MGTutoring.com. A Rational Perspective on Education.

Way back in May, in “Texas Drought 2011: State Endures Driest 7-Month Span On Record” (The Huffington Post, 05/ 9/11 07:00 PM ET), Betsy Blaney said:

That the drought is looming over the Southwest while floodwaters rise in the Midwest and South reflects a classic signature of the La Nina weather oscillation, a cooling of the central Pacific Ocean.

This year’s La Nina is the sixth-strongest in records dating back to 1949.
…
Houston has received only 1.5 inches in the last three months – just 15 percent of its normal amount and less than some parts of the Sahara desert get during the same period of time.

Wow, we are having an arid, desert summer!! The National Weather Service Houston/Galveston Tx issued a Drought Information Statement (1:50 PM CDT, Wed, August 10, 2011), saying, in part:

HOW DRY HAS IT BEEN ELSEWHERE ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS? HERE ARE SOME
RAINFALL TOTALS FOR A FEW LOCATIONS ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS FROM
OCTOBER 1 2010 THROUGH AUGUST 10TH 2011. 1971-2000 NORMALS USED FOR
DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL THROUGH JULY AND 1981-2010 FOR AUGUST. NOTE
HOW DRY THE FOUR MONTH PERIOD (FEB-MAY) IS COMPARED TO THE OTHER
MONTHS:

LOCATION     OCT-JAN  FEB-MAY   JUN     JUL     AUG     TOTAL
...
CONROE        10.86     2.03    1.45    2.17    0.00    16.51
NORMALS       18.07    15.16    4.58    3.22    1.02    42.05
DEPARTURE     -7.21   -13.13   -3.13   -1.05   -1.02   -25.54
...
HOU HOBBY     14.76     1.30    1.79    3.27    0.00    21.12
NORMALS       17.83    14.77    6.84    4.36    1.41    45.21
DEPARTURE     -3.07   -13.47   -5.05   -1.09   -1.41   -24.09

HOUSTON       10.82     1.91    0.92    2.98    0.00    16.63
NORMALS       16.06    15.09    5.35    3.18    1.05    40.73
DEPARTURE     -5.24   -13.18   -4.43   -0.10   -1.05   -24.10

HUNTSVILLE     7.44     3.59    1.39    0.64    0.00    13.06
NORMALS       17.57    15.19    4.66    2.67    0.98    41.07
DEPARTURE    -10.13   -11.60   -3.27   -2.03   -0.98   -28.01

KATY           8.50     2.54    1.94    0.00    0.00    12.98
NORMALS       15.42    12.98    3.89    2.83    0.93    36.05
DEPARTURE     -6.92   -10.44   -1.95   -2.83   -0.93   -23.07
...
TOMBALL        6.80     1.80    1.15    1.41    0.00    11.16
NORMALS       16.87    15.22    4.48    3.08    1.03    40.68
DEPARTURE    -10.07   -13.42   -3.33   -1.67   -1.03   -29.52

...

HERE ARE THE PERCENTAGE OF NORMAL RAINFALL SINCE FEBRUARY 1ST FOR
THE FOUR PRIMARY CLIMATE SITES AND DANEVANG:

SITE       RAINFALL    NORMAL    DEPARTURE     PERCENT OF
          2/1 - 8/10   RAINFALL                NORMAL

IAH        5.81        24.67     -18.86         23.6
HOU        6.36        27.38     -21.02         23.2
CLL        7.64        19.90     -12.26         38.4
GLS        5.92        20.12     -14.20         29.4
DANEVANG   6.78        22.29     -15.51         30.4

...
BELOW IS A LIST OF COUNTIES AND THEIR RESPECTIVE CLASSIFICATION AS
DESIGNATED BY THE U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR AS OF JULY 19TH:

 (more...)

The great operatic composer was born on this day in 1858.

Visit Puccini.com, where you can listen to some of the music he composed, read about his operas, and read about him. (The site does not have the reading material; it links to articles on other sites.)

At Last.fm, they say:

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (December 22, 1858 – November 29, 1924) is regarded as one of the great operatic composers of the late 19th and early 20th century. … Known for his melodic ability, orchestra depth, and dramatism, in Italian opera, Puccini was the only true successor to Giuseppe Verdi.

Puccini was born in Lucca, Italy into a family with a long history of music. After the death of his father when he was only five years old, he was sent to study with his uncle Fortunato Magi, who considered him to be a poor and undisciplined student. Later, he took the position of church organist and choir master, but it was not until he saw a performance of Verdi’s Aida that he became inspired to be an opera composer. He and a friend walked an entire 18.5 miles (30 Kilometers) to see the performance in Pisa. In 1880, Puccini travelled to the Conservatory of Music in Milan to begin his career by studying composition with Amilcare Ponchielli.

© 2009 Last.fm Ltd. All rights reserved

On the site about Puccini, Last.fm has some tracks you can listen to as well as some videos you can watch. Enjoy!

I received an email today that said:

From:     bill.gates@jmail.co.za
Subject:     FROM:MR.BILL GATES (get back to me)
Date:     September 9, 2009 2:22:55 PM CDT
To:     undisclosed-recipients:;
Reply-To:    gates.1483@rediffmail.com

FROM:MR.BILL GATES (get back to me)

This is to officially inform you that your e-mail ID is active and has been selected as the winner of September 2009 online lottery programs conducted by Microsoft Team and awarded you the sum of $USD9,800,000.00 only. To claim your award I advised to get back to me your full name and direct mailing address ASAP

With Best Regards,
Mr. William Bill Gates.

Sure, “MR.BILL GATES (get back to me),” sure. That “get back to me” is sure to make be believe this is really Bill Gates. Yup. Uh, huh. And such good grammar you have!! That really makes me believe. Uh, huh. And the email went to “undisclosed-recipients” to tell people at Microsoft how to contact me to give me my money, right? Uh, huh.

I don’t have a category for “silliness” or “stupidity,” so I’ll leave this “uncategorized.”