It's Not The Heat...
...It's the HUMIDITY...
No, actually it's BOTH today, here in Fort Wayne.
Temperatures are expected to rise to the CENTURY MARK!
And a heat index rising even higher than that.
Yeah, it's Global Warming for sure...
Rush Limbaugh made a great funny yesterday when he said if you wanted to really TROUNCE this heatwave across the USA, just have Al Gore (my favorite environmangelist) hold a SUMMIT on global warming...that ALWAYS seems to bring on the frosty weather...LOL.
It's pretty brutal out there, though.
And I would advise you check your pool before entering...you never know WHO might show up for a quick dip, especially in such hot weather. But we did manage to get a visit from one of the bunnies around the area (we had THREE out front earlier, but only ONE of them was brave enough to enter the perimeter of our "fortress" and indulge himself), stopping by for some needed water and food.
Then again, these rabbits are not in uniform, driving all over the city and are NOT patrolling our streets in this heat, are they?
*** The police radio has been buzzing with officers having all sorts of problems with their cruisers, not the least of which are electrical in nature.
And when it comes to electrical issues, the one item on board that always seems to be the "R.P.I.A." is COMPUTER-RELATED.
Computers prefer to run (optimally) at specific temperatures and humidity...I know this first-hand - a controlled environment mainframe crapped out on us when the A/C failed and the temps SOARED in no time.
It gets TOO hot or TOO cold, and they up and quit like a frustrated factory worker.
Get it too "moist" in the air, and they stop working as well.
A bevy of battery problems are also occurring with the police in this heat.
That ALONE should be warning enough for ANYONE wishing to purchase an ALL-ELECTRIC CAR...
(some vehicles are not meant to run too well under such extremes)
You can't expect to run ALL that on board crap ALL the time when it gets hot enough to fry eggs under the hood of those cruisers.
And that high-output alternator can only do SO much.
Batteries also prefer a set operational temperature, at least the batteries we purchase for vehicles here on planet Earth.
Officers needing a "jump" to get going again...that's what I'm hearing on the squawk box.
And when it gets to be 100 degrees outside, the LAST thing any officer needs is to NOT have the A/C running (or the cruiser itself)...not with that uniform, body armor and gear on...that's for sure.
And it kinda makes one wish we STILL had MOTORCYCLES on patrol...hardly ANYTHING like hot weather kept THEM from running, but our Chief got RID of all our cycles a couple years ago...(thanks, Rus...sure made a helluva difference, didn't it?).
So, if you plan to do something REALLY stupid today...like commit a crime, remember that the officer arriving on scene might not be in the "best" mood, thanks to the weather.
They're probably already cheesed off because the A/C quit on the cruiser, or the computer froze, or the air card isn't working, so why ADD to their frustration by attempting to flee, or impede an investigation in any way, shape or form, hmm?
If you DID commit a crime, just wait patiently at the curb for the officers to arrive and "escort" you to jail (where the A/C is working)...or even better yet...DON'T DO ANY CRIME PERIOD...kapeesh?
Now, with that said, let's move on...
*** The other day THE OBSERVER had a nice piece regarding the life span of black men in PRISON versus those not incarcerated.
Here's the source article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43768117/
Amazing enough, black men are HALF as likely to die in jail that outside of jail...!
Leave it to North Carolina to figure that one out.
Unfortunately, that pattern did NOT hold true for WHITE men. (aww....)
Health experts make the claim that it's a more comprehensive plan regarding medical treatment that is at the bottom of all this, citing that black men receive better care IN JAIL, than before they were busted. (who knew?)
Guess they figure it IS better to have the government "take care" of you...regardless of HOW you get that free stuff.
Commit a crime - get free health care...sounds like a "lose-win" to me.
Maybe that would explain the RISING number of black FEMALES being incarcerated...?
To quote the article:
(( "What's very sad about this is that if we are able to all of a sudden equalize or diminish these health inequalities that you see by race inside a place like prison, it should also be that in places like a poor neighborhood we should be able to diminish these sort of inequities," said Evelyn Patterson, who studies correctional facilities at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
"If it can be done (in prison), then certainly it can happen outside of prison," Patterson, who wasn't linked to the new work, told Reuters Health. ))
Well, it COULD be done outside prison...IF those people gave a damn and wanted to be educated on HOW to go about taking care of themselves.
But, as we learned by reading my post YESTERDAY on POVERTY (and if you didn't, SHAME ON YOU...go back and read it...I'll wait), we see that is often the case; personal PRIORITIES can often become skewed, and what passes for "poor" is nowhere close to REAL poverty as most people view it.
Some folks are too busy accumulating "things", that they miss the boat when it comes to personal health (or even the health of a child).
So, by all means, if you're black and want decent health care, but don't want to actually work a job to obtain it, or take the time to avail yourself of it by committing welfare fraud, then by all means, COMMIT SOME CRIME, and get incarcerated...you just might live a few years...or even MONTHS longer (before you go to trial on that MURDER ONE rap). And get some more tattoos, just so people can ID you easier...that's always a good thing.
*** Yes, it truly IS the end of an era.
Around 0558 hours today, the LAST shuttle flight (STS-135 Atlantis) touched down on the runway at the Kennedy Space Center, bringing to an end a highly successful program of manned space flight in America.
From now on (in the immediate future anyway), if we want to get into orbit, we have to cough up about $2 MIL to RUSSIA to "hitch a ride" on vehicles using a much more antiquated system of spaceflight. NASA claims they're currently working on the next step to get us back into space, but with the end of the shuttle program and the subsequent LAYOFFS of about 8,000 employees, that's gonna be a lot easier SAID...than DONE.
I'm hoping for a quick return to space on something WE build...and have tested, and fly with the same pride as did the other programs in the past.
Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and the Shuttle..ALL ventures that proved that when it comes to ingenuity and innovation, the good old USofA comes through every time.
*** Lastly today, yes it IS hot outside...damn hot...frigging hot, Hades-like in nature, worthy of melting the dashboard in the family car, or making the runway bubble up at the airport.
It's oppressively HOT out.
And it would be interesting to see SOMEONE in our media (here) do a story or two on the heatwaves of the 1930s as opposed to this year's summer swelter. The historical aspect alone would be fascinating.
Imagine...NO A/C, probably NO electric fans (at least not ones large enough to make any real change), well water you had to PUMP, wood-burning stoves IN the house (or fireplace) for cooking...maybe some screens in the windows and doors, and that would be about it.
Our grandparents somehow managed to make it THROUGH such travails.
And yet "we" complain when cable or satellite TV "goes out" for whatever reason.
We are becalmed on the sea of reason whenever we suffer a brownout due to over consumption of electricity to drive all of our air-conditioners.
Well, our utility infrastructures across the nation ARE old...damn near ancient, and DO need a LOT of upgrades to bring them to a state where we won't have rolling blackouts in some areas of the nation, as well as be able to meet almost ANY demand for power.
Back in the 1930s, we barely had any of that...and those living back then made it out OK.
NO Internet, NO smart phones (and few of the "dumb" ones around as well), NO "social-networking" (except when people met FACE-TO-FACE at the general stores), NO real "vacations" to speak of...how DID they get by?
Seems we had tighter "family bonds" back then...everyone pitched in and did what was asked.
And they had BOOKS...and maybe a RADIO.
If they were very fortunate, they might have a car (which served every function under the sun, but didn't necessarily involve driving all over creation because you were bored and wanted something to do).
Was it a better time?
In some respects, no.
(But it was a lot simpler to deal with things as opposed to now.)
Still, they were difficult times, compared to today.
But in another way, they WERE better times.
People helped one another when they needed it.
And a lot more than we see today.
Folks learned fast enough WHAT their priorities in life were (and adapted themselves accordingly).
They weren't concerned about "stuff" as much as they were about one another.
And I think that's a lesson that's been forgotten these days.
Perhaps it is time we took a few pages from the books of that era, in order to better understand who we USED to be, so that we can learn and adapt ourselves to whatever problems are staring at us now.
Seems that would be a damn good way of getting things done.
Take care when going outside today and remember that this heat is respective of no one.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.