A great review of how the MSM ingnored the story of the revealing of the greatest science hoax of all time

As usual, to get any truth on this matter we must go overseas to Britain:

Climategate: how the MSM reported the greatest scandal in modern science

But in the case of “Climate Change”, the MSM has been caught with its trousers down. The reason it has been so ill-equipped to report on this scandal is because almost all of its Environmental Correspondents and Environmental Editors are parti pris members of the Climate-Fear Promotion lobby. Most of their contacts (and information sources) work for biased lobby groups like Greenpeace and the WWF, or conspicuously pro-AGW government departments and Quangos such as the Carbon Trust. How can they bring themselves to report on skullduggery at Hadley Centre when the scientists involved are the very ones whose work they have done most to champion and whose pro-AGW views they share?

As Upton Sinclair once said:

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it.”

I like this guy's style.  I'm going to check him out.  A quick peek of his bio reads:

James Delingpole is a writer, journalist and broadcaster who is right about everything. He is the author of numerous fantastically entertaining books including Welcome To Obamaland: I've Seen Your Future And It Doesn't Work, How To Be Right, and the Coward series of WWII adventure novels. His website is www.jamesdelingpole.com

I have an intense desire to punch this guy in the face

I don't know why.

Your whole block or town running on batteries? Maybe soon.

Imagine batteries the size of a house that can keep a whole neighborhood going. One of our energy problems is there's no good way to store huge amounts of electric power, it has to be generated as it's needed. Having a very large scale method of mass storage would make solar and wind power much more useful and almost make blackouts history.

There’s one major drawback to most proposed renewable-energy sources: their variability. The sun doesn’t shine at night, the wind doesn’t always blow, and tides, waves and currents fluctuate. That’s why many researchers have been pursuing ways of storing the power generated by these sources so that it can be used when it’s needed.

So far, those solutions have tended to be too expensive, limited to only certain areas, or difficult to scale up sufficiently to meet the demands. Many researchers are struggling to overcome these limitations, but MIT professor Donald Sadoway has come up with an innovative approach that has garnered significant interest — and some major funding.

A large, utility-owned system “doesn’t have to be crash-worthy; it doesn’t have to be ‘idiot-proof’ because it won’t be in the hands of the consumer.” And while consumers are willing to pay high prices, pound-for-pound, for the small batteries used in high-value portable devices, the biggest constraint on utility-sized systems is cost. In order to compete with present fossil-fuel power systems, he says, “it has got to be cheap to build, cheap to maintain, last a long time with minimal maintenance, and store enormous amounts of energy.”

It's working, sort-of, at laboratory scale.  Scaling it up will be a major task.  The electronics to stuff power into it and convert it to the 60 cycle AC our gadgets want are a breeze at small scale, they exist right now in the UPS you might be using to keep your computer running in a power outage.  This is that same theory, except that small battery in that UPS box would be the size of a house and be able to run a small town for hours.  That means the charge-discharge electronics will need to scale up, too, and they've never been made that large.

If it can be made workable at that scale, it will do wonders.  Ask anyone that has used sun or wind to try to power their homes and they'll tell you the biggest problem is power storage.  Wind and sun are huge but very diffuse power, to be usable to us we need it to be concentrated and stay there until we need it.  Batteries work great for very small things (like computers or wheelchairs), fair for large (like a house) and not at all for anything larger.  They just can't hold enough.  This might.

I got email from my senator, Arlen Spector. I've reposted it without edit or comment.

The Congress is continuing its work to try to get healthcare reform legislation, and I believe the prospects are reasonably good that we will produce a bill. I hope that the bill will have the public option - and a robust public option. We will have a cloture vote tonight and I believe that we should be able to get 60 Senators at least to agree to start the debate.

It would be my hope that my colleagues would not draw lines in the sand or stay in inflexible positions. We need to move ahead, and doing nothing is not an option. The problems of so many millions of Americans uninsured and the problems of the rising healthcare costs makes it imperative that action be taken.

I think that the bill which has been proposed is a very, very good start. It is obviously subject to amendments and some modification. But the total cost has come in at about $850 billion over 10 years and is projected to save about $130 billion to reduce the deficit. In the second decade it is projected to save even more, up to as much as $650 billion. President Obama has committed not to sign a healthcare bill which adds to the deficit, and I’m committed not to vote for a healthcare bill that adds to the deficit. 

It is my hope that the bill will emerge with very strong provisions on preventative care. That includes annual examinations without additional costs and encouraging people to have the annual exams to catch many problems at their early stages, like heart disease or ailments, before they develop into debilitating and expensive chronic diseases. I disagree with the recent recommendations to cut back on mammogram screenings or pap smears. I think that early detection is vital and well worth the cost. I can tell you from my personal experience: an MRI detected a brain tumor the size of a golf ball between my skull and my brain back in 1993. It could have been a very, very serious matter had that early detection not occurred.

Healthcare reform is vital and we’re determined to get a good bill. 

Sincerely,

Arlen Specter

WD-40's new Smart Straw

For those of you that, like me, think WD-40 is one of the best things ever devised by Man, the Smart Straw will make you happy.

That Smart Straw is GENIUS!

Yes, there are better products for some specific jobs.  There are several very good lubes for guns, graphite based lubes are better for locks, better rust-breakers (I like PB Blaster), plenty of superior corrosion inhibitors but nothing does everything as well as WD-40.  It's the Swiss Army knife of lubes- it may or may not be the best at a given job but it will work.  I do have special gun & lock lubes and a couple of rust-breakers, but I still reach for WD-40 a lot.

I use it as cleaner to "hose down" the hard-to-reach workings in guns.  It gets into places I can't reach and the pressure blows out crud.  I'll let that dry and use a few drops of good lube oil on the moving and sliding parts, but then I know every moving part has at least some lubricant and it's well coated internally against moisture.

New links

I get so many hits from people searching for Stuff Black People Don't Like that I've added a permanent link to it.  I think my site is an incidental find rather than the intention of their search because I'm sure the "Stuff Black People Don't Like" blog would come up in a search before "Annoyed White Male", but the searcher found my title interesting enough to check out.  Either that, or a lot of people search for "Stuff Black People Don't Like" just to see what comes up.  Weird, but I've seen weirder.

Anyway, it's a pretty serious blog that nails its topic very effectively and is not hampered by political correctness, but at the same time is never insulting or rude.  Each post has a lot of material to justify the assertion.  It's meatier reading than your average blog.

For something light and funny. there is very funny stuff at Christian Lander's Stuff White People Like.  Example:

#128 Camping
August 14, 2009 by clander

If you find yourself trapped in the middle of the woods without electricity, running water, or a car you would likely describe that situation as a “nightmare” or “a worse case scenario like after plane crash or something.” White people refer to it as “camping.”

Ultimately the best way to escape a camping trip with white people is to say that you have allergies. Since white people and their children are allergic to almost everything, they will understand and ask no further questions. You should not say something like “looking at history, the instances of my people encountering white people in the woods have not worked out very well for us.”

Arrested for not paying the outrageous and unjustified tip

I SO hope this place suffers a massive loss of business over this:

If you’re frustrated by poor service at a restaurant, think twice before you decide to not tip. You may be in for a bit more than just a dirty look from the waiter.

"Nobody, nobody wants to be forced to pay a tip or be arrested for terrible service," Leslie Pope said when her happy hour ended in handcuffs.

Pope and John Wagner were hauled away by police and charged with theft for not paying the mandatory 18 percent gratuity totaling $16 after eating at the Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, Pa. with six friends.

This isn't quite in my local area but about an hour away.  I wish I was closer so I could go there and let them know what I think, like being seated then asking for the manger and telling him loudly why I'm walking out.  It's not quite high enough on my already crowded outrage list to take half a tank of gas and 3 hours of my time.

And another thing- this creeping hike in the expected tip to 18%.  When I was a kid it was 10%.  Circa 1970 it went up to 15%.  There was a MAD Magazine comic on the issue at the time predicting a future where a waiter called a guy a cheapskate because he only left a 100% tip.  MAD Mag was remarkably foresighted.  Anyway, if anyone wants a tip greater than 15% from me they are really going to have to earn it.  Sometimes they do and I gladly give it.  But if I ever see "a gratuity will automatically be added to your bill"  I will automatically get up and walk out just after I tell them why.

That's not a "gratuity", it's a fee.   The tip is To Insure Promptness and good service.  It's motivation for the server to take good care of the customer.  It's Capitalism as its finest.  In the automatic 18% the server has no motivation, they will get the same money if they do great or suck, so why put any effort into doing well?  If I see that I note on the menu is assures me the server has no motivation to take good care of me.  I can't blame them, if I was paid the same to do my job or fool around on the Internet all day which would I do?  Uh, that's just an example...

Watch out, some places do that and you don't realize it, then you throw down another 15% on top.  That's a 30-33% tip.

We'll give up our line-dried sheets when you pry them from our cold, dead hands

I've posted on this before.

This is not ugly. Look! A kitty!

PERKASIE, Pennsylvania —  Carin Froehlich pegs her laundry to three clotheslines strung between trees outside her 18th-century farmhouse, knowing that her actions annoy local officials who have asked her to stop.  Froehlich is among the growing number of people across America fighting for the right to dry their laundry outside against a rising tide of housing associations who oppose the practice despite its energy-saving green appeal.

Perkasie is just a couple of miles from me.  At my first convenience I'm going to try to contact her to offer my support, tonight or this weekend.

Although there are no formal laws in this southeast Pennsylvania town against drying laundry outside,

Then STFU, Perkasie.

And what the Hell is a "formal law", anyway?  That sentence should have read "there is no law against".  I think that word "formal" shows bias by a writer that thinks that an informal call from a local potentate should be the law.

a town official called Froehlich to ask her to stop drying clothes in the sun. And she received two anonymous notes from neighbors saying they did not want to see her underwear flapping about.

How do you think the town official got wind of this terrible eyesore?  I'm betting the same neighborhood busybodies that courageously left anonymous notes have friends in high places.  If a neighbor politely came to the door and voiced their position to my face, I could at least respect them for doing it that way.  I'd still laugh in their faces, but I'd respect them while I was doing it.  Leaving anonymous notes is cowardly and would cause me to do something like hang some really interesting things out for them to see, right next to the Gadsden flag.

 Florida, Utah, Maine, Vermont, Colorado, and Hawaii have passed laws restricting the rights of local authorities to stop residents using clotheslines. Another five states are considering similar measures, said Lee, 35, a former lawyer who quit to run the non-profit group.

Yea!

"The consensus in most communities is that people don't want to see everybody else's laundry."

...said Carl Weiner, a lawyer for about 50 homeowners associations in suburban Philadelphia.  If you wish to live in an association with such restriction so that your delicate eyes won't be offended by the horror of laundry, that's your right and freedom.  But Froehlich doesn't.  No one can legally stop her.  Neeners!

This is what line-dried laundry is like. You can't get it out of a bottle of fabric softener.

Line-drying laundry for a family of five saves $83 a month in electric bills, she said.

I have a family of 5.  I don't think it's that much, but it surely does save money.  Not just energy, but clothes last considerably longer.  Drying with high heat and tumbling is harder on clothes that most people realize.  Also, sunlight kills fungus and bacteria.

Kevin Firth, who owns a two-bedroom condominium in a Dublin, Pennsylvania housing association, said he was fined $100 by the association for putting up a clothesline in a common area.  "It made me angry and upset," said Firth, a 27-year-old carpenter. "I like having the laundry drying in the sun. It's something I have always done since I was a little kid."

Then, Mr. Firth, you shouldn't have moved into a condo.  Dummy.  You don't even own the land you live on.  What does "common area" mean?  It means "not yours".  You can't do anything other than walk there, and then probably only during association-approved hours, wearing only association-approved shoes.

God I hate condos and the little nazis that run them.  They are festering tumors of collectivist mentality and political correctness.  Those are the people that want to impose their vision of sameness on the world.  They are pod people.  They distrust and fear individualism.

My one joy in this is tends to pit condo-dwellers against each other.  Give that most condo types are very Liberal and PC, this issue is a "green" one because "it's helping to save the planet".  These people insist on CFL lightbulbs in all common areas and snoop into each other's trash to make sure they are recycling correctly, but put up a clothesline to save kilowatts of energy a day?  Are you mad?  Think of the property values!

To end this on a happy note:

For Froehlich, the "right to hang" is the embodiment of the American tradition of freedom.  "If my husband has a right to have guns in the house, I have a right to hang laundry," said Froehlich, who is writing a book on the subject.

Put me down for an autographed copy, Mrs. Froehlich.  Her and her husband are the kind of neighbors I want.  Carin, if you see this, you and the mister are invited to the Perk for dinner on me.

Update on Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 11:58AM by Annoyed White Male

I saw this on FARK, of course.  The comments are hilarious.

Update on Friday, November 20, 2009 at 6:57AM by Annoyed White Male

I found her!  We've made contact and my offer of support (and dinner) has been accepted!  More later, but here is her site: Laundrywisdom.com.  I will add a permanent link in the Plugs later.  Also see dryingforfreedom.com, which is about a film in production about the issue.

There's at least one man left in Britain, and she's 5 years old.

The post below is a naughty child.  This is a good one:

A feisty five-year-old girl confronted a knife-wielding burglar in her home by shouting: 'Put my Daddy's car keys down'.

I'm sure she will soon be arrested for speaking too harshly to an armed burglar and be placed under an ASBO.

Note to Britain: in the US drunken burglars that point blades and 5 year old girls can easily get their damned heads blown off and will get a pat on the back from the police, not arrested.  That's why we don't have that happen much here.

I bet she listens next time

If she'd swatted the kid's behind a few times 5 years ago this wouldn't have been needed:

The Smoking Gun-- An Arkansas cop tasered an unruly 10-year-old girl after her mother called police to report that the child was crying, screaming, and refusing to go to bed. According to the below Ozark Police Department report, when Officer Dustin Bradshaw arrived at the residence last Thursday, he found the girl "screaming, kicking, and resisting every time her mother tried to touch her." Bradshaw added that, "Her mother told me to tase her if I needed to." After the child continued to refuse her mother's instructions, the cop concluded that "there was not going to be a peaceful resolution of the issue." Bradshaw warned the girl that she was "going to jail," but the child continued kicking and crying and resisted his attempt to handcuff her. During the tussle the girl "struck me with her legs and feet in the groin, reported Bradshaw, who countered with a brief "stun to her back" with his Taser. The child, not surprisingly, "immediately stopped resisting and was placed into handcuffs. She would not walk on her own and I had to carry her to my police car." The child was then transported to a youth shelter.