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This paper presents the results of the analysis of the Western Sudetes’ snow cover temporal and spatial changes, as well as it demonstrates the research on the long-term trends in the changes of snow cover durability. In order to conduct the study, the coefficient of snow cover durability (V) was used, which was defined as the quotient of the actual and the potential time of snow cover duration and expressed in percentage (1–100%). Moreover, the frequency of total disappearance of snow cover was established for the optimal winter season (December–March). Measurement data were obtained from 17 stations in the 1961–2015 period. The snow cover on the Western Sudetes’ slopes with southern (S) macro-exposure lasts longer (has greater durability) than on the slopes in analogous altitude zones with northern (N) macro-exposure. At the altitudinal level of 600–700 m a.s.l., where the differences are the biggest, the average V values range from 60% at stations N to 75% in stations S. In the analysed area, excluding the upper ranges, slight negative trends in V changes have been noted. Snow cover persists for a shorter and shorter time. For the substantial majority of the stations, the trends in these changes are not statistically significant at the 0.05 level of statistical significance. They refer to the tendencies in other mountainous regions in Poland and Europe. Analogously, the stations with S macro-exposure, located at similar altitudes as stations with N macro-exposure, are characterised by two to three times lesser frequency of total disappearance of snow cover. Coefficient V is negatively correlated with the total disappearance of snow cover. At the stations with S macro-exposure in the Western Sudetes, these correlations are usually strong or very strong, whereas at the stations with N macro-exposure, at similar altitudes, they are usually moderate or very weak.
In mountain areas, where the winter touristic infrastructure is well developed and where tourism provides the livelihood for the local communities, the retention of continuous snow cover has a paramount importance. The lack of durability of snow cover not only adversely affects winter tourism but also poses a threat of exposing crops to unfavourably low temperatures, etc. All changes in the depth and durability of snow cover can have long-term environmental and economic impacts (Beniston 1997, 2000; Beniston et al. 2003; Schmucki et al. 2015). The conditions and changes of seasonal snow cover both in Poland (Leśniak 1981; Falarz 2000–2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2013; Bednorz 2002; Urban 2016; Urban et al. 2018) and all over the world (Gutzler and Rosen 1992; Groisman et al. 1994; Brown 2000; Bednorz 2004) are quite well recognised. Air temperature increase in the twentieth and at the beginning of the twenty-first centuries caused the global reduction of cryosphere, both on the lowlands (IPCC 2013) and in mountainous regions (Marty 2008; Durand et al. 2009; Valt and Cianfarra 2010; Pederson et al. 2013; Klein et al. 2016). Similarly, in the second half of the twentieth century in most of the area of Poland, a slight negative trend in the snow cover duration and depth of snow cover were noted. Only for some of the mountainous areas (in the case of snow cover duration) and north-eastern Poland (in the case of depth), trends of snow characteristics were positive (Falarz 2004). The foundational role in shaping these changes belongs to macro-scale atmospheric circulation (Bednorz 2002; Falarz 2007). According to Brown and Mote (2009), Poland lies in the zone where the decrease in the snow cover duration in 1966–2007 was the biggest due to the high sensitivity of this region to climate changes.
Taking into consideration the above-mentioned results of the research, the authors of the study decided to analyse the durability of snow cover in the Western Sudetes, mainly in their highest ranges, i.e. in the Karkonosze and the Izera Mountains—located in Central Europe, on the Polish–Czech border. The aim of this study is spatial and temporal analysis of the coefficient of the snow cover durability as well as to examine its change trends in the Karkonosze and the Izera Mountains, both on the Polish and Czech side of these two mountain ranges. The thesis was stated that at similar altitudes in the Western Sudetes, snow cover on slopes with northern macro-exposure is less durable and is subject to more frequent ablations that lead to its total disappearance than on the slopes with southern macro-exposure.
The premise for undertaking the study was the fact that to date literature on the subject, except for the work by Urban et al. (2018), lacked a comprehensive, methodologically uniform study that would cover such a long period and use a larger number of stations on both sides of the Polish–Czech border. The studies already published concerned the comparison of snow conditions on both sides of the border in the context of skiing opportunities (Urban and Richterová 2010) or were case studies (Ojrzyńska et al. 2010; Urban et al. 2011) but no evaluation of snow cover durability or change trends have hitherto been presented. Moreover, snow cover characteristics based on the coefficient of its durability have not been well recognised so far. The last article by the authors (Urban et al. 2018) concerned winter characteristics in the Western Sudetes and was based on the comprehensive winter severity and snowiness by Paczos (1982). In this work, significant differentiation of the mentioned indicators average values. It demonstrated that there is a clear differentiation between the average values of the above-mentioned indicators and the height above the sea level and macro-exposure of the slopes in relation to the dominant directions of advection of air masses. Furthermore, it was emphasised that the areas with macro-exposures SW and W (the Elbe river catchment) are characterised by better snow conditions and by being cooler in winter than the areas with macro-exposure NE and N (the Odra river catchment). The snow conditions, characteristic for the slope zone in the Elbe river catchment, occur approx. 250 m higher in the Odra river catchment. However, these indicators do not provide direct information on the time of logging and durability as well as the mid-season variability of the snow cover, which are so important from the point of view of many areas of the economy and human life. Therefore, on the basis on an analogous material (the same stations and the same research period), this work aims to deepen knowledge about the characteristics of the snow cover and its variability in the Western Sudetes using the coefficient of snow cover durability introduced to the source literature by Leśniak (1973, 1981). Using the coefficient makes sense for moderate geographical latitudes, where the snow cover shows a distinct seasonal rhythm (Leśniak 1981). This coefficient is commonly used in characterising snow conditions in the mountains as well as on the national scale (Leśniak 1973, 1981; Nowosad 1992; Falarz 1993, 2000–2001, 2010, 2013; Urban 2015; Franczak 2018).
In the present work, the main author continues the series of articles (Urban and Richterová 2010; Ojrzyńska et al. 2010; Urban et al. 2011; Urban et al. 2018), whose purpose is to characterise snow cover conditions and their long-term changes in the Western Sudetes. These characteristics are to be obtained in many contexts, including the orographic deformation of field of air masses flow at orographic barrier.
Source data and method
The time range of measurement data (1961/1962–2015/2016), the criteria for their selection and the area of research in this study were identical to the authors’ previous article (Urban et al. 2018). As a reminder, homogeneous measurement data were derived from eight meteorological stations of the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management–National Research Institute (IMGW–PIB), eight stations of the Czech Hydrological and Meteorological Institute (CHMI) and 1 station—Meteorological Observatory of the University of Wroclaw (UWr) on Szrenica (Table 1).
The authors, similarly as in their earlier work (Urban et al. 2018), undertook efforts to document the distinct snow and temperature conditions on the opposite sides of the Sudetes Mountains which were expressed in terms of the coefficient of snow cover durability (V) as accurately as possible. For this reason, they used all the reliable available materials dating since 1961. Nevertheless, V was calculated for a uniform period consisting of the 30 consecutive seasons from 1981/1982 to 2010/2011 and measurements from fewer stations were used. In the case of each station described in Table 1, results were analogous to those obtained for the periods of different length (from 15 to 55 years). Calculations were carried out for 11 out of 17 stations. Studies covering 30-year periods form the basis for determining the climate characteristics of individual areas, and the 1981–2010 multiannual period is currently recommended for analysis purposes by the World Meteorological Organisation and is the so-called standard or reference period (WMO 2011). A similar approach, using data series of different lengths, was applied to snow cover studies in Austria (Hantel et al. 2000), in the mountains of Bulgaria (Brown and Petkova 2007) or in the Karkonosze and the Izera Mountains (Urban et al. 2018).
This approach is consistent with the accepted view that even mean 10-year values of individual meteorological parameters can be used to capture the spatial diversity of climate and make it possible to detect general patterns that govern the phenomenon in question (Hess 1965; Hess et al. 1980). Huang et al. (1996) stated that if mean values are to be determined, the exact length of the period adopted for this purpose within the 10–30-year range is not significant. This view is confirmed by, among others, results obtained in this study for the average values of the snow cover durability coefficient (Chapter 3; Fig. 3) and its complete disappearance rate (Chapter 3.2; Table 4). Marty (2008), using the example of stations located on the northern and southern slopes of the Alps, demonstrated that when analysing long-term mean values, there is a considerable similarity between snow cover characteristics at stations located at comparable altitudes. This similarity is present despite the possible lack of homogeneity caused by the changes in station locations and the different characteristics of these locations. Long-term average data from several stations located at similar altitudes provide reliable information about the climate conditions in a given altitude zone.
In the present study, winter is assumed to form a period from 1 August year X to 31 July year X + 1. This was due to the fact that in the upper parts of the Karkonosze Mountains (Mount Śnieżka—1603 m a.s.l., Mount Szrenica—1331 m a.s.l.), snow cover on the ground can occur in summer months. This approach has already been applied before (Falarz 2000–2001; Urban 2015, 2016; Urban et al. 2018). Moreover, most research of snow cover changes in the context of global warming emphasises only climatological winter season (Dec-Jan-Feb) and often ignores significant changes that occur in spring and autumn (Klein et al. 2016). Thus, it seems more justified to analyse snow cover changes that take place throughout the whole year. In turn, the day with a snow cover was assumed to be a day when the measured height of the snow cover at 6.00 UTC was not less than 1 cm and occupied a minimum of 50% of the area.
Snow cover characteristics were established based on the coefficient of snow cover durability (V), which is defined as the quotient of the actual and the potential time of snow cover retention and expressed in percentage (1–100%). The actual time of snow cover retention is to be understood as the number of days on which snow depth ≥1 cm in winter season, whereas the potential time of snow cover presence is the number of days between the first to the last occurrence of snow on the ground in winter season. If the coefficient of snow cover durability equals 100%, this means that in the given season, snow cover remained throughout its whole duration. The smaller is the value of V, the longer is the period without snow cover on the ground. The previous analysis of snow conditions based on V was carried out by Leśniak (1973, 1981), who coined the term in Polish literature, Nowosad (1992), Falarz (1993, 2000–2001, 2010, 2013), Urban (2015) and Franczak (2018). Also, variability of V was defined as coefficient of variability (Vz), which is the quotient of standard deviation and arithmetic mean. In addition, the authors determined the frequency of the total disappearance of snow cover during optimal winter season, which in the study was assumed as the period from December to March. The foundation for assuming such timeframe was the fact that in the upper parts of the Sudetes Mountains already in December thick continuous snow cover lies on the ground and in March its depth is maximal (Reunier 1935; Kosiba 1949; Głowicki 1977; Kwiatkowski 1985; Limanówka et al. 2012; Sobik et al. 2014; Urban 2016). For the purpose of this study, total disappearance of snow cover was assumed as lack of continuous snow cover during observation at 07 UTC on 1 day, provided that the previous day the snow depth was not smaller than 1 cm.
For stations with the longest 55-year of measurement data, the tendencies of changes in the snow cover durability coefficient were also determined. Student’s t test was used to verify the statistical significance of those trends at the p = 0.05 significance level. In the period 1981/1982–2010/2011, the relationship between the coefficient of snow cover durability and its total disappearance was also examined. Correlation coefficients and the strength of this relationship were determined. The statistical significance of the relationship was also checked with Student’s t test at the p = 0.05 significance level.
Results and discussion
The average values of the coefficient of snow cover durability (V) in the Karkonosze Mountains and the Izera Mountains range from ca. 46–47% in the lowest localisations (Jelenia Góra, Hejnice) to ca. 81–82% in the upper ridges of the mountains (Śnieżka, Szrenica) (Fig. 1). Equally high average values of V are characteristic for stations with southern macro-exposure located in the altitude zone of 750–900 m a.s.l., e.g. Jakuszyce, Bedřichov, Desná–Souš (Fig. 2). The calculated average values of V relate to its average values in Poland, where they range from 40% in the west to 60% in the south-east and to over 70% in the highest reaches (Falarz 2013). In the Polish Sudetes and their foreland, the average V decreases within the range of 40–50 to 80% (Urban 2015).
The big denivelation of over 1250 m (from the station Jelenia Góra, located in a valley, to the highest peak Śnieżka) and the great variety of the topography of the area, as well as the exposure of the station cause the noticeable spatial variety of V value. This variety results from many factors, as in the case of snowiness and severity index of winters (Urban et al. 2018), including altitude and orographic deformation of the flow field of air masses that shape precipitation and air temperature. In consequence of this deformation, there emerges the distinct contrast between the snowiness in the river catchment of the Elbe (S, SW and W macro-exposures) compared with the Odra river catchment (NE and N macro-exposures). The areas with SW and W exposures are characterised by the longer period of retention and bigger depth of snow cover. This result corresponds with the previous study on the thermal and precipitation variety of the Karkonosze Mountains (Sobik et al. 2014) or of the Karkonosze and the Izera Mountains (Urban et al. 2018). This contrast stands out especially in the altitude range of 500–900 m a.s.l. (Fig. 2). In the upper ridges, the differences are becoming less distinguishable due to the snow blowing alternately from one to the other side of the range.
These were Sobik et al. (2014), as well as Urban et al. (2018), who pointed out to the fact that in the Karkonosze Mountains the essential differences in precipitation at similar altitudes exist not in the east–west direction, but between the southern of northern sides of the mountains. Also, they emphasised the increase in winter precipitation in the upper river catchment of the Kamienna and in the western part of the Polish Karkonosze. This should be accounted for by the weaker descending air currents with the southern circulation. The latter in turn results from the fact that a relatively low Main Ridge of the Karkonosze, located in the west of Szrenica, and not much lower, parallel to the Karkonosze High Ridge of the Izera Mountains hinder descending foehn currents (Kwiatkowski 1985). Similarly, as Falarz (2002) proved, foehn effect plays a significant role in shaping the Polish Tatra Mountains’ nival conditions and their diversification, as well as the component of the meridional atmospheric circulation contributes to these conditions to a greater extent than its zonal counterpart.
The above-described and graphically presented (Figs. 1 and 2) patterns for various periods at the analysed stations confirm the results obtained for the multiannual period of 1981–2010 at the selected stations (chapter 2 features the methodical justification). The average values of V (that illustrate climactic patterns) for the stations from the period 1981–2010 are almost identical to the ones from the periods in Table 1. The results are similar for extreme values (Fig. 3).
The temporal and spatial variability of the coefficient of snow cover durability and its trends of changes
Based on the multiannual mean values of the coefficient of snow cover durability (V) and its standard deviation, winter seasons with moderate V (Vavg-δ < V < Vavg+δ; where: δ – standard deviation) dominated at all analysed stations. In addition, the character of winter seasons defined by V has changed since the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. Namely, everywhere, apart from Śnieżka Mountain, the increase in frequency of seasons with small V (V ≤ Vavg-δ) and the decrease in frequency of seasons with high V (V ≥ Vavg+δ) were noted. Seasons with low V values in the Karkonosze and the Izera Mountains consist of the following periods: 1988/1989–1990/1991, 1997/1998, 2006/2007, 2013/2014 and 2015/2016 (Table 2). The seasons 1989/1990 (for stations located above 650 m a.s.l.), 2006/2007 and 2013/2014 (for stations located below 650 m a.s.l.) were marked by extremely low V, whereas winter seasons with high V values (with stable/continuous snow cover) occurred at most of the stations in the 1960s and 1986/1987, 1995/1996 and 2005/2006. Among those seasons with the highest V (100% at as many as seven stations), the period 2005/2006 stood out. High values of V were noted for season 1995/1996, but primarily at stations located below 700 m a.s.l (Table 2). Incidentally, seasons with high V only in the upper (1974/1975, 1981/1982, 1991/1992) or lower part of the altitude profile (1986/1987, 2003/2004) occurred. These results were similar to the ones presented in the earlier article by Urban et al. (2018). Since the end of the 1980s, the thermal structure in the Western Sudetes changed. Namely, gentle winters occurred more frequently than the severe ones. This pattern coincides with the ones that were obtained for Europe (Twardosz and Kossowska-Cezak 2016). The increase of warm winters occurrence was also observed in, among other regions, the Swiss Alps (Scherrer et al. 2004; Marty 2008) or in the USA (Mayes Boustead et al. 2015).
The variability of the coefficient of snow cover durability in the analysed winter seasons expressed by the coefficient of variability (Vz) allows for the comparison of V variability in temporal series as well as between the stations. The smallest values of Vz (around 10–15%) occur in the upper parts of the Karkonosze and the Izera Mountains. This means that the snow cover there is more stable and is subject to smaller fluctuations, whereas the biggest values of Vz (around 35%) occur at the stations that are located at the lowest altitudes (Table 2). Generally, the variability of the coefficient of snow cover durability is inversely proportional to altitude. This result is consistent with the previously gained conclusions for the coefficient of the variability of parameters of snow cover in the Polish Tatra Mountains (Leśniak 1973; Falarz 2000–2001) or in the Polish Sudetes (Urban 2015, 2016).
Nonetheless, in the wide slope zone 600–700 m, the variability of coefficient V varies significantly. This is especially noticeable in the zone 600–700 m (Harrachov, Vysoké nad Jizerou), where the stations with macro-exposure S are characterised by the variability of V (16–18%), which is distinctly smaller than that of the stations with macro-exposure N (Szklarska Poręba, Przesieka) (ca. 30%). Therefore, at similar altitudes, snow cover at the stations with southern macro-exposure is subject to smaller fluctuations than at the stations with northern macro-exposure (Table 2).
The spatial and temporal variabilities of V are well illustrated by its line at stations Harrachov and Przesieka, which are located on the opposite sides of the main ridge of the Karkonosze and at similar altitudes. The significantly smaller amplitude of V changes characterises slopes with southern macro-exposure (Harrachov) than those with southern macro-exposure (Przesieka). Moreover, in Harrachov, the lowest values of V incidentally drop below 50%, while in Przesieka, profound drops occur relatively frequently, often reaching even the values below 30%. The occurrence of low V values has been observed since the beginning of 1990s, whereas on slope S, the coefficient of snow cover reaches the value 90% or above much more frequently than on slopes N. As a result, the multiannual difference in V value between Harrachov and Przesieka equals ca. 20% points (Fig. 4). The correlation the value of V between Harrachov and Przesieka is positive and strong. The correlation coefficient R calculated between Harrachov and Przesieka for 1961/1962–2011/2012 winter seasons was 0.6.
Contrary to common expectations, the maximum values of the coefficient of snow cover are noted not only at the stations that are located at the highest altitudes but also on the slopes, Pogórze or intermontane valleys. Possibly in a given season, the stations located at lower altitudes can have higher coefficient V than those located at considerably higher altitudes. Such situation took place between Jelenia Góra (342 m a.s.l.) and Szrenica (1331 m a.s.l.) stations in winter seasons 1986/1987, 1995/1996 or Harrachov (675 m a.s.l.) as well as Szrenica/Śnieżka in several seasons in the 1960s: 1978/1979, 1986/1987 and 1999/2000 (Table 2). This result is consistent with the earlier results of Leśniak (1981), who demonstrated analogous patterns in the river basin of the upper Wisła. The author explains this fact by the renewal of snow cover at higher altitudes during spring recurrent cold spells. This sometimes significantly prolongs the potential time of snow cover retention, while the actual time of this retention is only slightly longer. At the stations located at lower altitudes, the thermal conditions during recurrent cold spells in spring are far less likely to facilitate propitious conditions for forming snow cover again. Similarly, in autumn, in the upper parts of the mountains, snow cover appears quite early (September–October), prolonging the potential time of snow cover retention. Also, Urban (2015) obtained analogous results for the Polish Sudetes and their foreland.
The calculated trends of V changes are negative for most of the analysed stations in the Western Sudetes (Table 3). This means that the values of V successively decreased, indicating at the same time, that the time of retention shortened in successive winters. This result is confirmed by the previous study on snow cover in Śnieżka in the period 1901–2000 (Głowicki 2005) or in the Polish Sudetes and their foreland in 1951–2007 (Urban 2015, 2016). The pace of decrease fell within the range from ca. − 0.6% points (pp)/decade in station Desná–Souš to ca. − 2.7 pp/decade in Świeradów Zdrój station or even − 3.1 pp/decade in station Horní Maršov. The average pace of the drop of coefficient V for all stations for which its trends of changes were determined was − 1.43 pp/decade (Table 3). The trend of V change is statistically significant at the p = 0.05 significance level merely for one out of eight stations which were selected for the analysis of snow conditions (Table 3). A slight decreasing trend in the characteristics of snow cover was observed in most of Polish area in the second half of the twentieth century. The changes in snow cover relate to the changes in the atmospheric circulation and especially with the increased frequency of the advection of air masses from the western sector (Falarz 2004). The more frequent occurrence of winters with a relatively low V coefficient might be related to the changes in atmospheric circulation types over the Northern Atlantic. The growth of zonal cyclonic circulation from the south-western direction in last decades of the twentieth century was proved by Migała (2005) and Migała et al. (2016). This circulation generates in Western and Mid-Europe a vast atmospheric front with increased cloudiness and brings warming and precipitation in the cold season (Urban et al. 2018).
This does not relate to the upper zone of the mountains (Śnieżka, Szrenica), where winters are more snowy and severe, and, as a result of snow blowing alternately from one to the other side of the mountain, no significant changes of snow cover durability are observed. On the contrary, a slight positive trend of the coefficient of snow cover durability is noticed there (Table 3). In certain areas, as well as in the upper zone of the Western Sudetes, an increasing trend in snow cover retention is noted (Räisänen 2008). Such phenomenon has been observed in the recent decadesin the Alps (Zemp et al. 2008) or in Norway (Andreassen et al. 2005).
A direct cause of the decrease in days with snow cover should be sought in the long-term change of air temperature and precipitation (Falarz 2004). Primary proofs of this can be the significantly increasing trends of air temperature in both Poland (Kożuchowski and Żmudzka 2001; Wibig and Głowicki 2002) and Europe (Schönwiese and Rapp 1997). This fact remains in close relation to the increase of the frequency of western circulation over Poland (Ustrnul 1998). Winter temperature increase can reduce winter precipitation share in general precipitation, the trends of which in the majority of Polish area in the years 1930–1980 were upward (Kożuchowski 1985). In consequence of all this, the durability of snow cover might reduce.
Spatial and temporal variabilities of disappearance of snow cover
Similar patterns described for the coefficient of snow cover durability also mark the distribution of snow cover disappearance with relation to the macro-exposures and altitudes of analysed stations. On average in December–March period, snow cover on the ground disappears completely from ca. 0.4 times at the stations in the upper ridges to ca. 6–7 times at the stations located at the lowest altitudes (Fig. 5; Table 4). For many years, the maximum number of cases of snow cover disappearance in these months decreases within the range from 4 to 17. The minimum can be zero (Fig. 5). Beside Śnieżka and Szrenica, the stations on the slopes with southern macro-exposure (e.g. Bedřichov, Desná-Souš, Harrachov, Vysoké nad Jizerou, Horní Maršov) are distinctly characterised by a small number of snow cover disappearance. On average, this number ranges from 1.5 to 3.0. The stations with northern macro-exposure (Przesieka, Szklarska Poręba, Karpacz_1, Karpacz_2) and localised at similar altitudes as the ones with southern macro-exposure are characterised by 2 ÷ 3 times bigger frequency of total disappearance of snow cover. The situation in the eastern part of the Karkonosze Mts looks particularly unfavourable—in the area of the stations representing middle and lower parts of the slopes, i.e. Karpacz_1, Przesieka and Karpacz_2, the average number of total disappearance in the middle of winter season equals 4 ÷ 6 (Fig. 5; Table 4). This is due to the warming impact of the foehn effect on leeward slopes (with the wind dominating in the winter from SW and S directions—perpendicular to the course of the Karkonosze), which contributes to the faster disappearance of the snow cover (Kwiatkowski 1972, 1975, 1979). The greater the height difference between the ridge and the station, the stronger the effect is. In the Eastern Karkonosze, the denivelation is approx. 200 m larger than in their western part. This phenomenon is unpropitious, because the region features many winter sports centres, including skiing ones.
In the multiannual course, for the selected pairs of the stations that are located on similar altitudes, but with opposite exposures, the significantly greater frequency of total disappearance of snow cover characterises slopes with northern macro-exposure (red continuous line in Fig. 6). However, there are seasons when total ablations occur more frequently at the stations located on the slopes with southern macro-exposure. The examples of extreme differences in this respect can be the seasons 1993/1994 and 1997/1998 (Fig. 6). In the first of them, ablations at the stations with northern macro-exposure (Przesieka, Karpacz_2) evidently outnumber the ones at the stations with southern macro-exposure (Harrachov, Horní Maršov). In the other period, the situation is the opposite. Probably, this extreme results from the domination of the opposite directions of atmospheric circulation. Namely, in the period December–March 1993/1994, the north-eastern direction of circulation occurred, according to classification by Lityński (1969), three times less frequently than in the same months in the season 1997/1998 (Pawłowska et al. 2000). NE direction is perpendicular to the course of the Sudetes massif. Thus, in the season 1993/1994 at the stations with southern macro-exposure, there appeared more frequent foehn phenomena and the adiabatic warming of descending air on the leeward side of the orographic barrier. The advancing frequency of the advection of polar and sea air masses from SW and W directions in the cold season in the Sudetes as well as their thermal and precipitation implications have already drawn attention of the researches in this field (Kwiatkowski 1972, 1975, 1979; Sobik et al. 2014; Urban et al. 2018). Although the correlation of the number of days with total disappearance of snow cover between Harrachov-Przesieka and Horní Maršov-Karpacz_2 stations is positive, it is clearly weaker than in the case of the V coefficients. The calculated correlation coefficient R for the common period 1983/1984–2010/2011 in the pairs of mentioned stations were 0.3.
The results presented in Fig. 5 and Table 4 are further specified in the graphic representation of the number of days with total disappearance of snow cover, depending on the altitude of the station with southern or northern macro-expositions. Here total disappearance of snow cover in the period December–March at the stations with northern macro-exposure significantly outnumbers (over twice) the ones at the stations with southern macro-exposure. This is especially visible at the altitude zone 500–900 m a.s.l. (Fig. 7).
Relationship between snow cover durability coefficient and total disappearance of snow cover
Analysis of the relationship between the snow cover durability coefficient V and total snow disappearance in the winter seasons 1981/1982–2010/2011 indicates that there is a negative correlation between these features. The linear correlation coefficients R in the analysed stations range from 0.0 to 0.7. In the stations with southern macro-exposure and at Śnieżka Mt., they are significant statistically at the 0.05 significance level. The correlation coefficient is clearly differentiated depending on the macro-exposure and altitude (Table 5). Namely, the stations with southern macro-exposure (eg Bedřichov, Harrachov, Horni Maršov) are characterised by the explicitly higher R values (0.7 ÷ 0.5) than stations with northern macro-exposure (eg. Przesieka, Karpacz_2, Świeradów Zdrój), where R is in the range of 0.3 ÷ 0.2. Thus, in the stations on the slopes of the Western Sudetes with southern macro-exposure, these features are usually strongly or very strongly correlated with each other, whereas in the stations with northern macro-exposure, the strength of the relationship is usually moderate or very weak. This is well illustrated by the correlations of the selected stations located at similar altitudes, but with opposite macro-exposures, i.e. Horní Maršov—Karpacz_2 and Harrachov—Przesieka (Fig. 8). In addition, the strongest correlation occurs in the middle parts of the slopes with macro-exposure S and SW. The weakest correlation (0.0 ÷ 0.1) or even lack of it is shown by the stations with the lowest locations and northern macro-exposure, i.e. Hejnice and Jelenia Góra (Table 5). This is due to differences (already mentioned in the study) in temperatures and winter precipitation in slope stations with opposite macro-exposures conditioned by the foehn effect and the altitude above sea level.
Summary and conclusions
The analysis of snow cover durability in the Western Sudetes, which was conducted based on the available measurement data from the winter seasons 1961/1962–2015/2016, enables us to put forward the following claims:
The spatial distribution of the average coefficient of snow durability is the resultant of many factors, including altitude, the location of the mountain barrier (on WNW–ESE axis) in relation to the south-western direction of circulation that dominates in cold season and the orographic deformation of the flow field of air masses. As a result of this deformation, the snowiness of the river Elbe catchment (S–SW–W macro-exposure) distinctly contrasts with the one in the river Odra catchment (N–NE macro-exposure). The average value of V increases with altitude. The areas with macro-exposure SW and W (windwards) are characterised by better snow conditions than the ones situated at similar altitudes, but with macro-exposure N–NE (the Odra river catchment). This contrast is particularly noticeable in the altitude range 500–900 m a.s.l. In the upper ridges, the differences are disappearing, as the snow often alternately blows from one to the other side of the mountain massif. These results are similar to the ones obtained for the same area by the authors and presented in the earlier work concerning the thermal severity and snowiness of winters (Urban et al. 2018).
The stations located on the northern side of the mountains, below their upper ridges, are subject to a warming influence of foehn more frequently than the ones located on the southern side. The impact of foehn wind is greater when the denivelation between the ridge and the station is bigger. That is why in winter, stations with northern macro-exposure are warmer than the ones located at similar altitudes, but with southern macro-exposure. Thus, the first are characterised by a weaker durability of snow cover and, as it was stated before, by less snowy and severe winters (Urban et al. 2018).
Seasons with the moderate values of V (Vavg-δ < V < Vavg+δ) prevailed.
Since the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, everywhere except for Śnieżka, the increase in the frequency of seasons with small V (V ≤ Vavg-δ) and the decrease in frequency of seasons with high V (V ≥ Vavg+δ) were noted. Seasons 1989/1990 (for the stations located above 650 m a.s.l.), 2006/2007 and 2013/2014 (for the stations located below 650 m a.s.l.) were marked by extremely low V, whereas winter seasons with high V values (with continuous snow cover) occurred at the majority of the stations in the 1960s and 1986/1987, 1995/1996 and 2005/2006. Among those seasons with the highest V (100% at as many as seven stations), the period 2005/2006 stood out. The high values of V were noted for the season 1995/1996, but primarily at the stations located below 700 m a.s.l. Incidentally, seasons with high V feature only in the upper (1974/1975) or lower part of the altitude profile (2003/04).
The variability of the coefficient of snow cover durability is inversely proportional to altitude. The lowest values of Vz (around 10–15%) occur in the upper ridges of the Western Sudetes. This means that the snow cover is more stable and is subject to smaller fluctuations, whereas the biggest values of Vz (around 35%) occur in the stations that are localised at the lowest altitudes.
In the wide slope zone, the variability of the coefficient V varies significantly. This is especially noticeable in the zone 600–700 m, where the stations with macro-exposure S are characterised by a distinctly smaller variability of V (16–18%) than the stations with macro-exposure N (ca. 30%). Snow cover at similar altitudes at the stations with southern macro-exposure is subject to smaller fluctuations than at the stations with northern macro-exposure.
On both sides of the mountains, the trends of the coefficient of snow cover are mostly negative, which indicates that the time of the retention of snow cover shortened in successive winters. However, in the overwhelming majority of cases, these trends are not statistically significant at the p = 0.05 significance level.
The stations with northern macro-exposure that are located at similar altitudes as the ones with southern macro-exposure are characterised by 2 ÷ 3 times bigger frequency of total disappearance of snow cover. This is particularly visible at the altitude zone 500–900 m a.s.l.
Trends of snow conditions changes for winters in the Western Sudetes expressed by V relate to the trends in the other mountain areas of Poland and Europe.
The snow cover durability coefficient is negatively correlated with total snow disappearance. In stations on the slopes of the Western Sudetes with southern macro-exposure, these correlations are usually strong or very strong. However, in the stations with northern macro-exposure, at similar altitudes, the strength of the relationship is usually moderate or very weak. The strongest correlation occurs in the middle parts of the slopes with southern and south-western macro-exposure. In stations with southern macro-exposure and at Śnieżka Mt, these correlations are statistically significant at the 0.05 significance level.
The negative trends of the coefficient of snow cover durability were noted in the Western Sudetes for the vast majority of stations (except for the ones located in the upper zone of the ridges). The further phase of the research (in the next paper) will aim at investigating the reasons for such status quo, and the authors will attempt to answer the question whether this ensues from the changes of the dates of appearance and disappearance of snow cover, the number of days with snow cover, its depth, etc. The results of this research may provide the basis for further study on snow cover in mountain areas.
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Urban, G., Richterová, D., Kliegrová, S. et al. Durability of snow cover and its long-term variability in the Western Sudetes Mountains. Theor Appl Climatol 137, 2681–2695 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-019-02770-7


My takadai lives near the back door. As I walk in and out everyday I see it and it reminds me to braid. That's the theory anyway. A couple of months ago I dragged out a packet that I had brought back from Japan. It was the result of the bobbin switching class I had taken. The packet sat unopened on the takadai until this morning.
I've started to unravel the silk ropes. This isn't as hard as it sounds. Tha Japanese have a method of wrapping the silk so that you can take it on and off the takadai. It isn't a method I perfected however I was able to unravel without too much stress.


the last word(tm)
Vol. 13/No. 15 - 414th issue - Dismember 19, 2004
Bathroom Bandit, editor-in-chief - serving Bellevue, KY, from New America
email@example.com - http://members.iglou.com/bandit
blog blogga blog at http://bandit73.pitas.com
CAMPBELL COUNTY CONSTITUTION-HATING FUCKHEADEDNESS
You'd think that when a school system displays such mind-numbing incompetence with such consistency as the Campbell County Schools have that sooner or later somebody would have the courage to tell the offending school officials, "Hey you fucking clods, here's the way it wafts."
Well, that's what we're about to do. Again. (Sigh.)
We know several right-wing school systems in Northern Kentucky were among the first in the nation to require drug tests of student athletes, but did you know Campbell County High School is the ONLY high school in the area that requires drug tests of all athletes AND all other extracurricular members AND all students who drive to school?
This is clearly unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment. And we all know how important the Bill of Rights is in Campbell County (snicker), or else those bullies at Cline wouldn't have cited the First Amendment to protect their "right" to follow their schoolmates around and harass them.
The Fourth Amendment protects against - aw, fuck it. You know this is a lost cause, because we're idiots who think the Constitution still exists.
Seriously now. In every school system where they've been tried, drug tests haven't been effective in curbing drug use. This is a fact confirmed by a University of Michigan study. Drug tests also build deep mistrust between students and teachers. Furthermore, the proper use of prescription drugs often shows up as a false positive reading, so the tests aren't even accurate!
People have got to be out of their minds not to sue, but the Supreme Court is nuttier for approving drug tests by claiming the court's made-up "role model effect" takes priority over constitutional law. Talk about legislating from the bench! This right there is grounds to impeach Supreme Court Justices. The Supremes can't put personal opinion ahead of the law, but this time they did.
Only 5% of American school districts use forced drug testing, so Campbell County just had to be among that 5%, didn't it? Typical, considering how much that school system sucked in the '80s.
As a Cline alumnus, I'm allowed to say that. And yes, that's an Allowed Cloud.
Meanwhile, the Campbell County Schools' year-round calendar is proving to be such a big failure (surprise, surprise) that complaints by parents have prompted the schools to start a week later next year. The school system still hasn't caught on to the obvious solution, which is to get rid of year-round school altogether.
Oh, only 4% of school systems in them U.S. of A. States have year-round school. Multiply 5% by 4%, and only 1 in 500 school systems are as fucked up as Campbell County. Of course, that doesn't account for the fact that the schools with drug testing tend to be the same ones with year-round school.
For those of you now becoming acquainted with our work or with the Campbell County Schools, things really are THAT bad. When the school system imposed the right-wing idea of year-round school despite all the public opposition to it, the schools had already amassed a reputation of at least 30 years of blunders so incredible you'd think they were episodes of a comedic drama. If only it wasn't such a serious matter. (We know the public schools that comprise the Campbell County Schools aren't nearly as bad as some private schools like Bro$$art, but then again, it would take effort to be that bad.)
The 20th anniversary of My Very First Suspension - the one that followed the infamous mob assault at Cline - just passed us by. Back then we thought the school system couldn't get much worse. We were wrong.
WHEEL OF MISFORTUNE
Pat Sajak is a right-wing crackpot!
Recently the "Wheel Of Fortune" game show host wrote some article that made himself sound like a total wingnut. On and on Sajak rants and raves, attacking liberals for liking the First Amendment. Of course he throws in some dig about "misinterpreting" the part about freedom of religion, since he apparently doesn't believe in separation of church and state, but he also misstates the Left's views on other amendments, such as the Ninth and Tenth.
The last two amendments in the Bill of Rights deal briefly with the rights of states and the people versus federal power. It is not the Left but the Right that has run roughshod over these rights. For instance, the Bosh regime supports passing a misnamed "right-to-work" law at the federal level. "Right-to-work" laws are union-busting. That's what they are. But Dumbya supports overriding the rights of states like Kentucky that lack such a law.
Right-wing federal judges legislated from the bench when they dictated that cities in California could not pass laws against excessive bank fees.
And it's not just the economic issues that we like so much where conservatives support abusing the federal muscle. It's also issues of personal autonomy. For example, Oregon voters approved a death with dignity referendum a decade ago, but conservative federal courts tossed that. Right-wing federal judges also overruled Alaska's civil rights law that protected tenants from discrimination based on marital status, because - we're not making this up, people - they said it violated landlords' True Free Speach Now (tm).
The Ninth Amendment talks about how the Constitution mentioning some rights can't be construed to deny other rights that aren't specifically mentioned. In recent years, however, it's always been the conservatives who have tried to do just that, especially regarding economic rights (in other words, the rights they'll never have to worry about needing, because they've gone through life having everything handed to them on a silver platter). Furthermore, it seems that not only do they think the right to privacy doesn't exist (even though legal scholars agree this is covered in other amendments), but they think its supposed nonexistence means no state can create a right to privacy.
We can't even count all the virtually identical letters to local newspapers we saw in the mid-'90s that all spewed the same conservative bullshit du jour: that the government can't provide assistance to the needy and disabled because the Constitution doesn't specifically mandate it (even though it doesn't forbid it either).
Sajak goes on to suggest that since the Second Amendment is too often viewed "through 21st Century eyes", then the First Amendment should perhaps be curtailed to combat pornography.
Oh, now that's rich. Sajak was just talking about the Tenth Amendment, which gives rights to states and the people - yet he wants the government to snoop at what people read?
(He also misstates the liberal view of the Second Amendment by claiming liberals "disregard" it. That - as far as our own views are concerned - is false.)
Here's more damning evidence of Pat Sajak's extremism: He's also an external director of Regnery, a right-wing book publishing firm that in recent years has become known for dealing almost exclusively in recycled John Birch Society-like propaganda rewritten to reflect more recent events, using that same paranoid style.
You'd think a nationally famous TV celebrity wouldn't make such an ass of themselves. Imagine if you can what the reaction would have been if some other game show host had written an article expressing left-wing views. The Republican National Committee would probably put together a letter-writing campaign to hound all of the show's affiliates until they cancel the show.
We remember reading a book whose author insisted that Dan Quayle looked like Pat Sajak. Thanks to Sajak's goofy opinions, we'd be inclined to think Sajak and ol' Meet Me At DQ just might be the same person, if we didn't know any better.
"INTELLIGENCE REFORM" A DOUBLE MISNOMER
You'd think something called "intelligence reform" would at least have a little bit of reform and a little bit of intelligence. But the bill that sailed through the Republican Congress towards Bosh's desk doesn't have much of either.
The Senate approved this sham 89 to 2, believe it or not. While some of the bill's provisions would work well as separate legislation, these things are completely undercut by provisions that range from the probably unenforceable to the highly suspect to the truly fascist.
Perhaps the most terrifying aspect of this law is its attempt to establish a mandatory national ID card by requiring minimum standards governing what states must put on driver's licenses and IDs. States would be required to make licenses and IDs "machine readable". That's right, "machine readable". This means a computer chip, barcode, or magnetic strip.
Wasn't it only about 8 years ago when people were ready to march in the streets because ONE state did this? It's truly breathtaking that the right to privacy could be dashed so spectacularly in only a few short years without people noticing.
This is an example of the government doing the EXACT FUCKING OPPOSITE of what it should do. What Congress should do is say the states CAN'T have "machine readable" IDs. Instead they say the states MUST.
Like when the book burners in Congress mandated censorware in libraries (instead of prohibiting it), it's as if Congress and the Bosh regime are intentionally trying to do the wrong thing. Not like this wasn't painfully obvious already.
The law also requires states to make photos on IDs digital so they can more easily be stored in linked databases.
Yep, it sounds like the conservatives really are the champions of state autonomy they claim to be, har-de-har-har.
If some state decides to get gutsy and not comply with the new federal power grab, the ruling regime has a solution for that. Anywhere federal agencies demand an ID, such as airports, IDs that don't meet the new rules won't be honored.
An ACLU director calls it a "garbage-in, garbage-out situation." While the supposed goal of the new law is to prevent terrorists from getting phony IDs, you know it won't work, because any terrorist could just get a fake birth certificate and Social Security papers to get an ID.
Even more shocking is that the House version would have gone even further by dictating to the states who would be allowed to have a license or ID. Extremists in the House plan to introduce a bill to do this after the new, more right-wing Congress is sworn in.
The recently passed law will also expand wiretapping authority to spy on individuals.
None of this of course is surprising. Nowadays, under the Patriot Act, if you buy a car - and good luck with that, considering what the economy is like - you have to sign a form for your name to be checked against a U.S. Treasury list.
When Kentucky added a barcode to its licenses we were proud to burn part of our license that had the barcode and publish a picture of the hilarious results. (The barcode replaced most of the organ donor information, because the barcode was just SOOOOO important. This shows where the priorities of those who support this shit lay.) If you want some laughs, and if you don't want encoded information on your ID, allow a beautiful fork of fire to sip away a corner of your ID and reduce it to a lump of melted plastic.
Save me from tomorrow. I don't want to sail with this ship of fools.
WHAT CONSERVATIVES CALL FAMILY VALUES
While right-wing blogs funded by think tanks and partisan hacks cajole news outlets and spread lies, we've become avid fans of progressive blogs that counter the forces of ignorance and evil. We've found an interesting tidbit from Iowa posted on some of these blogs, and we'd like to share it with you.
Back before the so-called "election" there was an article about Bosh consorting with some folks from Clive, IA, named Mike and Sharla Hintz. Mike Hintz was a First Assembly of God youth pastor. At this lovefest Disgeorge told his followers that the Hintzes benefited from his tax plan, and Mike Hintz praised the hated dictator, saying he shared his values. "Where we are in this world, with not just the war on terror, but with the war with our culture that's going on, I think we need a man that is going to be in the White House like President [sic] Bush, that's going to stand by what he believes," Hintz incoherently thundered.
Just a few days ago, there was a story from an Iowa television station about a youth pastor being charged with sexual exploitation of a child. Authorities say he initiated an illicit affair with a teenage member of his church youth group earlier this year.
Guess what this pastor's name is?
That's right. Mike Hintz. Yes, the same Mike Hintz.
More proof of how conservatives sermonize about morals and family values, but they can't even get their own lives in order.
LAST CHRISTMAS...WE GAVE YOU A FART... (A FLATULENT FLASHBACK)
It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas, so why not let us regale you with the story of the most hilarious bout of flatulence we've ever detected?
Last year on Christmas Day we had a big gathering at my mom's house. I got a meal that day. Meals have become a rarity in recent years. Most of you notice you might get a meal once every couple weeks or so. Meals used to be pretty common, like maybe a couple of 'em each day. But there's a lot of things that used to be. I used to be 18 years old. There used to be Democrats in Congress. There used to be orange-peach-mango juice sold at the grocery. Gas used to be 82 cents a gallon. See? Nothing lasts forever.
Nothing lasts forever, that is, except the hilarity of flatulence.
After supper last Christmas, we were all crowded around the ol' boob toob watchin' stale holiday specials, when a pungent odor wafted through the living room.
The scent was unmistakable. Someone had ripped a biffer!
And this wasn't just an ordinary bunker blast. This was a certain kind of fart - a type that was much stronger and smelled more of rotten eggs. I don't remember eggs being served at din-din, but there must have been some item that included eggs. Not rotten ones, of course. The eggs must have begun to rot after consumption, while digestive juices were absorbing the foodstuff. The parts of the eggs the body could not use were expelled as gases.
This is the stuff they never teach you at school. At school they just say, "You eat, you live. You don't eat, you die." They never explain WHY. They just give you a faded purple worksheet and expect you to figure it out for yourself.
I knew I wasn't the only one who smelled the funky aroma, because it was so strong. Often at family gatherings, folks will set their sights too high by expecting an environment of total refinement, free of slovenly behavior. So when a bunkeroo starts waftin', they often let out a series of annoyed gasps and stare at the most likely suspect. Or, without saying a word, they grab a can of air freshener and spray it about the room.
But not me. Instead I laugh.
This time, I started snickering as I lifted my shirt over my face. "Did somebody cut one?" I asked - although it was already perfectly clear that someone had.
Only then did anyone else seem to notice. "Yeah, I know! It STINKS in here!" a family member said.
"It smells like someone has to GO!" I chortled.
Now, you knew this was coming: Cries of accusation against various people who were present sprang up. But nobody admitted committing this grave human rights violation.
The silent but deadly trouser sneezes continued for the rest of the evening - each one more uproarious than the one before it. They all reeked to high hell, and my laughter couldn't be contained. You had to be there to appreciate it.
Once a suspect was standing next to an accuser when the fragrance of a bunker blast began to float through the air. "Phew!" the accuser said. "Get away from me!" (Somebody really got in the Christmas spirit!) It was as if the odor was going to follow the accused instead of staying right there.
I've smelled individual farts that were stronger, both before and since this event. But not very often. Maybe once every 6 months or so you'll catch a whiff of a toot that comes close to being as fetid as the ones I smelled last Christmas. But never have I witnessed a flatulence event that - in total - was as spectacular as this one was. It went on like this for HOURS!
In most ways, America's best days seem to have long since passed. But if flatulence was a leading economic indicator, you'd think things were only getting better!
MILITARY DICTATORSHIP COMES TO LIFE IN FALLUJAH
The city of Fallujah in Iraq has become a rigid police state during Bush's illegal war.
Residents have been shocked to find they aren't living under the democracy they had been promised but are instead ruled at gunpoint to a degree not seen even before the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
The people of Fallujah are being rounded up in "citizen processing centers" and undergoing forced DNA tests and retina scans so the occupiers can add them to a database. They are required to wear badges displaying their street addresses at all times. The occupiers have banned cars, and they've imposed a rigid curfew, harassed residents, and refused to allow parents into the city to rescue their children who were trapped inside their homes. Aid workers have been ordered to leave town.
The occupying forces also plan to draft all adult males in Fallujah into forced labor in military jobs.
American military commanders say Iraq's U.S.-installed interim dictatorship created these rules. Both the interim Iraqi government and the Bush regime have proven they're not serious about democracy or political stability. But you knew that.
The idea that Iraq has become a democracy is a delusion. Things are worse now than before, and there's no sign things will improve. It's not like we didn't see it coming since the war began.
The fact that it's a war is no excuse to impose a police state on an unwilling people. This is especially true if you're going around telling them it's a democracy, and if this police state gives them even less freedom than what they had before. Human rights are supposed to be universal - something people are born with and can't be taken away by an occupying force.
SHOES GET PEED ON AT VALUE CITY
The verbs "get" and "are" are two different things. If the header of this article was "Shoes Are Peed On At Value City", it would be technically incorrect, because that implies a constant condition rather than a one-time act. The implication would be that Value City regularly sells footwear that has been urinated on.
Come to think of it, even if we replace "are" with "get", the meaning is still ambiguous. We could add the adverb "once", but that would be too verbose, and then you'd already know enough about the event that you wouldn't read further. Oh well. Tough. Value City is fun to ridicule, so let's enjoy this golden (ahem) opportunity.
Recently the Value City store in Latonia was the site of a hilarious act of mischief. Cops say a 36-year-old man walked into the store and pissed on over $1,000 worth of shoes on a display rack - in clear view of other shoppers and employees. The customer was caught on video "urinating on the shoes in a manner as to urinate on as many shoes as he could", in the words of the police report. Some 31 pairs of shoes were (keek!) ruined. Some pairs were valued at as much as $54.99.
After becoming pee-soaked, the shoes had to be destroyed. It's unclear what method the store employed to destroy them. Let's hope this method was damn funny - such as being fed to pee bats in a secret pee cave.
We feel guilty about laughing at this event. Kind of like when the brand new "Sesame Street" flashlight got put in the toilet in high school. Or when my 8th grade science teacher's prized brass mass collection was ruined. But this guilt is part of what makes us at The Last Word human.
Work goes into making these things that got destroyed. It's a shame to make things and have them go to waste before anyone has a chance to use them or before they have reached the end of their useful life. Chalk this up as a political act, because we're assigning it a political meaning.
The political meaning is that it's a long-overdue comeuppance against the system. When I graduated from 8th grade at St. Joe's in Cold Spring, my parents dragged me to this Value City to buy dress shoes. I hated it, I hated it, I hated it. I ended up being banned from my own graduation, because I was expelled, but that's not the point. Let this be a chance to expose the overall tyranny of St. Joe's once again.
What a bunch of right-wing tyrants that school was. Like the time they made me go to school only so I could be warehoused in the office the whole day while the rest of the class went on an outing. What was the point of that?
This is also the same Value City where, when I was a senior at Spit Eye Memorial High School (one of those "secret" schools for "bad" kids), we went on an outing and a younger student got skeeped at because he had previously been caught shoplifting there. Even though he didn't steal anything on this outing, he got punished by the school.
After the recent shoe department vandalism, an assistant police chief was quoted as saying, "Why anyone would pull anything at Value City is beyond me, because, 9 times out of 10, if somebody pulls something at Value City they're going to get caught."
In other words, peeing on shoes at Value City isn't such a grand idea. Looks like you'll have to go to Gallenkamp to do that.
THE WORLD'S RUNNING OUT OF FOOD AND WATER BUT BIG BUSINESS THINKS IT'S YOUR FAULT
Scientists say (you know it's probably gonna be bad news when we start with the phrase "scientists say") that governments are going to have to tell people to eat less because the world's water supply is being burdened by agriculture.
If the world is short on water, let's hope it's also short on governments that would rather - in the name of free markets - starve their own people than fix the water shortages. The World Bank, WTO, and multinational corporations like Monsanto and Bechtel want to privatize all water and sell it to people at inflated prices. We believe the government has a duty to prevent this greed. Capitalism be damned.
Notice how in recent years any problem that comes up is never EVER considered the fault of corporate greed. It's always the fault of little ol' me and you. Truth be told, we wouldn't have water and food problems now if not for the social policies and mismanagement supported by the corporate world.
To hear the media and Big Business tell it, everything is YOUR obligation. Like the government-engineered corn famine they were talking about a while back, when the government basically said, "Hey. Look. There's gonna be a famine, stupid. But we're not gonna do anything about it, because we think everyone's too fat already." It appears they truly believe that last part. And this bullshit is repeated so often by the media that nobody dares to challenge it.
Big corporations, the media, and their government cronies always have their so-called solutions such as genetic engineering which would result in mammoth profits for the corporate world. In 1999 it was revealed that Monsanto wanted to have 100% of soybeans grown in America be genetically modified. This process would have made the soybeans able to withstand spraying with herbicides made by - you guessed it! - Monsanto.
In addition, crops that are modified to have pesticides built in ruin the effectiveness of these pesticides because bugs acquire a resistance to them - but this practice reaps huge profits for the chemical industry.
Unlike most other countries, America doesn't require these frankenfoods to be labeled.
Furthermore, genetically engineered crops have per acre yields 10% lower than crops that aren't tampered with. If you want to help solve world hunger, maybe we should start by putting a halt to genetic engineering.
Monsanto is also quite hostile to dissent. Last year, protesters gathered in St. Louis to demonstrate peacefully against Monsanto and the World Agricultural Forum. This included a calm meeting at the Regional Chamber and Growth Association to discuss how some new biotech processes were destroying family farms and hurting consumers in the long run. When the activists left the meeting, they only made it about a mile when the police pulled them over, searched their van without a warrant, and jailed one of them for possessing over-the-counter vitamins. Because she was jailed for 10 hours, she missed 3 speeches she was scheduled to deliver.
The same day this happened, another group was arrested for riding bicycles without a license - even though no such offense exists in St. Louis or in the state of Missouri. They were detained 6 to 7 hours. Phone directories and itineraries carried by the protesters were stolen by the cops.
On the very same day as all this shit, the cops conducted an illegal raid of a building where many dissidents lived. One of the residents said, "Do you have a warrant? I don't give you permission to enter my house."
One of the officers replied, "We don't need a warrant. This building is condemned." They even brang along a city housing inspector with a bogus condemnation notice.
And people expect us to fucking apologize EVERY FUCKING TIME we have to expose police misconduct like this.
Well, the cops DO need a warrant. The Fourth Amendment says so. Don't like it? Move to Singapore where rights don't exist.
Then some of the people who lived in the building were arrested and charged with occupying a condemned building, even though the bogus notice didn't even arrive until the police brang it. They were jailed for 15 to 20 hours.
This sounds like something Boss Hogg and Rosco would pull, doesn't it?
The residents returned to their building to find the cops had completely ransacked it and stolen just about everything in it. The police later returned bicycles belonging to them, but the tires were slashed, and therefore the bikes could not be used. When you try riding on empty tires, strange things happen. We tried doing that a couple years back (on the same day we destroyed a pay phone in Latonia because it stole our money and kept playing a robot voice that said "error 60") and it didn't get us more than a mile.
There should never be a shortage of water. Water is consumed, but it never leaves the planet's atmosphere, even if it takes a different form. Besides that, you know the very wealthy will never have to worry about not having enough food and water, because they'll still be able to buy as much as they need.
Sounds like we - the peasants - shouldn't have to starve ourselves. What should be done? Clearly, the free market doesn't work. If it did, America wouldn't have such a yawning gap between the rich and poor. Some waste water can be used for irrigation - not for drinking though. And toilet water shouldn't be used. We seem to recall that we once did a story about some town that planned to hook the output from the sewer system up to the public water supply, and that's not what we want. Using other waste water for irrigation, however, is realistic.
Much water in canals is lost to evaporation, but this can be prevented by covering the canals with covers that drain rain into the canals.
Get serious about those who waste water. When I worked as a cartographic field technician, I saw a lot of mansions with huge lawns that required a gigantic sprinkler. About half the area covered by the sprinkler was over the street, so the water was wasted by landing on pavement or in people's cars. Nothing but grass was growing on the lawn, so the lawn wasn't producing anything edible.
Is it too much to ask to discourage this type of thing? Yeah, we know all the excuses: The free market dictates some people will have more than others, the government can't "take" property by saying how it can be used, and blah blah blah. But instead of punishing people outright for large, unproductive lawns, we'd prefer other options, like changing the tax code to reward households that produce food.
Efforts to educate people in America and around the world about effectively taking charge of things have been hampered again and again by those who think they know better. This must stop.
Don't let capitalism starve you.
In the immortal words of Tom Petty, I can't decide which is worse:
1) The pretense by many progressives that it took until during Bosh's first term for America to become a right-wing police state, when it clearly already was by 1996.
2) The suggestion by media talking heads that those who take umbrage at the result of the recent "election" are suffering from some newly discovered disease or mental disorder.
3) Ridicule of this apparent disease by right-wing asshats of the worst order.
Come on, folks. Do you really think we have such a short memory that we don't remember how pissed to high hell people were following many a so-called "election" over the past couple of decades?
We dissenters had to live under Reagan for 8 years, but at least most of us survived it. In Congress and in statehouses all over America, the opposition against the Reagan regime was strong and productive. Much more so than today, most of the mainstream news media thought of itself as having a duty to provide objective information and give fair treatment to both sides of an issue. The media had some conservative bias, but it wasn't nearly as widespread then, and media ownership was less concentrated, so we had many more choices where to get our news.
At the time, however, conservatives were getting a foot in the door for later political gains. Worse than this, ideologues began to dominate their movement, and conservatism became less pragmatic. What we call the New Right was conservative for the sake of being conservative. This was their reaction to the more liberal policies of the '60s and '70s.
We're convinced the new breed of conservatives was full of shit and they knew it. Conservatism had been humiliated only a few years earlier, so - like sore losers - they were now going to pursue their ideology with unprecedented fervor. The New Right survives solely by shouting down the opposition. That's all they have, and they know it. Think how incredibly laughable they'd look if they didn't have that.
We saw the New Right in action in 1988, because we had the misfortune of being a part of their poisoned social environment at the time. Believe us when we say it: We were as traumatized by the "election" then as many other dissidents are now. On its own (even without the other circumstances we suffered in the surrounding years), the situation we faced after the 1988 election is a trigger for what is now classed as complex post-traumatic stess disorder, as it was prolonged exposure to totalitarian control. Even if America as a whole wasn't yet truly totalitarian, our situation at the time was. It was totalitarian because we were in a social environment where we were robbed of free will. We were powerless - completely denied a voice in our own surroundings.
We never fully recovered from it, and the problem was compounded following the 1994 "election" and in almost every November since 2000. The treshold of what political events make us mad has increased considerably, because we've now been trained to expect a whole lotta fucking up.
Let us tell you what this has done to us on the activist front. We're regaling you of past mistakes because knowledge is power. If you want to avoid a repeat of these errors, listen close.
For starts, I'm part of the first so-called ADD generation. It's fair to say that at the time The Last Word began I was addicted to prescription pills. From the age of 11 until I was old enough to be allowed to decide otherwise, schools prescribed to me at least 3 different drugs, often in combination with each other. One of them - Cylert (pemoline) - would be discontinued in Canada in 1999 because it causes permanent eye and liver damage and other side effects. Neither me nor my family were told about the side effects when the school first prescribed this poison. Between 1975 and 1996, there were 13 known cases in the U.S. of liver failure caused by pemoline. Yet this toxin has not been pulled in the U.S., because the Bushes are big investors in the pharmaceutical racket.
I think ADD is a spindrome, a disorder made up by drug makers and schools. I'm allowed to say that, because I was diagnosed with this so-called disorder. I plan to mention briefly in my upcoming book how the school system wouldn't call it what it was because it wouldn't have done anything for them or for money-grubbing drug makers.
I'm steamed to no end about being force-fed at least 3 different poisons and seldom being warned of the effects - for a disorder that doesn't even exist!
We also find it interesting that all the privileged exurbanites who go around calling everyone else dopers and support mandatory urine testing are the same ones who support schools force-feeding prescription drugs to our youth. It speaks largely to their seething hatred of individuality that seems to seep through every time they open their mouths.
In college, in the early years of The Last Word, I got splitting headaches, and - because of all the poison that remained in my system - I had to take more than the recommended dosage of over-the-counter pills to remedy them. I think the headaches were aggravated by political events we took very seriously. This and The Last Word were a bad combination.
Sure, my views are the same now as they were then. I haven't softened one bit. But you know people are gonna keep throwing old stuff in my face - purposely misinterpreting my words and accusing me of saying things I didn't say - so let's clear the air. I base even my most controversial ideas on peace, freedom, and equality. My foes deliberately try to make my ideas sound sinister by distorting or even lying about my words.
To be honest, our surroundings before the rise of the Internet were very provincial, and words and concepts don't always mean the same things they did 10 years ago. Putting some of our early articles in a 2004 context is a really cheap trick, especially since our other writings from the same period contradict the points the rightists try to make about our supposed evil.
Choose your words wisely. Don't leave the door open for fascists to misinterpret your words.
We could tire you about how in only 15 months in the mid-'90s America completely crumbled, but I honestly can't recall much of that time frame. I'm sorry. I believe my work was sabotaged. I feel I was taken advantage of. I wrote a lot of great material at the time, but I sincerely don't remember writing some of what is attributed to me, and I'm certain I didn't write it. I plan to go into more detail about this sometime.
This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't lost contact with many of my allies then. The lesson: keep your friends closer than your enemies.
It's painful to recall what happened when we began posting on the Internet. Most of you would have walked away. But we're one in a zillion, and we had to stay and fight. That's all just good and grand and KY 1892, but it was ineffective because we tried to stay above their level. We had to strain our output greatly, and it hurt us.
When arguing with such weirdoes, never waste the facts on them. They're bullies. They know the facts but they don't care. You have to sink below their level if possible. They never expect it. They can dish it out, but they can't take it. If they continue to harass, run for your life and spend your efforts elsewhere.
The growing sadness since Dukakis's defeat has caused some indelible smudges on the otherwise good reputation of The Last Word. We've anguished for years about the lapses of mastery over our own project. We're mortal, and therefore imperfect. But we're progressive populists, so we mustn't stray from certain standards.
You may have suffered political trauma only the past few weeks. Be thankful you haven't been suffering for 16 years because of a toxic social milieu.
Don't be in denial about what American conservatism has become. It abuses, it bullies, it gloats, it pitches shitfits. Call it what it is. Recognizing the problem is an important step in turning the political tide.
Don't try to please the New Right.
Don't follow their lead. Citizenship isn't about conforming to some phony political doctrine.
A tyrannical political climate doesn't have to be traumatic. It can be fun! Know the problem so you can improve the situation and gain satisfaction from each small victory. Humiliate or avoid political bullies. Don't repeat past mistakes. Take comfort in the fact that the more people learn about what's been going on, the more they'll vote against the ruling regime.
Reading us online? Click on these words to go up to our index!
(Copywrong 2004. Online edition created with Internet Exploder 6.)
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text:
DeKalb County, Illinois
DeKalb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the population was 105,160. Its county seat is Sycamore.
DeKalb County is part of the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area.
DeKalb County was formed on March 4, 1837, out of Kane County, Illinois. The County was named in honor of Johann de Kalb, a German (Bavarian) hero of the American Revolutionary War. DeKalb County is approximately 632.7 square miles, located 63 miles west of Chicago. There are 19 townships in the county with the county seat at Sycamore.
Between 1834 and 1837, early white men began to settle in DeKalb County along the streams and wooded areas because of the fertile soil, wild game, and food and water opportunities. Major growth stemmed from the introduction of the railroad which brought easier methods of transportation and opportunities for industrial growth. Some of the notable industries based in DeKalb County were: Sandwich Manufacturing Company, Marsh Harvester Company, Barbed Wire, Gurler Brothers Pure Milk and many more.

domain: history


text:
We decided for dinner that our quest would be to find some fantastic authentic Thai food. We asked the concierge at the Resort for some recommendations, and received a great review on a restaurant called LOTUS at Bangtao Beach. It was about a 30 minute drive across the island to the location of the restaurant which was under renovation when we arrived. At first we were afraid we might be disappointed, as it appeared it might be a "tourist trap" kind of locale instead of an authentic Thai restaurant.
But we were not disappointed for long!
As we entered the main part of the building we saw large tanks of assorted local live seafood from which we could pick our choice for our meals! There were huge lobsters and langoustines and shrimp and fish and crabs. Beautiful! It was going to be hard to choose which delicious delicacy we would have for our meals! As you can see from the picture
We were led by our hostess to an open patio just 20 feet or so from the breaking surf. Sitting under the stars in the warm, breezy Thai night was amazing, and about to become even more memorable as we saw the first of the Wish Lanterns rise into the sky from the beach! Here is a bit of information about the Wish Lantern which is such a beautiful tradition in Thai Culture.

domain: food


Twenty-five foreign hostages escape Algeria siege: source
ALGIERS (Reuters) - Twenty-five foreign hostages, including two Japanese, escaped from the siege of a gas plant deep in the Algerian desert on Thursday, an Algerian security source said.
A group calling itself the "Batallion of Blood" has said it was holding 41 foreigners inside the gas compound, which it stormed on Wednesday, demanding France halt a military campaign against Islamist rebels in neighboring Mali.
- Six people injured when camera catches fire at 30 Rockefeller Plaza
- Israel holds off on escalating Gaza barrage; West wants truce |
- Russia warns Ukraine after shell crosses border |
- 'Excessive' rubbing of engine blades caused F-35 failure: Pentagon
- Exclusive: YouTube weighs funding efforts to boost premium content - sources


text:
SAVE YOUR CAKE
AND EAT IT TOO!
Here's a holiday treat you can't resist!
Support Filmfest DC 2014, and for every $50 you contribute we'll send you a coupon for two cupcakes at Georgetown Cupcake. Now that's a win-win.
The festival has lost some of its major funding and is relying on you to make 2014 happen!
A spring without Filmfest DC is unthinkable. So help bring in its 28th season. You'll feel good inside two ways-from doing the right thing, and from devouring your cupcake!
Please help us continue to create the innovative and important film programming that you value and appreciate - Premiere screenings of memorable films, introductions to the work of amazingly talented directors, writers and performers, first glimpses into worlds and cultures you may have never seen.
Director, Filmfest DC

domain: artistic


a gasworks, ironworks
A building or an establishment where iron is smelted or where heavy iron products are made.
An iron and steel works with some satellite factories is to be built there.
We have placed or order for some steel with Anshan Iron and Steel Factory.
TO DEVELOP CHINESE STEEL INDUSTRY BY BUILDING CLEAN STEEL PLANT;
In heavy industries, there are many private steel companies and chemical companies.
He serves a six-year apprenticeship in the steel work.
Last year these steel plants achieved a 10 per cent increase over 1976.
Here is to be built an iron and steel factory.
On the outskirts they passed a steel mill
Study on integrative treatment of hydrochloric(sulfuric) acid pickling wastewater in steel plants
The steelworks provided employment for thousands of people.
Two hundred more new recruits broke in at the steel plant.
Application of material handling analysis to Iron & Steel Plant layout;
Introduction of the Waste Water Treatment and Recovery Project in Iron and Steel Plant
Study on Process Optimization of Hot Metal Pre-treatment in CISC;
The my plant is a craft factory for with wire, stainless steel line doing the material.
Rebuild Main Workshop Building for 180m~2 Sintering Machine of No.1 Sintering Workshop in Iron-making Plant


text:
One issue that repeats itself over and over in different variations in Moses? speeches is the prohibition of idolatry. The cultural encounter with the nations of Canaan could negatively affect the Jewish nation, so Moses explains, persuades, and warns, trying to bequeath tools so that the Jewish nation can deal with Canaanite mythology and its accompanying world view and lifestyle.
Now, thousands of years after humanity has been weaned off of idolatry because of the influence of the Bible, we wonder: What was so tempting about idolatry? It seems rather stupid. Why did Moses feel the need to repeatedly warn the nation about it?
The truth is that if we try to understand the idol worshipper, we can understand that idolatry is an intuitive-natural take on reality. In contrast, Judaism is a revolutionary concept that a person has to delve into in order to grasp. We would be mistaken if we think that idolatry has disappeared from the world. True, the Bible has managed to almost completely wean humanity off of the primitive acts of idolatry, but the roots of idolatrous conceptions still exist and are conveyed in various ways even in modern cultures.
When we stand in nature, our hearts open, we are amazed by the magnificence of mountains, the anger of the sea, the threat of death, the joy of rain, the gloominess of clouds, the compassion of hearts, and the passion for beauty. Natural phenomena have power and force. People who have tried to make sense of it all created myths that tell of fighting gods who had different powers and complicated relationships, with man caught in the middle. This is how idolatry was born ? the fear, the threat, and the helplessness led humanity to worship natural forces. This is idolatry.
Judaism tells a new story. The Torah ?wipes the slate clean? of various natural forces, teaching us that there is only one power, that of G-d. He is transcendent, exalted, has no needs, and as opposed to the various idols ? He has values. Natural forces, down to the last one, are emissaries of the one and only G-d, activated by Him, and have no independent power whatsoever.
This innovative approach conveys a huge moral obligation. Idolatry assumes that every god has needs, and in order to get its help, man has to supply it with what it needs. Thus, a person worships one god during the day, a different one at night; one god in the winter and a different one in the summer. Man runs from one god to the next and is in a constant existential struggle between gods. In contrast, Judaism does not speak to fear and anxiety, but offers man faith in a G-d that has no needs but has ideological and moral demands. G-d fears no one, and man is not required to protect Him or defend himself from Him.
Fear and anxiety capture a very deep place in man?s heart. The risk in blindly following them, and as a result turning to idolatry, is very great. But even after idolatry seemingly disappeared from our lives ? we see that it actually hasn?t. We still face and shift between different world views: between anxiety and security, between lack of faith and faith. Reality can lead us to feeling a complete lack of faith in the world or in humanity, a lack of faith that is diametrically opposed to Jewish faith.
It is for this reason that we read and examine the book of Deuteronomy, the book that is largely dedicated to the war on idolatry. We are invited to examine the significance of this struggle and to derive from it a world view, values, and lifestyle based on trust and faith, Jewish morality and values.

domain: literature