Thoughts On A Sunday

If it's not the cold, it's the wind.

Ever since winter decided to finally show up here in New England, it's been trying to make up for lost time. While we've seen little in actual snow fall, the temperatures and winds have certainly been arctic-like. It's not much more than teases when it comes to snow – a couple inches here, a few there – but nothing substantial like a good old fashioned Nor'easter. Somehow I have a feeling that February and March will see to it.

And so goes the Winter of 2007....so far.

*******

There certainly has been a lot of press about today's Patriots-Colts playoff game, with Indianapolis going all out in a series of pre-game celebrations. From what this Patriots fan has seen, it seems that they were already celebrating a Colts victory. Considering the Colts' record against the Patriots, particularly in post-season play, the celebrations were a little premature. If I were them, I'd have waited until they actually won the game before celebrating. But that's just me.

Personally, I think if the Colts had been playing the Patriots of last week, the Colts would have lost. Many players in the Pats defense were still suffering from the effects of the flu, making for above average substitutions during the game. (Yeah, it may sound like an excuse, but even the CBS commentators made that observation. Take it for what you will.)

At least the Bears beat New Orleans. That's the team I'll be rooting for for come Super Bowl Sunday. It would have been nice if it was the Patriots playing against the Bears, a rematch from Super Bowl XX that I would like to believe would have turned out differently from the first match up.

*******

This vision of 'The Second Holocaust' is sobering.

(H/T Glenn Reynolds)

*******

I am happy to announce that Brendan Smith's “The Life & Times Of A Flatlander Adjusting To Life In New Hampshire”, aka the Flatlander News, will be returning to Weekend Pundit starting in February!

*******

One thing that I have watched with interest has been the ever dropping prices of wireless routers. The latests Sunday flyers show a wireless 'G' router/switch made by NetGear can be had for $39.95 at CompUSA, Staples, and Circuit City, just to name a few. A USB wireless G adapter dongle can be had for less than $10. In two cases if you bundle it with the router, it's free.

While we do not have a wireless access point here at The Manse, there are at least three open wireless access points within range, as a visit by a laptop-bearing relative proved not all that long ago. If I were unethical, I would just by the wireless adapter card or USB dongle and be done with it. But I will do the right thing and get a wireless router of our own. I will also make sure that it is locked down so that no one other than our own laptop can use it.

Ain't technology a wonderful thing?

*******

The debate about anthropogenic global warming is heating up again, this time amongst TV meteorologists. A large majority of them say that the warming we're seeing is part of a natural cycle.

But as usual, there are those saying that the consensus among the 'right thinking' scientists is that global warming is All-The-Fault-Of-The-Evil-Humans and that any of the TV meteorologists that say otherwise should be silenced. How's that for open scientific discourse?

As one commenter to one of the numerous blog posts about the subject put it, “Scientific consensus once stated that the Sun revolved around the Earth. Galileo said otherwise, a voice in the wilderness. It turns out that the consensus was wrong.” It also wasn't the last time that scientific consensus was wrong.

*******

It appears that I have contracted my first cold in over three years. At first I thought it was just the dry air in The Manse, but it became quite evident later in the day that it was indeed a full blown cold.

Crap.

*******

And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where there is barely a trace of ice along its shores, ice fishermen are looking at the lake with dismay, and where dreams of the next boating season run rampant.