That the drought is looming over the Southwest while floodwaters rise in the Midwest and South reflects a classic signature of the La Nina weather oscillation, a cooling of the central Pacific Ocean.

This year’s La Nina is the sixth-strongest in records dating back to 1949.
…
Houston has received only 1.5 inches in the last three months – just 15 percent of its normal amount and less than some parts of the Sahara desert get during the same period of time.

HOW DRY HAS IT BEEN ELSEWHERE ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS? HERE ARE SOME
RAINFALL TOTALS FOR A FEW LOCATIONS ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS FROM
OCTOBER 1 2010 THROUGH AUGUST 10TH 2011. 1971-2000 NORMALS USED FOR
DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL THROUGH JULY AND 1981-2010 FOR AUGUST. NOTE
HOW DRY THE FOUR MONTH PERIOD (FEB-MAY) IS COMPARED TO THE OTHER
MONTHS:

LOCATION     OCT-JAN  FEB-MAY   JUN     JUL     AUG     TOTAL
...
CONROE        10.86     2.03    1.45    2.17    0.00    16.51
NORMALS       18.07    15.16    4.58    3.22    1.02    42.05
DEPARTURE     -7.21   -13.13   -3.13   -1.05   -1.02   -25.54
...
HOU HOBBY     14.76     1.30    1.79    3.27    0.00    21.12
NORMALS       17.83    14.77    6.84    4.36    1.41    45.21
DEPARTURE     -3.07   -13.47   -5.05   -1.09   -1.41   -24.09

HOUSTON       10.82     1.91    0.92    2.98    0.00    16.63
NORMALS       16.06    15.09    5.35    3.18    1.05    40.73
DEPARTURE     -5.24   -13.18   -4.43   -0.10   -1.05   -24.10

HUNTSVILLE     7.44     3.59    1.39    0.64    0.00    13.06
NORMALS       17.57    15.19    4.66    2.67    0.98    41.07
DEPARTURE    -10.13   -11.60   -3.27   -2.03   -0.98   -28.01

KATY           8.50     2.54    1.94    0.00    0.00    12.98
NORMALS       15.42    12.98    3.89    2.83    0.93    36.05
DEPARTURE     -6.92   -10.44   -1.95   -2.83   -0.93   -23.07
...
TOMBALL        6.80     1.80    1.15    1.41    0.00    11.16
NORMALS       16.87    15.22    4.48    3.08    1.03    40.68
DEPARTURE    -10.07   -13.42   -3.33   -1.67   -1.03   -29.52

...

HERE ARE THE PERCENTAGE OF NORMAL RAINFALL SINCE FEBRUARY 1ST FOR
THE FOUR PRIMARY CLIMATE SITES AND DANEVANG:

SITE       RAINFALL    NORMAL    DEPARTURE     PERCENT OF
          2/1 - 8/10   RAINFALL                NORMAL

IAH        5.81        24.67     -18.86         23.6
HOU        6.36        27.38     -21.02         23.2
CLL        7.64        19.90     -12.26         38.4
GLS        5.92        20.12     -14.20         29.4
DANEVANG   6.78        22.29     -15.51         30.4

...
BELOW IS A LIST OF COUNTIES AND THEIR RESPECTIVE CLASSIFICATION AS
DESIGNATED BY THE U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR AS OF JULY 19TH:

                        D-4          D-3

                      AUSTIN       CHAMBERS
                      BRAZORIA     LIBERTY
                      BRAZOS
                      BURLESON
                      COLORADO
                      FORT BEND
                      GALVESTON
                      GRIMES
                      HARRIS
                      HOUSTON
                      JACKSON
                      LIBERTY
                      MADISON
                      MATAGORDA
                      MONTGOMERY
                      SAN JACINTO
                      TRINITY
                      WALKER
                      WALLER
                      WASHINGTON
                      WHARTON

U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR CLASSIFICATIONS

BELOW IS A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF EACH DROUGHT CLASSIFICATION:

D4 EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT - EXCEPTIONAL OR WIDESPREAD CROP/PASTURE LOSS
   A SHORTAGE OF WATER IN RESERVOIRS AND STREAMS CREATING
   A WATER EMERGENCY.

D3 EXTREME DROUGHT - MAJOR CROP OR PASTURE LOSSES. WIDESPREAD WATER
   SHORTAGES AND RESTRICTIONS.

D2 SEVERE DROUGHT - CROP OR PASTURE LOSSES LIKELY. SOME WATER
   SHORTAGES COMMON AND SOME WATER RESTRICTIONS IMPOSED.

D1 MODERATE DROUGHT - SOME DAMAGE TO CROPS AND PASTURES. RESERVOIRS
   OR WELLS LOW. VOLUNTARY WATER RESTRICTIONS IMPOSED.

D0 ABNORMALLY DRY - SHORT TERM DRYNESS. PLANT GROWTH SLOWS. MINOR
   WATER DEFICITS.

...
KBDI VALUES BETWEEN 700 AND 800 ARE CRITICAL AND EXTREMELY
DANGEROUS. THERE ARE NOW 20 COUNTIES WITH KBDI VALUES EXCEEDING 700.
WITH LITTLE OR NO RAIN EXPECTED THIS WEEK...KBDI VALUES WILL
CONTINUE TO INCREASE. KBDI VALUES OF 800 INDICATE THAT A COLUMN OF
SOIL IS DEVOID OF MOISTURE TO A DEPTH OF EIGHT INCHES. WASHINGTON
AND TRINITY COUNTY HAVE THE HIGHEST KBDI VALUE THIS WEEK AT 763.
MADISON COUNTY IS RIGHT BEHIND THEM WITH A KBDI VALUE OF 762.

BELOW IS A TABLE WITH KBDI VALUES (8/10/2011):

               700-800       600-700       500-600

               AUSTIN        GALVESTON     CHAMBERS
               BRAZORIA      LIBERTY
               BRAZOS
               BURLESON
               COLORADO
               FORT BEND
               GRIMES
               HARRIS
               HOUSTON
               JACKSON
               MADISON
               MATAGORDA
               MONTGOMERY
               POLK
               SAN JACINTO
               TRINITY
               WALKER
               WALLER
               WASHINGTON
               WHARTON
...

PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK... UPPER LEVEL RIDGING WILL REMAIN 
IN PLACE FOR THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS. IT APPEARS THAT TEMPERATURES WILL
CONTINUE TO SOAR NEAR OR ABOVE THE CENTURY MARK. RAINFALL FOR THE
NEXT SEVEN DAYS LOOKS RATHER SPARSE. THE TROPICS ALSO LOOK RATHER
QUIET. THE SEASONAL DROUGHT OUTLOOK ISSUED JULY 21ST 2011 VALID THROUGH
OCTOBER DOES NOT OFFER MUCH HOPE. ONLY SOME SLIGHT IMPROVEMENT IN DROUGHT
CONDITIONS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER THE COASTAL COUNTIES BUT MOST AREAS WILL
CONTINUE TO ENDURE EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT CONDITIONS. THE OUTLOOK FOR THE
REST OF AUGUST FAVORS WARMER THAN NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND BELOW NORMAL
RAINFALL. THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A LA NINA WATCH. CLIMATE
SIGNALS INDICATE THAT THE RISK FOR ANOTHER LA NINA EPISODE IS INCREASING
FOR THIS WINTER. 

A: Because they have sine and cosine to get a tan and don’t need the sun!

From Volker Runde’s Math Jokes page.

Visit Puccini.com, where you can listen to some of the music he composed, read about his operas, and read about him. (The site does not have the reading material; it links to articles on other sites.)

At Last.fm, they say:

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (December 22, 1858 – November 29, 1924) is regarded as one of the great operatic composers of the late 19th and early 20th century. … Known for his melodic ability, orchestra depth, and dramatism, in Italian opera, Puccini was the only true successor to Giuseppe Verdi.

Puccini was born in Lucca, Italy into a family with a long history of music. After the death of his father when he was only five years old, he was sent to study with his uncle Fortunato Magi, who considered him to be a poor and undisciplined student. Later, he took the position of church organist and choir master, but it was not until he saw a performance of Verdi’s Aida that he became inspired to be an opera composer. He and a friend walked an entire 18.5 miles (30 Kilometers) to see the performance in Pisa. In 1880, Puccini travelled to the Conservatory of Music in Milan to begin his career by studying composition with Amilcare Ponchielli.

© 2009 Last.fm Ltd. All rights reserved

On the site about Puccini, Last.fm has some tracks you can listen to as well as some videos you can watch. Enjoy!

From:     bill.gates@jmail.co.za
Subject:     FROM:MR.BILL GATES (get back to me)
Date:     September 9, 2009 2:22:55 PM CDT
To:     undisclosed-recipients:;
Reply-To:    gates.1483@rediffmail.com

FROM:MR.BILL GATES (get back to me)

This is to officially inform you that your e-mail ID is active and has been selected as the winner of September 2009 online lottery programs conducted by Microsoft Team and awarded you the sum of $USD9,800,000.00 only. To claim your award I advised to get back to me your full name and direct mailing address ASAP

With Best Regards,
Mr. William Bill Gates.

Sure, “MR.BILL GATES (get back to me),” sure. That “get back to me” is sure to make be believe this is really Bill Gates. Yup. Uh, huh. And such good grammar you have!! That really makes me believe. Uh, huh. And the email went to “undisclosed-recipients” to tell people at Microsoft how to contact me to give me my money, right? Uh, huh.

I don’t have a category for “silliness” or “stupidity,” so I’ll leave this “uncategorized.”