Evaporated Man...

William Gensert has an interesting piece up on the American Thinker, full of links for citations and additional reading.  A tip 'o the hat to reader Simi L.  An excerpt:

Obama believes himself a good man. Yet, with no depth or breadth, he is victim to the ideology he has been steeped in his entire life, a captive of his conviction that he is on the side of what is right and just. The benevolent hand of Barack Obama has wrought more havoc upon the freedom of our nation than any enemy ever could, for while evil can wreak untold damage, it takes the truly self-righteous to destroy a nation.

Edmund Burke said that "all that is necessary for evil to triumph, is that good men to do nothing." Yet it is also true that the greatest evil has, just as often as not, been perpetrated by good men seeking to do something.

War Memorial...

Via my mom:

After more than 40 years, the Vietnam Veterans of the United States of America have raised a phenomenal amount of money to memorialize another one of Hollywood ’s loyal American citizens, who went out of her way to aid and abet the enemy and congratulate them on their treatment of U.S. POW's.

Be sure to stop in and pay your “respects!”

Weird Weather...

Just before I went out to walk the dogs this morning, the heavens opened up and it poured – but only for a few minutes.  We got about 1 mm (4 hundredths of an inch) of rain.  The ground is wet, and all the brush was freshly dampened.  As I write this, it's raining again.

That part is only a little odd.  Here's the really weird part: we had a low pressure system move through last night that has our current pressure down to quite a low level.  Usually that means “big storm” is coming.  The temperatures have dropped as well (see instrument graphs at right, click to enlarge).  The forecast calls for Santa Ana-like wind conditions, but with the winds coming from the west instead of the east.  Here's an explanation of this odd phenomenon (called the “Inside Slider”).  We're located in the southern part of a strange local eddy.  Should be an interesting weather day or two!

Number 9 Again...

Same day, we're number 9 on a different list: top 10 tech predictions of 2012, from CIO Magazine.

Weird...

We're Number 9...

On the Forbes “Most Promising Companies” list.

Wow.  It just keeps getting better and better...

Commercial Humor...

Cool commercial (but it won't make any sense unless you watch it all the way through).  Via my lovely wife:

Death of a Religion...

Bret Stephens has a piece in today's Wall Street Journal talking about the death of a religion: anthropogenic global warming.  The intro:

How do religions die? Generally they don't, which probably explains why there's so little literature on the subject. Zoroastrianism, for instance, lost many of its sacred texts when Alexander sacked Persepolis in 330 B.C., and most Zoroastrians converted to Islam over 1,000 years ago. Yet today old Zoroaster still counts as many as 210,000 followers, including 11,000 in the U.S. Christopher Hitchens might say you can't kill what wasn't there to begin with.

Still, Zeus and Apollo are no longer with us, and neither are Odin and Thor. Among the secular gods, Marx is mostly dead and Freud is totally so. Something did away with them, and it's worth asking what.

Consider the case of global warming, another system of doomsaying prophecy and faith in things unseen.

As with religion, it is presided over by a caste of spectacularly unattractive people pretending to an obscure form of knowledge that promises to make the seas retreat and the winds abate. As with religion, it comes with an elaborate list of virtues, vices and indulgences. As with religion, its claims are often non-falsifiable, hence the convenience of the term "climate change" when thermometers don't oblige the expected trend lines. As with religion, it is harsh toward skeptics, heretics and other "deniers." And as with religion, it is susceptible to the earthly temptations of money, power, politics, arrogance and deceit.

Jet Man...

Awesome!

Georgie is Lost!

Georgie (photo at right, click to enlarge) was lost on Friday, near the intersection of Lyons Valley Road and Peg Leg Mine Road.  If you've seen him, please contact Bill (info below).  Here's all the information I have:

Here's the info on Georgie. Lost on Friday November 25th near Lyons Valley and Peg Leg Mine Road. Georgie is Shih tzu three years old, black and white, weighs approximately 15 pounds. Very friendly. Has a very distinct bark, sounds like a much larger dog. Call Bill with information (619) 922-0527.

Landslide on Vesta...

The Dawn robotic explorer is currently orbiting the asteroid Vesta, returning tons of science data and imagery.  At right (click to enlarge) is a section of Vesta's surface showing a large cliff (20 km/12 miles high) and what appear to be landslides.  Via APOD, of course...

A Three-Fer!

James Delingpole (one of my favorite commentators) has a piece about ClimateGate 2.0 (one of my favorite topics) in today's Wall Street Journal (one of my favorite periodicals).  It's a must read.  The money quote:

This is the real significance of the climategate emails. They show that major scientists who inform the IPCC can't be trusted to stick to the science and avoid political activism. This, in turn, has very worrying implications for the major international policy decisions adopted on the basis of their research.

Plant Photos...

This is new to me: a site with a large collection of plant photographs, many of excellent quality.  Of course it doesn't have all plants, but it does have thousands of them, very conveniently organized by plant species and by source...

Totally Awesome Roller Coaster...

It's in the Alps, dang it – otherwise I'd be on my way there for a ride!

JVM Programmer's Reading List...

A nice reading list for programmers who work with the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).  There were several on here new to me...

What Are Those Spots?

Via my mom, this shot of the Diga del Cingino dam in Northern Italy. See the little spots on it? Scroll down to see what they are...

Alpine Ibex!

Adele Vasquez and Her Band of Siblings...

I'd say these kids have a future in music.  Even if this song isn't your cup of tea, listen to this 10 year old belt out the refrain.  Awesome!

Mutually Beneficial Arrangements...

I just ran across an advertisement for this web site, which appears to be soliciting young women willing to have paid “relationships” with older men. The ad was on an otherwise completely respectable web site.  The text of the site isn't explicit, but seems pretty clear that the relationship includes (a) sex, and (b) money being paid to the woman. From the site:

When you date someone, if you find them attractive and have a good time with them, things naturally progress. This might happen in one date or it might take a couple, but the point is that this is what happens. Also, as you’re dating someone, you develop a relationship of sorts with them, so if you’re short on your rent, they help you out. If you’re struggling to pay for school, they help you out.

If the person you’re dating likes you and they have extra money, they buy you gifts. This, folks, is dating. So, then, wouldn’t all dating be mutually beneficial? Now, when you actually plan a mutually beneficial arrangement, you should know that you’re dating, but you’re kind of laying out the terms of dating. You want gifts, you make sure that the person you’re planning your arrangement with will want to give them to you.

I'm no lawyer, but that sure looks dangerously close to solicitation to me!

I'm way past being shocked (or even surprised) by this sort of activity.  Six years in the Navy, visiting practically every port in the Pacific and Indian Oceans (and a few others as well) cured me of any lingering innocence concerning the intersection of money and sex.  But I was surprised to see this ad on an otherwise fairly conservative and straight-laced site...

Quote of the Day...

From Clive Crook at The Atlantic, commenting on the ClimateGate 2.0 emails:

“The stink of intellectual corruption is overpowering.”

Cited in this article in the London Daily Mail.

Awesome.  This time, the lamestream media is paying attention...

Curiosity Ready To Go...

The Curiosity Mars Rover is on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, scheduled to lift off about an hour from this post...

Pelican Nebula...

The Pelican Nebula (IC 5070), seen with an amateur 17" telescope in the Sierra Nevada mountains.  From APOD, of course: