Daybreak Friday 9/11/20

IT'S FRIDAY, UPPER VALLEY!

Cloudy then sunny, and definitely cooler. Yesterday's frontal passage trapped some moisture in the lower levels of the atmosphere, which will make for a cloudy start first thing this morning. But high pressure's moving in from the west and all that will clear out, and it should be pretty darn brilliant out there by this afternoon. Highs today only in the mid-60s, decent breezes from the north, and lows tonight in the low 40s. “Everyone who has come, whether they are out of state or in-state, have been exceptionally respectful, happy to be out, and they are buying local.” That's Kate Miller, who manages Footprints, a clothing store in Woodstock. WCAX's Adam Sullivan dropped by Quechee and Woodstock for a story on whether fall foliage season will provide a boost to hard-hit tourist spots. The answer? While he reports that "those who rely heavily on those tourist dollars say they are confident things are getting better," there's still a lot of worry out there. Missing grandfather and grandson found, victims of crash. Ever since Jerry Proper, 69, and 22-year-old Cody Pillsbury didn't come back from a Labor Day motorbike ride—a tradition for the two since Cody was three years old—friends, relatives, and the community around Newport, NH have been out looking. Yesterday, Newport Police Chief Brent Wilmot reported that an officer had found evidence of a crash, and discovered two bodies "deep into the woods" in Boscawen. (VN)Dartmouth's highest-paid employee in its most recent tax filing? Not Phil Hanlon. Alice Ruth, the college's chief investment officer, made $2.4 million in 2018—the latest public data—compared to Hanlon's $1.5 million. The difference is due in part to a one-time signing bonus for Ruth, but even so, her base salary is higher than Hanlon's, reports the VN's Nora Doyle-Burr, who's been digging into Dartmouth's most recent Form 990 tax filing. She notes that Hanlon, provost Joe Helble, and other administrators are returning 20 percent of their salaries to the college this year.Wide Babelki Bowl. That's the name of the new wooden sculpture that went up last month outside Rollins Chapel at Dartmouth. It's by Ursula von Rydingsvard, who's known for large-scale wooden sculptures. "Babelki" are "popcorn stitches" that get knit onto Polish sweaters. In a short new video, the Hood's Jessica Hong gives a tour of the sculpture. "No piles of books springing from tented tables on the Woodstock green, no smell of aged library paste nor the crackling of old leather bindings." As Susan Apel writes in her latest Artful post, Bookstock will be a little different this year. But its heart—the chance to hear from featured authors—will beat on, at least online. Poet (and former VPR jazz host) Reuben Jackson will kick things off on Sept. 17. Cartoonist Jason Lutes, François Clemmons, and NYT reporter Nikita Stewart will also appear, one a month.  All of NH now in at least moderate drought. And severe conditions now extend into southeastern Grafton County, reports NHPR's Annie Ropeik. Moreover, the state cautions that impacts on wells tend to lag actual drought conditions, so as fall progresses growing numbers of people could see their wells run dry. Officials are urging people with private wells, especially shallow ones, to conserve water and stagger heavy water use.SPONSORED: Winter’s coming. Got heat pumps? Electric heat pumps running on solar power can keep your home toasty warm on all but the coldest winter days—even at -13F, a heat pump can work at 78 percent capacity. And as we face increasingly hot summers, the same heat pump can efficiently cool your home. If you’re thinking about ways to shrink your home’s carbon footprint, check out Solaflect Energy’s helpful heat-pump overview. The power is in our hands to make a difference! Sponsored by Solaflect Energy.In NH, stand-alone battery storage projects face resistance from fire departments—and rightly so. That's the point David Brooks makes in a Granite Geek post yesterday, pointing to the 2019 lithium-ion battery fire in Surprise, Arizona, that exploded so powerfully it flung first responders through the air and sent four to the hospital. NH's two proposals for standalone systems have died, though only one because of fire concerns. The industry is going to have to solve those quickly, Brooks writes, "if we’re going to get the storage we need."In case you've been wondering: NH knows of no cases from Trump rally. At a press conference yesterday, state health commissioner Lori Shibinette told reporters that despite concerns about the largely maskless crowd at President Trump's airport-hangar rally two weeks ago, no Covid cases have been linked to it. On the other hand, one attendee at Laconia's Motorcycle Week has since tested positive.Killington sets Nov. 14 opening date, outlines procedures for ski season. In a long letter to Killington and Pico "guests, local community, and fellow outdoor enthusiasts," the resort's president and general manager yesterday laid out how things will work once it's able to get enough snow on the ground for "top to bottom" skiing—which it's hoping is by mid-November, initially only for season pass holders. They're implementing online parking reservations for everyone as a way to track volume, and day passes will have to be bought in advance. Masks are required except when seated while eating or drinking.So how do you hold a full-on town meeting via Zoom? Brattleboro's about to find out. Tomorrow, it will become the first town in Vermont to hold an online town meeting. It's been holding training sessions—not just for the computer-challenged, but for over-confident residents to train on the advanced Zoom platform they'll be using. It's also sent out a booklet and set up a tech hotline. “We can’t spend the first hour or two dealing with these sorts of issues,” says town moderator Lawrin Crispe."It's one thing to open schools... It's another thing altogether to keep them open." That's VT education secretary Dan French in an interview with VPR's Jake Rusnock that aired yesterday. Substitute teachers, he says, are going to be a challenge—as they were before the pandemic—and the administration expects conditions to deteriorate as we move into flu season. And underlying everything is a certain anxiety, which he believes "will remain to a certain extent. Hopefully, it will be diminished...as people gain increased confidence working in their schools."Can you be super-human and funny? Yes. If you're a squirrel. Or Mark Rober. He's a former NASA engineer and a very popular science and engineering explainer on YouTube. And he had a problem with squirrels marauding his bird-feeder. He tried the store-bought workarounds, but the squirrels figured them out. So he did what any homeowner would: built a squirrel obstacle course for the four highly personable rodents intent on his back yard—Rick, Marty, Frank, and Phat Gus. Warning: It's about 20 minutes, and once you start you won't be able to help yourself. (Thanks, AW!)

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This isn't squirrels. It's marbles. And it turns out they're far more musical. A few years back, the Swedish folktronica band Wintergatan—known for their use of odd instruments—

Powered by a hand-crank, it raised steel marbles through the machine into various tubes, then released them, letting them fall to strike a vibraphone, a bass guitar, cymbals, and contact mics that created the sounds of various drums. And here's the thing: It's mesmerizing to watch and a pleasure to listen to.

Have a fine weekend! See you Monday.

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