Favorite Wx Website?

We all have them. Some may like the Weather Channel's site in the States, Intellicast for world wide data and http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/ for the UK.

What is your favorite weather site?

For learning weather, I would recommend http://www.ametsoc.org/amsedu/dstreme/
sponsored by the American Meteorological Society. They have daily maps and data to learn weather. I love the station model.

Tourism Promotion for the US

There is a big campaign to promote tourism to the states.

"The travel and tourism industry can play a major role in this export expansion initiative by introducing new travel related goods and services to potential international travelers as well as to professional travel and tourism industry organizations and representatives who will subsequently introduce and sell those U.S. exports around the globe."

See their website at http://www.discoveramericapavilion.travel/ as a venue to standardize US as a tourist destination.

Martinique in January

I can't think of a better place to be in January. If you have been in New England in the winter, you know what I mean.

I used to like the cold. After all, camping meant no bugs! Crowds were kept at a minimum and it was real peaceful. But now the cold and dark get to me.

But in the last decade or so we head to an island or Central America sometime over the winter. We could travel in February when I was in administration, but now that I am back in the classroom, my January break is the chance to travel south. (This leaves 3 months of cold crappy weather once we return, but hey, that's the way it is.)

Anyway, how much sun can we expect in Martinique in January? Use a sun path diagram:
http://www.sunearthtools.com
These guys call it a sun position graph.

NERR dates set 10-12 April 2011

While the website isn't updated (http://www.esf.edu/nerr/) I attended (virtually) the NERR Steering Committee Fall Planning meeting. Hosted at Penn State, many of the committee participated in the meeting via a conference phone call.

If you haven't heard of NERR or the Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium, you are missing one fine conference.

Can't make 2011? Try 1-3 April 2012 or 7-9 April 2013, all at the Sagamore in Bolton Landing NY.

See you there?

Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association

This group is more than just 2000 Milers of the AT. It includes anyone who has an interest in extended long distance backpacking.

The 29th annual Gathering will be the weekend AFTER Columbus Day, Oct. 15-17, 2010, at Concord University in Athens, WV and more information can be found on their website at
http://www.aldha.org/

another 16mm film last night

Cosmos: The War of the Planet

Yes, for our last outdoor film of the season, we showed this Italian SciFi flick from 1978. Following that other space film the year earlier, something called Star Wars, this bad-boy has adventure, robots, ray guns, romance and every other genre you can imagine. Watch it on Archive.org for a great time waster at work, home or play.

http://www.archive.org/details/Cosmos_War_of_the_Planets

ahhhh .... loukoumades

We are heading to Glendi 2010 this evening and I can't wait until dessert and the Loukoumades!

I call them honey balls since my Greek is as bad as my French.

Click on the title for a recipe, or better yet, find a Greek Festival nearby and save room for the desserts! Food is my friend.

Glendi 2010 in Springfield Massachusetts

Want some Greek Food? How about listening to some Greek music and watching the dancers?

Head on over to Springfield Massachusetts this weekend for Glendi:

GLENDI 2010
(Glendi is Greek for Celebration)
ST. GEORGE CATHEDRAL
AT THE GREEK CULTURAL CENTER
22 ST. GEORGE ROAD, SPRINGFIELD, MA
SEPTEMBER 10,11,12
Friday - 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Saturday - 12 noon to 11 p.m.
Sunday - 12 noon to 7 p.m.

World Leisure Congress 2010

My friend and fellow SIU Alum Wen-Tsann Yang, Feng Chia University just got back from South Korea and the World Leisure Congress. It looked like a great conference and I am looking forward to reading some of the papers. This organization is found at (http://www.worldleisure.org/).

The conference program is found at (http://www.worldleisure2010.org/english/img/congress/final_program_book.pdf).

Check it out.

Guatemala landslide

Seems the Earth is busy this time of the year. Latest natural disaster is in Central America.

According to BBC news "At least 33 people have died in a huge landslide in a northern area of Guatemala and many more are missing."

Since this is found the Inter-American Highway, travel may be disrupted for a while.

Earl's past, now what about that Quake in New Zealand

Seems the Earth is pretty busy this time of the year.

Well a powerful 7.0 quake hit New Zealand earlier this morning. See some details on the USGS site:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010atbj.php

This website is really good since it includes technical data as well as a variety of maps. You can even download the KML file for Google Earth.

While many reports indicate no deaths, I am sure it is not a happy time there. My thoughts go out to the individuals impacted by this quake.

Hurricane Tracking Charts

We've been following Earl this week. While there are numerous websites available to give you satellite imagery and the latest wind speed, a hurricane tracking chart may be useful if you can only get the coordinates of the eye.

See this link for charts for North America:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/tracking_charts.shtml

It requires the skill of latitude and longitude, but overall is quite easy to use.

After all, Fiona is on Earl's heels!

Earl Update and Labor Day weekend

Since we are in the middle of a few days of warm weather and I am sitting at my home computer in AC, I think we can look forward to a nice weekend in the Northeast. Temperatures are expected to be in the 70s and I will be able to venture outside to do some needed yard work.

Oh yeah, folks might get hammered with a category 4 hurricane today and tomorrow. When you hear the phrase "category (number)" storm, what does that really mean?

See this link for information:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshws.shtml

So even if the Hurricane is "only" a three, it could mean:
Category Three Hurricane (Sustained winds 111-130 mph, 96-113 kt, or 178-209 km/hr).
Devastating damage will occur

Talk about dampening the family fun this weekend.

The image is from http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at2.shtml?5-daynl?large#contents

Hurricane Surfing? Maybe or maybe not!

Some outdoor folks like Hurricanes. Seems these big low pressure systems and the storm surge bring some "bitchin" waves for surfers. I suspect the east coast surfers are either hitting the beaches or watching the weather forecast.

But Earl may be too much for this bunch since along the east coast a four foot wave is killer. Remember, we are not talking about the waves in Hawaii. Keep an eye out on YouTube since I am sure the daring few will post their rides over the next couple of days.