Great accomplishments are overrated. I prefer to “go with the flow.”
How about you?
Cartoon shared from Calamities of Nature.
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values
A proposed $20 million New York state budget cut will likely result in closure of New York state parks. A Saratoga Springs Saratogian report says that state parks, already hit hard by previous cuts, are in peril from further cuts.
“Every region will be impacted. It’s not just small, fringe sites. Some of the largest parks might close because they’re the most expensive to operate — Jones Beach, Niagara Falls.”
Unfortunately, possible closings come at a time when people need parks most. Last year, statewide usage increased by2 million visits — from 54 million to 56 million — as residents sought inexpensive, close-to-home vacations. This year, Moreau Lake State Park’s campgrounds are already booked most weekends.
“When times are tough, people use state parks,” said Julie Stokes of Greenfield, former deputy state commissioner for operations. “The impact would be very large. A ton of people from Troy use Grafton Lakes. They bus kids out there. That park is absolutely jammed, seven days a week.”
Read more in the Saratogian: Proposed state budget imperils state parks
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I discovered just a little while ago that access to individual posts on this blog was unavailable and commenting was not available. This was because of something I did with some files on the server earlier today — not a web host issue. I knew that I should have checked after I was done, but didn’t.
It’s all back to normal now. It was only a 30 second fix, because it’s something that happened before and I knew where to look.
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A couple of days ago, a park visitor from Spain was injured by a Yellowstone National Park bison (aka American buffalo).
“At approximately 11:25 a.m., the woman and her husband were using a pay phone in the Canyon lodging area with their backs to the road. According to witnesses, two bull bison walked down the road, passing within 20 feet of the couple. One of the bison left the road, walked up behind the woman and butted her into the air. The couple, who were facing away from the road, did not see the bison.”
The woman was taken to the Lake Clinic where she was treated for minor injuries and released.
This quite an unusual event. Bison are not usually aggressive unless someone has encroached upon their space. We have seen numerous instances where people have gotten way too close to these critters and nothing happened. Park regulations require that a minimum distance of 25 yard must be maintained from bison.
Bison are very, very common in the Canyon area.
We still hope to make it to Yellowstone this year. However, we may not have as much time available as we had originally thought.
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Climate change legislation — The Waxman/Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act pass by a very slim margin today in the US House of Representatives. I actually watched some of the debate on CSPAN. I’ve got just a few comments.
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They didn’t even have a properly collated official copy of the bill in the room during the debate. Three hundred pages were revised overnight and one of the House staff was in the process of inserting pages into the correct place in the “official copy” during the closing minutes of the floor debate.
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The debate on the floor was limited to 3 hours for a bill that may be one of the largest tax bills in the history of the country.
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While virtually every American would end up with higher energy costs as a result of the bill, as I understand it, it’s requirements would have negligible impact on global warming, if anthropogenic (human caused) global warming (AGW) were a proven fact rather than an unproven hypothesis.
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The premise of the bill is predicated on the assumption that anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is a proven scientific fact. The earth has been warming up until the last ten years. Global carbon dioxide levels have been rising, at least in part due to human activities, even during the last ten years as global temperature anomalies have been stable or dropping. While it would seem obvious to blame rising temperatures on carbon dioxide produced by man, there is no proof that continued rising CO2 will result in a continued rise in global temperatures. The predictions of rising temperatures are the product of computer climate models that assume that anthropogenic global warming is a proven scientific fact rather than an unproven hypothesis.
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Our Representative, voted against it. I think I voted against him in 2008. He’s got my vote in 2010.
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Climate change — I read material on climate change almost every day.
I am absolutely appalled at the gloom and doom, the-sky-is-falling alarmism that is in the media on a daily basis.
I’m not sure at what point I stopped simply accepting anthropogenic (human caused) global warming. I can say that for well over a year I’ve been reading a lot of climate change related material and have a much better understanding of the topic than I once had. My first blog post on climate was It’s not a hypothesis… It’s not a theory… it’s a CONSENSUS! last year.
Below is some of what I’ve come to believe and understand related to the Earth’s climate.
- Anthropogenic global warming is an unproven hypothesis.
- Even though anthropogenic global warming is an unproven hypothesis, it is likely that some warming has resulted from carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere by humans.
- There is no proof that continued rise in CO2 will result in continued rise in global temperatures.
- Carbon dioxide acts as a greenhouse gas by absorbing infrared radiation in three narrow bands of frequencies, (2.7, 4.3 and 15 micrometers (µM)), meaning that most of the heat producing infrared radiation frequencies escapes absorption by CO2. The main peak, 15 µM, is absorbed completely within about 10 meters of the ground meaning that there is no more to absorb. Doubling the human contribution of CO2 would reduce this distance. Reducing the distance for absorption would not result in an increase in temperature.
- The science of climate change is not settled. Science is never settled. There is always more to learn, more to add.
- Consensus on climate change is not science. It’s politics. Science isn’t done by consensus, as I understand it.
- For a scientist to be a skeptic on climate change is not a bad thing. Scepticism and questioning are important aspects of science.
- The Earth appears to have been cooling overall for most of this young century — 2000 to 2009.
- The reports of the danger to polar bears are premature. They are also recycled over and over again.
- The prediction of an Arctic free of ice is premature. AMSRE-A Sea Ice Extent has 6 1/2 years of history. The sea arctic sea ice extent currently is higher than any of the other years at this point in the annual cycle. AMSRE-A (Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer – Earth Observing System).
- Antarctic sea ice extent is getting larger.
- A recent survey found Arctic ice to be thicker than expected. (radiobremen)
- The heat content of the world’s ocean is dropping – Q = mc∆T. (The Global Warming Hypothesis and Ocean Heat)
Carbon Dioxide Absorption Peaks
day 22
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In January, I wrote about a coworker’s suggestion that I apply for unemployment when the contract that I was on was over — even though I didn’t need the job when I took it. Comments on the piece overwhelming supported my decision not to apply for unemployment compensation. (see Applying for Unemployment)
The contract was over at the end of August. In the turbulent economic months since then, I’ve had a few moments where I’ve thought about the extra cushion that unemployment income could provide. However, I’ve never had a moment where I regretted my decision.
A few weeks ago I was at one of our every-other-week retirement breakfasts when I heard some fellows talking about putting in for unemployment benefits after thay had finished a contract job. The nature of the industry that we retired from is that there is a lot of opportunity for contract work for those with the right experience and/or credentials. It wasn’t surprising that the idea of putting in for unemployment had occurred to others.
Apparently a couple of them had actually applied.
They were turned down!
They weren’t qualified because they were making too much money from their pension!
Since I was a contract worker working as an employee and NOT an independent contractor, if I didn’t have any other income, I could have applied for unemployment payments. However, with my pension and other income, it didn’t seem right to apply.
In the end, I was not only morally right, but legally right, as well.
I would not have been able to receive unemployment compensation.
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On my last job, one of my coworkers asked me if I was going to put in for unemployment when my contract was finished.
“I hadn’t really thought about it,” I told him.
“You really should, ” he said. “After all, you’ve been paying for it all these years. It’s your right. I’m going to when I do contract work after I retire.”
He went on about it a while longer, but I didn’t have much to say on the subject.
I thought about it for a while, though, and concluded that, no, I was not going to apply for unemployment.
While the extra income would be helpful, I didn’t need it and, after all, it’s supposed to be used to help those who need it bridge the gap between jobs. I wasn’t going to be looking for another job.
For that matter, I didn’t actually need the contract job that I was working. It was helping to pay off some debt and, while I was working, we weren’t having to use any of our investment funds.
So, since I went to work when I didn’t need to, it just didn’t seem right to me to apply for unemployment. It felt like taking advantage of the system. (I’ll have more on this in a later post.)
What do you think? Should I have applied for unemployment?
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Inspired Parking
Posted on Flickr by richardmasoner
I was at the building supply store the other day and that young, healthy, and spry doofus state park dude was parking his official state park vehicle in the loading zone again.
Fortunately, though, I didn’t need to pick up anything outside so he didn’t inconvenience me and he wasn’t directly in front of any of the building materials that are stored outside for easy loading for customers.
Still, he seems to regard the loading zone as a parking spot for official vehicles.
I wonder if he does the same when he uses his private vehicle.
Probably not.
He probably parks his private vehicle in handicap parking, even though he’s young, healthy and spry.
For background on this rant, read Why do people park where they’re not supposed to?
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One of my favorite places in the world is 20 miles from the nearest town and seven miles from the nearest road. Nearly treeless except for those few planted to provide breaks from the harsh winds of winter, it is a broad expanse of lush grass covering the dunes of an ancient desert — land unforgiving of those who tired to break it to the plow — land perfect for ranching.
I never knew the whole story of how the ranch came to be. All I can remember of it is that a farmer in the days of the Great Depression, with no market for his crops and beef, was able to save his land and his herd by being able to buy a large supply of grain at extremely low prices. As a result of taking advantage of an opportunity in an unsettled time, the family was able to make it through the hard times and, a little later, buy 21 square miles of range land where the farmer’s son and his bride settled in 1941.
The ranch hold significant positive memories for me. Experiences associated with the ranch, its owners and their family helped shape who I am. The ranch — a result of a farmer taking advantage of an opportunity in an unsettled time.
The world again faces unsettled times — and opportunities.
What kind of new opportunities might be on your horizon?
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Inspired Parking
Posted on Flickr by richardmasoner
Quick answer: because they are lazy, don’t want to walk any further than they have to and basically don’t care if it inconveniences others.
The ones that really bother me are those who park in handicap spots when they don’t have a disability license plate or mirror hang tag.
I also get irritated when someone with a disabled tag zooms into one of these spots, gets out and goes into whatever establishment it is with no indication of a disability whatsoever. Those spots are for people with medical conditions that make it difficult for them to get around! If ya can get around okay, park somewhere else!
Of course there are a lot of other examples of people parking in places that they shouldn’t.
What set me off on this was the way a doofus state park dude parked his truck at the building supply store yesterday.
I had gone to Lowes to pick up twenty 80 pound bags of concrete mix. They keep a large supply outside that customers can back right up to for loading — in a loading zone.
Guess where doofus state park dude parked.
That’s it. Right in front of the place I was going to need to back up to — in the loading zone!
I figured it was probably be a while before he got done, that he probably had a load of something that need to be loaded onto the truck, so I took a little bit of time to walk around the store — and there he was, by the paint counter, doofus state park dude in his uniform. Doofus state park dude was a park ranger!
By the time that I got back to the checkout area, doofus state park ranger dude was at one of the counters. Another register was open, with no customers in line there, so I went to there. Turned out the two ladies at that counter were doing some register magic that took both of them and took a couple of minutes, but I was still out of the building before doofus state park ranger dude.
On the way out, a skinny young fellow asked me if I was the one getting 20 bags of concrete. I guess that he was going to be loading it for me. As I went to get my truck, he went over and started cutting the plastic off of one of the pallets of concrete mix. Unfortunately, it was the one furthest from where I backed the truck up to, which was the closest place I could back up to without blocking access to doofus state park ranger dude’s truck bed. So I backed up in front of doofus state park ranger dude’s truck — and I hoped he would be done and out before my truck was loaded, not that I would have said anything.
I mentioned to the skinny young fellow that was going to be loading that I really hated it when people parked like that. He agreed and said that sometimes they had to go into the store to get people to move because they were blocking others.
As I was pulling away from the loading zone after we had loaded all 1600 pounds of concrete mix, I looked in the mirror and saw that the skinny young fellow was talking to doofus state park ranger dude, who was looking in my direction.
Wonder if the kid said anything.
How about you? Do you have any parking peeves or stories?
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I overheard it the day before the election.
“That Obama scares me.”
I tried to believe that his fear was of the changes that are going to occur as a result of this election.
I really would like to believe that.
But I know better.
It was fear of something different, of someone different.
“HE isn’t like us.” “HE looks different.” “HE sounds different.” “HE can’t be a real American.” “HE pals around with Bill Ayers, a domestic terrorist.” “HIS preacher teaches hate.” “HE’s a Muslim.” “I can’t vote for him, HE’s…, HE’s…, not white.”
“THAT Obama scares me.”
“THAT one.”
Despite the misinformation campaigns, the hate ads, the robocalls, and racial bias, the American electorate overwhelming elected THAT one — the SENSIBLE one — the RIGHT one.
Yes, WE can!
Yes, WE did!
The change is started. It’s going to take some time.
Some people aren’t going to like it.
It’s not going to benefit everyone.
I’m not going to like everything about it.
But the nation was off course.
The nation needed a new heading and there will be a new hand on the tiller.
Yes, we can!
I’m not afraid of Barack Obama — Never was.
Note: This commentary is not intended to imply that all who voted for McCain and against Obama were racist. In my view, race was not an issue for the majority of those who voted for the Republican candidate, but there were many voters who were influenced by race and/or the campaign ads and speeches that were designed to foster fear — and that is what this post is addressing.
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Choices in Life — part 1
August 10, 2009
We are the products of choices.
The path our lives take is the result of many, many choices. We make choices that decide our future and impact the lives of others. Decisions and choices by others affect us every day.
“I choose to have a positive attitude at work regardless of the problems or issues. ” – or — “How can I have a positive attitude with all the mickey mouse stuff they want us to do.”
“There aren’t any decent jobs around here, so I guess I’ll just take what I can get.” — or — “There aren’t any decent jobs around here that I’m qualified for, so I’ll do what I need to do to be able to get a better job, even if it means leaving.”
“I’m going to deal with other people based on who they are, not what they are.” — or — “You just can’t deal with those people; they aren’t like us.”
“I’m just here to earn my paycheck; I’m just going to do what I’m told.” — or — “I’m going to do what I need to do in order to be the very best that I can at this job.”
“I’m tired and grumpy because it’s been a long day, but I sure won’t take it out on the worker at the checkout counter when the product I’m buying doesn’t scan.” — or — “I don’t care about her; I just want to get done here so I can go home and have some beer.”
What are some other examples of choices that shape our lives?
day 68
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