What Can Your Smartphone Do?

By William Teach January 20, 2014 – 3:15 pm

Via Caveman Circus

Every single item from a 1991 RadioShack flyer can now be done with a smartphone

photo OvMT53A_zpsevzt53fw.jpg

BTW, take a gander at the specs of the computer. Yikes!

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Posted in Like, Gnarly, Dude, Web/Tech | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach January 20, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is warm snow because Someone Else drove a fossil fueled vehicle to the ski resort, which also uses too much power, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Weasel Zippers, with a post noting that a federal judge told Chicago that their gun laws don’t stop violent crime.

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Is A Mini Ice Age On The Way?

By William Teach January 20, 2014 – 10:43 am

Yet another article featuring scientists looking at real data, rather than computer models

(UK Daily Mail) The Sun’s activity is at its lowest for 100 years, scientists have warned.

They say the conditions are eerily similar to those before the Maunder Minimum, a time in 1645 when a mini ice age hit, Freezing London’s River Thames.

Researcher believe the solar lull could cause major changes, and say there is a 20% chance it could lead to ‘major changes’ in temperatures.

‘Whatever measure you use, solar peaks are coming down,’ Richard Harrison of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire told the BBC.

‘I’ve been a solar physicist for 30 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this.’

He says the phenomenon could lead to colder winters similar to those during the Maunder Minimum.

‘There were cold winters, almost a mini ice age.

Surely Warmists will believe that if it does happen, it won’t be as bad because of Mankind’s release of “carbon pollution”. Oh, look

Lucie Green of UCL believes that things could be different this time due to human activity.

‘We have 400 years of observations, and it is in a very similar to phase as it was in the runup to the Maunder Minimum.

‘The world we live in today is very different, human activity may counteract this – it is difficult to say what the consequences are.’

If we do see declining temperatures, whether it is similar to the 1940’s-1970’s, or even a Maunder Minimum type climate for decades or longer, Warmists will find a way to interject their unhinged anti-science cult into the mix.

Other solar scientists believe that 2014 could be a more active year for sunspots. Time will tell. The Earth’s climate could be heading for a downturn. It could stay in a pause for more years. It could start spiking, like happens during warm periods. What we do know is that Warmist computer models consistently fail in prediction. And Warmists do not believe in their “science” enough to modify their own lives.

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Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Obama Whines About Race For Declining Approval Rating

By William Teach January 20, 2014 – 8:24 am

Race card played

(Bloomberg) President Barack Obama said that racial tensions may have softened his popularity among white voters within the last two years, according to a story posted on the New Yorker magazine’s website today.

“There’s no doubt that there’s some folks who just really dislike me because they don’t like the idea of a black president,” Obama said in the article by David Remnick, appearing in the magazine’s Jan. 27 edition.

“Now, the flip side of it is there are some black folks and maybe some white folks who really like me and give me the benefit of the doubt precisely because I’m a black president,” Obama said in his most direct comments on how race has affected his political standing since he’s been in office.

Are there some who really do not like Obama because he’s black? Sure. A tiny number. Were there people who despised Bush because he was an Evangelical Christian? Yup. But, really, this is a typical Left wing trope, playing the Race Card, when it’s not about personal like or dislike, it’s about policy. It’s about the highly unpopular Obamacare. About the NSA spying on US citizens. About an economy that is limping along like a drunk sloth 5 years after passing the trillion dollar Stimulus. About Blaming everyone else. About leaving our people to die in Benghazi. His assaults on the Constitution. About continuously denigrating citizens that do not agree with his policies.

He gives his political opponents little reason to personally like him regarding that last one.

The New Yorker article itself tended to be pretty much softball. As Kristinn Taylor notes at The Gateway Pundit

In the nearly 17,000 word New Yorker article by David Remnick on the current state of the Obama presidency based on numerous in person interviews with President Barack Obama, the word Benghazi is nowhere to be found. Libya is only mentioned twice in passing with no reference to the terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Fallujah on September 11, 2012 that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Dougherty.

Remnick found talking to Obama about football and basketball more important than Benghazi.

It’s not all bad, I do like the part about him saying he is trying to protect his kids from the filth emanating from Hollywood and the current “if it feels good, do it” culture. Really, though, the article is a puff piece designed to protect Obama.

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Islamic Terrorists Threaten Sochi Olympics

By William Teach January 20, 2014 – 8:03 am

Don’t forget, al Qaeda is on the run, and we aren’t supposed to worry about this tiny, itty bitty subset of Islam. Heck, even mentioning it is surely Islamophobic

(ABC News) Citing a new “surprise package” for Russia and Olympic spectators, Islamist militants in the North Caucasus Sunday launched a new threat to the Sochi Olympics with a purported “martyrdom” video by two suicide bombers who attacked a transit hub 400 miles away.

The video posted on a Chechen extremist site considered a credible platform for militant statements featured two unidentified men before the black flag of jihad and cradling AKMS rifles.

The duo — dressed in street clothes and without the usual trappings of jihadis — casually explained that Russians and those attending the Winter Games next month will not be safe as long as forces sent by President Vladimir Putin occupy the North Caucasus region near Sochi, Russia.

“We’ll have a surprise package for you,” one of the men said in the militants’ video. “And those tourists that will come to you, for them, too, we have a surprise. If it happens [the Olympics], we’ll have a surprise for you. This is for all the Muslim blood that is shed every day around the world, be it in Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria, all around the world. This will be our revenge.”

The US government considers the threat very, very real, with the State Dept. posting an unusually strong travel advisory. The Russians are deploying 100,000 security agents around the games, airport, and trains.

It doesn’t take a whole lot of Islamists to cause tremendous damage, injury, and death. They are highly motivated. They hate infidels. And there are plenty of Islamists out there in which to find a few crazies who will become homicide bombers, who are willing to embrace martyrdom for the religion. How many threats and actions will it take for the political Left around the world to acknowledge the problem from Islamists? Some even have an issue with mentioning that the threats are from Muslims. From the AP story

During much of the 49-minute video, the two men speak to the camera while holding Kalashnikov automatic rifles. Behind them hang black banners with Arabic religious phrases similar to those used by al-Qaida.

As Jihad Watch notes, “they aren’t just “Arabic” religious phrases, but specifically Muslim religious phrases.”

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Do We Have The Willpower To Slow “Climate Change” Or Something?

By William Teach January 19, 2014 – 3:24 pm

Or something

The Green Life: Do we have the willpower to slow climate change?

So just how far back do we need to turn the clock to save the planet, and do we have the discipline to do it? That’s the thought that came to me one day recently as I put a package of blueberries in the cart while shopping for groceries. Blueberries in winter aren’t how it used to be; it used to be that you got blueberries only during blueberry season. But modern man decided we wanted blueberries all year round, so we ship them in from around the world, via plane, ship, train and truck — and therein lies the problem: how big is the carbon footprint for fruit out of season, and are we willing to give that up to reduce fossil fuel consumption?

Fortunately, “climate change” has not only slowed, ie the 17 year pause, but stopped, with zero temperature rise during the 21st century, and some data shows a slight cooling. Second, I love how the opinion piece writer, Jimmy Buff, first says that getting blueberries out out season, getting them in winter no less, is strange, then acknowledges that they are shipped, but that’s evil because of the “carbon footprint” or a modern society.

Or course it isn’t just fruit out of season that we need to consider. What about trips in the car just for fun or for a quick errand? How about those extra few degrees to keep the house warmer instead of wearing a sweater? Or sweating through a heat wave instead of using the air conditioner or even a fan? Could you, if the future of mankind depended on it, give up these advances in technology?

Truth be told, I’m not sure I have the discipline necessary myself. I like modern conveniences. I like driving long distances to go run a race. As I drive, too, I see people talking on cellphones or texting (two of the least enforced traffic statutes it seems) despite knowing that those things are dangerous and distracting and contemplate the will needed to do the things we need to do in order to get to where we need to be to slow or stop climate change.

And there’s the point, a modern lifestyle is evil, so Other People need to be forced to give it up. Not the writer, of course, since he’s spreading awareness. And has no intention of doing anything himself.

In the early ’80s, Bob Dylan put out a song called “License to Kill.” Dylan sang: “Oh, man has invented his doom/First step was touching the moon,” and for years I wondered about that line. I’m not wondering anymore.

Yet, Warmists refuse to do more than make token changes in their lives. So why in the heck should we believe anything they tell us if they aren’t willing to put their beliefs into practice for their own lives?

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Posted in Climahypocrites, Global Warming | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach January 19, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is lovely, lovely coffee which will spike in price to that of gold due to carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Legal Insurrection, with a post on bitter intra-feminist racial grievances.

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Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach January 19, 2014 – 9:04 am

Happy Sunday! Another fantastic day in the Once And Future Nation Of America. Not sure who this pinup is by, but I gave it a wee bit of help.

What’s happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. The Lonely Conservative notes that most Obamacare signups previously had insurance
  2. Raised On Hoecakes covers a little league coach suing a player
  3. The Daley Gator notes that home invasion can be tricky
  4. Congrats to The Jawa Report on 10 years of fatwas!
  5. The Last Tradition isn’t impressed by Obama’s income inequality hustle
  6. The Other McCain covers an actress blackballed for supporting a conservative
  7. The People’s Cube has 50 ways to celebrate Michelle O’s birthday
  8. This ain’t Hell... notes that the media gets it wrong on gun violence
  9. Villainous Company has some odds and ends
  10. Yid With Lid thinks Chris Christie is in trouble, but not cause lane closures
  11. NoFrakkingConsensus notes the invisible Judith Curry
  12. Jo Nova brings up a skeptic paper that got a whole journal whacked
  13. American Power has Covered California twerk-a-thon
  14. Black & Right notes that death rays are here to stay
  15. And last, but not least, Capitalist Preservation notes fun things to do with swiss cheese
  16. And one to grow on: a 2nd post on The Jawa Report’s 10th blogoversary.

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page. While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your “Pinups for Vets” calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. (BTW, since someone asked, the reason I leave links for the previous week up (or you might see a *) is because they are place holders for later in the day or for next weeks. Easier than rewriting all the time. Also, the listing order has to do with how they are added over time, not how good a post is. I just copy and paste from the previous week, then edit. If you see one of the *’s, go ahead and check out the blog anyhow, see if there is an update. I cannot update with my Android during the day.

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Surprise: Team Obama Delays Equal Coverage Provision

By William Teach January 19, 2014 – 8:45 am

Another week, another part of Obamacare delayed by unilateral executive fiat

It’s The Law

(Fox News) The Obama administration is reportedly delaying enforcement of another aspect of ObamaCare, one that prohibits employers from providing better health benefits to top executives than those being offered to regular employees.

According to The New York Times, tax officials said they would not enforce the provision in 2014 as they had not yet issued the appropriate regulations.

The Affordable Care Act, commonly known as ObamaCare, says employer-sponsored health plans must not discriminate “in favor of highly compensated individuals” with respect to either eligibility or benefits, and provides a tax break for employer-sponsored insurance, while demanding employers not provide better coverage to higher-paid employees.

Yet Bruce I. Friedland, a spokesman for the I.R.S., told the New York Times that employers would not have to comply until the agency issued regulations or other guidance.

The penalty for this would be $100 a day for each individual who has one of these plans, charged to the company.

Interestingly, the NY Times article is buried on page A18 of the Sunday edition of the paper. It’s also buried on the web edition. It’s also buried on the website of the Washington Post, though it was prominent on the Android app. Anyhow, this line from the NY Times article is precious

But translating that goal into reality has proved difficult.

That could be a mantra for the “Affordable” Care Act. Things aren’t working out the way they should. The launch of the federally run website was a disaster, the same for quite a few of the state run websites. Getting the right mix of healthy people to sick people hasn’t worked out so well, along with getting young folks to sign up. The numerous delays of various parts of the law. Implementing a system for people to actually pay for the insurance. Getting them insurance cards. Showing that people are actually enrolled. All the waivers.

And we haven’t even truly hit the part where people try and use the insurance. Or when employers start dropping coverage in droves. Or when rationing starts occurring. When insurers need a bailout. The Independent Payment Advisory Board starts determining who gets what treatment, which would seem to be “unequal coverage”, discrimination, eh?

Why would Team Obama delay the insurance equal coverage provision? One is simply incompetence. As usual, they do not have their guano wired tight. Second, a lot of the companies and executives donate money to Democrats, and they won’t be happy to donate for the midterms if their companies are getting nailed with penalties and/or losing their high-end insurance plans. With Team Obama, never discount the politics nor the incompetence.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Belief That Global Warming Isn’t Happening Grows

By William Teach January 18, 2014 – 4:02 pm

Sending Warmists into apoplexy. Warmists like Chris Mooney

Global warming denial hits a six-year high

The latest data is out on the prevalence of global warming denial among the U.S. public. And it isn’t pretty.

The new study, from the Yale and George Mason University research teams on climate change communication, shows a 7-percentage-point increase in the proportion of Americans who say they do not believe that global warming is happening. And that’s just since the spring of 2013. The number is now 23 percent; back at the start of last year, it was 16 percent:

(it’s cute how Chris titled the picture “denial”)

The percentage of Americans who believe global warming is human-caused has also declined, and now stands at 47 percent, a decrease of 7 percent since 2012.

The number who believe global warming is mostly natural stands at 37%.

Mooney is upset that people have heard of the “pause”, and attempts to dismiss it

According to both Anthony Leiserowitz of Yale and Ed Maibach of George Mason, the leaders of the two research teams, the answer may well lie in the so-called global warming “pause” — the misleading idea that global warming has slowed down or stopped over the the past 15 years or so. This claim was used by climate skeptics, to great effect, in their quest to undermine the release of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report in September 2013 — precisely during the time period that is in question in the latest study.

As we have reported before, the notion of a global warming “pause” is, at best, the result of statistical cherry-picking. It relies on starting with a very hot year (1998) and then examining a relatively short time period (say, 15 years), to suggest that global warming has slowed down or stopped during this particular stretch of time. But put these numbers back into a broader context and the overall warming trend remains clear. Moreover, following the IPCC report, new research emerged suggesting that the semblance of a “pause” may be the result of incomplete temperature data due to the lack of adequate weather stations in the Arctic, where the most dramatic global warming is occurring.

Yet, Warmists cherry pick time frames, particularly using the time frame since 1980, which was the beginning of the most recent spike, after a 30 year pause/reduction. The very fact is that there has been no statistically significant warming since 1997, which completely contradicts what the Warmist computer models predicted. And the warming still wouldn’t prove anthropogenic causation.

“Even more likely, however,” Maibach adds, “is that media coverage of the ‘pause’ reinforced the beliefs of people who had previously concluded that global warming is not happening, making them more certain of their beliefs.”

In other words, Warmists are very upset that the media told people the truth. Because this is not about science, but politics.

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Posted in Global Warming, New Climate Deniers | 16 Comments | Trackback URL
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