February 12th Significant For More than Lincoln February 12, 2010

Abe Shares His Birthday with other notables, including Nit and Wit

Nit and Wit have a Full Bag of tricks for their 14th birthday

On This Date in History:  Everyone should know that today my two cats, Nit and Wit, turned 14 today and that the day marks the 201st anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.    In years past, this would have been a holiday but Congress decided that we had too  many holidays and so when they decided to give everyone the day off for Rev.  Martin Luther King’s birthday,  they felt like that they had to eliminate one.  So, they took Abe’s birthday and General Washington’s birthday of February 22nd and combined them to form President’s day which falls between Abe’s and George’s birthdays.  But, February 12th not only marks Abe’s birthday and Nit and Wit’s birthday, but also a couple of other notables were born on this date.

All thumbs up for Bill on February 12th

President Clinton got a rebirth of sorts on this date in 1999 and again this year.  The former president is recovering very nicely after going home on  February 12, 2010 following a scare.  On the previous day, he was rushed to the hospital after suffering from chest pains.  Doctors discovered a heart problem and quickly inserted a couple of stints.  Everyone keeps saying that our healthcare system needs to be fixed but, the fact that this procedure is relatively routine and Mr. Clinton went home the next day illustrates that the health care in this country is top shelf.  It’s the payment system that has flaws.  Anyway, it’s hard to say if Mr. Clinton is more grateful today or on this date in 1999, when his impeachment proceedings ended in an acquittal following a Senate trial and subsequent acquittal.  Remember, impeachment is the charge, not removal from office and, like Andrew Johnson before him, President Clinton lived to fight another day in the White House, much as he is doing now as a goodwill ambassador teaming with George W. Bush to help bring relief to Haiti.

Fierce Rivals Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain

On this date in 1934, basketball great Bill Russell was born in Monroe,Louisiana.  Bill Russell played for the Boston Celtics for 13 years and won 11 championships.  He even won as player-coach.  He was a 5 time league  MVP.  He is credited with changing the game with his defense so his offensive statistics,while impressive, will not be found at the top of too many all-time categories.  The league did not count blocked shots when he played but there is little doubt that, if they had, he very well may have been the all-time leader, even today.  His defense was so great that he was able to be more than a match for the great Wilt Chamberlain.  But, a little recognized fact regarding Russell is that he was not the number one pick in the NBA draft.  The Rochester Royals had the first pick but chose another player because the owner wouldn’t pay the $25,000 signing bonus that Russell was demanding.  Boston’s pick was way down the list so they traded two very good players to the St. Louis Hawks for the second draft pick.  The Hawks went on to win the NBA championship that year but they handed the Celtics a dynasty that would last more than a decade. 

Then there is an old favorite, Ben Cartwright.  He was the patriarch of the family that featured 3 sons from different mothers.  When Adam left to travel the world, a hired hand took his place, Candy.  Of course this is all fiction as I”m speaking of the TV show Bonanza that aired on NBC from 1959 to 1973.  If I recall, Bonanza was promoted heavily because,in the early days, it was one of (if not the first) prime time show in color and NBC wanted to promote NBC color in conjunction with its new peacock symbol.  Canadian born actor Lorne Greene was born on this date in 1915 and, while his character was ficticious, Greene said that he based the character on a real person: his father. 

Roy Hoping Ben Will Come to the Rescue

While Greene was a star in Earthquake with Chuck Heston and later starred  in Battlestar Galactica, which was a far stretch from his days roaming about the Ponderosa, it was a vehicle to introduce him to a whole new generation of young Ameircans.  Personally, I always liked the way that he, Hoss, Little Joe, Adam and later Candy always seemed to be in Virginia City bailing out Sheriff Roy Coffee, whom I think is tied with Sheriff Micah Torrance of Northfork as the worst sheriff in the old west. In Micah’s case, it was always Lucas McCain who was coming to the rescue.  Where would Micah be without “Lucas-boy” or Virginia City be without the Cartwrights?  Where would America be without “Pa” who lived in our living rooms as the stern but kind, Ben Cartwright on Bonanza.

National Weather Service Correctly Not Tipping It's Hand Just Yet

Fri 18Z GFS Bullish with 6-8 Inches Louisville and South Thru Midday Wed

Weather Bottom Line:  We are going to get snow.  The question is how much?  That’s a good question.  I’ve seen on TV anywhere from 2 inches to 8 inches.  I would say that the former is more likely than the latter but the truth will probably be somewhere in between.  Now, I must say, I don’t see how we did it, but we nudged to 33 for a few minutes on Friday.  The sun should be absent on Saturday and Sunday and Monday so I don’t see how we get above freezing on those days, but like before, if we do it won’t be by much or for long.  Early Saturday morning there may be some light snow showers or flurries. No big deal but it may be enough in some areas to create some slick spots Saturday morning. 

12Z Fri NAM Had 3-5 inches by Monday Evening but...

Now, this next guy is a little clipper system.  Typically, an “Alberta Clipper” is an area of low pressure that forms in Alberta, Canada and then moves pretty quickly down through the flow.  It usually moves quickly and since it originates over the land, doesn’t have a huge amount of moisture to work with.  The heaviest snow associated with a clipper is in a relatively narrow band just to the left of the track of the low.    So, the trick will be the track.  There are no models that take this low north of Louisville so that is why I know we will get some snow.  But, if it tracks too far south, then we get a little.  If it comes just right, then we get heavier snow.  There is no way to know for certain.  Some models want to have the narrow band of 4-6 inch totals down around E-town.  Others put it over Louisville.  I’ve seen some try to bring up to 8 inches by the time this is all over with on Tuesday or early Wednesday but its tough to get that much snow out of a system like this.   

Fri 18Z NAM Shifted Heaviest Snow Well South

The idea for  the bigger totals would be an inch on Saturday, 1-2 inches on Sunday and 4-6 on Monday.  I say nonsense to that.  We will probably get well below an inch on Saturday and the snow doesn’t get going again with the clipper until Sunday night.  I would think the most anyone gets would be 3-4 inches on Monday with perhaps a total of an inch for Monday night through Tuesday into Wednesday morning in the form of snow showers or flurries.  I don’t see how we get above freezing again until Thursday in advance of another system that may bring some messy rain/ice/snow for the end of next week.   But, we’ll deal with that later.

Confederate Flag Not What You May Think January 26, 2010

There were numerous Confederate Battle Flags, not just the Stars and Bars

On This Date in History: For the past 30 years or so, during the political season a certain topic seems to come up.  In particular, whenever there is an election in South Carolina, it seems as if the old flag controversy has raises its head again. Thing is, the flag that is in question was not the real flag or at least not the one adopted by the Confederate Congress.  There are various claims regarding the Confederate flag history, with at list one source suggesting the Confederate Congress neglected to officially pass a flag act.  Nevertheless, there is not much dispute that the original flag looked the one above with 7 stars for the first seven Confederate states. But commanders on the battlefield complained that it looked like the Union’s Stars and Stripes and it was difficult to determine friend from foe at distances. They changed it a couple of times by putting what would be a square “stars and bars” shape in the corner of a white field and then the same design only with a red vertical bar on the right end.  It was suggested that commanders in the field adopt their own battle flag.   However, some histories suggest that in fact, there were different flags adoped officially during the days of the Confederacy.  None of them though feature the familiar rectangular flag.  The original flag did not come into existence until March 1861 and on this date in 1861, the state of Louisiana seceded from the union, adding what would be the 6th star to the soon to be adopted flag.

Army of Northern Virginia Flag was square, not rectangular

The Army of Northern Virginia had used the common “stars and bars” for quite some time though it was a square, not rectangular flag. In fact, the proper name of the flag is the flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. I suppose since that was the army of Robert E. Lee and is so prominent in remedial history and because it was associated with arguably the South’s best or at least best known general, it became dominant in lore.  If you wanted to find a retangular flag with the stars and bars, you would have to head to the high seas.  See, the Confederate navy had a couple of flags. One was a square blue field with a circle of 7 stars. Then it was a flag similar to the Army of Northern Virginia flag except it featured a different shade of blue and it was rectangular and not the square used by General Lee’s army. The flag over time ended up as what is now thought to be the Confederate flag, or the “stars and bars.”  It has the design and color of the Army of Northern Virginia, but the shape of the second naval flag.  However, by the middle years of the war, the success of Lee’s army became apparent and several armies of the south changed their battle flags to look like that of the Army of Northern Virginia.    But, again, it was supposed to be square.  The Army of Tennessee though ended up with a rectangular flag not by design, but mistake.  A square was ordered but a rectangle was delivered.

1896 Frank Leslie depiction of the capture of a Confederate Flag in 1862; notice it is NOT the Stars and Bars

So, one can only conclude that the flag that is the center of controversy was not really the flag of the Confederacy but instead was the battle flag of Robert E. Lee’s army which over the course of the war was adopted by other armies in some form.   Depending on which battle at which time of a re-enactment,  there are probably many movies out there that are inaccurate regarding the flag, though is not surprising considering how much of history hollywood misrepresents.  In many battles portrayed on film, a completely different flag was really used and the one used that is most similar was  more often a square not a rectangle. The flag has 13 stars but there were really only 11 states in the Confederacy. They added the other two to try and claim Kentucky and Missouri but claims and truth are often at odds because both “border states” remained with the nation as the Kentucky legislature even invited the Union to send troops to fend off invading rebels.  This is how US Grant ends up with early victories in the western part of the state and how the Union Army of the Ohio came to be based in Louisville. And finally, ironically, the Confederate Congress adopted the flag design above specifically because it did resemble the Stars and Stripes which was the exact reason why military leaders found the flag worthless on the battlefield.  That would not be the first time that a Congress and military butted heads.   I suspect that the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia became the de-facto Confederate Flag in popular culture came about due to its use in D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation, which itself was an abhorent obfuscation of history. 

Photo of Fort Sumter After Confederate Occupation; Note the Flag is NOT the Stars and Bars

So, don’t believe the hype. The flag that has become such a controversial symbol, was not in wide use  until after the war.  I think that the number of flags used is more symbolic of disorder in the Confederacy and they had more immediate concerns than a flag.    As for the controversy regarding the display of the flag, it’s really kinda silly.  I mean the Confederacy is gone and was never recognized by the United States or almost anyone else.  Some say its just represents heritage.  Heritage of what?  Secession?  Oh..what a great thing to remember.  Then there are those who say it represents slavery.  It seems a bit far fetched to me but, if that is what some think, then so be it.  I suppose one might say that since it was the battle flag used by the side that supported slavery, then..well..okay.  But, in my mind, the flag has no business any place except maybe a museum.  The reason is that it was a battle flag.  It’s use was intended to aid the members of those in arms against the Union.  To me, it represents armed insurrection against the nation.    That is not a heritage I think should be celebrated.

6 Z GFS calls for 4-6 inches of snow Friday

12Z NAM calls for No Snow

Weather Bottom Line:  Monday night about midnight it was still around 35 degrees.  That meant that all precipitation that fell was melting, leaving wet roads.    As the overnight wore on, by 5 am we dropped below freezing.   We got between a quarter and a half inch of snow on the ground but, more importantly, those wet roads froze making for a difficult morning drive.  If we get above freezing on Tuesday, it won’t be by much.  We will get a break on Wednesday with highs near 40 or maybe a couple of degrees higher. Then comes our storm system.  Right now, the only apparent continuity in the modeling data is that the critical thickness lines will be down to about the southern Tennesee border.  That should be far enough away to limit the potential for ice, though I wouldnt totally rule it out at  this time.   The biggest contradiction comes in the moisture.  The NAM has the low tracking so far south that the precip line is south of Louisville and it calls for no snow at all.  The other models are more bullish to varying degrees. The long range models want to dump a fairly significant amount of snow on our area with the Canadian model even looking suspiciously like some decent ice early on.  I would tend to think that the NAM is wrong in saying no snow at all but beyond that, the data is just too muddled and the the critical thickness lines so close to the area that any minor variation  can cause an enormous difference in the type of precipitation and the degree of that precipitation.  At this point, I would plan on a potential winter storm for the last part of the week that may create some travel issues.  Friday seems to be the day.  Then, look for a cold weekend.  I would not expect temperatures back above freezing until early next week.

Coach Slaps Player on Arm, Apologizes; Are We Getting Soft or Responsible? January 10, 2010

Click on image for video of punch that ended Hayes' career

Coach Martin Can Get Emotional

Kansas State basketball coach Frank Martin today apologized for whacking a kid on the arm with the back of his open hand from frustration at a kids poor play. Maybe he felt like he had to because just a month before a coach had to resign for actions that did not include physical contact and other coaches have been dismissed for physicial altercations.    Kansas football coach Mark Mangino had to resign amidst charges of verbal, mental and emotional abuse.  University of South Florida head football coach Jim Leavitt was fired for allegedly grabbing a player by the throat.  And of course, Texas Tech head football coach Mike Leach was fired following events surrounding charges that he made a player stand in a dark room.  

Kush Got a Statue After Being Fired For Alleged Player Abuse

These types of things are new, but then again they are to some extent.  Woody Hayes was an extremely successful coach and many of his former players are very grateful for what they learned under the tough coach.  But, Hayes often displayed childish and foolish behaviour during games and in 1978, a national TV audience witnessed Hayes’s punching an opposing player after the opponent made a key interception.  The 65-year-old Hayes was fired and never coached again.  Arizona State head coach Frank Kush was fired after a player filed suit alleging that he punched the player in the mouth following a lousy punt in a game.  But, Kush was acquitted in the lawsuit, the team plays on a field named for him, there is a bronze statue of Kush outside the stadium and in 2000, Kush was hired by the university as a full-time special assistant to the athletic director.  

Knight Wasn't Fired For This

 Then, of course, there is Bob Knight who was fired at Indiana following several accusations of mistreatment of players.  He had been charged with grabbing a player by the throat in practice.  But, he wasn’t fired for that.  Bob Knight  instead was fired for violating a “zero tolerance” policy when a 19-year-old kid walked past him and said “hey, what’s up, Knight?”  Coach then grabbed the kid by the arm and lectured him about manners.  Two years later, Knight was back coaching at Texas Tech, the same place that just fired Mike Leach. 

This Board is Tame Compared To Some I've Met Up Close and Personal

When I played sports in Junior High and High School, the coaches were tough.  I remember in Jr. High basketball we had to shoot free throws at the end of practice and for every one out of the final ten that we shot that we missed, we got a swat.  In fact, it was a normal part of discipline for boys to get swats.  Once, a girl protested that it wasn’t fair that a boy could get three swats and be done but girls had to come to Saturday detention, which was when a misbehaving student had to come to school on Saturday for either an entire day or half day.  So, the school agreed it was discriminatory and the girl got her swats.    I also had an Industrial Arts teacher who said we didn’t get any discipline at home.  He was a former Marine Drill Instructor so he took us out on the field every day for a week and made us march. 

In football practice, if a guy messed up a play, the coach would have everyone on the team jump on the offending player in a dog pile.  For recreation, we played dirty basketball, in which there were no such thing as a foul.  

Was This a Good Idea?

In high school football practice, I once had a head to head hit with another player and my helmet broke in half.  It was off to the locker room for a new helmet and then back on the field.  Coaches regularly grabbed us by the face mask to get our attention.  Once, we were in this drill in which there was a board laid on the ground.  The board was a 2 x 6 from the grandstands and the two players faced each other from either end and did battle with each one having to keep their feet on either side of the board.  I went up against Greg Graves, who was twice as big as me.  He destroyed me.  I had to go against him 10 times in a row with my face getting planted in the ground every time.  Talk about humiliation.  Then of course, there was off-season stick fights in which two opponents beat each other with long sticks that were padded on the ends.  

Things changed fast.  By the time I had graduated college, there was no such thing as swats any more.  My friend was a Junior High coach and he told me of a girl giving a teacher a cake laced with Ex-Lax.  They began with threatening suspension.  The parent protested and the school knuckled under. I don’t know what the ultimate outcome was except that the school finally said that the girl had to apologize and that was that…but the parent objected to that saying, “my daughter is not going to kiss ass to anyone.”  Coach also had a kid who wouldn’t dress out for gym class and wouldn’t move from the floor to the stands.  The kid wouldn’t go to the principal’s office.  Coach threatened to carry him to the principal when the kid said if he did he’d be fired.  Coach picked up the kid with one arm and carried him.  Coach was almost fired for touching the kid.  In some colleges today, a student may file a grievance against an instructor who does something as heinous as assigning homework and then doesn’t grade it.   In the workplace, it can also be difficult just to be nice.   I once worked at a place in which you could be fired for complementing a woman, or man, for their appearance.  You were to look your fellow employees in the eye at all times and not to give opinion regarding appearances in any fashion.  

Abibal Adams Often Gave John an Earful For His Views

John Adams often warned of the feminization of America.  He argued with his wife Abigail in letters once referring to the “despotism of the petticoat.”   But, I’m not so sure that Adams would approve of physical abuse of subordinates.  The question of how to discipline children has been around a long time too.  Mark Sullivan was a journalist in the late 19th and early 20th century.  He wrote a book about the first 25 years of the century called Our Times.   He wanted to give a contemporary history of the first quarter century from a journalist’s perspective. One of the things he speaks about is the movement to remove the switch from the hands of the headmaster in schools and the resulting poor deportment of the students.  75 years later, there were cries from conservatives to return corporal punishment to the classroom.  But, I’m not so sure that we want to give others the right to beat our children.  I was never harmed from the coaches swat board, but serious injury is too big of a risk to take in such instances.  

However, the question does come up as to how far is too far the other way.  A coach back hands a kid on the arm and he feels as if he must apologize.  A coach loses a job for emotional abuse.  How can one define that?  It may be emotionally traumatic just to replace a player from a game.  I once went into a game for a guy in the outfield…in the middle  of the inning!  Talk about embarrassing for the kid!  He never started again…I did.  Under some perspectives, that coach might have been liable for a lawsuit because that was pretty emotionally traumatic.  It seems to me that there definitely should be disciplinary boundaries.  Coaches, teachers and parents need to be more creative and not fall to the most primative methods.  But, there also should be some boundaries the other way.   I don’t know of anyone who agrees with not keeping score in kids games, but they do it all the time.  Life is not equal.  There are winners and losers.  And that can be traumatic but its a fact.    Many people use the “tough love” approach but it seems that approach may be going the way of the dinosaur. 

Louisville area lows Jan 10 2010

NAM Snow Mon Afternoon Through Tue AM

Weather Bottom Line:  We had some sunshine but it didn’t do too much good on Sunday.  Temps only made it to the mid 20′s.  If you look at the low temperature map above from Sunday morning, you can see what I was talking about.  I was right but wrong.   Clearly, the western part of the viewing area had clearing skies overnight.  I had been trumpeting the possibility all week that clearing skies would take the mercury to near zero.   In fact, Jasper in Dubois County did get down to zero with many other areas in the western part of the viewing area in low single digits.  But, when you get to Louisville, the lows were in the mid teens.  That is the difference that clouds can do. 

GFS Claims Snow 18Z Sun...at least for now this model run

Now, the clouds will be increasing again as another shortwave comes rolling down the trof from the northwest.   I’m doubtful regarding the moisture but both the 12Z GFS and NAM call for about a half inch of snow for late Monday afternoon into Monday evening.  Evening drive may be interesting.  Previously, there had been some agreement of temperatures getting above freezing for the first time in 2010 by Tuesday afternoon but now the models say Thursday…which is closer to my two week old forecast of Jan 15.  But, alas, I suspect that many people will be above freezing my Wednesday afternoon.  Now, we do warm up to the low 40′s for the end of the week but there is an interesting feature that has shown up consistently.  It’s a big low forming off of New Orleans.  It migrates northeast.  The track has been changing almost every model run.  And half the time, cold air gets dragged down in response to this feature increasing our prospects for more snow on Sunday.  But, it seems that in alternating runs, it runs the low up the Appalacians but keeps the cold air in Canada.  This seems odd to me.  I would think that we would get some cold air dragging down for Sunday.  It’s not a huge pattern shift but just a short term event.  I’m hoping that if it does happen, that an icing situation does not develop…that’s the one bit of weather that I hate…I don’t need that kind of excitement and neither do you.

Lottery Winners Often Become Losers January 7, 2010

Lottery Winner's Houseboat?

I had always figured that if I won the lottery, the first thing I would do was make my phone number unlisted and unpublished.  I never understood the need for an attorney because generally they just take money.  Unless there was some legal snafu, then Perry Mason can sit this one out.  I already have a Financial Consultant and used to be one myself.  I would not contact any insurance folks as that would fall under the investment advisors arena and, again, I was licensed in that too.  I have an accountant and would be on the phone with her immediately.  I also would not go on TV if I could avoid it. Some states allow winners to remain anonymous, though I”m not sure that’s a great way to show transparency and invites charges of corruption. 

Lottery Winner's Limo?

In any event, I once worked with a guy whose father-in-law won $1 million.  I told him what  would do and he didn’t do it.  He got a lawyer to sit with him on a tv interview.  The lawyer said nothing.  I think the winner just liked the idea of being on tee vee with “my attorney” whom he referenced several times.  I had thought he’d get phone call from every insurance agent and stock broker in the state.  He did. But he also regularly got calls from women offering to come to his house for a mere $1000 a week!  I never thought of this one.  I had thought that publicity could also be an advertisement for every criminal within hailing distance.  A winner in Florida may have been a victim of both a woman and a criminal.

Abraham Shakespeare

Abraham Shakespeare once lived with his mother while he worked as a truck driver’s assitant.  Three years ago, Abraham Shakespeare won $30 million in the lottery.  He was assailed by friends and family looking for a piece of the action, which is typical.  It also wasn’t out of the norm that he was sued by a fellow employee who claimed they owned half the ticket.   The judge thought that was a fraud.  Now,  Shakespeare himself wasn’t an angel.  He had a rap sheet but perhaps his new found wealth could turn things around for him.  He was approached by a woman who said she wanted to write life story.  That is a little more creative than simply offering to hang around in his house for $1000 a week.  I do not know if Shakespeare knew that this “writer” was a high school drop out, but probably not.  See, she also became a financial advisor.  She claimed that he wanted to get away from all of the hangers on and she helped him “disappear.”  No one has seen Abraham Shakespeare since April and now Florida police think that the woman may have indeed made him disappear for good. 

Jack Whittaker: Winning Took Its Toll

I’m not sure that anyone could be unluckier than someone who got murdered, but there are some that claim one of the biggest single winners in history holds the title.  If you recall, Jack Whittaker won a $314 million jackpot.  It was assumed at the time that he would be able to handle it since he was already used to handling a large estate as it was reported that Whittaker was a millionaire at the time of his good fortune.  Well, that wasn’t the case.  Whittaker has been involved in some tragic and bizzare incidents that includes a couple of deaths, his getting into physical altercations which led to lawsuits and also having been had by some locals who knocked him out and took a cool half a million from his car.  Most experienced money people don’t ride around with $500,000 in their car.  He’s been sued a number of times and his last venture into court found him pleading poverty.   But, he’s not alone.  Many times, lottery winners end up worse off than they had been regardless of their status when they became a big winner. 

Carl Atwood won $57,000 in an Indiana Lottery game that was taped on TV.  He was to return with a chance to win $1 million.  He never made it.  A couple hours after he won the initial prize, he was run over by a truck. 

A man named Arnim Ramdass was part of a pool of people who bought a winning lottery ticket.  He didn’t tell his wife.  She became suspicious when he disconected the phone and kept the TV turned off.  He skipped out on her when she found out about the windfall.  She tried to sue but the judge dismissed the case saying it should be in a divorce court.  She’d love to take it there, if she could find her Ramdass.

Unlike Bud Post, this Lottery Winner's Fortune Turned for the Better-a rare tale

That judge wouldn’t give a wife part of the money, but a Pennsylvania judge ruled that William “Bud” Post had to turn over 1/3 of his $16.2 million in winnings to his former landlady (or ex-wife or girlfriend-depending on who you believe) because she said that they had agreed to split any winnings. He denied it but the judge ruled for her.  He ended up dying in poverty.

At least one story ended up with a happy ending.  Frane Selak survived a train wreck, a plane crash that killed 19 others, a bus crash, a flaming automobile and  two other car wrecks.  Just when it looked as if a dark cloud loomed over his head in a hellish life, he won the lottery and he lived happily ever after.

GFS claims nearly 4 inches by 1AM Saturday

Weather Bottom Line:  Snow White and I like to feed the animals and especially when its icy, snowy or cold.  People neglect Henry’s Ark in winter and the little fellas (and the big ones too) get hungry and miss the attention.  The poor old ducks at Cave Hill Cemetery suffer from lack of food and also from a frozen pond.  So, I made the mistake of going to the grocery store to get four loaves of bread for us to feed to the ducks on Thursday when it snows.  Bad idea.  I said that either everyone knows that it’s going to snow on Thursday so they’re buying their milk and bread, or it must be Friday. Turns out, it was “Seniors Day” and every senior citizen in town must have been in the store to get their discounted supplies.

NAM only has about 2 inches by 1am Saturday

The snow is coming and I still think its going to be pretty much what I’ve seen since last weekend.  The low should run almost right over us and the raw data seems to suggest about 2 inches.  But, if I assume that its a much drier, fluffier snow than average, then it may be more like 2-3 inches with about 2 inches on Thursday and something less than an inch for Thursday night through Saturday as we get flurried to death.  But, graphically, the GFS still is insisting on close to 4 inches while the NAM has a graphic depiction of about 2.5 inches.  The only thing that messes this up would  be if the low tracked about 100 miles farther south; snow totals would then be higher.  But, nothing suggests that will happen.  Friday and Saturday will not only be cold but also a wind of 12-25 mph will take its toll.  If we do clear the skies and decouple from the winds on Sunday morning, I still think some readings below zero will be a fair bet with the warmest locations in the low single digits. If there’s too many clouds or its too breezy, then forget it…but I think we’ll get it.  Warm-up to above freezing temperatures for the first time in 2010 may come about before January 15…but I don’t think too many people will be upset if I got that one wrong.  From midweek on, we start to moderate our temperatures as the long wave pattern finally changes…but don’t break out the tanning butter.  In general we’ll move back toward seasonal January temperatures and that’s still a little chilly.

Yao Ming and Wife Expecting Baby. Could Little Yao Bring Global Harmony? January 6, 2010

Yao and Ye Could Be Parents Standing Tall

Wonder if Van Gundy Will be the Godfather?

Update: The Baby was Born…a Little Girl…Read More

Yao Ming is not the best player in the National Basketball Association.  But, he is probably the most popular and perhaps the best known basketball player in the world.  He is the center of the Houston Rockets and has been an all star every year that he’s been in the league.  He has never won an NBA Championship but last season, he was leading his team to  a potential upset of the World Champion Los Angeles Lakers when he was injured.  Yao’s injury will keep him out of the line-up this season and his career may be in jeopardy.  But, Yao’s absence on the basketball court doesn’t mean that he has been on the physically unable to perform list.  He’s taken his game to a new level.  The internet is abuzz with news that the 7’6″ Ming and his bride, the 6’2″ Ye Li are expecting their first child. 

No Hanky Panky Yao, You're Gonna be a Dad!

Now, Houston TV station KTRK has a headline that simply says, Yao Ming’s Wife Expecting a Baby.  Up the road, Tyler, Texas TV station KETK has the story carried by Yahoo sports but they added the measurements of Mrs. Yao by saying Yao Ming and 6’2″ wife expecting first baby.  It’s probably the first time that the height of the mother-to-be was substituted for the name of the mother.  Now, both of those reports came out on Tuesday afternoon in the United States.  Curiously, the Houston Chronicle by Tuesday evening still had no word.  Perhaps they were waiting for a confirmation.  Well, the world press didn’t need any more confirmation that the word of Ye Li’s blabbermouth close friend Miao Lijie who when asked why Ye did not attend the Shanghai World Expo, she replied that “a pregnant woman deserves less public activities.”  Whoops.  I’m not sure if Ye and Miao are like Laverne and Shirley, but they are members(or were) of the same basketball team.

The blab from Miao heard round the world has scribes buzzing.  The People’s Daily is reporting on the furor over speculation regarding the height of the yet to be born child whom no one knows will be a he or she.  The Taipei Times has a similar story, as does the Malaysian Mirror and the Straits Times.  Guess there’s only so much news to print so it just get reprinted over and over again, like the world is on the US cable news cycle. 

Yao May be the only man in China who can keep a close eye on Ye at all times

That means that everyone has the same story, almost word for word, from the same source and they pretend like they broke the story.  What sometimes happen in this sheep mentality is that if the original news outlet has the story wrong, then everyone has it wrong.  I’ve seen it in several newsrooms I’ve worked at many times.  In a journalism class you get an F if you don’t check your sources.  In a tv newsroom, you get paid if you just trust the wire or network report and don’t question why it says that John Glenn was the first man in space (he wasn’t) or that the space shuttle travels 18 times the speed of light (it doesn’t, nor does the Star Ship Enterprise…but never mind…it was reported that way).  But in this case, the news was confirmed by Yao’s spokesman, Zhang Chi.  Now…Ye is expecting in July.  At least one of the reports has a small but significant line.  It says that it has yet to be determined where the child will be born.  Hmmmm….In July, Yao might be in Houston working out for the upcoming season…and if his child were born in the US, that would make him a US citizen as well as a citizen of China.  At first thought, one might think that could really anger the Chinese government.  But…on the other hand…could it be possible that the man who helped linked East and West through basketball may have a child with a dual citizenship that could further bond the United States and China, perhaps leading to more global cooperation and world peace?  Perhaps its not as far fetched as one might think.

NAM 7am Sat Snow Depth

GFS Sat 7am Snow Depth...a little more bullish than NAM

Weather Bottom Line:  Everything appears to be on track.  The strong shortwave is still looking like it will track down almost right over us from the northwest with perhaps some snow showers picking up late Wednesday night but the bulk of the Snow will occur on Thursday.  I had speculated that school would be out of Friday, which is probably still will be for many but now Thursday looks like that many school systems will probably take the easy way out and extend the Christmas holidays a bit.  Any excuse seems good enough but, to be fair, they have to consider safety and the fact that they may have a limited attendance which in some states means limited funding.  In any event, the short wave coming over the top of Louisville means that the maximum snow will not be in our area but typically is to the north.  So, while Indianapolis may pick up 8 inches or so, we’re probably looking at 2-3 inches on Thursday.  While there is some consistency with the models in conventional ratios coming out to about 2.5 inches, I suspect it may be a more fluffy snow with a greater liquid to snow ratio so it may be more like we get widespread 3 inch amounts.  Then we get flurried to death on Friday and maybe even early Saturday as the jet is almost right over us and the air gets so cold that it squeezes out whatever it can. So, by the weekend, the overall storm reports may come in close to 4 inches, though I doubt there will be much more than that.  Now, with that snow on the ground, we will be looking at single digits on Saturday morning and I bet close to zero on Sunday morning with some folks below zero.  I’m still hanging my hat on the idea that we don’t get above freezing until after Jan 15.  Keep in mind, we brought in the New Year at 23 degrees or so and haven’t sniffed the freezing point since.