HA! WE SURVIVED SNOWICANE 2010!!!

Thursday morning I woke to a lovely snowfall. By noon it was snowing like mad and we had about 5 inches on the ground. By 4:30pm we had about 10 inches and I decided to venture outdoors to clear the snow in order to make cleanup much easier the following day.





We knew it was getting bad. That afternoon, Orange County declared a state of emergency that was to last until 6:00am the following morning. About 9:00pm that evening we lost power. I tried to hook up a power inverter to the Jeep as a makeshift generator, but the output was insufficient to run the furnace or the well pump. I've been saving for a more powerful generator system, but as of yet, we just haven't saved up enough so the inverter was all we had to work with. It was dark, we had no running water and we were preparing ourselves to wake in the morning to a very cold house.

Friday came and so did news that the state of emergency had been extended until 6:00pm that evening... and the temperature inside the house had dropped to 52 degrees. I went outside, filled gallon freezer bags with snow and stuffed the fridge and freezer to protect the perishables. We ate cold cereal, PB&J sandwiches, cold chicken from the night before and thankfully we had plenty of bottled water. I even BBQ'd some burgers on my propane grille for lunch and got them medium rare before I ran out of propane. Throughout the day as the snow fell, the solar radiation which sifted through the overcast sky actually warmed the house by 8 whole degrees. Unfortunately, we knew that once darkness fell, the temperature inside would fall even more than the night before.

At 4:30pm I decided to go out for the second snow clearing. By that time we had somewheres in the neighborhood of 18-20" of wet and heavy snow. Thanks to my efforts the night before, I only had to clear some 8-10" of snow from around the house.





Then, by 6:30, we finally got word from the power company (NYS Electric and Gas or NYSEG) of an estimated restoration time; midnight the following day! Screw that!!! 30 minutes away, my Mom had power, heat and phone, so we packed up the family and spent the night at Grandma's house. There were a few tree limbs down on the road getting there, but we managed to make it to her house by 8:00pm. Next morning, Saturday the 27th, we woke up in warm beads, had a hot breakfast and took hot showers.







We finally got word from the utility company that power was restored that afternoon, so after an early dinner, we packed up and journeyed back home. The house was still warming up when we got there and thankfully most of the food in the fridge was still OK.




What a nightmare!!! It's amazing how we overlook such simple luxuries in our daily lives! Needless to say, I don't want to get caught with my male appendage swinging in the breeze like that again. I am determined to step up my efforts in preparation for future SHTF scenarios. Generator, backup propane tanks, more dry food storage, more ammo, etc... oh, and get finished building that damned antenna!

The Learning Curve

Shame on me. I've been absent from posting the past few days. My excuse this time is that I've been working again on designing a "screwdriver antenna" for my Icom 706MKIIG mobile ham radio. I don't feel like getting into the technical aspects of what a screwdriver antenna is, but I will say that I think it's the most superior tunable antenna in existence. Anyway, I started designing it a year ago and after half a year, I finally completed an acceptable and detailed 2D layout in CAD. I also procured about 80% of all the materials needed to build the thing. After taking a 5 to 6 month sabbatical, I've decided to get back onto completing it, but this is easier said than done. I need to find a machine shop that will mill me a bunch of one-off parts at a reasonable price. Oh, and I still as-of-yet have to sit for my ham radio technician's ticket (junior operator's license). I'm all studied up for it, but I just haven't gotten around to taking the damned test.

In addition to working on my SHTF-EOTW preparedness hobby, I've also been trying my hand at the newest versions of AutoCAD. I've been using that design platform for close to 20 years now and it is remarkable how far the technology has advanced. Most of the tools integrated into the newer versions today were the result of others like myself who had to write our own LISP and C++ programs years before to help get jobs done more efficiently. Today, it's all about solid modeling, 3D design and presentation. I've been doing 3D work off and on over the past 15 years or so, but never have I been able to design in real time 3D until recently over the past 5 years. One of the major reasons for this is that it has taken so long for affordable hardware to finally catch up to the demands of the software requirements in order to efficiently perform such complex tasks. So now, I'm working on converting my design over to 3D and I am just having too much fun doing it. And for all you perverts out there who can't get your minds out of the gutter, the image above is not that of a sex toy. It happens to be the gear-motor assembly which I have designed for my screwdriver antenna.

Bottom line here is that once again I am forced to ask for your patience while I labor toward the completion of this unfinished project. As it starts coming together, I will post more about my progress. Other postings may be light around here for a while, but as usual, if there is some issue that demands my ranting, you can bet that I'll be right here to express it.

TNX,
The Management

It's the economy, stupid!

Obama's lack of constitutional eligibility to serve as POTUS aside, the single most criminal act of this president and his enablers is their brazen determination to torpedo our domestic and international economic superiority through unconstitutional executive, legislative and judicial fiat. Throughout our nation's history, we have proven over and over again that the driving force behind our strength and prosperity has been our system of unrestrained free market enterprise. Government controlled socialist bureaucracies combined with burdensome taxation policies inevitably lead to clipping unemployment, authoritarian dependence, intellectual slavery and runaway entitlement mentality. For years the Chinese have known that they would be unable to defeat us due to this fact alone. Unrestrained innovation and ability to produce wealth has enabled us to achieve what China and the Soviet Union has been unable to accomplish through decades of communist control. By rendering our Constitution impotent through a process of progressive policies, the leadership of this country is condemning us to absolute failure and destruction. In all honesty, impeachment and censure for criminals such as these would be too light a punishment for such treason.

OMG! IT'S NOT GLOBAL WARMING?!?!

Climategate U-turn as scientist at centre of row admits: There has been no global warming since 1995
Daily Mail Online
By Jonathan Petre
Last updated at 5:12 PM on 14th February 2010

* Data for vital 'hockey stick graph' has gone missing
* There has been no global warming since 1995
* Warming periods have happened before - but NOT due to man-made changes

The academic at the centre of the ‘Climategate’ affair, whose raw data is crucial to the theory of climate change, has admitted that he has trouble ‘keeping track’ of the information.

Colleagues say that the reason Professor Phil Jones has refused Freedom of Information requests is that he may have actually lost the relevant papers.

Professor Jones told the BBC yesterday there was truth in the observations of colleagues that he lacked organisational skills, that his office was swamped with piles of paper and that his record keeping is ‘not as good as it should be’.

The data is crucial to the famous ‘hockey stick graph’ used by climate change advocates to support the theory.

Professor Jones also conceded the possibility that the world was warmer in medieval times than now – suggesting global warming may not be a man-made phenomenon.

And he said that for the past 15 years there has been no ‘statistically significant’ warming...

*snip*

You know what amazes me even more than the absolute arrogance and determination of the Obama administration to combat AGW by taxing carbon emissions? It's the fact that the most outspoken critics in the media against this ridiculous hoax are from the same country where PM Margaret Thatcher started this lie about "global warming" in the first place back in 1988 in order to turn public sentiment against the striking coal miner's union! AND SHE WAS A LEADER OF THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY!!!

Ok, I think I've had enough confusion to last me a lifetime. Screw this, I'm going to bed.

Vote Obamacare? We'll vote you outta there!

OMG! IT'S GLOBAL COOLING!!!

30 Years of Global Cooling Are Coming, Leading Scientist Says
FOXNews.com
Updated January 11, 2010

From Miami to Maine, Savannah to Seattle, America is caught in an icy grip that one of the U.N.'s top global warming proponents says could mark the beginning of a mini ice age.

From Miami to Maine, Savannah to Seattle, America is caught in an icy grip that one of the U.N.'s top global warming proponents says could mark the beginning of a mini ice age.

Oranges are freezing and millions of tropical fish are dying in Florida, and it could be just the beginning of a decades-long deep freeze, says Professor Mojib Latif, one of the world's leading climate modelers...

*snip*

Well, all I gotta say is that we are sooooooo lucky to have such intelligent and responsible elected officials in Washington who would never even think about increasing taxes on gasoline and heating oil and other petroleum based sources of energy. I'm positive they know what effect that would have on our economy and the ability of folks to afford to stay warm in the coming ice age... right? ...I mean, right? RIGHT?!?!

Obama's 2011 Budget Tax Hikes Contradict Focus on Job Creation

Wall Street Journal Online
By CURTIS S. DUBAY
From the Heritage Foundation
FEBRUARY 5, 2010, 5:20 P.M. ET

President Obama has said his number one goal for 2010 is to create jobs, but the abundance of tax increases in his recently released 2011 budget contradict this objective.

Higher taxes on businesses, upper-income taxpayers, and fossil fuels; an increased death tax; and new taxes to pay for health care would destroy jobs and slow economic recovery. Congress should reject these higher taxes and the rest of its business-killing agenda to speed economic growth and encourage job creation...

*snip*

The tax increases proposed in the budget break down into six broad categories:

1. Higher Taxes on Businesses...

*snip*

2. Higher Taxes on Upper-Income Earners...

*snip*

3. Death Tax Increase...

*snip*

4. Higher Energy Taxes. The budget increases taxes on oil, gas, and coal companies by repealing several tax credits available to these businesses.

These energy companies would undoubtedly pass these tax increases on to customers in the form of higher prices, which will increase costs across the entire economy. And higher taxes on energy would act as yet another deterrent to job creation, since they increase the cost of doing business, which includes hiring new workers and retaining existing ones.

5. Health Care Taxes...

*snip*

6. Other Taxes. The budget includes several other tax increases, including taxing carried interest as regular income, closing the tax gap through stricter enforcement, more taxes on businesses, and making the unemployment insurance surtax permanent.

This long list of tax increases shows that the Administration is desperate for revenue and looking under every rock to squeeze more and more money out of individual taxpayers and businesses...

*snip*

-emphasiss mine

Oh, well; we better HOPE it doesn't get much colder than it is now because the only CHANGE we're going to end up with is what we've got left in our pockets after being rapped by this PROGRESSIVE federal gubmint!

OMG! IT'S GLOBAL WARMING!!!

Climate-Change Debate Is Heating Up in Deep Freeze
By JOHN M. BRODER
New York Times
Published: February 10, 2010

WASHINGTON — As millions of people along the East Coast hole up in their snowbound homes, the two sides in the climate-change debate are seizing on the mounting drifts to bolster their arguments.

Skeptics of global warming are using the record-setting snows to mock those who warn of dangerous human-driven climate change — this looks more like global cooling, they taunt.

Most climate scientists respond that the ferocious storms are consistent with forecasts that a heating planet will produce more frequent and more intense weather events.

But some independent climate experts say the blizzards in the Northeast no more prove that the planet is cooling than the lack of snow in Vancouver or the downpours in Southern California prove that it is warming...

*snip*

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
HFS... WILL YOU COMMIES EVER MAKE UP YOUR FREAKIN' MINDS?!?!

OMG! IT'S GLOBAL COOLING!!!

And the asshat beaurocrats in Washington are still in denial...



We've only got about 6 inches here in the Mid-Hudson region, but Rodger (The Real King of France) over at Curmudgeonly & Skeptical is living in the bullseye of the blizzard in Maryland. All tolled, he's probably up to about 4 feet of snow or more from the past 2 storms.

In other news, I've been spending the past 2 days trying to figure out why my 'puter has been crapping out on me. No viruses, but I think it's a hardware problem. I thought it was the hard drive, but the motherboard may be the culprit. The damned thing just freezes for no good reason and after rebooting, it sometimes doesn't see the HD. I've got a back up box that I'm using to get this out there, but I hope I can get the other one working so I don't have to sacrifice what little cash I have in order to buy a new MB. Oh well, that's the story of my life, now isn't it?

Ok, here's my pick for Super Bowl XLIV *UPDATE*

CHAMPIONS!!!
CAN I PICK 'EM OR WHAT?!?!

New Orleans Saints vs. Indianapolis Colts
Sunday, February 7, 2010 - 6:25pm ET on CBS

Change for Washington? You Betcha!!!

In case you missed it, here it is.
The Sarah Palin Tea Party Speech
February 6, 2010

PART 1...


PART 2...


PART 3...


PART 4...


PART 5...

Finally, proof that Obamanomics works!

Who said the federal government can't create SHOVEL READY JOBS?!
Too bad it does nothing to help the public's belief in global warming.

BONUS!!!

The great global warming collapse

By Margaret Wente
The Globe and Mail
Published on Friday, Feb. 05, 2010 6:45PM EST
Last updated on Saturday, Feb. 06, 2010 4:15AM EST

In 2007, the most comprehensive report to date on global warming, issued by the respected United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, made a shocking claim: The Himalayan glaciers could melt away as soon as 2035.

These glaciers provide the headwaters for Asia's nine largest rivers and lifelines for the more than one billion people who live downstream. Melting ice and snow would create mass flooding, followed by mass drought. The glacier story was reported around the world. Last December, a spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund, an environmental pressure group, warned, “The deal reached at Copenhagen will have huge ramifications for the lives of hundreds of millions of people who are already highly vulnerable due to widespread poverty.” To dramatize their country's plight, Nepal's top politicians strapped on oxygen tanks and held a cabinet meeting on Mount Everest.

But the claim was rubbish, and the world's top glaciologists knew it. It was based not on rigorously peer-reviewed science but on an anecdotal report by the WWF itself. When its background came to light on the eve of Copenhagen, Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the IPCC, shrugged it off. But now, even leading scientists and environmental groups admit the IPCC is facing a crisis of credibility that makes the Climategate affair look like small change.

“The global warming movement as we have known it is dead,” the brilliant analyst Walter Russell Mead says in his blog on The American Interest. It was done in by a combination of bad science and bad politics...

*snip*

That's all well and good, but if you think it's going to change policy in Washington, you don't know the progressive movement behind the modern Democrat party.

Ahmadinejad should be preparing his country for terrain modification!

USAF - Specializing in glass parking lots since 1945.
*click image for full size picture*

Iran Is Ready for Nuclear Deal, Leader Says
Ahmadinejad Revives Plan, but U.S. Says He Hasn't Made Official Approach; Opposition Leader Lashes Out at Regime

By JAY SOLOMON
FEBRUARY 2, 2010

WASHINGTON—Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his government would accept a nuclear fuel-swap agreement overseen by the United Nations, a deal the Obama administration has viewed as central to limiting Tehran's ability to develop atomic weapons.

The Iranian leader's announcement on state television Tuesday, however, was immediately greeted with skepticism by Western diplomats, who have watched Tehran flip-flop on the fuel-swap issue since it was proposed in October.

Senior U.S. officials said Mr. Ahmadinejad hadn't conveyed an agreement to the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"The deal is still on the table," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley. "We don't exactly know what Ahmadinejad said, but if he's prepared to say yes, that's good news. He should contact the IAEA."

Many U.S. and European diplomats said Mr. Ahmadinejad's comments appeared designed to upend an accelerating international campaign to sanction Iran for its nuclear work. In recent days, the Obama administration has begun circulating to allied countries the names of Iranian entities—including its central bank and businesses controlled by its elite military unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—that Washington wants sanctioned under a new U.N. Security Council resolution, say officials who have seen the list.

"Iran has continued to try and divide the international community on sanctions," said a European diplomat working on Iran. "I don't see why this overture would be any different."

The Obama administration said it wouldn't renegotiate the terms of the deal...

*snip*

Yeah, right...
Just so you folks know; I ain't about to start holding my breath.

Punxsutawney Phil is pissed!!!

Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today!

Leaked climate change emails scientist 'hid' data flaws
Exclusive: Key study by East Anglia professor Phil Jones was based on suspect figures

Fred Pearce
guardian.co.uk
Monday 1 February 2010 21.00 GMT

Phil Jones, the beleaguered British climate scientist at the centre of the leaked emails controversy, is facing fresh claims that he sought to hide problems in key temperature data on which some of his work was based.

A Guardian investigation of thousands of emails and documents apparently hacked from the University of East Anglia's climatic research unit has found evidence that a series of measurements from Chinese weather stations were seriously flawed and that documents relating to them could not be produced.

Jones and a collaborator have been accused by a climate change sceptic and researcher of scientific fraud for attempting to suppress data that could cast doubt on a key 1990 study on the effect of cities on warming – a hotly contested issue.

Today the Guardian reveals how Jones withheld the information requested under freedom of information laws. Subsequently a senior colleague told him he feared that Jones's collaborator, Wei-­Chyung Wang of the University at Albany, had "screwed up".

The revelations on the inadequacies of the 1990 paper do not undermine the case that humans are causing climate change, and other studies have produced similar findings. But they do call into question the probity of some climate change science.

The apparent attempts to cover up problems with temperature data from the Chinese weather stations provide the first link between the email scandal and the UN's embattled climate science body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as a paper based on the measurements was used to bolster IPCC statements about rapid global warming in recent decades.

*snip*

Six more weeks of winter, Phil says
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Don't put those cold weather clothes in storage just yet.

Punxsutawney Phil, the internationally known weather prognosticating groundhog, saw his shadow this morning and predicted six more weeks of winter.

Thousands gathered on Gobbler's Knob in Jefferson County to await the groundhog's annual prediction. The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club said Phil has seen his shadow 98 times since 1887, hasn't seen it 15 times, and there are no records for nine years.

Officially, the vernal equinox occurs at 1:32 p.m. March 20, marking the arrival of spring in the northern hemisphere -- six weeks, four days from today.

*snip*