And the US wins the Dust Bowl!

A victory so hot you can taste it.. cut it with a knife, serve it with corn, drizzle it was sweat.
Yes, indeed, the NOAA is telling us now that July, 2012, was the hottest month ever. On record. Period.

Now, ‘ever’ a long time, and certainly since the NOAA didn’t exist forever, the ‘ever’ is a little limited by ‘in recorded history’ of the NOAA. But it’s worth noting, as the NOAA did, that this year has now surpassed the hottest period of time during the famed 1936 Dust Bowl. It goes without saying that this year, the dust bowl has returned. Corn crops and other farmland is drying up, becoming brittle. Rivers are drying and fish are dying. Riverbeds are just muddy as water levels drop to new lows. And the great and mighty Mississippi is ever-so-quickly becoming wimpy and weak.

So what does the hottest month on record mean to you?  If you’re like me, it meant lots of air conditioner use, light headed feelings during noontime walks, damp clothing after a day of sweating. It was almost unbearable. And at times it was unbearable for many. People have died during this heat wave, along with those crops and animals. Also dead are the hopes of a nice yield during the harvest time. It was supposed to be a great crop this year. Those hopes quickly dried as quickly as rivers and streams. The harvest moon coming later this year may be a bad moon rising.

The other quotable notable from the NOAA report is this point from Jake Crouch, a scientist at NOAA’s National Climate Data Center:

Dry soils in the summer tend to drive up daytime temperatures, and because dry soils prevailed over so much of the United States, that helped make things hotter over a wide area, Crouch said by telephone.

"The hotter it gets, the drier it gets, the hotter it gets," Crouch said.

What made this year different from the Dust Bowl summer of 1936 was nighttime temperatures, he said. In the Dust Bowl years, the warmth was largely driven by daytime highs. This July, the record heat was also pushed by warm nighttime temperatures — the overnight lows weren’t that low.

Lots of people may have let out an extended sigh of relief when Hollywood Video closed.

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t good at all to see that part of our modern American life turn into a scrap heap of shredded videotape—we will probably look back in years and lament the death of video stores just like generations grew melancholy over the lack of drive ins.  And it sure wasn’t nice at all to see the thousands of people who lost jobs as stores all over closed down.

But regular customers of Hollywood would ‘bring home the entertainment’—and have the late fees to prove it. Remember those days when people rented videos fromstores!? Remind the fees if you didn’t rewind, you were not kind—and got socked with a couple bucks extra of money?

When Hollywood closed, it was clearly apparent that the Netflix, internet, and RedBox era had finally taken over. By this point my own personal late fees had been paid (something I maybe would not have done were I to know the store would be closing!) But lots of other folks who didn’t pay late fees thought, ‘Phew! don’t have to worry about those now!’

Not so fast, skippy.

Today, you can read the RED TAPE CHRONICLES ON NBCNEWS.COM, and be alarmed like I was: Hollywood Video debt collectors are harraassing past customers of Hollywood Video, assessing fees that maybe aren’t true, threatening to ruin peoples’ credit scores, and plain out bullying consumers who answer the phone.

The NBC report named Universal Fidelity as one of the debt firms trying to rake in late fees that were never paid to Hollywood Video when it was alive. NBC reports this:

The drumbeat became so loud that Hollywood Video’s bankruptcy trustee,First Lien Term Lenders Liquidating Trust, reached a settlement with all 50 states’ attorneys general under which it would drastically alter its collection tactics. It promised to remove any credit blemishes it had placed on consumers’ reports and never to threaten consumers’ credit reports in the future. It also turned to a set of new collection agencies, including Houston-based Universal Fidelity, which promised to clean up the process.

But within the past two months, a pile of fresh complaints has arrived from around the country, raising new questions about the collections process. In Houston, 430 of the roughly 1,000 complaints filed against Universal in the last 12 months have arrived since June 1.

In some instances, when former customers of Hollywood say they paid their bills before the store closed, the debt collector is insisting that unless a receipt is produced, the bill is still owed.

Really, a receipt?

So if you were not kind, did not rewind, you’re credit score can be ruined unless you produce a receipt that the $2 fee was paid?

Of course you can also reach out to governmental agencies and lawyers that may be able to assist you in fighting off the threats of intimidation.
All for late fees.
Interesting stuff.

And with one statement, a new conspiracy theory may be born

NASA’s Curiosity is rolling across the red planet and snapping photos as it goes, all for us to enjoy. But one comment from a project scientist may create a whole new batch of conspiracy theories:

"You would really be forgiven for thinking that NASA was trying to pull a fast one on you and we actually put a rover out in the Mojave Desert and took a picture,” project scientist John Grotzinger said.

The images are amazing. The red planet looks like the pale blue dot.

A full color high resolution photo is expected by the end of the week.
Can’t wait.

By now you know.. But the weekend ended bloody in Wisconsin

But yet again, another violent weekend bloodbath, this time at a Sikh temple, another shooter’s neighborhood in lockdown, and more debate coming up this week about violence, guns, conspiracies, and all that. Yes indeed, the times are never good, especially the ones we live in.. Thoughts go out tonight for those dead. Questions fill my mind about the shooter, who is reportedly a white male in his 30s..

Heads in the cloud

You may have heard a lot of cloud computing recently. And if you did, your opinion may have been formed depending on which computer geek you spoke to. I myself like to arm myself with opposing geek positions and then I form my conclusion based on the geekiest and scariest of arguments.

And concerning the Cloud: It freaks me out.
You trust your data to be there when you want it and need it. You trust that no one will hack it. And you trust it all so much that you don’t retain a copy for yourself but just store it on the ‘Cloud,’ reaching up from time to time when you want to grab a hold of something important.

In theory it sounds in part like it could work. Why worry about storing your data on your own hard drive, which when corrupted, can’t operate. You may lose everything. All those photos.. songs.. everything.

That is when the cloud get tempting.

But …. and here is the big big but, you really can’t say you own it anymore. You sign away things through legal terms of agreements that you don’t understand. And just in case you believe me to be a prognosticator of doom, here is a story from Agence France-Presse about Steve Wozniak, the man who co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs.  The quote:

“I really worry about everything going to the cloud,” he said. “I think it’s going to be horrendous. I think there are going to be a lot of horrible problems in the next five years.”

He added: “With the cloud, you don’t own anything. You already signed it away” through the legalistic terms of service with a cloud provider that computer users must agree to.

“I want to feel that I own things,” Wozniak said. “A lot of people feel, ‘Oh, everything is really on my computer,’ but I say the more we transfer everything onto the web, onto the cloud, the less we’re going to have control over it.”

There are some computer nerds that are friends of mine whom I trust. And they have a problem with the cloud..
But I think all nerds, geeks, experts, and coders will agree: If Steve Wozniak is worried about the cloud and who owns the data, I think all of should be.

An idea to get more stuff done around the house

Let NBC’S Olympics coverage play in the background. The majestic music they use as bumpers will lead to you think even the most mundane of house chores have suddenly become heroic feats of valor victory.

STORMAPALOOZA: LALLAPALOOZA EVACUATED AFTER STORM THREAT

STORMAPALOOZA: LALLAPALOOZA EVACUATED AFTER STORM THREAT

If anyone is interested in getting me an early birthday present, here is a thought: Ice Cream Chews.

I loved these candies as a kid, until one tragic event occurred when I was about 12 or 13: I ate so many of them in one night that I vomited everything inside of my body out onto myself in bed when I was trying to sleep. I guess that’s one of those horrible things that all kids have to get through.

But now, over 15 years later, and I think I’d ready to get them again.. maybe

Friday night freak out

Captain Trips does not exist. But Ebola does. And the World Health Organization is assuring the planet that the Ebola breakout on the African continent is under control..
While the WHO attempts to calm worldly nerves, this news broke today: A prisoner with Ebola symptoms has escaped and is on the loose in Uganda..
It may sound like the plot of THE STAND so far but I sure don’t hope it ends that way..

The last laugh. As he becomes the greatest..

The last laugh. As he becomes the greatest..

FOR ALL THOSE WHO COUNTED OUT MICHAEL PHELPS…

TAKE THIS!!

 

FULL MOON RISING:

THIS ONE FULL, THE NEXT ONE BLUE

The world is about to see two full moons this month—the first coming tonight. The second will be the final day of August..

The second full moon of this month earns the title of ‘blue moon,’ which his unusual but it happens..

Perhaps it will be a good night to open the mini blinds, and tune in to Coast to Coast AM as George Noory interviews John Hogue about prophecies for 2012.

And guaranteed by the end you’ll wish Art Bell was back on radio..

OLYMPICS 2012: LONDON A 'GHOST TOWN'

This is interesting news given officials’ hopes and prayers that the London games would create a mini economic boom during a period of Euro fizzle. So far it’s not what it was all cracked up to be.

OLYMPICS 2012: LONDON A 'GHOST TOWN'

A troubling story from India as the infrastructure has been crippled.. a major blackout occurring has left 370 million without electricity ..

And coupled with the lack of power: The lack of air conditioning or fans during a tremendously hot period of time..

A troubling story from India as the infrastructure has been crippled.. a major blackout occurring has left 370 million without electricity ..

It's garbage night in my humble abode, but it begs the question ..

I had chicken wings last week. Wednesday night. There are still some left and I am throwing them out. How long have YOU kept chicken wings?

Truly horrible story as this man, David Kwiatkowski, a former lab technician at Exeter Hospital in New Hampshire, may have infected thousands with Hepatitis C..

Still standing: America's flag is still on the moon

…or in a Arizona desert.. You be the judge.

Still standing: America's flag is still on the moon

Putin vs the punks: The world is watching how the trial of a female punk band in Russia will go..

And sadly there isn’t much hope for the punks.

Putin vs the punks: The world is watching how the trial of a female punk band in Russia will go..

A tale of two Americas

This is the world we live in..

On one side: Progress, on the other… the 1800s.

The Democratic Party had added support of gay marriage to its draft convention platform.. Keep in mind, it’s just a draft. We’ll see if they ‘go there.’

On the other hand, in Mississippi, a church has refused to marry a black couple..

This is outrageous: A writer for THE INDEPENDENT has been silenced by Twitter after NBC complained about critical tweets concerning the Olympics

There is a chilling effect here.. 
The death of the free net, perhaps? 

And remember this: Twitter and NBC formed a partnership for these Olympics. 

Think about this.. this deep about this..,

This is outrageous: A writer for THE INDEPENDENT has been silenced by Twitter after NBC complained about critical tweets concerning the Olympics

Another worthy night for Coast to Coast AM

George Knapp at the mic tonight. His topics: Possessions and exorcisms. Demons will take over late night radio. If you’re awake from 1am to 5am EDT tonight perhaps the show will be worth the scare..