My friend Mark, who’s been doing battle over the antiquated RS 2477 law that some argue allows off-roaders to tear up private property, has put up a great new Official RS 2477 page.
Coal Blog
I’ve rather stumbled into a debate about climate science on a Canadian coal industry blog, of all places.
I had to jump in after I saw posted a newspaper editorial suggesting that the famous Mann et al. “hockey stick” graph is now discredited, and that therefore the whole edifice of climate change science has therefore crumbled. First of all, it’s not true that Mann et al. is discredited. But even if, the whole of climate science is much more rich and complex than a single paper!
Sunshine Spin
For you Albuquerque readers, there’s a fun bike ride coming up Sunday, the Sunshine Spin. It’s a fundraiser for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. There’s an easy ride up the riverside trail or a hammerfest up Tramway. The folks putting it on are great people, the cause is good. The idea that you can live well with cancer and live well after is an incredibly important message.
Look for me. I’ll be the one wearing the yellow wrist band.
Bastille Day
Happy Bastille Day.
update, 8 p.m.: Says Merckx: “”He didn’t respect his word.”
It’s a Monsoon!
Pika: Note to Chuck – It’s a monsoon forecast. We’re not only supposed to like it, we’re supposed to go outside when it starts raining in the afternoon and stand in it, grinning like idiots.
Fixing the Dryer
My wife, Lissa, is not only beautiful, but smart and talented. Here’s proof:
Last night I threw some clothes in the dryer that I needed for work today. When I went to take them out, they were still sitting there wet. I figured I’d forgotten to turn the dryer on, so I hit the start button, heard the engine rev up, and left.
An hour later, they were still sitting there, wet. The dryer was busted. Dollar signs flashed before my eyes. “Don’t worry,” Lissa said. “I’ll deal with it tomorrow. We can put up a line or something until we get it fixed.”
This morning, she told me she had an idea what was wrong. Maybe it was just a busted belt. This afternoon, she called me at work. It had been a busted belt, and they had a new one at the store where we bought it. Total cost to fix it: $13, plus a few hours of her time. Lissa completely rocks. But it gets better.
When she had the dryer torn apart, she found a ton of change that had fallen out of various pockets over the years. The total take: $14. That’s a $1 net profit.
Oak Flat
Kudos to the folks who put on the beautiful Oak Flat bicycle race in the mountains Saturday.
Continue reading ‘Oak Flat’ »
Smarter than your average bear
Aaron makes many good points. This is one of them:
Andrea Lafferty, of the Traditional Values Coalition, says, “There’s an arrogance in the scientific community that they know better than the average American.” Perhaps that’s because scientists are are educated and knowledgeable enough that “knowing more than the average American” is actually their job, just like “being better at fixing cars than the average American” is how an auto mechanic gets paid to fix cars by average people who respect that expertise.
The Perfect Storm
Standing out on the sidewalk, in the sun, in the pouring rain, with a couple of other people grinning from ear to ear. Nothin’ like the first summer rain.
Continue reading ‘The Perfect Storm’ »
Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere
I carried out my sacred duty yesterday, officially declaring the start of the monsoon.
Dew points here are finally starting to rise, and the palpable angst is beginning to ease. I can imagine the religious fervor of an older time, before we had sounding balloons and satellite imagery, though I suppose it could be argued that the technology has simply become new religion. (I personally think not, but I’ll tolerate the argument, if only for metaphorical purposes. Tracking radar echoes on the Internet is my rain dance.)