Slow Down

2008-02-01 - 10:23 a.m.

Well, we went to the Park yesterday to renew our annual passes.

As of this writing, the cost for an adult one-day "Park Hopper" pass - good for admission to Disneyland and California Adventure for the one day - is $91. The child one-day Hopper (ages 2-9) is $81.

So a family of four - two adults, two children, and parking - has spent $355 before they even get into ANY park.

For another $24, you can get a premium annual pass that INCLUDES parking and has no blackout dates. That's for the highest tier of annual pass. There are less expensive ones, the lowest being the Southern CA Select for $129 - you don't get to go at all during most of the summer, any weekends, or any holidays. That calendar is here.

My days off are so fluid, and Brin and I go so much, that it's worth it to get the premium, waka-waka-gee-whiz pass.

Besides, the Parks are a great place for me to walk.

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And now, your global warming Moment Of Zen.

Damn, those pro-AGW "facts" just keep taking a beating. A US Senate report shows that, unlike what the pro-AGW would have you believe, polar bears are in no danger of becoming extinct. In fact, many of the polar bear populations are GROWING.

And this is from the Committee on Environment And Public Works. So they should know what they're talking about, right?

Oh wait - they're all in the pocket of Big Oil. Or President Bush. Same thing, right?

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Speaking of global warming, former President Clinton says that, in order to combat global warming, "we [the US] just have to slow down our economy".

Got that? Better to not produce than raise the planet's temperature a fraction of a degree over a century.

And this is during a time when some believe there may be a recession on the horizon?

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In the You Can't Make This Up Dept.:

Last month, a burglar broke into the Knoxville, Tennessee home of 80-year-old James "Smokey" Taylor.

Both the burglar and Taylor made mistakes. The burglar broke into the home of a former Green Beret and weapons expert. Taylor, in defending his home and property, shot the intruder in the head...with a .22 pistol. The bullet bounced off, stunning the intruder and forcing him to crawl outside where he was picked up by the police.

Then it gets fun - Taylor was subsequently (and with tongue firmly placed in cheek) court-martialed for “failing to use a weapon of sufficient caliber”:

“Charges were brought against him under the premise that he should have saved the county and taxpayers the expense of a trial,” said Chapter XXXIII President Bill Long of Asheville. “He could have used a .45 or .38. The .22 just wasn’t big enough to get the job done.”

Taylor’s defense attorney, another retired Weapons Sergeant, disagreed. He said Taylor had done the right thing in choosing to arm himself with a .22.

“If he’d used a .45 or something like that the round would have gone right through the perp, the wall, the neighbor’s wall and possibly injured some innocent child asleep in its bed,” he said. “I believe the evidence shows that Smokey Taylor exercised excellent judgment in his choice of weapons. He did nothing wrong, and clearly remains to this day an excellent weapons man.”

Taylor was acquitted, and gave the following statement afterward:

"[...]the perp had soiled his pants as he crawled out of the house.

“I would have had an even worse mess to clean up if it had gone through his forehead,” Taylor said. “It was good for both of us that it didn’t.”

Never presume that someone is a pushover just because he's old.

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We have a few things to do before nap time.

And then, the gig.

Be seeing you.

Smed - 2008-02-01 15:09:00 - http://smedindy.diaryland.com
That's not an official US Senate Report. That's a report from the minority committee members - led by Inhofe. "Threatened species" does not equal "becoming extinct" - so who is the alarmist?

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Brin - 2008-02-01 16:38:43 -
Look in the mirror.

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Brin - 2008-02-01 16:39:20 -
Provided of course you can see your reflection in one.

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Acorn - 2008-02-02 08:29:39 - http://acornotravez.diaryland.com
Taylor says, "That boy had the hardest head I've ever seen." Hilarious.

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Dave - 2008-02-03 02:27:22 -
Smed - does it matter where the facts come from? The pro-AGW are using computer models fed with flawed data. And don't tell me that the pro-AGW don't have an agenda and the anti-AGW do.

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Bob - 2008-02-03 13:19:47 - http://shadowgm.diaryland.com
Re: Inhofe, etc ... there are three sides to every story. Yours, mine, and the truth that lies between them. That being said, it's time to move beyond the Al Gore's and the James Inhofe's ... if there's flawed data, let's correct it. -- However, I'd be interested in seeing exactly where these birth/death rates are being drawn from, so, yes - it does matter where the facts come from. If I say there's a positive birth rate in Indiana, does it mean there's not a cancer cluster in California? Are the numbers showing a significant disparity between birth & death rates (i.e., 101 born, 100 dying is not hard proof that the species is not endangered), and is it establishing a trend? Now, admittedly, Inhofe thinks God is going to clean up his room and do his homework, so there's some reason to look on his work with a skeptical eye.

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Brin - 2008-02-04 14:57:49 -
Well, yeah, Bob, you have a point, but in the bigger picture, we have Al Gore, who says 'the science is settled' and flatly refuses to debate any and all counterpointists when it comes to the ecology and the global warming disparities. How can he do that when new sciences and theories are coming to light all the time? This is akin to a Christian who never wants to have their faith tested ("Boycott The Golden Compass!") or somebody claiming to be strong who refuses to lift weights.

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