09:13 – We should have preliminary results of the Greek elections by about mid-afternoon EDT. My guess is that they’ll be inconclusive, pretty much a re-run of the last election, six weeks ago. ND will probably lead the results, with Syriza not far behind. Given the 10050-seat bonus awarded to the leading vote-getter, it’s possible that ND will be able to form a coalition government with PASOK. If that happens, it’s likely that Greece will continue to pretend to attempt to comply with the Troika’s requirements and the Troika will continue to provide funding, allowing Greece to remain in the eurozone for the time being. But it’s also very possible that no coalition government can be formed, in which case Greece will continue its rapid descent into chaos.
I hope that the elections bring an end to this farce, and that Greece crashes out of the euro and returns to the drachma. That means a decade of unimaginable suffering for the Greek people. That’s bad, but the alternative if Greek remains in the euro is unimaginable suffering for the Greek people for two or three decades. In any event, Spain and Italy will follow Greece into default, with France not far behind. Even Germany will suffer, although not to the degree that the southern tier will. That’s what inevitably happens to anyone or any country that spends lots of money that it doesn’t have.
Your last sentence is a probable guide to what will happen here, perhaps, we hope, not to the same extent as the southern Euro tier, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Ten years of hell versus thirty or forty years of it. But knowing human nature like we do, they will opt for the risk of the 30-40 and hope it doesn’t come to pass somehow. Kick dat can down da road again.
65 here today on this fine Hallmark Holiday and should hit 80 again, with sun and blue skies. Mrs. OFD in Kalifornia again, just north of Fresno after two days of collecting sea glass at Fort Bragg. When she gets back she has to drive MIL twelve hours up to their cottage in northern Nouveau Brunswick and will no doubt be gone another week. Then more trips in July and August; maybe I’ll see her again in October.
OFD sorta feels like *he* should go on a trip somewhere, as he hasn’t been anywhere in ten years, but OTOH there’s no place like home. And no air travel since 1994. Cell used only for phone calls, still using a desktop primarily and still reading actual books; I seem to be stuck in the years 1975-95, soon to be 1900 or earlier.
Father’s Day here in Hoosierland. A DJ buddy used to use that word Hoosier by repeating it, monkey style on-air. Stupid word, apparently loved by all Hoosiers but me.
So humid here that one sweats just sitting or standing still outside,—but no precip. Talked with some farmers this morning and whole fields of beans (soybeans) are dead for lack of rain. Some are replanting with the hope there will not be a summer-long drought as last year. Corn on high ground is turning white, which is worse—and earlier—than last year. Beans are one of the cheapest crops to plant—several hundred acres are only a couple thousand in seed, whereas replanting corn at more than triple that price is prohibitive.
My central air has been running day and night since yesterday, which means it really IS hot. Nights lower than 65°F never kick the air on. But all week, highs will be above 90, and lows will be in the lower 70’s.
Old-timers are telling me we will have an early fall. And oddly, we have not yet hit the summer solstice, but various trees are turning and dropping leaves already.
Bunker Hill Day in Boston and Suffolk county Mass. tomorrow. Loved those extra holidays when I was in Boston. Very European.
Yep, Bunker Hill Day, “Evacuation Day,” and the Boston/Maffachufetts version of Patriots Day.
Here in Vermont our local thing is Bennington Battle Day, which is a state holiday.
“Bennington Battle Day is a state holiday unique to Vermont which commemorates the American victory at the Battle of Bennington (which actually took place in New York) during the American Revolutionary War in 1777. The holiday’s date is fixed, and occurs on August 16 every year.
In Bennington, there is a battle re-enactment put on by the local history foundation. Also, the town fires the oldest cannon in America, which is called the Molly Stark cannon, named after the commander John Stark’s wife.
The Battle of Bennington is named as such, because the battle was over weapons and munitions stored where the Bennington Battle monument now stands. This site is located in, what is now referred to as, Old Bennington, Vermont.” (Wikipedia)
It seems that a lot of the early battles in Nova Anglia at that time were over stored ammo and weapons sites and the local militias were heavily involved. Things are a little different now. We do not fear foreign troops invading us (as the Japs knew, there’s a goddam rifle behind every tree and blade of grass) but it’s not hard to imagine police and troops sent by Our Nanny the Almighty State. And those buggers have aircraft, tanks, and crew-served weapons systems.
So did we in southeast Asia.
So did the Soviets in Afghanistan.
Lightweights.
Bakersfield, Meadows Field Airport (KBFL)
Lat: 35.43361 Lon: -119.05667 Elev: 509
Last Update on 17 Jun 14:54 PDT
Observation Quality is Caution
Fair
106°F
(41°C)
Humidity: 10 %
Wind Speed: N 7 MPH
Barometer: 29.76 in (1006.80 mb)
Dewpoint: 37°F (3°C)
Heat Index: 101°F (38°C)
Visibility: 10.00 Miles
but it is a dry heat.
Screw that.
Bakersfield, CA? Mrs. OFD is just now making her approach via rental car just north of Fresno. I once, long ago, spent a long weekend in lovely Victorville, on the edge of the Mojave.
OFD wrote:
“OFD sorta feels like *he* should go on a trip somewhere…”
How about a return ticket to Australia. And a one way ticket for Princess?
Chuck wrote:
“A DJ buddy used to use that word Hoosier by repeating it, monkey style on-air. Stupid word, apparently loved by all Hoosiers but me.”
Ever seen The Outlaw Josie Wales? A storekeeper describes himself as a Hoosier, and cranky old Granny Sarah says something like”I don’t like Hoosiers either.” Dunno why Hoosiers get such bad press.
Tomorrow to be 95F. Back to long pants.
Really 106 with 10% humidity is nowhere near as bad as 95 with 80%.
We may just still visit Oz one of these days, but I don’t know when yet. Will let you know and give you advance warning of Princess accordingly, and may God have mercy on your soul.
“The Outlaw Josie Wales” is one of the great ones, and I generally watch it every year. I see Ron Maxwell has another one coming out, too:
http://southernnationalist.com/blog/2012/06/17/ron-maxwells-copperhead-different-from-the-rest/
95 and long pants, eh? I hope never to see 95 again in this life. This is a typical mid-June night in northern New England; after 80 today, the temp drops thirty degrees at sundown. The leaves start turning in early August up in the hills.
I also like the Dirty Harry movies, and Pale Rider. Never watched any of his comedy efforts.
I once, long ago, spent a long weekend in lovely Victorville, on the edge of the Mojave.
I lived in Victorville for a year. One year in Victorville Junior High School (8th grade). Only place worse is Barstow, that scan on the high desert. Spent a couple of years there also. Also spent a couple of years in Wrightwood. That was my sixth grade year and and also my 7th grade year, that being wasted at Hook Jr High in Victorville as Wrightwood had no schools beyond 6th. A long bus ride each way. Sometimes left in snow and returned to snow with nothing in Victorville.
The school in Wrightwood was only four rooms. 5 and 6, 3 and 4, 2 and 1 and kindergarten. I was unfortunate to be in sixth grade otherwise I would have been moved up from 5th to 6th while at the school. Christina Love got moved up and I was smarter than she was.
Victorville was a dump of a town back then. Not that it was run down, there was just nothing to do. Unless you had some type of vehicle to run around in the dirt, which my family was much too poor to afford.
For my high school years I went to live with my aunt and uncle on the farm. Time before that on the farm was 2nd grade and 4th grade, with summers between school years. I had to get out of Victorville or I was going to wind up in jail. Nothing to do and too many band influences. Divorced parents and a mother that worked and partied when not working. Kids were just a nuisance.
Jeezum, Ray, sounds like total shit. Also a potential screenplay. Damn.
I had it dicked, mainly, in small MA towns and then twenty miles west of Boston for junior high and senior high. And I also came very close, nevertheless, to “reform school,” and/or jail.
Thanks be to Uncle for setting me on the straight and narrow, and also to Uncle’s lifer instructors and NCO’s for showing me how to keep myself in one piece and also help my buddies do that, God bless them, every one.
Ah, my wife having been from Riverside, I have been everywhere from San Diego to Ventura and east to, of course, Victorville, and as far south as Indio, but cannot remember being south or east of Indio. Actually, I always wanted to live in S. California, but—although Jeri and I met at Uni—we screwed up a relationship until 20 years later, when mutual Uni classmates put us together again. Otherwise, I probably would have been in California, as she went back there after school, and I would likely have followed her.
Humidity is the killer. Just stepped back in from checking the outside. It is within a few degrees of 76°F both inside and out, but about 80% humidity outside and about 30% inside, so I won’t be opening up the house tonight. Still, this is better than last summer, when we had temps reaching the upper 90’s daily with lows not much below 80, all through June and July. Just hope July is not the killer it usually is.
I’ve always hated humidity because it makes me and my clothes all sweaty. In Australia Sydney is one of the worst places for that in my experience. I used to love dry hot weather, now I can’t really endure that unless I can retreat to an air-conditioned place when it gets too much.
A few years ago we had a really hot summer that just didn’t stop. I tried escaping the heat (at night) by having a nap on the back porch but the mozzies were killing me. Unfortunately my place was constructed when low ceilings were the norm – I can touch the ceiling in bare feet without going up on to tip ties.
Finally I went in to work on a Sunday afternoon and had a nap on the floor for a few hours. Mercifully the air-conditioning was running even though the place was practically deserted.
Well, I had the distinct privilege of attending a one-room one-teacher country school for my Infants and Primary years – Kindergarten and years 1 through 6. That was great – the teacher would teach the basics, then get you headed in the right direction, give you the right tools, and turn you loose; while he concentrated on the kids who needed help. In theory, Primary school only ran through sixth class, but in fact there was seventh and eighth class available for kids who were too remote to attend a High School, and I had that material available for when I ran out of the ordinary primary school material. When I was more-or-less caught-up, he’d get me tutoring the younger kids; and as we all know, there’s no better way to learn a subject thoroughly than to have to teach it.
I missed about six months of school through hospital: operation, and a really nasty intractable case of pneumonia; so I took six years to complete my seven years of Infants and Primary. Great schooling, although I missed some things I’d have been better with, like some of the times-tables.
Then we went on to High School – years one through five. Our local Shire High School had just been upgraded from an Intermediate High School (years 1-3) to a full High School (years 1-5). They were further upgrading, and my year was the last five-year high school – kids after us were too stupid to finish an education in five years, they needed a full six years to get larnt.
As for climate, and for global warming – we’ve just been replaying over the last 2-4 years the cool weather and heavy rain that we had when I was in school. We’ve had 2-3 warm or hot dry decades, now we’ve swung back to cool and wet. We can thank Al Gore for that – after 30 years of flapping his yap, he’s finally shut up, and the weather has moderated.
Al Gore has shut up? You see, miracles *do* happen.
I spent a week in NYC last July, during a “hot” spell and experienced the East Coast humidity first hand. I’ve had showers that made me less wet. You would get dressed, leave the AC controlled hotel and immediately sweat through.
This has been the wettest June since I moved to the Okanagan Valley 12 years ago, though I don’t think that Al Gore has actually shut up.
Oops! I meant to put this in today’s postings, but got the wrong tab. Love the ability to edit now, though.
Just a heads up. Having nothing to lose by upgrading Firefox, I just did it this morning to 13.0.1. It appears to REALLY have made a difference. Seems to be using less memory, and releasing more when I close windows. Also, I have yet to experience computer lock-up from hard drive thrashing. When I hit “Restore” after the restart, it restored my previous open windows and tabs INSTANTLY. And the appropriate ones were refreshed with new content.
I have not closed Firefox since the upgrade (seldom do I close it), but I have been watching memory. It was up to about 1.3gb. Previously, when I closed all but 1 window, it would never go below about 1.2gb without my exiting and restarting Firefox. I closed out all windows but my “daily” one, with this website opened in several tabs, and 20 minutes later, total memory usage is down to 859mb.
Something has changed for the better.
I’ve been on FF13.0.1 for a few days now. No complaints. But then I found the previous versions okay too.