12/19/2010

Thoughts On A Sunday

BeezleBub and I made short work of the last of the fire wood stacked outside The Manse, moving it inside the garage to replace some of the wood we used during a few of the less-than-nice weather evenings. A small amount of fire wood remains outside under cover because it's not ready to burn yet (it's still green).

We also managed to get the Official Weekend Pundit Lawnmower and Lawn Tractor moved into the basement and the Official Weekend Pundit Snowblower reassembled and moved into the garage. Goodness knows we're going to need it sooner or later.

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It looks like the romance between the UK and Barack Obama is over, seeing as the Obama's did not receive in invitation to Prince William's and Kate Middleton's nuptials.

I wonder if Todd and Sarah Palin have received an invite?

(H/T Instapundit)

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This is kind of neat: URI engineer says emergency information could be transmitted via GPS.

Depending how it's set up, targeted emergency info could be sent only to those in the area affected. It's better than a broadcast because only those needing the information would receive it. It would be a one-way comm system and would be text based due to the low transmission data rate.

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It's was a late game between the New England Patriots and the Green Bay Packers today, starting sometime around 8:20PM EST. The Packers will be down their starting quarterback, but that doesn't mean anything. We have to remember that Tom Brady was the second string quarterback when Drew Bledsoe was the starter and he led them to their first Superbowl victory after Bledsoe was out for the season after his injury.

It was a close game, but I have to question some of the calls made by some of the refs, and one in particular.

During the 4th quarter Tully Banta-Cain was called on an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Never mind the Packer he was up against had his fingers through Banta-Cain's face mask and Banta-Cain was trying to make him let go. The refs blew that call.

But in the end it didn't matter as the Patriots pulled off a win, 31-27.

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From the modern day American dictionary: Liberal – a Latin word for “lousy at math.”

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Professor Jacobsen makes some interesting observations about California's fiscal crisis and how it parallels what he saw in the Soviet Union during its last decade of existence. Professor Bainbridge also wonders what would happen should California go bankrupt.

Neither is a pretty picture.

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Eric the Viking comments about what he saw at his local shopping mall this past Friday, saying it was seemingly empty compared to what he expected. I've noticed that too, but it could be because for more people have been taking advantage of free shipping offered by online retailers.

I know Deb has done nearly all her Christmas shopping online this year, avoiding the madness at the local shopping centers here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Most of my acquaintances have done likewise. Only those looking for specialty items not available via the 'Net have been spending time at the various shops around here.

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Bogie writes about the adjustments she's making at her new place of employment. The environment is different from her last place of employment, so it's not surprising it's taken time for her to adjust.

I know when I started at the company where I am now I was amazed at the difference as compared to working for a multi-billion dollar defense company. It took me more than a year to get out of the “Mother may I?” frame of mind so prevalent at my previous place of employment.

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Bogie also comments on the remake of True Grit. As she says, “Chalk that up as another movie that won't make a dime off of me!”

Frankly, there are some movies that just shouldn't be remade as they are classical icons. Somehow I can't picture anyone but John Wayne playing Rooster Cogburn. Nobody can outdo the Duke.

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Gregory Sullivan goes to town against the top 10 steaming heaps of eco-friendly/frugal living horse dung.

Well, it's winter again. The economy is about as lively as an Amish rap group, we were promised Globalistical Warmening but all we got was frozen orange juice on the branches instead of in the freezer case. Our banks and credit card companies are treating us like a baby treats a diaper, and the government has mistaken us for galley slaves. If you're in the media business, that can mean only one thing: Frugal living stories!

One thing I've learned over the past few years is that a lot of claims made for all kinds of energy saving technologies or materials must be taken with rather large grains of salt, even those subsidized with tax credits. As Gregory stated, in many cases the payback period for incorporating some of these technologies/materials is decades, meaning they really aren't worth the money we'll spend on them.

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The UK Met Office has made it official: This December is the coldest in Great Britain since they started keeping records.

(H/T Maggie's Farm)

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where Christmas is just around the corner, the pressure to finish holiday shopping is growing, and where we have all but a few pieces of firewood safely stacked in the garage.