I’m back

The housewarming this weekend was great, but I am exhausted … and I’m also swamped this morning with work to catch up on – please consider this an open thread as I know there are topics out there to discuss that I haven’t been able to blog about yet. Hopefully I’ll be able to resume blogging this afternoon but if not, definitely tonight.

BTW, have I mentioned how much I dislike Mondays?

41 Responses to "I’m back"

Baklava says:

April 24, 2006 at 11:04 am

Awe…. Here’s a hug for ya..
Karl says:

April 24, 2006 at 11:08 am

suck up.
Jim M says:

April 24, 2006 at 1:19 pm
Severian says:

April 24, 2006 at 2:08 pm

Ugh, Mondays…this one has been particularly rough. The only redeeming thing so far is that we have a pair of red tailed hawks nesting in the woods just outside my office. I’m on the 4th floor, and they have been flying around all day putting on a show. They come by about 2 feet off my wall of windows. Beautiful birds…

Other than that, yech.
Baklava says:

April 24, 2006 at 3:30 pm

Karl, The hug was for me!

Here is a piece today in the Wall Street Journal that has the following text:

Since 1970, carbon monoxide emissions in the U.S. are down 55%, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Particulate emissions are down nearly 80%, and sulfur dioxide emissions have been reduced by half. Lead emissions have declined more than 98%. All of this has been accomplished despite a doubling of the number of cars on the road and a near-tripling of the number of miles driven, according to Steven Hayward of the Pacific Research Institute.

How will the left respond to these statistics? By smearing and discrediting people.

The truth is that crisis mentality drastic steps and hobbling our economy aren’t solutions. Dealing with environmentalism with science and ration ideas are what’s needed when determining solutions.
Baklava says:

April 24, 2006 at 3:50 pm

Here is an another article that talks about the environment. It has the following text:

In its report “State of the Air 2003” the American Lung Association
claimed that between 1999 and 2001, Los Angeles County
averaged 35 days per year with ozone in excess of epa’s eighthour
ozone benchmark of 85 ppb. Yet, as shown in Figure 2, none
of L.A. County’s 14 ozone monitors registered anywhere near
that many ozone exceedances. Indeed, the average L.A. County
location averaged six exceedances per year — 83 percent less
than the report claims — while the most densely populated areas
of the county never exceeded the epa benchmark at all.
The American Lung Association derived its inflated value
by assigning an ozone violation to the entire county on any day
in which at least one location in the county exceeded 85 ppb.
For example, if ozone was high one day in Glendora and the
next day in Santa Clarita, 50 miles away, the report counted two
high-ozone days for all 9.5 million people in L.A. County. The
logical fallacy here is obvious — it is like failing an entire class
when one student does poorly.
The American Lung Association method exaggerates ozone
exposure for tens of millions of people all across the country,
as shown in Figure 3. For each county, the dash at the top marks
the report’s artificially inflated claim, while the other markers
show the actual number of elevated ozone days per year at the
worst, average, and best location in each county, reading from
top to bottom. The average location in a county typically has
less than half as many ozone exceedances as the report claims
for the entire county.
The Public Interest Research Group (pirg) took the American
Lung Association’s techniques to the state level. In its 2002 report
“Danger in the Air” pirg claimed that California exceeded the
eight-hour ozone benchmark on 130 days in 2001. Yet almost half
of the state’s monitoring locations had no exceedances, while the
average location had seven. Even the worst location in California
had only about half as many ozone exceedances as pirgclaimed
for the whole state. pirgsimilarly claimed fictionally large ozone
problems for every other state it scrutinized.
Severian says:

April 24, 2006 at 4:07 pm

No surprise Bak, if they admitted that things weren’t as bad as they say, it would affect their funding. Money is corrupting science in ways that I used to, in my naive days right after getting my degrees, would have never thought possible. Witness the ongoing global warming hysteria, with alleged scientists lying thru their teeth about data, supressing data that doesn’t agree, and flat out inventing data (like extropolating an entire worlds worth of temp data from ONE FREAKING TREE!!!). Because global warming hysterial sells, and gets funding.
Karl says:

April 24, 2006 at 4:13 pm

good stuff Bak. I was just having an ~~argument~~ err…discussion about this, and i cross posted those articles.

The point is that they love to create drama using faulty arguments and misleading facts.

Like the democrats protecting McCarthy, they jusitify it on morals grounds, that it depends on interpretation (what is the definition of is maybe) and rationalize it because they feel it serves a higher purpose.

I figure,in my naive way, that if the truth cannot carry your argument to victory, then maybe the problem is with your position.

But what do I know, i am just some ignorant blogger.
Cump says:

April 24, 2006 at 4:42 pm

Whine, whine whine…you sleep too much, anyway. Get to work!
Baklava says:

April 24, 2006 at 5:22 pm

Karl wrote, “they jusitify it on morals grounds”

Yes. The ends justify the means because conservatives are “evil”. Yet they don’t even know what we believe.
NC Cop says:

April 24, 2006 at 5:24 pm

How about the fact that I WALKED TODAY!!!!!!!!

I got up with crutches and was able to do 2 laps around the rec room! My therapist was so pleased that she said I could skip using the walker and go straight to using the crutches!!! I was kind of happy about that too, since using a walker at 36 years old would definitely not be cool!!!!

The legs felt pretty good. They were very tender after only two laps so it’s going to be a long road, but it was definitely a good start!!

It’s still hard to believe it actually happened, it seems like years ago since I was injured, but it was the best Monday I can remember!!
Severian says:

April 24, 2006 at 5:32 pm

Congratulations NC Cop! That’s excellent news, we’re all rooting for you here. That sounds like an outstanding start…at least someone had a good Monday!
Baklava says:

April 24, 2006 at 5:38 pm

RIGHT ON CHAMP!!

That is outstanding !!

Keep it comin’
Lorica says:

April 24, 2006 at 7:25 pm

Congratulations NC!!!! This is very good news. – Lorica
sanity says:

April 24, 2006 at 7:46 pm

NC, though I do not know you, I give you big congratulations on your efforts and achievements.

I cannot begin to fathom the diffulty and the pain you have to deal with, keeping your spirits high and in a good mood, while even coming in here and giving us your time also is amazing.
forest hunter says:

April 24, 2006 at 7:55 pm

Right on NC! Hippity hop mob, no stop! Great news. I hoped I’d hear from you today! Congrats or as we say in Japan – Omedito gozaimas NCsan!
Big Bang Hunter says:

April 24, 2006 at 9:36 pm

– Yo NC!. You go guy…..

– Bang
Sister Toldjah says:

April 24, 2006 at 9:56 pm

AWESOME, NC Cop!
Ryan says:

April 24, 2006 at 10:05 pm

Outstanding NC!
Ryan says:

April 24, 2006 at 10:10 pm

ST – Are you watching the Canes game? 5-5 in OT.. Former Moorhead Spud has his second goal of the playoffs in tonight’s game.
Sister Toldjah says:

April 24, 2006 at 10:44 pm

Nope not watching it – I need to check ESPN to see what’s happening!
NC Cop says:

April 24, 2006 at 11:30 pm

Canes LOST!!!

My Rangers LOST!!!!

I’m goin to bed!!!!

P.S.- I know I said it before, but thanks again for everyone’s support and kind words. It really does make a difference!!
Marshall Art says:

April 24, 2006 at 11:33 pm

NC Cop,

Don’t know you. Don’t know your story. All the best to you anyway, and I pray God grants you a complete recovery.
Jim M says:

April 25, 2006 at 6:35 am

NC Cop,

A bit late but Congratulations, that is great news!!!
saus says:

April 25, 2006 at 7:19 am

just wanted to leave all the local caners a friendly rub and thank you all for the commanding lead in the series last night

Plenty of deep chilled Canadian brew if you want to catch game 3 up in Montreal, and not that 3% stuff either. All sports jabs aside, great game, real wild one.. Looking forward to the full series.
Baklava says:

April 25, 2006 at 12:55 pm

Today Bush, “urged lawmakers to expand tax breaks for the purchase of fuel-efficient hybrid automobiles.“
PCD says:

April 25, 2006 at 1:07 pm

Bak, How about some common sense regulations for vehicles? My 97 T-Bird gets 20 city and 33 highway. My daughter’s 88 T-Bird gets 25 City and 31 highway. With some tweaking, I could get better out of both cars. If there were more E85 stations, and the government was willing to do without some tax revenue, I could be pursuaded to convert both cars to burn E85.
Baklava says:

April 25, 2006 at 1:15 pm

I’m all for it. I was just posting a little tidbit out of a Yahoo story that was headlined (wup Yahoo changed the headline – damn), well they had a headline that made it seem Bush was against hte environment because he was easing restrictions to do with Ethanol so that prices could drop (which they did immediately on the wholesale market to the tune of 8 cents per gallon).

My post was for liberals so that they could SEE that Bush was FOR environmentalism – (for fuel-efficient hybrid automobiles). As liberals will be in tunnel vision reading Bush anti-enviro stories as if they know what is in Bush’s motives or thoughts.
PCD says:

April 25, 2006 at 1:24 pm

Bak, the problem is that Libs don’t want to solve problems. They just want to restrict property rights and other personal liberties to obtain energy and such without government limiting and doling it out.

I had a 78 Buick Skylark that I had tuned using OLD mechanic techniques that was cleaner than the 1980 models. I got pulled out of line at a voluntary test in Clear Lake, IA, as the smog nazis went over that Buick with a fine toothed comb trying to figure out what I did.

I’d do the same again with my cars. I’m all for efficiently burning fuel, but some of the stuff the EPA and Congress mandates is crap that doesn’t work.
Baklava says:

April 25, 2006 at 1:48 pm

Some do. Many do. Just many are misinformed and instead of hearing the misleading headlines it’s nice to give them a different set of sentences to chew on.

I was there. I know. I was brainwashed pre 1991.

I do agree that they are mislead into beieving that property needs to be seized and energy companies need to be punished for selling a legal product, etc.

I had a Ford LTD Country Squire station wagon that had better hydro carbon and Carbon Monoxide and sulphur readings than my ex’s 4 cylinder Toyota Camry. Not to mention that it could scoot. It had a 5.0 V8 that was detuned to 160 HP and 285 ft lbs of torque. I towed trailers with it and it did pretty good for a car.

What’s my point? Well… That the liberal mindeset is sort of shallow. More education about the pollutants are needed. Strong, reliable, well maintained cars polluting less than throw away, gone in 4 years Geo Metros are what’s needed. Who maintains a Geo Metro anyway? How is that good for the environment? 80% of car pollution is made by cars that aren’t well maintained.

Just keep a positive attitude. I know I fail sometimes but really liberals need more info from us. It’s our duty to inform. Some will come around as some have for me.
PCD says:

April 25, 2006 at 1:52 pm

Bak,

I sell repair and maintenance parts for Geo Metros. They are high priced and hard to get in large quantites. Usually a Metro owner gets frustrated and buys a Hyundai. When they start looking for headlights, tranny fluid, filters for the Hyundai, they are really frustrated people.
Baklava says:

April 25, 2006 at 1:54 pm

BTW, The LTD was a 1991 vehicle and the Camry as a 1990 vehicle and the readings were done in 1998.

I am in no way saying that today’s Toyota Camry pollutes.

I’m saying that YOU PEOPLE need to maintain your cars. The 1990 Camry had a valve issue where many of the cars had an issue starting and running where it polluted more. It’d cost up to $1,000 to fix and most don’t because it passed smog and it didn’t pose a reliability problem.
Baklava says:

April 25, 2006 at 1:58 pm

Hey, Any ideas on how to make my Mercury Villager minivan with the 3.3 liter V6 more efficient?

Only 20 MPG. I’m riding the bus now to get to work.

I don’t need 170 HP and or 200 lb of torque. There should be a way to tell the computer to do something differently. That’s my view.
PCD says:

April 25, 2006 at 2:11 pm

Bak,

Get my email from the good sister. I have a friend that can supply you with a chip for your engine’s computer to give you a more economy tune. Also, google ASP. They make underdrive pulley kits for Fords that work well. I have one on my T-Bird. I get 2 MPG more in town with those pulleys on. Also, replace your paper air filter with a K&N air filter. Should net you another 1 MPG, but you’ll never need to buy another air filter again.
PCD says:

April 25, 2006 at 2:13 pm

NC Cop, if you keep this up, I may have to hire Richard Simmons to get into shape to keep up with you. Big Congratulations.
Big Bang Hunter says:

April 25, 2006 at 2:44 pm

Heres an story about a possible energy source we may be using in a few thousand years, not that it will help us at the pumps now, but theres always hope!

– On another note, I have two things to add to the “cheap renewable, non-polluting energy” disscussion. For those of you that are not physicists, the main problem is and always has been, not so much the generation of the power economically, there are many ways to do that, but the long time storage efficiently, so it can be used as needed. One way that NOBODY is talking about is “kenetic storage”. I won’t go into a lot of detail. But it uses gravity. You build a vert very large heavy construct, it could be the building housing the control center for instance, and you place it on slides into a large water filled sealed base in the ground. Solar panels in a large “farm” with high energy collectors provide the energy to “pump” up the building in off hours, (you have as many of these as you want with some in operation and others being power “charged” or lifted), and then allow the building or weight to “settle” pushing the water underneath through electrical generators. the problem with solar has always been the “night” hours, and this would completely solve that.

– On another front I am involved in ongoing experiments on an energy form that was discovered way back on the late 20’s, but largely forgotten as a curiosity, because no one can seem to figure out where the “energy” comes from in the process or what form it takes. Some think its actually “anti-gravity”, others that its some form of new “kenetic” propulsion. In any event for decades it was considered just aa novalty because it seemed it would never be practical in what it could do, however lately theres been a revival of interest, even at NASA who are already thinking of using a already working design in space “steering” jets on sattelites. Breakthroughs in development in just the past year are showing really interesting promise. So take heaart. You may be zipping around in “Gravi-cars” in the not to distant future folks! No more gas stations!

– Bang
PCD says:

April 25, 2006 at 3:07 pm

Bang, what about those frozen methane deposits off the southeast US coast for a source of energy?
Big Bang Hunter says:

April 25, 2006 at 3:16 pm

Ummm… Not aware of those PCD…. but sounds interesting, at least as a stopgap measure. What we really want to do is get away from burning any of the hyrocarbons, and move to Hydrogen, which happily is the most common element in the known universe and makes one of the ingrediants for tea as its by product when it burns. Water. We get two for one.

– Bang
PCD says:

April 25, 2006 at 3:42 pm

Well, Bang, it turns out that those deposits are the new theory for the Bermuda Triangle. I think Discovery Channel and Learning Channel have both had shows on university experiments that shows large and sudden bursts of huge volumes of methane lower the buoyancy of seawater to the point large ships sink.

The methane can also smother aircraft engines in these size quantities.

Now, don’t I sound like a liberal junk science advocate?
Big Bang Hunter says:

April 25, 2006 at 3:59 pm

– I think I may have seen something on that, but when they start talking about Elvis leading a band of LGM’s in his dayglow colored UFO, with Nessie in the parade, and you better be quiet or the Red headed Major is going to take you out to the desert, I generally nod off.

– I did see a show where they think sudden eruptions of carbon dioxide/methane/monoxide from under lakes and bodies of water explains massive cattle/animal kills in several parts of the world over the ages though. Was always a mystery before. Wonder if thats what happened to Flight 19.

– Bang
Baklava says:

April 26, 2006 at 11:54 am

Dick Meyer piece that is interesting

Comments are closed.