2011-12-05T08:32:00.001-06:00

This is the third post I have started this morning. The first two didn't get off the ground because I didn't know what I was talking about. Now this is a testimony to your own intelligence and high standards, because if you didn't have that, I would have tried to get away with it anyway. However, I am stubborn, so here are the conclusions, in each case, which I would have tried to reach had I done so.

Art is a simplification and a smoothing of real life. It has ups and downs, but not as steep, and not as high nor low. Art is the rolling hills of Sicily, real-life is the Rocky Mountains. This doesn't always seem to be the case, and I guess it stands to reason that a representation of something is usually going to be smaller, simpler, have less elements in it, and more non-essential elements removed from it, just due to the human limitations during the creation of the art in the first place. Like I said, I don't know what I'm talking about. The musical scale, though, is very small and manageable compared to the range of sounds we normally hear, from normal human speech to crashing waves. Music is a very simple representation of life and seems to be more about capturing only the feeling of something, rather than the creation of an historical document of sound waves. Music is quieter than the world. *

Things with a single purpose are more aesthetically pleasing than things with multiple purposes. This was pointed out to me by my friend during a texted discussion last week. A motorcycle designed strictly for off-road use is more visually and aesthetically appealing, usually, than one designed for multiple purposes. Of course. It's simpler. Consider most SUVs, or, say, "crew cab" pick up trucks. Ugly. Now think of an old flat-bed truck. Elegant.

A poem about one thing, of course would demonstrate both things.

Just wanted to get that off my chest. If I write any more about either of those things, however, I will start to sound stupid, (considering that I am at my smartest when I keep my mouth shut.)

*OK. Not Blue Cheer although I worked on the printing press for a newspaper once and it was fricking loud.

A CNN reporter said yesterday when talking about the final resolution of the debt ceiling debacle, "I guess there's nothing like a looming deadline to make you focus on something." (extremely paraphrased.) As if all the politicians finally were forced to sit down and "focus," really "get down to work" and get this done.

Really?

It reminded me an awful lot of how those car dealership salespeople run back and forth to their "manager" and "work" to get your "best deal." Wrong. It's just (very expensive) theater, in both cases.

Now, to move past politics, (not to say, any specific issues of importance in our country,) I would like to move onto something near and dear to my heart, which is complaining about the weather. We are having a heat wave. And I don't like it. It has gone on too long and it's wearing me down. Yesterday while I was driving around, my car's thermometer reported that it was 111 degrees. This is too high. It was cooler in Las Vegas. (AND drier.)

What Is the Dew Point?

Dew point is the temperature at which cooling air can no longer hold, in vapor form, the amount of moisture that is in the air at that moment. If the dew point is 58º, once the air temperature falls to 58º, the relative humidity will be 100% and dew will form on the grass, on car windows, and the like. The dew point is simply a function of the amount of moisture in the air. Humidity, which is to say, relative humidity, is a measure of the humidity in the air in relation to how much moisture the air can hold.

Relative humidity is an interesting number, but the dew point is the number that is going to tell you how sticky and humid it "feels" to you. In my experience, when the dew point exceeds 60º, it is starting to feel kind of muggy. If it is over 70º, most people will say it is really, really muggy and uncomfortable. Think about the 70º dew point number: that means if you go outside to get the morning paper, and air is a hypothetical room temperature, it will be so humid that dew is forming on your car windows, and on your lawn. If you do anything at all--walk briskly--you will break out in a sweat. If you had left your windows open in your house, your carpet would feel damp when you walked across it in your bare feet. Yuck.

Las Vegas vs Kansas City

A typical summer day in Las Vegas will give you these temps: high of 103º, dew point: 25º. It's that famous "dry heat" you hear about all too often. But a typical Kansas City summer day gives you, say, 90º with a dew point of 72º. Now when you talk about the heat to your neighbor, you don't say, "but it's a dry heat." Instead you say, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity."

Why I Would Rather Live in Palo Alto

High today 77º, dew point 58º. Ah.

But, moving on, as they say, and I have, look here for more observations on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

epiph·a·rama

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