Friday, August 05, 2011

Live-Blogging ABQ Storms - 08/05/11

The band of humid air is now fairly-narrow. Let's see if it can be made to rain out.

(1:00 PDT) First gust front of the day travels down the slopes of Mt. Taylor onto the Laguna Reservation.

(1:30 p.m. PDT) That gust front helps vivify a storm cell near San Ysidro.

(2:15 p.m. PDT) At northern end of gust front, Zia storm moving into Jemez. At southern end, cells are trying to ride the outflow boundary, south of Highway 6. meanwhile, the weakened front itself arrives in the ABQ area.

(2:55 p.m. PDT) What's this? Thunderstorms heading east, in concert, and currently cresting over Mt. Taylor.

(3:20 p.m. PDT) Thunderstorm wall breaks into two parts. Southern wall collapsing, and gust front is shooting ahead eastwards near Highway 6.

(4:30 p.m. PDT) Gust front arrives in South Valley. Storms make an advance. Small cells appear south of Airport, and in Rio Rancho.

(4:45 p.m. PDT) The collapse of the northern wall near Mt. Taylor earlier sent another gust front eastwards, which is moving across the southern flank of the Jemez, and helping the Rio Rancho storm strengthen as it now moves into the Rio Grande Valley. The Airport storm moved into the Manzanos, where it strengthened due to orographic effects.

(5:45 p.m. PDT) Multiple weak gust fronts: easterly, near Canoncito, westerly along Rio Grande River, south-westerly, in Rio Rancho. Approaching rain from the west weakening; rain on east side of Sandias, Manzanos strengthening, as it heads east.

(6:30 p.m. PDT) Gust fronts passed through each other near the Volcanoes (or at least that's what it looked like on radar).

Tumbling Back Into The Canyon Of Doom



I never understood how we climbed back out of the 2009 Canyon of Doom. With the debt deal done and spending being ratcheted back at Republican insistence, and Europe shaking too, investors can see very plainly that the economic future looks like a vast wasteland. Their reaction is rational.

Thursday, August 04, 2011

Shopping Cart

I drove into the left-turn lane on Fruitridge, intending to turn left onto Franklin Blvd. Just then, I noticed the Homeless Lady and her shopping cart. Somehow, it had toppled off the sidewalk, dumping all her worldly goods into the gutter on Fruitridge. She was struggling with putting the shopping cart back onto the sidewalk, and retrieving her possessions.

It's a rather long light there at that intersection, so I had a long time with which to watch the Homeless Lady. She could see me watching her, so she looked back at me. So I looked back at her. I wanted to help, but I could scarcely leave the vehicle sitting there in the left turn lane. So I watched her as she watched me and struggled with the shopping cart.

Longest red light in the world.

Live-Blogging ABQ Storms - 08/04/11

I was watching the 'Weather Channel' last night, and I noticed they preferred the terminology 'outflow boundary' to 'gust front'. Either works for me.

(2:40 p.m. PDT) The strip of humid air from Mexico is rather narrow now, and in danger of being interrupted (though not for long; there's more in the deserts of eastern Mexico). There is a stronger likelihood of storms along the edges of this humid strip, and, in fact, there are storms there now: NW NM (it's raining near Window Rock and points north); and along a line from Deming to Tucumcari (with storms near Vaughn and San Andres Mts., plus Ruidoso).

Near, ABQ, it looks like a SSW kind of day. Storms are hugging the mountains at the instant.

(3:20 p.m. PDT) Turning into a westerly day. First gust front evident out on the Laguna Rez, heading east, along with its storm.

(4:45 p.m. PDT) Persistent little storm on the northern flank of the Ladrones, but elsewhere, everything looks like it's collapsing.

(5:00 p.m. PDT) Storms by the Ladrones; storms near Dalies & Hwy 6 - everything heading east. Good orographic precipitation on the west side of the Sierra Nacimiento and into the Jemez, near Cuba.

Albuquerque "Landspout"

Video: Albuquerque land spout: krqe.com



I wondered why the NWS yesterday briefly put a 'watch box' on what appeared to be a benign location in the ABQ area. I squinted at the screen, but saw no hook echo.

Still, the media have to be careful. Landspouts can throw things around too. The attitude of 'don't trouble your pretty little head, it's just a landspout' strikes me as complacent.

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Live-Blogging ABQ Storms - 08/03/11 - A Watched Pot Does Not Boil!

This morning started off as a SSW kind of day, with lots of activity towards Alamo. I wondered whether that super-massive MCC in Colorado yesterday had warped the fabric of space-time enough to squeeze out a few drops today for ABQ.

(3:25 p.m. PDT) Wow! Looks promising! Big gust front racing down into the Rio Grande Valley and heading towards Acoma from the collapsing cell at the Socorro/Valencia Co. line. Looks like a bomb went off! Powerful storm cells on ABQ's SE and SW sides. It may even be raining at the Airport. But is it enough? The SW cell is fading....

Looks like the SE cell is raining even harder as it moves into the Sandias.

(3:45 p.m. PDT) Maybe that gust front triggered a cell at the Bernalillo Co. line, just south of I-40.

(4:10 p.m. PDT) Raining nicely in Socorro, and in the Pecos Wilderness Area. Some rain out in Rio Rancho too. That little cell on the Bernalillo Co. line looks like it's crossing I-40 and heading towards Rio Rancho.

(4:30 p.m. PDT) Socorro storms moving north. Storms moving onto Santa Ana Pueblo land north of Bernalillo. Signs of renewed activity along Highway 6 SW of ABQ. Albuquerque may get another round of rain!

(4:40 p.m. PDT) Gust front blasting west from collapsing Socorro/Polvadera storm.

Looks interesting on ABQ's SW side!

(5:25 p.m. PDT) SW storms weakening, but coming on in to ABQ's southern periphery.

(10:30 p.m. PDT) Looks like it rained a little bit....

RIP, Henry Bobo

A fine, gentle man. He will be missed.

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Justin From "Guys And Dolls" Says Hi!



And here's a little Luther-Burbank-High-School-neighborhood something from the Justin and Nate at The Panda Vlog.

Kelsey B - Indie Dance Pop Music Revealed - Part 2



Here is the second part of Kelsey's interview....

Looking forward to her Dub Step album, coming out next month!

Trolling For Votes For Arby's Sandwich Commercial Contest

J.: You've got to get as many votes as possible!

M.: Do I HAVE to?

J.: The prize is $5,000.00! Is there something about GETTING PAID that is too hard to comprehend?

M.: I've been in community theater too long to understand that concept.

(The appropriate link to vote is here, on page 10, somewhere.)



Live-Blogging ABQ Storms - 08/02/11

(2:00 p.m.) Some rain around the Sandias. Some rain is spreading down Tijeras Arroyo into the Rio Grande Valley, but most of action is heading north near Placitas.

(4:30 p.m. PDT) Storm sweeping east to west along the southern flank of the Jemez Mountains.

(6:40 p.m. PDT) Massive gust front from the storms near Cabezon blasting its way SE! It's nearly reached ABQ!

(7:00 p.m. PDT) That massive gust front cause flare-ups of two storms along the Bernalillo/Sandoval Co. Boundary, west of Rio Rancho. and now it is being joined by a second gust front radiating away from collapsing storms on the SE flank of Mt. Taylor. Not sure where this will lead, but it's interesting.

The big action today was in SE Colorado/NE NM. Quite stormy in NE NM.

Indeed, there are storms approaching the Sandias from the NE now, but it's unclear if they will come into the Rio Grande Valley.

(7:40 p.m. PDT) Oooh! The gust front reached the NE Heights, and there's a struggling storm cell there. Maybe it will help!

And that storm east of the Sandias looks like it might just reach ABQ. It's sure raining out towards Glorieta! The way it's extending SW, that action looks like frontal action!

So, maybe, with a little gust front help.......

(11:10 p.m. PDT) A rare day in Torrance County - very wet!

A massive gust front blew eastward from the Sandias a short time ago, sweeping right across the entire city, and out onto the West Mesa. But not much, if any rain, at least, not yet.

A Simple Failure To Understand What Was Going On

The crash of AF 447 looks like an epic fail on the part of the pilots. They just didn't *get* what was going on! Pilot training looks seriously, seriously deficient. And if it happened once, it WILL happen again!

Depend on it: pitot tubes WILL ice up flying through thunderstorms, and sometimes, like at the ITCZ, which AF 447 was flying through when it ran into trouble, pilots have no choice but to fly through thunderstorms.:
The investigation confirmed that the failure of speed sensors, called pitot tubes, which froze up and failed had set off a catastrophic chain of events. The report said the pilots lacked training to deal with this situation.

...Bonin was at the controls when the speed sensors failed. When the autopilot reacted to the confused readings by disconnecting itself and handing control of the plane to the pilot, he reportedly hauled the aircraft up to 37,500ft in an apparent attempt to slow it down. As a consequence the A330's stall warning sounded, meaning that the plane's aerodynamics were not generating enough lift even though its twin engines were working normally.

Robert, Bonin's co-pilot at the time, supposedly check-listing the emergency procedures, lost precious seconds calling the captain and failed to correct his colleague's error as the plane plunged towards the sea, said the report. Dubois had returned to the cockpit seconds before the crash but was unable to save the situation as it hit the Atlantic belly first.

A French pilot told Le Figaro newspaper: "This manoeuvre (the pulling up of the plane) is totally incomprehensible. My colleague must have panicked."

The BEA has produced safety recommendations including extra training on how to manually fly planes, including approaches to and recovering from a stall particularly at high altitudes. It also suggests planes be fitted with new video flight recorders and emergency data transmitters.

Groovy Vesta

Looks like an interesting place:

Vesta's southern section is dominated by a giant crater, the result of a collision eons ago that's believed to have pelted Earth with numerous meteorites, or broken off pieces of asteroids. The northern side is filled with older craters including three that scientists dubbed "Snowman."

Vesta is "so rich in features" that it will keep scientists busy for years, said Holger Sierks, of the Max Planck Society in Germany, who helps operate the camera.

Borderline

Left: Piggy banks for sale at the Pavilions branch of Borders Book Store.


Even though I have more books to read than I know what to do with, the closing of Borders presents a unique opportunity. So, off to the book store!






Titles purchased tonight:

  • "Diaghilev - A Life": Sjeng Scheijen
  • "The Oxford Book Of Modern Science Writing": Richard Dawkins
  • "Do Sparrows Like Bach? The Strange And Wonderful Things That Are Discovered When Scientists Break Free": The Editors of New Scientist
  • "The Wind Doesn't Need A Passport. Stories From The U.S.-Mexico Borderlands": Tyche Hendricks
  • "Field Guide To California Agriculture": Paul Starrs and Peter Goin
  • "Field Guide To Marine Mammals Of The Pacific Coast": Sarah Allen, Joe Mortenson, and Sophie Webb

Monday, August 01, 2011

Live-Blogging ABQ Storms - 08/01/11

(1:50 p.m. PDT) Looks like a westerly/southwesterly day. Nice big storms in that direction, but will they approach ABQ?

(2:15 p.m. PDT) Great-looking gust front blasting a circular area out near Acoma from a collapsing thunderstorm cell.

(2:40 p.m. PDT) Second gust front from storm west of Dalies merges with previous gust front, and that combined front is racing east to the Rio Grande Valley. Not causing anything specific, but it's interesting that the combined front is there.

(3:00 p.m. PDT) First sign of convection at crest of West Mesa just south of I-40, just before the gust front arrives.

(4:50 p.m. PDT) Collapsing storms south of San Ysidro and along the southern flank of the Jemez push a gust front south, completely across Albuquerque. But will it rain, or not?

2011 Teen Dessert Cabaret - DMTC

Relied on the backup camera for these shots. I purchased a new camera, but I haven't had time to unpack it yet.

Will F. & Brian S.

'Brush Up Your Shakespeare' from "Kiss Me Kate" - Hugo F., Tomas E., and Will F.

'What Is This Feeling?' from "Wicked" - Ana C. & Moriah H.

'Take Me Or Leave Me' from "Rent" -Kevin D. and Kendyl I.



'Officer Krupke' from "West Side Story" - Horace G., Devin D., Kevin D., Hugo F., and Tomas E.

Petra F.

Below:'Mama, I'm A Big Girl Now' from "Hairspray" - Ana C. and Kendyl I.






'King Of New York' from "Newsies" - Will F., Devin D., Tomas E., Hugo F., Kevin D., Horace F., Brian S.

A series of shots with Petra F., Cooper J., and M. E. Price.










The Perfect Combination Of Stupid And Evil

Like Atrios says, this debt ceiling deal is "the perfect combination of stupid and evil." Obama is the Republicans' bitch now. No guts; no glory.

Unfortunately, this complete cave was evident many months ago. The Republicans instinctively understood that they could press as hard as they could without any significant consequences. For them, anyway. And they'll do it again, too, on whatever next big issue comes up. Because, it works! And they'll get away with it then too, because no one stops them.

Unfortunately, these cuts will be so large that there will be noticeable consequences from them. The economy will take a massive hit. It'll be a replay of 1937 all over again. And completely unnecessary too.

We live in an evil world led by cowards and knaves. Liberals need to be aware!

Jokes At Applebee's

I have a terrible memory for jokes (which may impair me on my planned career move to stand-up comic). Nevertheless, Jenny seems to have an inexhaustible memory for childish jokes (gained, no doubt, from all those years attending and leading cheerleading camp):
Q.: What do you call someone else's cheese?

A.: Nacho cheese.