Thoughts On A Sunday

Though the Weather Guys™ didn't exactly come through for us yesterday (it barely broke 50ºF here), it still wasn't all that bad a day.

I didn't get done nearly what I'd hoped yesterday, but more than made up for it today. It was nice being able to open the windows and air things out. This also let me clean the windows, which now let in even more sunlight!

With today's warm weather (70ºF!) I was able to hang my first loads of laundry out on the Official Weekend Pundit Clothesline. This is the earliest I've ever been able to do that since we've had it up. And if I recall correctly the last load hung this past fall was in late October just before our Halloween snowstorm.

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With the warmer weather we've been enjoying I've let the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove go out and go cold. No need to run it or the propane furnace if it's above 65ºF in The Manse. I am certainly not complaining about the mild winter we've had as it's meant less work for me and BeezleBub and less firewood burned to keep things warm.

If this is global warming, then bring it on!

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Bogie and her WS went shooting yesterday, trying to “get back into the groove.” They tried out some of those 2” X 2” reactive targets, the kind that go “BOOM” when you hit them dead center.

Cool!

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Adam Minter may have a solution to the problem of Asian carp invading US inland waters: catch them and sell them to China.

To the US they are an invasive species causing havoc in a number of major US rivers and lakes. To the Chinese they are a much in demand delicacy, preferred over farm raised carp.

It would certainly help balance the trade deficit with China. As the saying goes, the Chinese word for “trouble” is also the same word for “opportunity”. Best that we take the opportunity to make the best of the trouble we have with a certain Asian fish.

(H/T Instapundit)

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A new Rasmussen poll shows 58% of American adults believe in an across the board income tax rate. I do, too. Everyone should have skin in the game. The fact that just under 50% of American workers pay no income tax is not a good thing as they have nothing to lose if those who are taxed are burdened even more.

While the Left cries that the rich should pay their “fair share”, they have never defined what that fair share is other than “more than they do now.” It's a moving target and no matter how much the rich pay it will never be enough. Eventually there will be no more rich to tax because one of two scenarios will occur: the rich will be impoverished and the economy will collapse, or the rich will flee and take their wealth with them which in turn will cause the economy to collapse. Either way we all lose.

A flat rate lets everyone feel the pain.

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Cap'n Teach explains that because we drove cars, Alaska suffered from record snowfall and record cold.

As the Cap'n comments, “In the past, back when there were more sane people, this would simply be “the weather.” ”

The Cap'n also links to a Scientific American blog post that outlines a solution to the problem: a worldwide tyranny that will kill you if you don't stop trying to live your life in the 21st Century rather than the 14th Century.

But then that's what the Progressives want for us. They'll be the only ones allowed to enjoy the fruits of 21st Century technology. After all they have to keep an eye on us and it's hard work oppressing the masses and keeping them in their places.

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Glenn Reynolds links to and comments about how batteries are the limiting factor for all these new 4G phones, tablets, and other connected technology.

That's been a problem with some of the equipment I help design. We try to use every power saving technique and technology to ensure the instruments we make will last for an 8 hour shift when used out in the field. Sometimes we've been able to use a bigger battery, but even that solution quickly reaches the point of diminishing returns as the battery becomes more expensive and is almost as large as the instrument it's powering.

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And that's the abbreviated news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer weather is here in spades, we've been outside enjoying it, and where I still haven't gotten all the work around the house anywhere near done.

Spring Cleaning And Schizophrenia

Though spring is still a few days away, spring cleaning has already started here at The Manse. While the ground outside is still too soft and mushy to do much in the way of yard work, there's been plenty to do inside, including scrubbing the floors, cleaning windiows, and making a few repairs in the mudroom. (One of the coat hook boards came off the wall when an overenthusiastic WP nephew decided to toss his coat onto one of the hooks rather than placing it. Apparently the board carrying the coat hooks was held in place using drywall anchors rather than being screwed into the wall studs.)

Now you may wonder why I've mentioned this. It's simple.

The contractor who built this house must have been schizophrenic.

The Manse, as well as the homes on either side, were built by a contractor who is presently enjoying a stay at one of our fine state institutions...as an inmate.

The Manse shows signs of the same kind of personality as the contractor. Some things were really well done and the craftsmanship shows. Others leave you scratching your head wondering what the hell they were thinking when they were building this place. (I seem to recall that I've covered this subject some time in the past, but no matter. It's still kind of interesting.) Some examples of this dichotomy:

There are aforementioned coat hook boards. The rest of the mud room is well done, but they were too lazy to use a stud-finder to put the mounting screws into the studs.

Another mudroom issue: the door leading to the front is solid metal. The door leading to the rear has glass to let light in. Both the front and the back door should have glass (at least that's what was on the plans I saw). Glass on both doors would let the maximum amount of light in during the day, doing away with the need to turn the lights on when the sun is up. (The back door only lets light in only during the late afternoon or early evening, depending upon the time of year. Otherwise it's dark in the mudroom.)

The arrangement of the light switches is strange. Generally, when someone turns on the closest switch just inside the door of a room, it turns on the lights, either ceiling lights of a lamp plugged into a wall socket on the other side of the room. Not in The Manse. Instead, in more than half the rooms the switch turns on the ceiling fan. I guess they figured the ceiling fan was far more important than lights.

If there are more then one set of lights that are controlled by a series of switches on the wall, you'd expect the closest switch would turn on the closest lights and the farthest switch would turn on the lights farthest away. Nope, not in this house. (This is certainly the case with the switches just inside the kitchen next to the mudroom entrance.)

Then there's the 'phantom' switch. It's next to the triple light switches at the front door. In all this time I haven't been able to figure out what it's supposed to control. I've taken off the cover to see if it's even connected to the house wiring and it is. But in the seven years we've resided in The Manse we haven't been able to figure out what it's supposed to do. (After talking to friends and family about this I think that everyone's home has at least one phantom switch.)

Staying with the electrical system theme, there's the outside lights. The two lampposts at the top and bottom of the driveway and the floodlights on the side of the garage all have the same flaw: they have to be plugged in to turn them on. There are no light switches. (No, the phantom switch doesn't control the outside electrical socket into which the lampposts are plugged.) The lampposts do have light sensors on them, meaning they'll turn on automatically when it gets dark out. But we don't use them all that often. In fact they're on primarily during the winter when BeezleBub and I are clearing snow from the driveway at night. The floodlights are usually on for the same reason. (The floodlights are plugged in inside the garage, but it's a tight squeeze between the wall and the trusty F150, making it difficult to reach the plug at times.)

Another quirk: the plumbing. While the plumbing system is exceptional – PEX tubing running to both cold and hot water plenums, each tube with its own shutoff petcock – the routing leaves something to be desired. In two instances the plumbing contractor could have done a better job of routing some of the tubing. In the master bathroom it is not uncommon for the water lines to the shower and bathtub to freeze during below zero nights. Occasionally the lines to the sink also freeze up. It wasn't until we suffered our little water leak debacle last year that we discovered the tubing had been run along an uninsulated exterior joist below the bathroom.

Then there's insulation. There's plenty in the walls and the attic/eaves/roof. There was none along the rim joists (that's where the frame of the house meets the foundation), something I took care of the first year we were here. But after our water leak debacle, we found there's none between the first and second floor, something that has become de rigeur since the 90's. I think the only reason we hadn't noticed it before is because the second floor has thick wall-to-wall carpeting. (That could also be the reason the contractor didn't put any insulation in between floors.)

That's just a few things we've found that are quirky about The Manse. I could easily go on another few hundred words describing the schizophrenic nature of this house before I even got to the dumb/weird things around the outside. Maybe that's a topic for another post.

Online Video/TV Is Becoming The Norm

As I and other bloggers have noted, a number of subscribers to HBO can canceled their subscriptions due to HBO's blatant political pandering and support of misogynistic 'comedians'. Some have commented that they now use Netflix, Hulu, or a number of other online video providers rather than HBO.

For some time now I've been using Hulu to watch episodes of some of my favorite TV shows that I've missed for one reason or another and have considered signing up for Hulu Plus which gives access to movies, TV shows, and more. The WP Parents have been using Netflix with their Sony Media Player and have found it both convenient and cost effective. (It helps that our local cable MSO has reasonable download speeds which makes the use of these services attractive.)

I have a feeling I'll be using the online video services more often as cable/satellite TV becomes more expensive and less convenient (even with a DVR).

Adding Insult To Injury

Evergreen Solar, a company formerly based in Devens, Massachusetts, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, closed it's plant, and moved its production to China. To add insult to injury, now Evergreen wants permission from the court to walk away from it's plant in Massachusetts. This is after it had received over $31 million grants, tax, lease initiatives, and other considerations from Massachusetts.

The Bay State taxpayers pony up the cash for yet another “green” company, and in the end the company takes the money and its assets and heads to China. I figure $31 million is just the beginning. As one commenter opined:

It's always fun and easy to spend other people's money. Now the state can spend $20mil on investigating what happened, $30mil on lawyers pressing charges, and then lose the entire case.

That's really adding insult to injury. But then, it's the Obama Way. (See Solyndra.)

Town Meeting - Part 2

Town meetings have been in full swing since late last week here in New Hampshire. Many take place this week, this coming weekend, and next week.

It is American democracy writ small.

My little town had its town elections today, where our townspeople elected some town officials, voted on the the town and school budgets, and approved or disapproved various warrant articles that dealt with everything from buying a new fire truck to funding some non-governmental agencies to changing how the town sets up default budgets to imposing a property tax cap.

This election has probably garnered more voter attention than some I've seen in the past. I had to wait in line for a voting booth to open up, as did a number of other townsfolk. When I voted (just after work) over 1400 ballots had already been cast and there was still a couple of hours left until the polls closed. The parking lot outside our middle school, the town's polling place, was rapidly filling up as I left after voting.

It will be interesting to see which warrant articles passed and those that didn't.

One last thing -

As the saying goes here, “If you didn't vote at town meeting, then you have no right to complain about how things turned out.”

Just sayin'....

Lord Monckton Leaves 'Environmentalists' Speechless

Probably one of the best proponents of the “skeptics” view on AGW, Lord Monckton, gave his “Climate of Freedom” lecture at Union College in Schenectady, New York. Monckton, being no fool, was well prepared to parry the claims and fallacies put forth by the indoctrinated “watermelon” environmentalists (green on the outside, red on the inside) either attending the lecture or protesting outside the lecture hall.

One of his better encounters was with Erin Delman, president of the Environmental Club at the college and one of the unthinking indoctrinated.

As they filed in, Lord Monckton was chatting contentedly to a quaveringly bossy woman with messy blonde hair who was head of the college environmental faction. Her group had set up a table at the door of the auditorium, covered in slogans scribbled on messy bits of recycled burger boxes held together with duct tape (Re-Use Cardboard Now And Save The Planet). “There’s a CONSENSUS!” she shrieked.

“That, Madame, is intellectual baby-talk,” replied Lord Monckton. Had she not heard of Aristotle’s codification of the commonest logical fallacies in human discourse, including that which the medieval schoolmen would later describe as the argumentum ad populum, the headcount fallacy?  From her reddening face and baffled expression, it was possible to deduce that she had not. Nor had she heard of the argumentum ad verecundiam, the fallacy of appealing to the reputation of those in authority.

Ah, yes. The ever popular appeal to authority, the usual device of those who know their argument is a losing one. It's certainly one of the more used tactics of the warmist camp – if the facts don't support your beliefs, then make the appeal to authority as if that's all one needs to do to prove the unsubstantiated claims.

But for the moment let us return to to Erin Delman's refrain - “There’s a CONSENSUS!” Monckton blew the consensus argument out of the water with a few examples of consensus that were anything but proof.

[Monckton] said that, unlike the IPCC, he was going to speak in plain English. Yet he proposed to begin, in silence, by displaying some slides demonstrating the unhappy consequences of several instances of consensus in the 20th century.

The Versailles consensus of 1918 imposed reparations on the defeated Germany, so that the conference that ended the First World War (15 million dead) sowed the seeds of the Second. The eugenics consensus of the 1920s that led directly to the dismal rail-yards of Oswiecim and Treblinka (6 million dead). The appeasement consensus of the 1930s that provoked Hitler to start World War II (60 million dead). The Lysenko consensus of the 1940s that wrecked 20 successive harvests in the then Soviet Union (20 million dead). The ban-DDT consensus of the 1960s that led to a fatal resurgence of malaria worldwide (40 million children dead and counting, 1.25 million of them last year alone).

You could have heard a pin drop. For the first time, the largely hostile audience (for most of those who attended were environmentalists) realized that the mere fact of a consensus does not in any way inform us of whether the assertion about which there is said to be a consensus is true.

And there is the crux of the argument. Consensus, particularly when the term is applied to science, means absolutely nothing. It is merely a tool used to push unsubstantiated and, in some cases, wholly unprovable “scientific” gobbledygook. Consensus means nothing in regards to the validity of a scientific hypothesis. All it takes is one person outside the consensus to prove it wrong.

What made Monckton's lecture even more eye opening was using the IPCC's own data and conclusions to prove them as nonsense. As Monckton stated, the IPCC's reports were not peer reviewed, something the warmists claim ad nauseum is the only thing that is the measure of whether something is true or not. (Never mind that the only peers the AGW folks want reviewing anything are those who are firmly in the warmist camp. The open-minded need not apply.)

In the comments to the post linked above, Lord Monckton replies personally to some of the warmist trolls who tried to discredit his claims by making strawman arguments, misrepresenting what he stated, or trying to attack his data. Ironically, much of the data he used came from the IPCC itself, which he goes to great lengths to explain in his reply. Using their data he shows a number of faulty or unsubstantiated assumptions made by the IPCC to make their grossly overestimated projections about AGW. He shreds every one of the trolls' accusations and shows them for the indoctrinated and unthinking drones they are.

As more than one commenter opined, they'd love to see Lord Monckton debate Al Gore about AGW. Too bad we'll never see that happen. Monckton would bury him.

Obama Still Running Against Palin

As Glenn Reynolds notes, here it is, four years later, and Obama is still running against Sarah Palin.

There's only one problem: She's not running for office. Seems like a waste of time, money, and effort, but then they've really got nothing else. They certainly don't want to run on Obama's record.

During the 2008 campaign the Democrats kept making comparisons between Obama and Palin, trying to paint her as not capable of being vice president while at the same time claiming Obama was eminently qualified to be president. They almost totally ignored McCain. I always thought that was strange, the Democrats comparing the GOP vice presidential candidate to their presidential candidate. Could it be that even then they were scared of her? Four years later and they still go after her and her family, putting them under the kind of scrutiny Obama and his family would never survive.

Thoughts On A Sunday

Once again winter has tried to reassert itself, dumping around 4 inches of snow here at The Manse early yesterday morning and greater and lesser amounts around the Lakes Region.

BeezleBub fired up the Official Weekend Pundit Snowblower and cleared the driveway so the sun could melt off the remaining snow. By mid-afternoon the snow on the driveway and the roads was gone.

Spring will return this coming week with temps expected to be in the mid 50's and low 60's.

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Adjusting to better vision is still taking some time. One of the first things I noticed when I started driving again was that my depth perception is off a bit.

Another thing: I thought I was doing a decent job cleaning the house, but now that I have close to normal vision I can see a number of areas where I was less than effective.

Yet another thing: Standard analog TV looks so much better and sharper. I wonder what HD TV will look like?

And one last thing: Now that can see better I've noticed that I've aged far more than I thought I had.

Damn.

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Something I've been kicking around for some time is the idea of a semi-regular political cartoon or comic strip. I've had a lot of ideas or thoughts that would have been better presented visually rather than with lots of words. I have already approached an artistically inclined friend of mine (heretofore referred to as GG) with the idea and GG was quite receptive.

We still have some details to work out but I hope to get the ball rolling by the end of April.

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How messed up is this?

First, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) sponsors the “Healthy Food In Schools Act” which promotes the availability of more fruits and vegetables in our schools, then works to kill a bill that would make it likely those fruits and vegetables will come from her home state? Without the bill those healthy foods will likely come from outside the US.

After large cuts in the water supply to farmers in California's Central Valley, most farms have had to cut back on their farming activities, if not shut them down completely. The proposed House Bill (HR 1837) would restore the water supply to the San Joaquin Valley, voiding the arbitrary decisions by state regulators caving in to radical environmental groups.

California used to have the most productive farms on the planet. But since the water cuts, the US went from being a net vegetable exporter to a net vegetable importer. In the process the prices of vegetables have skyrocketed, adding even more strain to family budgets.

I have an idea about how to address this issue: Cut off all food to the radical environmental lobbyists behind this debacle and let them go raise their own food....in the Mojave Desert. After a year most of them will have either starved to death or died of thirst, leaving the rest of us to get on with our lives and our farmers to once again become the most productive in the world.

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By the way, you did remember to set your clocks ahead one hour (in the US), right? Daylight savings time kicked in today, meaning that many of us woke up at our 'usual' time only to find we were an hour late for church, etc.

Penn Gillette sounds off about Daylight Savings Time, saying it's an idea whose time has passed and that it's really not necessary any more. He also explains that it's a government conspiracy and yet another example of overreach.


It wouldn't bother me if we did away with DST altogether..or instead did away with Standard Time and stayed on DST year round, just so we wouldn't have to be bothered with changing our clocks and getting our schedules all confused twice a year.

(H/T Maggie's Farm and Moonbattery)

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Is the Chinese economy sliding into recession? If one looks at declining electricity consumption and aggregate financing, as well as increasing unemployment, then the answer has to be yes.

It doesn't help that hundreds of billions of government money went into building cities and buildings that are still empty and aren't likely to be occupied any time soon, adding to the financial crush and impending implosion. When it comes will China be able to handle it as they've never had to deal with the end of a business cycle before? I have my doubts.

Welcome to the party, China.

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Bogie picks up Stu's Old Vinyl Albums meme and is running with it. Bogie's two choices: Fleetwood Mac's Rumors and Boston's first album.

I have to agree with Bogie's choices on this one. Both albums were hits as were most of the songs on them. In the case of Boston's first album I could walk around campus and hear it being played in most dorm rooms along with ELO's New World Record. The campus radio station also played those two albums constantly, along with Yes and Jethro Tull.

I think I'm going to have to do likewise. I have a lot of old vinyl albums dating back to the late 60's and early 70's. Most are pristine as the only time they were played was to record them on tape or cassette. (I was one of those music geeks that would play the albums constantly and recording them and using the tapes kept them from being damaged.

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Is HBO seeing a falloff in subscribers because of Bill Maher's misogynistic slurs? If so, I hope those canceling have been explaining why they're doing so. I think that if enough people start doing this Maher's days on HBO are numbered. Ann Althouse also adds her 2¢ worth, giving Maher a well deserved fisking.

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Bring up the subject of Bill Maher's ire, HBO's hit piece on Palin shows the left is still terrified of her. This is yet another reason to cancel your subscription to HBO. It seems a lot of people are doing just that according to a number of e-mails received by Glenn Reynolds on the subject.

You know HBO is going to start noticing when even the customer service reps are commenting upon the cancellations.

Another thing to consider to hit 'em harder: cancel Cinemax as well as it's owned by HBO.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where spring weather has returned, the ice is melting on the lake, and where many of us are considering getting the snowblowers ready for summer storage.

I Can See The Light...

It's been a few days since I've sat down in front of the keyboard. I have a good excuse.

In reference to my previous post, my post-op status is good. The surgery I had was to remove a cataract from one eye. The surgery went well, however the adjustment from my previous 'just OK' vision to my new and improved vision has taken longer than I expected. While before I was severely myopic I now have clear distance vision. My close-in vision, however, has changed. This was not unexpected.

In order to be able to see the computer monitor correctly requires a new set of glasses, something I have not yet acquired. Until then I am using a set of not-all-that-great reading glasses that let me see the monitor well enough, but not so well that I want to sit in front of the computer for more than 15 minutes or so. That won't stop me from blogging. It's just that I may not go into as much detail (or semi-polite invective) as I might otherwise.

Blogging Note

Blogging may be non-existent over the next day or two as I am due for surgery Wednesday afternoon. It's not major surgery by any means, but my ability to think straight and/or type may be impaired until the meds wear off. Then again, that might be a feature and not a bug!

Super Tuesday - Ho Hum

The results of Super Tuesday show that no single candidate has a lock on the GOP nomination, meaning all of them will have to put in maximum effort over the next four months to even have a chance.

I'd like to think this turn of events means we have more than one viable candidate for the nomination, but it seems to me it's more of a sign that none of the candidates are generating the kind of buzz that can guarantee a win at the GOP convention.

And whoever the nominee ends up being I think it's going to be the choice of running mate that will make or break the chances of the GOP retaking the White House in November.

The Double Standard

I see the double standard as applied to conservatives by liberals still stands.

Rush Limbaugh calls an advocate for employer provided birth control a “slut”, and the leftist media goes nuts and he loses 9 advertisers. Bill Maher calls Sarah Palin a c***, and not one word of protest is uttered by the Left, nor do his sponsors abandon him.

So by their rules, the Left and their minions are free to disparage any conservative woman, using the most offensive language. But should someone on the Right use a disparaging term that is orders of magnitude less offensive against a liberal woman, it's tantamount to rape and the tar and feathers come out.

These a**holes need to grow up.