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But … huh? Okay, I think I sort of see, but it still doesn't make sense to me that I can be standing in a torrential downpour and be told it's only 50 percent water. Wouldn't it be more useful to describe the actual humidity?

And why does 86 degrees "feel like" 91 degrees just because the humidity is higher? Which was the case according to weather.com, but honestly it didn't feel like 91 to me, it felt like a sticky 86. But perhaps that's because I'm finally getting acclimated.

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14 hours ago, Arcadia said:

And why does 86 degrees "feel like" 91 degrees just because the humidity is higher?

It's because the higher the humidity the less you can cool by evaporating sweat on your skin. There is so much "water" in the air, that it cannot take any more.

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Ah, yes. THAT, I do remember now, and can personally observe. I'm starting to think I need to go back to school, and re-learn some of this stuff. But it's more fun asking you folks. :P 

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23 hours ago, Arcadia said:

... it still doesn't make sense to me that I can be standing in a torrential downpour and be told it's only 50 percent water. Wouldn't it be more useful to describe the actual humidity?

Well, if the downpour were 100% water, you wouldn't be able to breathe ;) (but that would be 100% absolute humidity).  The reason it's raining is that it's somewhere near 100% relative humidity up in the clouds (because it's cooler up there, so the air isn't capable of holding as much moisture).  (My apologies if I'm repeating myself.)

I'm pretty sure that absolute humidity would seem even less meaningful than relative humidity, because X% in summer would feel a whole lot different from X% in winter.

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No, I need the repetition in order for this to sink in. I don't know why I'm having so much trouble getting it, but I am. Of course, anything involving numbers is always difficult for my oh-so-right-brain to deal with, but still … :unsure: 

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  • 2 weeks later...

What are your takes regarding invasive species culling?

Saw news that Florida residents are urged to kill green iguana, back then I knew divers were told to kill lionfish (if I remember correctly, Carribean?) because there are too many of these. 

And what are your takes about over population culling, example like secret culling of koala in Australia.

I know, I know, there are 'reasons'. Some are reasonably justified, kill to save. But it's quite heartbreaking for me, and based on those reasons, isn't human need to be culled as well?

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Seeing as how the vast majority of humans in North America are invasive aliens, we hardly have room to talk.  :P

In some situations, I can see the point, and I do something similar when I weed my garden.  But I often think the that the anti-invasive activists are panicking unnecessarily and taking things too far.

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They used to (and maybe have started again) cull the deer population on the island in Maine where we visit. The number of deer became so great that they were starving in the winter, when they didn't have all those nice vegetable gardens to steal from. And some people feared they might spread disease, I guess. So it made sense that they should do it.

But I still think it's horrible. 

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I think what bother me is the lack (at least it's not enough) of effort in tackling the cause. Most of the invasive species; lionfish, goldfish, rabbits, iguana are the result of abandoned pets. At the very least the regulation of bringing non native exotic pets can be tighten, so they don't always have to pay for human negligence and carelessness. Hmppphhh.

 

WTF related, I just found out about Auto Brewery Syndrome, so it's a condition of alcohol in body system without actually consuming them. It is a rare medical condition, making you intoxicated without drinking alcohol when the body turns carbohydrate-rich food into alcohol. That doesn't sound fun at all.

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1 minute ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

Most of the invasive species; lionfish, goldfish, rabbits, iguana are the result of abandoned pets.

Interesting.  I don't think that's the generally case here, at least not with animals (probably because we have a harsher climate, so most exotic pets would not survive in the wild).  A good many of our invasives were introduced intentionally, often by the state or federal government.

For example, there had been no deer in Indiana for a good long while, and then someone in the government decided it'd be nice to have deer in the state park.  Problem was, nobody bothered to notify the deer that they needed to stay in the park.  And they no longer had any natural predators here.  So they soon wandered out of the park and started eating flowers and veggies all over the state.

Same sort of thing with Canada geese.  The state fish & wildlife department decided it'd be cool to have geese for the hunters to shoot at.  But the geese they brought in are very prolific, so now just about every little pond in the state has a flock of geese living in it, to say nothing of a good many ditches, golf courses, etc.

A number of invasive plant species were also the bright idea of government agencies, though in the case of plants there are also a number that were introduced by nurseries as ornamentals.

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Same as our reintroduced deer (which had formerly been native, before they were killed off).  I imagine that in both cases they neglected to consider that the balance of native species has changed during the intervening years.  In the case of our deer, the wolves were no longer present to keep them in check, and in the case of your wolves (I'm guessing) there were no longer enough deer for them to eat.

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On 7/8/2019 at 2:21 PM, Carol the Dabbler said:

For example, there had been no deer in Indiana for a good long while, and then someone in the government decided it'd be nice to have deer in the state park.  Problem was, nobody bothered to notify the deer that they needed to stay in the park.  And they no longer had any natural predators here.  So they soon wandered out of the park and started eating flowers and veggies all over the state.

Same sort of thing with Canada geese.  The state fish & wildlife department decided it'd be cool to have geese for the hunters to shoot at.  But the geese they brought in are very prolific, so now just about every little pond in the state has a flock of geese living in it, to say nothing of a good many ditches, golf courses, etc.

A number of invasive plant species were also the bright idea of government agencies, though in the case of plants there are also a number that were introduced by nurseries as ornamentals.

 

15 hours ago, J.P. said:

In Germany they wanted wolves. But forgot to tell the wolves to keep away from humans and their cattle. And they aren't even an invasive species.

See? That doesn't make me feel better, worse than when they are unintentionally released into the wild from being a pet.

I know it's tremendously difficult and there are many factors to consider. It's just it's really bad that other species have to keep paying for our mistakes. Blah.

 

WTF:

Anyway, apparently there is a trend of begpackers now. Mostly Westeners, in mostly Asian country, resort to begging on the street to fund their travels, asking locals  for money so that they can continue their journey or travel around the world because they are broke. It's despicable in comparison to how little the income of those locals, and some are begging in area where even elderly are working on the street collecting trash for living.

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9 hours ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

... apparently there is a trend of begpackers now. Mostly Westeners, in mostly Asian country, resort to begging on the street to fund their travels, asking locals  for money so that they can continue their journey or travel around the world because they are broke. It's despicable in comparison to how little the income of those locals, and some are begging in area where even elderly are working on the street collecting trash for living.

The really sad thing is, I find this perfectly believable.  :(   Sounds like a case of misapplied Spontaneity with a side order of The World Owes Me a Living.  Not sure what the answer is.  If the local police round them up -- what then?  Put them in jail (free room and board)?  Deport them (send them home)?  I suspect the freeloaders would simply see that as serendipity.

Seems like the best solution would be to bar anyone from entering the Asian country in the first place, unless they have a plan, the money to implement it, and a return ticket home.

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I've seen that implemented but I'm not sure how effective it is (especially commercial airlines, not budget. Most long distance flights are commercial airlines I believe). Some commercial airlines actually charge very little for return trip, and there was once or twice I actually got a discount by encountering that adding return ticket actually reduce my departing ticket price, weird but of course I didn't mind at all. So I could see that they could just throw that away, not returning home yet in favor of snatching opportunity to actually get money to further their holiday, taking people kindness thinking that they are indeed in trouble or something for granted.

I guess now it's becomes a trend and at the same time people start shaming them,..will it work? But some people don't have shame nerve, do they?

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  • 5 weeks later...

Read the news quite sometimes ago, not sure what is the development now about Storm Area 51. So someone post an event to storm area 51 on Facebook, on September something and as far as I know, over one million people has signed up, enough to prompt government response.

I wouldn't dare to underestimate people's stupidity, especially those who are obsessed with social media challenges.

On one hand it's a good way to exercise Darwin Law, on the other hand I appreciate curiosity. I also think government shouldn't let it unpunished, as letting them would encourage more of it.

I have make up my mind about the best solution: secretly move whatever they have, put a couple of inflatable aliens and arrest enough for trespassing.

Thoughts?

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Good grief, see what I miss by not watching The News?  :blink:

Moral of the story:  Be careful what you joke about, because some people won't realize it's a joke.  Then again, it's entirely possible that a large percentage of those who say they're going are also joking. 

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It seems to be the sign of the time. Because really, people do believe and talk things you think no sane person would take seriously,

To differentiate between stupidity and comedy/irony is almost impossible nowadays.

As for me: I just mark the day in my calendar and buy a stash of popcorn-buckets.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I've read about kids suing their parents for privacy infringement for posting their pictures on social media without their consent, which, I don't disagree tha parents should respect their kids, especially when they risk the safety by putting up information publicly, although maybe suing is too much.

Will we ever see that it's not okay to take stranger's image without permission too? I certainly hope so, in this era of camera phone, more often that not, I am very annoyed with people who think it's okay to blatantly take other's pictures or videos.

My experience is not because I'm interesting, good looking or something, but I normally gather a big number of dogs around me, not intentionally, when I go for my beach walk with my dog; playing, interacting, feeding or merely sitting around them and somehow people find it interesting and okay to just point cameras. I hate it, think it's very rude.

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11 hours ago, Van Buren Supernova said:

I normally gather a big number of dogs around me, not intentionally, when I go for my beach walk with my dog; playing, interacting, feeding or merely sitting around them and somehow people find it interesting and okay to just point cameras. I hate it, think it's very rude.

If it's any help, they're probably not thinking of it as taking your picture, but rather taking a picture of all those dogs.  I must admit to having taken photos that included strangers, if they happened to be in an area that I wanted a picture of.

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5 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

If it's any help, they're probably not thinking of it as taking your picture, but rather taking a picture of all those dogs.  I must admit to having taken photos that included strangers, if they happened to be in an area that I wanted a picture of.

There are that. And couple of times when I noticed someone took pics and moved away, only to have it followed me. I mostly used some higher area as prep 'table' when I was about to feed multiple dogs and it was pointed on me. The dogs were on ground level. There was time when I was running and playing with them in the water and almost collided face first with someone's DSLR. Again, dogs on ground level.

I know there is probably no malice or bad intention, it's probably more lively for whatever image they wanted to take about crazy dog lady, but again, it is very rude when they didn't feel the slightest need to ask if you mind. Heck, I ask for permission when I want to take picture of someone's dog.

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I admit it used to never occur to me to ask someone's permission to take a picture. My Dad was an inveterate photographer who took pictures of anyone and everyone, so it seemed normal to me, I guess. Recently, though, I've had more concerns about it. I've learned not to point my camera at kids, for example. At least, not when they're close enough to be able to identify them. I think I'd still take a snap of a crazy dog lady, though, obviously she'd just be asking for the attention. :P 

Seriously, now I'm thinking about it. If you're doing a private activity in public, is it okay for the public to record it? I don't know, I can see both sides. I have had people take pics of me when I was painting outside, and I admit I don't mind, because I'm out in the public. But if they were so close I could bang my head on their camera … ? Yeah, I think I'd expect them to ask me first.

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I agree with both of you, it depends on the photographer's method -- how close they are, where the camera is pointed, etc.  It could get kinda creepy.

Now I'm trying to think of a time when I noticed some stranger photographing me in public, and darned if I can come up with any examples.  Maybe I'm just not that interesting?  Or maybe I just didn't notice them?

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