Sorry, it was a difficult day for the family this year.

It is the first year without Dad.  I didn't expect such a strong reaction from some of the family.  It was a little rough today.  He was dearly loved. 

There is no sense in beginning now.  Timing is everything.  That was suppose to be funny.

Until later.

Father's Day 2011 in the USA, Del Rio, Texas expected to hit 107 degrees Fahrenheit

June 19, 2011  USA Temperature Map, Weather Channel

The major rivers in the center of the USA are still flooding. When will it end? Good question.

The glaciers at Glacier National Park have been gone for some time.  (click here for the Sun Road page of The National Park Service)

But, the continual falling snow that is accompanied by arctic air masses keeping the upper USA cooler is closing the road closed though the center of the park.

Slow going as crews work to clear snow on Sun Road  (click here)

By Tristan Scott of the Missoulian

missoulian.com

Posted: Wednesday, June 15, 2011 11:00 pm

WEST GLACIER - A twisting helix of snow arcs high into the sky above Glacier National Park and briefly obscures the dark features of iconic mountain peaks before scattering its frozen contents into the great white abyss below….
The Park Service Management and Personnel are doing a great job.  But, there is inherent danger to the current conditions.  Below is the page where 'current road conditions' are kept.

The section of the road (click here) between Avalanche and Jackson Glacier Overlook is closed due to plowing. For Saturday, hiker/biker access on the west side is to Packer's Roost, 6 miles past the vehicle closure. On Sunday there are no hiker/biker access restrictions. On the east side, there are no hiker/biker restrictions throughout the weekend. Visitors should use extreme caution when in avalanche areas and be knowledgeable of avalanche safety. Due to large amounts of snow in the park, there is a potential for the release of large scale avalanches...

But, there is more than concern for the opening of The Sun Road this year.  The continuing rain and snow adds to the volume of water in the Missouri River.  Below is the map of the river guages.  At this link, one can click on a particular point and read the graphs resulting from this monitoring (click here for link)

The flooding has become so profound that funding for research is being stopped at a time when it is needed most.  The people may very well be finding a new reality in this region and there is dearly little being analyzed.  The gauges are recording because they are mechanized, but, the assessments and opinions are lacking.  All the monies spent to modernize the guage system is being wasted for the lack of expertise reading them.  It is ridiculous.  These are vital services to people, cities and states as well as the federal government and the funding has been cut. 

This would not be my first choice in funding cuts.

Seriously.

Budget cuts may hamper flooding research (click here)

By Peter Harriman (Sioux Falls, S.D.)
Argus Leader

But this disaster is happening at a time when a weak economy and belt-tightening in Congress may limit the chance to do any studies.

John Cooper, the retired secretary of the state Game, Fish and Parks Department and an adviser to South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard on Missouri River issues, quickly can think of several things the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should study:...

The article below refers to previous flooding along this river system.  Often those reference points are regarded as a place fo find comfort in that we know the outcomes to such disasters.  That is not the way to look at ‘geophysics.’  The way I look at these events is not as a ‘solid predictable history’ but as what is the potential for more disaster and more dynamic changes as the warming becomes worse.  In other words, these events are ‘precursors’ to understanding a greater dynamic in the future as the parameters fo ‘heat effect’ continue to increase.

Don’t disregard the fact that Human Induced Global Warming has been altering the climate of Earth since the late eighteen hundreds.  It wasn’t until the 1960s that scientists sounded the alarm, but, that alarm was accompanied by a reality accumulating for over six decades of changed biotic content.  The alarm was correct and in plenty of time, it just wasn’t’ welcome by Wall Street.  Don’t ask me why, because, the carbon fuels are running out except for extreme extraction techique that provide immeasurable damage to the craton, the natural world and human beings. 

The 1993 event was the first time there were numerous rain and snow events that contributed to it, other than just one or two.  There was a pattern of rain events that amounted to the 1993 event.  Hence, the continuing pattern today is very much the same only worse.

Among the reasons why: The 1952 flood resulted from an unusually heavy snowmelt upstream; the 1993 deluge was caused by days of lingering, intense rains. The floodwaters now spreading across western Iowa from Sioux City to Hamburg are a combination of both factors…. 

Missouri River flooding: Past adds to fears (click title to entry - thank you)

12:26 AM, Jun. 19, 2011

PERRY BEEMAN and REGINA ZILBERMINTS

Hamburg, Ia. - When it comes to flooding, Iowans have long memories. And with the Missouri River again bearing down on the state, disrupting lives and drenching newly planted fields, many can't help but recall the massive floods that battered western Iowa in 1952 and 1993.

This one, some say, could surpass them both before it ends later this summer.

The Republicans messed up this country beyond belief when their uncontrolled spending for eight years had no real purpose except to provide monuments and the like.  Those monies were vital, but, not in the way it was spent.

The waters from a swollen Missouri River doesn't stop with it's end.  The Missouri empties into the Mississippi River and is part of the Mississippi Watershed.  Everytime there is flooding there is added pollution from runoff and areas where contaminants are stored on land that now become part of the river.  The very last place I would cut funding is here. 

This is the headlines in the official newspaper of Russia, "Ria Novosti." I don't care to hear many more mess about Russia.

...Bonner's daughter Tatiana Yankelevich said (click title to entry - thank you) that her mother would be buried in Moscow.
"We announce with deep sorrow that our mother Yelena Georgiyevna Bonner died today, on June 18 at 13:55 (17:55 GMT). According to her will, her body will be cremated and the cinerary urn will be buried at the Vostryakovo cemetery in Moscow next to her husband, mother and brother," Yankelevich said in a statement....

Her spouse, Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (Russian: Андре́й Дми́триевич Са́харов) died in 1989.  He was a Nobel Peace Prize winnter, a Russian dissent and human rights activist as well as a nuclear physicist.  Their names and message was important in Russia. 

Andrei Sakharov Autobiography (click here)

I was born on 21 May 1921. My father was a well-known teacher of physics and the author of textbooks, exercise books and works of popular science. I grew up in a large communal apartment where most of the rooms were occupied by my family and relations and only a few by outsiders. The house was pervaded by a strong traditional family spirit - a vital enthusiasm for work and respect for professional competence. Within the family we provided one another with mutual support, just as we shared a love of literature and science.

My father played the piano remarkably well, in particular Chopin, Grieg, Beethoven and Scriabin. During the civil war he earned a living by playing the accompaniment to silent films at the cinema....

I know all the arguments, "How could anyone that was a nuclear physicist ever be a human rights advocate, etc., etc., etc."  Espeically given the fact he was a Russian.

Becasue men and women develop their point of view over time.  When they achieve their pinnacle of success and have the ability to look back over their life and find a sense of injustice within their achievement, when they look across the spectrum of their achievements and realize others are not within their grasp to have the same quality of life or freedoms, their conscience won't leave them alone.  A man with a character enough to grow in stature in what was then the Soviet Union wasn't interested in owning luxury beyond his family's comfort.  He wasn't interested in a house in the county, one in the city, and one at the beach.  He was interested in the world 'outside himself' and not narcisstic values of luxury and self emulation.