Capitol Hill Blue Forums Hot Topics & Breaking News The RoundTable RoundTable for July 31 through August 6

Historical Notes for This Week

July 31, 30 BC – Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian's forces, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to his suicide.



August 1, 1920

Mohandas Gandhi began the movement of "non-violent non-cooperation" with the British Raj (ruling colonial authority) in India. The strategy was to bring the British administrative machine to a halt by the total withdrawal of Indian popular support, both Hindu and Muslim. British-made goods were boycotted, as were schools, courts of law, and elective offices.



August 2, 1931
Albert Einstein urged all scientists to refuse military work.

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
- Albert Einstein



August 3, 1981
Nearly 13,000 of the nation’s 17,500 air traffic controllers, members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), went on strike.
The union had endorsed Ronald Reagan for president in 1980 (one of very few to do so), but Pres. Reagan said they were violating U.S. law banning strikes by federal workers, and would all be terminated unless they returned to work within 48 hours.
A Reagan Letter to Robert Poli, PATCO (Oct. 20, 1980)
Dear Mr. Poli:
I have been briefed by members of my staff as to the deplorable state of our nation's air traffic control system. They have told me that too few people working unreasonable hours with obsolete equipment has placed the nation's air travellers in unwarranted danger. In an area so clearly related to public safety the Carter administration has failed to act responsibly.
You can rest assured that if I am elected President, I will take whatever steps are necessary to provide our air traffic controllers with the most modern equipment available and to adjust staff levels and work days so that they are commensurate with achieving a maximum degree of public safety....
I pledge to you that my administration will work very closely with you to bring about a spirit of cooperation between the President and the air traffic controllers.
Sincerely,
Ronald Reagan




August 4, 1964
The Pentagon reported a second attack on U.S. Navy ships in Vietnam’s Gulf of Tonkin But there was no such activity reported at the time by the task force commander in the Gulf, Captain John J. Herrick.
One of the Navy pilots flying overhead that night was squadron commander James Stockdale, who was later captured and held as a POW by the North Vietnamese for more than seven years, and became Ross Perot's vice-presidential candidate in 1992:
"I had the best seat in the house to watch that event and our destroyers were just shooting at phantom targets — there were no PT boats there . . . There was nothing there but black water and American firepower."



August 5, 1963
The U.S., U.S.S.R. and U.K. signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty in Moscow, banning nuclear testing in the atmosphere, in space or underwater. Underground testing, however, was not prohibited. It has since been signed by more than 100 countries.



August 6th, 1945
Anniversary of Hiroshima
The United States dropped the first atomic bomb
used in warfare on Hiroshima, Japan.


An estimated 140,000 died from the immediate effects of this bomb and tens of thousands more died in subsequent years from burns and other injuries, and radiation-related illnesses. Pres. Harry Truman ordered the use of the weapon in hopes of avoiding an invasion of Japan to end the war, and the presumed casualties likely to be suffered by invading American troops.
The weapon, “Little Boy,” was delivered by a B-29 Superfortress nicknamed the Enola Gay, based on the island of Tinian, and piloted by Col. Paul W. Tibbets










Have a Great Week Everybody!

...from last week's Round Table:

Yes, accuracy is highly prized. Take for example my example of 'microclimates' being different within a mere 10 miles away.

Take your example of 'microclimate' of Lake Arrowhead and the flatlands being, say, realistically, 50 miles away.


Linky dink

Yes, accuracy can not be too over-rated.

Rick during summer especially, it can be 65 at the beach and 95 in Pasadena. We too have micro climates. Then again, it can be 120 just 100 miles away in Palm Springs.

There are lots of kinds of deserts. But the one thing they all have in common is a noted lack of humidity.
Aridity, in fact, is one of the defining features of a "desert".
Linkie Dinkie Doodledy Doo

...and the effects of importing massive quantities water into said desert, not to mention holding vast amounts of water (reservoirs, swimming pools, artificial "lakes"), are?

One's definition of "small" my vary...

The effects are evaporating water into the dry air. Does this make the desert "humid"? Nope. It's still a desert it still has little to no humidity.

Now, you want some humidity come on down here to Florid-ugh. Where you can drown just by breathing the air or suffocate if you stand in one place too long.

Not really sure what the point here is, but I am a bit of a geek on physical phenomena.

Relative humidity forecast tomorrow noon:

Phoenix- 37%
Las Vegas- 43%
San Francisco- 80%

'
My hygrometer says that the humidity is 65% in Victoria, but the temperature is a very pleasant 26° C (which I think is about 80° F in the obsolete system still used in certain backward regions of the world).

The humid feel of the atmosphere is relative to the temperature, hence the term "relative humidity". The capacity of air to hold moisture goes up with the temperature and down with the temperature. To compare relative humidity levels between localalities, it is best to do so either at the same temperature, or at the warmest part of the day.

When the relative humidity is low, water evaporates more quickly. When water evaporates, or changes from a liquid state to a vapor, it absorbs a great deal of energy. To raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius requires the addition of one calorie of energy. To change water to vapor, without raising its temperature, requires 540 calories. This is why evaporating water cools things off.

The human body cools itself by sweating, which requires that the sweat evaporates and removes heat from the body at the 540 calories per gram rate. If the relative humidity is high, the rate of evaporation is lessened, and one feels uncomfortably warm, being unable to transfer heat quickly and efficiently to the atmosphere. This is also why swamp coolers don't work well when the relative humidity is high.

Bored yet?