured in 2019.

-- Source
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Still, the catastrophe bond market reportedly is reaching record highs -- I wonder why. Those things should be plummeting; makes me wonder about their payouts.

Speaking of New Orleans, Mardi Gras will happen!
 
Apparently there are other things to worry about out here besides the Cascadia Big One:

Still, the launch corresponded with an order issued to ground some flights on the West Coast of the United States.

KCRA, a television station in Sacramento, California, quoted officials at both its local airport and San Francisco International Airport as saying flights stopped for around five minutes at 2:30 p.m. local time, which was just minutes after the launch. They attributed the stop to an order by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Air-traffic controllers in other areas of the West Coast similarly ordered aircraft down, according to recordings shared online.

-- Source (NPR, which has credibility on something like this; the UK tabloids are on it, too, which is why I didn't believe it first
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More details (from a car-enthusiast site, of all places!)

There's nothing on the FAA's front page at the moment, and I saw no mention of it in the usual online news sources I use (didn't do an in-depth search).

Scary, but it's good to know that someone is keeping an eye on business in these chaotic domestic times. They did an excellent job on 9/11, too.

It does make you wonder if there's more to this, though. The latest Homeland Security advisory is from November 10th and doesn't expire until Feb. 8th, and it hasn't changed. That's encouraging.

(Mods: Please move this if you think this requires its own thread.)

Update: The FAA responded.
 
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The FAA's response raised questions in the mind of the commenter I linked to. That commenter must be young, as they brought up Iran.

True, the FAA's response is steely, not apologetic. Until I read it, I figured somebody had goofed.

Now, after reading it, I remember all the mysterious signs of Cold War maneuvering that occasionally popped up in the media back in the 70s and 80s.

Nothing like that has been apparent since the late, unlamented Soviet Union went down. So maybe you had to be around back then to spot it.

This is just speculation, but I think that commenter would do better to look at Russia and China's actions lately. Looks to me like there's some mid-20th-century-style signalling going on here, and even though I and all I love are apparently on the front lines, I thoroughly approve. I actually feel relieved to know that there are responsible, intelligent people still in charge somewhere along the chain of command, despite the silly stuff the media covers lately (and not just with this administration).

Thankfully, the Internet is a thing now, and through it, both Russians and Communist Chinese have touched me (Yimou Zheng really filmed that scene in that location, by the way, hauling actors and equipment up to that remote park location to film early in the day, on multiple days, to work before the Sun heated up the air to get it moving).

If my speculation is correct, I really hope everyone calms down, respects one another, and gets back to the important things in life, like saving injured tiger cubs and making beautiful movies.

Update: Apparently they will, for now anyway, and are closing the episode by blaming the 90-pound-weakling on the block, North Korea; multiple sources for this in the online news but will use the one I linked to before for consistency. Whew. Sad to see this sort of thing coming back: must be shocking to younger people, but this tense background was the norm throughout my life until the early 1990s. Yes, I learned to duck and cover.

Guess with China's strength now, it has come back as a complex third-body problem, though it is still PI to discuss publicly.

I hope that changes when younger people,with their fresh approaches, get into power in this country. The "elephant in the room" affects everyone and should be publicly discussed again/still.

Even if it cuts into profit margins and/or political power bases.

 
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