Thoughts On A Sunday

Winter temperatures arrived here in the Lakes Region with a vengeance, with day-time highs in the upper 20's, wind chill factors at or below zero, and night-time temps in the lower teens and upper single digits. The Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove has been running 24/7 in an effort to keep the temperatures inside The Manse to a reasonably comfortable level.

BeezleBub spent yesterday and today working at the farm, assembling a post-and-beam frame around the farm's new outdoor coolers. As he said more than once, “It's damn cold outside, meaning we had to keep working in order to stay warm.” At least this morning he didn't have to get down there until 8, meaning I was able to get up an hour later than usual.

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I haven't been as diligent about posting regularly the past couple of weeks, allowing Brent and Nathan to pick up the slack. Part of it has been lack of the usual time (though a small part). A big part has been there's been too darn much to post about. I find that sometimes it's difficult to pick a subject, meaning that lately I've chosen none.

One subject that I could post endlessly about is ClimateGate. There's just so much fodder out there despite the denials by The Anointed that it's all much ado about nothing (except for scientific fraud, science influenced by a political agenda, data 'fixing', destruction of raw data, and worthless computer code written specifically to provide a predetermined outcome). The scientific method appears to have been bypassed in the name of “saving the planet” even if the planet isn't in peril (at least not from climate change). But with so much to choose from, it's been difficult to stick with even one aspect of the scandal. So I'm only posting about it nowhere near as often as I could.

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Dennis Miller has the right of it, comparing the ClimateGate perpetrators reactions to those of raccoons raiding your trash can 11:30 at night.

(H/T Instapundit)

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The New England Patriots played the Carolina Panthers today in Foxboro.

It was painful to watch right from the beginning.

The usual second-half malaise was there. Unfortunately it struck during the first half. The Patriots couldn't make the first downs, couldn't complete the passes, and had two turnovers (both of them involving Randy Moss, with an interception and a fumble). The second half wasn't much better with offensive drives being short-circuited by turnovers.

Despite defeating Carolina 20-10, the Pats are starting to look all too much like the Patriots of the 70's.

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It appears that both Google and Bing have decided ClimateGate is not something they want to link to or have show up on searches...unless it's something denigrating about the leaked/hacked e-mails and other files.

However Yahoo is still allowing full search results for “ClimateGate”. So which organization is living up to its “Don't be evil” mantra? Hint: It isn't Google.

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This doesn't surprise me in the least: Hourly workers tend to be happier than those on salary.

I know it's true for me, having been on both sides of that equation. Hourly has always meant a bigger paycheck when all things are taken into consideration.

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Forget CO₂, now it's nitrogen we have to worry about in regards to climate change.

I'm betting oxygen will be next on the “We gotta DO SOMETHING about this!” hit list.

(H/T Maggie's Farm)

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Talk about hypocrisy.

Liberals bash conservatives as greedy money-grubbers, but it turns out it's liberals that are most obsessed with more and more money and are as tight-fisted as Ebenezer Scrooge. They are also far more amoral in regards to earning money than conservatives.

Most surprising of all is reputable research showing those on the Left are more interested in money than Right-wingers.

Both the World Values Survey and the General Social Survey reveal that Left-wingers are more likely to rate 'high income' as an important factor in choosing a job, more likely to say "after good health, money is the most important thing," and more likely agree with the statement "there are no right or wrong ways to make money."

You don't need to explain that to Doug Urbanski, the former business manager for Left-wing firebrand and documentary-maker Michael Moore. "He [Moore] is more money-obsessed than anyone I have known -- and that's saying a lot," claims Urbanski.

They talk a good game, but when it comes to living up to the ideals and way of life they espouse, they want nothing to do with it. That's for the rest of us 'little people'.

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As RightWingSparkle puts it:

You gotta love this. How many times in the last eight years have you, as a Republican, said to yourself, "Why don't the Republicans fight back??? Why don't they answer their critics???" It was so frustrating for so long. Now we finally have someone willing to fight back.

To whom is she referring? Sarah Palin, of course. Sarahcuda does a smackdown on AlGore's response to her WaPo piece about ClimateGate and leaves him looking like the AGW fool he's become.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where winter has firmly established itself, the wood pile is getting smaller, and once again Monday has arrived too soon.