Monday, January 6, 2020

High pressure and windemeanors





As is typical for this part of the world in January, atmospheric pressure as measured by the trusty old barometer has been fluctuating considerably. Yesterday it hovered in the 29.50 inches of mercury range until evening, when it began to creep up. By sunset it was 30.12. That doesn't seem a large difference, but it is.


Not long after sunset the winds arrived. Now winds are a very complex phenomenon. Our atmosphere has a hell of a lot of individual gas molecules, and they behave according to physical gas law. Lots and lots of things add and subtract energy from the air mass in lots and lots of places. Air molecules with more energy move faster and are therefore warmer, with temperature being an indirect indicator of molecular energy state. A more direct indicator is atmospheric pressure, as more energetic molecules move faster and therefore impart higher pressures to the air mass. In obeying gas law, molecules of air move from areas of higher pressure to areas of lower pressure. One way to think of it is air mass flowing down the energy/pressure gradient. When large air masses with relatively high energy/pressure states "line up" and begin to flow "downhill," we feel the movement as wind. As always, it's not that simple, but pressure gradients play a big role in the winds we experience. So yeah, it's windy today.


We're directed by the nws, whose mission has shifted from reporting and forecasting weather to "saving lives," to stay out of the enchanted forest while the wind blows. And we're also supposed to be terrified and therefore not venture outside. Which will save our lives. Mission accomplished, nws!


As you might expect after reading the previous paragraph, it is my belief that the nws is one of those unelected alphabet agencies which has decided to "do what's right" regardless of any other consideration, and oh by the way, to pay themselves as lifesavers rather than weathermen. They really should be slapped down and allowed to join the ranks of fellow former government employees. I believe this is one of many things that all of us sovereign American citizens should consider as we run our country. But that's of course a decision for each sovereign citizen to make for themselves.

And none of this is about that!

Nona doesn't mind the wind. She had an exciting morning, getting a treat before we got stuck properly into the day!



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One of the reasons I heard the wind come up last night is that I was up puking on and off all night. I think I got into some bagged salad which had a bit of E. coli, or Salmonella dressing. Not a pleasant experience, but if you're gonna be lazy and let unknown and potentially unwashed people prepare your salad, there's a chance you'll get sick. As with everything else we do, consuming foodstuffs carries a certain amount of risk. We can bitch and moan and shout from the mountain tops that the world should be a perfect place, but the world cannot be a perfect place. It's just too busy being the world. Managing all those air molecules leaves precious little room for managing perfection.

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Perimeter fencing. It's all very confusing. Who owns the county road? Who pays property taxes on the land where the county road exists? Who has control of the county road? Who decides where a fence may be placed alongside the county road? Or where crops may be planted? There's statute, and then there's reality.



Here's where I took some video of dirt blowing and tried to 'splain who's in charge of dirt blowing, who's in charge of mitigating blowing dirt, and how much of an emergency blowing dirt is. As with the county roads, it's complicated. There's statute, and then there's reality. The video really sucks.



And that's gonna have to be more than enough for the day. I'm preparing a delightful super bowl supper dish called baked chicken parm dip. This is a practice run to see whether it's edible or not and perhaps help decide if I want to have or participate in a super bowl party. I'll report on the failure of the dip tomorrow.

Also Snow Girl is going to join Mom and I for the dip experiment this evening. Girl's got a lot of moxie! Hopefully a solid digestive system as well. Her faith in my infallibility may be shaken severely, which is as it should be.

Be well and enjoy the blessings of liberty.




10 comments:

  1. Ouch on the throwing up. That sucks and THAT weight loss program is NOT recommended... Just sayin.

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    1. No fun but it passes and then you feel better, which is kinda nice. As for weight loss, I think the approved model is not to eat that second and third cheeseburger in the first place. Which is kinda why I was eating salad. The Big Aircrew Chief, he got a sense of humor!

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting!

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  2. Man, the next you know the NWS will hire Jim Cantori to go around frightening the peasants.

    Everything gets sensationalized, next thing you know folks won't even go outside to check the mail!

    Geez.

    (Argh, food poisoning, no fun at all!)

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    Replies
    1. You should see my Mom making the .4 mile round trip to the mailbox in this wind. She is NOT going to let a little thing like miserable 60 mph winds kep her from getting the mail. And no, she is NOT going to drive. And people wonder where I get my "bring it on" attitude...

      Yeah, no fun, but it passes. Did feel a little like an ASCROC had gone off in my abdomen about midnight...

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting Sarge!

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    2. "a little like an ASCROC had gone off in my abdomen"

      Heh.

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    3. Somehow ASCROC has become part of my life. It's a good thing. ;-)

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  3. Just when you got me trained to look for your posts in the evening, up comes this one early in the day.
    Always interesting.
    Except the food poisoning, BTDT and no fun at all!
    JB

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    1. If I was doing this right I'd have the posts done up ahead of time and post them on a schedule. But I am not doing this anything close to right.

      Miserable to have the food poisoning, but it really does feel good when the feeling better starts.

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting John!

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  4. "...but it really does feel good when the feeling better starts." Kinda like when they asked the guy why he was beating his head against a wall and he answered ' because it feels so good when I stop '. In any case, I'm happy that you are now feeling better. People who have 9 to 5 jobs can post blogs at set times. Those whos job goes from get up to go to bed need to post in the odd bits of time that events of the day allow. I think it makes your blog more fun, coming by to see if you've posted something new.

    Thanks for the post.
    Paul L. Quandt

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    1. That right there raises an interesting philosophical trail to explore. I believe based on my experience that I can't fully enjoy good stuff without having experienced bad stuff. The contrast seems to be important. In my life I've developed a method of living wherein I do my very best to embrace the bad stuff in all its misery when it is present. In one sense it's the difference between being an "into pressure" entity rather than an "away from pressure" entity, which are two approaches to predation demonstrated by herding prey animals, which doesn't matter at all within the framework of this comment. The point i'm not making very well is that for me, I only have the one life to live on this planet (unless one of them Indian gods reincarnates me as a fruit fly or something) so I'm best served by experiencing the entire ride and not running away from yuck or sticking my head in the sand, which usually has cat shit in it anyway. Having established a willingness to embrace the suck, the question is whether I should seek self-induced suck or not. The answer is yes and no and it's complicated. There! I've fully and completely solved that problem!

      I'll try to keep on blogging as best I can. I'm pleased and happy that people enjoy at least some of it. We've all got unique lives and it's fun to share and to peek into other lives. In this sense the interwebz rocks.

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting Paul!

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