Friday, May 30, 2008
Luke
I just spoke with Luke who is in Honolulu with five other ROTC Midshipmen. He is about to board a plane that will take him to the USS Reagan. I should say onto the USS Reagan, it being an aircraft carrier. He had a nine hour flight from Chicago to Hawaii on which they gave him a free sandwich because he was in uniform.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Memorial Day
Is this a senseless loss of a young life, or is this what gives life meaning? You decide.
More:
"In his October 4, 2007 Wall Street Journal piece,“ Modern Heroes,” Robert Kaplan observed that “according to LexisNexis, by June 2005, two months after his posthumous award, [Smith’s] stirring story had drawn only 90 media mentions, compared to 4,677 for the supposed Quran abuse at Guantanamo Bay, and 5,159 for the court-martialed Abu Ghraib guard Lynndie England.” This is nothing short of a scandal."
More:
"In his October 4, 2007 Wall Street Journal piece,“ Modern Heroes,” Robert Kaplan observed that “according to LexisNexis, by June 2005, two months after his posthumous award, [Smith’s] stirring story had drawn only 90 media mentions, compared to 4,677 for the supposed Quran abuse at Guantanamo Bay, and 5,159 for the court-martialed Abu Ghraib guard Lynndie England.” This is nothing short of a scandal."
Friday, May 23, 2008
Like, You Know
This sort of brilliant humor is really, really rare. Hat tip to Mark Swanson, ultrapastor.blogspot.com.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Obama Sez III
After saying that other countries weren't going to put up with us stealing all the food and heat, he said:
"That's not leadership. That's not going to happen."
So. To the O-man, leadership means going to other countries and asking them how we should behave. I think hes confused about the meaning of leadership.
"That's not leadership. That's not going to happen."
So. To the O-man, leadership means going to other countries and asking them how we should behave. I think hes confused about the meaning of leadership.
Obama Sez II
"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK."
What? We need to ask permission of other countries? Hey, do you mind if we keep our homes at a comfortable temperature?
Who is this guy? And what does he eat? As much as he wants? What's the temperature of his home? Someone should investigate.
What? We need to ask permission of other countries? Hey, do you mind if we keep our homes at a comfortable temperature?
Who is this guy? And what does he eat? As much as he wants? What's the temperature of his home? Someone should investigate.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
A college graduate!
Want proof? Enlarge this picture and look closely. That's Laura near the bottom of the ramp with her diploma in her left hand. Ahead of her is Kendra, and behind her are Kaitlyn and Keira. When we cheered for them, so did the people right behind us, and we discovered that completely by accident, we were sitting with Kendra's family.
The four friends, much easier to recognize:
Jason's proud.
So are Dad and Mom.
Luke's blurry in this one, but I like it anyway.
Congratulations, Laura!
Jason's proud.
And so's Luke!
Congratulations, Laura!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Got Coyotes?
Coyotes have been attacking children in some parts of California. The poor things must be so hungry. ;~)
I like this take on the parallels between being the prey of predators and being the prey of terrorists:
"The effort to remake the world so that it is safe for predators seems rather odd to me. What sort of person would rather be prey? The sort who lives in upscale neighborhoods, and campaigns against hunting, apparently. I suspect that over the long term this isn't a viable evolutionary strategy in a world where predators abound."
Nornew, part III, or is it IV?
My estimate of the value of NG per acre that I made in the previous Nornew thread may be low. If a verical well has 1 BCF recoverable on 40-acrespacing, at $10/mcf, that's about $250,000/acre. A horizontal well would be even higher. Of course, it all depends on the price of NG. It may go higher. For awhile, anyway. Wait 'til all these wells are up and running. Maybe someone can enlighten me as to whether the commodity price for NG is at the point-of-use or the wellhead, or what.
Contrast the energy produced by one NG well, sited unobtrusively, distributed by an underground pipeline, with that produced by these monster windmills and vast solar power installations. I'll take a NG well in my backyard over a windmill anyday. Windmills are noisy and huge. They blight the landscape. To get any quantity of energy from solar you best be prepared to cover vast stretches of the earth.
God I love fossil fuels. They keep me warm and move me around. They burn cleaner than ever before, and cleaner still all the time. Their increased use has coincided with cleaner and cleaner air and water.
And I'm sick of listening to people say, "We need an energy policy." How about NO policy? Just shut up and get out of the way! Take your CAFE standards and your subsidies and tax incentives and go someplace else and let the people who provide us with energy provide us with energy. No politician has ever done a thing to provide anyone with energy. Energy comes from
companies like EXXON and this vast array of companies in the marcellus "play". Companies with the guts to take risks, invest time and money, and produce something that has value to people. Politicians have NO value. They produce nothing except obstacles and roadblocks.
Kinda early for a rant.
Contrast the energy produced by one NG well, sited unobtrusively, distributed by an underground pipeline, with that produced by these monster windmills and vast solar power installations. I'll take a NG well in my backyard over a windmill anyday. Windmills are noisy and huge. They blight the landscape. To get any quantity of energy from solar you best be prepared to cover vast stretches of the earth.
God I love fossil fuels. They keep me warm and move me around. They burn cleaner than ever before, and cleaner still all the time. Their increased use has coincided with cleaner and cleaner air and water.
And I'm sick of listening to people say, "We need an energy policy." How about NO policy? Just shut up and get out of the way! Take your CAFE standards and your subsidies and tax incentives and go someplace else and let the people who provide us with energy provide us with energy. No politician has ever done a thing to provide anyone with energy. Energy comes from
companies like EXXON and this vast array of companies in the marcellus "play". Companies with the guts to take risks, invest time and money, and produce something that has value to people. Politicians have NO value. They produce nothing except obstacles and roadblocks.
Kinda early for a rant.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Obama Sez
"The pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies are not going to easily give up their profits when it comes to health care."
Of all the astonishing things I've heard him and Princess Ticked Off and their now disowned preacher say, this is the most astonishing. It indicates a childlike or adolescent perception of how the world "ought to be". I'm beginning to think this man would be dangerous as president.
George Will asks Obama some questions.
Of all the astonishing things I've heard him and Princess Ticked Off and their now disowned preacher say, this is the most astonishing. It indicates a childlike or adolescent perception of how the world "ought to be". I'm beginning to think this man would be dangerous as president.
George Will asks Obama some questions.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
How to make a link in a comment
(Dad was wondering.)
Here's the HTML:
Replace "url" with your link (leave the quotation marks there) and put the words to make your link between > and <. Wallah! (Yes, people do spell voila this way. I don't know what they think it means, but if you pay attention, you'll see it all over the place.) Instead of trying to remember the html, I keep this page bookmarked so I can just copy and paste when I want it.
Here's the HTML:
Replace "url" with your link (leave the quotation marks there) and put the words to make your link between > and <. Wallah! (Yes, people do spell voila this way. I don't know what they think it means, but if you pay attention, you'll see it all over the place.) Instead of trying to remember the html, I keep this page bookmarked so I can just copy and paste when I want it.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Lugo
Makes his eleventh error leading to two runs. Orsillo and Remy are all over him as are the cameras. I almost feel sorry for him. His average has dropped about 60 points and he's 0 for his last 14 with runners in scoring position. 0-for-15.
Be Afraid
Read this. And here is a quote from the weekly KDMTrading Report, a dairy futures broker:
"Feed: The slowest planting progress since 1993 and the outlook for more cool, wet, weather over much of the nation had new crop corn break new highs this week. Dec. corn settled at $6.50 a bushel. Soybeans and meal were up sharply on Friday as well, with Nov. beans back over $13, and Dec. Meal at $312/ton. Already under pressure from giving up acres to row crops, the cold spring has also affected hay growers in WA. Alfalfa plants have usually grown "15 by the end of April, but are only 6-8" high. Some farmers have seen almost no growth in the last 10 days. Producers are being forced to decide whether to cut on schedule, or possibly forego a cutting later in the year. Either way, prices look to be going up."
I don't know what the truth is about global supplies of food, and whether recent food protests in various parts of the world are in response to honest-to-goodness shortages or simply high prices. But the combination of ethanol mandates, growing demand from Asia, and a prolonged period of cool weather could put extreme pressure on world food supplies.
Fear not global warming. Fear global cooling. Warming prevents glaciers over our heads and fosters growth and life. Cooling brings ice ages and low ag productivity and death. Just ask the Vikings who settled Greenland when it was green in the Medieval warming Period, only to have it turn cold a few centuries later, wiping out thier settlements.
"Feed: The slowest planting progress since 1993 and the outlook for more cool, wet, weather over much of the nation had new crop corn break new highs this week. Dec. corn settled at $6.50 a bushel. Soybeans and meal were up sharply on Friday as well, with Nov. beans back over $13, and Dec. Meal at $312/ton. Already under pressure from giving up acres to row crops, the cold spring has also affected hay growers in WA. Alfalfa plants have usually grown "15 by the end of April, but are only 6-8" high. Some farmers have seen almost no growth in the last 10 days. Producers are being forced to decide whether to cut on schedule, or possibly forego a cutting later in the year. Either way, prices look to be going up."
I don't know what the truth is about global supplies of food, and whether recent food protests in various parts of the world are in response to honest-to-goodness shortages or simply high prices. But the combination of ethanol mandates, growing demand from Asia, and a prolonged period of cool weather could put extreme pressure on world food supplies.
Fear not global warming. Fear global cooling. Warming prevents glaciers over our heads and fosters growth and life. Cooling brings ice ages and low ag productivity and death. Just ask the Vikings who settled Greenland when it was green in the Medieval warming Period, only to have it turn cold a few centuries later, wiping out thier settlements.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Spring rocks!
Oh, thank god for grass that the stupid cows can harvest for themselves. That can supply them with the highest quality feed at a bargain basement price. For the next five or six months, the farm bank account, given enough rain, will grow.
Today, I'm delivering a gorgeous seven week old calf to the Chenango County Fairgrounds to be auctioned in the Chenango County 4-H calf sale which takes place tomorrow. It's a March calf, -recently weaned, broken-colored and huge. The Calf-Tel calf pens that I bought last year yield the biggest calves I've ever seen. This particular calf, despite the "loss" of her mother, has, starting with the granddam, four generations of excellent cows (90 points or above, which, out of 68 cows, we have 14!) behind her, ending with the venerated, Stornaway Brook Jasmine, 93%, the erstwhile matriarch of the herd. If this calf, about which, it has been said, there is a great deal of interest, sells for less than $1500 I will be disappointed. If it sells for $2000, I will be thrilled. A lot depends on the auctioneeer. An auctioned animal must be "started" at the right price if she is to reach the price she is capable of.
The present matriarch of the herd, I'd have to say, is Stornaway Hallmark Cherry, Ex-92%, daughter of Stornaway Kahn Chaka, Ex-91%, granddaughter of Stornaway Lester Cherie , Ex-94% whom I found dead in her stall one morning for no apparent reason. Cherry is the ideal bovine. Placid, Beautifully uddered, deeply bodied. Jerseys are skittish and antsy. Cherry is not.
The Class III milk futures average > 20$/ HUNDRED WEIGHT for the rest of the year. Yes, fuel and corn are high, but as long as the cows are on grass, the high prices will have only a marginal effect on Stornaway Jerseys. Pray for rain of a moderate nature.
In the fall, I intend to sell 30 or so cows to reduce the workload in the winter time. I'm also entertaining the notion of a 16 hour milking schedule. Milking 3X in two days during the winter. The winter is oppressive and I need solutions. I don't make as much milk in the winterand I think the cows could handle 16 hour intervals without more than a minimal loss in production. Yes, it' s counter to trends in the industry, but it may work very well here. I'm still thinking.
Caleb, have I spoken of this before? For a scouring calf, run a liter of LR or NS, SC, 250 ml per site, one in front of and one behind each shoulder. The effect, a few hours later is dramatic. You don't have to worry about being in the vein and you don't have to worry about fluid overload. I brought a scouring calf once to a vet who worked with Finnegan and O'Shea. He kept it overnight. The calf died. I got a bill for THREE liters of fluids. The stupid effer drowned my calf!! And he might be my only choice for a new vet. Finnegan and O'Shea retire in two weeks. ARGH.
Anyway, I had a few minutes for breakfast and I thought I'd catch you up. The grass, actually, is very slow in coming on. We need a little global warming. Back to work.
Today, I'm delivering a gorgeous seven week old calf to the Chenango County Fairgrounds to be auctioned in the Chenango County 4-H calf sale which takes place tomorrow. It's a March calf, -recently weaned, broken-colored and huge. The Calf-Tel calf pens that I bought last year yield the biggest calves I've ever seen. This particular calf, despite the "loss" of her mother, has, starting with the granddam, four generations of excellent cows (90 points or above, which, out of 68 cows, we have 14!) behind her, ending with the venerated, Stornaway Brook Jasmine, 93%, the erstwhile matriarch of the herd. If this calf, about which, it has been said, there is a great deal of interest, sells for less than $1500 I will be disappointed. If it sells for $2000, I will be thrilled. A lot depends on the auctioneeer. An auctioned animal must be "started" at the right price if she is to reach the price she is capable of.
The present matriarch of the herd, I'd have to say, is Stornaway Hallmark Cherry, Ex-92%, daughter of Stornaway Kahn Chaka, Ex-91%, granddaughter of Stornaway Lester Cherie , Ex-94% whom I found dead in her stall one morning for no apparent reason. Cherry is the ideal bovine. Placid, Beautifully uddered, deeply bodied. Jerseys are skittish and antsy. Cherry is not.
The Class III milk futures average > 20$/ HUNDRED WEIGHT for the rest of the year. Yes, fuel and corn are high, but as long as the cows are on grass, the high prices will have only a marginal effect on Stornaway Jerseys. Pray for rain of a moderate nature.
In the fall, I intend to sell 30 or so cows to reduce the workload in the winter time. I'm also entertaining the notion of a 16 hour milking schedule. Milking 3X in two days during the winter. The winter is oppressive and I need solutions. I don't make as much milk in the winterand I think the cows could handle 16 hour intervals without more than a minimal loss in production. Yes, it' s counter to trends in the industry, but it may work very well here. I'm still thinking.
Caleb, have I spoken of this before? For a scouring calf, run a liter of LR or NS, SC, 250 ml per site, one in front of and one behind each shoulder. The effect, a few hours later is dramatic. You don't have to worry about being in the vein and you don't have to worry about fluid overload. I brought a scouring calf once to a vet who worked with Finnegan and O'Shea. He kept it overnight. The calf died. I got a bill for THREE liters of fluids. The stupid effer drowned my calf!! And he might be my only choice for a new vet. Finnegan and O'Shea retire in two weeks. ARGH.
Anyway, I had a few minutes for breakfast and I thought I'd catch you up. The grass, actually, is very slow in coming on. We need a little global warming. Back to work.
A Cat with Kinks
Which must be worked out with paddles.
http://primordialslack.blogspot.com/2008/05/um-i-have-no-explanation-for-this.html
http://primordialslack.blogspot.com/2008/05/um-i-have-no-explanation-for-this.html
How Profound!
In Ayn Rand's (a Russian immigrant) book, The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution, she discusses a NYT article about the lack of free speech in the Soviet Union. She says, "The words in my mind, when I read that story, were: There, but for the grace of the United States of America, go I."
A brilliant substitution to those interested in life here on Earth.
A brilliant substitution to those interested in life here on Earth.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
A Julian Simon quote
This is my long-run forecast in brief," says Simon. "The material conditions of life will continue to get better for most people, in most countries, most of the time, indefinitely. Within a century or two, all nations and most of humanity will be at or above today's Western living standards. "I also speculate, however, that many people will continue to think and say that the conditions of life are getting worse."
If he had made that statement a century or two ago, he would have been right. Princess Ticked Off says so.
If he had made that statement a century or two ago, he would have been right. Princess Ticked Off says so.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Hong Kong!
Well I'm not going to Guam anymore. Instead I am headed to the land of free-market capitalism! Hong Kong!
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Marxism in America
Michelle Obama is a cannibal:
"The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more."
Right! Because the wealth in this country is just a big pie that gets handed out to all of us by permission from our wonderful caretakers in Washington! Heh, the funny thing is how succinctly she summarized exactly what is evil about both "universal" health care and public education.
"The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more."
Right! Because the wealth in this country is just a big pie that gets handed out to all of us by permission from our wonderful caretakers in Washington! Heh, the funny thing is how succinctly she summarized exactly what is evil about both "universal" health care and public education.
Not about politics, not about cows, not about crazy schools or nutty teachers.
Just about life. Please read this lovely little story.
You can't make this stuff up . . .
. . . because nobody would believe you. Well, sadly, I guess those of you who are in college now or have recently been there probably would, because stories like this one seem to be turning up all over academia. (Scroll down if necessary to the "OMG" caption -- for some reason Blogger's making me link to the main page rather than to the post.) It's the remarkable tale of an English instructor who wants to sue her former freshman writing students at Dartmouth, along with the college itself, for harassment. The grounds of her suit? The students wrote negative things about her in their evaluations and, if you can imagine this, argued about ideas in her class. The college apparently failed to prevent the students from doing these shocking things, and that makes all of them bullies.
The teacher in question, one Priya Venkatesan, is, according to Dartlog, a former postdoctoral fellow at the Dartmouth Medical School. She has a 1990 undergraduate degree from Dartmouth, where she double-majored in biochemistry and comparative literature, along with a master's degree from U.C. Davis in genetics and a PhD in literature from U.C. San Diego. In the course of acquiring all those degrees, she apparently managed to miss out on the concept of what an education is supposed to be. Not only that -- and possibly worse, given that Dartmouth hired her to teach writing -- she failed to learn the difference between "who" and "whom."
She left Dartmouth in a huff and is now at Northwestern -- which means there's hope. With any luck at all, Christina will get her hands on her!
The teacher in question, one Priya Venkatesan, is, according to Dartlog, a former postdoctoral fellow at the Dartmouth Medical School. She has a 1990 undergraduate degree from Dartmouth, where she double-majored in biochemistry and comparative literature, along with a master's degree from U.C. Davis in genetics and a PhD in literature from U.C. San Diego. In the course of acquiring all those degrees, she apparently managed to miss out on the concept of what an education is supposed to be. Not only that -- and possibly worse, given that Dartmouth hired her to teach writing -- she failed to learn the difference between "who" and "whom."
She left Dartmouth in a huff and is now at Northwestern -- which means there's hope. With any luck at all, Christina will get her hands on her!
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Red Sox
Lugo just made his NINTH error of the season. Can he hit fifty?
OTOH, didja see Manny throw out Pena at the plate last night? WOW! And he was SO pleased with himself. Manny's new persona is fun to watch. For that matter, the whole team, Lugo aside, is fun to watch. I'm glad that we have Ellsbury AND Coco.
OTOH, didja see Manny throw out Pena at the plate last night? WOW! And he was SO pleased with himself. Manny's new persona is fun to watch. For that matter, the whole team, Lugo aside, is fun to watch. I'm glad that we have Ellsbury AND Coco.
Kittens Everywhere
This bunch belongs to one of the black cats. They are stored in the mow next to the grain bin.
This lot was in the mow until I used all the hay they were hiding in. Then Mom, one of the skittish tigers that is always slinking around, brought them down and stuck them behind the trash cans. They come out and drink milk.
Jamie moved her crop from the trash can to a hole in the milk room wall. One of them got lost in the translation. HEY! STOP PUSHING!!
MMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!
See the open mouth in the upper left corner? MOM!!Lily has a litter on the ceiling above the office but I haven't seen any of them yet.
Funny
WJC:
Besides, the party needed somebody to reach out to regular folks, somebody who could talk the talk, because Barry sure couldn’t do it. Man ate fried chicken with a napkin wrapped abound the leg so he didn’t get grease on his fingers. He had seen him do it. President Daintyfingers and Princess Ticked-Off. They had barely beaten John McCain. This time . . .
Not that his job as Heartland Ambassador didn’t carry some risks. He patted his ample belly. Getting pretty jowly too. He had put on over 30 pounds since his appointment. Seems like every group he talked to served nothing but barbeque, mashed potatoes, and peach cobbler — his three favorite food groups. His cholesterol spiked higher every day, while the president and First Lady stayed sleek as minks, never missing a chance to flaunt themselves at the “Fat is More Dangerous than Terrorism” rallies that Nancy Pelosi organized. Which, as White House press secretary Chris Mathews put it, effectively made Bill the new Osama bin Laden. Ha ha.
Besides, the party needed somebody to reach out to regular folks, somebody who could talk the talk, because Barry sure couldn’t do it. Man ate fried chicken with a napkin wrapped abound the leg so he didn’t get grease on his fingers. He had seen him do it. President Daintyfingers and Princess Ticked-Off. They had barely beaten John McCain. This time . . .
Not that his job as Heartland Ambassador didn’t carry some risks. He patted his ample belly. Getting pretty jowly too. He had put on over 30 pounds since his appointment. Seems like every group he talked to served nothing but barbeque, mashed potatoes, and peach cobbler — his three favorite food groups. His cholesterol spiked higher every day, while the president and First Lady stayed sleek as minks, never missing a chance to flaunt themselves at the “Fat is More Dangerous than Terrorism” rallies that Nancy Pelosi organized. Which, as White House press secretary Chris Mathews put it, effectively made Bill the new Osama bin Laden. Ha ha.
Civilization Against the Dark Ages
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cxm7sN_hr4
"We need to act as Germany did upon it's defeat. The German elite re-examined its culture, and found that the entire German culture is full of poison."
I hope this guy doesn't get blown up.
"We need to act as Germany did upon it's defeat. The German elite re-examined its culture, and found that the entire German culture is full of poison."
I hope this guy doesn't get blown up.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Hawaii! Guam!
For my summer cruise, I will be on the newest aircraft carrier, the Reagan, going from Hawaii to Guam. Don't know much else other than that but I think it will be something like May 29th to June 20th.
Naked for Peace?
Kendra had the misfortune to happen upon this demonstration on the college green.What really irks me about it is that these people were more interested in making a spectacle than they were in making any kind of coherent message. I'm also pretty sure that these are the kind of people who really believe they are making a huge difference in the world by getting naked in public.
Red Sox Drama
Wow. Two terrific games in row against the BJs. Plays at the plate in the bottom of the ninth both nights. Incredible plays by Pedroia both nights. Vernon Wells said he whacked the ball up the middle and was sure he'd driven a run in, but no, there was Superman at second base.
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