Roadtrip! Today (in a few minutes) I will embark on a couple of great roadtrips. I am not sure where we are going for sure, but do have a few plans. Trip one will be to take Sinclair to PCH to Strategic Intelligence Camp. The trip there should last about 12 hours, but I am sure that we will take longer. Then Peyton and I will get to spend a few days in New York City doing his Passport to Purity. Then Wednesday we head back and pick up the rest of the family and head back to PCH and get Sinclair then head to Colonial Williamsburg for a few days of relaxing time learning about early Colonial life in America. You can follow us at Twitter.com/TheDigitalLife, and of course the blog here at http://thedigitallife.net/blogger.html.

When there are dark clouds, get out the umbrella: I am perpetually amazed at the ignorance that some people have when it comes to seeing the signs and not doing anything about it. Take Katrina. The people in New Orleans knew (and bragged) that they lived below sea level and that any severe hurricane could devastate the city. They had days to prepare and evacuate, but many chose to stay and paid with their lives. Some had the audacity to claim that they just never knew that the storm could be that bad.

When it comes to the economy people are just as ignorant. They don't want to admit that things are bad, or that they have the potential to get bad. This week the IndyMac Bank of California was closed by the government. They have been reporting problems for months and their stock has slipped from $30 to 28 cents. So what's up with all these people going to the bank on Friday trying to withdraw money and finding that the bank is closed? One of the guys that was interviewed admitted that they probably had over $100,000, more than that which is insured. That goes beyond ignorance.

US Bank closed at $25.80, so I guess I am safe for now.

Maybe It’s Time for Some Change:  I don’t mean change like politicians say it, I mean change like really doing things different.  Politicians say change, what they mean is that they want their party in power and want to do things the same old way that their party has been doing it. But sometimes you have to just throw away the rule book and start all over.

What I am talking about is our dependence on foreign oil. I drove in today to see that the price was steady at $4.07 and I was actually glad. When we moved here it was $1.99 and that was considered high.  And I really don’t see it coming down. So we have to do some drastic things. Some propose conservation, but conservation only helps a little. Some say alternative fuels, but they take a while to get to market and they are currently contributing to the global food shortage (who was the Einstein who thought taking food and making it fuel wouldn’t disrupt things?). We could drill off the coast, but that will take years to get to market. We could drill in ANWAR, but that is also years away.

I have an idea, let’s do it all! Seriously, if we take all of the solutions and adopt them all then we could really see some change.  Let’s lower the national speed limit to 55MPH (and allow those who feel the need to drive at 45 MPH drive in the slow lane). Let’s start looking at raising the CAFE  standard so that the next generation of vehicles get better mileage than what we have on the road today.  Let’s back plans to install wind farms all over the Midwest so that our home electricity isn’t based on oil or coal.

If you know me you know that I don’t buy in to the global warming myth, so why all this talk about saving fuel? It comes down to money and dependence on others. One thing that I enjoy is not being dependent on anyone else.  I long for a day when I can drive to work and then plug in at night so that the commute doesn’t cost me a dime (right now it is about $12 a day for the commute).

 

The Conflict of Data: Today I found this really fun picture of a floating city. While I love this kind of stuff, it is interesting why this "city" is being developed. The Lilypad cities are for "climate refugees". This is of course because the earth is going to be submerged because the oceans are rising because we have too many cows. The article states as fact that the oceans will rise 3 feet by 2100. This is of course in direct conflict with the global warm prophet Al Gore who has stated that all of Manhattan will be under water in 25 years. Of course, if Manhattan is 8" above sea level these two facts might not be in conflict, and my comments are all wet. Also in conflict, Charlotte broke a 123 year old record today, for the coldest July 3rd on record. Hmmm.

We the People: Today the Supreme Court of the United States of America overturned a Washington DC ban on the ownership of handguns. The ban, which had been in place for decades, was said to be unconstitutional. What the court affirms in this ruling is that the 2nd Amendment specifically holds the individual right to arms. In a city that saw nearly 150 murders last year this can only come as a comfort for the millions of people who have wanted the right to protect themselves.

A True Abortion Story: News out of England highlights a couple of things about abortion that really put it in the light of truth. The story is of woman who decided to abort her baby because she was told that it would be born with a kidney problem as her first two children have. Her birth control failed and instead of dealing with the problems of having another child with a difficult affliction she made the logical choice to kill the child.

However, the procedure failed and she found out later that she was still pregnant. The doctors did another scan to confirm the baby and found that while it did have a kidney problem it would likely survive and live a healthy life.

Welcome Finley to the world.

The things that I like about this article is the truthfulness of the article. She wanted to terminate the baby because she was told that the baby was defective. The doctors were wrong. Makes me wonder how many babies are killed on faulty advice from doctors. No where in the article is Finley referred to as fetus or tissue. He is a baby. And now he is alive. His right to live triumphed her right to kill. Doesn't happen a lot, but I love it when it does.

Liberal Logic: Today Governor Steve Beshear accused large oil suppliers with "raping the public" with their high prices. It is now a well known fact that they yield about 8 cents per gallon whereas the state of Kentucky gets 36.9 cents. So if they are raping the public at 8 cents, what are you doing Governor at 36.9 cents? And why would he choose to use such violent and inflammatory language, something that is so offensive to so many people. He called for President Bush to stop price gouging, while even today Congress was hearing testimony confirming that the problem is not the oil companies but speculators. So while our Governor is insighting images of rape, those that truly can govern are doing so.

NOAA – Those Prognosticators of Disaster and Gloom: This marks the third hurricane season since Katrina and the third year where the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted higher than normal hurricane activity. The year directly preceding Katrina brought record low levels of activity and last year was a close second. But it makes sense for them to once again try to pass off the high level of hurricane activity once again. First, they are going to be right some day and then they can tell the world that they got it right (the world will totally forget the previous predictions which were totally inaccurate). Second, its job security. If they say that the hurricane activity is going to be calm (as it was the past two years) then CNN won’t have anyone to run to and declare that the world is about to end. Finally, this continues to fuel the global warming myth because they can say that the high level hurricane activity is due to increased carbon emissions due to people flying around the globe telling people that the earth is warming. Guys like Al Gore as a matter of fact.

I have said this in the past, and will continue to campaign that the government needs to withdraw their funding. They are so incredibly inaccurate that it makes no sense to have them.

Sometimes Even A Dictator Makes Sense: We tend to look at the things that are said from those we dislike, distrust, or hold with disdain are reflect that everything that comes from their mouth is evil, a lie, or a manipulation for their own benefit. I certainly feel that way about some people. But some times you can sort through the evil and find a kernel of truth or wisdom that makes you ponder it.
Today I had one of those "ah!" moments. Hugo Chavez, South America's most outspoken lunatic, came out last week against ethanol and said that it was a crime against the poor. Now granted Huge-O is a member of OPEC and wants to keep the world dependent upon his money train, but I would have to say that in this one area he might be kind of right. Look, it takes 400 pounds of corn to make enough fuel to fill one tank in a car. That is enough grain to feed someone for a year according to American Thinker. They show that the recent congressional mandate to produce 9 billion gallons of fuel requires about 1/3rd of our total corn output. So, there is little wonder that the price of corn has shot up to insane levels and there is a shortage.
So for the sake of saving the earth from emissions we are starving the poor. Sure, that makes sense.

Moleskin II: I have been intrigued by the Moleskin Notebooks for some time. I bought one and have made some random notes on web sites that I want to visit (like when reading something in B&N), some photo things that I want to try, etc. I have recently just decided to get a little more serious about how I use it. I bought some little sticky tabs and decided to make individual areas where I can organize my thoughts. I just bought a second one that I will be using for my PoST thoughts (Prepare, Survive, Thrive). I realized that when the power goes out I won't have anything to keep track of my thoughts that I can easily pull up. So now when the PDA crashes (like it did last week) I won't have to worry about the SD card having the backup.

This is a big change in my thinking. Everything in my life is pretty digital. In my job if I have something that is paper I almost immediately figure out how to scan it and save it digitally. I have backups for nearly everything that is important, but there is something about having a notebook that has it all. The Moleskin isn't perfect, and that is part of the charm. Its like my Holga camera. The faults are what make it unique. I guess that is the same for me. I have faults, that is what makes me who I am. I will learn to work with the constraints of what I have, 192 pages of 3x5"and make it work.

Right now I am not sure exactly how I will divide this new one or how I will customize it, but it will be a fun challenge.