Larry’s Comments (group member since Nov 23, 2020)

Larry’s comments from the Nonfiction Reading - Only the Best group.

John wrote: "Larry wrote: "This morning’s track shows Idalia as a Cat3 hurricane before it slams into the Gulf Coast of Florida. Not good at all."

It is set to arrive here on Wednesday. Tropical Storm conditio..."

John, I think you are smart about this.

Ron wrote: "Thanks Larry. I sure hope so. I must get A's in these classes otherwise I'll flunk out. I don't have high hopes because I've been nothing but a C/B student my whole life.

*****

Thanks, Carol.

Ye..."

Ron, talk with the professors right at the beginning ... definitely in the first week. Explain that you are not asking for anything that you don't earn, but you just really want and need to do your best.

Ron, it's great that you are starting school again. I bet you'll be a great student in those two classes.

This morning’s track shows Idalia as a Cat3 hurricane before it slams into the Gulf Coast of Florida. Not good at all.

The MyRadar basic app for my iPhone is free but there is an additional charge for Hurricane tracking. It's worth it.

When Katrina and the other two big hurricanes hit, I was division director at USDA that had all the satellite imagery specialists. That was not the primary purpose for those specialists. They did monthly projections for country/world production for wheat, corn, rice, etc. As director, I did little other than make sure they had what they needed, satellite time, etc. but it was pretty interesting.

One of the most interesting things of that division was that one of my employees had the highest security clearance of anyone in USDA ... higher than the security clearance for the Secretary of Agriculture. On most days, I knew in general terms what he was doing ... :-)

I also look at the National Hurricane Center daily on my desktop. Here's its page for Idalia.

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at5...

Larry wrote: "John wrote: "Apparently a hurricane is forming in the Gulf and has Florida under a warning. I think, unfortunately, we are headed for an active season with some very strong ones.

From what a frien..."

That storm has now been named Idalia ... in recent years, hurricanes have strengthened more rapidly than in the past due to the warming of the Gulf. We'll see how this one develops. This time of year, I check MyRadar on my iPhone about four times a day for both local weather and also for a look at how hurricanes are developing. The projections are that Idalia tops out as a Cat 1 hurricane. We'll see.

John wrote: "The battleship USS North Carolina is docked as a museum ship on the Cape Fear River. It is on my side of the river with the old waterfront of Wilmington on the other side. When you head out to sea ..."

John, I think you are wise to live where you are and not on Oak Island.

Carol wrote: "The name 'Cape Fear River' doesn't exactly give you a sense of security so I looked it up. Evidently there are more than 2,000 shipwrecks off the North Carolina Outer Banks and it is called the Gra..."

The area off the Outer Banks was a prime area for U-Boats to hunt for easy Allied shipping targets. Some of the shipwrecks go back for centuries and some just back to World War II.

John wrote: "Apparently a hurricane is forming in the Gulf and has Florida under a warning. I think, unfortunately, we are headed for an active season with some very strong ones.

From what a friend told me who..."

And there is a major hurricane out in the Atlantic that looks like it won't hit anything. But seriously, this hurricane season is really starting up now.

John wrote: "Cynda wrote: "As you know, I live on the coast too. Have most of my life. So yes electrical surges do that from time to time. I have unplugged and plugged washer & dryers before.

Before surge str..."

John,

We have a "hurricane radio with solar charging and a hand crank that will provide about a 15 minute charge after cranking for a minute. But I'm not sure we're really ready for a major hurricane. Washington, DC is enough inland so that we probably won't get major winds. A few years back our whole lost power for three days ... and that affected water pumping stations.

It would be very unclear at first.

Carol, I really think it’s time for the women’s football teams to move ahead on their own in an alternative to FIFA organization. They have been abused in big and small ways forever.

Carol, when I check the Amazon.UK site I see a Kindle copy listed for 4.99 pounds ... even better that the Amazon.USA price of $12.99.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghost-Map-St...

Pierre and Culton can lead a discussion of this book in this thread.

Two votes for FLAWLESS THINGS and two votes for THE GHOST MAP. I'll exercise my prerogative as Moderator to choose The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World as the winner. I'll also set up a Buddy Read for FLAWLESS THINGS so that Pierre and Culton can lead a discussion about this book there.

It hasn't been an acute problem for my wife, Cynda, but we had to stop walking for about a month because of the air quality problems in the DC area ... mainly due to the forest fire in Canada. She's had asthma problems all of her life, and we need to be careful. The air has been much better recently and we're walking again.

Jakub, we live in a magical time, where you can see all those old fights so easily.

I'll be praying for you every day, Cynda.

Ali's early childhood was so interesting. And for that matter, Kentucky in those days was fascinating also. Blacks could vote, but segregation in a "kinder way" than in the Deep South still ruled.