1 You wouldn't like it in Sydney.  In mid-summer, it doesn't get that much hotter here - a few days a year of 105+  - but it can stay above 90 all night.

2

One of the few nice things about this warm snap is that it's been cooling down at night. I keep my deck door and bedroom window open, which gets a nice cross-breeze, and it cools down the apartment nicely. It acts as a heat sink the next day, so it's always cooler in here than outside even if I'm not doing anything with blocks of ice.

The other nice thing is that when it gets hot here, it's also dry. So it isn't quite so uncomfortable; sweat works well. The downside to that is increased danger of wildfire, of course, but not near me.

3 I'm visiting my son in Phoenix this week; it is a hundred-and-hot degrees.  Last night after midnight the motor in the fan in the air conditioner chunked itself and started smoking.
Remembering your solution, I found a 24 hour Walgreens and bought several pounds of ice and a box fan.
I went through about ten pounds of ice every hour, but each fresh application dropped the room temp a couple degrees -- just enough to make it bearable for my wife and get us through the night. She told me to be sure to thank you.
Thank you.

4

About 4:00 it hit 103 at the Hillsboro Airport, so I'm glad I ordered ice. I've got an order in for more for tomorrow. And then the heat is going to ease off.

Now the good news: no fires in the last couple of days.

5 They also had a bunch of firefighters tied up with those jackasses on St. John's Bridge, though they're cleaning up now.  MAX is also running slow due to the heat.  I'm glad I don't have to commute over the river today.

6

I just read about that. Wonder what they think they mean by "Portland Sound"? There ain't no such best.

I assume it's Swan Island. That's where the shipyard is, and the drydocks.

7

According to this, it's gone now.

Oh, and today's word is "Kayaktivist."

8

dammit, I've been having more and more trouble with typos lately, especially on my left hand.

"There ain't no such beast."

9

Oh, so those idiots were pulling their crap in your corner of the world.

Those dolts are also the ones who do not understand the Rules of the Road for ships are there for good reason...

10 I think they understood the rules for waterways just fine; their intention was to close the Willamette to navigation.  They were pretty much just forming a chain of people across a highway, except it was on the river.

11 The "kayaktivists" were definitively breaking the law and the rules, but I guess people hanging from ropes on bridges is kind of a grey area, other than creating a disturbance.

12

Would it be crude to suggest that had the cops cut the rope of one of those rapellers, the rest of them, and, presumably, the kayakers, would've probably dispersed right quick?

And if that wasn't enough to get the kayakers out, a paraphrase of Mr Prosser's quote from the beginning of HHGTTG would've most likely done the trick.  "Do you have any idea how much that icebreaker would suffer if I let it run right over you?"

13

These are the kind of dolts who think causing a fully-loaded oil tanker or (Better yet.) LNG carrier to run aground at the harbor entrance is a great idea.  And harassing Native American tribes conducting tribal rituals at sea is just fine (Amusingly enough, I think the way the Indian treaties are written would justify the tribes shooting at said white interlopers.).

I think they understood the rules for waterways just fine; their intention was to close the Willamette to navigation.  They were pretty much just forming a chain of people across a highway, except it was on the river.

I would not be so sure about all of them.  There was at least one incident where a Sea Shepherd maniac (Not that they come in any different kind.) on a jet ski was harassing an Indian ceremony at sea, when the idiot ran his jet ski right of one of the USCG boats guarding the ceremony and sent the dolt for a dunk in the water.  The actually complained that the USCG crew had violated the Rules of the Road, despite the video tape showing that the Sea Shepherd had deliberately did it himself.

14 We are too civilized to respond effectively here, and it may be a good thing. I remember how a couple of years ago Russian commandos re-captured a Russian tanker off the Horn of Africa. Then they politely asked the surviving pirates to board their vessels and go home. Then they used them for target practice. The official story was that "pirates were released but for unknown reason they did not reach their ports". Pretty efficient, but if we allow stuff like that happening in America... Oh wait, we already do. The War On Drugs. That one is turning out wonderfuly, isn't it?