Day: June 16, 2023

Dry Heat Or Humid Heat?

It is 0025 hrs and the temp is about 95 and it is not even Summer yet….this heat has me thinking about an old debate….

As we enter the Summer season here it South Mississippi I am reminded of the age old debate on whether dry heat is worse than humid heat.

I have lived and worked in both types of heat and let me say here and now that both are damn HOT!

But in my opinion the humid heat is less tolerable…..when I was working I was soaking wet by 10 am,….we are told that sweating is a bodily mechanism to keep the body cool….that is not so true here in the South.

I wanted to let my readers know the answer to the age old debate….while this is explaining it worldwide it does help understand the issue….

This year, even before the northern hemisphere hot season began, temperature records were being shattered. Spain for instance saw temperatures in April (38.8°C) that would be out of the ordinary even at the peak of summer. South and south-east Asia in particular were hammered by a very persistent heatwave, and all-time record temperatures were experienced in countries such as Vietnam and Thailand (44°C and 45°C respectively). In Singapore, the more modest record was also broken, as temperatures hit 37°C. And in China, Shanghai just recorded its highest May temperature for over a century at 36.7°C.

We know that climate change makes these temperatures more likely, but also that heatwaves of similar magnitudes can have very different impacts depending on factors like humidity or how prepared an area is for . So, how does a humid country like Vietnam cope with a 44°C heatwave, and how does it compare with , or a less hot heatwave in even-more-humid Singapore?

https://phys.org/news/2023-06-40c-bearable-lethal-tropics.html

At 0430 hrs it has cooled off to a balmy 93….

Keeping with the weather theme of this post….

Then there is El Nino…..

El Niño is officially here, and while it’s still weak right now, federal forecasters expect this global disrupter of worldwide weather patterns to gradually strengthen.

That may sound ominous, but El Niño – Spanish for “the little boy” – is not malevolent, or even automatically bad.

Here’s what forecasters expect, and what it means for the U.S.

https://theconversation.com/el-nino-is-back-thats-good-news-or-bad-news-depending-on-where-you-live-205974

I know….hot is hot!

Since I am retired I have the option of staying in the A/C….which I will gladly choose.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Do The Right Thing–Abolish The Debt Ceiling

Recently all sides came to some sort of agreement on the debt ceiling….which calmed the markets and makes the chance for another political drama to return in the next couple of years.

Just in case you have a short memory…..

The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, the debt ceiling deal President Biden signed into law recently, served its primary purpose: avoiding default on our nation’s debt, which would have plunged the economy into chaos.

President Biden also skillfully repelled the worst of the House Republicans’ demands, which included slashing social programs and government services by 60 percent. That would have utterly devastated everything from Head Start and Pell Grants to job training, housing and nutrition assistance, and even air traffic safety.

So talking points from the White House paint the bipartisan deal as a victory for ordinary people. But that isn’t the whole story.

The bill will still cut or freeze many programs that were already underfunded by the last debt ceiling drama in 2011 — even as it increases military spending by a whopping $28 billion, bringing the Pentagon to a shocking 56 percent share of the budget Congress sets each year.

The deal also prevents President Biden from pausing student loan payments and imposes harsh “work requirements” for some recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP aka food stamps) and the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program.

Work requirements don’t encourage work — they just make it more difficult for even eligible families to get help.

In a final blow, the deal cuts corners on environmental review for energy projects — and specifically greenlights a pet project of Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) for a highly destructive fossil fuel pipeline for his state. Authorization of this pipeline had failed every other legislative attempt.

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/abolish-the-debt-ceiling-2661138342

Is all this drama really necessary?

In the future, Congress should abolish the debt ceiling. It doesn’t limit debt — it just creates one hostage situation after another when the GOP refuses to pay the country’s bills.

If Congress won’t act, the president should intervene with his considerable executive power and invoke Section 4 of the 14th amendment, which says that the validity of the public debt of the United States “shall not be questioned.” He could even mint enough money to ensure there would be no default and no harm to families.

Democratic lawmakers and President Biden didn’t take any of these steps, instead opting to negotiate with their hostage takers. Next time, they shouldn’t make the same mistake.

This is all a moot point for the debt ceiling is no longer a useful tool so it will go to the back burner until the GOP needs it in 2 years.

None of this stupidity is necessary!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”