Neiman Marcus can't top this

How would you like your very own space shuttle? Apparently NASA is selling the retired ones for $42 million a piece. Talk about a gift of a lifetime! I don't think anything could top getting one of those under the tree.

Global temperature data and graph

Here is an interesting site, well, maybe if you're a geek anyway. It does have a cool graph though (see below, you can click on it for a larger version). At any rate, the key is at the very end. Notice how it looks like the global warming trend appears to have ended and now, even though the average temperatures are higher than the baseline, they're trending down. Of course, if global warming theories are correct, this is only temporary and we'll see the warming trend resume soon. On the other hand, if the recent rise in temperatures prior to ~1997 was an anomaly, we'll see cooling continue for awhile. Either way, it's a bit early to tell one way or the other. For that reason, now is not the time to spend gazillions of dollars trying to fix something we don't even understand just because someone cries wolf.

Ready for a worldwide government?

According to this, it could be possible. Is this the reason they're pushing the global climate change nonsense and now this new global financial crisis--to get people to think in terms of a global government? Near the end it uses the European Union as an example and says this:

In general, the Union has progressed fastest when far-reaching deals have been agreed by technocrats and politicians – and then pushed through without direct reference to the voters. International governance tends to be effective, only when it is anti-democratic.

That's all we need. Politicians deciding it's in the best interests of the populace without asking them directly. Hopefully the checks and balances we have in this country will hold the tide long enough to keep this nonsense from happening.

Now we need to regulate dirt

According to this article:

The findings are significant because soils are by far the world's largest source of carbon dioxide, producing 10 times more carbon dioxide each year than all the carbon dioxide emissions from human activities combined.

So, how are we supposed to regulate dirt? It obviously needs to be dealt with if we're ever to combat global warming.

October the hottest on record (or not?)

Can we trust data from NASA if the head of the agency is in the tank with the whole idea of global warming? According to this article, there are questions whether they are getting the data right or not. Initially they said this most recent October was the hottest on record. Then some skeptics looked at the data and noticed a bunch of numbers were exactly the same as what was reported in September.

It's things like this that make you go, "hmm...."

Chernobyl - a photo essay

Here's a site I found a number of years ago. It is operated by a photo-journalist who lives in Ukraine I believe and has put together quite a website with photos and commentary about the Chernobyl disaster and also some interesting information from some WWII battlefields. If you have some time, I highly recommend browsing around there. She also offers some books she has put together of photos for sale. Over all, it is simply a fascinating site.

Aliens caused global warming

The analogy I don't necessarily agree with, but the point is still true in this article. It's not science if it is consensus and a consensus based on models that at best may be flawed and at worst may be manipulated is certainly not science.

Methane levels increase worldwide simultaneously?

Supposedly methane is one of the greenhouse gasses. According to this article, it increased worldwide simultaneously for an unknown reason last year. It's just more evidence that global warming may not be caused by man.

From the article:

One thing does seem very clear, however; science is only beginning to get a handle on the big picture of global warming. Findings like these tell us it's too early to know for sure if man's impact is affecting things at the political cry of "alarming rates." We may simply be going through another natural cycle of warmer and colder times - one that's been observed through a scientific analysis of the Earth to be naturally occuring for hundreds of thousands of years.

What's your tax cut?

Check this out!

You can find out an estimate of what your tax cut would be under Obama or McCain with the site linked above. I think the intent is to see what your cut would be under Obama but it also shows what it would be under McCain. In my case, I would get nearly twice the tax cut under McCain than I would under Obama.

Japanese Banking Crisis

As everyone knows, the financial crisis is world-wide. Here's what's happening in Japan apparently:

Origami Bank folded last night. Apparently Sumo Fund Managers went belly up and Bonsai Bank, after a period of stunted growth, now plans to cut back some of its branches.

Kamikaze Bank took a dive and 1,500 staff at Karate Bank got the chop. Analysts report that there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank and staff there fear they may get a raw deal. Onsen Bank has taken a bath and even Miso Bank is in the soup. The share value of Samurai Bank has been slashed.

On the plus side, now is a good time to buy Karaoke Bank, its shares can be had for a song.

(Yes, I copied it from here. It's still funny though.)

Obama chose his friends carefully?

Why has no one mentioned this before? This is a quote from Obama's book, Dreams from my Father.
"I chose my friends carefully,... The Marxist professors and structural feminists."

You can read more about it here.

First the sasquatch (bigfoot), now the Yeti?

My, I've found several interesting items today. Here's another one. A team from Japan is looking for the Yeti. Based on what they're saying, it sounds very similar to the Sasquatch also known as Bigfoot. You've got to wonder where these stories are coming from.

30 years of global cooling?

I keep seeing these stories. Maybe I'm just biased but why are there more and more of them all the time?

When the cure is worse than the disease

Don't you just hate it when you do something to fix a problem only later to find out it caused the problem to get worse where if you had left it alone, it would have corrected itself? Well, it looks like that may be the case with disposable vs. cloth diapers as well. I've used both but never to "save the planet." Ultimately, cloth diapers save money since you don't have to keep buying more and more all the time. Unfortunately for those people worried about being "green", it may not actually save anything to use cloth. Oh well. so much for that idea.

Global warming becomes global cooling?

If global warming is man-made, then why is there evidence of global cooling? You can read one bit here.

Is bankruptcy the answer?

No, I'm not declaring bankruptcy. I would never encourage any private citizen to do so. However, this article suggests that the current financial crisis would be best solved if those companies who are in trouble did declare bankruptcy.

The other day, the US House voted down the bailout package, which, in my opinion, was the right thing to do. Now, however, our political leaders are all pushing again to get another version of the bill to pass. It appears to me that they're taking a barrel of pork, trying to add enough lipstick to the pigs so that they will look like supermodels.

If they would let the inevitable happen, it might hurt at first but in the end it would be less painful than if they keep messing around and make the problem worse.

Clean your house in 19 minutes!

Yeah, right. Whoever wrote this, obviously doesn't have kids because they can make a mess of it in less than 5 minutes. Also, trying to find 19 uninterrupted minutes when any of the kids are awake is next-to impossible. Good luck trying.

Apparently the article assumes you don't cook too because some dishes just can't be cleaned in the dishwasher. Alternatively, if you only get take-out, I suppose it would be easy to clean the kitchen since all those disposable containers can go in the trash can and so cleaning the kitchen would be easy, but really expensive buying food all the time.

Global cooling according to Farmer's Almanac

Here's another article about a prediction by the Old Farmer's Almanac saying we could be entering a long-term global cooling trend.

Cold winter coming?

I never have been one to put a lot of stock into long term forecasting of weather so I was a bit skeptical when I read recently that the 2008 Farmers Almanac is predicting a cooler than normal winter this year. After all, the article says it is written at least a year in advance and that whoever wrote it has already finished the prediction for 2009.

Anyway, today I came across another interesting bit about a volcano in Alaska. Normally, I wouldn't pay much attention to that, particularly since it is only discussing the increased color in sunsets. However, not long ago, I read about the year without summer. If you read it, you will notice that it was likely caused by a volcano, albeit a much larger one. Now, obviously a single volcanic eruption that was relatively small shouldn't make a big difference. However, that's not the only factor.

Yesterday, I came across this article that says the sun did something it hasn't done in over 90 years, and that is go an entire month without a single sunspot. Reading that article, you find that one previous instance like that correlated closely to what is referred to as the Little Ice Age.

Ultimately, no one really knows for sure. However, all these little pieces put together appear to be pointing to a cooler than average winter, global warming notwithstanding.

First Bigfoot, now the Loch Ness Monster

A few weeks ago, I posted about someone who claimed to have found a Bigfoot carcass that turned out to be a big rubber gorilla suit. Well, now I've come across a claim that someone has actual surveillance footage of the Loch Ness Monster. You can read what I found here and it includes a link to a Swedish website that has the actual video. Fortunately, you don't have to be able to read/speak Swedish to watch the video.

Check this out!

Someone recently sent me a link to this website. It's really cool, no pun intended.

The rest of the story on The Surge

This is a fascinating article that describes the behind-the-scenes push for the surge in Iraq by John McCain. The article is quite long but it is worth reading if you plan on voting in November.

It never pays to lie

Ouch. According to this article, "Bigfoot" was just a big, hairy, rubber gorilla suit. Also, if you remember correctly, one of the perpetrators of this hoax was a police officer who was on administrative leave. Well, at the end of the article, the sheriff says he has already filled out paperwork to fire this policeman for this stunt. You'd think he would know better than to try to pull off a stunt like that.

Another side of Beijing

As most know, the olympics are in full progress right now so there are lots of reporters over there. Apparently one of them is Dave Barry, a humorist who I've enjoyed reading for a long time. Well, here is his take on taking a cab while trying to get around Beijing. Apparently, his description is pretty accurate from other things I've read.

Bigfoot is a big opossum?

Well, it turns out that Bigfoot is a cross between a man and an opossum. So says this article, among many others. I wonder what these guys expect to get out of this story if they don't have the real thing? There must be some money in this or something. Maybe they just like to see their name in the paper.

Bigfoot found?

I haven't had as much time to surf the last few days so I haven't been posting quite as often the last few days. However, I came across this unusual site with breaking news: Someone claims to have found a dead body of bigfoot in northern Georgia. Supposedly, there are more live ones walking around there too.

Just don't tell the EPA because if this is true, they'll immediately declare them to be endangered and all human activity within about 1000 miles will be curtailed to protect their habitat.

Climate Hysteria

I guess I'm a heritic when it comes to global warming, but according to this article, that may be changing. Hopefully a few more politicians will figure out that Gore is a nut and that the whole global warming hoax is just that.

Dinosaurs on Titan?

For those who think that oil came from pre-historic life, explain how there are hydrocarbons on Titan, a Saturn moon? The article doesn't really say one way or the other how they got there but it's still interesting to think that hydrocarbons may be a natural resource that can be found elsewhere in space, not just buried here underground.

Renewable oil

The other day, I posted a link to an article about the possibility that oil may not be from dinosaurs but is instead being produced by Earth all the time. Well, I found another one. Let's just say I'm starting to believe.

The Messiah has Come!

This is the funniest piece I've read in a long time regarding politics. You've got to read it!

No "dino" in "dino-juice"?

We've all been told that oil is a "fossil fuel" and that it is being depleted. Well, I've heard rumors to the effect that some scientists aren't sure if this is true and in fact are studying to find out where oil comes from. Today, I came across this article that says the following:

Stalin’s team of scientists and engineers found that oil is not a ‘fossil fuel’ but is a natural product of planet earth – the high-temperature, high-pressure continuous reaction between calcium carbonate and iron oxide – two of the most abundant compounds making up the earth’s crust. This continuous reaction occurs at a depth of approximately 100 km at a pressure of approximately 50,000 atmospheres (5 GPa) and a temperature of approximately 1500°C, and will continue more or less until the ‘death’ of planet earth....

Apparently Stalin wanted to find a way for Russia to produce more oil and enlisted his scientists to figure out where it came from. They may have found the source and are making good use of it.

Anyway, read the article yourself. It's very interesting.

Linux for Windoze users

So I was chatting with a friend one day online and I learned he's been using Linux for ~10 years now. I've had a number of friends who used that OS but I've never chosen to take the plunge myself. Part of the reason was that I never had more than one computer and I didn't want to accidentally screw one up if I didn't have a backup to download stuff off the Internet if necessary.

Well, this friend mentioned Puppy Linux, a very small, standalone version that you can boot off a CD. He said it was a good place to try Linux out and become familiar with it. That sounded good to me. So this morning I went to the site and started poking around.

It was then that I remembered another reason I've never used Linux before. Over the years, I've used Unix and became relatively familiar with it such that I could get around. Unfortunately, I've always been somewhat annoyed with the "cryptic" way Unix (and Linux) people tend to write help files. They give you everything you need to know but you have to concentrate on all the verbiage on the page in order to find exactly what you're looking for. And that assumes you can find the help information to begin with.

Now, to the engineering types (I'm a software engineer) who write this stuff, it is apparently intuitively obvious. Unfortunately, I just don't like concentrating on the details. I just want to find what I want and move on. Yes, I'm impatient.

Anyway, I went to the site and since I wanted to download a copy, I clicked on the download link. The first thing it says is to "read the release notes" so I click on the link. This is exhibit A: the page is full of acronyms and notes about what has changed since some previous version--doesn't apply to me it appears. I just want to get a copy that I can try out. So I go back...

Next, I start looking for an actual download link. Right after the "release notes" message, I see some funny looking text that sort-of looks like a link, so I click it. It takes me to what looks like a directory structure with a bunch of different versions of, presumably, Puppy Linux.

Which one am I supposed to download? All of them? I don't know. I just want one link that I can download whatever the latest stable version is and try it out. I don't want to download an entire directory structure. What is wrong with these Linux types? Do they expect me to know everything?

Now, I mentioned earlier that I'm a software engineer. My experience has mostly involved writing C/C++ code on Windows based machines. I've also done a fair bit of programming on Unix machines but it's been a few years since I last worked in the Unix environment. My point is that I do have some experience reading technical stuff but for the most part I find it very dry and I get distracted easily. I was once told I may be ADD, so maybe this is evidence that it's true. At any rate, I don't like reading what other engineers have written because it's boring.

Eventually, I finally found out that I need to only download one file that ends in ".iso" and burn it onto a CD. Presumably, once I do that, I can boot from the CD and try out this new "Puppy Linux" for my self. I don't know yet because by the time I figured out what I was supposed to do, I had run out of time and needed to go take care of other things that were more pressing.

Maybe I'll get back to this later. For now, I've got the download downloaded--I think....

I'm an internet addict

OK, so I've now admitteded it. I'm an addict. Actually, I've mentioned this to other people before so really, this is only the first time I've written it.

Today, I decided to start a blog about my addiction. I don't know how often I'll update it but for now it has begun.

My addiction has gone through a variety of stages. I've been addicted to various websites, some for longer than others. Eventually I got bored with them or found something new that I wanted to spend my time on. Someday, I may make a list of the various sites I've participated in but for now I'll just stop without mentioning any of them. Suffice it to say, as time goes on, I'll probably mention new ones here.