Archive for Life - page 25

Classic Rock and lawsuits go together like…like…well it just seems ike a lot of classic rockers sue each other.  And now lawyers for the family of deceased “Spirit” guitarist Randy California may file suit against Led Zeppelin to ensure that California gets a writing credit on Stariway to Heaven, which California claims Led Zeppelin “ripped off’ after the groups toured together in 1968.  The basis of the lawsuit is that “Stairway to Heaven” is plagiarised from the Spirit song “Taurus”  Give a listen and see what you think.  Personally, I don’t hear it.

What I find interesting though, is that the bands Led Zeppelin and Spirit toured together in 1968 – today the Led Zeppelin guys (the surviving ones) are wealthy music icons, and Randy California is basically unknown and apparently died penniless.  Such is life.

For Randy California – some of us know who you are.  For what it’s worth, thanks.  If you don’t remember any Spirit tunes, this is probably their most famous song.  Enjoy:

…or both?  The New York Times ran an article on May 19th, titled “The Big Melt Accelerates”.  You see, the BIG MELT is on…and accelerating!  Women and minorities hardest hit!  OK, I added that last part.  At the top of the story are two pictures of the Muir Glacier in Alaska;  the first is taken in 1941 and shows the huge glacier, the next photo is August 2004 and shows the glacier has retreated far up the valley.  Wow…but wait.  Some cursory investigation reveals an interesting fact.  Extensive records exist about Alaska’s glaciers from about the time it was settled by Europeans in the late 18th century and the Muir Glacier and indeed Alaska’s glaciers in total have been retreating for the last 200 years, with the lion’s share of that occuring before 1900.  Steven Hayward at Powerline shows us a picture of the Muir Glacier taken in 1951 that appears identical to the Times photo from 2004 – so no or very little retreat from 1951 to 2004.  That’s some acceleration!  I didn’t want to steal the photos and chart form his post, so click over and read the whole thing there.  Definitely worth your time.

The Times then moves on to quote experts worrying about the sea level rising due to the retreat of Greenland’s ice sheet.  A few minutes on wikipedia tells me that Greenland’s ice sheet has varied over time, but most notably that:

“Scientists who probed 2 km (1.2 mi) through a Greenland glacier to recover the some of the oldest plant DNA on record said that the planet was far warmer hundreds of thousands of years ago than is generally believed. DNA of trees, plants, and insects including butterflies and spiders from beneath the southern Greenland glacier was estimated to date to 450,000 to 900,000 years ago, according to the remnants retrieved from this long-vanished boreal forest. “

Got that?  Half a million to almost a million years ago, Greenland was covered in a large arboreal forest which is NOW under 2Km of ice.  Furthermore:

“These DNA samples suggest that the temperature probably reached 10 °C (50 °F) in the summer and −17 °C (1.4 °F) in the winter. They also indicate that during the last interglacial period, 130,000–116,000 years ago, when local temperatures were on average 5 °C (9 °F) higher than now, the glaciers on Greenland did not completely melt away.”

A hundred thousand years ago (give or take) temperatures were higher than they are now and the glaciers did not melt away. I found this information in a few minutes and so could the Times reporter if he wanted to give the story a little balance.  But they don’t want balance…the science is settled, don’t you know?

Next, let’s not forget all that ice in Antarctica.  The Times experts say it is melting and “Scientists say that the melting will continue as long as the heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases. Even if carbon dioxide and temperatures stabilize, the melting and shifting of glaciers will continue for decades or centuries as they adjust to the new equilibrium.”  Have they already forgotten about the global warming researchers whose ship was trapped in the expanding and larger than normal Antarctic ice sheet last January?  The Times article closes with this paragraph:

“But a vast majority of the ice is not yet destined to melt. “We have not committed to a lot more that could be committed if we keep turning up the thermostat,” said Dr. Alley of Penn State.”

Buhhh…what does that even mean?  I do not deny that the climate may be changing – it always has!  I just don’t buy into the hysteria that The Climate Is Changing and The Government Must Do Something Now!!!  I will bluntly say that if you believe that Government Action will solve this (non) crisis then you are a fool.  Sorry if I hurt your feelings.  And if someone tells you that the solution to global warming is carbon taxes and communism, you should mock them.  Mercilessly.

OK, look at some bears now.

Grillin’ an chillin’

Somewhere in Canada, a bear and her cubs wandered too close to the highway and one of the cubs was trapped on the wrong side of a barricade.  Don’t worry, Mama knows what to do:

Aww.. how cute.  Don’t get out of your car though, because Mama Bear will rip your arms off.  Next, a diver who was shooting photos for a National Geographic article encountered a Leopard Seal which is a large dangerous predator.  Instead of attacking him, the seal attempted to feed him.  Warning: If you like penguins you may not want to watch because penguins are what leopard seals eat and so that is what the leopard seal attempted to feed him:

That is one scary seal and one crazy photographer.  I mean that in a good way.  I predict that one day he will be eaten by something.  Maybe the seal was trying to fatten him up.

So close!  We’re nearly there!  Just a few more things to ban, then a few more things to mandate!  We can do it!

In its first test since a deal brought formerly opposed lawmakers on board, a bill banning single-use plastic bags in California passed the Assembly Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday. – SacBee.com

I’ve been reading lately about something called “The Internet Of Things”.  If you don’t know what that means, it refers to the increasing interconnectivity of devices that is  happening today, devices other than typical ones like your computer, smartphone or tablet and your printers.  Some examples that currently exist are your household alarm system, your household thermostat, one or more of your major appliances.  Other examples bandied about for the future are clothes, medical devices and cars.  The interconnectivity of these devices is ostensibly to make your life easier, save energy or save you money.  Or we might say to enhance your life’s “user experience”.  Will having an interconnected world make your life better?  I have my doubts.

According to the Wired Magazine article, “Why Tech’s Best Minds Are Very Worried About The Internet Of Things”, tech’s best minds are..umm.. very worried.  Some of their worries are valid from my viewpoint;  concerns over security or privacy, for example.  Other concerns are PC handwringing in my opinion – developing countries might be left behind!

The Internet of Things is coming. And the tech cognoscenti aren’t sure that’s a good thing.

For years, the prospect of an online world that extends…into wearables, thermostats, and other devices has generated plenty of excitement and activity. But now, some of the brightest tech minds are expressing some doubts about the potential impact on everything from security and privacy to human dignity and social inequality.

And I’m pretty sure if we ever find a cure for “social inequality” (hint: we won’t), it won’t come from the tech community.  Wait a sec…if in the future all human reproduction was done by cloning and all humans came from test tubes and had identical appearance and genetic makeup, that would be technical, wouldn’t it?  Still wouldn’t work.  Never mind.

It is quite possible that in the quest to simplify our lives, we will overcomplicate them.  I can see it coming – I’ll use the example of “the kitchen of the future” since that’s something people of my vintage can relate to.  Antique stores these days are full of kitchen of the future kitsch.

Sales Brochure: In the All Digital Kitchen Of the Future, your appliances are members of the appliance universe!  They talk to each other – they talk to other appliances like them all over the world and learn how to serve you better.  You’ll never run out of butter again!  You’ll never forget to run the dishwasher!  

Sounds dreamy.  In reality, on Monday morning your toaster goes offline and you have to make toast with a bic lighter.  The coffee maker refuses your login request and the password reset email never arrives.  The grocer delivers 200 cases of dill pickles that your refrigerator ordered.  Then you come home from work to find that your auto-chef range has made Lutefisk for dinner.  No thank you.  I’ll stick to analog.

Hey! you kids!  Get your internet off my things!

UPDATE!: Red Button Flaw Exposes Major Vulnerability in Millions of Smart TVs.  Just great!  In the home of the future, TV watches YOU!

Cross Posted at Men Out Of Work Blog

If we had storms like this in California, the public would be in a constant state of hysteria.  Not like the constant state of hyststeria that exists over disposable plastic shopping bags or people smoking e-cigs.  No, I mean pants-wetting, screaming hysteria.  What’s that?  Oh, I guess your right.  Pants-wetting, screaming hysteria is what exists here over disposable plastic shopping bags or e-cig smokers.  So I guess there would just be more pants-wetting, screaming hysteria than there is now.  OK, whatever…watch this awesome video which I found at Althouse:

“it is not fair to our children to ask them to pay a potential price…for a hypothetical benefit to adult smokers.” In fact, he said, “it is egregious to suggest that we need to have kids do this in order for adults to quit.”

This is taken from the testimony of Tim McAfee, director of the Office on Smoking and Health at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at a Senate Hearing on Thursday May 15th, 2014.  It seems that among some health experts there is a fear that the use of electronic cigarettes (or e-cigs, or “vaping”) will encourage teenagers to smoke actual cigarettes.

All well and good – I suppose that’s why we have highly paid people working at places like The Office on Smoking and Health – to worry about things that hardly anyone else worries about.  I mean, things have a right to be worried about don’t they?  Hmmm…might have to think about that one.  Because there are some things that deserve to be worried over that aren’t getting the attention they deserve;  Specifically whether the liberaliztion and in some cases outright legalization of marijuana use might be encouraging teenagers to smoke –  not cigarettes, but marijuana.

As I have written before, I believe there are these two things taking place today, the “normalization” of marijuana use and the appearance of E-cigs as a smoking substitute and that they have obvious parrallels; and it is unfathomable to me that nowhere in the media or government do I see anyone connecting the dots.  Cigarette smoking is considered a public health issue, and deservedly so, though I do take some issue as to where the line is being drawn between regulation/prohibition and one’s personal freedom to chose.  You see, I’m pro-choice regarding cigarette smoking;  I’m also pro-choice regarding marijuana smoking.  What I do not understand is how all the worrying and hand-wringing about the ever so slight possible harm posed to children and teenagers by e-cigs does not in any way carry over into what I believe is the more likely potential harm caused to young people by increased marijuana use.  I don’t think anyone is arguing that there is no risk to young people associated with relaxed marijuana regulation – I just don’t think anyone’s talking about it at all.  To the extent there even is a debate, it is primarily whether legalization/increased use is better for adults or society as a whole.  Meanwhile there is frequent discussion nationwide over the looming threat posed by e-cigs, a threat so dire they should be banned.  Banned – instead of being hailed as a benefit to public health, which in my opinion they are.  Banned – also in my opinion, because they “look like” smoking, and are percieived a successful “end-around” of smoking regs by smokers.  And we can’t let the smokers win.

Since these public health “debates” always end up being about the best way for do-gooders to bully adults around because their behavior might possibly wound a precious child, can we at least invite marijuana to the witch trial?

This post inspired by an article I read at Reason.com

I haven’t written lately about the diappearance of the Malaysian Airline Boeing 777 for awhile since there was really nothing new to report.  As of my last post, the plane was presumed crashed in the Indian Ocean, with all passengers and crew lost even though not a trace of wreckage has been recovered.   The presumtion of a crash and also the presumed crash location (vague as it may be) have been inferred by analysis of communication signals between the plane and  a satellite done by the satelite’s owner, British telecommunications company Inmarsat.  Authorites have based their search on the assumption that the plane was somewhere within a large area of the Indian Ocean where no possible landing could have occurred when the signals stopped and this assumption was based on the sattelite data analysis done by Inmarsat. Since no trace of the airliner has yet been discovered, outside experts are attempting to confirm Inmarst’s analysis – and they are finding inconsistencies which call into question the accuracy of the analysis that all investigative assumptions have been based on so far – mainly the assumtion that the plane took a southern flight path over the Indian Ocean instead of north toward Pakistan.

…It’s Friday and that means it’s music day.  Stuck in the 70’s music day!  Today’s first offering is a Steely Dan number off their 1974 (of course!) album “Pretzel Logic”.  Unless you are a Steely Dan superfan like me, you probably have not heard this song, titled “Any Major Dude Will Tell You”.  Regarding Pretzel Logic, they did have hit song from this album which you most likely know, “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” which is a great song, but I like this one better;  No performance video, just audio.  Give it a listen:

Alright, since “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” was Steely Dan’s most successful single (with good reason) Here you go:

Apparently since I am over 50, I am a dinosaur as are most of my family and acquaintances.  I know this is true because when I tell people I know to read my blog, they say “what’s a blog?”  I am so screwed – since I don’t write about Beyonce or Justin Bieber no one under thirty will ever read this and no one over thirty knows what a blog is.  So let me tell you a little bit about how I found out about blogs, became a reader of blogs and then went on to blogging.

I have never thought of myself as an early adopter of technology but I have been using the internet since the early 1990’s.  Thinking about it now, it was the dawn of time.  My chosen portal: AOL, now just a footnote to history.  I started out reading what they called “newsgroups” which were kind of like discussion boards where someone would post an article or website adress, people would read and discuss.  Usually I would “lurk” in these newsgroups, a term that means to look in, read the article and discussion but not participate – if you don’t speak up, no one knows you’re there.  This evolved into general web surfing and a few sites helped fuel that, mainly The Drudge Report (which started out mainly as movie industry news and gossip) with it’s many links to news stories.  Another was Lucianne.com founded by Jonah Goldberg’s mother, Lucianne Goldberg.  It’s still around.  Finally, sometime in the early 2000’s a Radio Talk Show host I listen to named Hugh Hewitt began talking about this new thing on the internet with a funny name.  Blobs?  No, that can’t be it.  BLOG!  That’s it – internet lingo shorthand for weblog.  Weblog = weBLOG = BLOG.  He wrote a book about it.  Anyway, the amount of information and perspectives on information available to me online took a quantum leap with that revelation.  There are blogs about everything you can think of.  I zeroed in on politcal blogs mostly, but also branched out into Law, and Science as well as general interest.  Many bloggers write about other subjects in addition to their area of expertise if they have one.  When 9/11 happened, I started reading the military blogs or MILblogs.  Yes, the blogosphere has covered the War on Terror.  Over the course of years, I came to admire some of these bloggers (whom I have never met, nor communicated with) and at some point decided that imitation would be the best form of flattery.  On the sidebar to the right you will see a heading that says “Some Blogs I Like”:  Click on any of those, they are worth your time.

The subtitle of Hewitt’s book sums up the what Blogging is to me and why I decided to become a participant instead of just an observer:  “Why You Must Know How The Blogosphere Is Smashing The Old Media Monopoly And Giving Individuals Power In The Marketplace Of Ideas”.  I have decided to exercise my power and transform my exploration of life into a creative exercise – and to invite you along.  If you are lurking here, your journey has already begun.  Step into the light, introduce yourself and we can all continue our journey together.