At last, a comprehensive account of the leaked emails from the Climate Research Unit at East Anglia has just been published.
So much for the bullshit about anthropogenic global warming being “settled science.”
If you’re looking for factual information with which to confront the global warming morons, this is your book.
Dick Morris, former Bill Clinton political advisor-turned conservative commentator, has a column on his site today enumerating the Senate’s vulnerable Democrats in the 2010 election and naming the Republicans who will almost certainly replace them.
Included in that list is Indiana’s Evan Bayh, but Morris opines there is no likely Republican to challenge Bayh.
Not so.
I was speculating at lunch that Congressman Mike Pence has the name recognition and the gravitas to deny Bayh a third term.
It turns out other people think so too.
Here’ what she says on her blog today:
Pence and his aides will meet with top staffers at the NRSC tomorrow, several sources tell Hotline OnCall, where they will discuss a possible bid. The NRSC has polled IN, and their survey shows Pence in a competitive position, though he trails Bayh in initial matchups.
GOPers have failed to recruit a top-tier challenger against the popular 2-term incumbent, thanks largely to Bayh’s bankroll. He had $12.7M in the bank as of Sept. 30, and GOPers expect he would be able to raise many more millions before Election Day.
But Pence has a base, especially as the number 3 GOPer in the House, and top Senate strategists believe he would be able to raise the money to compete with Bayh. He also has the national ambition, and Senate strategists plan to point out those ambitions are difficult to achieve without a Senate seat.
Yet Pence’s team is acutely aware of the financial challenge such a race would pose, and he had just $462K CoH at the end of the 3rd quarter. Pence’s decision will rest heavily on whether the NRSC would make a financial commitment to help make up the early difference, a source close to Pence said. The source also said Pence is unlikely to turn down the offer soon, indicating he is taking the notion seriously.
The Hated Huffington Post has a similar story, as do MSNBC, the Washington Independent and Beltway Blips.
I’m sitting at my usual table at Hastings, basking in the glow of yesterday’s Massachusetts Miracle, wearing a Brown corduroy shirt and a Brown safari jacket, and listening to Come Out from the Steve Reich album Early Works.
Here’s what Wikipedia says about Steve Reich and Come Out:
Stephen Michael Reich born October 3, 1936) is an American composer who pioneered the style of minimalist music. His innovations include using tape loops to create phasing patterns (examples are his early compositions, "It's Gonna Rain" and "Come Out"), and the use of simple, audible processes to explore musical concepts (for instance, "Pendulum Music" and "Four Organs"). These compositions, marked by their use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm and canons, have significantly influenced contemporary music, especially in the US. Reich's work took on a darker character in the 1980s with the introduction of historical themes as well as themes from his Jewish heritage, notably the Grammy Award-winning Different Trains.
Reich's style of composition influenced many other composers and musical groups. Reich has been described by The Guardian as one of "a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered the direction of musical history",[2] and the critic Kyle Gann has said Reich "may...be considered, by general acclamation, America's greatest living composer."[3] On January 25, 2007, Reich was named the 2007 recipient of the Polar Music Prize, together with Sonny Rollins. On April 20, 2009, Reich was awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Musicfor his Double Sextet.[4]
The 13-minute "Come Out" (1966) uses … manipulated recordings of a single spoken line given by Daniel Hamm, one of the falsely accused Harlem Six, who was severely injured by police. The survivor, who had been beaten, punctured a bruise on his own body to convince police about his beating. The spoken line includes the phrase "to let the bruise’s blood come out to show them." Reich rerecorded the fragment "come out to show them" on two channels, which are initially played in unison. They quickly slip out of sync; gradually the discrepancy widens and becomes a reverberation. The two voices then split into four, looped continuously, then eight, and continues splitting until the actual words are unintelligible, leaving the listener with only the speech's rhythmic and tonal patterns.
I was introduced to this piece back in 1967 while smoking pot with fraternity brother Bill Broadstreet in his Indianapolis apartment. Listening to it today, without the benefit of recreational chemistry, I still get a buzz.
This half-liter stein features the logo of the Engelbräu brewery, which has been making beer since 1797.
I dragged yet another box of books out of the garage this afternoon and listed all but one – this 1914 edition of The Rover Boys in Alaska. It’s in kind of rough condition. The first couple of pages have come adrift from the binding, but otherwise it’s in reasonable shape for a kid’s book that’s almost 100 years old.
Inside the front cover, I found the inscription: To John Edward Flora.
That’s my dad’s older brother. Uncle John, who was my favorite uncle, grew up on a farm near Cutler, Ind. He went to DePauw University and became a teacher and lived and worked most of his life in the Garrett, Ind., school system. He and his wife Jean retired to Leesburg, Fla. He died several years ago of cancer, but his two sons survive. I’m going to pack it up gently and send it to the younger son who lives in Fishers, Ind.
It just wouldn’t be right to let it go to a stranger when it might be valued by my cousin and his family.
If I hear one more news channel talking head use the expression “on the ground” to mean someone or something is in place in Haiti, Iraq, Afghanistan or wherever, I think I’m gonna scream.
Stupid meaningless cliche.
This half-liter stein bears the logo of the Eichbaum (oak tree) brewing company in Mannheim/Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The brewery was founded in 1679 by Mannheim’s Councillor Jean du Chene.
Some the Eichbaum Brewery brews are: Apostulator (German-Style Strong Doppelbock), Dunkles Weizen (South German-Style Dunkel Weizen/Weissbier), Festbier (Traditional German-Style Bock), Feuerio Tropfen (German-Style Strong Doppelbock), Gerstel Alkoholfrei (Non-Alcoholic Malt Beverage), Gerstel Extra-Herb (Non-Alcoholic Malt Beverage), Gerstel Weizenbier (Non-Alcoholic Malt Beverage), Hefe Weizen (South German-Style Hefeweizen/Hefeweissbier), Kristall Weizen (South German-Style Kristal Weizen/Kristal), Pilsener (Bohemian-Style Pilsener), Schwarzbier (German-Style Schwarzbier) and Ureich (Bohemian-Style Pilsener).
This half-liter lidded stein commemorates the post-war German Navy Destroyer Mölders, named for WWII Luftwaffe ace Oberst (Colonel) Werner Mölders.
Mölders was retired from combat in the summer of 1941 after his 100th aerial victory and was appointed Inspector General of Fighters. He was travelling as a passenger in a Heinkel He111 when the plane crashed on landing at Breslau, Germany in November, 1941, killing Mölders and two others. Two fighter wings, the destroyer and a barracks have been named for him.
The Destroyer Mölders was commissioned in 1968 and served the modern Kriegsmarine until 2003 when it was retired. Since 2005 the Mölders has been a museum ship in Wilhelmshaven.
Here's the flag Gov.O'Malley of MD has to fly from his official state vehicle for the next week. He wanted a wager, so I saw his crab cakes and raised him. (Note we touched up the flag so it says INDIANAPOLIS on it.) Maybe this will help the folks who run the Ravens scoreboard to show our team and our town a little more politeness next time they play out there. On to Miami!!!
I bought it at Bronner’s Christmas Store in Frankenmuth, Mich. about 20 years ago. They had a huge selection of beer steins.
JONESBORO, Ark. – I’m at the McDonald’s at Caraway and Nettleton in Jonesboro and they do, indeed, have free Wifi.
As I’ve said before, this is a huge development for those of us who travel with netbooks or laptops. It almost makes me question the wisdom of buying a Sprint G3/G4 USB aircard. Almost.
Now that there’s free Wifi at McDonald’s and Starbucks and I have the Sprint accessory, there will be very few places where I won’t have Internet connectivity.
The welcome page includes a comprehensive listing of McDonald’s Wifi locations. Here are the numbers:
| State | Number of Locations |
| Alabama | 199 |
| Alaska | 27 |
| Arizona | 206 |
| Arkansas | 130 |
| California | 1,084 |
| Colorado | 151 |
| Connecticut | 126 |
| Delaware | 33 |
| District of Columbia | 30 |
| Florida | 732 |
| Georgia | 350 |
| Hawaii | 61 |
| Idaho | 37 |
| Illinois | 581 |
| Indiana | 316 |
| Iowa | 104 |
| Kansas | 127 |
| Kentucky | 215 |
| Louisiana | 207 |
| Maine | 39 |
| Maryland | 265 |
| Massachusetts | 207 |
| Michigan | 491 |
| Minnesota | 178 |
| Mississippi | 115 |
| Missouri | 295 |
| Montana | 39 |
| Nebraska | 70 |
| Nevada | 85 |
| New Hampshire | 55 |
| New Jersey | 225 |
| New Mexico | 80 |
| New York | 574 |
| North Carolina | 382 |
| North Dakota | 18 |
| Ohio | 532 |
| Oklahoma | 168 |
| Oregon | 107 |
| Pennsylvania | 448 |
| Rhode Island | 29 |
| South Carolina | 174 |
| South Dakota | 23 |
| Tennessee | 266 |
| Texas | 845 |
| Utah | 77 |
| Vermont | 27 |
| Virginia | 372 |
| Washington | 178 |
| West Virginia | 85 |
| Wisconsin | 221 |
| Wyoming | 19 |
You can find individual locations by city through the online location list. I am mildly surprised to find they even have free Wifi at my hometown McDonald’s in Delphi, Ind., although I doubt anyone who works there is smart enough to keep it going.
This one-liter stein is from the Schultheiss brewery in Berlin. I’m unclear whether the firm is still in business.
Incidentally, the Schultheiss brewery in the Berlin borough of Spandau is where the Soviets captured SS Sturmbannführer Otto Günsche, one of Adolf Hitler’s personal adjutants. Günsche and several other members of Hitler’s inner circle were captured as they attempted to flee Berlin following Hitler’s suicide on April 30, 1945.
Actor Danny Glover, seen here with Venezuela dictator and U.S.-hater Hugo Chavez, says the earthquake in Haiti was caused by global warming.
What an incredible moron.
I just got an email from Herb and Reno Anderson, who own Grass Roots BMW Motorcycles in Cape Girardeau, Mo., announcing their first S1000RR arrived today and will be on the showroom floor tomorrow.
The 999cc engine makes a claimed 193 bhp and the bike has a phenomenally low weight-to-power ratio (wet weight: 450 pounds). Note the chain drive rather than the traditional BMW shaft drive.
It is the most powerful sport bike in the world, something BMW hasn’t been able to claim for a long time.
BMW will use the S1000RR to chase the World Superbike Championship this year. And they’ll let you have one for $13,800.
Herb says demo rides will be available soon.
According to Lifehacker.com:
Starting today, fast-food restaurant McDonald's will begin
offering free Wi-Fi access at 11,500 of its 14,000 U.S. locations. It's a nice improvement from the $2.95 they were previously charging for two hours, and it could come in pretty handy in a pinch, considering the ubiquity of McDonald's.
I haven’t checked any of the local McDonald’s restaurants to confirm this. I thought the start-up date was supposed to be Jan. 17. Either way, it’s good news for us geeks.
