With temperatures expected to be in the mid-70’s to the upper 80’s over the week, it will be perfect weather for a shakedown cruise or two...or three...or four before the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. Knowing just how crazy the ‘first’ weekend of summer can be, I will be staying as far away from our town docks and the lake as I can over that weekend. Summerfolk will be launching their boats and spending time out on the lake meaning we can expect long lines at the town docks and lots of boats to be plying the waters of Lake Winnipesaukee and the surrounding lakes.
I will limit my boating to weekdays after work, nothing new for me. I do venture out on a couple of weekends, usually when family or friends are visiting, but it isn’t enjoyable to me as I have to work a lot harder to navigate and keep us safe from the various Cap’n Boneheads out on the lake. It’s too much like work for me, just the opposite of what I want to do out there.
And so starts Boating Season 2024.
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And people wonder why I no longer fly commercial.
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What I find interesting is that we seem to see the biggest solar flares during relatively weak solar cycles. That certainly appears to be the case during the present one – Cycle 25 – which is far weaker than Cycles 20, 21, 22, and 23. (Cycle 24 was particularly weak and seemed to be the harbinger of a Grand Minimum.)
According to Space.com a new sunspot regions have formed and a solar flare was recorded.
All eyes have now shifted to the eastern limb of the sun, as a strong X2.9-class flare fired off from newly numbered sunspot region AR3685 on Wednesday (May 15).One of the biggest problems we must prepare for such solar flares is the amount of disruption they can cause to communications and electrical grids. If one with the strength of the Carrington Event back in 1859 hit Earth today, it is likely there would be global chaos as electrical grids were damaged and communications of all types were affected. Even short range radio communications could be affected which mean that Public Safety comm systems used to dispatch Fire, Police, and Emergency Medical Services could be knocked out. The truth is that we are woefully unprepared for flares of that magnitude.
Solar flares are intense bursts of electromagnetic radiation that originate from sunspots on our sun's surface. They are classified into lettered groups according to their size, with X-class flares being the most powerful. Within each of these classes, numbers from 1 to10 (and beyond for X-class flares) denote a flare's relative strength.
A shortwave radio blackout in conjunction with the latest event was reported over mostly the Atlantic Ocean and also noted across western Africa, Europe, and the central and eastern United States. A coronal mass ejection (CME) was fired off as well, but with the position of this sunspot region, it's not directed at Earth, minimizing impacts compared to what we saw with this past weekend's historic geomagnetic storms. Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center shared in a morning forecast that they've noted a few other sunspot regions visible at this time — but it's a waiting and watching game to see what happens next.
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Just when we think the Feddle Gummint couldn’t get any stupider after the debacle of the EPA’s “Navigable Waters of the US” declaration some years ago which was expanded to include farm ponds, seasonal water bogs, and puddles, it proves us wrong.
What’s the latest bit of federal stupidity we’re being exposed to this time?
A property grab in Florida that will have them seizing homeowners private property.
Why? Because the US Forestry Service has informed a number of towns which have natural springs, such as Salt Springs, Silver Glen Springs, Blue Springs, and Three Sister Springs, that leases which allow the springs to be used as a recreational area or public parks are not being renewed. That means one of the main reasons for people to visit and/or live there will no longer be available as the towns are in effect being evicted.
[A Forest Service] official said that the Forest Service plans to make the springs only accessible to light paddle craft so they can turn the entire park into a manatee refuge.There are kinds of shenanigans going on with contradictory information, misleading information, and outright obfuscation by the government which all boils down to “We don’t need to tell you anything, so shut up and get out, peasant!”
If true, this means that all residents living on the resort grounds have only months to sell their homes and move or face evictions at a financial loss.
The attempted destruction of a local tourist area and the community that supports it without any explanation is a major red flag, say locals who are upset at this act of government overreach.
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After [a] FOIA request was filed, Marion County Commissioner Carl Zalak soon repeated the government's claim on the Friends of Salt Springs Facebook page in April that the Forest Department had no plans to close the recreation area but were only banning swimming, boating, camping, and RVs, rendering it practically unusable.
Yeah, that’s going to endear the electorate to the ongoing machinations of the Federal Government. Frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me if SloJoe or WRBA are behind this. It isn’t like either one particularly likes Florida.
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Oh, what I wouldn’t give to see this!
It appears Donald Trump is going to be holding a campaign rally in the Bronx…the heart of AOC’s congressional district.
I can’t wait to find out what her reaction to that is going to be like. I figure it will be something typically clueless, stupid, or both.
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Are tacos sandwiches?
I really don’t care. They taste the same whether or not a judge declares them sandwiches.
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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee where we’ve started our boating season in earnest, the weather is likely to cooperate through most of the week, and where it’s hard to believe Memorial Day weekend is almost here.