I'm melting!

It's been a bit, shall we say, warmish, around these parts for the better part of a week with no relief foreseen for at least a few more days.

And hard as it may be to believe, we're not getting the worst of it. Temps have been over 100 for a record number of days in California, stressing power grids to the breaking point. And the heat wave blankets nearly the entire country, setting high temp records in many states.

Is this a symptom of global warming?

The infernal heat, unsurprisingly, has affected some people's mood in an unflattering way. It seems that the folks I've had the pleasure to interact with lately are all even more surly and diasgreeable than usual, and that probably applies to myself as well.

The infernal and unrelenting heat is bad news, not only for it's danger to the elderly and others, but for the fact that it affects several local events, such as the Mississippi Valley Fair.

A news report on Sunday had a reporter at the state mandated "cooling center" in Rock Island. It was locked up tight. Guess they don't work weekends, so if you're in danger of death due to heat, please try to do it during regular business hours.

Perhaps it's the thought that counts?

There were also several counties, including some around Rock Island County, which had no cooling center at all.

As there's the usual wealth of issues and world events floating around, most notably the tragic and horrific bombings and attacks between Lebanon and Israel which is throwing gasoline onto the fire of mid-east instability and adding to the already massive hostility towards the U.S./Israeli axis.

Feel free to weigh in on that if you wish, or any number of other current events.

And I can't think of a better reason to demand there be an immediate cease fire in the Lebanon conflict that the thought that their national treasures might be destroyed. As of now, I officially love Beirut too.