Oh Baby, It’s Warm Outside?

I love when people can communicate through pictures effectively. 

Truly, a picture is worth a thousand words–probably more. 

This was a simple drawing to depict I assume global warming. 

– 2000 some nice mountain glaciers.

– 2020 the snow is melted.

It’s like the person didn’t have to say a word. 

But I get it. 

Also, I know there is supposedly a lot of scientific evidence for global warming.

But for me personally, I don’t see it or feel it.  

The summers, if anything, feel cooler and the Winters feel colder to me. 

I know that is anecdotal and not representative of the world. 

However, it is hard to reconcile what the scientists say, when your own eyes aren’t seeing it. 

Granted, I’m not in Alaska where, for example, the glaciers are melting, 

Still wouldn’t we be feeling something here?

Maybe a few degrees really isn’t perceptible. 

I guess time will tell us for certain. 

Hopefully, by the time we do see it, we won’t get run over by the speeding train.  😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Icing That Migraine

So a lot of people I know get excruciating migraines in the Washington, D.C. area. 

I don’t know the statistical incident rate here for migraines, but anecdotally it seems significantly higher.

Is it the weather patterns, pollution, toxic chemicals or something else in this geographic area?

While medicine seems to be critical in actually getting rid of the migraine, I do notice that sustained use of ice packs or freezing water on the head also seems to help. 

Cold generally constricts the blood vessels, so I am not sure why this provides migraine relief.

Note: I am not giving medical advise or guidance to anyone, but just sharing my experiences. 

I would be interested to see a medical study done on treating migraines with freezing cold–from my experience, I think it definitely helps.  😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

See You Later Florida

Love coming to Florida. 

Not a far flight.

Sun shines bright.

Water is blue. 

Birds, fish, and animals like a zoo. 

Nature is peaceful.

Shopping is plentiful. 

Activities day and night.

Swimming makes me feel right. 

Go to the beach.

Eat a peach.

Florida is the place to be.

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Nice Coat!

Just wanted to share this awesome coat by Paris designer, Yves Saint Laurent. 

The colors are so standout, and the plushness is amazing from head to toe…beautiful.

The label is a little fuzzy, but I think the original price on this was over $30,000!

And even at deep discount it’s close to 10 grand!

I wonder if it’s real fur?  😉

Shabbat Shalom!

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Bored Meetings

So it’s been raining so much here in the DC area lately.

The result is that the hot Summer July temperatures are down in the cool 70’s and the rain is flooding everywhere. 

When I got in the elevator this morning, someone goes to me:

“Did you see the leak in the hallway?  They are watering the tree with it.”

And sure enough, there it was!

When all this rain finally stops, there is going to be a lot of cleanup and repairs to do. 

The other thing was yesterday, we were on the way to a board meeting in our synagogue. 

In the elevator, are two other people–a man and women–carrying binders.

They say to us:

“Are you going to the board meeting?”

Surprised, because I didn’t recognize them from our synagogue, I respond affirmatively and ask to clarify:

“Oh, you’re going to the board meeting too?  I don’t recall seeing you there before.”

Then the elevator stops and they start to get off–but it’s to a different board meeting for the building.

When they see that we’re going to a different floor, they start laughing:

“I guess we’re going to different board meetings!”

I say:

“Yeah that’s right, different board meetings, but we’ll all probably be bored!

Another laugh by everyone, and we we’re all off to the races. 😉

(Source Photo:  Andy Blumenthal)

We Broke The Weather

So my friend who lives in FL and recently experienced the crazy hurricanes down there said something very interesting to me. 

This was during the series of numerous recent hurricanes in just a few weeks period of time, including Harvey, IRMA, and Maria that devastated Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico.

He said to me:

“We broke the weather!”

And after decades of warning about the impact of global warming–maybe he is right.

This last September was the most active month for Atlantic hurricanes ever on record. 

Further, we are seeing simultaneously the deadliest wildfires raging in California in its history. 

This only 13 years after the deadliest Tsunami from the Indian Ocean in recorded times killing about a quarter million people!

And only 28 years after the deadliest Tornado occurred in Bangladesh in 1989 that killed 1,300 people.

All these as if the increasing threats of nukes and other weapons of mass destruction and cyberattack weren’t enough to keep you up at night.

As we get more sophisticated and technologically dependent, incredible manmade and natural disasters are threatening us superbig time. 

And over and over again, it is being reported that a well-placed EMP explosion over the United States would kill 90% of the population within a year–talk about a extinction level event!

As we experience temperatures15 degree above normal this fall, even the trees are behaving abnormally as the leaves are not changing to colors of yellows and oranges and reds and purples that we expect and enjoy. 

Nature is messed up by our abuse of the planet and nurture is messed up by megalomaniacs with the weapons to do us in. 

If we don’t correct the dangerous path we are on polluting our planet and over-relying on technology then soon we could be turning horrible colors even if the leaves just fall to the ground or turn to ash. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

It’s Getting Mighty Hot

This is a advertisement around Washington DC alerting people to the dangers of global warming.

“I’m Too Hot”

And 

“9 of the 10 hottest years have occurred since 2000.”

Wait a second, for some (or many) a little extra heat may be considered a good thing especially if you live up north with generally freezing cold and miserably snowy winters.

So don’t just tell us about it getting hotter, but tell us how hot is it actually going to get and what will happen when it does–melting glaciers, rising oceans and catastrophic flooding of cities, weather abnormalities and violent natural disasters, and so on.

We need to move on to the substance of this. 

Just like with the national debt, we keep talking about it going up (and up). 

Well what’s so bad about that if we can just print some more greenbacks and pay for more stuff, maybe it’s a good–or great–investment in our country and future?

Here again, the message that isn’t getting out clearly is what is going to happen when the debt becomes unsustainable and printing or devaluing dollars will not solve the problem and may actually exasperate it by creating run-away inflation, a downgraded or junk credit rating, and higher debt payments possibly tanking our economy and people’s savings.

Yeah, we don’t want to cause a panic. 

But shielding people from vital information on the dangerous paths we are on will only lead to going further down into the abyss of non-action and potential for cascading calamity. 

Let’s face it–it’s unpopular to talk anything doom or gloom–financial crises or natural disasters or especially anything with WMD–but if we aren’t the adults in the political room, who will be? 

For once, I’d love a leader who tells it straight, who helps us face our own worst nightmares, and actually gets us back on track again, rather than keeps the wool pulled over our eyes for another term or two.

Leadership is lost in rosy glasses, vote counting, pundits called upon to obscure the truth from the people, keeping a false calm, and creating wildly inflated legacies.

These motives for now are stronger than the determination to deal with the threats we face, but not forever, and then the pendulum will most abruptly swing in the other direction, precariously late for the ensuing global effects. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Beautiful Florida

(Source Video: Andy Blumenthal)

Answer Your Watch

So I did it and took the plunge into a smartwatch. 

For over a year, I thought the technology just wasn’t there yet. 

Too clumsy, too difficult to use with such a small device. 

First, I considered just a Fitbit for tracking activity, but I quickly ruled it out, since you can get so much more with a full smartwatch.

Then, I looked into the Pebble, in particular the latest model the Time Steel, which runs between $200-$250. 

But I watched a review that pointed out the the Pebble does not have a touch screen, and everything are the buttons–okay, I immediately ruled that out. 

Next, I looked to old trusty, Apple…they have never failed me yet, and I tried on their various smartwatches. 

I settled on a simple sports model, since I figured as the technology continues to evolve or as the watch gets beat up in daily use, I could simply upgrade to the next great thing. 

Also, I figured if I really don’t like how it works, it wouldn’t be such a great loss monetarily. 

Well, the verdict is in–I really like it!

Easy to set up by simply syncing with the iPhone. 

And then all your major apps just show up on the colorful apps panel. 

In no time, I was checking the 10-day weather forecast, reading news headlines, tracking my activity, using the GPS locator, looking up calendar events, checking email and replying with easy voice dictation, sending text messages, and even calling family and talking to them into the watch!

I even started the music on my iPhone from another room by using the smartwatch. 

Oh yeah, I almost forget, it tells the time too!

Except for taking photos, which would be really cool with the watch, but it doesn’t do–it did most of the basics that I wanted it to. 

For not a lot of money, I felt that I was getting a lot of convenient functionality, and I am now encouraging my wife and kids to get it too. 

Apple, you still got it–so even though Google surpassed you in market value this week, I am still hopeful that you got some decent mojo left in you. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

First Cherry Blossom Of The Season

Cherry Blossom in downtown Washington, D.C.

So happy winter is over and Spring has sprung. 

Sunshine, cool breeze, so good.

Feels like more. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)