Rest in Peace

It was a somber afternoon at the First Methodist Church in Springfield, VA when over 100 people paid tribute to a special friend and colleague of mine, Buddy Belote.

 Had he not lived to the ripe old age of 93, having attended the funerals of most of his friends and co workers, the church would not have been able to accommodate the hoard of mourners. Buddy was that respected...yes, but that's not the word I'm looking for....admired....yes, but....LOVED!  That's the word !

 He was an engineer at my old station, WTOP for 41 years, where he had the unofficial title of “Mother.” I think he would have been embarrassed if he had known that was his nickname, but all 100 plus of us who worked at the station knew who to go to for advice (work related or personal), or, who just needed a sympathetic ear. He didn't have a sign on his office saying anything like, “Got a problem, need advice? Knock here.” He didn't need it. Maybe psychologists have a name for it...like charisma....or something, I don't know. But whatever it was, he had it.
 People with “issues” big and small were simply attracted to him like iron filings to a magnet.

 I'm sure his reputation for doing the “right thing” no matter the consequences, was a big part of it.

His youngest daughter, Jenny Yates, told a story about Buddy's young years in the early 1940's
when he worked for the Post Office as a letter carrier.. (He was turned down for the military because of partial blindness in one eye. His kid brother, Dinky, volunteered for the Army and was killed in action in 1944.)   Whenever Buddy learned of a family on his mail route, whose son or daughter had been killed overseas, he would, on his own, not deliver any future letters from the deceased, but put them aside and give them to the family much later. (Last letters from overseas often arrived a week or so after being written.) When his boss at the Post Office found out what Buddy was doing, he demanded that he stop.

Buddy refused.

 And once, when he saw a newly written letter that a soldier had written long after his family thought had been killed, Buddy delayed his other deliveries and immediately ran to the address of the lucky parents to hand them the good news.

It made me think of my cousin, Charles Mateer whose Mom and Dad received a letter from him the day after being informed of his death. He died in Laos when his helicopter was shot down.

He was killed on this very day,  May 30, 1961; Memorial Day.

 -Ed

Global Warming

Perhaps we'll have to re-think GLOBAL WARMING, or Climate Change, or whatever they're calling it now.

Certainly, we'll have to admit that maybe there really IS something to it....if this "predicted forecast for the upcoming summer " proves to be correct.


Here it is:

"Severe drought for most of the nation for the rest of this summer."

But that's just the beginning. The experts are predicting two major hurricanes to hit New England within ten days of each other before the season ends...PLUS a THIRD one to follow, which is predicted to be one of the most destructive in US history!

"Gol...eee!" as Gomer would say.

If that turns out to be true, the global warmests are the only people on earth who will be happy about it.  Finally, they will claim to have "evidence" of their cock-a-mainy theories about too much "man made CO2" being emited etc., and etc.....

But if the forecast is wrong...and nothing like its dire prediction comes true....well, don't expect them to admit they were wrong. Dr. Richard Lindzen, a professor of meterology at MIT says, "Climate change alarmists are a fanatical "cult."  As with any cult, once the mythology of the cult begins falling apart, instead of saying, oh, we were wrong, they get more and more fanatical. You've led an unpleasant life, you haven't led a very virtuous life, but now you're told, you get absolution if you watch your carbon footprint.  It's salvation,"  he said.

However, that dire forecast isn't going to be wrong.  In fact, it's not a forecast.  I just made that part up.

It's history. It actually happened.

In the summer of 1954.

That was a good 20 years before the cult of "The New Ice Age" got started, and about 40 years before anyone ever heard of so called "Global Warming."

From the internet:

Hurricane Carol was among the worst tropical cyclones on record to affect the New England region of the United States. It developed from a tropical wave near the Bahamas on August 25, 1954, and slowly strengthened as it moved northwestward. On August 27, Carol intensified to reach winds of 105 mph (170 km/h), but weakened as its motion turned to a northwest drift. A strong trough of low pressure turned the hurricane northeastward, and Carol later intensified into a major hurricane.[nb 1] While paralleling the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, the storm produced strong winds and rough seas that caused minor coastal flooding and slight damage to houses in North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Delaware, and New Jersey. The well-organized hurricane accelerated north-northeastward and made landfall on Long Island, New York, and Connecticut on August 31 near peak intensity. Early on the following day, Carol transitioned into an extratropical cyclone over New Hampshire. In New York, strong winds on Long Island damaged about 1,000 houses, left 275,000 people without electricity, downed many trees, and resulted in heavy crop losses. Storm surge flooded LaGuardia Airport and inundated the Montauk Highway, which left the eastern portion of Long Island isolated. Carol also brought strong winds and rough seas to New England. Throughout the region, about 150,000 people were left without electricity and telephone service. 1,545 houses were destroyed and another 9,720 were damaged. Approximately 3,500 cars and 3,000 boats were destroyed. There were 65 deaths and 1,000 injuries in New England. Overall, Carol caused 68 fatalities and damage totaled about $460 million (1954 USD),[nb 2] making it the costliest hurricane in the history of the United States, at the time. Following the storm, Carol was retired, becoming the first name to be removed from the naming lists in the Atlantic basin.

Hurricane Edna was a deadly and destructive major hurricane that impacted the United States East Coast in September of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. It was one of two hurricanes to strike Massachusetts in that year, the other being Hurricane Carol. The fifth tropical cyclone and storm of the season, as well as the fourth hurricane and second major hurricane, Edna developed from a tropical wave on September 2. Moving towards the north-northwest, Edna skirted the northern Leeward Islands as a tropical depression before turning more towards the west. The depression attained tropical storm status to the east of Puerto Rico and strengthened further to reach hurricane status by September 7. The storm rapidly intensified and reached its peak intensity of 120 mph (195 km/h) north of the Bahamas before weakening to Category 1 status near landfall in Massachusetts on September 11. Edna transitioned into an extratropical cyclone in Atlantic Canada before its remnants dissipated in the northern Atlantic. Edna caused 20 fatalities throughout its lifetime as a tropical cyclone, as well as a moderate amount of damage. It first caused rainfall-induced flooding in Puerto Rico, and it later brushed the Bahamas. High waves affected the coastline of North Carolina. Edna resulted in the heaviest day of rainfall in New York City in 45 years, while strong waves cut off Montauk from the remainder of Long Island. There were six highway deaths in the state, and $1.5 million in crop damage. There were widespread evacuations in southern New England, after Hurricane Carol struck the same area only 11 days prior. Strong winds caused extensive power outages for 260,000 people, including nearly all of Cape Cod. Edna became the costliest hurricane in the history of Maine, where the hurricane caused flooding that washed out roads and rail lines. There were 21 deaths in New England, eight of whom in Maine due to drownings. Later, high winds severely damaged crops in Atlantic Canada.

Hurricane Hazel was the deadliest and costliest hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm killed as many as 1,000 people in Haiti before striking the United States near the border between North and South Carolina, as a Category 4 hurricane. After causing 95 fatalities in the US, Hazel struck Canada as an

extratropical storm, raising the death toll by 81 people, mostly in Toronto. As a result of the high death toll and the damage Hazel caused, its name was retired from use for North Atlantic hurricanes. In Haiti, Hazel destroyed 40% of the coffee trees and 50% of the cacao crop, affecting the economy for several years to come. The hurricane made landfall in the Carolinas, and destroyed most waterfront dwellings near its point of impact. From Carolina, it traveled north along the Atlantic coast. Hazel affected Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York; it brought gusts near 160 km/h (100 mph) and caused $308 million (1954 USD) in damage. When it was over Pennsylvannia, Hazel consolidated with a cold front, and turned northwest towards Canada. When it hit Ontario as an extratropical storm, rivers and streams in and around Toronto, Ontario overflowed their banks, which caused severe flooding. As a result, many residential areas located in the local floodplains, such as the Raymore Drive area, were subsequently converted to parkland. In Canada alone, over C$135 million (2009: $1.1 billion) of damage was incurred.

Climatologists who measure such things say that the summer of 1954 was also known for having the least CO2 of practically any on record.

So, what DID cause such violent weather?  

Nature...?  

Naw!  I agree with the guy up in Massachusetts, who said it was caused by the fact that they had stopped burning witches!

-Ed

Ceres UpDate

We've been following the "DAWN Mission" photographing the Dwarf Planet Ceres with great interest.  What the Heck are those bright lights staring back from that mysterious rock in the sky!

Until a day or so ago, scientists at NASA thought there were 2 bright lights.  Now that the Dawn probe is only 4,500 miles away...the closer look has revealed a bunch more.

Why just in that one spot?

What's causing them?  Are they a "reflection" of some kind...like ice? or salt flats?  or, or.....

They still don't know.

The best explanation of those mysterious lights...come from  a Man named Paul Martin, who is obviously a renowned Astrological Scientist....

His learned explanation is:   They are lights for the championship baseball game among the Little people on the planet.  That's right!  They're night lights for the "Dwarf World Ceres.!"

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-Ed

The Violin Sings, The Fiddle Dances

Two sure fire ways to get my undivided attention are to mention "Beautiful Women" or "Violins."

They are two of my most favorite subjects.  

Needless to say, when I got R.L. Clark's latest email, my first words to the huge staff here at the CHS54 media complex was "STOP THE PRESSES!"

Here's the reason:  A picture of Robert's oldest grandchild, Katie Clark who is a member of the outstanding  Saline Fiddlers in Saline, Michigan.  She will be moving into the symphony group next term.

And speaking of Fiddlers; Did you know...

that the discoverer of the "theory of relativity" was also an eager violinist?

He is quoted as saying, "I often think in music. I live my day dreams in music. I see my life in terms of music...I get the most joy in life out of music.
If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician."

One day, the story goes, Einstein was playing string quartets with his friend Fritz Kreisler, the great Viennese violinist. Einstein went wrong. "You know, Albert," said Kreisler, "your trouble is that you can't count."

-Ed