Hopefully Andrew is cool with me posting his Tower District kitchen renovation.
I thought it was post worthy because of what he found while tearing up his kitchen:
Old Fresno houses are the best. Some more info:
1917. Elizabeth Hagan built the house but maybe because she was a single female or Gundlefinger financed it he always had been the name but found this in demo. pic.twitter.com/f3Ewkp2m9w
The ISS with solar array in full bloom (pic by NASA just in case you thought I took this)
Sorry if this is yet another thing that makes me a nerd but I like spotting satellites in Fresno’s night sky. Even with our light pollution, its not that hard to do.
If ya think you have never seen one, you probably have and just passed it off as a plane.
The trick to spot them for me is: there are no blinking lights on a satellite.
It is one solid light that looks like a star, but moving smoothly and quietly across the night sky.
Blinking = Plane.
Solid = Satellite.
If you like watching a small dot move across a screen, here is a video I took of the International Space Station going over the Eastern Fresno sky:
And this equally dorky one across the NW Fresno sky:
I mean, come on now, THAT is some THRILLING ? video people! [sarcasm]
As nerds in Fresno take video of them that you can hardly see, the Space Station crew occasionally takes shots of the Earth below:
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) August 5, 2021
There are websites and apps to help spot things. I sometimes use an app simply called “Satellite Tracker” to find me some info on what I might be seeing – there is a lot of abandoned space junk up there still circling.
You can find a calendar of the ISS’s activities here.
Once you get the hang of it, it becomes pretty easy to spot the random ? satellite – there are many more than there used to be. It usually only takes a minute to find one and I live in the middle of the city.
Also, over the next few weeks the Perseid Metor Shower is going on, peaking August 11-13th. You definitely can catch a few from your patio but those are best viewed outside of the city.
I tend to nerd out more on the weather the older I get. Especially when it’s hot. I don’t understand the nerding, it’s just happening to me and you’re here to witness it.
I think it’s because the heat is part of Fresno’s personality. Just talking about hotness is boring on the surface, but when you dig deeper it’s kinda interesting. Like Fresno.
In this past few years of nerding-out about the Fresno heat, I have kept my eye on the various temps around the city.
Fresno doesn’t have just one temperature.
It is different throughout. It is rare when there is a same temperature in Fig Garden as there is in West Fresno. Or NE Fresno compared to Sunnyside.
I don’t know why. Either it is geographically setup to be hotter or the equipment at the airport taking the readings is calibrated badly, but the airport is consistently hotter.
The hottest area of Fresno, nearly EVERY day.
Sadly, this is where the definitive reading for Fresno is taken and then given out to the world. Fresno’s temperature of record is always its worst.
It’s bad marketing. This must be changed.
As an example, I have three different devices at my house (nerd alert!) that have outside temp readings. As I write this, two say it is 103, one says 104. The Fresno Airport reading is 108.
If you are in Chicago right now looking at temps around the country, Fresno would read 108 and not 104.
(I know, some of you don’t think there is a difference but there is and that’s not the point right now.)
It’s Baked Into Us As Fresnans
I get why Fresno would want to present itself to the world in the worst possible way. I hate myself too sometimes.
It’s secretly one of the things I love about this city; everyone sees us at our worst (heat & crime) and we’re like “Yeah? Fucking deal with it. If you can’t handle us at our worst than eat shit – or something like that.”
But maybe we can change this ONE thing? There could be days our high could read 98 instead of 102. Or 87 instead of 90. Sounds and feels better, yeah?
We don’t need to cheat either. Just take our official reading from a place in Fresno NOT the airport.
Scout an area that is the middle ground.
You can pick a City Of Fresno property. Like, a water-well site in an area of Fresno that consistently reads a lower-to-average example of Fresno’s temperature.
Kopi, I assume, giving it to you straight up
I mean is there some state law that says to pick the hottest area of town or something? Can’t Kopi step in here and tell Fresno to have a Great Day somewhere else?
Are you listening Weather Service in Hanford? Do you give a damn, City of Fresno?
With all the power invested in me as the City Blogger, I propose we use a different location for our temperature reading. The current one causes us too much heat.
