Madison River,
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

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“Around the Upper Loop” Yellowstone gallery

check out our Yellowstone information page

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Haw Creek galleries

day70

Dane County Farmers’ Market on the Square, Madison, Wisconsin
September 20, 2008

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Dane County Farmers’ Market images

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Haw Creek galleries

day 69

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’m going to take every single sick day even if I don’t get sick; they’re mine.” — or — “I only take days off sick if I’m really feeling lousy.”

“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

West Thumb Geyser Basin
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

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“Madison Junction to West Thumb” Yellowstone images
September 12, 2007

check out our Yellowstone information page

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Haw Creek galleries

day 66

Near Tower Falls
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
September 17, 2007

From the Tower Falls and Canyon Area gallery.

Haw Creek Galleries

day 65

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
September 14, 2007

From the Old Faithful Area gallery.

Haw Creek Galleries

day 64

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

May 5, 2009

from Great Smoky Mountains National Park photo gallery

(see more photos in other Haw Creek photo galleries)

day 62

Peter Sissons, a veteran British newsman, left BBC’s Television Centre for the last time in June, without a “pang of regret.”

In The Mail of Sunday, July 15th,  he launched a blistering attack on the BBC, claiming standards have dropped and producers are too concerned about being politically correct to do anything about it.

His article was an interesting read and, given my growing disillusion over the news media and what I believe to be a misrepresentation of the facts on climate change, I was particularly interested in the part of the article that talked about the BBC position on global warming.

Mr. Sissons writes:

On a wintry Saturday last December, there was what was billed as a major climate change rally in London.

The leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas, went into the Westminster studio to be interviewed by me on the BBC News channel. She clearly expected what I call a ‘free hit’; to be allowed to voice her views without being challenged on them.

I pointed out to her that the climate didn’t seem to be playing ball at the moment. We were having a particularly cold winter, even though carbon emissions were increasing. Indeed, there had been no warming for ten years, contradicting all the alarming computer predictions.

Well, she was outraged. I don’t have the actual transcript, but Miss Lucas told me angrily that it was disgraceful that the BBC – the BBC! – should be giving any kind of publicity to those sort of views.

I believe I am one of a tiny number of BBC interviewers who have so much as raised the possibility that there is another side to the debate on climate change.

The Corporation’s most famous interrogators invariably begin by accepting that ‘the science is settled’, when there are countless reputable scientists and climatologists producing work that says it isn’t.

But it is effectively BBC policy, enthusiastically carried out by the BBC environment correspondents, that those views should not be heard – witness the BBC statement last year that ‘BBC News currently takes the view that their reporting needs to be calibrated to take into account the scientific consensus that global warming is man-made’.

Politically the argument may be settled, but any inquisitive journalist can find ample evidence that scientifically it is not.

I was not proud to be working for an organisation with a corporate mind so closed on such an important issue. Disquiet over my interview with Miss Lucas, incidentally, went right to the top at the BBC although, naturally, they never sought to discuss it with me.

For me, this is not an issue about the climate, it is an issue about the duty of the journalist.

I suspect the policy of most major media outlets on climate change is similar to the BBC’s.

day 61

Temperature 192°F
Dimensions 9×10 feet, 6 feet in depth

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Old Faithful area

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“Around the Lower Loop” Yellowstone images
September 15, 2007

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Haw Creek Galleries

day 60