It Snowed In Houston On December 4, 2009—Vapors Rose Off The Houston Ship Channel

As remote as it may seem with a recent streak of 80 degree days in Houston, it snowed here on December 4, 2009.

It does not snow very often in Houston. 

Above is a picture I took that day at the Houston Ship Channel. Snow was falling into the water, and vapors ( No doubt some measure toxic) were rising off the water.

Without forgetting the long and harmful history and present day reality of industrial pollution in Houston, it is the case that the mixing of the elements in both the daily weather and in man-made production are things as natural as the first facts of creation.

The so-called natural world and the man-made and industrial world have more in common than they have remote from each other.  And we long ago reached a point on Earth—for better and for worse—where there can be no full distinction between the natural and human made world.

Some Snow

It snowed today in Cincinnati.

The snow melted not long after it fell, but it was nice while it lasted.

It lasted long enough to take this picture.

Socialist Government Snowplows Descend On Midland-Odessa

Above and below are Texas Department of Transportation photos of snowplows at work in the Midland-Odessa area.

Here is the caption with photo you see above—

“TxDot Odessa District crews plow the roads after receiving a record snowfall on January 9-10, 2012, and work tirelessly to clear roads and bridges.”

Government at work even in very conservative parts of our Great State of Texas.

The people of Midland-Odessa are not tough enough and hard-working enough to overcome this obstacle?  No citizen-volunteers have formed teams to come and get the snow off the roads?

Maybe it is only people someplace else, and people unlike however folks perceive themselves in conservative parts of the nation, who rely on government in a bad way.

Here are facts about snow from the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Here is a history of snow removal.

Socialist Government Snowplows On The Advance All Over Nation

I’ve not seen any Tea Party/Republican Party volunteers out over last two icy days in Houston to sand the roads, direct traffic if signals were out, or respond to accidents on the road.

Where was the Tea Party? When are these folks going to step up and stop letting government do it all?

(Above—Socialism advancing. Photo by SnowKing 1.)

I wonder if anywhere in our wintery nation Republican voters got together  as self-reliant citizens to refuse the socialist city, county, and state snow plows?

Rather than letting government do the work of free people, where were the citizen-shovelers?

Sacrifice is always for somebody else in the Tea Party/Republican Party world view.

Snow In Houston?—Winter Weather Links

Some snow is expected in Houston this upcoming Thursday night/Friday morning.

(Update 2/4/11–We got ice rather than snow.)

(Above–A 20 inch snowstorm hit Houston in 1895. This picture was taken at the intersection of Travis and Prairie in Houston.)

Here is a list of Houston snowfalls since 1895.

(Update--Here is my rolling blackout post.)

At least one inch of snow is possible in Houston. Though just how much snow we get, and if we get any ice, will be determined by the course of the storm.

While that might not be big news in much of the country, it rarely snows in Houston.

While the bad weather in Houston will pass soon enough, it is good opportunity to learn more about snow and winter weather.

What is snow? Here are basic facts about snow from Clouds R Us.com–

“Snow forms if the air in a cloud is below freezing. The water vapour then turns to ice instead of rain and the tiny ice crystals stick together until they form snowflakes. When they get heavy enough to fall, they drop out of the clouds. At this point though, we still don’t know whether they will end up as rain or remain as snow. This depends on the temperature of the air they travel through on the way down to the ground. If it gets warmer, they turn into rain, but if the air stays close to freezing all the way down, then the snowflakes will make it without melting and so fall as snow. If this occurs in a mountain area, it is possible for snow to be falling on the mountaintop while lower down in the valley the air is warmer and so it is raining instead.”

The National Snow & Ice Data Center has plenty of information about–yes–snow and ice.

Snowcrystals.com will tell you all need to know about snowflakes.

Here are tips about surviving a blizzard.

Here are 22 tips for driving on an icy road.

No matter where you are, please be careful on the roads.

And no matter what anybody says, don’t believe the false logic that winter weather in a warm place means that global warming is not true.

In fact, 2010 was the warmest year on Earth so far recorded. 2010 was part of trend that has gone on for some time now.

(Below–Picture I took at Houston Ship Channel during December 4, 2009 snowfall. Photo copyright Neil Aquino.)

Woman In Snow In Central Park—She Is Strong Enough To Resist The Prevailing Winds

My friend Alison Rusza, who lives in New York City, made this print or however it would be properly termed, of a person in the snow.

(Update–It is glass and paint.)

Since it has been snowing so much in New York City this year, and since trees are in the picture, I’d say it is a representation of a woman in Central Park while it is snowing.

You see that she is confident by herself.

You see that the woman is not deterred by the fact that the snow pile and blowing trees are much bigger than she.

You see that she is leaning in the opposite direction of the wind.

This is a person who does more than just move in whatever direction the wind is blowing.

In the top left, you see that the sun is making an appearance. The light of the sun is reflected in the snow drift even as the snow flakes continue to fall.

Life is many things at once. It is natural that some of these things contradict each other.

This picture is good-natured and it has substance.

Good-natured and substantive at the same time is a useful thing to accomplish.

Thanks to Alison for allowing me to use it on the blog.

Not Needed

Sometimes what you have to sell is not what people need at the moment.

This picture was taken last week in Cincinnati’s Eden Park.

Photo copyright Neil Aquino.

Cincinnati Snow

It is snowing today in much of the nation. It has been snowing today in Cincinnati, Ohio.

With this post are two pictures of the snow I took today in Cincinnati’s Eden Park.

In one picture you see the park. In the other picture, you see the Ohio River. On the opposite side of the river is Kentucky.

It is nice that I live in Houston where it is most often quite warm. It is also good to have a chance to visit Cincinnati twice a year and to sometimes see snow.

Seeing different things keeps your mind sharp.

Hippo, Giraffe, And Pumpkin Read Snow By Orhan Pamuk

Hippo, Giraffe, and Pumpkin are reading the novel Snow by the Turkish author Orhan Pamuk.

Hippo, Giraffe, and Pumpkin read many novels as they seek insight into the human condition.

If you were Hippo, Giraffe or Pumpkin, wouldn’t you want to understand just why people do the things they do?

Pumpkin wants to know what can be done to prevent Halloween.

However, Snow is not about Halloween. It is about tensions between Islam and the West, and about the universal concern people have for how they are viewed by others.

Here is a review of Snow from The New Yorker.

Mr. Pamuk has won the Nobel Prize for literature. Here is Mr. Pamuk’s web home.

Snowfall Is Nice And Quiet

Here is a picture of Cincinnati, Ohio after yesterday’s snowfall.

It was nice and quiet out there.

So rarely is it quiet in our lives. It was worth being cold to enjoy the quiet.

It is possible that the people who run this country and who run our corporations never want us to have any peace or downtime in our lives. They don’t want us to be able to think.

Snow At Amsterdam’s Centraal Station

Above is a picture of a recent snowfall in Amsterdam.

The picture was taken by my friend Lisa. Lisa lives in Amsterdam.

The picture is of Centraal Station in Amsterdam. Those folks over there spell the world “Central” with two A’s.

Everything must be crazy over there.

Here is a history of Centraal Station.

From that history—

“The building of the Amsterdam Central Station was built between 1881 and 1889, at the time when several important public buildings in Amsterdam as Rijksmuseum(State Museum), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam Philharmonics), Stadsschouwburg (City Theater), Central Post Office (now a shopping mall Magna Plaza) were constructed. All these fine-looking buildings were concoction of Neo-Gothic or Neo-Renaissance styles. Central Station was designed by Petrus J.H. Cuypers – one of the biggest Dutch architects, assisted by Adolf L. Gendt, who was a responsible for the structure of the Station’s building and its immense platform halls. Cuypers received in 1897 for the Central Station building Golden Medal from the Queen.”

Below is another photo Lisa took. It is of some bicycles that are covered by the snow.

Speaking as someone who has lived in Houston, Texas for 11 years, the bicycles seem more foreign than does the spelling of central.

Do all these bicycles mean that the people of Amsterdam reject Jesus Christ and free enterprise? Don’t they have cars and trucks?

Thanks to Lisa for letting me use these pictures.

Here is information about visiting Amsterdam.

Someday I hope that the wife and I will be able to visit Amsterdam.

Toxins Mist Up From Ship Channel And Then Fall Back Down With Snow

Above is a picture of the Houston Ship Channel in the cold and snow last week.

The cold made the waters of the Ship Channel mist up into the air.

I saw this and thought that the mist was spewing Ship Channel toxins into the air.

Then—Maybe the toxins were latching onto the snow and coming back down into the water.

No harm-No foul.

Right?

Houston In The Snow—Accept The Virtues And The Drawbacks Of Your Circumstances

This is a picture I took of Houston in the snow a few days ago.

It may seem only a dusting of snow, but it is likely all you will see in Houston.

For Houston, it might as well be a blizzard.

With Houston, there is no point in romanticizing something that can’t be romanticized.

Houston has virtues, but aesthetics is not one of these virtues.

Accept both the drawbacks and virtues of your circumstances.

Accept these circumstances without giving up hope that life can always be better.

Snow In Houston—What Is Snow?

(Blogger’s Note—This is updated for the February, 2011 Houston snow.)

It is snowing in Houston today. One to two inches are expected.

(Here is a picture I took of the above mentioned snowfall in Houston. And here is another.)

(Above–Woman wearing mini-skirt in a 1969 New York City snowstorm.)

While that might not be big news in much of the country, it rarely snows in Houston.

Today’s snow is the earliest recorded snowfall ever in Houston.

What is snow? Here are basic facts about snow from Clouds R Us.com—

“Snow forms if the air in a cloud is below freezing. The water vapour then turns to ice instead of rain and the tiny ice crystals stick together until they form snowflakes. When they get heavy enough to fall, they drop out of the clouds. At this point though, we still don’t know whether they will end up as rain or remain as snow. This depends on the temperature of the air they travel through on the way down to the ground. If it gets warmer, they turn into rain, but if the air stays close to freezing all the way down, then the snowflakes will make it without melting and so fall as snow. If this occurs in a mountain area, it is possible for snow to be falling on the mountaintop while lower down in the valley the air is warmer and so it is raining instead.”

The National Snow & Ice Data Center has plenty of information about–yes–snow and ice.

Ice is part of the story in Houston today because there is concern that the roads will freeze this evening and overnight.

Snowcrystals.com will tell you all need to know about snowflakes.

Here are tips about surviving a blizzard.

Here are 22 tips for driving on an icy road.

Please be careful on the roads.

Please slow down and be careful on all the highways of life.

We won’t be snowbound very long in Houston. By Tuesday we are forecast to be back up to 71 degrees.

(Below–A 1966 North Dakota blizzard.)

Texas Progressive Alliance Round-Up With Picture Of Snow

Below is the most recent Texas Progresssive Alliance blogger round up.

Above is a picture of palm trees covered with snow from the Texas Christmas Eve snowfall in 2004.

At Bluedaze, TXsharon asks: What are the chances that an industry in charge of conducting its own testing to determine waste disposal methods will find toxin levels too high if that means disposal of the waste will be more costly? Read Landfarms: Spreading Toxic Drilling Waste on Farmland (with video).

BossKitty at TruthHugger sees lessons never learned … it is NOT about religion, ya’ll! How does it fit that US military crusader evangelists want to save these souls right before we blow them away. How can we justify putting Muslims on death row, by their own people, just because we convinced them to become APOSTATES?! General Order Number One, Forbid Proselytizing — Evangelists Cannot Protect Murtads. Wars fought using 12th-century religious mentality means that civilization has taken two steps backwards!

Mean Rachel is reminded on Mother’s Day of children, the lack thereof and why the pill should be available over the counter.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants to know how can Rick Perry brag about how well Texas is doing when over 22% of our children face hunger every day?

Gary at Easter Lemming Liberal News showed a video from the Texas Freedom Network of our own Texas Department of Miseducation in action.