Online Games

I found out that Warhammer Online has an endless free trial. Which means you can create an Avatar and run around doing the quests up to some level.

Further Dungeons & Dragons Online is now free to play (and you can purchase stuff as you go).

This gives anyone who is curious about MMO's a couple of quality options that they can immerse themselves into without laying out hard earned cash.

Connor's Early Morning.

I guess this is not all that amusing. Until you take into account Connors Autism. When he responds to a situation it can take you off guard.

He again lost a tooth handed it to mom with strict instructions to throw it away, because that "tooth is trouble". This kid does NOT want some fairy with money visiting him! No-siree bob!

I have the duty of rousting him from a nights sleep. This generally occurs around 7:15 AM Pacific Time (GMT -08:00). The response given will run the gambit from nothing to a near leaping from his upper bunk!

This morning was an example of the former. "Good Morning Connor! It is Wednesday and Time to get ready for school!" Instead of the disheveled squinting, labored mobilization to a sitting position, instead a verbal response was issued.

"Dangit!"

Which gave me a chuckle, in all empathy!"

The Good News is:

Cern did not create a black hole and destroy the Earth!

Bad news is our Government is closer to creating a fiscal black hole and destroying America....

Discovery of a Reid-Pelosi Boson (or the Obama Particle), could prove that the US dollar has a negative value...

Pope Hunt (more hatred via MSM)

There have been some good explanations of the Fr. Murphy case in regards to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and how then-Cardinal Ratzinger was involved in the case. I think though that Jimmy Akin has the clearest and best presentation of the Fr. Murphy case I have seen. He lays out the facts as we know them along with the Church’s process and timeline of events. He also points out areas where the handling of the case could prudentially be criticized.

The hysteria that the New York Times generated in it’s piece which could be described as a “Pope hunt” go so far beyond the evidence that it is hard to see other than malice involved. Though Jimmy Akin also charitably addresses this aspect.

Bike riding

The only way to get better at an activity is to do said activity. Profound eh?

I read someplace that putting in 10,000 hours makes you an expert. While I am not really sure about expert, assuming the quality of the time you would certainly be much better. There may be oblique proof in my roller skating. I certainly put in the hours. I can certainly skate well now.

So with my statistical sampling of one goes, it is factual!

Connor has made great strides in riding his bike. He still has lots of control issues. Things like riding straight, starting from a stop, needs more time. His confidence has nearly outpaced his ability.

While camping he found great joy in heading down the boat ramp and seeing how close to the water he could stop. Mom got palpitations watching that one. He has enthusiasm galore and the ability to crash, recover and get back on the bike. I mean bad bruise raising incidents. Nary a tear as well. Just him grimacing and saying ow until the pain subsides and getting back on board.

It is oddly inspiring and a source of pride seeing this. His mind really is remarkable, as he is a remarkable kid.

Today we were going to go the the park and ride to Wendy's. The rain started and I decided going up the street for a root beer would allow us to get to cover easier then the park. We headed down our road (pretty good incline downwards). Connor was very happy with his using the break to not careen out of control into traffic (I was trepidation personified). At the bottom he followed my verbal instructions to the letter, going on the sidewalk and pulling to the right for pedestrians.

Whom Connor talked to with a friendly "Good Afternoon!" The bridge near our house has a very narrow sidewalk. Connor was not able to pedal across. So we walk\rode it across to were there is no sidewalk. I pointed out how he is to ride on the dirt and he complied. We visited the market and got some soda's. Rode to his old elementary school (via a foot bridge). Drank our beverages and headed out into the nature trails.

Connor had a route already planned, allowing him to see various features, which we dutifully stopped and explored. As Oregon weather complied by not dumping rain on us, it was a fun outing. I figure he has 99,990 hours to go...

So I found this CBO report. It Projects that. President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget will generate nearly $10 trillion in cumulative budget deficits over the next 10 years, $1.2 trillion more than the administration projected, and raise the federal debt to 90 percent of the nation's economic output by 2020...

That is seriously screwed up. In pointing this out the response I got was a head scratching.

But, George Bush spent lots of money! To me this is like saying, "Wow, having my finger cut off hurt" and someone responding. "Oh yeah? My friend got a paper cut!"

Yeah Bush 41 did over spend. Yes, the congress was enabling this expenditure. Guess what? We the people voted them all the hell out. As a Republican I find myself defending GW, despite him not being anywhere near the President I would have wanted. I suppose it is akin to living in New Jersey and being an NBA fan.

But I *Want* A Gasoline-Powered Alarm Clock! -by. J Akin

Original Blog Link Here!

According to the Government Accountability Office,

American consumers, businesses, and federal agencies rely on the Energy Star program to identify products that decrease greenhouse emissions and lower energy costs.

Lower energy costs, okay. Lowering greenhouse emissions, ihh.

In addition, the federal government and various states offer tax credits and other incentives to encourage the use of energy-efficient products including Energy Star products. Specifically, approximately $300 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be used for state rebate programs on energy-efficient products.

Ah. So my tax dollars are underwriting this thing. I want it held accountable! What are you going to do about that?

The Energy Star program, which began in 1992, is overseen jointly by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Nice to know, but again: What are you going to do to hold this government thingie spending my tax dollars to "lower greenhouse emissions" accountable? I want to know!

Given the millions of dollars allocated to encourage use of Energy Star products and concerns that the Energy Star program is vulnerable to fraud and abuse, . . .

My thought exactly!

. . . GAO was asked to conduct proactive testing to (1) obtain Energy Star partnership status for bogus companies and (2) submit fictitious products for Energy Star certification.

Ooooo! This should be interesting!

To perform this investigation, GAO used four bogus manufacturing firms and fictitious individuals to apply for Energy Star partnership and submitted 20 fictitious products with fake energy-savings claims for Energy Star certification.

So . . . our government is admitting . . . to lying . . . to itself?

GAO also reviewed program documents and interviewed agency officials and officials from agency Inspector General (IG) offices.

Okay, but that's less interesting than the government admitting to lying to itself part.

GAO's investigation shows that Energy Star is for the most part a self-certification program vulnerable to fraud and abuse.

I knew it! I knew it! (Just like all that climate science junk.) Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Oh . . . I guess that's the GAO.)

So what happened?

GAO obtained Energy Star certifications for 15 bogus products, including a gas-powered alarm clock.

WOO-HOO!!! Gas-powered alarm clocks! Oh wait . . . it's fake.

Two bogus products were rejected by the program and 3 did not receive a response.

So 75% of the fake products (15 of 20) were approved.

In addition, two of the bogus Energy Star firms developed by GAO received requests from real companies to purchase products because the bogus firms were listed as Energy Star partners. This clearly shows how heavily American consumers rely on the Energy Star brand.

Indeed!

The program is promoted through tax credits and appliance rebates, and federal agencies are required to purchase certain Energy Star certified products.

So . . . you're saying that I could come up with a fake product, get it approved by Energy Star, and then government agencies would be required to purchase it? I mean, not--er--me, but--well--somebody?

GAO found that for our bogus products, certification controls were ineffective primarily because Energy Star does not verify energy-savings data reported by manufacturers.

So you are saying that I--er--someone could do this!

At briefings on GAO's investigation, DOE and EPA officials agreed that the program is currently based on self-certifications by manufacturers.

Does Al Gore know about this? He might want to get in on the action.

However, officials stated there are after-market tests and self-policing that ensure standards are maintained.

Uhhh-huh.

GAO did not test or evaluate controls related to products that were already certified and available to the public.

Be interesting if it did, though.

In addition, prior DOE IG, EPA IG, and GAO reports have found that current Energy Star controls do not ensure products meet efficiency guidelines.

Okay, then.

AND SOME FROM POPULAR MECHANICS.

AND WIKIPEDIA REPORTS PAST PROBLEMS WITH ENERGY STAR.

Calories Calculations

Finding the calculations for the calories burned during an exercise is pretty difficult.

Calculators abound. They base the calculation on your weight, time doing activity and finally that activity itself. Finding that seed number list is what I am wondering about.

I found The Most Accurate Calories Burned Estimator.

Taking the run at 6 miles per hour and putting in a weight of 22 kg and a time of 10 min. shows the burn at 38cals. 46 kg raises that to 76 cals.

What is missing is the seed number for how intense of the exercise. There is an acronym METs which stands for Metabolic Equivalents, which does just that.

Calories burned by exercise = ((METs * 3.5 * weight in kg) / 200) * duration in minutes.

Quiz about Health Care Law.

Which of the following statements is true about Government run health care?

• It is financially unsustainable, increasing the deficit beyond our national means.
• It is unconstitutional and will be overturned in the courts.
• A Republican majority in the next Congress will repeal it.
• It will fail in the Legislative process because of procedural manipulation by the Democrat leadership.
• Doctors will refuse service to patients seeking subsidized, under market care.
• It will cause health insurance premiums to become so expensive that the entire system to collapse.

Some links and questions

The media is awash in tales of horror over the racist and dangerous Obamacare opponents.

2010: A Race Odyssey — Disproving a Negative for Cash Prizes or, How the Civil Rights Movement Jumped the Shark

On Saturday, during the peaceful and patriotic tea party protest at the Capitol, the Democrats staged a series of symbolic acts meant to manipulate the media to do its bidding. The Congressional Black Caucus pulled the Selma card and chose to walk through the crowd in the hopes of creating a YouTube incident. Saturday’s “never mind” moment will live in infamy as the Congressional Black Caucus claimed the N-word was hurled 15 times. YouTube video shows that at least two of the men in the procession were carrying video cameras and holding them above the crowd. They have not come forth with evidence to show that even one person hurled the vile racist epithet. The video also shows no head movement one way or another. Wouldn’t the N-word provoke a head turn or two? Is it really possible that in 2010, in a crowd of 30 or 40 thousand people — at the center of a once-in-a-lifetime media circus — not one person’s flipphone, Blackberry, video recorder or a network feed caught a single incident? And if not, then at least someone could have found an honest tea partier to act as an eyewitness — or the Congressional Black Caucus would have confronted the culprit(s). If that had happened, there would be an investigation to see if the perpetrator was a left-wing plant.

How the Left fakes the hate: A primer

If you can’t stand the heat, manufacture a hate crime epidemic.

After years of covering racial hoaxes on college campuses and victim sob stories in the public arena, I’ve encountered countless opportunists who live by that demented mindset. At best, the fakers are desperately seeking 15 minutes of infamy. At worst, their aim is the criminalization of political dissent.

Frustration Man Cometh

We are living in interesting times.

/rant on.

The socialism rampant in our Government is of great concern. As is the lack of representation. There is a serious lack of jobs and my current situation of being reduced in hours and still paying the bills .vs. going on the dole and being able to better support my household is not my ideal of America.

My office is permeated with the air of hopelessness. This seeps out of the various media outlets as well Doom is in the air with the spring.

There is a prayer to let go of those things out of our control. It is just difficult to not feel angst right now. My faith is resolute, the human in me looses that focus and some despair invades.

There are things to do. Family, House, Yard, Job hunting, Weight and Fitness. The fiscal side of things makes marked limits on house and yard and generates more stress then I would like.

Job market around here is horrid. The only thing worse is the housing market (it is a buyers market if you do not need employment).

Weight and Fitness requires more focus then I am willing to provide as well. Kids schooling provides some vicarious joys and sorrow. Overall there is a depressing feeling of just being tired.

/rant off

There are plenty of those much worse off, so even my rant falls flat by comparison. I have two upstanding citizen adult kids. A good supportive family all of whom reflect virtuous values. There is my angelic 12 year old who is joy incarnate. And my loving wife who provides me strength and fortitude. My blessings are vast.

What are people saying about Obama?

Harris poll is saying that people think Obama...

* Is a socialist (14%)

* Wants to take away Americans’ right to own guns (17%)

* Is a Muslim (15%)

* Wants to turn over the sovereignty of the United States to a one world government (12%).

* Has done many things that are unconstitutional (9%).

* Resents America’s heritage (12%)

* Does what Wall Street and the bankers tell him to do (15%)

* Was not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president (8%)

* Is the “domestic enemy that the U.S. Constitution speaks of” (8%)

* Is a racist (7%)

* Want to use an economic collapse or terrorist attack as an excuse to take dictatorial powers (8%)

* Is doing many of the things that Hitler did (6%).

* May be the Anti-Christ (6%).

* Wants the terrorists to win (5%).

Oh when I said People, I mean Democrats! Full story linked here.

Joke

This biker walks into a bar, and sees a man sitting all by himself, just staring at his glass. Fifteen, twenty, then thirty minutes pass, and the guy hasn't so much as glanced away. So the biker, in a mischievous mood, walks over to him, grabs the drink, and swallows it all in a single gulp. Suddenly, the man starts to weep uncontrollably.

"Jeez, if I'd known you'd do that, I wouldn't have drank your beer!" Said the biker, startled. "I was only kidding. Here, let me buy you something. Anything you want."

"You don't understand." Said the man, still crying. "I've had the worst possible day. I woke up 30 minutes late, and when I got to work, my boss fired me. So I go out to my car, only to find it's been stolen out of the lot. So I get a cab, but when I get out, I realize I've left my keys and wallet inside. I get home, and I find my wife in bed with another man...

"To top it all off, I was sitting here just picking up the courage to kill myself, and you come by and drink my poison!"

Rollar Skating

FYI: Healthcare is now a right. Demand your right for any visit, test or procedure today!

My skates have reverted to their previous size. I have a pair of Hockey style inline skates. Hard thick leather with a steel toe. They are size 10. My feet are 10-1/2 somewhat closer to size 11. This is typical for hockey, you want an intimate fit. The problem is the skates had shrunk just enough that my big toe would impact the steel like shell. Which is painful after a couple hours skating. The combination of sweat, pressure and heat has remolded them to their previous glove like status!

Woot!

R.I.P. America (time of death 8:00 PM PST)

1. A Massively Engorged Government, to the tune of $2.5 trillion in new entitlement spending. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), new entitlement spending in the plan would cost $216 billion by 2019, then increase by 8 percent every year thereafter.

2. A Cornhusker Kickback for All. No, special deals aren’t removed from Obamacare this time around. Instead, the House bill extends new federal funding for Medicaid to all states. Incidentally, you’re paying for it.

3. A Freight train of taxes, slamming the American people in 2018. You’ve heard of the “Cadillac” tax on high-cost insurance plans? It will be pushed back to 2018, and given the way “high-cost” plans will be defined, a large segment of the middle class would get hit with the tax over time.

4. Beware the shape-shifting tax monster. New taxes will take many forms, including taxes on prescription drugs, medical devices (like wheel chairs), and health insurance.

5. Unconstitutional mandates, courtesy of Congress. Don’t want to buy health insurance? Congress will penalize you if you don’t, regardless of income.

6. Lock your back door. Higher health care costs will be sneaking in. The plan gives subsidies to low-to-moderate wage families, but the subsidies will increase at a lower rate than the rate at which premiums increase. In other words, those families will pay more every year.

7. Lights out for small businesses? Companies that hire certain low-income Americans will have to pay $3,000 per employee, per year, even if the company offers insurance.Oh, and if a company employs 50 or more workers, they’ll face higher tax penalties to the tune of $2,000 per full-time employee.

8. Abortions. You will pay for them, like it or not. The House bill includes major funding for community health centers with no restrictions on federal taxpayer funding of abortions. (Executive order does not change the bill)

9. Want to play the stock market? Maybe not, after you hear this. The House bill slaps a 3.8% tax on investment income.

10. It’s not a federal system, after all. States will have less power. They’ll no longer have authority to regulate health care premiums. Instead, the federal government will take on the job. States and local governments won’t be able to control their own employee health plans; they’ll have to abide by new federal regulations.

And you go camping.

Connor got really excited about spring break. He wants to go camping.

So we booked a Yurt at a nearby campground. Not very expensive and close enough to home in case his idea of camping and the reality of camping collide. Not that I think that will happen. We have had situations in the past where a good exit plan is required.

Autism builds rituals which can become tradition in short order. When we celebrate advent, we have the candles and readings followed by holiday songs. Connor has assigned us which song we are to sing. The elder two are not happy about the song choices thrust upon them. However, when pressed for an alternative, they cannot think of any. So they acquiesce to the request.

Last week he started making our summer vacation plans. We have a tentative Canada trip planned to see Omi, Aunt Connie and the cousins. Along with other sorted outings. Although, in Connors mind an important part is making sure we drive North and stop at a motel with a swimming pool.

We want, we need, we desire

'The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it'. ~~Ronald Reagan

While our representatives ignore the massive outpouring of constituents screaming at the top of their lungs to stop Obamacare at the shredding of the constitution of the United States. I am reminded of the human nature lessons I learned on the phone doing Sales for Dell Computers.

People like lots of stuff until they see the price tag.

While at Dell the training started with qualifying the customer. That means finding out if they could pay and how much they could pay. Just a quick note: salespeople are not your friend, they are friendly as a means to an end. I would find people who claim to have no budget are going to say "thats too expensive." This is true of citizens .vs. government.

Do we want excellent healthcare? yes. Do we want safe food? yes. Do we want everyone to have a job? yes. Do we want the homeless to have have shelter, be fed and made into productive citizens? yes. Do we want our elderly taken care of? yes.

Do we want to pay for all of the above? That all depends.

Big government does not work. It has never worked, it will never worked. I recently had a discussion about the end of the USA. 100 years was the discussed figure. To me that depends on the healthcare vote. 100 years could be optimistic.

Bare foot running

Awareness, Correct, Correctness

Connor likes people. Lets qualify that, he likes when people direct a certain amount of attention towards him.

While learning to ride his bike Connor would stop passers by with a friendly "Excuse me!" Folks out for a walk in the park tend to be a forgiving bunch, when it comes to kids. Or so I found out.

Connor would then go on to say something like "Look, I can pedal!" followed by "Okay, gotta go!"

The people would chuckle, I would explain he just learned how to ride. Then we would head off down the path. After about the fifth group, I decided this ritual pattern is not in the best interest of Connor, bike riding, park walkers and myself. So I cautioned him to just ride and say "good afternoon" This worked much better then the staccato start and stopping.

His cheery good afternoon was met with many happy returns, except for the grunting of the teens who appeared to resent walking and daylight and the world in general...

So here is the conundrum. Connor needs to learn to engage in back and forth conversation to relate idea's, concepts and information. So if he is in distress we can ask him "What happened" and have him respond "I fell and banged my head."

There is nothing malicious about Connor. We prompt him and praise him for his observations. What to do when his correct observations lack 'correctness'.

During our second ride as we approached a couple, Connor noted the woman and informed her that she had a baby in her stomach and she was a "big fat lady". I corrected him (we have been attempting to rid the phrase 'big fat'), I apologized and explained his condition. She was gracious enough but damage done.

So Connor was partially correct in his observation, but not in a way that is polite. Honesty and truth is good. Moderation and restraint does need appropriate application.

Now to teach that....

The Government is causing Obesity!

My buddy Flying Van is hostile towards school lunches. I believe he feels that the government is spending his money incorrectly. A point I am in agreement with.

The idea behind the lunch entitlement is that poor people can not afford to buy food or they care so little about the kids they have they choose not to feed them or they lack the training on how to purchase and prepare food. Seeing how kids are required to go to school, this makes it a logical place to feed these poor starving kids, who must be thinking about their empty stomachs instead of learning reading, writing and arithmetics.

That is to say your brain needs calories to function. Add to that the fact that hunger is a distraction and you have a prime example of the Government aiding education!

One of the primary problems with the above idea that people are starving. No doubt there are people in the US, who cannot access the cornucopia of goodness. If someone is starving the human thing to do is to get them fed, then have them to feed themselves. Finally have them help feed those who are starving.

So holding a parent responsible for providing for their child gets jettisoned. Having a community wanting to help the less fortunate is also jettisoned. And the chance of the child learning to feed themselves is shunted towards letting the government feed you.

Case in point: If you are on food stamps the USDA added incentives and other changes that targets the link between Obesity and Food Stamps with an idea to trim rampant obesity rates among low-income groups. Obesity is not caused by starvation... Right?

So we know that food stamps, from the government, are making poor people fat. Now I read that school lunches are not just making sure that hungry kid has sustenance to insure better performance. No our School lunch program, from the government, are making hungry kids Obese.

I never got\purchased school lunches. My mom made me a sandwich with some fruit and veg for quite a number of years. Sadly, many of those lunches were never eaten. Sometime around third grade I was responsible for my own lunch. Which means I had breakfast and dinner at home and ignored lunch. In HS I was on swim team and had instant breakfast (beats upchucking). Again, if I did have some lunch it was not everyday.

Basically, I was too lazy to make a lunch and too busy to bother with lunch. When I did eat, I made up for the missing meals. I did a pretty good job of burning off any extra calories as well.

Now my daughter needs to have regular intervals of food intake or she gets listless. My nephew would have to eat a certain nutritional balance to avoid nasty headaches.

To my way of thinking. Yes, we need to feed habitually hungry kids. The parents need to be held responsible or face some kind of consequence. Funding a Union does not seem to be covering the basic need.

Why exactly?

Someone recently commented on Facebook that they hated poor people. The assertion is this person is fiscally well off and should be demonized. Why exactly?

Hate itself is a problem: 1 a : intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury b : extreme dislike or antipathy : loathing.

Hatred is irrational most of the time, so I can see questioning the rational behind the above loathing. How different is I hate poor people from I hate people?

Do I have intense hostility for the tall person sitting in front of me at the theater? Maybe it is just a pet peeve of mine. Not sure.

If you hate something, surely you want less of that something around. Juxtapose Loveing something you would want more. So if you hate poor people you would want less poor people around. I would venture to guess many poor people would like to move up and out of that tax bracket. If not, state lotteries would not do nearly so well.

If you love poor people you would want more and more of them. Hmmm, maybe this explains the liberal mindset?

Must Watch Video (then act)

The Wiz at The Metaverse website posted this video with the following introduction:

When James Cramer, Ultra-Capitalist of Mad Money on CNBC agrees with Euro-Socialist Lawrence O'Donnell you know the Health Care Restructuring Bill being crafted by Congress is a complete disaster.

This is the most IMPORTANT 9 MINUTES you can possibly spend today. Watch it all.

Call Your Congress Person TODAY and demand they stop the current Health Care Legislation.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

World of Gnomecraft (Soosdon does it again!)

U.S Constitution, Article I, Section VII, Clause II.

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively…

In case you forgot, They are elected to Represent!

If you are a Citizen of the United States and of Voting age, please contact your representative and tell them how you feel about the Health Care Bill issue going around Congress.

There is some very ethically challenged things going on, today, to get thwart the will of the people. President Obama, Pelosi and Reid are unable to get the votes needed and are resulting in questionable rule violations.

The Senate Parliamentarian came out with a ruling that Thursday that stopped one of the "creative solutions" to getting a bill passed when you do not have the votes.

It boils down to this. Healthcare costs keep going up. More government will not make costs go down (check out Medicare for out of control). The Republican solutions are to include individuals in the tax breaks that companies get when they purchase insurance. Reform Tort law to stop the revolving door of lawyers trying for a quick buck. Drop barriers so you can purchase healthcare from any state. Set up a high risk pool for existing conditions.

The constitution of the United States puts limits on what Government should do, we need our Representatives to look to that document for guidance.

Great viewpoint here.

Nasa used bad Global Warming Data

Link to PDF.

There are only four climate datasets available. All global warming study, such as the reports from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), must be based on these four.

They are: the NASA GISS dataset, the NCDC GHCN dataset, the CRU dataset, and the Japan Meteorological Agency dataset.

Following Climategate, when it became known that raw temperature data for CRU’s “HADCRU3″ climate dataset had been destroyed, Phil Jones, CRU’s former director, said the data loss was not important — because there were other independent climate datasets available.

But the emails reveal that at least three of the four datasets were not independent, that NASA GISS was not considered to be accurate, and that these quality issues were known to both top climate scientists and to the mainstream press.

In a response to reporter Doyle Rice of USA Today, Dr. Reto Ruedy — a senior scientist at NASA — recommended the following:

Continue using NCDC’s data for the U.S. means and Phil Jones’ [HADCRU3] data for the global means. …

We are basically a modeling group and were forced into rudimentary analysis of global observed data in the 70s and early 80s. …

Now we happily combine NCDC’s and Hadley Center data to … evaluate our model results.

This response was extended later the same day by Dr. James Hansen — the head of NASA GISS:

[For] example, we extrapolate station measurements as much as 1200 km. This allows us to include results for the full Arctic. In 2005 this turned out to be important, as the Arctic had a large positive temperature anomaly. We thus found 2005 to be the warmest year in the record, while the British did not and initially NOAA also did not. …

It should be noted that the different groups have cooperated in a very friendly way to try to understand different conclusions when they arise.

Two implications of these emails: The data to which Phil Jones referred to as “independent” was not — it was being “corrected” and reused among various climate science groups, and the independence of the results was no longer assured; and the NASA GISS data was of lower quality than Jones’ embattled CRU data.

The NCDC GHCN dataset mentioned in the Ruedy email has also been called into question by Joe D’Aleo and Anthony Watts. D’Aleo and Watts showed in a January 2010 report that changes in available measurement sites and the selection criteria involved in “homogenizing” the GHCN climate data raised serious questions about the usefulness of that dataset as well.

These three datasets — from NASA GISS, NCDC GHCN, and CRU — are the basis of essentially all climate study supporting anthropogenic global warming.

By Charlie Martin:

Loosing my income (again)

It would be quite easy to wallow in a woe is me fashion. I have not had the best of runs with employment. Either by choice or by budget I continually spiral downwards.

I guess the key would be to view this as an opportunity...

My position went from full time to 34 hours a week last year. This year it is being cut to 20 hours a week. Which is just enough to put our tight budget underwater. There was a good chance this position would allow for a jump to a better one at the county.

All that has changed with the economy tanking. We have 14.0% unemployment (with a real closer to 20%, depending on which expert guess you take).

I figure I can either take the 20 hour work week and try to find part time employment elsewhere. Or I can accept a layoff and look for work, possibly take a class or two with all the grants out there. Or just stop making house payments and live for free while we go into foreclosure then move someplace else and start over.

Not to wallow in self pity or anything.

Running wrong

At one point, in elementary school. I started running on my toes. It was very fast, and fun going that fast. In Jr. High a coach pulled me aside and said to knock it off before I injured myself. At 12 years of age a learned authoritative position was not overtly questioned.

Aside from a couple of cross country runs here and there, I never got much further into the sport. I was just too slow to sprint, too clumsy for hurdles and too lazy to work on that. In retrospect maybe I saved my knees...

In the course of picking up my moving around for health and fitness, I started running here and there. I would run up the hills between me and work. Then the next day feel the pain and recover. It would be in my right hip, bottom of my foot and sometimes my ankle.

I was thinking I was still too heavy or too old or too whatever. Guru Jack, my fitness consultant. Had run a marathon and felt the pain, taking a week to recover. He found the afore mentioned Born to Run book (author in above video). At the same time my Nephew Daniel came across the same information and these interesting shoes. So after some investigation I decided to try out the fore-foot running. After my calf muscles strengthened, it became obvious that this put much less stress on the old body.

Yesterday, on my run home from work I was able to make the run without any ill effects. My foot was not bothering me, my knees did not feel tweaked. Also, there is considerably less energy used. That is to say, I did not get the fatigue feeling in my legs. This AM I ran all the way into work (two days running back to back) without any problem.

When I did this a scant few months ago, the bottom of my foot cried out in pain as something was torn or inflamed or both. While it is still way early in trying this out, there are parts that make a lot of sense. If you consider ancient man as a hunter who would have to travel barefoot (or minimal foot coverings) long distances running down wounded prey.

Adult Activities for Health and fitness.

With loosing some weight there is a desire to move and exercise. There is in me at least. It boils down to wanting to do things. Over the weekend I ran two and a half miles with Connor learning to ride the bike. Which was pretty good, I thought.

Tuesday afternoon they have an adult skate. Yes, in the afternoon. I went and it was nice and open, around 6 other people (I was the youngest...). I really enjoy skating. It is a bit odd for me to see the skill level has declined.

On recomendation I picked up the book, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

While the writers style irks me at times, the overall book is quite a remarkable journey into the past\present and future of running. Why is it that a community in the Copper Canyon area can run hundreds of miles a day without knee, foot, ankle problems? And why are they running into the 80's?

Because, we high tech shoe wearing folks are running wrong.

World of Wifecraft (some language)

Anyone who knows Leroy Jenkins will appreciate the ending.

Pedal driven, human powered, single track vehicle.

Bicycle, I got to teach Connor how to ride one. That makes me three for three (woot!). Connors tutorial was very academic for me, due mostly to his autism by way of my earlier lessons with the older two.

We had two sessions. The first one, I'll call 'inner ear training', was learning that he can balance and pedal, turn and stop. Knowing how to set up the pedal to take advantage of that downward stomp, pushing power, is paramount. I find that working with Newtonian law is pretty difficult when starting out. We also had him 'walk' the bike while seated then glide to get the feel for balancing. After 10 minutes or so he was done and so we headed back home.

The next day I opted to bike ride to Burger King. This is a familiar route, we have taken many times, on the swing bike (kind of attachable tandem). Connor was quick to understand this familiar theme. Although he did keep asking if I was taking my grey bike.

When we arrived at the park (which is quite nice and quite large) I went over a few of the same lessons and we set off. Me jogging\walking and providing physical and emotional support. His ability had already jumped up from the previous day. I figure his muscle memory recall had taken over. We had several stops and starts with various degree's crashing, as expected. None were too bad. I was waiting for the inevitable big crash.

I noted he began to lean against me to ease the process. My response was to change sides. This was actually a good sign that he learned how to shift his balance. Around the five minute mark into the trip he put it all together and started riding. We covered some 100' to 200' long sections before going off trail. Around the third or fourth of these 'excursion' to the immediate right of the paved path, Connor was able to correct course and get back on trial by himself. He had that wobbly over-steering going on that is both amusing and dangerous to someone running alongside. I got to test my dodge a few times. While turning is something that we need to gain confidence on. The pedaling and general riding teaching was mastered. He did stop everyone on the trail to call attention to his being able to ride. People seemed amused and a bit later down the trail as we met two ladies a second time. The requested to watch his newfound prowess and heaped accolades. All good things.

We did have the bad crash. A sign pole over by our Wal-mart built wetlands (reclaimed). Like most poles to new riders it appeared to exert a some kind of attraction force and yanked him directly towards it, faster then I could respond, He let go with one hand and that was all she wrote. He went down pretty hard on his left knee. He had a bit of crying, which means quite a lot of pain was involved, Connor is not given to histrionics. He did not break skin and he was able to walk around without favoring or new pain.

Then the most important part. He got on the bike and continued. While I am not sure why this happens the way it does, it always happens. It strikes me as infinitely valuable in life, after crashes, you get back on the bike.

By the time we made it to Burger King Connor was riding very well. We took the road through the VA (also in the park) on the way back and I spent the bulk of the journey running.

It was a very good day.

Hollywood Comicon

A fan of the Comic Book Genre has an interesting take on Films. We want films and TV to be faithful to our comics, yet, we dread any time we hear a film or TV show being made about our comics. Take any comic book based film you like, go to your local comic book shop and ask the patron what they thought.

Chances are you will not get a rave review. (Possibly Sin City being the exception).

On some of the Comic Based films out there.

Mystery Men: Fun film. Comic is so off kilter it does not matter.

Hulk (Ang Lee): Boring film with some cool action sequences. Far removed from the comic.

V for Vendetta: Good film, unless you read the book then it becomes a shadow of what could have been.

300: Great film for what it is. A decent parallel to the graphic novel.

Road to Perdition: It is a great film but nothing like the equally great comic.

Blade: Ugh, if it was not linked to blade a comic book person would figure it was loosely based on Blade. Its just an over the top action series.

Ghost World: Another good film. Good comic as well. A decent parallel

Hell Boy: Great escapist fun. Gets the character pretty well.

Batman: Depends on which one you mean, these are all over the map. None of the films are as good as the comic character.

Superman: The movies and TV shows all fall way short.

X-men: Movie II was good. You can pick this apart as a comic book fan pretty easy. At least they made the Toad better then the comic.

Spider man: Good first film, even if they did mess up quite a lot. The subsequent two films quickly went down hill.

A History of Violence: Okay film Starts out rock solid, then drifts away from the comic and frankly goes south.

Dare Devil: The movie was pretty bad, If you get the DVD (Directors cut) it is much better.

Ghost Rider: The movie was pretty good and faithful. Then again the comic book character was pretty thinly veiled Evel Knievel knock off.

The Crow: Complete divergence from the book, Sad because of Brandon Lee dying.

Comic book Originals

Superman is arguably the most known comic book superhero. The iconic S and red cape has been around since that fateful day in 1938 by Siegel and Shuster.

Not really... You see they took their creation from Philip Wylie's pulp novel Gladiator. In that book our Hugo Danner had super strength, bullet proof skin and was able to leap tall buildings. He lived in a small farming community and pretended to be mild mannered to hide his secret identity and protect those loved ones.

DC Comics also has the Green Lantern which was a Creative Re-imagining of E.E. Smiths The Lensemen. Also, The Batman who's lineage is from Johnston McCulley's Zorro.

Not to say that DC comics has the lock on plagiarized characters. Marevel Comics X-men took from DC Comics The Doom Patrol quite a lot.

Also, Disney's Lion King has more then a passing resemblance to Kimba the White Lion.

Does it really matter? No, but I would say the source material deserves it's place in the sun.

Schools = social experiment with no outcome requirement.

Assume you are married and have a child who has a driving license a car which they support. Further, said child has an issue with driving too fast. As a parent you want to make sure they are safe and obeying the law.

What are the degree of options?

Do not allow them to drive is at one end with Do nothing at the other. I propose that most parents will do something within those parameters. I can think of a handful of discussion and demonstrations that would be pretty persuasive. In other words I would be inclined to have a sliding scale starting with discussion and education, which falls closer to the Do Nothing end.

The above analogy is a pretty typical problem solving exercise. Analogy? Oh, did I forget to mention this is about Childhood Obesity?

Obesity does have a number of health risk factors. It is a problem. So how to solve that problem?

Same degrees of options apply Do nothing to incarcerate the individual until they show proper health habits...

Seeing as how we do have mandatory schooling in this country and, to me, this is an educational issue. How about evaluating each kids health and informing the parents?

Or Having a class on exercise and health benefits, with Instruction, Hands on and Reading components makes a certain degree of sense.

If you wanted the same thing but done private sector you could push that burden to insurance companies with something like lower rates if your fit, or some insane idea like that.

Federally you could impose a Fat Tax on anyone obese. (okay, getting to much on the sillier end of things).

Of course you do need to factor in that being Fat does not pose health risks to everyone. (Here is the layman term press release of same). There are "thin" people with the same health issues as fatter ones. So why target the fat? Why not target the unhealthy? or why target anyone? Why not target everyone?

At Connors school the decided to eliminate the icing from the cinnamon rolls (because 48 less calories will solve obesity in children?). They also made the soda machines carry non-sugar\low sugar beverages. Anyone who has met Connor can see he is not in the fat category. If you spend a day with him, you know he falls into the fit category as well. Further he has a very tough time with Change. So I get a phone call from a lunch lady (who apparently loves Connor's demeanor) asking permission to add icing to his cinnamon roll. Curiously, I was not consulted to remove said icing.

As for the soda machines, what was the outcome? Jr. High students left campus to the corner store and bought a 64 ounce soda, instead of the 12 ounce they were drinking. So kids drank MORE SUGAR!

Colours Men .vs. Women

A conversation with former atheist blogger

While I see and hear this all the time. I rarely see it documented so well.

Actual Hope and Change, not just lip service.

Connors Birthday Party at School.

Keep in mind that at 12 years of age certain social attitudes can prevail. Unless your Connor.

We got the following e-mail from his teacher:

Hello! We just had a little party for Connor. He wanted to dance for his party so we did! We had the party from 9:25 to 10:05 so that our PE and literacy helpers/peers could be here also! They all had a blast! I think it went well. Michael, our literacy peer, taught us how to do the moonwalk, the worm, and breakdancing! Connor loved the "spinning" that I did with him. I was taking his hands and sort of showing him how to swing dance and he turned in into a spin! It was fun but boy was I dizzy!

Connor never brought up dancing for his birthday at home. However, for the last week, in anticipation of his birthday, he has broached the subject at school with regularity. Most classes have parties in the afternoon. Connor, no doubt, pushed this agenda and God Bless his teacher for understanding and getting the helpers/peers involved.

Helpers/Peers are your typical everyday Jr. High students who have a period where they assist the special needs room. The fact that they enjoyed and participated above and beyond really speaks to the infectious nature Connor wields. (Just come to a family function where we pray before meals and Connor has us do a wave, to which my family lovingly complies)

Political Cartoon

Fiscal responsibility.

Obama, to much fan-fair, Praised the Pay-as-you-go rule. The media high-fived and there was much rejoicing. There was talk of fiscal responsibility and joyous singing praise of the deficit hawk Obama. The meaning, at first glance, is to make sure any bill is funded prior to passing. That means you cut other programs or raise revenue by some other means. That sounds good right? Not adding to the debt or deficit with any new expense. Pres. Barry says: “the American people are tired of politicians who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk when it comes to fiscal responsibility.”

The same bill raised the deficit limit to 14.3 Trillion. This is disturbing to anyone who has a household budget. Liberals just shrug and think it is a good thing to borrow that much more money to help the economy. Because nothing makes you richer then being in more debt... [/facepalm]. Also, because they passed PayGo they are now fiscally responsible... Trust in them...

Enter Senator Jim Bunning who stated his intent to block a $10 billion spending bill until it is offset by cuts elsewhere, or payed-for-as-they-go. Which should have gotten him the same high praise from the media right? I mean Pres. Obama got accolades as did the Congress for fiscal responsibility? This is a Republican joining the Democrats! Bi-Partisan support for PayGo! This is winning!

Nope, Jim Bunning is\was being vilified for his mean spirited fiscal responsibility. So as I sit mystified at the MSM and the hypocrisy. The Democrats are going to pass healthcare despite the fact they do not have the votes, nor the ability to under the rules that they operate. Pelosi said this is the most Ethical Congress ever! Which can only be true if your Ethics are situational...

Source:

Bunning’s Spending Hold Makes Him a Cad to TV Nets, Focus on His Supposed Victims

Jim Bunning's fiscal hardball jams GOP

More on the Bunning Benefits Blockade

More Man Made Climate Anthropomorphic Warming Globes... huh?

This is just embarrassing to read. Al Gore has driven off the cliff of sanity with this rambling incoherent Op Ed Piece. Although, there are others who believe the fear mongering to the point they killed themselves and attempted to kill their baby. There are some deranged wacko's out there, thank the lord who must have protected this child.

Seriously Mr. Gore, there must be better ways to make money off of your cultist zealots...

The fraud of the IPCC is finally being investigated! As the emerging 2007 data "errors" are FUNDAMENTAL, not incidental. (errors... yeah, right, welcome to political science)

Oddball little article from the 1989 NYT someone dug up. US Data Since 1895 Fail to Show Warming Trend! President Obama himself tells us we cannot Control Nature... Unless the "Democrat Messiah" is writing the cap and trade legislation? WTH?

New toys!

Mary Kay moved to California from Ohio. This was quite some time ago. Close to 40 years to be approximate . This was pretty cool, because my family had moved to California sometime pior to my existence. To me, extended family was a long car trip and a confusing array of faces and places.

I kid you not, the Schafer family reunion in Payne Ohio was quite a gathering of humanity with everyone knowing who you are.

Anyways, Mary had two kids, Amy and Billy whom were my first babysitting clients. They would come over to the house at various times. She started making some stuffed animals for people, all from the 1000 acre woods collection (just made that up). My sieve like memory recalls a conversation I had with my mom, sad that I had not been graced with one. My mom, being my mom... passed the info to Mary Kay, who asked me which of A.A. Milne's creations I would like to procure.

I had considered Tigger, but kept coming back to my favorite little Roo. So I requested Kanga and Roo. I suppose this was one of those times as an adult you wonder what you got yourself into. As a kid I had no concept of how difficult it is making a stuffed joey and mom, let alone any stuffed toy!

A few years of life and priorities lead to Mary moving away. Only to be seen on vacations spent in the mid-west. Whenever I did see her, I would jestingly wonder how my Kanga and Roo was progressing.

Over the summer Rocky and Jennifer (cousins of mine) had a wedding in Oregon. All us Kiester kids attended. Mary Kay was there and mentioned she had considered surprising me at this event with my long ago request. However, she had recently opted to move across the country and was in the middle of such. It was a fond, fun time at the Wedding and I wish I had more time with my cousins.

As you can see in the photo above. Mary created and shipped my a Kanga and Roo. Which is great fun and oddly wistful. As if some inner kid that I was\am had been waiting for small shard of wish fulfillment from all those years ago.

I love my Kanga and Roo...