Most of the WP clan was there, though a few couldn't make it due work, distance, or the short notice provided by the youngest WP Sister about the gathering.
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What made the celebration of the WP Mom's birthday really interesting was the weather, with freezing rain overnight and into the morning and then plain rain which at times was very heavy. As temps rose during the day fog started forming and made the driving conditions even more treacherous as visibility dropped to almost zero here and there. The trip home from the gathering had a very high “pucker factor”, between the dark, fog, and ice. As it was the last 75 feet of travel back to The Manse was the most dangerous because of the ice and rain covering the driveway. We had to walk down the slope in the snow because otherwise we had no traction.The driveway was so slippery that even with sand BeezleBub couldn't make it up the driveway in his 4WD truck to take Horse Girl home, so she ended spending the night here at The Manse.
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The New England Patriots played the Indianapolis Colts in Foxborough last night in the second round of the AFC playoffs, beating them 43-22.What I though interesting wasn't so much the game as it was the CBS commentators apparent bias towards the Colts, endlessly going on and on about how great they were and their potential to win. I don't recall ever seeing something like that during any of the NFL games I've watched over the years.
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Are Americans becoming “weather wimps”?For some, I'd have to say the answer is yes. For many of us older Americans I'd have to say no.
In the past 115 years, there have been 58 days when the national average temperature dropped below 18. [Greg] Carbin said those occurrences often happen in periods that last several days so it makes more sense to talk about cold outbreaks instead of cold days. There have been 27 distinct cold snaps.While the article linked goes on to say these cold spells are likely to be uncommon due to global warming, I have a feeling we're going to start seeing more of them if we enter a solar minimum as many solar astronomers and physicists have predicted we have. Should that occur, I believe we'll be seeing even more of them and they will be of a longer duration than the one we just experienced.
Between 1970 and 1989, a dozen such events occurred, but there were only two in the 1990s and then none until Monday.
"These types of events have actually become more infrequent than they were in the past," said Carbin, who works at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. "This is why there was such a big buzz because people have such short memories."
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The 6.7% unemployment rate isn't something to crow about, despite what the White House may want you to believe.That number tells us how many still collecting unemployment are out of work, but it doesn't reflect the actual unemployment rate which is still around 14%. What's worse is that the labor participation rate is the lowest it's been in almost 4 decades and is heading lower. Basically, a lot of people have gone Galt and are no longer looking for work.
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Just because someone has better health insurance doesn't automatically mean they have better health care.Heck, just because someone has health insurance doesn't automatically mean they have access to health care, something proponents of ObamaCare have chosen to ignore. It's also something I've been saying for over three years.