WEATHER REPORT

It's not official but one person wrote that the last rain fell June 25th; that's 21 days ago. From the weather maps online and on TV, it seems that we don't have much hope of getting rain unless a storm cloud happens to move across the sky. All forecasts are for 40% chance (or less) of precipitation for the next few days.

I wish I knew what is happening to the water table in this area. I have a deep well but how deep is it compared to the water table? How much water is available from the ground? Since we had very little snow last winter, is there a real risk of running out of well water this summer? Perhaps not in the short term but if lower rainfalls and higher temperatures persist in the coming years, that will affect the water table levels for certain. (See www.ontla.on.ca/library/repository/mon/1000/10294255.pdf)

From CBC:

Ottawa: between June 8 - July 8 there were 10 days of 30°C temperatures, compared to 4 days in a typical year. [Did the writer mean 4 days between those dates?]

During the past 30 days less than 60 per cent of the normal amount of rain has fallen. The Rideau River is flowing almost 80 per cent below normal levels, while the Jock River is flowing at only three per cent of its normal levels.

So far this summer there have been record-setting high temperatures across Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces coupled with some of the lowest rainfall on record.

A lack of rain and extremely hot temperatures badly affecting crops mean that Canadian consumers will likely be paying more for their produce.

Tuesday July 17: We got a little rain from thunderstorms passing overhead but not much. It didn't cover the bottom of the wheelbarrow so I'm not impressed :-(

Sunday August 5: T-storms are bringing rain! 25 minutes of heavy rain. If we're lucky, more will follow. Not much since July 17 -- just some heavy mist a couple of times :-(

SNOW CRASH

SNOW CRASH
1992 novel by Neal Stephenson

Whew! That was a whirlwind tour through a futuristic 'real' gritty landscape of corporate-states (formerly America) and 'unreal' Metaverse occupied by realistic avatars. In both places, our hero Hiro Protagonist and heroine Y.T. speed along streets on motorcycle or skateboard and join forces to investigate what destructive plans have been made against hackers.

They meet when Hiro crashes the pizza delivery car he is driving and Y.T. comes along and does him the favour of delivering the pizza on her skateboard. She rides to delivery points by attaching a cable to vehicles that are driven in the direction she needs. Although Hiro's description isn't at all like him, I couldn't help thinking of Hiro looking like actor Masi Oka who played "Hiro Nakamura" on Heroes. Y.T.'s character brought to mind actress Jewel Strait playing "Kaylee Frye" on Firefly because of the similarity of their spunky characters.

Yes, this is cyberpunk but it's not dark like Gibson's Neuromancer. Instead, it carries you along like Y.T.'s joyful though hair-raising skateboarding trips through a fast and furious series of adventures leading to the discovery of who, what and how the evil forces plan to destroy the computer systems that every person and corporate entity depends on.