Thankful Thursday

Christmas eve edition! Today I am thankful for/that:

1. The new hoopty handles real nice in the snow.

What are you thankful for?

Surviving the In-Laws

I know lots of you are packing up the kids and heading over the river and through the woods to grandma's. When you get there or while you're on the way take a listen to this. Grandmas and grandpas out there it would be a good idea for you lot to take a listen too. Here's to a harmonious family Christmas.

"What Do You Want from Me?"
Surviving the In-Laws
Psychologist Has Answers
Love. Compatibility. Money. Attraction. These are what lovers consider when they decide to tie the knot. In-laws are usually the last thing on their minds. Yet, dealing with your significant other's family can be an everlasting quest…and it can be a factor that helps determine the duration of the marriage.

British psychologist Terri Apter has found herself scrambling to deal with some of the very situations she counsels others about. She talks with host Mike Cuthbert about how she maintains a healthy relationship with her in-laws, and what she suggests to others.

She’s conducted a study on various in-law relationships, and she collects stories about them– some of which she shares at a Web site, and many of which she has compiled in her latest book "What Do You Want From Me?: Learning to Get Along with In-Laws."

Thankful Thursday

Better late than never. This week I am thankful for/that:

1. My warm new leak free winter boots.


2. My super warm duvet, don't even need any blankets with that bad boy.


3. That lovely furnace that keeps churning out all of that warm air (we or course going to ignore the heating bill for the moment).


4. Ethan's conversations with Santa as relayed by his spec ed teacher today. Apparently Santa has his cell phone number (no he doesn't really have a phone) and has promised him a special surprise for the invaluable service that Ethan has rendered to him.


5. The Christmas surprise that Sophia made for me that I'm not allowed to see yet but she couldn't resist informing me of its existence.


6. A good night's sleep.


7. Friends to laugh/cry with as necessary.


8. Second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh chances etc.

What are you thankful for?

Freedom for all!

Hilarious commentary (to me anyway) from Tim Blair on the race politics of climategate:

Robert James Taylor of the National Black News Journal:

Blacks should not join the global warming battle or accept new taxes or restrictions on their lives until the truth about global warming is actually known.

I dream of a day when this freedom is also granted to whites.

More from the Taylor article:

The CRU is the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia near Norwich, England. The CRU is populated by British and American scientists who more than any other group in the world has been responsible for the computer models and measurements upon which the bulk of global warming predictions are based. Indeed, President Obama was in Copenhagen this week pushing an anti-global warming agenda based largely on CRU data.

There is just one problem: Global warming has actually stopped. Yes, the planet’s mean temperature did rise for at least 30 consecutive years but somewhere around the year 2000 the warming essentially stopped and as of yet has not started up again. This is a fact which the pro-global warming American media seldom, if ever, reports.

But it is widely known in the scientific community. The prestigious Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences in the German city of Kiel is among the scientific institutes to have confirmed the lull (or stop) in planet warming. Top Leibniz Institute meteorologist Mojib Latif says flatly, “… the warming is taking a break. There can be no argument about that. We have to face that fact.”

Even the scientists at CRU knew that global warming had stopped. Take note of this CRU email: “The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty we can’t.”

And from Blair's comments section thus far:

...we know what is true for Black Americans is true for all Americans, and true for all in the Western and wider world. In the real world a Black message will resonate with some more than an inclusive national or universal message. The more voices for economic prosperity and against eco de-development based on junk science, the better.

and

Blacks against climate change deception - works for me. We’re all black now.

and

As African conservatives have been known to have said when confronted by environmentalism: you need to be rich and white before you can afford to be green.

Yeah, pretty much. Kind of puts race based pleas to pursue climate change mitigation strategies in a different light if the people who are supposed to be helped are saying, "Um, no thank you."

As a side note I'm glad that all of the "little" developing countries are digging their heels and obstructing "progress" in Copenhagen right. Not matter what they may claim their motives to be they may be the best hope to save the rest of us from the schemes being cooked up in Copenhagen.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for/that:

1. Yesterday was Wednesday and today is Thursday and I did not forget to go to dance class as I thought when I woke up at 1:20AM this morning.


2. The gleeful squeals of children making tracks in the snow.


3. Central heating.


4. No cavities for the kids during their latest dentist appointments.


5. Friends.


6. Freedom.


7. Baby Pierce version 5.0 due out in June 2010. Plus so little morning sickness that I was tempted to ask doc if he hadn't been mistaken.

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for/that:

1. The joy of the children over Christmas.


2. Reminders from the children about the true meaning of Christmas. It's nice to know that they've been paying attention.


3. Bedtime quiet.


4. Laughter.


5. Friendship.

What are you thankful for?

Tracking Scientists Behaving Badly

I'm starting to feel like one of those gawkers who turn out to see how bad the three car pile up is. Anyway, Pajamas Media has put together a climategate database for you to peruse and comment on at your leisure.

Here are a couple of interesting reads, Global warming consensus: garbage in, garbage out and Climategate and Scientific Journal Chicanery

Reading the comments section of just about any article on global warming climate change policy is particularly amusing these days since the articles almost universally ignore the unfolding climategate scandal but it keeps cropping up in the comments sections of these articles.

This story amusingly tries to make the argument that CRU scientists and their contacts trying to keep papers that have differing conclusions from their own from being published was actually an attempt to protect the public from "junk" science, Stolen E-Mails Raise Questions On Climate Research. In this case "junk" science being anything that contradicts the "consensus" on global warming climate change.

The very first comment on this story, Obama To Attend Copenhagen Climate Summit, is, "Hey NPR.. Where are the articles on the recent evidence that this climate thing is a HOAX??? Let's quit this lie.. TELL THE TRUTH, it's a scam!!"

This article manages not to mention climategate at all but commenters were more than happy to discuss it, Climate Change Bill Faces Delays In Senate.

The combination of studiously ignoring climategate and commenters trying to down play the significance of the climategate revelations looks rather, well, desperate. It's not going to go away just because they are ignoring it. The Tea Party movement sure didn't.