Perils of the New Pesticides for Pets

Pyrethroid-based flea and tick treatments — from Hartz, Sergeant’s, Farnam, and Bayer — are approved for sale by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and they are readily available at grocery stores, specialty pet retailers, and hardware stores. But they are also linked to thousands of reported pet poisonings.

The concentrations of pyrethroids in over-the-counter spot on pet treatments range from a 40 percent to an 85 percent solution, eight to 17 times stronger than the strongest pyrethroid product currently approved for use on humans.

At least 1,600 pet deaths related to spot on treatments with pyrethroids were reported to the EPA over the last five years, about double the number of reported fatalities tied to similar treatments without pyrethroids, such as Frontline and Advantage. The over-the-counter pyrethroid spot ons are typically half the price of Frontline and Advantage.

Perils of the New Pesticides | Articles - Pets and Pesticides: Let’s Be Careful Out There:

Lundin - Family History & Genealogy Message Board - Ancestry.com

Lundin - Family History & Genealogy Message Board - Ancestry.com

Lundin Family Crest

Lundin Family Crest

RIP Appraising as a Profession

Appraisal Scoop: AMC’S - The first set of letters that spell appraisal de-valuation.

Dean Kamen's

Entertaining story on America's smartest inventor.


Dean Kamen's Water Purifier - Biography of Dean Kamen - Esquire

Mitt Romney --Let Detroit Go Bankrupt

Op-Ed Contributor - Let Detroit Go Bankrupt - NYTimes.com

Puppy Cam!

Am told this site is currently the #1 internet site.

Shiba Inu Puppy Cam, Ustream.TV: Tune in daily to see the cutest Shiba Inu pups... EVER! ;) The. Travel&Nature,Nature,Webcam,Entertainment,Funny Cats,

Warning Sign

Witness to Obama's friend Ayers

Eyewitness to the Ayers Revolution

I asked, “Well what is going to happen to those people we can’t reeducate, that are diehard capitalists?” And the reply was that they’d have to be eliminated.

And when I pursued this further, they estimated they would have to eliminate 25 million people in these reeducation centers.

And when I say “eliminate,” I mean “kill.”

Twenty-five million people.

I want you to imagine sitting in a room with 25 people, most of which have graduate degrees, from Columbia and other well-known educational centers, and hear them figuring out the logistics for the elimination of 25 million people.

And they were dead serious

Obama Doesn't Care for Plumbers

What a snob.

House Of Lies: How Congress Failed To Protect Our Economy

Spread the wealth around

Our future leader admits his desire to redistribute wealth from the productive to the non-productive class. Oh what a future we have to look forward to.

Winter Park High School Sound Of The Wildcats 10/4/08

Burning Down The House: What Caused Our Economic Crisis?

Updated Link to V2 and bumped to top. This is a must see video.

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending - New York Times

September 30, 1999

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending - New York Times

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders...

''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.''

Clearly, it is all George Bush' fault.

Quote of the Day

Politics | | Seattle Times Newspaper

"I get why she's hot out there, why she's doing well."

...described Palin's appeal by adding, "People look at her, and they say, 'All those kids. Something that happens in everybody's family. I'm glad she loves her daughter and she's not ashamed of her. Glad that girl's going around with her boyfriend. Glad they're going to get married.'"

...voters would think, "I like that little Down syndrome kid. One of them lives down the street. They're wonderful children. They're wonderful people. And I like the idea that this guy does those long-distance races. Stayed in the race for 500 miles with a broken arm. My kind of guy."

Palin, the governor of Alaska, became an overnight star when Republican presidential candidate John McCain tapped her for his running mate. Her family, including her Down syndrome baby, Trig, her pregnant 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, and her husband, Todd, four-time winner of the 2,000-mile Iron Dog snowmobile race, have garnered intense media interest.

"I get this... My view is ... why say, ever, anything bad about a person? Why don't we like them and celebrate them and be happy for her elevation to the ticket? And just say that she was a good choice for him and we disagree with them?"

- Bill Clinton

Washington Post Asserts the Washington Post is not a credible source!

From: JohnMcCain.com - McCain-Palin 2008

Washington Post Attacks Washington Post

The Washington Post's Michael Dobbs fact checks the ad this campaign released yesterday titled "Advice":

So what evidence does the McCain campaign have for the supposed Obama-Raines connection? It is pretty flimsy, but it is not made up completely out of whole cloth.

Pretty flimsy? As Dobbs goes on to say, that "pretty flimsy" source is his own paper, the Washington Post. The Post reported that Raines had "taken calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters." It then recycled that information into two more pieces, one of which was an editorial. But we're willing to make a deal. If Dobbs admits his newspaper is not a credible source, we'll take down the ad.

Obama, Biden voted for Bridge to Nowhere Twice

Bridge Politics by Phil Kerpen on NRO Financial

McCain voted against the bill once, missing the second vote. Obama and Biden voted for it twice.

They are calling Palin a "liar" about her claim of killing the bridge, but they should tread carefully. The bill they voted for (twice) that earmarked monies for the bridge was in fact, and surprisingly, killed by Palin upon becoming governor of Alaska.

So the facts are plain. When it mattered, Gov. Palin stood up to Sen. Stevens and dealt the Bridge to Nowhere its death blow. This is something the U.S. Congress and senators Obama and Biden failed to do on multiple occasions.

And while it’s true that John McCain, unlike his running mate, has always opposed pork-barrel earmarks, Sarah Palin, unlike Obama and Biden, did the right thing when it counted most and stopped an egregious example of earmark abuse. And now, of course, Palin has joined McCain in calling for an end to earmarks.

Isn’t it better to come around to the right position than to keep on being wrong?

Community Organizer FAQ

IMAO: Community Organizer FAQ

Finally, a clear and concise explanation of what a "Community Organizer" is.

Sarah Palin?

Althouse: So what did you think of Sarah Palin?:

"From now on, when a Democrat says 'But what if McCain drops dead on his first day in office?!?!?!' I'm going to say 'dude -- don't tease me like that.'"

Until Today...

I had completely given up on the Republican Party. Wouldn't send them a dime and sent all the requests for campaign contributions disguised as surveys back with scribbles all over them demanding:

Build the Wall
Drill Now, Now, Now
Stand for Something
Stop telling me to forget Reagan
Kick Mel Martinez out of the party

I love the Sarah Palin choice. Love it. Read up on her attacking the corruption of the Alaskan Republicans, pro-energy policies, refusing to abort a Downes baby. She is a brilliant choice.

Just went to www.johnmccain.com and donated.

Our Next Vice President?

America in the World -- A Brit's View

America in the World

Cool site by a group of conservative British who are tired of rampant anti-Americanism in their backyard. One of the posts is about the British ignorance of America. I added this to the comments:

As an American (U.S. persuasion) , I love you Brits and what you taught us about responsibility in the world. I have been fortunate to spend many months in England and enjoyed traveling to Wales and Scotland.

I have enjoyed all the lectures about my ignorance, our bad beer, and our guns. I have laughed when Budweiser became a craze in London, or in the midst of being lectured on my ignorance been asked how close Las Vegas was to my home of Orlando. (5 hour plane ride! Why that's as far away as Moscow!) I love you when you tell me the U.S. is bloodthirsty then get to tour London and see all the statues of the great British warriors. Bloody indeed.

I enjoy your country immensely. But do not want mine to be like yours. I love our big houses in the suburbs with 3 car garages, our boats, our snowmobiles, our big pickup trucks and SUVs. Our hunting rifles and our handguns. Not to mention our unbelievable national parks, rivers lakes, two oceans and the gulf of Mexico.

I love the idea that many Americans (pre 9/11) could live a fabulous life and never use a passport. There is so much diversity in the U.S. Plus we could travel to Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean Islands with just a drivers license for ID.

Most of all, I appreciate the UK for doing all the heavy lifting of creating the "Anglo sphere." That great group of sane countries that keeps fighting the good fight while maintaining a positive outlook and a good sense of humor. We Brits, Yanks, and Aussies are all different and all alike. And frankly would be surprised if we showed up at a crisis and didn't see each other doing their share of the work.

USRobotics Support: USR9610 USB Internet Speakerphone - 9610

USRobotics Support: USR9610 USB Internet Speakerphone - 9610

I recently wooted for three of these USRobotics Skype certified speakerphones. They were $5 each during a woot-off. I just pulled one out, plugged it into my laptop, and it instantly worked with Skype. We will use one in the office for conference calls with out locations. The sound was nice and clear and the microphone seemed to work very well. Very impressive for just $5 and is the best way to make free conference calls.

The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments

The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments

The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments, written by Robert Brent and illustrated by Harry Lazarus, was a book published in the 1960s that was intended to explain to kids how they could set up a home chemistry lab and conduct simple experiments. Supposedly only 126 copies of this book exist in libraries worldwide. Sometimes you can find a copy on eBay for around $600-$700. You can read the book online in pdf format, for free. Alternatively, you can download the pdf of the book to save on your computer or print.

Why isn't it still in print? Well.... there were some concerns about safety. Here's an excerpt from the text:

Test hydrogen for purity by collecting a test tube full of it and bringing a lighted match to mouth of tube, as shown on page 25. Hydrogen mixed with air explodes with a sharp "bark". Pure hydrogen burns with a quiet "pop".

Fun.

Olympic Logo

Dear Lord Let This Come to Pass

Jeering what they should applaud | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog:

From the comments section of the Australian Herald Sun:

"It is proven that all socialist powers fall 9 years after hosting an Olympiad. Despite any misgivings at the time....

It is written in the destruction of socialist destiny that Commie China will fall in 2017; 9 years after hosting the Olympics.

National Socialist Germany fell in 1945; 9 years after the ‘36 Olympics.

Socialist Soviet Union’s rotten murderous core collapsed in 89… NINE years after the Moscow Olympics.

You read it here foist.

I nominate NKorea for next Olympics. Then Cuba. Then Sydney, again; just to clean house."

Finally, I am officially delighted that China is hosting the Olympics.

Internet Fax to Email, Long Distance Service - Packetel

Internet Fax to Email, Long Distance Service - Packetel

Incoming fax service $3.95 per month.

Obama the Chosen One

Heh

Google Maps

Google Maps


View Larger Map

David Byrne and Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

David Byrne and Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

Byrne and Eno are releasing a new album together for the first time since 1981. It will only be sold through their website.

Google Calendar

School Grades

State School Grade Database

No comment necessary.

Cypress Creek Senior High School

ORANGE COUNTY

Charter School?: NO
Poverty Rate: 47%
Percent Minority: 82%

School Grades

---

2008: D 2007: D 2006: C 2005: C 2004: D

2003: C 2002: C 2001: C 2000: C 1999: C

[+] Show test score details for this school

Test Score Details

---

Percent Meeting High Standards in Reading: 48%
Percent Meeting High Standards in Math: 73%
Percent Meeting High Standards in Writing: 74%
Percent Meeting High Standards in Science: 43%
Percent Making Reading Gains: 54%
Percent Making Math Gains: 75%
Percent of Lowest 25% Making Learning Gains in Reading: 42%
Percent of Lowest 25% Making Learning Gains in Math: 61%

Dr. Phillips High School

ORANGE COUNTY

Charter School?: NO
Poverty Rate: 28%
Percent Minority: 58%

School Grades

---

2008: A 2007: B 2006: B 2005: B 2004: C

2003: B 2002: C 2001: A 2000: C 1999: C

[+] Show test score details for this school

Winter Park High School

ORANGE COUNTY

Charter School?: NO
Poverty Rate: 23%
Percent Minority: 39%

School Grades

---

2008: A 2007: B 2006: B 2005: A 2004: A

2003: A 2002: A 2001: A 2000: B 1999: A

[+] Show test score details for this school

Excerpt from Hoover's Diary

5:30 am - Mom woke up and I followed her to the office. My favorite thing!
6:30 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
7:15 am - A walk around the block! My favorite thing!
8:30 am - Nap with mom in her office. My favorite thing!
9:40 am - Gave mom a duck! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
11:00 am - Nap time in the laundry room! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Mom came home! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Got the mail at the mailbox! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
6:30 pm - Dinner! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Watched family eat at the table! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Went swimming! My favorite thing!
9:00 pm - Walk! My favorite thing!
9:10 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
9:30 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:30 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!"

Interactive Periodic Table

Dynamic Periodic Table

Our Electric Future — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

Our Electric Future — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

Why Use Firefox?

Flashblock :: Firefox Add-ons

Two great add-ons make Firefox the best way to surf.

One is Flashblock 1.5.6

Flashblock is an extension for the Mozilla, Firefox, and Netscape browsers that takes a pessimistic approach to dealing with Macromedia Flash content on a webpage and blocks ALL Flash content from loading. It then leaves placeholders on the webpage that allow you to click to download and then view the Flash content.

Flashblock currently blocks the following content types:
* Macromedia Flash
* Macromedia Shockwave
* Macromedia Authorware

Flash can really slow you down, or worse automatically play noise and video when you arrive at a page. This kills everything. If you want to have flash play on your favorite pages you can "whitelist" those pages to allow flash to play.

The other is Adblock Plus 0.7.5.5 which blocks banners and all sorts of ads including pop-ups, scrolling ads, etc.

Both are essential.

National Hurricane Center

National Hurricane Center

Bertha heading to Bermuda. Thanks Bermuda!

"It's never been a dull moment since I married him."

Man Flies To Idaho … In Lawn Chair, With A Lawn Chair, A Dream And Lots Of Balloons, Kent Couch Successfully Flies From Oregon To Idaho - CBS News:

Couch's wife, Susan, called him crazy: "It's never been a dull moment since I married him."

Couch covered about 235 miles in about nine hours after lifting off at dawn from his gas station riding in a green lawn chair rigged with an array of more than 150 giant party balloons.

Stuff White People Like

Stuff White People Like

Is this satire? I can't quite tell.

My Thought for the Day

Expecting Hope and Change from a Chicago politician is like expecting a good presidential candidate to emerge from the Senate. Anyone expecting either to happen is delusional.

Housing market weakness long-term: survey - Yahoo! News

Housing market weakness long-term: survey - Yahoo! News

Consumers expect housing market weakness to linger for longer than they did a few months ago, a survey showed on Friday.

The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers Home Prices Report for June also cited a broad gulf between buyers and sellers in the housing market.

Economists broadly agree that U.S. house prices peaked sometime in 2006. According to some measures, they have fallen about 16 percent since then.

"Consumers now anticipate that the weakness in home prices will last much longer than they had anticipated a few months ago," wrote Richard Curtin, director of the survey.

"Record numbers of consumers now think there are very attractive prices on homes for sale," Curtin said. "The problem has been that record numbers of consumers have objected to selling their home at such deeply discounted prices."

Asked about prospects for home prices during the year ahead, 23 percent of homeowners reported that they anticipated declines, down from 27 percent in the May survey. In June, 19 percent said they expected home prices to rise in the next year, unchanged from May's reading.

Asked about the direction of house prices over the next five years, 13 percent of respondents said they expect prices to fall, while 55 percent said they expect prices to rise. That was down from a 2007 peak of 70 percent who said they expected house prices to rise.

Hundreds swept up in mortgage fraud arrests - Yahoo! News

Hundreds swept up in mortgage fraud arrests - Yahoo! News

Since March 1, 406 people have been arrested in the sting dubbed "Operation Malicious Mortgage" that saw 144 cases across the country. Sixty people were arrested on Wednesday alone, including in Chicago, Miami, Houston and a dozen other regions policed by the FBI.

In a separate sweep, two former Bear Stearns managers in New York were indicted Thursday, becoming the first executives to face criminal charges related to the collapse of the subprime mortgage market.

Across the country, reports of mortgage fraud have soared over the past year as the subprime mortgage market collapsed and defaults and foreclosures soared.

Banks reported nearly 53,000 cases of suspected mortgage fraud last year, up from more than 37,000 a year earlier and about 10 times the level of reports in 2001 and 2002, according to the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

The most common type of mortgage fraud was misstatement of income or assets, followed by forged documents, inflated appraisals and misrepresentation of a buyer's intent to occupy a property as a primary residence.

Over the last several months, the FBI has been investigating an estimated 1,300 mortgage fraud cases — including 19 involving subprime lending practices by U.S. financial institutions.

Another Obama buddy bites the dust

Senators Appear to Have Received Below Market Mortgages from Countrywide:

Senator Chris Dodd, a vice-Presidential hopeful Democrat from Connecticut and Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee which regulates mortgage lending, was named as having received preferential treatment from Countrywide in obtaining mortgage loans. Dodd had earlier this year called Countrywide's lending practices 'abusive.'

One week ago the allegation of a similar deal with Countrywide forced former Fannie Mae Chairman Jim Johnson to step down from his volunteer position as head of Barack Obama's vice presidential search team.

According to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, the average foreclosure costs $77,935, while preventing a foreclosure runs only $3,300

A Look at Foreclosures Costs

Stoopid People Tricks

'Black is Beautiful' pet adoption program canceled

It's a well known fact that black coated dogs are much less likely to get adopted from a shelter for a variety of reasons. So the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter held a sale to promote the adoption of black animals. 12 black cats and 25 black dogs adoption fees were to be cut to $25 from the normal $85.

The promotion was canceled.

Because of racism.

Configuring AVG Internet Security

Configuring AVG Internet Security

It turns out that AVG Free 8.0 just about shuts down Firefox. Any java pages either can take up to minutes to load, or simply cripple Firefox.

There are important steps to set up AVG 8.0 for Firefox.

Weeeeeeeeee!

Dog Survives Toto Impression During Tornado

Now that would be a reason for a puppy to scream out loud...

AVG Free

AVG Free - Download installation files & documentation

They are making it very hard to follow all the links to download AVG Free 8.0

So here is the link. Version 7.5 expires in June.

Certified Time Waster

Jigsaw Sudoku - Free Online Sudoku Game

Who Needs Free Speech When We Have Socialized Medicine?

Should be the new motto for Canada.

Hey Canada? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!

Mark Hemingway on Canadian Human Rights Tribunal & Mark Steyn on National Review Online

...the general interpretation by the human-rights commissions is that they now have free rein to regulate the media. The slippery slope has been a toboggan ride to hell ever since.

What this means is that everyone in Canada now has fundamental freedoms, provided they’re not in conflict with whatever specious definition of “human rights” the CHRC chooses to apply. The threshold for conviction set by the Human Rights Act is incredibly low, because its highly subjective language means that “likely to cause contempt” is as good as a preponderance of evidence establishing guilt.

As a result, the Canadian Human Rights Commission is stunningly effective: In its 31 years of existence, not a single complaint brought before it has been dismissed. That's right: Everyone is guilty before God and the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

In 1999, a Christian printer was fined $5,000 for refusing to print a series of pro-pedophilia essays. He spent $40,000 in legal fees trying to defend himself.

In 2005, the Knights of Columbus of Port Coquitlam, B.C., were fined for refusing to rent their hall for a lesbian wedding.

There’s simply no point in naming all of the clergy that have been brought up on charges for preaching against homosexuality. Suffice to say it’s more than a few.

In 2002, the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission ordered the Saskatoon StarPhoenix and Hugh Owens each to pay $1,500 to three complainants for running an ad that quoted Bible verses condemning homosexuality. The decision was overturned by an appeal court . . . four years later.

In January of this year, Ezra Levant, publisher of Canadian conservative magazine The Western Standard, was brought up on charges for publishing the infamous Danish Muhammad cartoons as a matter of informing his readers what all the fuss was about.

Maybe there is hope:

This kind of nonsense on stilts is now the accepted norm in human-rights tribunals. With Steyn and Maclean’s involved, supposedly enlightened liberal Canadians — who needs free speech when we have socialized medicine?! — may not be able to dismiss the victims of the injustice this time around as merely neo-Nazis or those backward Christians. Steyn’s fame precedes him, and Maclean’s is a beloved national institution in Canada, with ample resources.

In fact, according to Andrew Coyne of Maclean’s they’re hoping to lose the case in Vancouver this week so they can bring it to a real court of law, and possibly set a precedent that could be the beginning of the end of Canadian “human rights” tribunals. Here’s hoping.

I just wooted wine for the first time

Woot Wine : One Week, One Wine (SM)

8 Skills Every Home Owner Should Master

REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-8 Skills Every Home Owner Should Master

When the movie is better than the book

Frederica Mathewes-Green on Film Adaptations on National Review Online

Mathewes-Green calls the movie Prince Caspian much better than the book. Then proceeds to ponder other movies vs. books.

Gotta Love Florida

Bump In Pinellas Night Came From 8-Foot Gator In Kitchen

The alligator, one of many inhabiting ponds around Frosti's East Lake Woods neighborhood, busted through the porch screen, crossed about 10 feet to the open door and entered the house.

The alligator traipsed across the living room carpet, through the dining room and into the kitchen.
"The police told me it may have been interested in my cat," Frosti said

24 Hours on the 'Big Stick'

24 Hours on the 'Big Stick' P.J. O'Rourke visits USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier and explains the difference between John McCain and the two democrats.

Some say John McCain's character was formed in a North Vietnamese prison. I say those people should take a gander at what John chose to do--voluntarily. Being a carrier pilot requires aptitude, intelligence, skill, knowledge, discernment, and courage of a kind rarely found anywhere but in a poem of Homer's or a half gallon of Dewar's. I look from John McCain to what the opposition has to offer. There's Ms. Smarty-Pantsuit, the Bosnia-Under-Sniper-Fire poster gal, former prominent Washington hostess, and now the JV senator from the state that brought you Eliot Spitzer and Bear Stearns. And there's the happy-talk boy wonder, the plaster Balthazar in the Cook County political crèche, whose policy pronouncements sound like a walk through Greenwich Village in 1968: "Change, man? Got any spare change? Change?"

Some people say John McCain isn't conservative enough. But there's more to conservatism than low taxes, Jesus, and waterboarding at Gitmo. Conservatism is also a matter of honor, duty, valor, patriotism, self-discipline, responsibility, good order, respect for our national institutions, reverence for the traditions of civilization, and adherence to the political honesty upon which all principles of democracy are based. Given what screw-ups we humans are in these respects, conservatism is also a matter of sense of humor. Heard any good quips lately from Hillary or Barack?

Who would have thought that a bunch of bare footed, Bible thumping, know-nothings would take such offense?

Stix Nix Obama’s Trix - HUMAN EVENTS:

"You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

- Barack Hussein Obama
Would-be U.S. President

“Pennsylvanians don’t need a president who looks down on them, they need a president who stands up for them, who fights for them, who works hard for your futures, your jobs, your families.”

- Hillary Clinton
Who Can't Believe She is Losing to this Moron.

“It shows an elitism and condescension towards hardworking Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking. It is hard to imagine someone running for president who is more out of touch with average Americans.”

-John McCain
Self-described Luckiest Man Alive

Anthropogenic Global Warming - Fact or Hoax? An editorial by James A. Peden

Anthropogenic Global Warming - Fact or Hoax? An editorial by James A. Peden

Turn on your lights night?

Earth Hour US - Earth Hour 2008

Online Photo Editing from Adobe

Adobe Photoshop Express - Made You Look.

I have a laptop I use for surfing while watching TV. All it has on it is Windows XP and Firefox. Every time I boot it up it takes about 5 minutes to check for virus updates, windows updates and other updates to installed programs. It seems like an awful lot of overhead to just want to find out who starred in the movie I'm watching on IMDB.com

There are now so many powerful tools that are online that I think I will switch the laptop over to Ubuntu. From within Firefox I can now run programs like

Adobe Photoshop Express
Picassa Photo Gallery
Google Docs (support excel, word and powerpoint like programs)
Google Calendar (now supports links to Blackberry!)
Gmail (and a bunch of other very good online email programs.)

So I could surf, email, write a letter, create a financial spreadsheet, or a presentation, look at and edit photos while throwing away anti-virus and weekly Microsoft updates.

Not to mention that the Ubuntu download includes OpenOffice which is a completely free competitor of Microsoft office and creates files that can be opened by MS Office.

The movie the UN wants banned

LiveLeak.com - Fitna the Movie: Geert Wilders' film about the Quran (English)

Provides an overview of the world's most dangerous and evil religion and how its acts of depravity relate directly to the Koran.

What makes this video so powerful is its lack of editorial. It simply compiles statements from the Koran and its followers.

[Update:] Due to death threats against LiveLeak.com they have stopped hosting the Wilders' video. You will have to search YouTube and then log in to see it.

Tracfone | Prepaid Cell Phone

Tracfone | Prepaid Cell Phone

Eric's Tracfone mobile was about to expire so I had to add another year's service to it. One year plus 400 minutes (units) of time is $100 or $8.33 per month. He doesn't use his phone much yet, so he still had over 1,000 units on his plan. When I went to purchase the extension a coupon popped up for an additional free 200 units. Then when I went to check out another offer popped up to add a second year for only $50 more.

$150 bought two years of service and 600 minutes. That is $6.25 per month, no contract, and he currently has 1,670 minutes to use up before buying anymore airtime.

That's a pretty good deal for a kids cell phone.

8:35 PM Twin Sonic Booms rattle our house hard

NASA - Welcome to NASA's STS-123 Landing Blog

Yes, the shuttle is landing. According to the landing blog, the twin sonic boom is heard at KSC two minutes later. We are about 60 miles from KSC.

Home Resales Rose 2.9% Last Month As Median Price Dropped 8.2%

Home Resales Rose 2.9% Last Month As Median Price Dropped 8.2% - WSJ.com

First time number of sales has increased since last July.

Down 24% from Feb 2007

Median home price of $195,900 dropped 8.2% from Feb 2007. Median home price was $199,700 in Jan 2008.

NAR economist Lawrence Yun was encouraged by the 2.9% sales gain. "We're not expecting a notable gain in existing-home sales until the second half of this year, but the improvement is another sign that the market is stabilizing," Mr. Yun said.

Inventories of homes decreased 3.0% at the end of February to 4.03 million available for sale, which represented a 9.6-month supply at the current sales pace.

There was a 10.2-month supply at the end of January, revised from a previously estimated 10.3 months.

Regionally, existing-home sales in February rose 2.5% in the Midwest, 11.3% in the Northeast, and 2.1% in the South. Demand fell 1.1% in the West.

Choices, Choices

Are the Democrats capable of finding a (would-be) presidential candidate who doesn't lie as a first resort? Gore meets the Internet, Kerry the War Hero, now Hillary the bullet dodger.

Hillary's Balkan Adventures, Part II - Fact Checker

"I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."
--Hillary Clinton, speech at George Washington University, March 17, 2008.

Here is the picture of Hillary ducking and running after landing:



A comedian named "Sinbad" disputed her account. Clinton dismissed him as "a comedian."

His retort to that is:

"What kind of president would say 'Hey man, I can't go 'cause I might get shot so I'm going to send my wife. Oh, and take a guitar player and a comedian with you."

Not to mention taking the daughter along for the photo op.

We Interupt Our Daily Obama Bash..

Woot : One Day, One Deal (SM)

I wooted for the first time today! Now I will be able to Skype while wireless.

Angry White Woman Responds to Obama

Geraldine Ferraro resents being lumped in with the Rev. Wright in Obama speech - The Daily Breeze:

"'To equate what I said with what this racist bigot has said from the pulpit is unbelievable,' Ferraro said today. 'He gave a very good speech on race relations, but he did not address the fact that this man is up there spewing hatred.'"

Ferraro said she had "no clue" why Obama would include her in his speech, and said Obama's association with Wright raises serious questions about his judgment.

"What this man is doing is he is spewing that stuff out to young people, and to younger people than Obama, and putting it in their heads that it's OK to say `Goddamn America' and it's OK to beat up on white people," she said. "You don't preach that from the pulpit."

Ferraro also said she could not understand why Obama had called out his own white grandmother for using racial stereotypes that had made him cringe.

"I could not believe that," she said. "That's my mother's generation."

Obama's Daughters

The Corner on National Review Online

Obama's response on Don Imus' idiotic comments calling the Rutgers women's basketball team a "bunch of nappy headed ho's":

"I understand MSNBC has suspended Mr. Imus. But I would also say that there's nobody on my staff who would still be working for me if they made a comment like that about anybody of any ethnic group. And I would hope that NBC ends up having that same attitude. ... He didn't just cross the line. He fed into some of the worst stereotypes that my two young daughters are having to deal with today in America. The notions that as young African-American women — who I hope will be athletes — that that somehow makes them less beautiful or less important. It was a degrading comment. It's one that I'm not interested in supporting." (October 2007)

Obama's response to Rev. Wright accusing white America of creating AIDS as a means of African genocide courtesy of the U.S. of KKKA:

Well of course, he bring's his daughters to Wright's church every Sunday.

Makes you wonder why his poll numbers are dropping.

Test Your Awareness

One Way to Thank a Soldier

The Gratitude Campaign
A simple way to say thanks as you pass a soldier as you walk through an airport or wherever you see a soldier in uniform passing by.

The sign we are using is intended to communicate "thank you from the bottom of my heart. "

To make the sign simply place your hand on your heart as though you're saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Then pull your hand down and out, bending at the elbow (not the wrist), stopping for a moment at about the belly button with your hand flat, palm up, angled toward the person you're thanking.

Things Obama will do (and not do) to get elected President

Will Do:

1. Call his living grandmother who helped raise him a racist.
2. Accuse white people of not spending enough on schools.
3. Declare all Americans are victimized by corporations.

Won't Do:
1. Put his hand over his heart when reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Wear an American Flag lapel.
3. Leave (or remove his daughters from) a church that preaches:

'God damn America.'
'US government created Aids, supplied drugs to our community.'
'US of KKKA.'
'What we are doing is the same thing al-Qaeda is doing.'

4. Admonish a wife who says:

'Until now, I was never proud of my country.'

The Corner on National Review Online

Two corollaries always follow the Obama victimology: moral equivalence and the subtle suggestion that any who question his thesis of despair are themselves suspect.

So we hear of poor Barack’s grandmother’s private fears in the same breath as Wright’s public hatred. Geraldine Ferraro is understood in the same context as Reverend Wright. The Reagan Coalition and talk radio are identical to Reverend Wright — albeit without similar contexts for their own purported racism. Your own pastor, priest, or rabbi are analogous to Rev. Wright.

And then, of course, your own motives are suspect if you question any of this sophistry. For Michelle it is always “they” who raised new obstacles against this deprived Ivy League couple and their quest for the Presidency; for Barack it is those who play “snippets”, or the system of “corporate culture” that has made Wright the object of anger to similarly victimized poor white pawns.

The message? Wright’s motives for espousing hatred are complex and misunderstood; your motives for worrying about Obama and his Pastor are simple and suspect.

Yep, I am now in total agreement with this sentiment:

Red Diaper Kid [John Derbyshire]

... I am now going to come out of the closet and declare clearly and firmly that I don't like Barack Obama one little bit.

What kind of person would traduce his grandmother (who is still alive) to score a political point? Yesterday's speech, read through in the clear light of dawn, is worse than I thought: an ugly mish-mash of ancient socialist clichés and Gen-X spoiled-brat self-congratulation, all enveloped in clouds of flatulent Oprahnian rhetoric. Ugh!

Obama's just a red-diaper baby with a nice smile. I actually like Jeremiah Wright better than I like Obama. At least you know where you are with Wright. Obama, I wouldn't trust to mail a letter.

NASA - Earth and Moon as Seen from Mars

NASA - Earth and Moon as Seen from Mars

Earth and Moon as photographed from Mars.

The Change Candidate

ABC News: Obama's Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11

Sen. Barack Obama's pastor says blacks should not sing "God Bless America" but "God damn America."

It falls right in line with his wife not being proud of America and him refusing to wear a U.S. flag on his lapel while running for President of the United States.

In a campaign appearance earlier this month, Sen. Obama said, "I don't think my church is actually particularly controversial."

In related news, playwright David Mamet announces "Why I am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal'"

I'd observed that lust, greed, envy, sloth, and their pals are giving the world a good run for its money, but that nonetheless, people in general seem to get from day to day; and that we in the United States get from day to day under rather wonderful and privileged circumstances—that we are not and never have been the villains that some of the world and some of our citizens make us out to be, but that we are a confection of normal (greedy, lustful, duplicitous, corrupt, inspired—in short, human) individuals living under a spectacularly effective compact called the Constitution, and lucky to get it.

For the Constitution, rather than suggesting that all behave in a godlike manner, recognizes that, to the contrary, people are swine and will take any opportunity to subvert any agreement in order to pursue what they consider to be their proper interests.

To that end, the Constitution separates the power of the state into those three branches which are for most of us (I include myself) the only thing we remember from 12 years of schooling.

The Constitution, written by men with some experience of actual government, assumes that the chief executive will work to be king, the Parliament will scheme to sell off the silverware, and the judiciary will consider itself Olympian and do everything it can to much improve (destroy) the work of the other two branches. So the Constitution pits them against each other, in the attempt not to achieve stasis, but rather to allow for the constant corrections necessary to prevent one branch from getting too much power for too long.

Rather brilliant. For, in the abstract, we may envision an Olympian perfection of perfect beings in Washington doing the business of their employers, the people, but any of us who has ever been at a zoning meeting with our property at stake is aware of the urge to cut through all the pernicious bullshit and go straight to firearms.

I found not only that I didn't trust the current government (that, to me, was no surprise), but that an impartial review revealed that the faults of this president—whom I, a good liberal, considered a monster—were little different from those of a president whom I revered.

Bush got us into Iraq, JFK into Vietnam. Bush stole the election in Florida; Kennedy stole his in Chicago. Bush outed a CIA agent; Kennedy left hundreds of them to die in the surf at the Bay of Pigs. Bush lied about his military service; Kennedy accepted a Pulitzer Prize for a book written by Ted Sorenson. Bush was in bed with the Saudis, Kennedy with the Mafia. Oh.

And I began to question my hatred for "the Corporations"—the hatred of which, I found, was but the flip side of my hunger for those goods and services they provide and without which we could not live.

And I began to question my distrust of the "Bad, Bad Military" of my youth, which, I saw, was then and is now made up of those men and women who actually risk their lives to protect the rest of us from a very hostile world. Is the military always right? No. Neither is government, nor are the corporations—they are just different signposts for the particular amalgamation of our country into separate working groups, if you will. Are these groups infallible, free from the possibility of mismanagement, corruption, or crime? No, and neither are you or I. So, taking the tragic view, the question was not "Is everything perfect?" but "How could it be better, at what cost, and according to whose definition?" Put into which form, things appeared to me to be unfolding pretty well.

Clearly this is something for Obama to think about.

CustomizeGoogle :: Firefox Add-ons

CustomizeGoogle :: Firefox Add-ons

Has the function to make accessing Gmail, Google Calendar and Google docs more secure.

tips and downloads for getting things done

Lifehacker, tips and downloads for getting things done:

"Windows only: If there's only a few things most Microsoft Vista upgraders and nay-sayers can agree upon, one likely talking point is that Vista's fonts are generally clean, smooth, and a step up from XP. Getting the newer fonts in XP doesn't have to involve illegal downloads and system tweaking, however—as the gHacks tech blog points out, simply installing Microsoft's PowerPoint Viewer 2007 installs a bundle of Vista fonts in XP that you can use as your system defaults. Once installed, head to your display properties, then hit the Appearance tab to select a system-wide font. You'll also want to enable ClearType, which, luckily, we've covered before. PowerPoint Viewer 2007 is a free download for Windows only.

PowerPoint Viewer 2007 [Microsoft via gHacks]"

But here's a simple trick to download the Vista fonts for free and legally without buying a Vista license:

Download either the free Microsoft Powerpoint 2007 Viewer or the Microsoft Office Compatibility pack - both the software include the new Windows Vista fonts.

Once you install the above Microsoft programs, the Vista Fonts also become available for use on your Windows XP system. The fonts are Candara, Consolas, Calibri, Cambria, Constantia and Corbel.

William F. Buckly Jr. R.I.P.

National Review Online:

Once when Bill was asked what job he wanted in the Administration of his friend the President, he replied in his typically retiring and deferential way: 'Ventriloquist.' -- Ronald Reagan

More coverage at nationalreview.com

The Al Gore Effect

DailyTech - Temperature Monitors Report Widescale Global Cooling

All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA's GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously.

A compiled list of all the sources can be seen here. The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C -- a value large enough to wipe out nearly all the warming recorded over the past 100 years. All in one year's time. For all four sources, it's the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down.

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=332289

Snow cover over North America and much of Siberia, Mongolia and China is greater than at any time since 1966.

The U.S. National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reported that many American cities and towns suffered record cold temperatures in January and early February. According to the NCDC, the average temperature in January "was -0.3 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average."

He is not alone. Kenneth Tapping of our own National Research Council, who oversees a giant radio telescope focused on the sun, is convinced we are in for a long period of severely cold weather if sunspot activity does not pick up soon.

The last time the sun was this inactive, Earth suffered the Little Ice Age that lasted about five centuries and ended in 1850. Crops failed through killer frosts and drought. Famine, plague and war were widespread. Harbours froze, so did rivers, and trade ceased.

It's way too early to claim the same is about to happen again, but then it's way too early for the hysteria of the global warmers, too.

Response to Lehman Bros vs. Passarelli & Potts - Appraisers Forum - Improving the Profession

In case the link works, this is the thread on the Appraiser's Forum

Response to Lehman Bros vs. Passarelli & Potts - Appraisers Forum - Improving the Profession

Passarelli suit settled

Late in the article:

Lenders including Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the biggest underwriter of mortgage-backed bonds in 2007, say they too have been victimized by fraudulent appraisals. New York-based Lehman sued 14 people and five companies including Passarelli & Potts Appraisal Service and appraiser Fred Passarelli in federal court in Tampa, Florida, alleging ``grossly inaccurate'' appraisals that valued residences in the Sunset Bay development at about $733,000 when they were only worth $73,000.

. . . Passarelli & Potts Appraisal was ordered to pay $4.5 million.

Bloomberg.com: Finance

Homer Simpson For President

The Plight of the American Middle Class

To hear the Lou Dobbses and Bill O’Reillys of the world--not to mention politicians ranging from Ron Paul to Hillary Clinton--the middle class of America (however you define that term) has never had it so tough . . .

Americans Are Better Off Than Anyone In Politics Or The Media Would Like To Admit - Say Anything

Asus Eee

Asus Eee 4G-Galaxy 7" PC Mobile Internet Device

This sounds like a remarkable device. It is a mini laptop that comes with Linux, Wifi and 4 GB of FLASH memory and speakers, microphone and a WebCam. No hard drive at all. This would be perfect for surfing the web at home. With online tools like Gmail and Google Documents you can manage to write a Word like memo or Excel like spreadsheet. If you need more memory for storage, you can add an 8GB SD Flash card using the machines available memory card reader.

Unlike a Windows machine it boots up very fast. Unlike a Windows machine you don't have to download a new set of anti-virus tools everytime you turn the notebook on. The lack of hard drive boosts battery life.

Play, relax, and entertain on the go with shock-proof design. At 7" and weighing only 2lbs, you can take the Eee PC anywhere. Bumps and shocks are no longer issues. With a dependable solid-state disk, you get unparalleled shock-protection and reliability. Power-efficient design provides longer operating time when on the go. With a rapid start-up time, the Eee PC is always ready to get into action. No technical manual required with the specially designed, user-friendly and intuitive graphic interface. You're always connected with built-in WiFi 802.11 b/g that automatically detects and connects to the Internet at any hotspot. The Eee PC includes the documents and the e-mails software, and a suite of other productivity software to help keep you on track. Upload photos and videos and share them instantly on Flickr or YouTube without waiting till you get home. Enjoy music and videos with extensive support for a wide range of digital multimedia. Log on to Skype or other network, and you can connect with friends anywhere, anytime. Clear up wire clutter with the built-in card reader, camera, speakers, and microphone. Since it's so easy to use and durable this makes a perfect gift for children. 4GB flash drive Built-in webcam Over 40 built-in applications for learn, work and play Linux based operating system 2 Year Limited Warranty Approximate Unit Weight - 2lbs Windows compatibility but comes with Linux OS only

How Gross is Double Dipping that Chip?

Dip Once or Dip Twice? - New York Times: "On average, the students found that three to six double dips transferred about 10,000 bacteria from the eater’s mouth to the remaining dip.

Each cracker picked up between one and two grams of dip. That means that sporadic double dipping in a cup of dip would transfer at least 50 to 100 bacteria from one mouth to another with every bite."

Top Four Tips For Driving Like A Pro | Editorial Blog at Motor Trend

Top Four Tips For Driving Like A Pro | Editorial Blog at Motor Trend

1. Be smooth.
2. Turn later.
3. Look ahead
4. Brake like you are taking a ...

Air Traffic Safety vs. Capacity

Get the Flick: Air Traffic Safety vs. Capacity

Blog by an air traffic controller explains the pressures of the airline industry vs. the absolutes of runway capacities. Excerpt:

But it won’t solve the core problem -- runway capacity. Remembering the lessons above, you still need a minimum of three miles (or one minute) between landing airliners. Controllers are capable of running airplanes closer together now -- with the current radar-based system -- but safety won’t allow them to do it. Until the safety-mandated rule that only allows one airplane on the runway at a time changes, a system that allows controllers to run aircraft closer together won’t increase the runway’s capacity.

While we are on this subject, I need to call your attention to another point about wake turbulence. Wake turbulence exists behind departing and landing airliners. Behind the largest aircraft -- classified as “heavy” aircraft -- the spacing requirements increase to 5 miles. Remember that theoretical line of aircraft stretching out 180 miles from JFK airport ? Throw in a couple of “heavy” airliners and the line will stretch past Washington, D.C.

www.woot.com

Only the internet could have a store that only sells one item per day, with a new item every day:

What is Woot and who's behind it?

Woot.com is an online store and community that focuses on selling cool stuff cheap. It started as an employee-store slash market-testing type of place for an electronics distributor, but it's taken on a life of its own. We anticipate profitability by 2043 – by then we should be retired; someone smarter might take over and jack up the prices. Until then, we're still the lovable scamps we've always been. But don't take our word for it: see what the online community has to say at this Wikipedia article.

I see only one item, do you sell anything else?

No. We sell one item per day until it is sold out or until 11:59pm central time when it is replaced (see next entry for details). However, each item we sell is in stock and typically ships within 2-3 business days.

Camp Hoover Updates

I finally updated the foster lab blog. You can find the link on the right side of this page.

On January 1st we had our 25th graduate of Camp Hoover. Participants at Camp Hoover are expected to learn how to sit before dinner, walk on a leash, and not to bite when being handed a cookie. If they get out of line they shouldn't be surprised to find themselves locked up for a time-out.

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