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It is still 2023

I still have some old friends, but fewer after July. It's only August. Y'all be careful out there, y'hear?

The Heat

You've been reading about it and perhaps experiencing it. July was hot. August remains hot. Living in Arizona, where in Phoenix several heat records have fallen last month, it's been almost unbearable and people have died. I'm not one of them for several reasons, the most salient being that I don't live in Phoenix and do have air conditioning. Even so, I'd like to say a few words about a few words:

Adiabatic Lapse Rate

This is the phenomenon that is generally responsible for it being cooler at higher altitudes. One way to think about it is to read the Wikipedia article, but the intuitive way is to look at the nearest mountain peak and notice that it is covered with snow a lot longer than the street where you live. In (very) general, if it is hot at point A and cold at point C, point B in between will have an intermediate temperature.

Sedona, where I live, is Point B. Phoenix, hellishly hot last month, is at an elevation of about 1000 feet above sea level. Follow Arizona route 17 (when they aren't blasting) by about 150 miles up to Flagstaff at about 7000 feet; you will go from [right this minute!] a temperature of 108 to a temperature of 78. Point B, Sedona, at about 4500 feet, is a somewhat uncomfortable 92**, which is hot but not hellish.

Being a person of the elderly persuasion, I've been reading up on that condition. It seems that I should be more susceptible to heat issues than the young'uns, but I remember the condition of being young, too, and I hated the heat more then. Now, especially if there's any breeze in our normally low-humidity environment, I find it almost pleasant. So thank you, old friends (but see initial item), and all others for your concern, emails, and especially for the Alaska cruise tickets.

Soup Anomaly I was having some soup while I wrote the above and the thing in the picture emerged from the ooze under the noodles. Looks like about 18x22mm. Any idea what it might be? Edible?***   Your Guess in This Space

I Just Finished My Prague Banana

After writing the above, we took a trip to Europe. It is no longer the 11th of August, and I've added another country to my visited-list, along with a few duplicates. That country would be the Czech Republic, officially known as Czechia. I'm sure I'll have words and pictures in future blogs, but for the moment, just two thoughts.

The EU hotels at which I have stayed typically have sumptuous breakfast buffets. At our final day in Prague, I appropriated a banana from the buffet, packed it and forgot about it, and only upon arrival rediscovered it. It has now been consumed. The Prague banana, bottom, looked and tasted similar to a locally obtained banana, still awaiting its fate as of the date of this photo. Prague seems to have an excessive amount of gravity, which is selectively applied. I have never been to louder restaurants. Every dropped utensil, cabinet door closure, or otherwise percussive event undertaken by the staff was loud enough to awaken the characters in the famous Astronomical Clock.

* Remembering that I invented that word along with several others (e.g., sililoquy,) which I submitted to an online dictionary, I found that they all suffered from link rot, as has the dictionary itself. Nothing is permanent nowadays. (There I go again.)

** I can't decide whether to be embarrassed by using "customary" units. I like to think of myself as a science person, and I should eschew miles for kilometres, degrees F for C (or maybe K), and feet for metres. And yet I unabashedly use the units I do, frequently along with the execrable pounds and ounces.

*** Yes, edible. Flavor-free but I finished the blog and no ill effe

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