“Kexin Cai
~115 lbs, ~25 years old, 5.7 feet
Last seen 15 may 2024 with Biktrix white electric bike with fat tyres and front rack.
For any information that can help us find her please call Lebanon police dispatch at 603 448 1212”
I went to a new #RepairCafe today, operated by Sustainable Charlotte. It's a great scene with lots of fixers, a big space, all sorts of home-cooked food, kids running around. Very busy, with a huge list of people waiting for knife sharpening. Too bad I don't do knife sharpening. 😀 I fixed two bicycles, one that needed brake work and a tire re-seated, and another that needed the shifters cleaned. Then no more bikes so I fixed two lamps. #Vermont
I'd seen the last partial eclipse, and while it was fun and interesting, I truly wondered what all the fuss was, regarding a total eclipse. A total eclipse is like a partial eclipse, just more of the same... right?
Three minutes of totality was hardly enough time to process what I was seeing, hearing, feeling.
From my human-on-a-planet perspective, I experience myself as moving very fast, and the planet as frozen in place. Even the moon and the sun seem sluggish in their movements compared to the speed with which I walk. But as the moon and sun crossed paths and slipped in and then out of totality, I was aware in a visceral way of just how fast these celestial bodies move through space.
It was electrifying.
It was also, literally, dizzying. In the gray light just before totality, several of our small group experienced vertigo. It felt like some odd combination of morning sickness and the sudden drop when you're in an elevator going down. The sort where if you move your eyes too quickly from side to side, you're likely to get queasy or the world will suddenly tilt at a very wrong angle.
At first, I thought it was just me. But when I awkwardly blurted out, "Vertigo!" several other folks nodded in wordless agreement.
The gulls over the water went mad, shrieking and pinwheeling. The frogs in the creek joined in the chorus. I like to imagine they felt it, too.
Another sensation as the light and color dimmed was the chill from the temperature dropping rapidly. It went from a beautiful sunny day, 60 or 65 degrees, down to 45 or 50. I started in my shirtsleeves; close to totality I had to run inside and get a coat! My nose and fingers turned to ice.
Milliseconds before full coverage, I saw pink flashes around the edge of the sun! Even with my viewing glasses on!
Then – in an instant the sun was gone, replaced by a glowing, sparking ring in the sky. We all yelled and cheered and clapped our hands together. I felt a chill down my spine that had nothing to do with the chill in the air.
There's no doubt, some ancient part of my DNA knows that it is completely wrong to steal the sun and that my very survival depends on its light and warmth.
I ripped my glasses off to gaze long and lovingly, directly at the sun for the first time in my life! I could see a solar prominence, a pink loop of fire, a loop of plasma so big that it was visible to my bare naked eyes from eighty three million miles away.
I remembered that I had brought binoculars outside, and so I snatched them up, held them to my face, and gasped. No wonder the sun has been worshipped as a god. I wanted nothing more than to spend all three minutes looking through the binoculars, but I also desperately wanted everyone else to see what I was seeing. I shrieked, "Look! Here! You have to look through the binoculars! Look and pass them around! Quick! It's unbelievable!" and probably other mad frantic exclamations, as I shoved them into the hands of the person next to me. "Hurry!"
Once I'd handed off the binoculars, I took a moment to look around. It was a difficult choice to have to make. I mean, I've seen the landscape around where we live. I see it every day – but never during an eclipse. And I might never get to see the sun like this again. Which to look at?
I'd never seen the landscape – or the rest of the sky for that matter – quite like this. Everything immediately around me drained of color yet perfectly visible. The horizon on all sides glowing golden and blue, as if it were sunrise or sunset 360° around us. The sky above turned violet-gray. High atmospheric clouds shimmering like fish scales against it. A sprinkling of stars, and the planet Venus. The faces of my comrades slack with wonder.
I wished in the moment that it could last for hours.
When even the tiniest sliver of sun re-emerged, even that barest hint of Sol instantly swept away the eery gloom and lit the whole world back up. We all shouted, as loudly as when the sun had disappeared, and reflexively turned our faces away to shield our eyes. #storytelling#eclipse#vermont
Jay Peak was a fabulous place to view the eclipse, and we had a good long stretch of totality. Thanks to a tip from my old boss, who now runs the resort, I went to the golf course. Thanks Steve. I really loved Jay -- really nice vibe. The totality of the eclipse was far more impressive than I can convey, and I'm way too tired to try.
It took 6.5 hours to drive from the northern part of eastern #Vermont down to eastern Windsor county VT. Oh man. So many brake lights.
#vermont power failure menu, generator running: creamy cauliflower/potato/cheddar soup with fennel, and garlic bread. No estimated restoration time for our power. Doing fine. Toss another log into the woodstove.
Intense wind and heavy wet snow on the way for the next few days in #vermont, here’s an update on my generator situation (I posted a bunch about generators recently).
I got a new open frame inverter generator, which I’ve broken in and tested. It is much quieter and uses way less gas than the old standard generator of the same capacity.
I also found that I had an unused breaker in my 10-breaker generator transfer box. I figured out how it works and wired it. Now one more room has backup pwr
The snow on the driveway is so beautiful I hate to clear it. In fact by the end, I’d sort of hate it even if it was ugly. Snowblowing is fun for the first 10 minutes, but this is going to take way longer than 10 minutes. By the road, where it’s plowed, it’s as high as the mailbox.
Across the river in Plainfield NH they got an official total of 32”. I guess we must be close.
" Bill that would make Vermont the first state to have a 'Climate Superfund' takes a key step forward
The #ClimateSuperfund Act directs the state treasurer to work with climate scientists to catalog the damage Vermont has seen due to #ClimateChange between 1995 and 2024 — and what it will cost to adapt to a warmer future with more volatile weather.
If the bill becomes law, #Vermont could start to seek damages in 2027."
"The state Senate is expected to give final approval this week to the proposal, which would create a program that fossil fuel companies would pay into for #ClimateChange adaption projects in Vermont. It will then be considered in the House.
Maryland, Massachusetts and New York are considering similar measures, but #Vermont’s bill is moving quicker through the Legislature. "
"#Vermont’s measure would task the state treasurer with calculating the costs of needed #climate adaptation work, as well as the damage inflicted by previous disasters such as last summer’s devastating floods.
The program would collect money from companies that emitted more than 1 billion tons of CO2 around the world from 1995 to today. Those companies with business activity in Vermont would be charged according to their percentage of global #emissions."
"The legislation — the first of its kind in the U.S. — would require companies with high emissions to help pay for destruction caused by climate-fueled extreme weather.
The law passed with just three no votes in Vermont’s state Senate in early April, followed by approval in the state House on Monday. The Senate will deliver a final vote later this week before the bill heads to Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s desk."
" 3 of the session’s largest climate bills face opposition from Phil Scott administration
The administration has expressed concerns with S.213, a bill that would establish a new state permitting system for building in river corridors, S.259, a bill that require big oil companies to pay for damages from climate change in #Vermont and H.289, a bill that would update the state’s #RenewableEnergy standard. "
At least the Rnewable Energy Standard is veto-proof" it requires 100% renewable electricity across all the state’s utilities by 2035
"H.289 was passed in both the State House and Senate today with veto-proof majorities. If Governor Phil Scott (R-VT) vetoes it, then it is expected to be overturned when the state legislature reconvenes in June for its veto override session. The bill has broad support from utilities and renewable developers."
"The #Vermont bill doesn’t outline the total amount it would seek from polluting companies.
Instead, it calls for the state treasurer to account for the costs Vermont has incurred because of #emissions from 1995 through 2024 — including future costs from those past emissions. That includes impacts from floods and heat waves, along with losses to biodiversity, safety, economic development and anything else the treasurer deems reasonable."
IT'S A LAW
"#Vermont has become the first state to enact a law requiring #FossilFuel companies to pay a share of the damage caused by #ClimateChange.
Republican Gov. Phil Scott allowed the bill to become law without his signature late Thursday, saying he is very concerned about the costs and outcome of the small state taking on “Big Oil” alone in what will likely be a grueling legal fight. "