September 8, 2019

Age 95 goal, anyone else ever think of this (or similar) ?

Some background: My father lived to be 92 (born 1917) before Parkinson's claimed him. My mother lived to be 84 (born 1923) before Alzheimer's claimed her. I am not sure how long my grandparents lived, except to say they all passed away at age 65 or older.

A few years ago, the thought of wanting to live to 95 popped in my head as a "goal". I knew my Dad had lived to 92 and had a pretty good life overall, despite a stroke that took his ability to speak.

So, every few days, my "goal" pops in my head and I immediately think of my diet, exercise, etc. Yes, one should enjoy one's life every day no matter their life span, and yes, one only has so much control over life-span and I could die today (god forbid). I want to help and enjoy my son too, who is now 23.

I guess the age 95 thing is a bucket list item, so to speak, along with traveling and other things. Do you ever think of something similar ? I am 61 now, by the way.

Have a great day, my fellow Loungers

September 8, 2019

If a second referendum was held on Brexit, would people vote against it ?

I was just curious. I know the first one passed narrowly. It seems only a second referendum *might* shut up the rabid Brexiteers, but I am sure they might claim the election was flawed, corrupt, etc, and then want a third referendum.

Thanks for tolerating my question, from a curious Yank.

September 6, 2019

Die Krupps - "Nazis Auf Speed" (Official Video)

This video is interesting to me for three reasons:
1- It's in German, from (assumedly) a German band
2- It mentions Nazis in the title
3- It seems the band was very careful to strip all swastikas off the uniforms, etc. Not sure what else is forbidden in Germany.

eta: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/nazis-auf-speed-nazis-speed.html

Nazis on Speed
Achieving the military objectives has first priority
The health of the soldiers ist subordinated to this primary interest.

Comrades (in arms), watch out:
I´ve brought something for you.
This Powder lets you fly
and defeat the enemy soon.

A masterclass product,
a real wonder weapon.
This powder is awesome,
Even there is tremendous fear
take a dose with pleasure
and then into the enemys visor
rise up to the firmament
till the engine burns

Pull up
Pull up
Pull up

Pull up
Pull up
Pull up
with full power

Pull up
Pull up
Pull up

Pull up
Pull up
Pull up

With a little dose of speed
you hurry from victory to victory,
no borders can stop you
an nothing remains the same.
you are rulers in the air
regardless of the consequence.

Still the masses cheer
therefore the enemy will hate you.
Without sleep and without tomorrow
´cause a decoration ist already waiting.
Mistake you for daring
so speed towards ground

(Spoken)
Start was often very late, 10, 11 o clock.
Being over London or any other english city at about 1, 2 o clock in the morning.
Sure being tired then.
An then, recognizing that, which hadn´t to be the case, you swallowed one, two pills pervitin and it was allright again.

Pull up
Pull up
Pull up

Pull up
Pull up
Pull up
with full power

Pull up
Pull up
Pull up

Pull up
Pull up
Pull up

September 6, 2019

Teaming up to save a kitten on the road

https://twitter.com/AwwwwCats/status/1169687595770662912

September 6, 2019

Kitty walks the modeling catwalk (literally)

https://twitter.com/SlenderSherbet/status/1169489074157215744

September 2, 2019

Soledad O'Brien: " The President is a moron"

https://twitter.com/soledadobrien/status/1168253371507204097

in reference to:

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1168213405435662337


Cognitively-impaired works well, too.

September 1, 2019

Video of Hurricane Dorian (sustained 180 mph winds) striking The Bahamas

of course, there's no way you can stand outside and take videos in anything near 180 mph.....

https://twitter.com/Bahamaspress/status/1168180530711580673


https://twitter.com/Bahamaspress/status/1168184195799277570


https://twitter.com/Bahamaspress/status/1168180460687712256

August 31, 2019

Kitty says the money on the floor is MINE!

https://twitter.com/JenMsft/status/1167865974336282625

August 30, 2019

"Why don't we try to destroy tropical cyclones by nuking them ?"

I know we here at DU already know the answer to this (unlike our Dictator wannabe) but here's the full answer:


https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/C5c.html

Subject: C5c) Why don't we try to destroy tropical cyclones by nuking them ?
Contributed by Stan Goldenberg and Hugh Willoughby

During each hurricane season, there always appear suggestions that one should simply use nuclear weapons to try and destroy the storms. Apart from the fact that this might not even alter the storm, this approach neglects the problem that the released radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the tradewinds to affect land areas and cause devastating environmental problems. Needless to say, this is not a good idea.

Now for a more rigorous scientific explanation of why this would not be an effective hurricane modification technique. The main difficulty with using explosives to modify hurricanes is the amount of energy required. A fully developed hurricane can release heat energy at a rate of 5 to 20x1013 watts and converts less than 10% of the heat into the mechanical energy of the wind. The heat release is equivalent to a 10-megaton nuclear bomb exploding every 20 minutes. According to the 1993 World Almanac, the entire human race used energy at a rate of 1013 watts in 1990, a rate less than 20% of the power of a hurricane.

If we think about mechanical energy, the energy at humanity's disposal is closer to the storm's, but the task of focusing even half of the energy on a spot in the middle of a remote ocean would still be formidable. Brute force interference with hurricanes doesn't seem promising.

In addition, an explosive, even a nuclear explosive, produces a shock wave, or pulse of high pressure, that propagates away from the site of the explosion somewhat faster than the speed of sound. Such an event doesn't raise the barometric pressure after the shock has passed because barometric pressure in the atmosphere reflects the weight of the air above the ground. For normal atmospheric pressure, there are about ten metric tons (1000 kilograms per ton) of air bearing down on each square meter of surface. In the strongest hurricanes there are nine. To change a Category 5 hurricane into a Category 2 hurricane you would have to add about a half ton of air for each square meter inside the eye, or a total of a bit more than half a billion (500,000,000) tons for a 20 km radius eye. It's difficult to envision a practical way of moving that much air around.

Attacking weak tropical waves or depressions before they have a chance to grow into hurricanes isn't promising either. About 80 of these disturbances form every year in the Atlantic basin, but only about 5 become hurricanes in a typical year. There is no way to tell in advance which ones will develop. If the energy released in a tropical disturbance were only 10% of that released in a hurricane, it's still a lot of power, so that the hurricane police would need to dim the whole world's lights many times a year.

August 30, 2019

NHC Director Ken Graham will provide a Facebook Live broadcast re: Hurricane Dorian at 8:30 am EST

https://twitter.com/NWSNHC/status/1167401849424474115

https://www.facebook.com/pg/NWSNHC/videos/?ref=page_internal


You do have to login to Facebook to watch it.