The number of 90ºF readings in Tennessee has dropped dramatically since the 1920s. This past summer was one of the coolest on record.
Index of /pub/data/ghcn/daily/hcn/
CLARKSVILLE WWTP COVINGTON 3 SW CROSSVILLE ED & RESEARCH DICKSON DOVER 1 W JACKSON EXP STN LEWISBURG EXP STN MC MINNVILLE MURFREESBORO 5 N NEWPORT 1 NW ROGERSVILLE 1 NE TULLAHOMA UNION CITY WAYNESBORO
Lying makes people sweat.
Virginia had the fewest number of 90ºF readings since at least 1895 this summer. I was in DC on four different days this summer, and they were all cold.
Index of /pub/data/ghcn/daily/hcn/
BURKES GARDEN CHARLOTTESVILLE 2W DALE ENTERPRISE DANVILLE FARMVILLE 2 N HOPEWELL HOT SPRINGS LEXINGTON LINCOLN ROCKY MT STAUNTON WATER TRMTMT PLT WOODSTOCK 2 NE
I love hot, humid weather. When I lived in Houston I never turned the A/C on until I got married. I have no A/C in my house now and never use A/C in the car.
The secret to enjoying hot, humid weather is to have large fans all over the house. As long as your skin is moist, fans do an excellent job cooling you. Because I avoided A/C, the hot weather always seemed very enjoyable.
On the other hand, people who are used to A/C get addicted and are miserable without it. I believe that A/C is a key reason that Americans believe in global warming. The weather isn’t getting hotter, but their tolerance of it has gotten much less.
The number of 90ºF readings in Illinois has dropped off dramatically since the 1930s, with many of the coolest summers coming in the last decade.
Index of /pub/data/ghcn/daily/hcn/
ALEDO ANNA 2 NNE AURORA CARLINVILLE CHARLESTON DANVILLE DECATUR WTP DIXON 1 NW DU QUOIN 4 SE GALVA HARRISBURG HILLSBORO HOOPESTON JACKSONVILLE 2E LA HARPE LINCOLN MARENGO MINONK MONMOUTH MORRISON MT CARROLL MT VERNON 3 NE OLNEY 2S OTTAWA 5SW PALESTINE PANA PARIS STP PONTIAC RUSHVILLE 4NE SPARTA 1 W URBANA WALNUT WHITE HALL 1 E WINDSOR
What Putin Has to Say to Americans About Syria
By VLADIMIR V. PUTIN
Published: September 11, 2013
MOSCOW — RECENT events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies.
Relations between us have passed through different stages. We stood against each other during the cold war. But we were also allies once, and defeated the Nazis together. The universal international organization — the United Nations — was then established to prevent such devastation from ever happening again.
The United Nations’ founders understood that decisions affecting war and peace should happen only by consensus, and with America’s consent the veto by Security Council permanent members was enshrined in the United Nations Charter. The profound wisdom of this has underpinned the stability of international relations for decades.
No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorization.
The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.
Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multireligious country. There are few champions of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government. The United States State Department has designated Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, fighting with the opposition, as terrorist organizations. This internal conflict, fueled by foreign weapons supplied to the opposition, is one of the bloodiest in the world.
Mercenaries from Arab countries fighting there, and hundreds of militants from Western countries and even Russia, are an issue of our deep concern. Might they not return to our countries with experience acquired in Syria? After all, after fighting in Libya, extremists moved on to Mali. This threatens us all.
From the outset, Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future. We are not protecting the Syrian government, but international law. We need to use the United Nations Security Council and believe that preserving law and order in today’s complex and turbulent world is one of the few ways to keep international relations from sliding into chaos. The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not. Under current international law, force is permitted only in self-defense or by the decision of the Security Council. Anything else is unacceptable under the United Nations Charter and would constitute an act of aggression.
No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists. Reports that militants are preparing another attack — this time against Israel — cannot be ignored.
It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan “you’re either with us or against us.”
But force has proved ineffective and pointless. Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day. In the United States, many draw an analogy between Iraq and Syria, and ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes.
No matter how targeted the strikes or how sophisticated the weapons, civilian casualties are inevitable, including the elderly and children, whom the strikes are meant to protect.
The world reacts by asking: if you cannot count on international law, then you must find other ways to ensure your security. Thus a growing number of countries seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction. This is logical: if you have the bomb, no one will touch you. We are left with talk of the need to strengthen nonproliferation, when in reality this is being eroded.
We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement.
A new opportunity to avoid military action has emerged in the past few days. The United States, Russia and all members of the international community must take advantage of the Syrian government’s willingness to place its chemical arsenal under international control for subsequent destruction. Judging by the statements of President Obama, the United States sees this as an alternative to military action.
I welcome the president’s interest in continuing the dialogue with Russia on Syria. We must work together to keep this hope alive, as we agreed to at the Group of 8 meeting in Lough Erne in Northern Ireland in June, and steer the discussion back toward negotiations.
If we can avoid force against Syria, this will improve the atmosphere in international affairs and strengthen mutual trust. It will be our shared success and open the door to cooperation on other critical issues.
My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.
Vladimir V. Putin is the president of Russia.
What Putin Has to Say to Americans About Syria – NYTimes.com
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkamZg68jpk]
After making a complete fool out of himself during the last two weeks and being humiliated on the world stage by Putin, Obama gets a two point boost in his poll numbers up to 45%
Highly sensitive U.S. military equipment stored in Libya was stolen over the summer by groups likely aligned and working with terrorist organizations, State Department sources told Fox News — in raids that contributed to the decision to pull Special Forces personnel from the country.
The stolen equipment had been used by U.S. Special Forces stationed in the country. Lost in the raids in late July and early August were dozens of M4 rifles, night-vision technology and lasers used as aiming devices that are mounted on guns and can only be seen with night-vision equipment.
“This stuff is how we win wars. The enemy doesn’t have that,” one source said.
Sources: US weapons stolen in Libya raids, fueling Special Forces pull-out | Fox News
Mexican drug lords are going to be angry that Obama is providing better equipment to al Qaeda than he is giving them.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR3XTOjZPfg]
Summers in the high Arctic have been running consistently below normal for a decade or so.
Much of the ice piles up towards the Canadian coast and is many metres thick there, in places that rarely get above freezing.
The only way that the Arctic could become ice-free is if huge amounts of ice blow out into the North Atlantic during the winter. I have not heard anyone propose a mechanism for that, so why are these morons talking about an ice-free Arctic?
