british Climate Change fear mongers moving on?

"Well, at least we'll be able to grow more crops if it's warmer," they say. 

Is this stage of the narrative "bargaining" or "acceptance"?

A change in the wind

As the Gormogons said: booyah.  "Global Climate Change" (or whatever they're calling it this week) is dying, even in great britain.  Go and read the whole thing.

Remember how 2010 was the hottest year ever?

And how 2011 was even hotter because of all the CO2 that was released in 2010?

Yeah me neither. Actually this past summer was cooler than normal and we had a ton more rain than usual.

Forgive me if I don't go into full PSH for you.

Straining credibility

Seen on the front page of the newspaper: an AP article about a Berkeley scientist who used to consider himself a climate change denier, then when the East Anglia shenanigans went down he looked over their leaked data and decided that they were 100% completely right.

Seen on the second page with the weather: Average high for this day: a lovely 60 degrees. Today's projected high: an absolutely astonishing... 60 degrees. Record high for this day: a still pleasant 78 degrees, set in 1970.

Seen buried in the middle back of the newspaper: an article about the huge northeastern snow storms that went down over the weekend (2 feet?!? Man--you have my sympathy).

My conclusion: it's no wonder the "old media" is losing readership. The only reason I read it is so I can make fun of the articles in the morning, and that's not really how you want to build your business model...

Must be Autumn

We haven't had to turn on the swamp cooler till the afternoon for the past few days, and at night I actually appreciate having my wool blanket on my bed.  The corn in the garden is turning yellow and drying up, the tomatoes are coming on like a storm, and if it's not fall then it's getting close.  Probably be able to wear shorts for another month and a half, but it will probably be time to put away the sandals sooner than that. 

It's weird, though, this past summer we only had three days where we broke 100 (usually we get strings of weeks at a time), and it seemed to never dry out all that much.  It was actually kinda nice... do I have to thank Algor for it, or just take it as a fluke?

Electrochevette

My former roommate in Montana (who drove his family's Chevette for many years before his dad took it back and made him buy his own car--what a fun car...) sent me this little tidbit about "a concept ahead of it's time!"

The ELECTROCHEVETTE!

It could get 50 MILES (!!!!!) on a SINGLE CHARGE (!!!!!!!!) and a top speed of 53 MILES PER HOUR (!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Though keep in mind that the EPA range on the new Chevy Volt is a measly 35 miles (on pure batteries).

But the best part of this email was my friend's note at the bottom, which said:  "Help stop global warming and obesity. Buy an Electrovette. Zero emissions and 100% guaranteed walking after 50 miles."

Yep.  The downfall of all electric vehicles.  Unless you're an enviro-mentalist, in which case it's a feature.

You think we're running some sort of wildlife sanctuary?

I caught another raccoon last night. 18 years we've been living here, and we've never had such a problem with varmints.

...

I bet I could write a grant for funding to study the effects of global warming on the range and migration habits of the local raccoon and skunk populations...

Your must-read post of the day

Borepatch is back onto his "climate change" kick again.

The only downside to this is that I was looking forward to massive solar storms that set the US power grid on fire, so we could go all Mad Max. Oh well.

It must be time for summer

PSA time!

The newspaper has started it's annual "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!" thing it does every year when the river starts rising.  There are two things that you really should keep in mind about it, though:  1) the Colorado River doesn't really have any "floodplains" as such.  It's mostly in a valley all the way to Mexico, so there's not a whole lot of places for it to flood to.  2) Despite point 1, there is an awful lot of snow this year (I think some watersheds were up to 140% of normal, curse you Algor!), and when the temperature jumps by 20 degrees in a week like it just did, the snow will melt fast enough to flood some of the areas that are close to the river.

Both points 1 and 2 work together for my next point, which is 3) when the absurd amount of snow in the mountains is melting, and making the river flood (even if it isn't "flooding"), THERE IS STILL A FREEEKING AMOUNT OF WATER FLOWING!  I can't believe the number of morons who are going out on the river right now--there's already been several deaths.  Don't even get me started on the couple who went tubing WITH THEIR INFANT CHILD and had to be rescued.

So there you have it.  We're not ALL going to die, but Mr. Red will go after you IF YOU ARE A MORON.

DON'T BE A MORON.

Doing my part

Filled my truck up today--the fuel light finally turned on on my way home from work. 21.4 gallons, ~$76... but still got 15.2 mpg, which isn't far off from my jeep.

But what I'm really trying to sayis, that after ask that, and volcanoes in Iceland, it's still been a very cold and rainy May. Where's my global warming at? I'm doing my part, it must be all you slackers out there with your little econo-boxes. Shape up, will ya? I'm cold!

Aye-ye-ye... you stinking weather.

After it being nearly 90 over the weekend, now it's back down to the high 50's, with rain (and slush, last night). I want to know who I should beat up to make Algor stop flipping the global warming switch.

Tell Algor that I found his Global Warming

It snowed yesterday.

In Honor of Mother Earth

It's Earth Day! So tonight at 8:30, as a show of solidarity for the world, you're supposed to turn off your lights for an hour or something, because apparently that will save the global carbon levels or somesuch. I'm not entirely sure how a mere hour is supposed to affect much of anything, but I thought I would get a head start and turn on my Lava Lamp now.

Rest assured, it will be blazing brightly tonight, spewing carbon and warming my globe.

Also, while we're at it, why don't we re-post that classic of hippie culture, the "Dead Tree Wailing" video!



It's Earth Day, so let's all be stupid!

Global Warming is dead!

Long live Global Climate Disruption!

Seen first at those purveyors and distributors of wisdom, the Gormogons.

My Ginger Beer Recipe

Today I made Ginger Beer!  I have had different types of store bought, and I made it last year, so in order to make some Dark 'N Stormies, I made it again! 

I cook by taste, so none of this should be taken as gospel truth.  Play with it, taste it, make it how you like it. That's what makes cooking fun!

To start off with, I peeled a big ginger root.  It went into the food processor with maybe two tablespoons of water, and was chopped till it was nice and fine.  This was pressed through a strainer to get the liquid.  I repeated the process with some more water to get more of the gingery flavor.  To this was added about a cup and a quarter of lemon juice and maybe a cup and a half of sugar.  Those are the two ingredients that you can play around with until you get a taste that you like.  I also added 2 teaspoons of Cream of Tartar, just because the internet said I could. Enough water was added to make it into a little less than 2 liters, and then the whole thing was poured into a clean plastic 2-liter bottle.  A packet of baker's yeast was added, with a little bit more water to wash the yeast out of the funnel I was using and into the bottle.  Screw on the cap tightly and put it into a cooler, dark area for a couple of days, or until the bottle is firm.  The yeast eats the sugar and produces carbon dioxide (HAHAHA! I CREATED GLOBAL WARMING!) which carbonates the liquid.  While the yeast does also produce some alcohol, there really isn't enough to be considered above "trace." So it's fun for the whole family!

Making your own Ginger Beer is as easy as pie--give it a try!

Super Mega Ultra Roadtrip Photo Post

On Monday I drove the 700 miles south from MT to "Happy Valley" (AKA, NOT DENVER, SUCKAS!) Colorado for the summer. Because using your cell phone while driving is now being illegalized across the nation, I decided to use my camera instead. While the pictures may be blurry, and have bug splotches in them, and be washed out from the sun, I'm going to do it anyway. You don't have to watch if you don't want to.

Just some mountains near Dillon, MT.  Scenes like that are why I don't live someplace like, anywhere east of the Mississippi.

Somewhere in Idaho, there is this giant grain silo that always makes me smile.  Also seen is the elusive floating watch.  It's elusive because it's transparent.

A forest fire, also in ID.  This is probably going to be a pretty bad fire year, as there wasn't a whole lot of snow.

The Miasma Cloud of Smog Lake City comes into view.  No offense to anyone who lives there, but I hate SLC.  A hundred miles of pure suck. And there are places in UT so much prettier.

Leaving the City, and tilting at windmills.

The Bookcliffs come into view south of Price.  Almost looks like home!

Just a few more miles to go!  I always thought the "Colorful Colorado" thing was silly--here you are, out in the brown desert, and you have a brown sign.  Meh, that's marketing for you.

There's home!

And here's another one that I took, just to make hippies cry:

Also seen in this picture is the top half of my face, if you can find it.

And now I am home for the summer.  One more semester left, and then I'll be a real engineer! Though not a Professional Engineer--that requires four years working under a P.E. and another Evil Test.    But I digress.

Why the Climate Change Folks Make Me Uncomfortable

A post over at Borepatch got me thinking again (dangerous, I know), and I went back to a website called Minnesotans for Global Warming.  As I was reading that blog, I found this arcticle:

A seven month old baby has miraculously survived being shot after the parents killed themselves and their two year old son, citing fears over a lack of government action on global warming.
Francisco Lotero, 56, and Miriam Coletti, 23, are said to have shot their young son in the back, killing the toddler instantly.
Neighbours called the police, after complaining of a stench coming from the house.

Here is a big reason why I don't fall for the Climate Change Hysteria.   It is a religion, a religion that does not believe in the value human life.  I honestly don't know how else to say it, or even what else to say.

Update: I fixed the link; sorry 'bout that.

Shut up, Algor

In my inbox, I had a nice little survey that my school wanted me to do:  a Greenhouse Emissions Inventory.  Presumably the folks in charge want to spend my tuition in ways I don't agree with.  I took the survey, all right.

 

The school name has been removed to protect the guilty.

The best part was, after I submitted it, the website said "Thank you for your cooperation."

No problem.  No problem at all.  You want to waste my time? I am happy to waste yours.