Monthly Archives: April 2013

Global Warming: Heat Islands?

Global Warming.Polar Bear

One of the problems with the global warming argument is that the methods of measuring temperatures aren’t accurate; they fail to take into account non-green house gas types of warming.

For example blue bird filled meadow is much cooler than the parking lot that replaces it.  This is neatly demonstrated by a local Graduate student:

Raleigh, N.C. — Research by a North Carolina State University graduate student has pinpointed Raleigh’s hottest locations, and she says they could be problematic for some area trees.

Emily Meineke, who is studying entomology, is examining the effect of temperatures on scale insects, parasites that feed on trees and plants. She placed small thermometers in trees throughout Raleigh and used their readings to produce a map of so-called “heat islands,” areas that stayed warmer longer.

Meineke said roads, parking lots and buildings “trap heat during the day and release that heat during the night time,” producing the heat islands. The temperature differences can be huge, she said.

“In some places, the air temperature is about 10 degrees hotter,” she said.

Indeed.  Concrete runways are warmer than pastures.  Sadly, science fails our young heroine:

The problem could spread to trees in rural areas and forests as the overall climate warms, she said.

Totally disregarding her research that shows warming may not be due to green house gases at all…

More Destruction From Obamacare

Healthcare

So, the carnage resulting from Obamacare continues to mount:

The nation’s largest movie theater chain has cut the hours of thousands of employees, saying in a company memo that ObamaCare requirements are to blame.

Regal Entertainment Group, which operates more than 500 theaters in 38 states, last month rolled back shifts for non-salaried workers to 30 hours per week, putting them under the threshold at which employers are required to provide health insurance. The Nashville-based company said in a letter to managers that the move was a direct result of ObamaCare.

Hope and Change people, Hope and Change.

Interesting Thought Experiment Combined With Legal Process

scales of justice

So, this story is interesting:

WASHINGTON — Worried the Internal Revenue Service might target you for an audit? You probably should be if you own a small business in one of the wealthy suburbs of Los Angeles.

You might also be wary if you’re a small-business owner in one of dozens of communities near San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta or the District of Columbia.

A new study by the National Taxpayer Advocate used confidential IRS data to show large clusters of potential tax cheats in these five metropolitan areas. The IRS uses the information to target taxpayers for audits.

The taxpayer advocate, Nina Olsen, runs an independent office within the IRS. She got access to the data as part of an effort to learn more about why some taxpayers are more likely to cheat than others.

The study also looked at tax compliance in different industries, and found that people who own construction companies or real estate rental firms may be more likely to fudge their taxes than business owners in other fields.

This whole concept resonates with me.  In my line of work I’m pretty aggressive in trying to sift through data to find root causes and trends.  I get this idea.  On the other hand, is it legal?  Can certain citizens face increased scrutiny, based only on what might be arbitrary profiling?

What is the difference between profiling wealthy citizens in certain industries that live in certain regions with, say, profiling certain people by age, race, nationality and religion?

Or, for a more pertinent subject, profiling citizens in order to reduce gun violence?

Another North Carolina Law On Marriage

Marriage

The republican dominated legislature here in Raleigh are submitting legislation that speaks to marriage.  However, unlike the vast majority of recent such bills, this one has nothing to do with gay marriage or civil unions.

It has to do with divorce:

Raleigh, N.C. — State lawmakers are considering making divorces harder to get in North Carolina.

Senate Bill 518, dubbed the Healthy Marriage Act, would double the one-year waiting period before a divorce could be granted and would require husband and wife to receive conflict resolution counseling, as well as counseling if they have children. Supporters said they believe the restrictions will help cut the state’s divorce rate.

Now, I don’t think that this action in any way excuses the liberty restricting legislation that has passed regarding gay marriage, but it is interesting to see republicans acting on oft cited criticisms of gay marriage opposition laws.  Namely, divorce of straight couples.

And, like laws restricting the rights of our gay friends, families and citizens, this law suffers the same faults.   Marriage, in the eyes of the state, should be a contractual matter.  And if two people want to enter into such an arrangement, they should be able to.  And, in similar logic, if they want to end said relationship, they ought to be able to do that as well.

Unless, of course, you buy into the liberal version of  the “collective” and reject the notion of “private” relationships.  In which case, if the community feels that marriages are better for society, well, then, perhaps divorce should just be outlawed completely.

Liberals, Charity And Consistency – Example 2,482,893

Biden Laughing

So, Obama released his 2012 tax filing Friday.  Guess what?

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama reported an adjusted gross income of $608,611 for 2012 and paid an 18.4 percent income tax rate.

Un-freaken-believable!

Anyway, the best part is yet to come:

[O]n June 25 of last year, the Bidens gave ‘Clothing, Boots, Kitchenware, Glassware’ totaling $400 to Goodwill,” the report notes. “Earlier, on May 16, the Bidens gave ‘Furniture and Exercise Equipment’ valued at $1,100 to the Ministry of Caring. And on May 27 of last year, the Bidens gave ‘Bicycles, Toys, Glasses, Pottery, Kitchenware’ valued at $500 to the same Goodwill.

Blink.  Blink.

This piece of garbage, “paying your taxes is patriotic”, next in line to be leader of the free world, donated less than 2% of his income to charity, and of THAT amount, 25% of it was in the form of unwanted shit laying around the house.

Seriously, who itemizes bikes, toys, glasses — GLASSES?!?!?!, pottery and kitchenware when they drop-off at the Goodwill?

Are you kidding me?

But hey, maybe I should go easy on the guy, after all, how is expected to survive collecting $29,761 in Social Security payments.

I would say that Biden is following my theory that the reason liberals are so tight in their personal charity is that they view taxation as charity.  However, a Biden and The Barckness Monster prove, they don’t even like paying taxes at a rate equal to that of Buffet’s secretary!

Speaking Of Communities And Ownership

Hammer Sickle

Alright, now that the left has come clean on kids:

My question to my liberal friends:

What if my “community” is one of devote Christians that love to pray before breakfast, lunch, dinner, Communion and school?

Can my community be defined by anything other than State?  Cause when you say “community” I know that’s dog whistle for “State”.

Wherein Slate Agrees Minimum Wage Is Silly

minimum wageMinimum wage and minimum wage laws.  The creation of a system that forces employers to engage in charity by compensating someone more than their production would warrant.

Without getting into the concept that implementation of minimum wage laws, with the noble intention of helping out marginal employees, which hurt the very folks they are trying to help, let us suffice it to say that even Slate understands the economics of the whole thing:

I’m relatively bullish on the American economy, but I do worry that the prolonged downturn has created some odd mental blocks among American CEOs. Today, for example, the Wall Street Journal has a long story about how even though McDonald’s did fairly well at the depths of the recession they’re now having problems with the quality of the customer service they provide. I’m no management genius, but even I know that how much you pay people is relevant to how demanding you can be about the quality of the work they do.

And the converse is also true- how much you can earn is relevant to how demanding you are about the quality of your work.

And it continues:

Part of what you’re seeing here is that the prolonged weak labor market has in some ways been a sweet ride for managers. As things bounce back, it gets tougher. You might need to add staff. And to add high-quality staff you might need to offer better wages and working conditions.

Exactly!

This is why attorneys are paid more than gas station attendants.

Rand Paul – Howard University

Rand Paul

Rand Paul spoke at Howard University.  I’ve just listened to the speech, more on that later.  I was struck by his response to one of the student’s questions regarding voter ID:

 I think it’s important in the history to know what happened.  Democrats in the south were very very harsh.  Almost all democrats, okay?  That’s who ran the governments.  And they DID have tests at the polls literacy tests and special tests.  And  guess what, if you were white and forward you didn’t have to do the test but if you were black you had to do the test and you didn’t pass the test.  People were scared and intimidated and prevented from voting.

I think if you liken using a drivers license to literacy tests, you demean the horror  of what happened in the 40’s and 50’s.  Maybe from 1910 all the way through 1960’s in the south.  It was horrific.  NOBODY is in favor of that, NO republican is in favor of that.  But showing your drivers license to have an honest election I think is not unreasonable.  And I think that is the main thing republicans have been for.

Again, I think the democrat position that election laws being racist is an example of racism today.  You have a political movement, an ideology, using race as a lever to gain advantage for themselves.

Well said!

Honeybee – Colony Collapse Disorder

Bee Hive

I’m getting ready for the new honeybee season.  The hive above has a twin.  In honor of my first real IT job, the one that started this whole thing I do now, I have named them Calvin and Hobbes.  They were the names of the two servers in that little start up company in Seattle.

I digress.

As I mentioned, the hives are getting closer and closer to being ready.  I have one of them painted, the other is on tap.  I’ve selected the spot in the woods where I’m gonna locate them and now only have to clear branches and level the ground.  Well, and obtain concrete blocks and some wood to create a brace; but we’re close.  I stopped out at the bee yard where I’m getting some of my bees and we are on track.

In fact, sitting in the sauna at the Y the other night, I was talking to a long time fellow “Executive Workout’er” and he expressed great interest in establishing a hive at his place.  He loves the idea and wants the bees to assist in his garden.

Done!

Anyway, I was distressed to see this headline from the local news:

Bee colonies collapsing as workers abandon hives

I have to admit, however, that my first thought was: “There HAS to be an Obama joke in their some where!  Workers abandoning hives?

But seriously, the problem exists here in NC too:

Jaynes, president of the North Carolina Beekeepers Association, thought he’d have more bees this spring.

He had 12 hives last fall. Now, only two are active after the bees abandoned the other 10.

It’s a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder, and it’s happening all over North America and Europe. Beekeepers and scientists say it has gotten worse in the past few years.

“The hive just abandons,” Jaynes said. “They’ll abandon everything – everything but the queen and a handful of bees.”

Federal officials say there are a number of factors that lead to colony collapse, and there is no direct link between that and insecticides. But a new Harvard study says there is, especially with one particular pesticide called imidacloprid. The pesticide is part of a class called neonicotinoids, which are commonly used on farms and home gardens.

In the study, 15 of 16 bee hives treated with the pesticide died after six months. Those exposed to the highest levels disappeared first.

I plan to keep decent documentation on my hives so we’ll see how mine do.  I just hope not to get stung and get my hives, bees and all, safely to the winter!

Your Kids – You Didn’t Build That

big government

Whoa Buddy.

This is dangerous stuff:

This is where things like eugenics come from.  Thoughts like this are the genesis of licensing kids.  Of controlling parenting.