Caught this little gem

over at CNN:



Warmer temperatures tied to wildfires, scientists say



Apparently it's again tied to global warming. What's conspicuously absent, however, is any discussion of our forestry and land-management policies. This stood out to me a bit:

Those plants grow back quickly after a fire, and several species of wildflowers only grow in areas that have burned, Rocca said.

Swetnam said smaller, surface fires are good for forests because they destroy shrubs and other brush without hurting trees.

What I sense is missing is a discussion of how the controlled burns of past eras have been banned, thanks largely to the environmental movement. I can't claim to know a ton about it, but I've heard folks talk about it on the radio.



So I'd only ask this - is it possible that the environmental horror we're now supposedly doomed to suffer has been caused in part by enviromentalism? I imagine there are some who are crying over the destruction of so many trees. Yet the same types have argued that we can't manage things properly because of the trees. So now we've lost the trees, billions of dollars, people's entire existences, and actual lives.



Yep, smart policy there.

The heavens opened

officially on Thursday. Someone lost their job, and it was a long time coming. Four years or more of incompetence and indifference came to a head, and the head on the block was theirs.



I suppose I should have more sympathy, but they brought it on themselves. I didn't care much for this person personally, but I for one could've managed with them if they put the slightest effort into their work. My interactions with them were peripheral, but the few direct efforts I had to deal with did not impress me. This person was full of buzzwords and superior attitude, followed by lack of action and complete ignorance.



Others I talked to felt bad for this person, but I can't bring myself to. Be sure your sin will find you out, and you can bet it did. I wonder why it took so long, but other people have more patience with this kind of thing than I do.



The upshot of all this is more work for me. I fully intend to try and force the issue to bring with it commensurate title and financial rewards, but I need to be patient about that kind of thing here. I also feel there's some tension and not a little confusion reigning right now, so I think I need to let certain things said to me kind of slide off my back. With any luck things will smooth out in a few weeks, and we can make some progress.



I see this as a tremendous opportunity, despite the immense additional workload it will bring. Things couldn't possibly have been worse, so we have nowhere to go but up.

Storm Clouds Are Brewin'

But they are hopefully bringing a healthy rain that will wash away several years' worth of grime.



I can't really say anything more about it right now, but it explains (somewhat) my parsimonious postings of late.



Other, equally weighty news is also in the offing, but there's no reason I can't say anything about it. I'm just being coy. Call it snottily smug if you must, but it amounts to the same thing.



Updates will follow in their appropriate time.

Interesting bit of History

up for grabs:



Rare Magna Carta to be sold at Sotheby's in NYC



I've never liked the popular impression that this was a constitution in the sense to which we understand it today. A la the reporter's comment "The Magna Carta established rights of the English people and curbed the power of the king."



What it established (and no, I haven't read it in ages) was the rights and privileges of a select class of people vis-a-vis their feudal obligations to their lord, and the limits of his authority. As a foundation document laying the groundwork for basic rights of man, perhaps, but hardly a declaration of freedom for all citizens. I'd personally consider it akin to limiting the power of central government, and providing more autonomy to the other rich, violent jerks keeping the average citizen impoverished and beholden. And yes, I oversimplify, but it's a blog folks, not a dissertation.



In any event, it's yours for a piddling $30 mil.

Ya know what?

People really like chocolate.



The kids' school does an annual chocolate sale to raise money. Given the cost of tuition, I find that a little ridiculous, but OK. Sell $500 worth of sugary crap, earn a prize worth about a buck-fifty on the open market. For the last two years, I have resisted bringing any to work - I feel like it's annoying people.



It seems people like being annoyed.



I left a box of 40 bars (at $1/each) upstairs in the kitchen here at the office at about 9AM. When I last checked it at about 2PM, there were five bars left. More importantly, the box (when full) was mostly almond, which I dislike. Of the 5 remaining bars, none were almond, so I guess the huckster company behind all of this (part of Reader's Digest, apparently) knew exactly what they were doing.



On top of all that, my dad took three bars last week back home to my brother's kids. Oldest niece called up that night placing an order for another 36 for her and her friends. So pop is picking up another box at the kids' school right about now. Any leftovers will be brought back here tomorrow.



I have to wonder - would people normally buy all this crap, or do they soothe their consciences about eating candy by saying it's going to a good cause? Either way, I've got a pocket full of singles and my kids are in line for a cheap, lead painted Chinese toy that will break the first day.

Every time

you think you've seen it all, here comes more silliness:



Glamorous politician wants law to allow 7-year itch



Leaving aside that I don't find a fifty year old, twice divorced libertine to be glamorous, these are the kinds of crazy things that come out of people's mouths when they're interested in attention more than substance. I don't know if she's serious about marriages only legally lasting seven years. I don't much care if she is. Clearly, though, there are a lot of nutballs in the world, and unfortunately too many of them get elected.



I don't suppose we could institute a seven-year lifespan on politicians, could we?

Laugh of the Day

Dan Rather sues CBS, Viacom for $70M



Ole' Dan thinks he got the shaft from CBS for their "intentional mishandling" of the aftermath of the story he chose to run, despite the holes in it the size of a National Guard jet.



What's the Frequency, Kenneth, indeed.

Oh, and By the By...

Shana Tovah to all and sundry. May we all be blessed with a happy, healthy, and sweet new year.

More Conversations

Less peculiar, but more welcome. Got an email from Mrs. Skinny's cousin, who is over in Afghanistan doing the police-type work he used to do in the Great Northwest. He's just looking for Taliban instead of more home-grown ne'er do wells.



Cousin is, as the rest of that particular branch of the family tree, one of the most decent people I've ever me in my life. Well educated, well read, and a lot of fun to hang out with. I should think of him every day, but I don't, which is sad. He's certainly risking his life, though he said I need to look out for myself far more than he does. He travels around with a troop of Polish airborne guys, which he claims is like riding around with a legally armed motorcycle gang.



All the same, I worry about him, and hope he stays safe. It's worse for people with husbands and fathers overseas I grant you, but he's still family and he's a long way from home. Mind you, he says he's in great shape - toting 50 lb. packs around 7,000 feet above sea level is one solution to staying fit, but I'm not sure we all need to head to Downtown Kandahar just to get healthy.



Anyway, I've got a small piece of my heart over in harm's way, so add a thought or prayer for him if you've a mind to.

Strange Conversations

I'm just back in the office after an offsite meeting, the door is closed, and somebody knocks.



There is New Executive Recently Promoted, doing a tour of the building. NERP asks for a brief tour, then says "how do you know when all this stuff is ready for you to take?"



Well, here's a pretty how-de-do.



So I explain briefly about Records Managers and how they feed things to archivists, and see to it that records make it through their life cycle, and end up in the archives when they're ready.



Mind you, I've been asking about getting an RM here for 5 years, so it's a little shocking to have such a conversation out of the blue. I don't know if this will lead to anything, but I'm glad somebody took an interest for five minutes.

Science!

Toddler Study Proves Humans Outsmart Apes



"In other Sciency-type stuff, Apes clearly still lead by a wide margin of intelligence over reporters and headline writers."

Don't you Hate When that Happens?

Study: Wrong fish used to save species



You're all set with a 5/8" fish, and it turns out you needed the 1/2".

Well, Duh.

You Are a Grilled Cheese Sandwich

You are a traditional person with very simple tastes. In your opinion, the best things in life are free, easy, and fun. You totally go with the flow. And you enjoy every minute of it! Your best friend: The Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Your mortal enemy: The Ham Sandwich

What Kind of Sandwich Are You?

Any idiot would know about my issues with Ham Sammiches. From Jordana, via Diane. Mind you, I don't actually like cheese at all, grilled or otherwise, but I guess that's besides the point.

Left Coast Blogging

Out to the wilds of Californy to visit the in-laws, and thus I have some time to blog. Flight was not bad as these things go - we had a power outlet in one of our two rows, and I was able to compute some while flying. I'm the web guy for two archivists groups, and with the annual meeting happening next week, there's a lot to update. Plus the kiddies could watch movies and leave us be.



Things seem tough on the airlines - they're now charging for ALL food on board. Though they haven't figured out how to charge us for what we bring on our own. That's coming, I imagine. No room in the seats, long waits to get in to the waiting areas, long waits to take off, no food, lousy movies. There's not a lot to recommend flying any more, other than if you got to get from one place to another, it's a way to do it.



Either way, both we and our luggage made it. I'm here until next Tuesday, when I'm off to the aforementioned conference in Chicago. Mrs. and family stay until Sunday of Labor Day.

The weekend

is sort of a long, drawn-out blur. We had lunch on Shabbos with some friends, which started somewhere around noon and ended around 6PM. I don't think we were eating the entire time, it just felt like it. Our hostess is a good cook, which explains partly the length of the meal.



Not content with a full prandial day, I decided like a moron to stay up half the night editing our latest podcast. The sound quality has improved dramatically, but I still had to splice together a show out of 7-8 takes, and that took until 2AM. As it turned out I had no other time to edit anyway, so I'm glad I got it done so the rest of the group can review it. Still, there wasn't as much sleep as there ought to have been. Last week was among the longest, and most difficult in the 6 and 1/2 years I've been here - just a lot of grief from a lot of people, and a lot of work. I should've used my opportunities to sleep better, but that's life.



Sunday was jam-packed - I joined Mrs. at the picnic for her local La Leche League. I was surprised too - it isn't a group for leering at women! Mrs. has been crazed in preparing for this, which is why a) she was painting a banner at 4PM on Friday instead of getting dinner ready, and b) she stayed up 'til 2AM herself on Saturday night. The picnic was nice, but I was ready to go home before she was. I did take the time to try and continue working with oldest on learning to ride a two-wheeler (as we had a lot more open space at the park) but I'm afraid it didn't go all that well. She gets going, and then just stops pedaling. I'll take advice on strategies if anyone has them.



Home for a brief rest, then across the street to start preparing the surprise barbecue for the other neighbor in the house next door. Poor guy turned 50 yesterday, so we all assembled and I got grill duty. It came off without a hitch, I burned very little of the food, and Mrs. Skinny brought out a tray of blondies (which I made, incidentally - it was one of four trays made this past weekend) on which she wrote "Happy Not 50^th Birthday Dan." For which I am grateful - mostly the not 50 part.



Home, kids to bed, watched Water, which turned out to be as funny as I remembered it, and collapsed into bed. All in all, a good if not exactly restful weekend.

Karl Rove Behind Another Plot!!!

You have to know that's actually coming:




Karl Rove to resign at end of August



One can only assume he wants to depress the nutters who will now have to change the tinfoil in their propeller beanies.



Unless he's secretly not leaving, and will be conducting his super-secret plot to destroy the world (women and minorities suffer most^®) in an even more super-secret way...

Best Birthday Card. Ever

To protect the Guilty

I will not go into details here. But I hate my job, or at least the people who are making it unnecessarily difficult. The wrong people are making decisions, and other wrong people are getting on my boss' case about me. Despite the fact that the time pressure is their fault entirely, not mine.



I'm not quitting, but it does make me wonder why I don't sit on my tuchus and do a lousy job the way some other people do around here. Failure to act gets no one fired, so why should I bother trying to accomplish anything?



I don't mean to get whiny, but it's been an unpleasant few days at work lately. I know, boo-frickin'-hoo, but this is the bulk of my waking hours, and I'd like to think I'm not a completely useless lump of employee.

Bias? What Bias?

So National Review has been making note today of an incident in the House last night where a vote was gaveled, meaning, I take it, that it is final. The Dem in charge thought it was a tie, when in fact it was passed. They then held the vote open so that enough people could switch their votes to the Nay side.




Republicans Angry Over House Vote



So the problem is it took me almost ten minutes to find a story about it in the mainstream media. Including the site I finally dug it up on, Fox News. Elsewhere, I get the standard fodder of "Administration screws up" "Gonzales must go" and "Bush Lied, People Died." But a mention of a flagrant violation of the rules by Democrats? Not a peep.



Leaving aside the particular importance of this vote, which appears to have been procedural rather than substantive, I can find no clearer demonstration of the crap that politicians play. Did the guy screw up and gavel too soon? Sure. Had he said "my bad - I screwed up, and I won't do it again" - no big deal. But to actively change the vote after? Criminal in my estimation, and worthier of censure than anything I've seen the libs claim about the administration.



Why? Because, for good or ill, there are supposed to be rules. They can be gamed, and bent, but they should not be broken in such a cavalier and clearly partisan fashion. Your elected government and mine is a cesspool of scheming dishonesty, and I'm embarrassed to be represented by such filth.



The press is aiding and abetting this kind of behavior, and they wonder why they are ranked so low on the trustworthy scale. Yes, this is a small issue. But you learn a lot more about people by how they handle the little things than how they manage the larger issues.

How's this

for a personal recommendation?



Sean Penn praised by Venezuela's Chavez



One can only assume that Ahmedinajad and Osama himself are also writing letters on Mr. Penn's behalf to all the colleges he's applying to.



Remember, folks - who you idolize and associate with says a lot about who you are.