Open Thread - Thurs - 18 Dec 2025 - Weather Comes, Weather Goes - Hopefully
Weather Comes, Weather Goes - Hopefully
It's been kinda insane where I live, recently. The Wind! The Rain! The Floods! We lost access to the internet a few times, and lost power as well. Monday afternoon/night, after we lost power, our weather station (which has battery backup and can store data without mains power for about 24 hours or more) recorded wind gusts of 42 mph. And that is basically a record at the farm. Even the neighbor's cows don't make wind gusts that strong! 
So, I'm posting this quickly, because the forecasters say we are going to get another round of wind and rain tonight. It's not supposed to be 'as bad', so there's that, but we are hunkering down expecting to have no power or internet regardless.
The Essex and the Whale, as drawn by Thomas Nickerson, one of the surviving sailors - Public Domain, Link
During the power outages I found myself reading voraciously, as there was nothing else to do. One of the books I read was about the Nantucket whaleship, the Essex (wikipedia link). The book is In the Heart of the Sea (2000) by Nathaniel Philbrick, (A movie was made from it as well, by Ron Howard (2015) but I've not seen that). Anyway, It was really strange sitting in the dark, reading by flickering lamplight, listening to the roar of the wind and the rain, with heavy pieces of metal or wood siding and falling trees flying around like kites, the house shaking and windows rattling (more than rattling) with every wind burst, and more. It was like nature was making terrifying sounds to go along with the terrifying book I was reading. All I gotta say is, even though I was a huge fan of Hornblower type novels as a teen, I never, ever realized what it is/was like to sail in a wooden vessel after whales. And, even though it's horrible, it's also kind of interesting that sometimes the whales fought back!
Another Christmas Song
This song has been a Christmastime hit in Britain since it was released. It's by one of my favorite bands, telling the 'Fairytale of New York'. Go Pogues!
Ok, here's the open thread! What's up, whatcha doing? Reading? Thinking? Listening to? What do those of you with ship/ocean experience think about the Essex? Remember, everything is interesting if you dive deep enough, so tell us about where you're diving!
Comments
Happy Thursday!
We had a good day yesterday, until dark. Then it got windy again. Fun stuff! Hope everything is going good where you are! Let us know!
I'm sorry I missed everything over the last week or so, I'm catching up now. As I said, it's been kinda tough with weather, and adding to that some family stress (It's Christmas, that's supposed to happen, right?), and more. But, I just wanna say I'm glad to see JTC back! And, unless the weather stops it, I WILL be able to actually respond to comments on this post. Thank you!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Hey, good morning
.
glad to hear you have survived the storms so far
it sounds a bit hairy
Read the Essex novel a few years back, being interested in
maritime history. The biggest takeaway for me was how the
mate made really bad decisions to head west in the lifeboat
rather than heading east to Chile after being attacked by the whale.
Against currents and a further distance to boot. Not smart. Plus he
lost more crew in the process. Ah well. The path of least resistance
is usually better in my experience. 50,000 nautical miles teaches
one certain lessons.
Thanks for the OT!
Zionism is a social disease
Good morning...
Look like y'all are still in an atmospheric river. Keep the hatches battened.
Little battery power stations sure are handy during outages. I bought a small one recently for $150. I also have a larger one down by the freezer and floor heat system. Fortunately it has been awhile since we had a long outage.
Keep your head down and weather the storms! Thanks for the OT.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning, sima!
So sorry about the power outages and damage to buildings! We are very familiar with them, as there are thousands of mile of high lines through the National Forest, and all it takes to go dark is for that one tree to fall across that one line.I have hd an interesting week. We discovered a former husband had taken $168,000 from his wife's retirement funds, and another client forgot to mention that the cause of the breakup of his marriage was that he had gotten a gf pregnant. That would have been nice for me to know ahead of mediation.
I gotta go to court to sign a plea bargain agreement to keep my guy out of prison for trying to strangle his wife.
Just so you know, JtC and I only argue about whether or not I overcooked the pork chops, and it doesn't come to blows, and fwiw, no local young women have been provided a baby JtC.
Thanks for the OT, chica!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Such an interesting occupation you fulfill
.
too much drama for me
you could probably write a book
on the vagaries of human behavior
would be a fun read titled
"Legal Life in a small Texas town"
or some such ..
Maine state of mind.
Zionism is a social disease
I get asked all the time
to write a book. I might do it before I kick the bucket.
People are strange, as the song sez...
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
yup
.
still working on the story of my life,
hopefully (with illustrations)
to drive-home the point.
Good luck!
Zionism is a social disease
We kept power
throughout the windstorm, so that is a good thing. They even shut down DIA for a while at the peak of it, so that was downright breezy even halfway to Kansas.
Officially, DIA's highest wind gust was 58. But just couple miles west of there, at Rocky Flats, a gust of 106 was recorded. They often underreport wind strength at the airport, to keep the airlines happy- everybody already knows that flying into Denver is a turbulencepalooza even on a clear, still day. So, your guess is as good as mine.
The biggest effect locally was that all the snow-melt salt blew off the sidewalks. Made it look like somebody took a broom to them overnight. And there's a pile of leaves about 3 inches deep at our front door, which is in a little alcove here at the apartment complex. Funny...
High of 48 today, and back up into the upper 60s and even low 70s for the rest of the week. Winter in the Rockies- it is going to hurt, once it finally gets here...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Extremes is what we seem to hear
.
rhymes with New Orleans, memes and dreams.
Just for the 'political' themes,
something scrambling into the cranial cavity this AM
International law, foundations and norms are a sham today.
Between the EU attempting to steal Russian assets, US flexing
military dominance in the Caribbean and Israel destroying the concept
of peace in the middle east, we have entered into a civilizational unbalance.
While billionaires load space with cosmic debris, earth bound populations
suffer from scarcity and climate upheaval. What kind of deal is this? Not good
for the masses, for sure. What can a humble dweller do to improve our lot?
Perhaps an internal resolve is the best reaction to circumstances.
Worthy of consideration perhaps. Weigh-in if you care to.
Q
Zionism is a social disease