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Author Topic: Extreme weather  (Read 111444 times)

Alan Klein

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #300 on: July 28, 2019, 01:20:51 pm »

Interesting angle on the subject. Most probably, all that substance has been transported onto the adjoining fields. I wonder how long that horse era in US cities lasted before the arrival of cars.
Compared with 200,000 horses then, today there are a million and half cars in New York, generating also a great quantity of undesirable waste, such as old oil, used tires, and all kinds of non-recyclable plastics.
The issue of horses vs. cars is an interesting one.  Horse manure spreads diseases and horses have their own unwanted problems for man.  That brings up the issue with fossil fuels.  Even if the argument about their negatives is absolutely true, we can't forget that fossil fuels have provided cheap, efficient, and readily available energy for heating and cooling and power for transportation and manufacturing.  This has allowed man to advance and be better off than before we had these fuels.  Think of all the forests that would have been ripped down for fuel had we not discovered coal and oil and natural gas?  Imagine the damage to man and beast? 

Rob C

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #301 on: July 28, 2019, 04:28:29 pm »

According to my observation, canine urine and especially from the female burns the grass. I used to have two large Bouviers de Flanders (originally of Dutch descent), and after seeing the damage they inflicted to the grass, I kept them away from my lawn. Actually, the male as one would expect, preferred the trees and fences rather then the lawn.  Smaller dogs might not be so destructive, or maybe the grass killing strength / fertilizing effect depends also on the food they eat and type of grass. 

On the other hand, human urine is actually quite beneficial to the lawn and it keeps it green. Before the feminists jump into the frey, it must be said that when it comes to watering the lawn, male urine is more effective and highly desirable. Allegedly, the scent keeps also the cougars and coyotes away from your front yard.

https://www.treehugger.com/lawn-garden/is-male-pee-better-than-female-pee-the-compost-conundrum.html

Our last two bitches were definitely untreated/unreconsctructed? bitches: the earlier one was about the size of a fox, the last one an alsabrador, which tells the tale (groan) of its own descent. They turned the lawn lushly dark and tough, even here in Spain, in the case of the big one. Being, apparently, creatures of habit, they both tended to favour the same location each time, and that concentrated devotion brough the colour into our lawn-lives. That there could well be a balance, a pH value that is critical, I know not. We never had male dogs and I wasn't, myself, much given to al fresco urinational urges - unless when we took the toboggan and kids to the local park, when the balance between pressure and possible frostbite kept me respectable.

Pee quality varies a lot, and I speak here not from a medical pov of which I know nothing, but from experience of life in a community where one of the rules is that no flushing, unless essential, take place between midnight and 8a.m. so as not to disturb light sleepers above or below one's own apartment.

What I discovered as I grew old, was that a couple of nocturnal visits to the can result in two possible morning greetings: benign lemonade or stingingly powerful beer, neither of which originate from the actual logical sources, as described, because I seldom touch them. Potent stuff, pee. Perhaps I should use a chamber pot for a while and empty it on the lawn to check the theories. However, that might result in a broken ankle, do perhaps not so clever for someone living alone, even if in the name of science.

We could perhaps start a new section on pee genres. Could prove of educational value.

:-)

LesPalenik

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #302 on: July 28, 2019, 05:36:33 pm »

Pee quality varies a lot, and I speak here not from a medical pov of which I know nothing, but from experience of life in a community where one of the rules is that no flushing, unless essential, take place between midnight and 8a.m. so as not to disturb light sleepers above or below one's own apartment.
....
We could perhaps start a new section on pee genres. Could prove of educational value.

:-)

There is a wealth of information on fertilizing the lawns and vegetable gardens with human urine. The main rule is to dilute it - at least 1:2 or even 1:10 for young plants. A family of four creates enough urine to fertilize a third of an acre. Applicable if you live in a house, problematic if you live in an apartment. You save also hundreds of gallons of clean water which would be otherwise used for flushing.

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A study out of Finland has found that plants fertilized with urine performed four times as well as nonfertilized plants and just as well as plants given commercial mineral fertilizer.

Urine is an excellent source of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and trace elements. All the right elements that are necessary in large quantities for plant growth. One litre of urine contains 11 gms of nitrogen, 1 gm of phosphorus and 2 gms of potassium. Nitrogen promotes leafy growth, phosphorus promotes root development and seed germination. Phosphorous and potassium promote fruit and flower development.

Diseases of the urinary tract contaminate urine so those with a urinary tract infection should not use their urine for fertilizer. Also, those taking antibiotics or meds should abstain, and those who consume a lot of salt should consider reducing their salt intake.

https://insteading.com/blog/human-urine-fertilizer/
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LesPalenik

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #303 on: July 30, 2019, 09:10:53 am »

In Florida, look what the Burmese python has done there in the Everglades?  98% of mammals there have been wiped out since they "escaped" into the wild.   All species change nature to some extent.  Then nature balances it off and life goes on.  Because of our short lifespan,  we can only see a very narrow window of time.  We assume what is now was always before.  So when the environment or climate changes, we immediately think negatively.  Something must be wrong.  But it's only natural processes that are evolving that we, as a member of nature, are part of too. 

The pythons made it now all the way to Toronto.



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This likely wasn't a call police officials were expecting after an approximately four foot long python snake was spotted at an Esso gas station in Toronto early Tuesday.
Police and fire officials arrived at the Esso at Victoria Park and Danforth Avenue around midnight after receiving a call that the snake was coming up from the sewer grate at the drive through location there.

https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/python-snake-found-at-toronto-esso-gas-station-victoria-park-avenue-danforth-avenue
« Last Edit: July 30, 2019, 09:44:27 am by LesPalenik »
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Alan Klein

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #304 on: July 30, 2019, 10:22:15 am »

The pythons made it now all the way to Toronto.



https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/python-snake-found-at-toronto-esso-gas-station-victoria-park-avenue-danforth-avenue

Just in time for the warm weather.  If they could vote, they'd be in favor of global warming and climate changes.  See.  I told you there were pluses. :)

RSL

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #305 on: July 30, 2019, 12:18:56 pm »

It could be worse. They could be cobras or banded kraits.
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #306 on: July 30, 2019, 01:50:22 pm »

It could be worse. They could be cobras or banded kraits.

Or more realistically, giant ticks (Hyalomma). A number of sightings have been reported in my country last month, coming in from Germany.



Our common sheep tick or dog tick (Ixodes ricinus) passively waits for a passing host at an elevated location in the vegetation. Hyalomma actively searches for hosts. The adult hyaloma-tick has a preference for large animals. Adult Hyalomma hide on the ground and actively run for a host when they perceive certain signals, including vibrations, visual signals, carbon dioxide, ammonia or body temperature. They can visually recognize the host from three to nine meters. Adult ticks can follow the host for ten minutes or more and during that time they walk a distance of up to one hundred meters.

That's not extremely fast, but actively being hunted is a bit unsettling, especially due to the potential spreading of the terrible (ebola-like) deceases they can host. Better keep moving at a reasonable walking speed, no breaks allowed.

Cheers,
Bart
« Last Edit: July 30, 2019, 01:57:39 pm by Bart_van_der_Wolf »
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RSL

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #307 on: July 30, 2019, 02:18:00 pm »

The Germans are always attacking you guys.
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LesPalenik

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #308 on: July 30, 2019, 02:28:50 pm »

A friend of mine picked up a tick just walking in park (this was in central Germany, and they have many ticks indeed). The tick must have jumped at his shoe and then it travelled inside the pant on his leg all the way up, then it burrowed into the skin just millimeters from the warmest spot on his body. Removal by hand or with tweezers was impossible, he ended up in emergency where they removed the tick surgically.

Until recently, there were hardly any ticks in Ontario, but in the last years they moved in. And as I mentioned in another post, we have here now an invasion of Japanese beetles, yesterday during my walk to the nearby marsh I saw hundreds of them just on one vine plant. They are very destructive, not only eat they all the leaves, but by doing that, they effectively kill the plants.   
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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #309 on: July 30, 2019, 02:38:26 pm »

The Germans are always attacking you guys.

Well, these ticks do not carry permits, so they are not German citizens, and probably illegal ...

Cheers,
Bart
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Peter McLennan

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #310 on: July 30, 2019, 02:47:43 pm »

Hey, Alan.  Wanna guess what the Apex Predator of humans is?  The organism of which we should be most afraid?  It's one of the species most likely to "benefit" (as you love to call it) from global warming?


Mosquitoes are our apex predator, the deadliest hunter of human beings on the planet. A swarming army of 100 trillion or more mosquitoes patrols nearly every inch of the globe, killing about 700,000 people annually. Researchers suggest that mosquitoes may have killed nearly half of the 108 billion humans who have ever lived across our 200,000-year or more existence.

Paywall:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/27/opinion/sunday/mosquitoes-malaria-zika-history.html


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RSL

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #311 on: July 30, 2019, 03:38:29 pm »

Well, these ticks do not carry permits, so they are not German citizens, and probably illegal ...

Cheers,
Bart

Good luck with them, Bart. I hope they'll end up like the Nazis did.

By the way, the sister of my oldest son's wife is Lynn Buller, boss of The American Book Center in Amsterdam. We used to see Lynn and her husband occasionally when they'd visit Manitou Springs, Colorado. Can't do it any longer because we're in Florida for good now.
« Last Edit: July 30, 2019, 03:54:53 pm by RSL »
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LesPalenik

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #312 on: July 30, 2019, 04:03:29 pm »

Good luck with them, Bart. I hope they'll end up like the Nazis did.

You mean, fleeing to South America?
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Alan Klein

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #313 on: July 30, 2019, 05:14:55 pm »

Hey, Alan.  Wanna guess what the Apex Predator of humans is?  The organism of which we should be most afraid?  It's one of the species most likely to "benefit" (as you love to call it) from global warming?


Mosquitoes are our apex predator, the deadliest hunter of human beings on the planet. A swarming army of 100 trillion or more mosquitoes patrols nearly every inch of the globe, killing about 700,000 people annually. Researchers suggest that mosquitoes may have killed nearly half of the 108 billion humans who have ever lived across our 200,000-year or more existence.

Paywall:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/27/opinion/sunday/mosquitoes-malaria-zika-history.html




Good for DEET manufacturers. Buy their stock. 

BAB

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #314 on: July 30, 2019, 06:54:27 pm »

While in Rome I’ve now come to understand Roman baths. They told me they most used the baths in the afternoon when the water was warm? These days it’s so hot here I would think the re enactment is in order. Heck two weeks ago I think it hit 107 !


As we say you can run but you can’t hide



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Bart_van_der_Wolf

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #315 on: July 30, 2019, 09:33:55 pm »

Good luck with them, Bart. I hope they'll end up like the Nazis did.

By the way, the sister of my oldest son's wife is Lynn Buller, boss of The American Book Center in Amsterdam. We used to see Lynn and her husband occasionally when they'd visit Manitou Springs, Colorado. Can't do it any longer because we're in Florida for good now.

Russ, I sincerely hope you can keep your heads (and property) above the rising water levels.

Cheers,
Bart
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RSL

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #316 on: July 31, 2019, 07:17:53 am »

I don't think the problem is the levels of the oceans. I think the problem may be that Florida is sinking under the weight of New Yorkers moving here to escape the tax situation up there.
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Rob C

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #317 on: July 31, 2019, 10:48:40 am »

You mean, fleeing to South America?

;-)

Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #318 on: July 31, 2019, 11:14:28 am »

You know the sky is falling when the loony-left newspaper has to fact-check the loony left (and Bart)
(emphasis mine):

Quote
“Science tells us that we have 12 years before we reach the horizon of catastrophe when it comes to our climate.”

— South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg


“Scientists are very clear we don’t have more than 10 years to get this right.”

— Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Tex.)

The scientists, however:

Quote
“Slogan writers are vague on whether they mean climate chaos will happen after 12 years, or if we have 12 years to avert it. But both are misleading,” Myles Allen, one of the lead authors, wrote in April.
Please stop saying something globally bad is going to happen in 2030,” he wrote. “Bad stuff is already happening and every half a degree of warming matters, but the IPCC does not draw a ‘planetary boundary’ at 1.5°C beyond which lie climate dragons.”

The Washington Post
https://apple.news/Avr0i5n05TcqQIbxDkQ7Ymg

LesPalenik

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Re: Extreme weather
« Reply #319 on: July 31, 2019, 10:58:36 pm »

A new study suggests China’s shift from heavy industry to a high tech service economy will cause CO2 emissions to peak well before the 2030 goal. The small cities and old industries will be still polluting in the old way, but it would be a significant step in the right direction..

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China appears on track to reach its carbon goals up to nine years earlier than planned under the Paris agreement, in a potential huge boost for efforts to tackle climate change.

The world’s biggest polluter accounts for a quarter of humanity’s emissions today, making the nation a crucial part of any efforts to avoid dangerous global warming.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2211366-china-is-on-track-to-meet-its-climate-change-goals-nine-years-early/
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