Saving the planet

When we take off from LAX for Hawaii, the plane will produce more CO2 than the entire morning commute in the area.
You're welcome. We're doing our part as a family to save the planet.
Media's saying CO2 levels are higher than they've been in the past 650,000 years. So, geologically, yesterday. .01% of the history of the planet. There has been a rash of well intentioned people blinded by political motivation that have actually worked to DECREASE the atmospheric CO2. They saw a movie once, and since that guy was passionate it must be true.
It's not. Relax.
Here's the thing. The earth is like a giant battery. There is a MACRO carbon cycle you need to participate in. CO2 is in the air, plants convert it to sugars, binding it with hydrogen. Plants die, get buried, take the precious carbon with them deep under ground. Fortunately the plants had the foresight to evolve some organisms to the point they could re-extract the carbon and liberate it again back into the atmosphere, getting work done and powering this blog in the process.
The oceans can then fix some of the CO2 as limestone. This limestone is needed to grow crops. It's mined and spread on crops to feed higher organisms to extract more hydrocarbon to support the MACRO carbon cycle. When you deprive plants of their CO2 they really get angry.

Aloha!

Off we go! Maybe it wouldn't matter much where we're going. Far away from home maintenance, county code enforcement, power point presentations, school visits, work pills; Just the family in a nice little house on the North Shore.If I have access I'll post from there

Hey Wait A Minute!

If I put ice cubes in my water, they float. They float because they displace water equal to their mass, and water being more dense than ice, up they go. When my ice melts it exactly replaces the water formerly displaced and the water level in my glass doesn't change one bit.
So, if we warm the globe enough to melt off ALL the arctic sea ice, how does that raise the level of the ocean one bit? Land based de-glaciation I get, but that's a really small percentage of arctic ice. What am I missing here?

Step up to the Global Warming altar

I love this. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/5028380/The-Global-Warming-Three-are-on-thin-ice.html These doofuses (doofi?) continue to ignore a preponderance of evidence against global warming, man made or otherwise, and embark on a quest to measure the thinning sea ice. Unseasonably cold weather and endangered polar bears are threatening their survival.
In Steinbeck's book 'Travels With Charlie', he attends a deep south evangelical revival. The tactic to boost membership isn't to talk about how awesome being with God in heaven will be; it's how horrible damnation is if you don't change your ways immediately. A Gallup poll shows a sharp increase in public opnion that 'Global Warming threat is greatly exaggerated'. The response from the G.W. alarmists has been to up the rhetoric---claiming the coming disaster is much more imminent and far worse than previously predicted. Go ahead and make your predictions; here's mine. This scare will be quickly buried and forgotten as soon as someone comes up with a new way to claim industrialization will soon kill us all, like soot on the ice caps causing a new ice age or something. Global warming will go the way of acid rain, hole in the ozone layer, killer bees, AIDS, the Spanish Inquisition...

Another thing I don't get

I don't understand the need for fundamentalists to insist the earth is only 6000 years old. It's as if you don't believe that point, you don't have any faith whatsoever.
Another thing I don't understand---using science to try to disprove God's existence.
The first one IS necessary is you want to take a literal interpretation of the Bible, but I've found you have to ignore quite a few basics of science to do that, to the point of flat earth society logic.
The second one is sillier---physical law IS God's law. If you can't make the leap of faith to put a face on the order of the universe, then physical law is your God.
Faith by definition is that which can't be proven. I believe, though, some aspects of faith can be disproven. Test everything, hold fast to that which is true.
I believe God created physical law and constants, matter, and energy in exactly the way necessary so that the end result would be me blogging about Him today. This creation included not yet fully understood evolution and an old, old universe.

Essential Fatty Acids

Lee made some comments about french fries for the depressed, and attributed salt as the mood elevator. Hyponatremia (low salt) CAN cause a whole pile of medical problems including dpression. There are better ways to get salt. A much more important focus on diet, though is oil.
Essential fatty acids are called that because you HAVE to have them and your body can't make them. There are two main groups of EFA's---Omega 6, and Omega 3. (Omega 9's are necessary, but aren't called 'essential' because you can manufacture them yourself. Eat olives.)
Ideally, the ratio between 6's and 3's should be around 4:1. The american diet has evolved though, through 'convenience' foods; the levels of omega 6's have doubled since 1940, and many people's ratio is 30:1. So what???
Too much Omega 3 is fine, though you still need omega 6's. Your body can utilize lots of 3's in 6's place. But too much omega 6 leads to heart disease, cancer, asthma, diabetes, depression, obesity, arthritis and breast cancer.
This goes a long way in explaining why the Mediterraneans are much more healthy than Americans. Foods rich in Omega 6's are safflower oil, sunflower oil, corn oil; hydrogenated oils concentrate it further. Trans fats. Meat is very rich in Omega 6... Oils that can get really hot for frying. Consuming sugar or alcohol makes metabolizing 6's difficult.
Good news---omega 3's can displace omega 6's. Seafoods, cold pressed canola oil (heat destrys it so think salad dressing or margarine substitute) flax seed, brazil nuts, dark green vegetables and kale are all goods sources of omega 3's.
I learned long ago that diet is sort of like religion and politics. People don't want to hear about it unless they agree with you. The take away here is, eat whatever you like, but if you like french fries, order a small once in awhile and eat plenty of the omega 3 sources.

Dr. Revelle

Dr. Revelle was one of the founding fathers of UCSD. He also was one of the first scientists to look at the earth globally and at the many interactions between natural forces. One of his early students was Al Gore. Mr Gore and a number of others were put to work tabulating data doing research as to whether carbon output from burning fossil fuels had an influence on the weather.
Dr. Revelle not only decided there was no correlation, he expressed deep regret for pointing people in the wrong direction with his studies of global warming. He spent his final years trying to keep the discussions scientific and was angered by the political adoption of a dis proven theory.
This past weekend, UCSD awarded the first ever Revelle award. To Al Gore. There are a number of scientists that new Revelle well that have been very vocally opposed, and are demanding a public debate on global warming with Al Gore. Gore refused any questioning or comments, and as usual, will not take on real scientists on this subject that know what they are talking about.
How shameful it is to keep giving awards to this charlatan. Feeble minds that can't scrutinize data will continue to eat it up. Like Shoo pointed out it will take a full blown ice age to change minds....
http://www.sepp.org/key%20issues/glwarm/cosmos.html If you read this article, keep in mind it was co-authored by Mr. Gore's mentor---the guy that originally planted the seed of human caused global warming. Gore has done some slimy things to discredit him posthumously, like claiming he was senile. Nice. Mr. Gore, PLEASE agree to a scientific debate on global warming. Your minions looking for a reason to vilify corporations that form the life blood of our economy will get wise to you eventually. You ending up a pariah is much more likely than the sea rising a single centimeter.

All the answers (to the prior post)

1) 3. Judicial, Executive, Legislative.

2) Trick question---Hamilton was never president. As RBG will tell, he was the first Secretary of the Treasury.

3) Article 4 section IV: "The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a Republican form of government"

4) (The first 10 amendments are also known as "The Bill Of Rights", and was needed to get the Constitution ratified by the 13 states) Amendment 10---"The powers NOT delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people"

5) C

6) None. Nowhere.

7) False

8) Executive, but don't feel bad if you said Legislative. The VP is President of the Senate, which is part of the Legislature, and has a vote in the event of a tie.

Pop quiz for voters

All the people that fought for voter's rights over the years miscalculated, or were niave, about the people's ability to self govern. Mind you, voter's rights for minorities and women are absolutely a good thing. Lack of knowledge about our system as set up by the founding fathers is not isolated to any group.
Next time people go to vote, they should have to pass a quiz on basic principals of the rules that govern them. Here's my version:

1) How many branches of Government are there?

2) What number president was Alexander Hamilton?

3) Does the Consitution guarantee a Democratic (majority rule) or Republican (checks and balances to avoid the tyrrany of the majority) form of government?

4) True or False---The Constitution forbids the President and Congress from exerting power over things not specifically provided for in the Constitution, giving that authority to the states.

5) Which right is protected by the Constitution: A) Education B) Healthcare C) Protection from seizure of property

6) What document guarantees seperation of Church and State?

7) True or False--The President is responsible for writing Federal Laws

8) To what branch of Government does the Vice President belong?

I'd change the quiz every election cycle. The purpose is not to disenfranchise anybody. The purpose is to assure people take the responsibility towards civic duty seriously, and vote what's best for the nation, along the lines the founding fathers intended...Not just what's best for an interest group

You're welcome!

Had my tax appointment before work today. Perry held over so I could go. Between California and Federal taxes, I paid enough this year to pay cash for the Subaru Impreza as pictured. When I think of how much of my money goes to 'programs' I'm fundamentally opposed to, to say it's frustrating is an understatement. Here's where I do, and don't, want my money to go:

Do's
1) Education. That means people teaching people. Not feeding them, counselling them, handing them condoms, or raising them before or after school. I'm OK for some going to the sports/music programs too.

2) Defense. Keeping us safe both externally by fighting bad people in their own country, and locally.

3) Infrastructure that directly supports commerce. Roads, utilities, and so on.

Don'ts
1) Personal health insurance. If you want to have a public hospital for un/under insured, with good medicine and bare bones everything else, I'm OK with that. The idea that health insurance is a right is....wrong.

2) Bailouts. Whether it's someone who bought a house they couldn't afford, or a company that hired CEO's it couldn't afford, or unions that killed their industry---let them go. You're throwing money down a hole. Let the market figure it out.

3) Tax returns for people who didn't pay taxes. This is insane. You are using MY money to promote non-production. At some pint I'll do better to quit working and live off the public, too.

If you see the world through the eyes of 'sustainability', do you really think the Obamanomics are sustainable? Why would anybody start a business? He said he doesn't want to hear the tired old arguements---that's probably why he stacked his press core and calls on the ones coached with questions (Where's HIS Helen Thomas??) Thing is, those 'old arguements' have proven true over and over again.

Danger Boy!

The first of three snowstorms scheduled to come this way hit....I had to leave the car by the highway and walk home. The next few days were spent digging snow out, keeping the fire going for heat with the inevitable power failure the snow brings....
Patrick had to try sledding anywhere he could get to. This was the sled run off the front porch. Not recommended for summertime activity.