Welcome to my little corner of the web. I'm a single dad of two from North Carolina, and sometimes I have something to say.
In case you were following the story...
Apparantly the girl who lost her feet in the accident at the Six Flags park in Kentucky is now "stable".
(Personally, I'd have though she'd be a bit "wobbly"....)
Here's the link.
I'm brilliant!
I took one of those Online IQ tests and while I believe the number is a bit low, at least this one came with a cool star for my brilliance. Einstein would be proud. See above for proof...
Adam goes to Paris... sort of.
I saw this subtitled French film last night and walked away in awe of the performance of Marion Cotillard (who was excellent in 'Big Fish' if you want to see more of her) as the legendary French singer Edith Piaf. Piaf's incredible spirit and love for life came to life so vibrantly through Cotillard, who singlehandedly carried the film.
Unfortunately, while the rest of the cast was also very good, I think the direction the film took was too jumpy - for lack of a better term. It skipped back and forth though five pivotal time periods and locations of Edith's life, each with it's own distinct mood and imagery. But while each of these times were relevant in shaping who she was, the order they were portrayed was scattered and it broke up the flow and emotion of what could have otherwise been a top-tier film.
On the plus side, the film clearly portrays her lust for life, love, and experience, and is thoroughly captivating and enjoyable regardless. Still, I believe the audience would have been better served if the timeline followed her life exactly - from her childhood as the daughter of a circus acrobat and alcoholic prostitute, her upbringing in a brothel, and discovery by a nightclub owner, to her passionate yet tragic love affair with a married boxer, years of drug addition, all the way to her revealing final night.
Ultimately, this film is definitely a must-see if you have even the slightest interest in France's answer to Judy Garland's voice. Even if you don't speak french, go for the singing alone...
Today's topic: Global Warming
Bah, fine, another political rant. After reading the latest installment of the Washington Post’s expose on Dick Cheney I stumbled across an op-ed piece by Emily Yoffe where she was busy slamming Al Gore for his movie “An Inconvenient Truth” and the idea of global warming as a whole.
Now I make no bones about the fact that if Gore decides to run for President again, he’ll have my vote. So it’s no surprise that I’m going to take a few moments to pick apart this article in which scientific information and evidence are unapologetically twisted to make a point.
The point Yoffe was trying to make is that we shouldn't be terrified all the time about global warming, and those people trying to push it into the headlines are not only wasting their time, but also doing themselves and us a disservice. Basically, she's trying to say the same thing as the Democrats do about the Republican policy of fear about terrorism.
On one hand, she's right. The best way to deal with the problem isn't to fear monger us. (war on terror, 9/11, colored alert charts, etc). But at the same time, she's so far off base on the science that's she doing far more damage than good. She can't even make the basic distinction between climate and weather.
“Since I hate the heat, even I was alarmed by the recent headline: "NASA Warns of 110-Degrees for Atlanta, Chicago, DC in Summer." But I regained my cool when I realized the forecast was for close to the end of the century. Thanks to all the heat-mongering, it's supposed to be a sign I'm in denial because I refuse to trust a weather prediction for August 2080, when no one can offer me one for August 2008 (or 2007 for that matter).
There is so much hubris in the certainty about the models of the future that I'm oddly reassured. We've seen how hubristic predictions about complicated, unpredictable events have a way of bringing the predictors low.”
That argument is just absurd, and either she knows this or she’s delving into a topic she has no right to be taking up valuable space in the Post with. Everyone knows that the precise weather in any given place and time is not predictable more than a week or so ahead of time. (Butterflies, Chaos theory, whatever...)
However, the climate is the sum total of all weather, and is very much predictable. Yoffe's example actually shows this: We can in fact say a great deal about this August. Granted, we can't predict precise local temperatures, but we know August on average is going to be hotter than December (in the Northern hemisphere, anyway). Our seasons are predictable, as are many other things about the climate, including the influence of the greenhouse effect upon it. Because of our contribution to greenhouse gasses, we know that the global average temperature is going to be hotter in the future.
But Yoffe isn't finished -- she also rambled on about global warming and hurricanes:
“Now, Gore and others say that Katrina was a product of global warming and that we can expect more and bigger storms. But there is actually brisk scientific debate over the role global warming plays -- if any -- in the creation of hurricanes.”
First of all, Gore never said that Katrina was a "product of global warming." In fact in congressional testimony he clearly put to bed the notion that any single storm can be causally attributed in this way.
Yoffe, meanwhile, doesn't even seem to grasp what this whole debate is about.
It's not whether there will be more storms, or whether they will be bigger. And it is definitely not about the creation of hurricanes. Hurricanes will always exist; the question is what they'll be like once they occur. Science suggests they will probably be more intense on average, wetter, and occur over seas that are higher as more of our polar ice melts. It's not wrong or alarmist to point that out.
The point I’m trying to make is this. Yoffe's article is just another sad example of how right wing Washington journalism treats scientific information. Whether it be global warming, or stem cell research, it’s more important to make a clever argument than to be right.
Stem Cells this week...
As I was re-reading this piece from last week in the Washington Post, one thing kept standing out - and that's how Bush is being completely hypocritical when he continues to veto Stem Cell legislation.
One one hand, he continues to call it immoral and insists that scientific advances allow researchers to pursue research without destroying human embryos. Yet on the other, he's gushing about private sector research. Wasn't it just a few days ago that Tony Snow said the White House wants to “encourage” privately-funded embryonic stem-cell research? He practically boasted about the “billions of dollars available in the private sector to make such research possible.”
It's hard to argue that Bush isn't a puppet to behind the scenes special interests. And it's sad they're keeping us from investing in potentially lifesaving research.
It's been discovered. These people are it...
There is no ends to the lengths people will go for money.
The bottom line is these guys want $50K or they will abort their baby...
How about counting to a million?
Starting today around noon this guy plans to do just that, live on the internet. He figures if he spends 5 seconds per number, and counts for 16 hours a day he should be done in about 90 days.
Adam says a few words on Immigration
What blog of mine would be complete without an occasional political rant? And this one may surprise you since I'm beginning to find myself on the other side of the fence when it comes to immigration.
With everything this nation has gone through these past 6 years regarding terrorism and protecting our borders, it just seems unfathomable that we have have such tolerance for the 15+ million people that have crossed into this country illegally, committed document fraud, often combined with blatant identity theft, overstayed their visas, and now are insisting upon full forgivness for their actions. Where do these Illegals get this overwhelming sense of entitlement? They demand not just legal status in this country, but also that we leave our borders open so that other illegals could follow, without so much as an "I'm sorry" or a "thank you."
Sorry but while I may be quite progressive, I'm not buying it. We need to secure our borders, enforce our existing laws including prosecuting those who employ illegals, and fund the Citizenship and Immigration Services properly so they can deal with the backlog of millions of people who wish to enter this country legally...
The Nokia N800 Internet Tablet
I think this just might let my fascination of the iPhone subside a bit.
First of all, the device itself is several hundred dollars cheaper that the iPhone. Secondly, since it uses WiFi and BlueTooth, you don't need to sign up for a 2 year committment to AT&T and pay whatever ridiculous prices they are going to charge for their data plan. Third, it's a VoIP phone, and can be used for making via Gizmo and GoogleTalk. This means that you can make cheap (or even free) calls anytime you are connected to a Wi-Fi network. With Wi-Fi becoming more prevalent every day, this means you’ll soon be able to use this to make calls from just about anywhere. With the iPhone, you will need to make all your calls via AT&T on their plan. Finally, this has a built in webcam and supports video conferencing! How great would that be for your next conference call? Star-Trek-like video calls! Fun!
I wonder how long I can wait before I notice my wallet is a few hundred dollars lighter for some strange reason...
I meant to do it too!
I was downstairs for breakfast with Brendan last Thursday when he said "I think the cat just bought us a present." My first thought was amazement since our cat is both declawed and fat, not to mention semi-retarted. He has run himself fullspeed into a fence chasing butterflys on several occasions, but really hasn't shown much interest in anything bigger than a bird before. The thought of him actually catching something almost his size seemed out of the realm of possibility.
Anyway, the cat saw us looking at him so he just let the rabbit go and pranced over to the door to be let in. The rabbit looked OK for the most part, just sitting there. I figured it would wander away after it settled down a bit. But after 5 minutes when it was still there, I went and looked at the other side of it... To save you graphic details, it was not a pretty site and my cat was probably not very hungry.
Well, I had to do something. The rabbit wasn't going to survive much longer and didn't deserve to suffer. But I didn't want to get my hands dirty killing it, and I didn't want to leave it in my backyard either. So I picked up a 20lb rock from the flowerbed and dropped it on the rabbit from over my head, which did the trick. Then I scooped up the body in a grocery bag and tossed it in the trash.
However, now I have guilt for killing it, even though I think it was the right thing to do. And I also have to consider keeping the cat inside, he obviously has hunting skills I never knew he had. That or the rabbit picked a fight it couldn't win, which is just as likely.
Just thought I'd share, since I don't want to be the only one with the images in my head...
My sister's idea of humor. Not bad actually!
She said they're real boobs. I think she checked herself.
Would you support war if there were no casualties?
Pentagon Confirms It Sought To Build A 'Gay Bomb'
I don't know why this is news. As far as I knew, they tested this over San Francisco back in the '70s and everyone seems quite happy there!
