3 Maiden Voyages, 2 Wars, 2 Trials, 1 New Town April 12, 2009

First Man In Space 48 years ago

RMS Titanic Left Port 97 Years Ago

This Date In History: Lets see…a little thing like the Civil War started with the firing on Ft. Sumnter by South Carolina rebels on this date in 1861. Not sure why more people dont remember this. The Titanic left port on this date in 1912. (For More Titanic details and photos click here) I still don’t think Leonardo DiCaprio should have been allowed on board. FDR died during his 4th term as President on this date in 1945. Truman took over, Hitler committed suicide a few days later and the Germans surrendered in early May.

John Young & Robert Crippen

  Not long after the war ended, the Constitution was amended so no one could serve as President could serve more than two consecutive terms. Methinks it was an attempt by Congress to curb the power of the Presidency, or even, the power of any given person. The people in the states when along with it so…Oh yes…on this date in 1922, Fatty Arbuckle got acquitted in a very sordid Hollywood legal case…the details would might even make Madonna blush. On This Date in 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. Twenty years later, on this date in 1981, the Americans launched the first space shuttle (Columbia) with Robert Crippen and John Young doing the honors. 

Galileo Guilty of the Truth!

One bit of warning reading this…try not to act too smart even though you know you are right…on this date in 1633, the inquisition of Galileo was begun. When it was all over with a few months later, he was convicted of…heresy!! He said the earth revolved around the sun. He agreed not to do it any more and spent the rest of his life in house arrest. The church finally admitted they made a small mistake and Galileo was correct…they made that admission 300 years later. Better late than never, I suppose. 

George Rapp had this idea of building the perfect, harmonious society and he began by building Harmony, Indiana just northwest of Evansville.  The Harmonists were pretty successful financially and spiritually, though Rapp’s teaching was a bit odd at times.  When his predicted Second Coming didn’t materialize in 1829, he simply announced a 

Not Sure of the Harmony in New Harmony Church Moving

postponement.  By that time he had sold Harmony and established a new town, Economy, in Pennsylvania.  Harmony was sold in 1825 to industrialist Robert Owen who renamed it New Harmony and tried to make it the perfect communal environment.  This attracted a partner, William Maclure who arrived on this date in 1826 with other reformers, scientists and educators on the ship the “Boatload of Knowledge.”  These guys, including  Stedman Whitwell, came with their own ideas of paradise.  Owens had promised equality for all, as long as you were white, and strove for universal happiness.  Whitwell was bent out of shape for towns being named for someone else…like Washington!  He proposed that every town be given a name in which the letters represented it’s latitude and longitude.  New York would be Otke Notive and Washington DC would be Felli Nyvul.  I guess the folks in New Harmony didn’t buy what he was selling because they didn’t change the name to Ipba Venul.  And he’s not the only one that failed.  The town itself failed within two years as the communal living of New Harmony found problems.  See, the industrious weren’t too happy with the lazy because only part of the people were doing all of the work. And the lazy weren’t  happy because they were being forced to work.  Not exactly “universal happiness.”  If you ever  wondered why it is that communist societies almost exclusively have been under some sort of authoritarian regime, this is a great example.   It’s something Karl Marx didn’t tell you about and it’s why communism is fading from the world stage. 

You can still visit New Harmony today and they have all sorts of restored buildings and such.  The above picture is what Whitwell imagined as his perfect city.  I’m not sure if the walls were intended to keep people intruders out or to keep the people in. 

Here’s a link to a website telling you more about New Harmony, Indiana. 

http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/kade/newharmony/home.html 

Mon 8am to Tue 8am

Weather Bottom Line:  Happy Easter.  Great weather for the day and I hope that those of you of the Christian Faith remember the reason for the day.  And for everyone, I hope you enjoy the great weather and sunshine with highs in the mid 60′s. 

Monday and Tuesday there is a high probability of rain.  The question remains how rambunctious it will be.  There is a bit more consensus coming about.  First off, both the GFS and NAM advertise between 2.2 and 2.5 inches of rain for Monday and Tuesday.  The NAM still is comfortable with just some thunderstorms and the GFS has backed off a bit.  It’s got strong veering early on but its before the precip starts and then when it does rain, it calls for strong thunderstorms Monday afternoon and evening with a way diminished tornado threat from previous runs.  Guess here remains for a few strong storms with gusty winds and perhaps some hail and then a goodly amount of rain. Wouldn’t be surprised to see the boys at the SPC revise the outlook.  Hopefully, the GFS is wrong about next Saturday as it is a little aggressive for the afternoon of Thunder Over Louisville. It’s a long way out and things can change. 

   DAY 3 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK RESENT 1
   NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
   0925 AM CDT SAT APR 11 2009
  
   VALID 131200Z – 141200Z
  
   …THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS ACROSS MUCH OF THE ERN U.S.
   FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO TO THE LOWER OH VALLEY…
  
   …ERN U.S…
  
   ECMWF/GFS/NAM ARE IN GENERAL AGREEMENT THAT UPPER LOW WILL MOVE EAST
   ACROSS MO INTO SRN IL BY THE END OF THE PERIOD.  STRONGEST MID-HIGH
   LEVEL FLOW WILL EXTEND ACROSS THE GULF STATES INTO THE CAROLINAS
   WHICH WILL LIKELY CONTRIBUTE TO A PROGRESSIVE MCS THAT SHOULD SPREAD
   FROM THE MS/AL BORDER AT SUNRISE TO THE ATLANTIC COAST DURING THE
   OVERNIGHT HOURS.  SEVERITY OF THIS MCS WILL BE MODULATED BY THE
   INFLUX OF MARITIME TROPICAL AIR ACROSS THE SRN U.S.  IT APPEARS THE
   GREATEST INSTABILITY WILL HOLD WITHIN 100-150 MI OF THE
   COAST…PRIMARILY DUE TO EXTENSIVE CLOUDS/PRECIPITATION AND WEDGE
   FRONT THAT WILL BE LOCKED IN PLACE JUST SOUTH OF THE HIGHER TERRAIN
   OF GA/SC.
  
   FARTHER NORTH…IN THE WAKE OF EARLY MORNING MCS IT APPEARS A NARROW
   AXIS OF MOISTURE WILL SURGE NORTH AHEAD OF COLD FRONT/SFC LOW INTO
   THE LOWER OH VALLEY REGION FROM SRN IL INTO SRN IND.  MODELS INSIST
   THAT BOUNDARY LAYER HEATING WILL BE MAXIMIZED FROM NERN LA/WRN MS
   INTO SRN IL WHICH SHOULD RESULT IN MORE THAN ADEQUATE INSTABILITY
   FOR CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT BY EARLY AFTERNOON…ESPECIALLY IF
   MID-UPPER 50S DEW POINTS CAN UNDERCUT H5 TEMPERATURES NEAR -20C.
   SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS…POSSIBLY SUPERCELLULAR IN NATURE…WILL
   LIKELY EVOLVE IN THE HEAT OF THE DAY ALONG ADVANCING COLD FRONT FROM
   WRN MS INTO SRN IL BEFORE SPREADING ACROSS THE NRN GULF STATES/TN
   VALLEY/LOWER OH VALLEY REGION AND WEAKENING LATE IN THE EVENING.
  
   ..DARROW.. 04/11/2009 

http://alphainventions.com/ 

alphainventions

No Harmony and No Bike January 2, 2009

Historical Marker

On This Date In History: George Rapp had this idea of building the perfect, harmonious society and he began by building Harmony, Indiana just northwest of Evansville.  The Harmonists were pretty successful financially and spiritually, though Rapp’s teaching was a bit odd at times.  When his predicted Second Coming didn’t materialize in 1829, he simply announced a postponement. 

R.D. Owen, son of Robert Owen

By that time he had sold Harmony and established a new town, Economy, in Pennsylvania.  Harmony was sold in 1825 to industrialist Robert Owen who renamed it New Harmony and tried to make it the perfect communal environment.  This attracted a partner, William Maclure who arrived on April 12, 1826 with other reformers, scientists and educators on the ship the “Boatload of Knowledge.”  These guys, including

I Doubt if New Harmony Ever Looked Like This

Stedman Whitwell, came with their own ideas of paradise.  Whitewell was an architect and social reformer who had the great idea of changing every city’s name.  Owens had promised equality for all, as long as you were white, and strove for universal happiness.  Whitwell was bent out of shape for towns being named for someone else…like Washington!  He proposed that every town be given a name in which the letters represented it’s latitude and longitude.  New York would be Otke Notive and Washington DC would be Felli Nyvul.  I guess the folks in New Harmony didn’t buy what he was selling because they didn’t change the name to Ipba Venul.  And he’s not the only one that failed. 

Everyone Got Along Better in New Harmony by 1895

The town itself failed within two years as the communal living of New Harmony found problems.  See, the industrious weren’t too happy with the lazy because only part of the people were doing all of the work. And the lazy weren’t  happy because they were being forced to work.  Not exactly “universal happiness.”  If you ever  wondered why it is that communist societies almost exclusively have been under some sort of authoritarian regime, this is a great example.   It’s something Karl Marx didn’t tell you about and it’s why communism is fading from the world stage.

You can still visit New Harmony today and they have all sorts of restored buildings and such.  The above picture is what Whitwell imagined as his perfect city.  I’m not sure if the walls were intended to keep people intruders out or to keep the people in.

Here’s a link to a website telling you more about New Harmony, Indiana.

http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/kade/newharmony/home.html

Practice what you Preach:  So, a city commissioner of Fort Lauderdale pushed for reforms to prevent bicycle theft.  Tim Smith must have been a bike enthusiast and was trying to help his fellow bikers.  Last Monday, he was cycling along when he came upon an auto accident and stopped to render assistance.  When he returned, his bike was gone.  When he went to the authorities, he revealed that his bike was, in fact, not registered.  Here’s the story of the man who sounds like he’s ready for Congress so he can pass laws for others to follow.

Weather Bottom Line:  So, we had a nice day of recovery for New Year’s Day.  On New Year’s Eve, Snow White and I were at a small party when at midnight, I thought I heard someone banging at the window numerous times.  The window was rattling.  Turns out it wasn’t a reveler coming over to help celebrate…no…it was a neighbor firing off his 9 mm. pistol numerous times.  We did not go outside to bang pots and pans. 

GFS 12Z Wednesday

Now, the nearterm forecast holds true as we warm up this weekend with a rainy Sunday.  It’s

NOGAPS 12Z Wed

not out of the question that we push the mid to upper 50′s if we get some breaks in the rain.  Rumble of thunder or two won’t be too far fetched if that happens.  Anyway, the real story for me is the middle of next week.  The GFS has kinda gone back to its older solution which is rain on Tuesday turning to snow on Wednesday as an area of low pressure swings out of the Rockies into Texas and then around and up our way from the southwest.  This pattern is the one that gives us the best chances for good snow, but we need to have all the ingredients in place….like cold air.  In this case, the low draws up warm air with the rain and then on the backside of the low, the cold air comes down and there would probably be a period of some sleet before it turns to snow.  Right now the GFS is calling for about 2 inches of snow.  I doubt if that much would accumulate since the ground would probably be a shade warm to begin with.  But…all of this is dependent on the track of the low.  If you look at the NOGAPS and compare it to the GFS at 12Z Wed, you find a good illustration.  The NOGAPS has the low past us and the freezing line (540) to our northwest, which means rain.  Meanwhile, the GFS has the freezing line well to our south.  Keep in mind that the NOGAPS is a tropical model and the GFS has been changing its story almost every run.  So, the song remains the same…its not out of the question for us to get some excitement on Wednesday but I wouldn’t bet the ranch.