14 July 2025 Bastille Day

[KathyB]

Today is another pleasantly warm day.  Right now it's 91°F and I don't know if it's scheduled to get warmer or if this is it. The humidity is 24% and the dew point is 44°.

I have no news to report, but I was wondering how pleasant it was (temperature-wise and otherwise) in other parts of the world.

I do need a haircut.  

[scenicdesign71]

I'm finally getting one (a haircut, that is), a month or two overdue, in a couple of hours.  I will leave extra time to get there, as last night's thunderstorm apparently caused flooding which may affect the subway (though it's said to be "largely" back to normal now).  Up here in the heights, it just seemed like a brief downpour with some lightning.

After our 100º+ heat wave a few weeks ago, temperatures have been comparatively mild, rarely breaking 90º and more commonly varying from the low 70s at night to mid-80s during the day — though the humidity has made it a lot less comfortable than that sounds.  Apparently that will get worse this week, with highs approaching 90º but feeling significantly hotter.  I'm glad to have installed a new window AC last week, which has been humming along nicely; it's one of those new U-shaped ones, and it is indeed as miraculously quiet-yet-effective as claimed.  I will be curious to see, on next month's ConEd bill, whether it's also as energy-efficient as claimed.

The other day I read an article that actually seemed to hold out plausible-sounding hope for a future in which humanity doesn't end in climate catastrophe.  I wanted to share it, because I think it's literally been the better part of a decade since I read a hard-news piece that left me feeling hopeful rather than depressed.  Hopefully this link works:

The New Yorker:  Annals of a Warming Planet (7/9/25)

[DiveMilw]

When I got to work this morning, the weather display said it was 85F with a "real feel" of 100F.   
As I came back from lunch the temp was up to 90F with a "feels like" of 106F
Tomorrow I drive to Austin for the remainder of the work week.  The temperatures there are predicted to be in the high to mid 90s.  I've never been to Austin before so I'm hoping for low humidity.  
I could have flown but coming home I might have had to connect via Chicago with a mere 39 minutes between flights.  I decided catching up on podcasts and driving is the better option.  Including time to get to the airport early, the drive won't take much longer than flying.  A plus is that I can stop at two different polish bakeries to get kolaches.  I'll try a new one on the way there and one I've been to before on the way back.