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Tomorrow marks the first day of the lunar new year, the Year of the Tiger. The Chinese zodiac has 12 animal signs, and five elements, and this will be a Water Tiger year. While the tiger is considered masculine, water is feminine, so there may be complementary, or there may be conflict. Water seeks to rest at the lowest point, but also represents calmness, and flexibility. The tiger is associated with wood, which is nourished by water.
The 12 by 5 system gives a 60 year cycle. One cycle ago (1962),
John Glenn orbited the earth in Friendship 7, as does Scott Carpenter some months later in Aurora 7, and Walter Schirra, in Sigma 7;
Kmart, Wal-Mart, Target, and Taco Bell opened their first stores;
Ne Win seized power in a coup d'etat in Burma;
China and India went to war, briefly, and the USA and USSR barely avoided nuclear war over Cuba-based missiles;
Algeria, Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda established sovereignty;
Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a single basketball game;
Nelson Mandela was arrested; and
the Rolling Stones debuted (as did MC Hammer, born March 30, 1962).
Fire forces evacuation of 100s of homes in Florida Panhandle
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) — Residents of hundreds of Florida Panhandle homes were evacuated as a wildfire destroyed two houses and damaged 12 others in an area that has spent years recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Michael, officials said Saturday.
Hundreds of thousands of acres (hectares) of downed trees from the 2018 hurricane, along with low humidity and strong winds, have created “the perfect storm" for hazardous fire conditions in Bay County, Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference in Panama City.
“This is not a surprise," DeSantis said.
More than 200 firefighters and emergency workers from around the Panhandle worked overnight to strengthen containment lines and protect homes. As of Saturday morning, the 1,500-acre (607 hectare) Adkins Avenue Fire was 30% contained, according to the Florida Forest Service.
The agency has deployed more than a dozen tractor plow units as well as multiple helicopters, and burn bans were in effect in parts of the region, officials said in a news release.
At least 600 homes had been evacuated as of Saturday morning, but that figure was expected to grow as new neighborhoods were placed under evacuation orders throughout the day.
DeSantis praised firefighters for saving scores of homes overnight.
“This is a really significant, fast-moving fire," DeSantis said.
Michael was the first Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and only the fourth on record, when it tore through Mexico Beach and Tyndall Air Force Base in October 2018. The hurricane was directly responsible for 16 deaths and about $25 billion in damage in the U.S., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
It also left behind 2.8 million acres (about 1.1 million hectares) of shredded and uprooted trees in the Florida Panhandle, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried said at the news conference.
“Hurricane Michael left an additional threat to our communities — wildfires," Fried said. “Wildfires are never easy control. This added fuel and dense pockets of vegetation from Hurricane Michael will increase the intensity of wildfires."
No. He called the Fire Dept after his fire got out of hand. By the time the FD got there it had spread to almost 10 acres.
On the spontaneous combustion thing, The county I work for learned our lesson. During hurricane recovery, FEMA was grinding trees down to woodchips, We set up a location to dump them (all about the money). FEMA said we needed a layer of clay every 2 ft. But that takes time and we were getting paid by the truckload. So we didn't do it.
We have a 4.5 acre mound 40ft high of wood chips. It was smoking as we were spreading.
Now the pile is covered with 3ft layer of soil with rye grass growing to stabilize the dirt and has a system pumping water into the mound 24/7. Still get puffs of smoke seeping out.
I heard this as the lead story on NPR yesterday afternoon. At first I thought it was a grass fire but then the announcer said it was in the deadfall from Hurricane Michael and I was "Oh oh!"
“Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
Mark Twain
There are a few wood/biomass pellet manufacturers in Florida and Alabama. Seems like the problem is also a wasted resource.
We have been asking that same question since the hurricane.
According to the experts at UoF and the paper mill. The tree fibers were damaged by the hurricane (156mph winds) to the point that they cannot be used for paper.
To make wood pellets they need clean trees (no other biomass) There is a pellet processing plant nearby. They use the scrap from the paper mills and fresh cut trees.
Cannot grind it up and use as mulch because of too many contaminants.
And finally any tree that has been left on the ground for more than 6 weeks is unusable because of rot, fungus ect...
And of course all of those trees are on private property owned by timber companies, They didn't clean them up because of cost. They did clean some land and replant trees but left the rest for future clearing/planting.
Locals have got a good education about trees since the hurricane. Such as a grown pine tree (35 yrs) absorbs/uses 100gal of water a day. We don't have those anymore so every time it rains places flood that have never had a drainage problem
Enjoy. Availability and Use of F-35 Fighter Aircraft
Congressional Budget Office, April 7, 2022
CBO examines the availability and use of DoD’s F-35 fighter aircraft. This report includes findings about fleet sizes, availability rates, time spent in depot-level maintenance, flying hours, and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Availability and Use of F-35 Fighter Aircraft
Congressional Budget Office, April 7, 2022 https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57842
Is there a better thread for this?
06 April 2022 North Korea will ‘annihilate’ South with nukes, warns Kim Jong-un’s sister
Kim Jong-un’s sister has threatened to attack South Korea with nuclear weapons. Kim Yo-jong said North Korea will “annihilate” the South’s army if provoked. Her sharp retort came in response to South Korea’s defence minister Suh Wook who discussed Seoul’s ability to accurately and quickly hit any target in North Korea.
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