Last edited by n2ize; 02-01-2013 at 06:35 AM.
I keep my 2 feet on the ground, and my head in the twilight zone.
Punxsutawney Phil or Staten Island Chuck?
Groundhog Day: What will unpredictable Phil forecast?The world's most famous furry forecaster, Punxsutawney Phil, will pop out of his burrow Saturday morning to tell the nation what our weather will be like for the next six weeks. Will we have an early spring, or will winter dig in its heels until mid-March?According to folklore, if it's cloudy when the groundhog emerges from its burrow Saturday, it will leave the burrow, signifying that winter will soon end. If, however, it's a sunny day, Phil will supposedly see his shadow and, frightened, retreat back into his burrow, and winter will continue for six more weeks.
The current forecast from the National Weather Service is for a cloudy, snowy day, but Phil is a fickle fuzzball, so it's hard to know what he'll do.
I wonder if he'll take the traditional bite out of Mayor Mikey?A famous Staten Island resident starts each day at 8 a.m. training for a yearly event that often draws hundreds of people from the five boroughs and New Jersey. To prepare for this program, he works out with a personal trainer and focuses on eating a healthy diet, rich in vegetables and protein.
After his work is done, he gets to spend some time with his girlfriend, with whom he'll share dinner and some quality R&R.
However, this Staten Island celebrity isn't human.
It's none other than Charles G. Hogg (aka Staten Island Chuck), an 8 1/2-pound groundhog who resides in a custom-built log cabin with a retractable roof and solar panels that power a functioning weather station at the Staten Island Zoo. The entire metropolitan area looks to Chuck's annual prediction.
Chuck and his galpal, Charlotte, are the only genuine groundhogs in any of the city's zoos.
Each year on Feb. 2, Chuck predicts whether spring will come early. "Over 31 years, he has been right 25 times," said Kenneth Mitchell, the Zoo's executive director. That's an 80 percent success clip.
The prediction is simple: If Chuck sees his shadow, we'll have six more weeks of winter. If not, we'll have an early spring.
Take that Phil. SI Chuck raring to go.
Then there's Groundhog Day: The Movie.
And 12 Things You Probably Don't Know About Groundhog Day The Movie.
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“The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words."
--Philip K. Dick
That's cool. My ancestry hails from Arthritis so I have a deep seated hatred of cold weather. I thought seriously about moving to Hawaii but I know i would go nuts there after a year, Oahu is the most affordable but small, the Big Island is incredibly expensive and a lot of it is off limits. The rest of the islands are really small and not very populated.
Hawaiian-Islands.jpg
Your post reminded me that you should move to Iceland. It's relatively cold there in winter and they are a lovely people who take you to court to use your own name. Swell place that Iceland.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/...-wins-18363562
We never had weather like this before they started messing around with that internet stuff.
Got into the car this morning and thought of Three Dog Night when I saw the temperature.
The Scots-Irish side of my genes are apparently not dominant enough to make me feel that I can just ignore the cold. The Russian side of my genes are also not doing their job. I hate cold.
"Some of the gusts were as bad or worst that Sandy."
Now is that wind in Brooklyn or Crestwood? Brooklyn got clobbered but not so bad inland to the north. It's like New Jersey, the shore was completely wiped out in places while where I sheltered in Burlington County there was very little damage.
"Brooklyn is well known for very severe weather."
Brooklyn is well known for severe, period.
"I wonder if he'll take the traditional bite out of Mayor Mikey?"
So Chuck doesn't like Mikey either, I remember when Phil bit the mayor of Punxsutawney. He's worn heavy leather gloves ever since, could be Mikey's a slow learner? They're big, have powerful rodent teeth and are mean tempered and don't like to be messed with especially by the likes of Manic Mikey.
"The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you."
Neil deGrasse Tyson
73 de Warren KB2VXA
Station powered by atomic energy, operator powered by natural gas.
Isn't that messing with tradition? Would Rudy have given up? Heck, would Mayor Lindsay have given up?The mayor does not plan to attend the annual Groundhog Day event at the Staten Island Zoo Saturday morning, in what would have been the last chance to mend his tumultuous relationship with the furry forecaster while still in office and presiding over the ceremony.
In 2009, Chuck chomped Bloomberg's finger as the mayor tried to coax him out of his winter nest.
Since then, the pair's relationship has been cool — though Staten Island Zoo director Ken Mitchell said he thought a final meeting would have gone by without incident.
“[The bite] was just a minor misunderstanding," he said.
"I’m sure that won't happen again.”
A Bloomberg spokesman did not reveal the mayor's reason for not attending the Groundhog Day event this year but said he has sometimes chosen not to attend in the past.
Groundhogs are generally not known for having sparkling personalities, but Mitchell said Chuck, who’s full name is Chuck E. Hogg, generally has a good temperament.
Bloomberg likely disagrees. In 2011, he refused to reach after the rodent, instead using a plunger to help get him out of his home.
"I love the plunger," Bloomberg said on the video, originally posted by the Daily News. "That was so much better than having to reach in and let the son of a b—ch bite you."
During last year’s prediction, the mayor even vowed to retaliate if Chuck took another bite at his finger.
"If I get bit again," the mayor said before picking up Chuck, "I have actually promised my girlfriend I would bite back."
Staten Island Chuck Won't Get Last Chance to Bite Mayor Bloomberg
“The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words."
--Philip K. Dick