If there was an alternative to The WX Channel…and there is NOT…I would be SO gone. One can get a local forecast off the ‘net, and I do. But one cannot get a three minute weather briefing for the entire country off the ‘net, not without a lot of surfing. So, I’ll just grin and bear it, I suppose. But ClimateChangeExpertDoctor Heidi Cullen? Just another penguin in The Goreacle’s Army.
So. Apple announced a new iMac yesterday, and it’s a pretty cool looking machine with impressive specs. I was gonna include an image of their new box in this post, until I clicked on the image and got this:
Usage Agreement:
Subject to the terms of this Agreement, you may use the Image solely in whole for editorial use by press and/or industry analysts. This right to use is personal to you and is not transferable by you to another party. The Image cannot be used to promote or sell any product or technology (such as on advertising, brochures, book-covers, stock photos, t-shirts, or other promotional merchandise). You may not alter, or modify the Image, in whole or in part, for any reason.
As between you and Apple, Apple is and shall remain the sole and exclusive owner of the Image. You will not delete, alter, or obfuscate any proprietary legends relating to the Image, and each use will be accompanied by the applicable proprietary attribution shown next to the Image.
The Image is provided by Apple on an ‘as is’ basis, without warranty of any kind, including non-infringement or ownership. You, not Apple, are responsible for your use of the Image. Any misuse of the Image or breach of this Agreement will cause Apple irreparable harm. Apple is either an owner or licensee of the image, not an agent for the owner. We understand that you will give our company a credit line as follows: “Courtesy of Apple” and also credit the photographer if noted.
And of course, you can either click on “Agree” and download the image…or not. I elected to “not.” Apple may make cool computers, but they obviously have too damned many lawyers. Screw that.
Didja know you have a Birth Tree, among other things, Gentle Reader? I never knew that. Birthstone, yes. Tree, no. My Birth Tree is the Hazelnut tree:
Hazelnut Tree, the Extraordinary
Charming, undemanding, very understanding, knows how to make an impression, active fighter for social cause, popular, moody and capricious lover, honest and tolerant partner, precise sense of judgment.
Aside from the fact that a tree simply cannot be an “active fighter for social cause,” does anyone else see a contradiction in “moody and capricious lover” and “honest and tolerant partner?” Is this a serial thing…as in the capricious lover turns into a tolerant partner, or do the traits exist in a sorta yin-yang relationship? Dang. This is way too deep for me.
(h/t: Becky)
Today’s Pic(s): How I Used to Make Money. I’d have used “Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine” as the title for these pics, but that title’s already taken here at EIP...five times. (This is an oh-so-blatant teaser to get you to read some of my...uh..."creative" writing, Gentle Reader. I'm not ALL about politics and such.)
Anyway. Three scenes from a life of unending PPTs, irrelevant off-site meetings (with entertainment!), and the thing that made it all worthwhile (aside from that paycheck and the paltry residuals that come in every month these days)… shooting pool at the bar after one of those irrelevant off-sites.
Life is SO much better these days...
I hate watching the weather channel just for the fact that my husband yells at it every 2 minutes or more. I'm trying to control the bad lauguage around the house (for the sake of the children, not for myself, because I'm pretty darn bad about it too)and that channel isn't helping things. LOL!
ReplyDeleteAlways interesting to see who is knocked up there though. Now we have taken to screaming at the pregnant chick to get her fat belly off of us!
I'm trying to control the bad lauguage around the house...
ReplyDeleteHmmm. You really wouldn't want to be in, around, or even near El Casa Móvil De Pennington when that Cullen-person comes on camera, Jenny. I've omitted 99.93% of the ...uh... "more descriptive" terms I use for that wench whenever I see her. Since I try to keep EIP at a PG-level, ya know. ;-)
Oh, my husband does yell at weather channel because of the whole Global Warming scam going on. I agree. It's totally ridiculous. 15 years ago it was global cooling. Wonder what they will come up with next.
ReplyDeleteI'll tell ya what, if this is global warming, lets keep it up. Our crops never looked so good! LOL!
The way I see this whole global-warming thing, if you want to get an individual or a group of people to change behavior, there are two ways to work 'em over. I make a distinction between these two ways.
ReplyDeleteWay 1: You make a decision ahead-of-time about how long to preach at me before you've crossed the point of diminishing returns. Then you follow through. For a minute...two...three. By which time you declare me a lost cause, we exchange pleasantries, and you're off to the next sucker.
Way 2: You refuse to take no for an answer. Sleep on my lawn, ambush me on my way to work, whatever you gotta do. Haunt me like three ghosts haunting Scrooge.
Way 1 is highly appropriate when you're trying to solicit donations out of me for a political party. Or trying to get me to change my long distance carrier. Or selling me a car. Some would say, when trying to save my soul by bringing me into the fold of your church.
Now if global warming is real and it's endangering the planet, and I'm a polluter, that would mean you have to convert me. You HAVE TO. The nobility of your cause makes your own time, your life, your fortune, your sacred honor, insignificant in importance by comparison. If you fail to convince me of your cause and that I should mend my ways, you can convert a hundred more people in a row...and the planet will still be in danger, along with you and all you hold dear. So if it's real, and you really think it is, and you're trying to persuade me, you should behave around me like a Star Wars geek behaves around a theater when a new installment comes out. Camping chair, tailgate party, the works...job's done, or it isn't, and if it isn't then where the hell are you goin'?
But Dr. Cullen and her fellow penguins, consistently use Way 1. They preach at us as if they're trying to scare up donations for a political party. For a few minutes or so, and then if we remain unconvinced, they move on to the next sucker.
Planet's supposed to be in danger.
But they use Way #1 instead of Way #2.
Anyway. I think we owe Dr. Cullen a debt. She's the one who revealed the statement "All the scientists are agreed" for what it is -- a logical fallacy. The sleight-of-hand occurs behind that word "All"...she'd like meteorologists to be deprived of the AMS seal if they don't go along. Which is another way of saying "all the scientists are agreed, because if any of them aren't, we'll make sure they stop being scientists." And she's not alone. Very, very far from being alone.
I'm glad she said what she said. Up until then, all that bullying and intimidation had been occurring mostly in silence.
Morgan: I first wrote about Young Heidi last November and again last January when the decertification brouhaha erupted. I wasn't kind to her then, either.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, I can see where you're coming from (Way One). OTOH I think Cullen and her ilk are engaged in a well-funded and largely orchestrated campaign, phase one of which is to convince the American public that climate change is anthropomorphic. Phase II is to drum up support for Action! as in Legislation! ...for The Children!... in the form of carbon taxes, massive reduction of greenhouse gases by fiat (as just happened in NJ), CAFE regulations that limit consumers' choices in vehicles, yadda, yadda, yadda.
Now, is it a Vast Left Wing Conspiracy? Not quite. No black helicopters. But to say that (most of) The Academy, (once again: most of) the Democratic party, all these guys, and a lot of other "right thinking" people aren't singing from the same hymnal is naive...at best. I also believe a significant amount of money is being spent by environmental groups on this PR campaign. That, and buying congresscritters. And I believe the funding is coordinated, too. By whom I don't know, but if I were to get truly paranoid I'd guess Soros or someone a lot like him.
And that's my issue with ClimateChangeExpertDoctor Heidi Cullen. She's MORE than a useful idiot in her role at TWC. I may be giving her more credit than she deserves, but she does have a lot of eyes and ears on her every day, if only by accident.
This is getting long and could have been a post on its own. But...finally...I don't deny climate change exists, we probably ARE getting warmer, as that's been the cyclic nature of climate since Day One. It's the rush to indict, convict, and sentence industry... and thus, our economy... as the Major Culprit that bothers me. I feel the jury is still out concerning the "man-made" impact on this change and the degree of change we're undergoing; at least I'm not convinced. Yet.
More than my two cents...more like my dime.
All of this makes me glad that I don't get the Weather Channel. It is bad enough that I get Oprah.
ReplyDeleteI confess I do like watching TWC for their "Storm Stories" show, plus the Weather on the 8's. Otherwise, ho hum.
ReplyDeleteLiked the birth tree site too, thank you. I am:
Ash Tree, the Ambition
Uncommonly attractive, vivacious, impulsive, demanding, does not care for criticism, ambitious, intelligent, talented, likes to play with its fate, can be egoistic, very reliable and trustworthy, faithful and prudent lover, sometimes brains rule over heart, but takes partnership very serious.
And I believe the funding is coordinated, too. By whom I don't know, but if I were to get truly paranoid I'd guess Soros or someone a lot like him.
ReplyDeleteI see exactly where you're going, Buck. I have a career in Information Technology too, and speaking for myself it's left me highly skeptical of conspiracy theories in general. Watching hundreds of thousands of dollars get spent on trying to get people to work together on fairly simple projects, with details involved that aren't even that arcane, I don't think the human condition is inclined to carry out conspiracies in secret.
But wherever there is a financial interest that will affect a plurality in a consistent way, I've noticed, you can pretty much count on a "conspiracy" of sorts being formed naturally. The name may change -- "union" or "consortium" or what-not -- but it is inevitable. People will band together when they share financial motives. As far as the secrecy angle -- let's just say they won't share what has no need to be shared.
There definitely is something going on with weakening America economically. I've noticed a lot of the momentum seems to have emerged since the minting of the Euro. If that new denomination is worth three USD, there is a whole class of speculators who are wealthier than they would be if it was only worth two. And so those parties are enriched by an America that is weakened...politically as well as economically. I'm pretty sure your Soros character is invested in that, judging from his track record and his current activities.
On your frustration with Dr. Cullen, after following your link it occurs to me that we need a name for this debating tactic. Not the cert-revocation thing, the other one. I say "X"; you say "Morgan said X"; I say "I did not say X and it's all Buck's fault for thinking I said X, and since Buck is spreading vicious lies that I said X when I did not, this proves you can't trust Buck."
James Taranto was noticing exactly the same thing on Monday about a certain democrat front-runner for POTUS from 2004...
In typical Kerry fashion, he acknowledges in his letter that it did happen, but faults us for taking what he said at face value and ignoring his unspoken nuances.
Behold: The Cullenism.
This is getting very common in early 21st-century American political debate. I'm tempted to tack on "on both sides," but I don't mind sharing my observations that the Left seems to be having a much more passionate honeymoon with this deceptive practice. Seems to be working, too.
Kris said: I confess I do like watching TWC for their "Storm Stories" show, plus the Weather on the 8's. Otherwise, ho hum.
ReplyDeleteSince we're confessin'... ;-)
One of the reasons I'm so upset with TWC's climate-change proselytizing is that TWC is the default channel in El Casa Móvil De Pennington when there's nothing else on (that I'm interested in). In other words:I watch it a lot. Too much, probably, since I'm quite tired of the Storm Stories re-runs (seen them all at least twice). It seems to me like it's only been about a year since they've climbed up on The Gorecle's bandwagon... because it's NOT just Cullen, although she's their Climate Change Poster Child. I really, really think it's a "condition of employment" for presenters at TWC to "drink the Kool Aid," i.e., to deliver all these apocalyptic messages.
Morgan: I agree COMPLETELY with your outlook on conspiracies, for just the reasons you mention. And your observation on the Left's debating tactics, too. There IS more of that on the Left than the Right, although we're neither immune nor exempt. "People are people" pretty much applies here.