Dark Star

"Organic Natter" is a synonym for ____________________________

Aren't bricks kiln dried clay?

Kind of expected something about an hour ago, they never fired up...

Tonight it should dissipate...

Thought I saw some swirling in Garwood, and Dave Curren confirmed small rotations through the area...

Springfield?

Perhaps some fractured mammatus at the leading edge in Garwood? Nice close thunderbolt, wind from different directions, then a nice pouring rain.

My lawn has brown spots from blight, disease, from too much moisture.

What should be the best Meteor shower days this month?

Very sunny here in Garwood. Disgusting outside.

I take it the Icelandic Volcano was of little consequence, otherwise Volcanic Winter would have came on board?

Dunno, 4th of July was gorgeous...

Was

Are these imprisonments recent? I must have my head in the sand. If we don't all destroy ourselves first, maybe in about 300 years or more the world might start unifying. Though I'm not sure if human nature can evolve. Again, a single culture doesn't seem possible, unless it is some kind of dystopia...

China has most of our manufacturing with a lot less of emissions control.

I volunteer you to get China on board...

Unfortunately, the world is still dangerous. Technology has outpaced the advancement of human nature. Though we wish to see a utopian world, it cannot be achieved until we are ALL ready...

Is there a cloud line "stuck" just east of the Watchungs today?

Yes. But, they are fixed costs and are increasing rapidly. A Board reviews their requests to raise rates, and apparently rubber stamps the increases?

I've been told, first hand, that the bulk of the increase is for the transmission. Yes, we can buy our electricity from a 3rd party provider, which in theory does create competition, but doesn't solve the ever growing transmission costs. I have a feeling we are paying for repairs done in other parts of the grid and or country during crisis time?

Exactly. The problem is that utilities are protected, because we need water and electricity to meet our basic needs. These utilities are "regulated", in other words protected, to insure there will always be enough supply for our demand. Therefore, capitalism cannot be counted on to keep costs down, since they are exempt from competition. So, a power company has to pay for their overhead, and are guaranteed to make a profit. Every time we buy a more energy efficient refrigerator, HVAC, washer and dryer and utilize led lights, the rates must increase to offset losses in revenue. Sort of counter intuitive. Doesn't matter if the energy sources are renewable or not. The only way to beat the system is to totally go off the grid, which I don't think is possible yet, unless you own a ranch with enough space to supply enough wind, solar and geothermal power and store it?

My assumption is that Newark, the city, is just far enough inland not usually affected by cooling from the nearby Atlantic Ocean/bays/rivers. As Forky pointed out, Newark, the city, can be hotter than the airport (EWR the official monitoring station). Even so, EWR seldom is seen to receive a cooling effect. JFK and LGA are right on the water. So, to the best of my knowledge, EWR temperatures are representative of that area. While the monitoring station is above a "grassy" area, we know Newark Airport to be one big paved over parking lot. The nearby Jersey suburbs are normally close to the airports temperatures, but maybe a degree or two cooler. Teterboro airport a few miles to the north, is normally a degree or two cooler than EWR, but Linden Airport is normally within 1 degree of EWR. So, it doesn't surprise me that Newark Airport is the hotspot of the 20 mile radius (or so) around NYC. I believe there are some areas of southern Jersey, Toms River, Berkeley Township and parts of the Jersey Pine Barrens, that can be even hotter, but they are not part of this region's discussion.

I'm in Garwood NJ (central Union County), and usually within 1 or 2 degrees of Newark Airport temperatures. I believe Forky says it is just as hot (or hotter?) several miles to the west of Newark Airport?

PSEG raised the rates about 30%, but they made a deal with the state to "even out" the cost so there are no obvious peaks, hoping people don't notice as much. What I don't understand is that PSEG doesn't even generate the electricity anymore, they are just in charge of transmission. They sold the generation off to Parkway Generation about 2 years ago.