Global hot air

I read a good article by David Puner, of Good Magazine, about John Coleman and his take on global warming. I’d never heard of John Coleman before this article, but I like him. He is the guy that founded The Weather Channel (TWC). He was ahead of his time and he knows a thing or two about weather. He was ousted from The Weather Channel in 1983 when it didn’t turn a profit in the first year, “reportedly running $7 million in the red.” He couldn’t find additional funding sources/investors so Landmark Communications enacted a contract clause and pushed Coleman out of the organization. Right or wrong, TWC began turning a profit two years later and Landmark Communications made a staggering $3.5 billion from the sale of the cable channel in 2008.

He’s been a forecaster for over 50 years and he thinks Al Gore and the mainstream media are a bunch of fear mongers. John Coleman doesn’t buy into the science behind the phenomenon known as man-made climate change. He thinks (as I do) it is a part of normal climate change cycles that we’ve had a minor affect on at best. I’ve ranted before about how “we” think we know it all because we have a couple centuries of weather data. Based on those same scientists’ views on the age of the earth (hundreds of millions of years old, if not billions) that is a sliver of data. I didn’t know scientists base facts on less than one millionth of a percent of data. Maybe after a couple millennia of data I’ll begin to believe we have some clue as to what is happening on our planet. Even then, it would be questionable.

Coleman isn’t some lone quack either. “A petition…with the signatures of 31,000 scientists rejecting the U.N. consensus of man-made climate change” was presented just last May. “Nine thousand of the names reportedly belong to Ph.Ds.” Many people point to science and say the debate is over, but I think that arrogance and a political agenda should be taken with a grain of salt. Now, I realize that other science fields play into this discussion (such as geology) but do we really think that we fully know and understand all the factors involved? We have a hard time predicting weather for the next week even with all the technology and data currently available. I think a little patience could go a long way. Are we really as fragile as the dinosaurs?

Coleman has one thing right without question the media hasn’t bothered to vet the story completely and that’s not really a huge surprise. Coleman has been totally ignored by ABC, NBC, CBS – put down by CNN.

“You’ve got Al Gore. You’ve got the environmentalists. And then all the networks come aboard, because they love gloom and doom, the-end-is-near.... From Y2K to killer bees — God, give us something to tell people their lives are coming to an end — cancer scare, HIV, whatever we’ve got — let’s go, Man, scare the hell out of people....”

"Being a climate change dissenter isn’t sexy. Climate change has Hollywood…Al Gore and Barack Obama.... This is a star-driven society…I can’t be a star, I’m too old." I’m hoping someone charismatic and credible will pick up the baton from Coleman and run with it. If you want an interesting read, search for John Coleman on Good Magazine’s site.

New HDTV

I’ve had a little more than a week with the new TV and it is really nice. We got a 46” Samsung Touch of Color LCD with 120Hz (the 750 model). I was originally looking at the model just below it (650), but when I compared prices on Amazon, the one we got was about $80 cheaper – even though it has more/better features. I guess they were trying to move old stock because Amazon no longer has the 750 and nobody has it for the price we paid. The next model up (850) is practically identical except that it is only 1.9 inches deep. The highest model (950) has LED backlighting and is about twice as expensive. I think we got a good deal and this TV is fairly future-proof. It should last us a long time. I’ve been happy with my Samsung purchases in the past, so I feel confident this will prove to be an enjoyable product as well.

I do wish we had high speed internet so we could take full advantage of all the features (OK, and so we could surf the web easier at home). If we had a broadband connection the TV could get RSS feeds for weather, news headlines and stocks that could be displayed onscreen with the click of a button on the remote (kind of cool). It’s not a major loss, but a neat feature. We’ll probably look at getting a Blu-ray player at some point so we can see true 1080p also. For now DVDs and over-the-air HD television look exceptional. We have a basic progressive scan DVD player – nothing special – and the TV displays an absolutely stunning picture when it up-converts to its native 1080p. The Xbox 360 looks amazing on it as well. You can see the difference in some games right away. The sound quality is pretty good for an LCD. Most LCDs don’t have very good sound, but this one is proving to be more than adequate. I even have the Xbox hooked up directly to the TV instead of going through the stereo. Since this TV has a built in Ethernet port for network connectivity, I hooked up the wireless router behind the TV. The TV and Xbox 360 are connected to the router (even though the router goes nowhere). The computers can now communicate with both devices. The TV (with the help of software) can browse my MP3, video and digital picture collections over the network. That’s pretty cool.

The picture quality on this TV is amazing. I think it may take me a while to get used to the 120Hz processing though. When it is turned all the way up on DVDs they look surreal. I have to turn it down right now because I can see it and the picture looks over-processed. I may get used to it with time, but I read online that some like it and some don’t. So far though, I’m loving the TV.

Shut-up Pelosi

I’ve been somewhat impressed by Obama’s actions the first few days in office. Whether you like this stimulus package idea or not the fact that he’s trying to make the effort to work with Republicans is commendable. That is more than I can say for the Speaker of the House, Pelosi. She is the biggest partisan mouthpiece in Washington right now and I’m sick of hearing her slanderous crock of crap-ola.

I wrote previously in my blog of my disgust for her shenanigans, but she seems to continue to be disillusioned about the real world. In her fantasy world, everything wrong is the fault of the Republicans and everything right was brought about by Democrats. If it were that simple, there would be no need for an election. Her latest statements make it only more clear how mentally lost she truly is.

“Now, we had an election that was about our different views and the direction our country was going in. We had a different point of view. The American people agreed with us. Bipartisanship means giving an opportunity to make their voices heard and maybe to persuade in the marketplace of ideas. It does not mean we will have a continuation of the last eight years of failed economic policies that have taken us where we are today. And so in the spirit of listening to the American people - Democrats, Republicans, Independents…”

The American people didn’t agree with you. The American people voted for the lesser of two evils and/or for an end to partisanship. Many Americans voted against the war in Iraq or to stick it to the GOP because of their dislike of Bush. Some even voted for the historical significance of the election. However, when Pelosi was asked about how this package is relying on partisan support to pass she said:

“It says that some of us have heard the voices of the American people and their desire for change.”

Continued partisanship is not the change the American people voted for. Your answer also confuses me. Which “us” heard the American people? Is it the ones voting for the stimulus or the ones voting against partisanship? Take a cue from the new president. Whether his actions are all for show or genuine, at least he is making the effort. He doesn’t just hide behind the blame game. By Pelosi’s own words she condemns the Democrats because the American people voted for bipartisanship, not a stimulus package. Plus the Democrats have been in control of Congress for a couple years now. That clearly places a portion of the blame on them as well. A stimulus package was not part of the platform of change Obama used to get elected. I hope Obama puts her in her place soon (if he can). The power has definitely gone to her head.

On a side note – in case you still don’t think the media is bias. It took me more than 30 minutes last Thursday to find the quotes above. A simple search on Pelosi’s name didn’t bring this article up when searching the network news sites. I had to get very specific using Google to find any part of it. I find that terribly strange and disturbing, albeit not surprising. The media reports/publishes what it wants – remember that. Even worse, it highlights what it wants and buries what it doesn’t like. Whether I think the news is good or bad, whether I agree with it or not, I’d still want to hear about it. Mainstream media has their priorities out of whack on what is important news and what isn’t.