Thursday, June 25, 2026

Day_n'_ Night!

 Gemini AI:


https://www.liberation.fr/environnement/climat/canicule-pourquoi-les-nuits-se-rechauffent-plus-vite-que-les-jours-20260624_QWKFP7OHFZGXFAQ2LQVTTU7ATU/ I can't access this piece from Libe, but am still curious as to why, indeed, the nights ae heating up faster than the days in France. Can you tell me? 

The phenomenon of nighttime temperatures rising faster than daytime highs is primarily driven by changes in cloud cover and atmospheric moisture, both of which are direct consequences of global warming.

While the exact dynamics can vary by region, the core mechanism works like a thermal blanket:

The "Blanket" Effect: As the atmosphere warms, it holds more moisture. This increased humidity often leads to greater cloud cover. During the day, these clouds can help cool the surface by reflecting incoming solar radiation back into space. At night, however, those same clouds absorb the longwave radiation (heat) reflecting off the Earth’s surface and re-emit it back downward, preventing the heat from escaping into the atmosphere.

Greenhouse Gas Forcing: The greenhouse effect operates 24 hours a day. While daytime temperatures are heavily influenced by direct solar exposure, nighttime temperatures are more sensitive to the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which trap outgoing infrared radiation.

Urban Heat Islands: In populated areas, this effect is often intensified by human infrastructure. Surfaces like asphalt, concrete, and brick absorb immense amounts of solar energy during the day and release that stored heat slowly throughout the night. This prevents cities from cooling down to the extent that surrounding rural areas might, resulting in higher nighttime minimums.

Soil Moisture: In many regions, climate change-induced drought reduces the amount of moisture in the soil. When the ground is dry, it loses the "evaporative cooling" benefit that moist soil provides during the day. This shifts the energy balance, though it also means there is less moisture to evaporate at night, which can sometimes lead to complex, region-specific variations in how temperature extremes manifest.

Ultimately, this trend means that the "reset" period—the time when the Earth’s surface typically cools down significantly—is becoming less effective. For humans, this is particularly significant because nighttime recovery is essential for physical and cardiovascular health, especially during heatwaves.

https://youtu.be/u5Ci-vOdv9w?si=02xkYdtsWeNw8864

This video explains the concept of diurnal temperature ranges and how different factors throughout the day and night influence the minimum and maximum temperatures we experience.


Wednesday, June 24, 2026

FÊTE_N26

🎉 BONNE FÊTE NATIONALE! 🎉




                                                          *     *     *

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Bummed

 Looking for something midly amusing on the Web this morning, to kick off

my blog. Nothing: everybody is overheated/water_logged, hopelessly alcoholic, 

resigning, rightiously_offended...bummed out. 


Except, perhaps, these two; Gurky and his videographer Karl. A monument to the 

everlasting pleasure of food. Below, one of my favourite vids, on historical foods;


Monday, June 22, 2026

Pricing_it

 Hey, it's stopped raining!! How about that...

Before going into full celebration mode to kick off summer, and it's back-to-back

National Holidays (which we have certainly earned this year), one might do well

to look at this little... situation:

                                                                                    








Checking in on the Canadian dollar, this morning: it is not a pretty sight. Scratching

the bottom of the barrel at .70. With vacations coming up, as well.


I have no doubt there is a very good reason for this, what with oil tumbling in the last few

days. And then the USA all but threatening to shut down the free trade agreement. Makes

perfect sense. And guess what; I don't care. It is bad news at a bad time. What are we going to do 

about it!!??


The exchange rate is always the last considered when Canada pulls itself out of economic 

difficulties. This should not be. It is what hurts the most.

                                                                                                                                    


*     *     *

Summer 2026 Song:



Bringing it back to Disco:

Sunday, June 21, 2026

Concept

 

Today is the first day of summer: at 4:27AM Montreal time, the Earth reached its

most bent toward the Sun moment ie the Solciste, and today will be the longest day

of the year in sunshine hours.. This naturally lends itself to celebration,

and - as for every year - I need to reconfigure how I will dress going into Summer.


Last night I was wondering at what time this Solciste moment was going to happen in, say,

London or Paris. Sure to have ramifications on how people will dress there. The whole sartorial 

day is in evolution here.


I could no doubt find a friendly online app to figure all this out for me; but Summer Solciste is

not the only moment when I wonder was might be going on elsewhere on the planet. or need to 

know: Is itChristmas there yet, has the day come and gone in Asia and so forth. Long story short, 

I could use an app...


Below, a mock-up on what appears when the app is opened. One enters the current time in the 

reference place. The date is always D. One also enters the second timezone one is interested in.

On pressing calculate, the time in the target zone should appear and - for day - one of D+, D, D-

thus indicating whether the date is tomorrow, today or yesterday.


That's all I need to know! Now all I need is a friendly AI that will generate the Python code for 

me. I expect to have to furnish the Timezone chart, but the code should handle the rest directly!


                                                                                    


Copilot produced a working app for me:

                                                                                           


Problem with this: the code uses python's pytz, which adjusts for Daylight Savings and various

 oddities... the Timezone map is not a useful reference!


https://copilot.microsoft.com/shares/7fGXnenweQmHdtZ9Bu1MU


*     *     *




import tkinter as tk
from tkinter import ttk
from datetime import datetime
import pytz
from PIL import Image, ImageTk


# ---------------------------------------------------------
# Timezone Conversion Logic
# ---------------------------------------------------------
def convert_time():
ref_tz_name = ref_timezone.get().strip()
tgt_tz_name = tgt_timezone.get().strip()
ref_time_str = ref_time.get().strip()

try:
# Parse reference time
ref_dt = datetime.strptime(ref_time_str, "%H:%M")

# Attach today's date
today = datetime.now().date()
ref_dt = datetime.combine(today, ref_dt.time())

# Localize to reference timezone
ref_zone = pytz.timezone(ref_tz_name)
ref_dt = ref_zone.localize(ref_dt)

# Convert to target timezone
tgt_zone = pytz.timezone(tgt_tz_name)
tgt_dt = ref_dt.astimezone(tgt_zone)

# Determine D-, D, D+
if tgt_dt.date() < today:
d_flag = "D-"
elif tgt_dt.date() > today:
d_flag = "D+"
else:
d_flag = "D"

# Display result
result_time.set(tgt_dt.strftime("%H:%M"))
result_date.set(d_flag)

except Exception:
result_time.set("Error")
result_date.set("Check inputs")


# ---------------------------------------------------------
# Zoomable Image Popup
# ---------------------------------------------------------
def show_timezone_chart():
popup = tk.Toplevel(root)
popup.title("Timezone Chart")
popup.configure(bg="#ffffff")

# Load original image
original_img = Image.open("Images/Timezones.png")

# State for zooming
popup.zoom_level = 1.0
popup.original_img = original_img

# Canvas for image
canvas = tk.Canvas(popup, bg="white", width=900, height=450)
canvas.pack(fill="both", expand=True)

# Function to redraw image at current zoom level
def redraw_image():
zoom = popup.zoom_level
w = int(original_img.width * zoom)
h = int(original_img.height * zoom)

resized = original_img.resize((w, h), Image.LANCZOS)
popup.photo = ImageTk.PhotoImage(resized)

canvas.delete("all")
canvas.create_image(0, 0, anchor="nw", image=popup.photo)
canvas.config(scrollregion=(0, 0, w, h))

# Zoom controls
def zoom_in():
popup.zoom_level *= 1.2
redraw_image()

def zoom_out():
popup.zoom_level /= 1.2
redraw_image()

# Mouse wheel zoom
def mouse_zoom(event):
if event.delta > 0:
popup.zoom_level *= 1.1
else:
popup.zoom_level /= 1.1
redraw_image()

canvas.bind("<MouseWheel>", mouse_zoom)

# Buttons
btn_frame = tk.Frame(popup, bg="white")
btn_frame.pack(pady=10)

tk.Button(btn_frame, text="Zoom In", command=zoom_in,
font=("Arial", 12), bg="#66aaff", fg="white").grid(row=0, column=0, padx=10)

tk.Button(btn_frame, text="Zoom Out", command=zoom_out,
font=("Arial", 12), bg="#66aaff", fg="white").grid(row=0, column=1, padx=10)

tk.Button(btn_frame, text="Close", command=popup.destroy,
font=("Arial", 12), bg="#ffcc00").grid(row=0, column=2, padx=10)

# Initial draw
redraw_image()


# ---------------------------------------------------------
# GUI Setup
# ---------------------------------------------------------
root = tk.Tk()
root.title("Timezone Converter")
root.geometry("520x420")
root.configure(bg="#f0f4ff")

title_label = tk.Label(root, text="TIMEZONE", font=("Arial", 22, "bold"),
bg="#f0f4ff", fg="#003366")
title_label.pack(pady=10)

frame = tk.Frame(root, bg="#f0f4ff")
frame.pack(pady=10)


# ---------------------------------------------------------
# Reference Section
# ---------------------------------------------------------
ref_label = tk.Label(frame, text="Reference", font=("Arial", 14, "bold"),
fg="#0044aa", bg="#f0f4ff")
ref_label.grid(row=0, column=0, padx=20)

tk.Label(frame, text="Timezone:", bg="#f0f4ff").grid(row=1, column=0)
ref_timezone = tk.Entry(frame, width=20)
ref_timezone.grid(row=2, column=0, pady=5)

tk.Label(frame, text="Time (HH:MM):", bg="#f0f4ff").grid(row=3, column=0)
ref_time = tk.Entry(frame, width=20)
ref_time.grid(row=4, column=0, pady=5)


# ---------------------------------------------------------
# Target Section
# ---------------------------------------------------------
tgt_label = tk.Label(frame, text="Target", font=("Arial", 14, "bold"),
fg="#aa0066", bg="#f0f4ff")
tgt_label.grid(row=0, column=1, padx=20)

tk.Label(frame, text="Timezone:", bg="#f0f4ff").grid(row=1, column=1)
tgt_timezone = tk.Entry(frame, width=20)
tgt_timezone.grid(row=2, column=1, pady=5)


# ---------------------------------------------------------
# Buttons
# ---------------------------------------------------------
calc_button = tk.Button(root, text="Calculate", font=("Arial", 14, "bold"),
bg="#ffcc00", fg="black", command=convert_time)
calc_button.pack(pady=10)

chart_button = tk.Button(root, text="View Timezone Chart",
font=("Arial", 12, "bold"),
bg="#66aaff", fg="white",
command=show_timezone_chart)
chart_button.pack(pady=5)


# ---------------------------------------------------------
# Output Section
# ---------------------------------------------------------
output_frame = tk.Frame(root, bg="#f0f4ff")
output_frame.pack(pady=10)

tk.Label(output_frame, text="Target Time:", bg="#f0f4ff",
font=("Arial", 12)).grid(row=0, column=0)
result_time = tk.StringVar()
tk.Label(output_frame, textvariable=result_time, bg="#f0f4ff",
font=("Arial", 16, "bold"), fg="#aa0066").grid(row=0, column=1, padx=10)

tk.Label(output_frame, text="Date:", bg="#f0f4ff",
font=("Arial", 12)).grid(row=1, column=0)
result_date = tk.StringVar()
tk.Label(output_frame, textvariable=result_date, bg="#f0f4ff",
font=("Arial", 16, "bold"), fg="#cc0000").grid(row=1, column=1, padx=10)


root.mainloop()

Father's_Day26

 Below, an interesting research report on speaking many languages and the brain. Suggests it's

all one language as far as the brain's resource allocation is concerned. Interesting...

https://archive.ph/yTphl


HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL!

And what will I be doing this Father's Day. Well watching this long - no doubt convoluted -

video about Hegel. What else!!??


Saturday, June 20, 2026

World_Center

 Below, the World Map Chinese children work from at school: