February 28, 2007
I'M SORRY, ARE YOU A SCIENTIST?
I'm sure by now you've heard that Al Gore uses twenty times as much power as the rest of us do. In his defense, the blog
ThinkProgress explains Gore's consumption and ends with this statement:
There is no meaningful debate within the scientific community, so the right-wing busies itself with talk about how much electricity Al Gore’s house uses — and even then they distort the truth.
I found this link at Jim Treacher's blog, where he makes the following hilarious post:
Not to mention that if I can barely afford my electric bill when I keep my thermostat at 68 degrees in the winter and only turn on the lights at night to keep from tripping and breaking my neck when I get up to take a piss, how am I supposed to afford "carbon offsets"?
It's great that he's using solar panels and all that, but notice he's not disputing how huge his electric bill still is. What the hell is he doing in there? Is he a Terminator from the future and requires constant recharging? (That would explain pretty much everything.)
Which led me to his comments section and to this astute thought from Mark V:
By the way, that bit about there being no meaningful debate WITHIN the scientific community is bullshit. The ONLY meaningful debate out there is WITHIN the scientific community. And then it's among only some members of the scientific community.
The problem is there is no meaningful debate among the public at large. Thanks Hollywood and MSM!
Something that people across the globe need to remind themselves of every single day. I'm not even convinced that we have enough knowledge and technology to accurately predict global weather trends, but the only people remotely approaching this level of knowledge are climate scientists. Not Al Gore, not Hollywood actors, not granola kids on college campuses. Let's all stop acting like we're outside with thermometers doing the research ourselves and stop talking in absolutes.
Now excuse me while I go put on a sweater. We can't afford to heat our house above 65.
Posted by: Sarah at
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Am I a scientist?
No, but IÂ’m close to a Holiday Inn Express so...
Seriously, I know at least one absolute; where I am, back in the day there use to be hundreds if not thousands of feet of ice. It all melted but not due to man. Mmm...how did that happen Mr. Gore?
Posted by: tim at March 02, 2007 11:20 AM (nno0f)
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"There is no meaningful debate within the scientific community, so the right-wing busies itself with talk about howmuch electricity Al Gore’s house uses — and even then they distort the truth."
If you defend overwhelming hypocrisy with overwhelming hypocrisy does that make it OK? Is it like a double negative?
Since when has been acceptable to question and debate the Consensus of the Holy Church of Global Warming? Since when is it OK to be a Global Warming Denier?
The environmentalists don't want debate. They don't want to be questioned on anything. What they want is obedience. They want you to live your live according to their rules and in manner they deem acceptable. You see they know the right way because they are smarter than you. And if in order to convince the world to live according to their wishes, a few Global Warming Evangelists have to ignore those rules, you are not too question.
It would be best if you didn't even notice. Because if you did you might point out everyone that the Environmental Emperors have no clothes.
Posted by: Stephen Macklin at March 02, 2007 03:01 PM (Z3kjO)
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February 27, 2007
INTERESTING
I heard on the TV over the weekend that the cadre from West Point visited the writers of
24 and asked them to tone it down because they were having a hard time convincing cadets that torture is not the way. I'm struck by how sad our education system must be if the teachers at West Point can't educate their students and instead have to resort to trying to change Jack Bauer. And how hopeless the students must be.
So I looked up more info on this story and got completely sucked into this New Yorker article: WHATEVER IT TAKES The politics of the man behind “24.”
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http://www.calendarlive.com/printedition/calendar/cl-et-torture13feb13,0,4517723.story
I'm not good at posting links but here is the article about them visiting asking the producers to make the scenes more realsitic.
Posted by: StephanieBerndt at February 27, 2007 07:17 AM (Rxmk/)
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I would of thought that an army wife would be more inclined to agree with West Point than a hollywood tv show. I guess we like what we like though.
Posted by: Will at February 28, 2007 11:05 AM (QRBGL)
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Really? Would you "of"?
Posted by: Sarah at February 28, 2007 01:34 PM (vrR+j)
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Sarah,
OK...I love that you noticed the grammatical error in would of! HILARIOUS!
Posted by: StephanieBerndt at February 28, 2007 02:19 PM (+bp0U)
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True enough! Grammar is everything. The old, ethical,moral generation of our military will be gone soon enough. Those raised on cartoons will rise to the top. The situation will become interesting! Cool TEEVEE will result.
Posted by: John at March 03, 2007 04:29 AM (8nAaU)
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Why do I always get the last word?
Posted by: John at March 03, 2007 08:02 PM (JnPnL)
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February 26, 2007
FREE KAREEM
I'm fumbling with how to say what I want to say this morning. I feel sick to my stomach every time I think about
Kareem.
In a landmark case for freedom of expression in Egypt, a young blogger has been jailed for insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak, drawing angry condemnation at home and abroad.
Abdel-Karim Nabil Suleiman, 22, a former law student at Cairo's Al-Azhar University, was sentenced to four years in prison by a court in Alexandria yesterday after being arrested last November over eight articles he posted on his blog.
Rosie O'Donnell may think that "radical Christianity" is just as big of a threat, but there's no story in the US that remotely approaches Kareem's. And if militant Muslims had their way, we'd all live under sharia, and we'd all be jailed for blogging our minds.
If that doesn't give you butterflies, I don't know what will.
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HUH?
Apparently James Cameron has
announced that he found Jesus' burial site. Can someone please explain to me how DNA evidence would be any use in proving that it's "the" Jesus? What on earth are they comparing it to?
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I read another article on the same subject, and what I find most depressing about the whole thing is the quality of the comments on both sides of the issue.
Far too few people are asking the obvious question - the one you asked. And far too many are taking this as proven already - whether they agree with it or not. Almost every comment falls into one of 2 categories - "Ah, finally, we can tell the Christians to shut up." or "All you unbelievers are going to Hell!"
It seems to me that the best Cameron can manage to prove is that he found a bunch of skeletons of dead Jewish people that are all related to each other. And they had names mentioned in the Bible (although he'll have a harder time proving that those weren't faked/misinterpreted/added later to make the family seem more important than it was...)
But unless he has a bona fide Jesus DNA sample somewhere to compare it to, there's really no way he can link his findings to the Jesus of the Bible.
Posted by: karishma at February 26, 2007 10:04 AM (yU8Jx)
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As a person who has done a lot of genealogical research, the thing I found most disturbing about this is also what I found ridiculous about the DaVinci code. The idea that you could actually trace a family through periods of history when nothing was written about them, no legal or church sources is so laughable, and crazy. When research first started showing up on Family tree maker CD's, one for my husband's family showed purported records going back to Gog and Magog. Some people are really gullible.
Posted by: Ruth H at February 26, 2007 02:13 PM (1lK+i)
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February 23, 2007
LINK
I know CaliValleyGirl only reads Lileks when I post a link, so I'm posting one today to make sure she sees
this one.
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I love it how he doesn't really explain to her that it was actually the Germans and not the French.
It mae me wonder how I will be able to "brainwash" my kids...I think that their father and I will be having a cultural tug-o-war of values that we will be imparting on our children.
Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at February 23, 2007 08:26 AM (deur4)
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POLL
I just have one thought on a recent poll. Here's a summary from James Joyner:
A recent Gallup poll reveals that Americans are much more likely to elect a black man or a woman president than a Mormon or an old man. More interestingly, theyÂ’d rather be governed by a homosexual than an atheist
Check out the poll results for yourself.
My take? The results are less about who we'd elect president and more about who we feel comfortable discriminating against. Would you vote for a black president? Only the biggest jackasses would say no. We as a society know that it's a big no-no to say we wouldn't vote for someone based on the color of his skin. But would you vote for a homosexual? More people feel comfortable saying no, relying on their religious compass or other reasons they think this would be a bad idea. And an atheist? People don't have any qualms about saying exactly what they think of atheists. They won't speak freely about race, but they will about lack of religion.
And the fact that people say they'd sooner vote for a homosexual than an atheist? Commenter Michael provides the moment of zen:
I wonder what Thomas Jefferson would make of thatÂ…
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Ya’ know, even though I’m an atheist I lead a more “Christian” like life than some believers I know.
Hey, whatÂ’s the dif, weÂ’re all infidels to our enemy.
Posted by: tim at February 23, 2007 11:09 AM (nno0f)
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As an atheist, I find I lead a much more moral life than most of the religious folk I know. Maybe it's because I don't think it's alright to just say your sorry and do a few prayers. I believe you have to live with your choices and that you only have one chance at it, so I tend to do things right. But I always find that it's the bible thumper who will end up cheating on his girlfriend and giving her an STD or something like that. Some of the ones that keep their spirituality to themself are alright. And the ones that only believe in an allegorical way are okay. Literal believers annoy the fuck out of me though because they spread scientifically incorrect nonsense, further contributing to the dumbing down of america, while at the same time they live these incredibly hypocrtical lives that make me want to vomit.
Posted by: Will at February 25, 2007 10:58 PM (QRBGL)
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February 22, 2007
SEW EXCITED
There's been sewing in the house today!
Usually I get sewing ideas and they drag out over years. I never get around to actually doing it. But my double pointed needles really were begging for a home, so I sat down and worked this puppy out. It's not perfect -- I probably should've chosen a color besides yellow, and I should've made it an inch or two wider -- but it will certainly do. Hooray for the opposite of procrastination!
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My wife made something similar (if a tad larger) to hold my rocket motor casings.
As the wise man said, "what do you give a man who has everything?"
"Something to carry it in!"
Posted by: Ted at February 22, 2007 06:56 AM (blNMI)
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Ted -- You just reminded me that I once sewed my dad a bag to carry his boat motor in...
Posted by: Sarah at February 22, 2007 11:35 AM (vrR+j)
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YOU REALLY CAN SPIN ANYTHING...
Ha -- Penn and Teller get hippies at WorldFest to
sign a petition banning water. Too rich. I love the last line of the clip: "Yeah, we set these folks up. But it does show that maybe they're not so much environmentalists as they are
joiners...of anything."
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OMG...you are spending waaaay too much time watching that stuff....but I think I have watched every episode online too...it is soooo good. (I am a valley girl, by the way, as it is showing thru right now). A few of my other favorites are the one about prostitution and then the one about endangered species, and they interview that poor woman in the wheelchair who can't build the home on her property, bc of those birds who aren't there, and everyone else in the neighborhood got a varience and was able to build, but she wasn't. It's criminal, absolutely criminal.
I also love when they are grilling the "spokes person" and she doesn't know squat about logging or whatever they were protesting.
I am sooo going to see those guys when I go to Vegas. They are like South Park...they don't like conservatives, but they dislike socialists even more. My kind of people.
Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at February 22, 2007 08:36 AM (deur4)
Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at February 22, 2007 08:37 AM (deur4)
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February 21, 2007
MORTIFYING
I read this funny
story about opening presents on my friend's blog:
So I have one funny story . . . the first box I opened was a waffle iron . . . I was like this is a nice waffle iron we can make them tomorrow for breakfast. I continued to open boxes and read cards . . . about 15 minutes later Colin stepped on the waffle iron box and it collapsed. I told Nancy that I don't think it is a waffle iron in there . . . so I opened the box and it was a project that two special people have been working on for a long time . . . it was a quilt with photos of Sean, Colin, and me . . .
I have a similar story, only mine was a hundred times more bonehead.
When my husband and I got married, an old friend of my mom's sent us a package that arrived the day before the wedding. In all the commotion of wedding planning, I hastily tore of the brown paper wrapping and noticed it was a Honeywell fan. I figured it would come in handy, and I set it out on the table of gifts.
The husband and I loaded up all our gifts into a U-Haul after the honeymoon and moved to Missouri for six months, where we had air conditioning. All our stuff got packed up again and stayed in storage while we were at Fort Knox for another six months. We arrived in Germany a year after our wedding that HOT summer of 2003 when all the French grannies were dying of heatstroke. I couldn't wait for our household goods to finally arrive so I could break out that Honeywell fan.
Um, yeah, it wasn't a fan. It was bedsheets in a fan box.
Do you know how embarrassed I was? I sent these people a thank you card for a fan.
In my mortified state, I had to sit down again and pen a long, apologetic letter explaining why on earth I hadn't opened the danged box, and how, though I had thanked them profusely for a very useful and nice fan, I was also equally excited to get bedsheets. Over a year later. It was probably one of the most embarrassing things I've done in my life.
Coulda used a fan that summer in Europe...
Love the sheets though.
Posted by: Sarah at
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BUT WHAT ABOUT THE HORSESHIT?
Whenever I think about global warming predictions, I can't help but remember Michael Crichton's
Analogy of the Horses:
Let's think back to people in 1900 in, say, New York. If they worried about people in 2000, what would they worry about? Probably: Where would people get enough horses? And what would they do about all the horseshit? Horse pollution was bad in 1900, think how much worse it would be a century later, with so many more people riding horses?
But of course, within a few years, nobody rode horses except for sport. And in 2000, France was getting 80% its power from an energy source that was unknown in 1900. Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Japan were getting more than 30% from this source, unknown in 1900. Remember, people in 1900 didn't know what an atom was. They didn't know its structure. They also didn't know what a radio was, or an airport, or a movie, or a television, or a computer, or a cell phone, or a jet, an antibiotic, a rocket, a satellite, an MRI, ICU, IUD, IBM, IRA, ERA, EEG, EPA, IRS, DOD, PCP, HTML, internet, interferon, instant replay, remote sensing, remote control, speed dialing, gene therapy, gene splicing, genes, spot welding, heat-seeking, bipolar, prozac, leotards, lap dancing, email, tape recorder, CDs, airbags, plastic explosive, plastic, robots, cars, liposuction, transduction, superconduction, dish antennas, step aerobics, smoothies, twelve-step, ultrasound, nylon, rayon, teflon, fiber optics, carpal tunnel, laser surgery, laparoscopy, corneal transplant, kidney transplant, AIDSÂ… None of this would have meant anything to a person in the year 1900. They wouldn't know what you are talking about.
Now. You tell me you can predict the world of 2100. Tell me it's even worth thinking about. Our models just carry the present into the future. They're bound to be wrong. Everybody who gives a moment's thought knows it.
I've always thought there was a solution to global warming that we can't even fathom yet. Some energy source that will become so cheap and so available that we won't need oil and won't even remember when we relied on it. We'll scoff at oil the way we scoff at horses.
My husband is waiting for Mr. Fusion. Maybe we're closer than we think?
SCI-FI to SCI-FACT: Plasma Converter
I'd love to think that someday our discussions of oil and landfills will be moot. I have faith in science and capitalism to make that dream a reality.
Posted by: Sarah at
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The best "solution" to global warming is to just wait until the natural cooling cycle takes effect again. Remember, global temperatures (not that we have ever had a truly accurate measure) actually COOLED from the 40's through the 70's, sparking fears of a new ice age. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution to global warming hysteria...
Posted by: CavalierX at February 22, 2007 02:07 AM (jluz1)
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CURRENT EVENTS
Over the weekend, I read a section of our local paper that reported on a fifth-grade school project. The children were asked to add one amendment to the Constitution. I was struck by two things: 1) how awful some of the ideas were and 2) how parrot-like others seemed. Lowering the voting age to 15, forcing people to recycle, and abolishing racism are just silly. I haven't spent much time with 11 year olds, so maybe I'm delusional in thinking they're capable of deeper thoughts than that. Surely they can understand basic concepts that make outlawing war and mandating jobs for everyone just not feasible. Right? Oh, who am I kidding: I fully expect my child to exit the womb with the mind of a 30 year old. This is really going to be rough for me.
But some of the more shocking amendments showed me just how much kids partially understand what's going on around them. One fifth grader came up with "Before the president can send troops into a war, he has to have a plan. And he has to share it with the country on CNN." Think she came up with that one on her own? Or the kid who said "Change the use of oil to corn juice. There's too much global warming now." Corn juice. He has gleaned something from the debate around him, but not enough to understand the subject. Thank heavens 15 year olds aren't voting.
Is it too much to ask that I'd hope that my kid would write "The Constitution should only be amended in extreme cases, never at the whim of fifth graders"? And that he could still get an A for that answer?
I started thinking about my imaginary kid and what I'd like his answer to be, and whether it'd make the paper, and how I'd blog about how proud I am of him. And then I realized that's 12 years from now, and how could I possibly still be blogging then...
Varifrank wrote today about how he's ending his blog as we know it. I've felt this was coming for a long time, not just from him but from everyone. How much longer will we all still want to hash out current events in this forum?
I, for one, don't see myself blogging in 12 years.
Posted by: Sarah at
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I'm with you on the blogging. No way, I'm still blogging in a few years. While I love the idea of having my own personal blog, and I admit I do use it as a way to vent my frustrations much of the time, I'm more interested in trying to find a place where I can make a difference and Andi's World just isn't that place. Plus, there's only so many hours in a day and as we all know, blogging is time-consuming.
It's always interesting to me to find out why people blog, or why they quit blogging. Guess we all blog, or cease to blog, for different reasons. I'm thinking of closing my personal blog soon and focusing more on other forums (like SpouseBUZZ) where I believe I can do the most good. We'll see...
Regardless, blogging has been one of the best things I've ever done. I have made hundreds of new friends and it's been a great ride. Whenever I quit, there certainly will be no regrets.
Perhaps you won't be blogging in 12 years, but I wonder if your child will be!
Posted by: Andi at February 21, 2007 01:17 PM (PwfFQ)
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Who knows what I'll be doing in 12 years! 12 years ago I had no idea I'd have four children and be living in New Jersey. The thought of New Jersey had honestly never crossed my mind. I mean, I knew there WAS a New Jersey (my parents are Springstein fans), but I knew it in the same way that I know some people like to eat scrapple. It's an interesting tidbit of information that makes me squirm a bit but has no bearing on me.
I better not be eating scrapple in 12 years.
About the kid thing... My students used to write horrific essays about stuff like this when I assigned it. It honestly made me worry about the future. And then when the administration at the schools got ahold of essays talking about mandated World Peace (Stalin, anyone?), they would talk about the beauty and simplicity of the mind of a child, and wouldn't it be great if we all thought that way?
Apparently they missed the part where the kids were on the playground throwing rocks at the one who doesn't fit in.
Bah.
Posted by: airforcewife at February 22, 2007 03:41 AM (0dU3f)
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I can honestly say that when I was twelve (seven years ago) I would have said that I couldn't in good conscience produce an amendment by myself, that the system is set up the way it is for a reason, and democracy is too precious to trivialize with my personal concerns...
But then, I was a bizarre twelve-year-old.
(At this point, I might consider tearing down "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," as it makes no sense to me...)
Posted by: Sabbrielle at February 25, 2007 01:31 PM (RtD/U)
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February 19, 2007
SELFLESS SERVICE
On Valentine's Day, my husband reminded me that it was exactly three years ago that he left for Iraq. I can't believe how time flies. I told him that I was happy he wasn't leaving again this Valentine's Day, and he got a bittersweet look on his face and said, "I'm not..."
When people like Rangel and Murtha and Kerry say that the only reason people are in Iraq is because they can't get a better job, I wish they could meet people like my husband. There are soldiers like my husband who grieve at not being in Iraq. There are soldiers waiting for the day they can get out of Walter Reed so they can get back to their unit. They are not stupid, and it's not bloodlust either; they just take their Army values seriously.
He started his training this week, but so far they've just done the boring stuff like PT tests and jumping out of planes. My husband has qualified to learn Arabic or Farsi, so hopefully he'll get assigned one of those and he can get to work at being all he can be.
Did I mention I'm the luckiest wife in the world?
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I will never let a Valentines Day go by, without thinking about that "Day of Deployment"(14feb2004), or all of the families it involved.........
Posted by: debey at February 19, 2007 07:30 AM (Gh7I1)
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I like how you lumped PT and jumps together as mere boring stuff, yet get excited over balls of yarn on sale.
Posted by: Jason at February 20, 2007 05:45 AM (lcKyC)
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So thankful that people like your husband exist.
Posted by: Nancy at February 20, 2007 09:07 AM (8i2KG)
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Sarah,
I know exactly what you mean. When my husband talks about how he's in a "nondeployable" position right now, it's usually with a tinge of regret. He'd rather deploy and be doing HIS job than doing the job he's in right now any day. Once upon a time, that would have hurt my feelings. I have a better understanding of it now...after all, he loves what he does as your husband undoubtedly does as well.
Posted by: Robin at February 20, 2007 04:23 PM (V5aG3)
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Gee Sarah, most women would have given their husbands the "sergeant look" if they said that.
My wife gets a pained look whenever I mention getting deployed again....but she understands.
Randy
Posted by: R1 at February 20, 2007 05:32 PM (xexA1)
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February 18, 2007
February 14, 2007
WOW
I don't know how I missed this a month ago, but CaliValleyGirl pointed out the words from the
MySpace of a soldier killed in Iraq. I really recommend reading what 2LT Daily had to say if you haven't already.
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Totally unrelated so I apologize for hijacking the post, but...
Every MU site I comment on, I have to input the info (name, email, site) each time, even though I check the "remember personal info" box.
Am I doing something wrong?
Posted by: Andi at February 16, 2007 07:39 AM (PwfFQ)
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February 13, 2007
THE JACKPOT
If you're the praying type, send one up for me today. I'm gonna need it when my husband gets home...
I went to the store intending to buy $3-worth of yarn for teddies. Instead I came home with this.
Welcome to Divorceville, population: me.
LATER THAT EVENING:
Still married. In fact, he didn't seem that fazed. And I don't have anything specific in mind to make with it; I just bought all the store had because it was 50% off. Ideas will come...bags can be felted...the yarn will find its purpose.
Posted by: Sarah at
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Ok, now... you have to at least tell us what you intend to make with that gorgeous stash! You've posted some yarn p*rn, and didn't even give the entire story
haha
Posted by: The Girl at February 13, 2007 10:16 AM (kRKY8)
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I concur, you cannot post yarn p*rn without an explanation of what it's for. In fact your penalty for this transgression is that we get your stash.
Posted by: Mare at February 13, 2007 11:15 AM (Oc90P)
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I went to a PEO meeting today and the program was a lady demonstrating her weaving looms, she does beautiful work. When someone asked where she got her beautiful yarn she said what she is working with now she bought about 5 years ago when a local quilt shop went out of business. She said, "I knew I would use it for something, sometime, and it was just too pretty to pass up." Her husband is pretty proud of her and I bet your is too.
Posted by: Ruth H at February 13, 2007 01:52 PM (c54X3)
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I have no idea how you intend to make a "teddy" out of the yarn, but have fun trying...
no wonder DH doesn't mind
Posted by: armywifetoddlermom at February 14, 2007 07:03 AM (n/bd3)
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If my wife had told me that she had bought all that yarn for 50% off each, I would have said COOL A BARGOON!
Then she probably would have asked me to take the bag up to her room!
But Hey What I know!
Tim C.
Posted by: TIM C at February 15, 2007 06:31 AM (SAiJg)
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I EAT IT UP
The best part about
24 is Jack Bauer. The second best part about
24 is
James Lileks.
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can i place an order??????knee high ''granny'' sox? for woman with big feet??????????????
Posted by: debey at February 13, 2007 06:50 PM (ombki)
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February 12, 2007
OOPS, YOUR AGENDA IS SHOWING
When I took a US history class in college, I remember reading tons of firsthand sources, letters and the like from the different time periods. We had a separate textbook of just these firsthand sources. So I find it odd that the new president of Harvard, a war historian, seems to be arguing that we should
dissuade people from relying on firsthand sources in order to understand the war in Iraq. Why would a war historian not want people to pay attention to blogs and emails and YouTube videos from soldiers and Marines who are currently fighting this war? Surely this war historian doesn't think that
letters from the Civil War are just propaganda and "war porn" that need to be downplayed, so it's ridiculous to ignore modern firsthand sources of war. Apparently she's just against the idea because war historians like herself haven't had time to cherrypick these sources and weed out the ones that make Americans feel that fighting the War on Terrorism is a good thing. Nothing like a war historian with an agenda to brighten my day.
MORE:
Read this analysis by Sean Lawson.
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Wow. That had somehow slipped under my radar...
Posted by: airforcewife at February 13, 2007 09:38 AM (0dU3f)
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Per Uncle Jimbo's request that someone find Faust's article and post some more lengthy quotes, check out my post where I have done just that:
http://seanlawson.rhetorical-devices.net/2007/02/13/186
Posted by: Sean Lawson at February 13, 2007 10:17 AM (2CLe8)
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Sarah,
Thanks for the link!
Sean
Posted by: Sean Lawson at February 13, 2007 04:18 PM (2CLe8)
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FORMING CLOUDS
Via
Conservative Grapevine:
An experiment that hints we are wrong on climate change
The sunÂ’s brightness may change too little to account for the big swings in the climate. But more than 10 years have passed since Henrik Svensmark in Copenhagen first pointed out a much more powerful mechanism.
He saw from compilations of weather satellite data that cloudiness varies according to how many atomic particles are coming in from exploded stars. More cosmic rays, more clouds. The sunÂ’s magnetic field bats away many of the cosmic rays, and its intensification during the 20th century meant fewer cosmic rays, fewer clouds, and a warmer world. On the other hand the Little Ice Age was chilly because the lazy sun let in more cosmic rays, leaving the world cloudier and gloomier.
The only trouble with Svensmark’s idea — apart from its being politically incorrect — was that meteorologists denied that cosmic rays could be involved in cloud formation. After long delays in scraping together the funds for an experiment, Svensmark and his small team at the Danish National Space Center hit the jackpot in the summer of 2005.
In a box of air in the basement, they were able to show that electrons set free by cosmic rays coming through the ceiling stitched together droplets of sulphuric acid and water. These are the building blocks for cloud condensation. But journal after journal declined to publish their report; the discovery finally appeared in the Proceedings of the Royal Society late last year.
I won't claim to know the reasons why journals didn't publish this report, but could it perhaps maybe slightly be be that there's little room for dissent in climatology these days?
Remember that what you know about global warming is only what you've heard. That is, what has been chosen for you to hear. As Mark Steyn says, "Most of us aren't reading the science, or even a precis of the science. We're just reading a constant din from the press that 'the science is settled,' and therefore we no longer need to think about it: The thinking has been done for us."
This reminds me of a section in Bernad Goldberg's book Bias entitled "How Bill Clinton Cured Homelessness":
In 1999 [Philip Terzian, an editor at Providence Journal] wrote a column about a Village Voice study that showed that in 1988 the New York Times ran fifty stories on the homeless, including five on page one. But a decade later, in 1998, the Times ran only ten homeless stories, and none on page one. ... The conservative Media Research Center found that in 1990, when George Bush was president, there were seventy-one homeless stories on the ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN evening newscasts. But in 1995, when Bill Clinton was in the White House, the number had gone down to just nine!
Homelessness didn't stop when Bill Clinton took office; it just stopped being front page news. But our worldview is shaped by what's showcased on the news, what the Important Issues of the day are, and it can be manipulated based on what journalists think you should hear about. The issues don't go away just because they're not reported.
Svensmark formed clouds from cosmic rays. Just because no one wants to publish it or put it on the nightly news doesn't mean it didn't happen. And it doesn't mean it doesn't have anything to do with global warming. It just means you haven't heard about it yet.
But now you have.
Posted by: Sarah at
06:15 AM
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Just because I can find an obscure article that says the earth is flat, it is not evidence that the world IS flat. We tend to rely on what the majority of information tells us. Not hearing about something is a negative for that something, not a plus.
Posted by: Will at February 15, 2007 02:04 PM (QRBGL)
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February 11, 2007
RECYCLING
The German government charges the American armed forces for every pound of garbage that they dispose of, but they charge less for recycled materials than refuse. So, in an effort to reduce my "economic footprint" and save Uncle Sam some money, I dutifully washed plastic and cans and recycled every scrap of trash I could. I think my neighbors and friends thought that I was an Environmental Nut, but really I was just ticked that my government had to pay money to another government for my banana peels. Thus I breathed a huge sigh of relief when our plane landed back in the US so I could stop with the recycling nonsense. I haven't washed a piece of trash since.
LGF posted a Penn and Teller clip on the myths and complete bunk we've been fed for decades about the recycling movement. I highly recommend watching this show. There's a definite foul langage warning though, so maybe don't watch it while your kids toddle in and out of the room.
Now excuse me while I go put that empty Jim Beam bottle in the trash can.
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When my boyfriend was leaving Germany, the only thing he still had in his apartment was his laptop and we watched so many episodes of Penn and Teller, including that one. My favorite part was where they made those people use like 7 trashcans, and they acted like they would totally do that all time....yeah, right.
Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at February 11, 2007 12:27 PM (deur4)
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We were actually forced to recycle while stationed at Ft. Irwin, CA. Housing provided one main trashcan and 3 additional-plastic, metal, and paper (non-gloss finish).
As a result, my husband still pushes for us to wash all cans and bag them separately. He then drags them to the recycle point. Of course, he is currently not home and he married a rebel. ( Nah, I'm just lazy!)
Posted by: Vonn at February 11, 2007 04:49 PM (/VoEr)
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February 10, 2007
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