10/14/2012

Thoughts On A Sunday

It was a half-and-half weekend here in the Lakes Region, at least in regards to the weather. Saturday was sunny, but cool. Sunday was rainy and warm. Better that it had been sunny and warm on one day and rainy and cool on the other. But we take what we get, don't we?

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I have been looking at a number of blogging programs to replace the 'broken' Moveable Type platform I've been using for the past few years. So far Wordpress is coming out ahead. The change over will take some time as I have to create backups of all posts and make sure they're in a format that Wordpress handles. Don't be surprised if at times the URL for this site takes you to the backup site. It will only be temporary until everything is properly configured in the new software.

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Seeing that New Hampshire is considered a swing state (and one that is now classified as a toss up between Obama and Romney), the level of political ads playing on TV and radio has reached a point of saturation. It's gotten to the point that I no longer watch live TV, using the DVR to record everything I usually watch and skipping ahead to bypass the campaign ads.

I've never seen this much in the way of political advertising in all the years I've been a voter.

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I know Bogie really likes to put a bit of herself into her work, but this is taking it too far.

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“Leftover women?” Really? In a country with a female population deficit?

(H/T Maggie's Farm)

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Ed Driscoll delves into the mess that is the MSM, showing us why it is so out of touch with Main Street America to the point that at one time in 2004 David Westin, then president of ABC News said:

I think we don’t do that enough, and I’m not just talking religious communities. I’m talking all sorts of communities across the country. I think that… You understand this, Tina, living in New York or in Los Angeles, we have busy jobs. We go into the office every day. We tend to socialize with the same people, or the same types of people, and I think it’s terribly important for journalists to get out whether it’s overseas or domestically and try to understand.

So it turns out that even 8 years ago someone in the MSM understood that they didn't understand a majority of Americans, those being the ones not living in the liberal urban enclaves like New York City, Boston, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and so on. That truth is as valid today as it was 8 years ago. Yet they continue to operate as if they know how everyone thinks. And they wonder why fewer people buy their newspapers and magazines or watch their newscasts.

As long as they continue to believe their own hype they will continue their long slide into irrelevance, and ultimately, oblivion.

It couldn't happen soon enough for me.

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Powerline reports that Obama is now biting the hand that feeds him, namely the Clintons.

Obama wants Bill's support but is willing to throw Hillary under bus for his mistake in Benghazi. This isn't a surprise by anyone who has paid attention to Obama's political career over the years.

To save his political career, Obama would throw his own grandmother under the bus she supposedly rode to her job at the bank everyday because his grandfather thought it would be racist to give her a ride. And Biden’s 2016 presidential ambitions (no, I’m not joking) provide him with an extra incentive to see Hillary Clinton become the fall-gal for Benghazi.

This may end up backfiring on Obama depending on what the Clintons decide to do, and when.

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Cap'n Teach gives us a great quote of the day, this one by Patton Oswalt.

I agree with Oswalt.

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The New England Patriots played the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle, losing to them 24-23.

Frankly, the Patriots didn't deserve to win. Between a number of bad passes by Brady, in one case missing the same open receiver three times by severely underthrowing the ball, two interceptions, one of which occurred by again underthrowing the ball, and the almost non-existent pass defense, there was no way the Patriots deserved to win the game, and they didn't.

The Pats are now 3-3.

Damn.

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Once again we point to Cap'n Teach and his link and comments about how Climate Progress wants to use bribes to reduce power consumption.

Yeah, like that will work. As always, there are unintended consequences these folks haven't thought out. If they're so worried about so-called “vampire power”, the power that appliances and equipment use even when they're off, then maybe it would behoove manufacturers to redesign their equipment to reduce the vampire loads Climate Progress is so worried about. The solution could be as easy as adding a main power switch on each appliance that cuts off even vampire loads.

But just unplugging these appliances as Climate Progress wants us to do has its own downsides. Two I can think of right off the top of my head: greatly increased wear on electrical plugs and sockets; and increased inconvenience from those appliances that require a post-power-on reset/configuration. Of the two, the first is the most dangerous and the second is just a pain in the ass.

Most residential electrical sockets and plugs aren't made to withstand thousands of plug/un-plug cycles. Both the plugs and sockets will wear out, increasing electrical resistance and with it, increase the possibility of a socket or plug overheating and causing a fire. (No this isn't something I just pulled out of thin air. Most electrical fires that aren't caused by old wiring, improper use of extension cords, or the intentional overloading of sockets are caused by worn out sockets.)

So we'll save power but burn down our house as a result. As I said, unintended consequences.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather is going to be nice once we get back to the work week, the tourist traffic has fallen off to nothing, and where we're still waiting to get our winter supply of firewood.