An Inconvenient Conference

This weekend, my family and I (or should I just say my family?) travelled to Cedar Springs (15 miles or so North of Grand Rapids) to visit some college friends and to partake in the festivities of a first birthday party for their son Ethan. Good times for sure.

But during the festivities, I believe it was channel 8 news ended up on the TV and the weatherman proceeded to tell the viewing public that February 2008 was going to go down as the snowiest ever for Grand Rapids and only had 16% sunshine the whole month.

What a truly incovenient month it has been for Grand Rapids and really the whole left coast of Michigan. And I can tell you that Metro Detroit has not been much better at all. Probably right on the same track. And again today, 3-6 inches of snow.

It has almost become something of a joke when some "global warming" conference has to be cancelled because of a snowstorm or bitterly cold weather.

But stampedes and hysteria are no joke -- and creating stampedes and hysteria has become a major activity of those hyping a global warming "crisis."

They mobilize like-minded people from a variety of occupations, call them all "scientists" and then claim that "all" the experts agree on a global warming crisis.

Their biggest argument is that there is no argument.

A whole cottage industry has sprung up among people who get grants, government agencies who get appropriations, politicians who get publicity and the perpetually indignant who get something new to be indignant about. It gives teachers something to talk about in school instead of teaching.
Those who bother to check the facts often find that not all those who are called scientists are really scientists and not all of those who are scientists are specialists in climate. But who bothers to check facts these days?

A new and very different conference on global warming was and is currently being held in New York City, under the sponsorship of the Heartland Institute, on March 2nd to March 4th -- weather permitting.

It is called an "International Conference on Climate Change." Its subtitle is "Global Warming: Truth or Swindle?" Among those present will be professors of climatology, along with scientists in other fields and people from other professions.

They come from universities in England, Hungary, and Australia, as well as from the United States and Canada, and include among other dignitaries the president of the Czech Republic.

There will be 98 speakers and 400 participants.

The theme of the conference is that "there is no scientific consensus on the causes or likely consequences of global warming."

Many of the participants in this conference are people who have already expressed skepticism about either the prevailing explanations of current climate change or the dire predictions about future climate change.

These include authors of such books as "Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1500 Years" by Fred Singer and Dennis Avery, and "Shattered Consensus," edited by Patrick J. Michaels.

This will be one of the rare opportunities for the media to hear the other side of the story -- for those old-fashioned journalists who still believe that their job is to inform the public, rather than promote an agenda.

The subtitle of the upcoming conference -- "Global Warming: Truth or Swindle?" -- is also the title of a British television program that is now available on DVD in the United States. It is a devastating debunking of the current "global warming" hysteria.

Nobody denies that there is such a thing as a greenhouse effect. If there were not, the side of the planet facing away from the sun would be freezing every night.

There is not even a lot of controversy over temperature readings. What is fundamentally at issue are the explanations, implications and extrapolations of these temperature readings.

The party line of those who say that we are heading for a global warming crisis of epic proportions is that human activities generating carbon dioxide are key factors responsible for the warming that has taken place in recent times.

The problem with this reasoning is that the temperatures rose first and then the carbon dioxide levels rose. Some scientists say that the warming created the increased carbon dioxide, rather than vice versa.

Many natural factors, including variations in the amount of heat put out by the sun, can cause the earth to heat or cool.

The bigger problem is that this has long since become a crusade rather than an exercise in evidence or logic. Too many people are too committed to risk it all on a roll of the dice, which is what turning to empirical evidence is.

So why has no one heard about this conference? Why no news or reporting or a daily update from cable news networks? Why no "panel of experts"?

Because, it's a true inconvenience for those who have a big stake in global warming hysteria to show up at the conference in New York, and unfortunately that includes much of the media.

I'm telling you, get on board.....

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Airplaneseatreclineology

It took me awhile to find this comic, but I finally did so.

Corey's post is what got me thinking about it. I read this comic quite awhile ago but it is very appropos to the conversation.

Read Corey's post, view the comic and have a good laugh. But I would encourage everyone to think about the fact that a comic strip is mocking the jist of the problem with humanity.

If you have more to say on the subject, do so at Corey's blog, he started the conversation, let's keep it going over there.

If you like the comic then I encourage you to check out Pearls Before Swine....it is hilarious stuff. Basically the mouse is an arrogant "know-it-all" who feels the need to tell his "pearls" of wisdom to the pig (who is the only one that will listen to the mouse). Hence "Pearls Before Swine"

And yes it is a direct result of Jesus words in the gospel. But I have found nothing that tells me the author is an Evangelical or Born-Again.

There's more to it, but give it a chance. Good stuff. A lot of pop culture and a look at humanity in the whole....as the above comic.

Here's the website (via comics.com)

Here's some Wikipedia info on the comic strip. Maybe a good place to start to figure things out.

In the basement.....

I'm Brian A. Maloney and I approve this message.



I'll be in the basement the next 24-36, maybe 48 hours (maybe over the whole weekend) pounding out another manifesto because I have a blog and feel it is important.

I'll be around sporadically offering comments (as always), but stay tuned for the post tomorrow (or maybe Saturday or even Monday) on Fearmongering.

I know, I know, your all on the edge of your seat waiting for it.

Trust me, it won't be much, I have a tendency to disappoint the more I talk something up, just ask Michele, I'm surprised we even have a kid.

Come on I had to say it!!!!!

So, the hammering, sawing, cussing, loud obnoxious noises you hear will be me in the basement trying to create something with my hands....

And keep commenting on all the blogs, just because I may not be there as much doesn't mean you can't continue bashing me and calling me uncompassionate and heartless and an idiot for being pro-Bible, pro-Church, pro-Bush, pro-Life, pro-Men, pro-My Wife, pro-beer, pro Conservative, pro-Libertarian, pro-Country Music pro-Do the Opposite and believing someone else's dogma over your dogma.



So.....

In the meantime, enjoy one of these oldie but goodies from back in the day (which was written almost a year to the day...and not sure I've changed any. Good? Bad?)

Paid for by the committee to tell you I'll be out of the blogosphere for a couple days but around enough to make some basic comments when I feel like and then proceed to piss you off, and rile you up, but by being out of the blogosphere for awhile I can avoid having to answer all your comments until such time that I can come up with real cool quips, comebacks, and logical thought to combat what you said.

Lions are to good football as Global Warming is to...

I'm Brian A. Maloney and I approve this message.

Al Gore has just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, an honor he shares with Yasser Arafat and Le Duc Tho. Gore has received a number of awards and honors from Europeans, who seem to wish to punish George Bush's policies by showering awards on his defeated opponent. (Gore would have been president had he carried his own state of Tennessee, but he couldn't manage it.)

Unfortunately for Europe, the United States has been independent now for more than two centuries. It's nice for Gore that he won the prize, but who now remembers Frank Billings Kellogg, who won the Nobel for co-authoring the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928, which outlawed war? How's that pact working out?

Americans have happily been ignoring Europeans for quite a long time, except when they have dragged us into their various wars between awarding people peace prizes.

The Nobel Peace Prize Committee likely cares little about Al Gore's "moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity" or his green cult or its pagan Earth-god. Gore's Nobel is just the latest evidence of the committee's use of surrogates like the ex-veep and Jimmy Carter (in 2002) and Mohamed ElBaradei (in 2005) to embarrass the United States - a state of mind that says more about European elites' insecurity in the modern age than anything else.

But as much material as the Gore Nobel feeds people of like political mindness like myself, the dimunition of the prize's seriousness is a tragedy.

The Nobel can have real power in shining a light into some of the world's darker corners.

In Burma, courageous monks are defying a brutal military dictatorship. In Iran, men and women die for their civil rights at the hands of religious despots. International chess star Garry Kasparov and others have been arrested resisting that country's slide back to authoritarian rule.

The Nobel could help elevate these causes to international attention. Instead, preening Nobel leftists throw their baubles at a rich ex-politician so that he can assuage his guilt of flying on gas-guzzling private airplanes to green fundraisers in sprawling Hollywood mansions.

Paid for by the committee to stop the FEARMONGERING!!

We're only OVER A YEAR AWAY...but Who Cares!!

"So, who are you?" - The Who

Daily Routine - Podcasts

There was no Last 5 this week, so I adapted today to provide this as a free endorsement to impose on your life today.

Honestly, if I could, I'd have like 10 frames or panels to the right and left of this main page on my blog. It would contain sections for all the websites, blogs, and podcasts I frequent quite, well......frequently.

Most of them are there already and many times I drop websites in and out a lot, but do not really say anything to anyone. If you realize it, you do, if you do not then you do not. Maybe some day I'll go with the frames and provide all the links I'd like to.

But for now, I feel like I'll just give you a list here of the Podcasts I frequently listen too quite, well.....frequently.

In No Particular Order:

NPR Shuffle - NPR Shuffle mixes it up every day, offering an unpredictable sampler from 'Morning Edition', 'All Things Considered' and other award-winning NPR programs. Enjoy listening to this podcast just as you would enjoy listening to NPR - ready to be surprised by the next great story!

AM 1130 WDFN - The local sports talk radio show I enjoy on my daily commute. The podcasts are broke out by the 3 main shows on the station. Lots of great interviews, discussions, and hilarious "bits" too.

NPR Driveway Moments - Listeners' NPR favorites. Riveting stories from Morning Edition, All Things Considered and other award-winning NPR programs.

Coffee Cup Apologetics - Not quite a podcast, but still worth your time and I can plug in headphones and work while listening, so.....

This American Life - Probably the reason podcasts should have been started, but probably wasn't.

Hometown Tales - Weird, different, cool, boring, exciting, lame, enjoy at your own convenience.

I am sure there are more I am forgetting, but these are the ones at the top of my mind and the ones I frequent most often.

Enjoy listening

Without Even Knowing It

I broke my own personal record for posts in a month.

August had 19 posts.

WOW!!!

I didn't even realize I was posting that frequent through the month. The way it goes sometimes I guess.

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No Last 5 today, coming back from a holiday weekend leaves no time to do much research on boring mundane things to fill up 3 minutes of your day.

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I take some umbrage to the nominations Corey posted for his space golden globe oscar trophy thingie. He nominated a post written in September (no offense Toby, great work) for an award regarding August work....this is two months in a row that scandel has rocked the space heisman trophy. Could it be the end?

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The Tigers have 25 games to win at least 90 games (my self-proclaimed majic number of wins any team in baseball will need to make the playoffs). This means they have to go 17-8 just to get to 90 wins. Can they do it? We'll find out. They have 6 against the White Sox, 6 against Minnesota, 3 against Seattle, Texas, Cleveland, and KC, as well as one make up game against Toronto. Of their final 25 games, 16 are at home. All starts tonight with Bondo.

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And I would be remiss if I did not mention the monumental upset, biggest choke of all time. UofM managed to go Buckner in the Big House and lose to a 1-AA team.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

No wonder Michigan always ducked the 1-AA squads when assembling their schedule.

Pandora, Paperbacks, and......sorry no 3rd "P"

Just a posting on a couple websites and links I really like and want to share with y'all.

I know this link made its way through some of our blogs a couple months ago, but none the less, I really, Really, REALLY like this site. Pandora radio - Music from the Radio Genome Project is a website I "hit" everyday while at work.

You start by entering a band or song you like and the website begins to play music that matches elements of that entry. You then rate the songs whether you like or do not like and the program continues to play music to match your liking. It takes awhile to get started as many of the songs in the beginning you may not like, but the more you rank the better it becomes. I registered for the "free" site and it is great. And I like the rating because it is I like it or I do not like it, no middle ground. And if you do not like it, the song quits playing!.

Another great element is that you can create multiple "radio stations" and then mix them together. A radio station is created by the song or artist you enter. So you can listen to just your "Miles Davis" station or just your "Pearl Jam" station or you can mix them together and hear multiple songs from both genres. The site is really worth you checking out if you haven't already or go back to it or keep at it. This site got better the more I ranked songs. One more great feature is that a song will repeat itself on your station once and awhile. If you get sick of it, you can tell the site so and it won't play that song for a month!

Another great website, especially for those of us with either huge libraries or really like to read is Paperbackswap.com. You can get books for free. You start by registering and providing 9 books you do not mind parting with. After doing so, you immediately get 3 "credits" Using those credits you can order books for free from other members! Everytime someone gets a book from you, you earn a credit. So you got to want to part with some of your good books. Or get lucky and hope some of your not so good books are wanted by others. You pay for nothing except the postage (when you are the sender) to send the book. When someone orders one of your books, the website even provides the printouts and address labels for you to printout and attach to the packaging.

The downside is that getting newer books isn't very likely. But it does happen sometimes. For instance, you can set up wishlists for books you'd like (which I think is one of the best features of the site). A waiting line is then established based upon who added the book first. What happens is that if you are first on the list, and someone posts it for you to order, you are made aware of the listing first through email. You then have 48 hours to respond, if you say yes, you get it, if you say no, it goes to the person next in line. So for insatnce, I just ordered my copy of Slip and Fall by Nick Santora (which was published in June 2007) this morning, but I have heard nothing about Sex God by Rob Bell (which was published in March of 2007). I was first in line for Slip and Fall, but I am currently 40th in line for Sex God. Some "lines" move fast and others move slow. I'll probably eventually have to buy Sex God if I want to read it. But having saved $25 on Slip and Fall (which I will read and then re-post on the site and earn another credit for another book) I could buy Sex God, and still save money. Most everything is done by the ISBN number for each book. That's what makes this legal. The book has already been paid for, the author got their royalties and you are just trading the book away. Everything is legal about the book switching hands.

If you sign up, let me know, please, if you reference me, I get a free credit!!

Sorry couldn't find a 3rd link that begins with the letter "P"

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