THE WEISS CHRONICLES

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Thus Passes The Glory of Star Wars

Yesterday and today, one of the channels (SPIKE) had a Star Wars Festival. They showed each of the 6 movies at least three times. During this time, I noticed that the sponsors of this reshowing were products made of TV, other TV networks, an animal rescue charity, etc.

The painting (a 1963 production from Joseph Cusimano) shown is called "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi" (thus passes the glory of the world). I guess this day would be called "Sic Transit Gloria Star Wars".

posted by Martin Weiss # 11:46 AM

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Deep Deep Snow

We had about 18 inches of snow here. Parts of the area had over 24" (my brother reported he had about two feet at his house in Baltimore).

National Airport had 16.3" in the storm (which began on Dec 18 and ended on Dec 19). It was the heaviest snowstorm ever recorded in December (and also, with a storm two weeks ago made it the snowiest December on record).

According to the Weather Channel, Dulles and BWI also had 19" and 22" respectively which would give them similar records. Roanoke had about 18" and Philadelphia about 23" both of which were December records and in the case of Philadelphia, the #2 snowstorm of all time (after a January 1996 event). Eastern Long Island had over 25" also and parts of RI, NC, MA, WV and CN had about 20". These are storm totals. A lot of these places had 'calendar day' records broken also.

I cleaned off part of the driveway myself and paid a group of shovel wielding entrepreneurs $35 to do the rest. This was the first time I paid to have my driveway (or sidewalk) shoveled since we moved here.

The NWS summary of this storm is here

posted by Martin Weiss # 12:17 PM

Monday, December 14, 2009

May I Speak to Peter Weiss?

That question is what I heard when I answered the phone today. I don't know from whom the call was (presumably it was a charity or other fundraiser). Unfortunately I forgot to say,

"You may speak to him but you can not do so."

Instead I said,

"Sorry, he died about 19 years ago."

I'm sure dad would have been amused by this.

posted by Martin Weiss # 5:41 PM

Thursday, December 10, 2009

The Doughnut Sludge Affair

Recently, the Krispy Creme company and Fairfax County settled a legal issue involving the problem of sludge from a Krispy Creme production plant in that county.

The problem was that the sludge from the operation produced a high acid, high fat residue and the pipes in that part of the county (which also has the Lorton prison) couldn't handle the load.

Krispy Creme is down about 90% in corporate market value since 2003. The lawsuit was for $20M, the settlement was for $1.6M (including fine and reimbursement for court costs).

Article here and here

posted by Martin Weiss # 10:42 PM

Sunday, December 06, 2009

H1N1 - All Now Vaccinated

A few weeks ago, George was at the Washington Law School at American University (in D.C.) and they announced that H1N1 vaccinations were being given. He waited in line and got the vaccine in that building.

Today, about the same thing happened to Ann and I. We were at the gym in Rockville (we use a different one than George) and there was a vaccination going on. It took some waiting around (I was the 163rd vaccination of the day - or at least I had that number).

posted by Martin Weiss # 10:07 PM

Thursday, December 03, 2009

Trina Cat Gets Rabies Shot

Among the things done today at her annual visit to the vet was a rabies shot.

Of course Trina, like Soda, does not go outside. However, Montgomery County has made it a crime for a pet to not have rabies vaccination.

I asked the vet office staff if the county actually ticketed people. They said that, yes, about a dozen of their clients had received visits from county officials and some had been fined $100 or so.

I'm presuming the visits are due to neighbors complaining but who knows.

posted by Martin Weiss # 11:25 AM