Ted Kowalski

Pic 1: A picture of my sunroom that faces south where I grow an array of plants from Mediterranean figs, Meyer’s lemon, kumquat, plumeria, orchids & tomatoes. To the immediate lower left are most of my phalaenopsis orchids. They are in the darkest dimmest corner of the room. All summer they get reflected summer light, no direct sunlight! Midwinter, the sun is low enough that direct sunlight reach the phals for a half hour. They flower in winter regularly. Pic 2: Is a direct picture of those shaded phals. N.B. the aerial roots, plus that some roots dive down and out of the potting mixture. They are potted in combinations of medium orchiata, (brand name) bark. With phals, the entire plant is capable of absorbing water & some nutrients. Also note that all of the phals are pointed at angles to the pot, plus the pots are tilted so that water drains out of the leaves center. Most commercial phals are imported from elsewhere potted in deteriorating coir & cut cocoanut husks. Some vendors pile Canadian sphagnum on top. Both potting medias need to be changed out for a less soaked root media. I recommend Besgrow New Zealand sphagnum from a different plant than Canadian sphagnum. Or Orchiata medium to large size for bigger phals or small size for seedlings. Pic 3 Is a picture of one phal that did poorly in the darkest dimmest corner. It happily lives in strong reflected sunlight and occasional dappled sunlight filtered by my ficus. Pic 4: Is a picture of a Brassia ‘Rex’ that is slowly conquering the whole table. When that plant outgrew my largest pot, toppled off the rack and broke, I put the plant on the table and water it there. Like many orchids they grow in open air with placements that quickly drain water and dry in the air. Phals prefer higher humidity. The USA Botanical Museum has placed phals on display with nearby misters keeping the humidity above 40% If your phals plant media stays wet or feels like crumbly dirt, you need to repot it. This may be much more than you need, BEST OF LUCK!! Enjoy your flowers Sorry, no bead chains or African violets here.

Ms. ‘Turn the page’ is still nuttier than a Collin’s fruitcake.

Think of the alleged "Use by" warnings as evidence of an unneeded nanny state bureaucracy. Bureaucracies where their employees believe it is their job to make people's lives and businesses miserable. The largest enforcement here are against businesses and food purveyors forcing the businesses to discount and sell food near it's expiration date. I rarely pay attention to any preserve's alleged expiration date. The exception here are pop top lids. Those easy, a lie, lids do not keep food fresh anywhere near as long. When I was young, most kids were trained to learn the signs of spoiled food... Nowadays, people panic at the sight of a specious government mandated "Use by" date. One quick example, I have a box of 'Kosher salt' and a container of 'Popcorn salt'. Just a few days ago I read an X post where the owner spotted his 20 million year old Himalayan salt has an expiration date. Keep in mind that acidic high salt condiments are just as unlikely to spoil. Thanks to Historic Vids @historyinmemes:

I wish everyone stopped these silly pictures of red hot temperatures in the Arctic! The current temperatures in the Arctic are anything BUT warm! Average temperature is -20°C to -25°C degrees.

Of course the local largest area of asphalt has the temperature that ends the streak. So unlike Fairbanks 108 years ago... One wonders just how long did the temperature sit at 0°F?

This what picks cotton nowadays!

If China reduces coal usage, it will be because they are building nuclear generating plants almost as fast as they are building coal plants. Nuclear plants run at 98% capacity. Coal & LNG plants run in the high 90s, percentage wise. Hydro works in the high 90s percentages. Solar only works for a minor part of the day. Solar production is 25% to 30% of Nameplate capacity. Wind runs, well, long as the wind blows, Except: A) when the wind blows slower than 8 mph B) when the wind blows faster than 55 mph. With every incremental change in wind speed, electric output changes.

"Hollywood actress Jennifer Lawrence"

Broom Hilda isn't so bad... How about Madam Mim? youtu.be/-xvo_Jbcihw

"John Brennan: "Jim Comey is a man of integrity, of honesty." 🤡🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂

It is possible, but causing a seeded cloud rainfall in the same or nearby location becomes impossible. These circulations mostly move heat. They are large scale atmospheric engines. Not affecting local conditions. Cloud seeding is a troposphere action. Movement of the chemicals higher in the atmosphere through simple air movement isn't likely. That flat top of a tall thunderstorm tends to be the troposphere limit. scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone… noaa.gov/jetstream/global/gl…

Solar performs very poorly, often at just 10% of nameplate. Making that 278 GW last year a realized 27.8 GW actual performance. While nuclear and coal power plants regularly run at 90% capability, 24/7/52. Further, both coal and nuclear power plants operate for many decades where solar arrays start declining in performance immediately and are toxic throwaway after a measly 20 years. The basic reality shown here is that China is massively electrifying their country. Nor should one believe that China freely admits what are essentially state secrets. China is not transparent nor trusting of Western questioners. From Grok: Nuclear & Coal

Pelosi. 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡 PBS.

"We here provide the first projections of when we could see the first ice-free day in the Arctic Ocean, using daily output from multiple CMIP6 models. We find that there is a large range of the projected first ice-free day, from 3 years compared to a 2023-equivalent model state to no ice-free day before the end of the simulations in 2100, depending on the model and forcing scenario used. Using a storyline approach, we then focus on the nine simulations where the first ice-free day occurs within 3–6 years, i.e. potentially before 2030," Every part of this alleged research is based upon selected fantasies, i.e., "models". No weather involved! In their selected (preferred) models they show annual Arctic temperatures above +5°C. Here is their benchmarked 2023 Arctic temperature graph. N.B., the graph's summer temperatures are never above +5°C, unlike the study's multi model aggregation.