Anyone who opposes the Affordable Care Act is a subhuman (Why Fry a Turkey when You can Zot Them?)

[Silentgypsy]

Have you ever experienced an American confection called Pop Rocks or something like that. I’m certain the FReepers in the know can advise you re: fizzy sensations on the back of the tongue....

[Silentgypsy]

Sweet dreams, Mr. Moose!

[Silentgypsy]

Venus sounds too much like a hot flash

I remember those. A group of us surgically-induced peoples called ourselves "The Red Hot Mamas" and described them as power surges. It seemed a lot less wimpy that way.

[Silentgypsy]

Whenever I think about Kilimanjaro, I’m reminded of Olatunji and His Flaming Drums. I used to know all the words to “Abana Kilimanjaro” in the original Swahili maybe.

[Silentgypsy]

Hi, pax! Sweet dreams to you, too!

[Silentgypsy]

Off to see if Olatunji is available on the Interwebs. Good night and sweet dreams, y’all!

[Silentgypsy]

I also loved dancing to Xavier Cugat’s “Cugat’s Nougats.”

[NoCmpromiz]

described them as power surges.

That is NOT how Mrs. NoC described it...

[pax_et_bonum]

Hey, Silentgypsy!

Sweet dreams are more likely now that our (wonderful, fun, and blessed) Christmas rush is over!

***hug!***

Sweet dreams back atcha!

[NicknamedBob]

"That made me think of Robert Service."

Robert Service had a rather rigorous rhythm to his work. Typically, anyone who thinks about him tends to keep him in mind for a while.

Anyway, back to Kilimanjaro. When you stand on Africa's burning savannah, looking up to the glaring whiteness atop Kilimanjaro, it must be a little daunting, as well as aggravating.

I mean, there you are, baking in the tropical sun, your breath whistling out of you with the sound and moisture content of a tea-kettle, and that mountain has the temerity to show you frigid whiteness that you cannot hope to reach.

What's going on with that?

Well, what's going on is called altitude. As you rise in altitude, the air gets thinner, and cooler. Even on a summer day, you can see this effect, as rising humidity finds a height at which its water vapor condenses into puffy white clouds.

It's very visibly obvious near Kilimanjaro, where the moisture content falls as snow.

This effect, the reduction of temperature, happens any time that air pressure is reduced. Let the air out of a tire, and you can feel instant coldness. (A coldness paid for when you compress the air in the first place, but let's not get distracted.)

This adiabatic cooling occurs even when the air involved isn't quite air as we think of it. It's a phenomenon of gases. It happens with oxygen, with nitrogen, and it happens with carbon dioxide.

At the present time, we know that the atmosphere of Venus is almost all carbon dioxide. So even though the surface temperature of Venus is hot enough to melt many metals, by simply rising in that very thick atmosphere, you will find cooler temperatures.

Unfortunately, even the highest mountains on Venus are not very high, and the temperature to start with is very, very high, (Venus is hotter than Mercury!)

But by a rather odd coincidence, that section of altitude where the temperature at last does drop into what we would consider more Earthlike normal, is also the section of altitude where the crushing pressure is more like that of Earth as well!

Where is this magical altitude? About thirty-five miles, or fifty kilometers, above that hellish surface temperature mentioned before.

Way far above any possible mountains.

I like to think of our sister planet as being like a "water-world" version of Earth, except that instead of water, Venus has an ocean of carbon dioxide. At the top of the ocean of carbon dioxide, at "sea-level" if you will allow the concept, the temperature, pressure, and the gravity, are all the most nearly Earthlike of any other place in our solar system, or within hundreds of light years of Earth.

So what good does that do us?

Another odd coincidence that works in our favor, is that in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide, all you need to do to find a lifting gas is find something lighter than carbon dioxide.

On Earth, lifting gases are limited to hydrogen, helium, and hot air.

On Venus, nearly everything that is a gas, is a lifting gas. Pure nitrogen, which is available in plenty in the oceans of carbon dioxide on Venus, (more than five times as much as on Earth!), is a lifting gas with half the power of helium on Earth.

Essentially, you could parachute into Venus atmosphere, inflate a balloon (or blimp) with nitrogen, and you could easily maintain that altitude as long as you wanted to.

Now, the only major difference between pure nitrogen, and regular air you can breathe, is the presence of twenty percent oxygen. So ordinary breathing air is a lifting gas on Venus.

If you had a semi-rigid structure, like a circus tent or a plastic greenhouse, all you'd have to do is fill it with breathable air and it would keep you afloat on that ocean of carbon dioxide. Fill it up with plants to keep turning carbon dioxide into oxygen and food, and you're a settler or colonist on another planet!

[TheOldLady]

I shall do my best not to hog all the snow, and I will send you as much as I can, dear.

[NoCmpromiz]

I shall do my best not to hog all the snow, and I will send you as much as I can, dear.

Problem is Moose doesn't live on our side of the Salty Pond... (But it's starting to look like you'll be sending some to the adjoining states Eastward.. ;-)

Fortunately it looks like it won't hit us until after the New Year's Eve celebrants weave their way home New Year's Eve AND in time for them to have to shovel/blow/plow with a hangover after they wake up New Years Day afternoon.. ;-)

Also means that I really need to go have a talk with my recalcitrant John Deere glowbull warmthing blowing device tomorrow! And I was so much enjoying crastinating like a pro indoors. Where It's warm. Unlike out in the shed. Where it's unheated. And COLD.

[TheOldLady]

LOL! Moose07 is a long-time friend and fellow FReepathon team member of mine, and I am well aware of where he lives. [smiles]

You are right about the snow storm heading our way and points east of us. NOAA says that we will have snow every day and night,
except tomorrow night and Friday night, for the next week. Freezing temperatures are also on the agenda.

In a deft change of subject, I’d like to tell you that Bryan bought me a new desk chair today, a belated Christmas present. I love it.

[moose07]

[moose07]

new desk chair today

Ah, Freeping in Comfort from now on.
The Last one died during the celebration party at the end of the last FReepathon.
NC, you wouldn't believe how much of a mess is left in the FR Saloon bar after a 'Thon.
Spilled paint, coloured glitter, glue, Clippings and trimmings from newspapers and magazines, food wrappers, and piles of scrap HTML all over the floor.
I did try to encourage HTML recycling but nobody was interested [snort]
The Shell casings alone can take a month of Sundays to dig out from between the floor boards (Having been stomped in during the celebrations). So you can imagine the state of the ceilings...Full of bullet holes.
I wish the mirror behind the bar could survive more than one post Thon party, they are costly to replace.
LOL!

[Darksheare]

I have a mudman.
It is like a snowman, but gross.

[NoCmpromiz]

I have a mudman.

If you were in Toledo you could have a Mudhen...

[NoCmpromiz]

Moose07 is a long-time friend and fellow FReepathon team member of mine, and I am well aware of where he lives.

Of course I knew that.. ;-)

NOAA says that we will have snow every day and night,

For us NOAA says one thing, Occasionally AccurateWeather says something else, and the WutherChunnel says yet another.. Has to do with whether the two possible lows converge or one outspeeds the other. We get to hang in suspense.. Top part of Ohio will get snow no matter what hits us, but we could end up with one of those minor inconveniences they call a Nor'Easter...

You know, the event with "Major snow accumulations, high winds, and blizzard conditions.." Which is why I need to go caress my JohnDeereGreen beastie when the sun comes out!

[no-to-illegals]

Wow, Marshall has grown into a young Man.

And yes, may 2014 be the best year ever.

[Tax-chick]

I found a copy of “Heart of Darkness” in the box with my drawing paper and started reading it last night. Good descriptions.