"Evil, Bad-Intentioned Monsters Out to Destroy the Earth"

What bugged me about the "denouncements" (linked in the comments here) of the 10:10 video, although I couldn't phrase it....

Coyote has a post up on Forbes:

I have been a part of the public climate debate for several years, and unlike those helping to spin this video as a regrettable aberration, in many ways I think such a production was almost inevitable.  In particular, alarmists have worked hard to portray climate skeptics not as reasonable people who disagree with them, but as evil, bad-intentioned monsters out to destroy the Earth for their own narrow personal gain.

(his main blog is here)

This assumption is all over the place in global warming disagreements.  "You don't agree with me on what we should do, so you're deliberately out to do what I say we're preventing!"  It shows up elsewhere-- sometimes even on my side, which means I respond to it even faster-- but global warming is by far the biggest.

This post over at RIGHTNETWORK has some guesses on why this might be.
 (If you're not browsing them yet, you really should-- Lileks!  and LMA!  And more! are there!  Video isn't my style, but I've heard nice stuff about their videos.)

Nancy's Easy Cake Cookies

An older lady, a friend of the family, use to send these to me on the ship.

They're simple, incredibly easy to tweek, and they are still good a month or two later if you put them single-layer in ziplock bags and ship them to the other side of the world.

Set oven to 350*

1 box cake mix
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon water

Mix them.

Add nuts, chocolate (or whatever chips) chips, dried fruit, candy chunks, fresh fruit (if they'll be eaten soon) but no more than a cup of fruit total.  (Generally a good idea to have more cake mix than nuts and chips.  Bakes easier.)

Drop by tablespoon onto cookie pan-- easiest if you cover it, shiny side up, with foil.

Bake 10-12 minutes.

Nancy's passed on to meet back up with Fred, so I thought I better share this when I found it.  I can't call her up to get the recipe anymore.

"As Long As You Ignore The Politics--"

Why is it always conservatives that are supposed to ignore the politics of stuff?

Why is it the consumer who is supposed to "check their politics" at the door?

Why on EARTH are we supposed to keep supporting those who treat us with nothing but contempt, and feel guilty if we point it out?

I understand that conservatives also tend to be more classically polite-- "sex, religion and politics" being off limits, and all-- but come on!


No wonder the tea party is happening; the wonder is that it didn't happen earlier.

I still don't get why folks who are conservative themselves spout this kind of BS.

Gino Has A Very Good Point

And a new cat, who looks adorable....

Anyways:
protect your personal information.  Always ask: do they really need this?

Just imagining what I could do with someone's home, work, phone, drivers, social security numbers, plus email, is just... wow.  With that information, I could almost assuredly find out mother's maiden name and where he went to school, and that's about all the security questions I've ever been asked.

WARCRAFT RELEASE DATE!!!!

*glee*

Oh, glee!

Found out by Facebook-- even better, I found out from wowhead.com's facebook, an hour before Blizzard's facebook feed released the news.

December 7th; it's not solid, because video games never are and Blizz's motto is "when it's ready," but there's evidence that they have been aiming for this date for a while.

Amusing thing?  Blizz just did more than the American school system to make folks know that December 7th is the date that will live in infamy... with a couple of puns and a video game expansion.

*sigh*

Ever been tired enough that ever Weregeek isn't as enjoyable as it should be, but you can't get to sleep?

Even when you know that Kit will be up before you've had enough rest?  And you suck at napping?

...

Then put up a blog post with lots of questions?  Even when it wasn't needed?

K, going to try to go lay in bed.  Every dang morning I tell myself I'll just go to bed when Kit does, then I get hooked actually being able to focus on the computer for more than thirty seconds at a go.

EDIT

Aaaand.... I just HAD to look at the blog traffic... and saw someone came over from Patterico's.... saw it was labeled as the area of Washington I now live, momentarily thought it was me; now I'm wondering who I know online is now an RL neighbor.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure

It's that time of year again!

The time of year when I spend an inordinate amount of time reading the fine print on the many items with pink ribbons, since I'm really not down with killing babies.  Not even if it were handy.

Most years, this means that our shopping list has some odd holes in it; this year, there's a new game in town-- the National Breast Cancer Foundation, inc. (not to be confused with the NBCF of Australia)

I haven't been able to find anything that shows them funding abortionists or ESCR, and that's with some pretty decent looking around.

From my friends list, there's also this facebook:
Think Twice About Susan G. Komen.

Bringin'em Back

Demo's got a nice post on the recovery of what is possibly the ugliest bird ever.

I mention, in the comments there, a recent study and a quote.  The quote is from a poem by Baxter Black, cowboy poet.  The poem is "Vanishing Breed."

I know I've quoted it before, but here I quote the last bit again:

Some say they're endangered species
Destined to fade into footnotes
like ropes that never get throwed.
To that I reply, "Bull Feces!"
They're just hard to see from the road.

(If you get a chance, listen to him-- very neat guy, and good western poetry)

Cows vs Bear

Specifically, full grown beef cows with calves vs a very small black bear... there's a picture that illustrates the phrase "stomping a mudhole in him."

Heard it on the radio the other day and just got around to finding it.