A Brothers Reply 2

More whining...

One of the latest global warming claims is that the weather will just be more unpredictable. Sometimes it will be hot, and sometimes it will be cold, and sometimes it will be just right. Since that pretty much sounds like any other description of the weather for the last 10,000 years, it makes global warming pretty hard to prove or disprove. There is another theory that says global warming will cause the next ice-age (or a mini-ice-age). Supposedly, we had one of those in the early-mid 1800's. I'm not sure what was supposed to have caused that one, though, since they can't say it was increased carbon-monoxide in the atmosphere. Another theory blames excess methane (bad cow!). Actually, methane can be released from swamps, deep-sea deposits, and from thawed permafrost (northern tundra that gets too warm). It could come from anything, in other words, and nobody seems to know how to tell what will happen, when it will happen, or even if it will happen. Some people think the oceans will just absorb the extra gases; some people believe the oceans will release extra gases. Anyway, the bad news is that the last mini-ice-age seems to have come on kind of sudden-like. They went from the warmest summers on record in Europe, to the coldest in less than 10 years. They think it had something to do with the "deep-sea ocean conveyor" that distributes salty, less-dense, warm water from the equator to the less-salty, dense, cold arctic water. Anyway, at some point, the temperature difference between the equator and the northern seas becomes small enough (warming of the polar ice-caps) that the "conveyor" shuts down. Once the conveyor shuts down, Europe freezes over in a relatively short period of time because the warm water that normally flows along the coast is cut off. The wind that was formerly warmed by the warm water in the ocean is now cooled by the cold water in the ocean. Then the Thames river freezes over (like it did in about 1830). Viola, mini-ice-age.
Have you thought about getting a wood stove? I know they are messy, and chopping wood is a serious pain in the ass, but it would beat freezing to death if it did turn off really cold for a while. I am pretty sure you remember getting snowed in when we lived in that house west of Kingfisher back in 1981-82. The snow wasn't even that deep, it was just that it drifted over the driveway so bad we couldn't get out. It would be pretty easy for that to happen to all the roads in your part of the state.

A Brothers Reply 1

Reply to my sister whining about the weather...

Well, the bad news is that the amount of sleet you get versus the amount of freezing rain is dependant on how much dust is in the air. Dust acts as a "condensation particle", because sleet/hail must have some little bit of impurity at the center of it. The tiny little particle collects tiny little moisture droplets, and the moisture freezes around the particle, and as it gets wafted around in the upper atmosphere, it collects more and more moisture (and thus more and more ice) until it is too heavy to be buoyed up by the rising air currents. Then it falls (collecting more ice as it falls) until it comes crashing through your windshield (or pelting your roof, in the case of mere sleet)(hail is usually a summer occurrence, because you get much stronger updrafts with summer's much hotter air, which allows the ice lumps to grow much larger). Freezing rain does the exact same thing, but it lacks that one critical condensation particle to get the freezing lump of ice started. Freezing rain is much colder than 32 degrees, but because it is very pure water (no contaminants), then it won't freeze until it hits something (like your windshield)(or the road, or power lines). This is why sleet usually comes before freezing rain. All the dust/contaminants in the air are used up in the formation of sleet/hail (which is actually the same thing, except that someone decided to call large sleet hail), and when there are no more condensation particles to adhere to, the rest of the moisture falls as freezing rain. That's why those big fat raindrops in spring are so damned cold on your back.
Thunder and lightning aren't all that uncommon in winter. Its because there is a layer of cold air and a layer of warm(er) air, and the two are moving in different directions. The friction between the two layers strips some electrons off of some atoms, and the lightning is just the mechanism that redistributes those electrons to balance the resultant charge-state (sort of like the plastic comb/rubber balloon trick)(or you could use a cat). It has nothing to do with summer or winter, as long as there is enough of a temperature/pressure difference to cause the layers to be stratified.
OK, have you had enough meteorology for one day? I hope your electricity stays on. Do you have a way to heat the house if you lose power?

Replies and Musings and Stuff (Read from bottom up)

Eat fruits, vegetables, berries, grains, and nuts. Avoid meat and dairy products. Some deep-ocean fish are OK if you must kill something. As for protein, your body must break down all proteins into amino acids during digestion, so you are doing double the work to rebuild those same proteins. No, your body can't cheat. It rebuilds each one every time. Don't worry, elephants grow rather large and muscular without any animal protein in their diets at all. As long as you get the proper amino acids, your body will make its own proteins and vitamins. You also need at least an hour of sunlight every day so that your body can produce the minimum amount of vitamin C and D. I am not sure about vitamin E. You can get all the minerals you need from plants, too. I hear that broccoli and asparagus are both high in fiber, iron, and calcium. Or you could just throw the eggs out at breakfast and eat the eggshells. They stay crunchy in milk. Wait, no milk, right. Damn.
In case you are wondering, I eat meat. You eat all the vegetables you want. I am going to wallow in the fat, blood, and gristle of any animal that is slow enough/stupid enough for me to catch and eat. I bet people eat real healthy in Heaven. Here, I want streak. Medium-rare. If I end up in hell, then MAYBE I will accept it medium-well. Don't burn my steak!

-----k_kelly_brashier-at-yahoo.com on 01/03/2007 07:03 PM wrote:

Well, I want to get out of debt, and be a better role model for my girls by starting and sticking to some kind of Health/Workout program. I know that is pretty normal but the trick to it is Sticking TO IT!

Power Ranger??

-----WYRICK, RICHARD on 01/03/2007 11:00 PM wrote:

I guess blue is my color. It was always my favorite color, if that counts for anything. I have known exactly one person who thought I looked good in a red shirt. She was a freak. No, really. She was (*sigh). Actually, I wonder if I might be the white power ranger. I would be, but its a bitch trying to keep the suit clean.

Unless you are trying to teach your horses to type, there isn't much to it. Its a matter of trust. Horses are herd animals, and the whole "AAAAGHGHAGH... its on my back!!!!!!" reaction is what you are trying to overcome. Once you are past that, you never ask the horse to do anything that is contrary to its sense of self preservation. Trust will come eventually, but it needs to be mutual (there is a hint in there somewhere). There is nothing that you will ever ask your horse to do that it doesn't already know how to do (start, stop, turn, run, trot, gallop, sidestep, back up). All you need to do is figure out how to make the horse understand what you want. You need to be very consistent with your control inputs. Be aware of what you are doing with your feet and knees. A lot of people give unintentional commands through their legs/feet/knees when they get nervous. You will be confused when your horse starts backing up when you were thinking about a left turn. The horse will be confused when you react negatively to landing on your ass when he did exactly what he thinks you told him to do. "What, already? You said back up, so I backed up. What's your problem? Stupid humans. You try running around all day with me, a set of spurs, and half a dead cow on your back and see how YOU like it!"

So what are you trying to do to your 'stang? And why a '69 (other than the fact that it happens to be the one you have right now). What motor do you have in it?

Oops, almost out of time. More later.

-----xtalosx-at-yahoo.com on 01/03/2007 09:03 PM wrote:

hello my blue power ranger friend. ( blue is your color yes?) well hello to you anyway which ever power ranger you are. ( god i hope you are not the pink one) *~*~*~*~* fantasies about you with boobs*~*~*~*~*~ ewwww ( hack cough hack hack cough ) damn Don't do that again! my resolutions for said year is to not procrastinate more than a day with doing things. Much stuff to do much stuff. Do you realize i have two count them one two horses to train.. I don't know if you know or not but i don't know how to do that. hmmm holy shit.. AND !!! i have an old car to restore !! one wondrous 69 fastback mustang!! wooohooo does the ever loving dance of blissful joy but alas i do not know how to do that either. Oh the agony of it all. (dramatic pause) . . . so much to do *looks to the west ( imagine luke skywalker in stars wars a new hope on tattooween) *sp* anyway procrastination is the biggest killer of my life and like i said i have a couple of small projects to do.
hope things are well with you ... slim pickens around here for those books .. I can buy them new all day but no second hand.. hell even hastings * book store* (didn't know if you knew that) has them in box sets. anyway i will keep looking. Hope that helps you out talk to you soon.


FF Kelly

Polka?

-----MANGRUMOK-at-aol.com on 01/02/2007 11:03 PM wrote:

Well, for a new years resolution how about this:

To get out of the poor house, find a new hobby , eat more greens, raise fewer kids, comb my hair more than two times a year, try yogurt, and learn to polka dance.

My sister has always been so predictable.

-----StarPx69-at-aol.com on 01/02/2007 02:03 PM wrote:

I have never made a resolution before, so why break tradition?

-----cwyrick100-at-hotmail.com on 01/02/2007 01:03 AM wrote:

my resolution is to somehow get u outta there by next year

Happy New Year

Happy New Year.
I want to hear a New Year's resolution from each of you, and I don't want one of those "lose weight", "world peace", or "a Coke and a smile" kind of resolutions. I was thinking of asking Chris to post them to the blog (since some of you have asked what happened to that lately)(there were,... complications, to put it lightly).
Since the world spins at more than 1,000 MPH at the equator (25,000 mile radius divided by 24 hours in a complete rotation), sometimes you have to have something to hold onto to stay on your feet. Its strange to think that while you are sitting there reading this, you are breaking the sound barrier.