drschplatt's Xanga

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:51:59 GMT

This just cracks me up!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:46:42 GMT

Random thoughts to begin with:

Number One...

The little picture on the "add a web blog" button looks like a cigarette with hair wrapped around it though I think it's supposed to be a pencil.

Number Two...

I think Snarf and Scum are the only people I know who still read my blog.

On to the post.

Today is pretty much my last full day here in my dorm in Taiwan. It's been an alright 4 years and although I'm going to miss it some, I'm pretty excited about what's coming next. I'm almost done packing, then I head down south for a few days to meet with friends and then it's off to the airport 'cus I'm leeeeeeeeeeavin' on a jet plane!!!!

Then I land in Japan....then leave Japan...then land in Minneapolis...then leave Minneapolis (thank God)...then land in Memphis...then leave Memphis (without eating BBQ)...then land in Wichita...then laugh my butt off while I watch my younger brothers try to load my luggage.

Should be good.

From threedonia.com

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:28:15 GMT

Taken directly from http://www.threedonia.com

The unseemly haste with which cap-and-trade legislation was crammed through the House is due to one factor: the “crisis” is over.

The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberly Strassel explains:

Among the many reasons President Barack Obama and the Democratic majority are so intent on quickly jamming a cap-and-trade system through Congress is because the global warming tide is again shifting. It turns out Al Gore and the United Nations (with an assist from the media), did a little too vociferous a job smearing anyone who disagreed with them as “deniers.” The backlash has brought the scientific debate roaring back to life in Australia, Europe, Japan and even, if less reported, the U.S.

In April, the Polish Academy of Sciences published a document challenging man-made global warming. In the Czech Republic, where President Vaclav Klaus remains a leading skeptic, today only 11% of the population believes humans play a role. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to tap Claude Allegre to lead the country’s new ministry of industry and innovation. Twenty years ago Mr. Allegre was among the first to trill about man-made global warming, but the geochemist has since recanted. New Zealand last year elected a new government, which immediately suspended the country’s weeks-old cap-and-trade program.

The number of skeptics, far from shrinking, is swelling. Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe now counts more than 700 scientists who disagree with the U.N. — 13 times the number who authored the U.N.’s 2007 climate summary for policymakers. Joanne Simpson, the world’s first woman to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology, expressed relief upon her retirement last year that she was finally free to speak “frankly” of her nonbelief. Dr. Kiminori Itoh, a Japanese environmental physical chemist who contributed to a U.N. climate report, dubs man-made warming “the worst scientific scandal in history.” Norway’s Ivar Giaever, Nobel Prize winner for physics, decries it as the “new religion.” A group of 54 noted physicists, led by Princeton’s Will Happer, is demanding the American Physical Society revise its position that the science is settled. (Both Nature and Science magazines have refused to run the physicists’ open letter.)

The collapse of the “consensus” has been driven by reality. The inconvenient truth is that the earth’s temperatures have flat-lined since 2001, despite growing concentrations of C02. Peer-reviewed research has debunked doomsday scenarios about the polar ice caps, hurricanes, malaria, extinctions, rising oceans. A global financial crisis has politicians taking a harder look at the science that would require them to hamstring their economies to rein in carbon.

Credit for Australia’s own era of renewed enlightenment goes to Dr. Ian Plimer, a well-known Australian geologist. Earlier this year he published “Heaven and Earth,” a damning critique of the “evidence” underpinning man-made global warming. The book is already in its fifth printing. So compelling is it that Paul Sheehan, a noted Australian columnist — and ardent global warming believer — in April humbly pronounced it “an evidence-based attack on conformity and orthodoxy, including my own, and a reminder to respect informed dissent and beware of ideology subverting evidence.” Australian polls have shown a sharp uptick in public skepticism; the press is back to questioning scientific dogma; blogs are having a field day.

Republicans in the U.S. have, in recent years, turned ever more to the cost arguments against climate legislation. That’s made sense in light of the economic crisis. If Speaker Nancy Pelosi fails to push through her bill, it will be because rural and Blue Dog Democrats fret about the economic ramifications. Yet if the rest of the world is any indication, now might be the time for U.S. politicians to re-engage on the science. One thing for sure: They won’t be alone.

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 00:02:37 GMT

~Taken directly from Threedonia.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A homeless man in San Francisco decides to do something about his situation - so he begins shining shoes, creates his own business, and is on his way toward making his first rent payment for an apartment. Guess what happens next .

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on the plight of Larry Moore, an alcoholic who decided nearly a year ago that he could do better than living on the street. He shined shoes.

He saved his money.

He had $573 toward the $600 he needed for rent. The newspaper did a story on him. A bureaucrat read the story and — demanded most of his money for a “permit.”

Reported C.W. Nevius of the Chronicle: “Along Market Street, Moore’s supporters are indignant. Nothing happens when mentally ill men wander the street talking to themselves and drunkards pee in the alleys. Yet Moore creates a little business out of thin air, builds up a client base, and the city takes nearly every penny he’s earned.”

The poor are only useful if they stay poor.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's the American dream...like the article in the link says, isn't this the same city in which a mayor can break state law by illigally marrying gays? Yet, a guy tries to become something with his life, and OH FREAKING NO, WE CAN'T HAVE THAT!

I think I know of a few human beings that more than likely should have been chlorinated out of the gene pool....sigh.

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Sat, 09 May 2009 23:13:27 GMT

Happy Mother's Day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk5ARg9DBaE

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Wed, 06 May 2009 05:45:23 GMT

I would highly recommend seeing this video.

http://www.pjtv.com/video/Afterburner_/Jon_Stewart%2C_War_Criminals_%26_The_True_Story_of_the_Atomic_Bombs/1808/;jsessionid=abclTePrM5J-5_H_xD9ds

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:16:08 GMT

This cracked me up. Happy Earth day everyone. Isn't it nice to know that no matter what we do to the earth, God is still in control and knows so much better than we do?

Now, everyone go take your SUV out and eat a hamburger to celebrate!

Monday, February 23, 2009

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 08:08:49 GMT

Ok so the New York Times posted this comic and is supposedly in hot water over it because it's "racists". Welcome to what the next few years area going to be like.

It's ok to portray Bush as a monkey, demon, Neanderthal, serial killer, mad scientist, anti-christ, child molester, and a single-celled organism. (These are all comics I've seen and most of which I won't post here) If you even dare make a comic that could with the most stretching possible be traced back to Obama that does't build him up as the next Massiah then you're toast.

So much for free freaking speach.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:35:02 GMT

Derek Webb is my hero.

Today was a good day. I got a new set of headphones that finally correct the problem of the buzz, crackle, pop sounds that I've been having on my computer as of late. I also got some screen cleaner and a new mouse to replace my old one (may he rest in peace). Yes, it's true. My dear companion of nearly 8 years has died and gone on to mouse heaven.

This little guy is in my humble opinion the greatest mouse ever created. It fits the hand perfectly, tracks smoothly and doesn't skip. The buttons resist just right and the scroll wheel is just the right size. I picked it up about 2 weeks into my first year at HQ. I got it because my brother had a stupid little roller-ball mouse that made playing Delta Force impossible. So, I got this mouse and all was good and happy. Until this past week when I dropped it for the last time and little blue died. I cried. This may shock you but if you've ever been in love with a mouse (even if it is a Microsoft bastard) then you'll know exactly how I feel. I even named it Mario.

So, now I have one of these and I just hope it holds me over until I can find another Microsoft Blue mouse.

Mine is silver not black but you get the idea. He will never take Mario's place in my heart.

See? Like..if she were kind of tallish, and white, and somewhat dorky looking, and male, and maybe not fat...that would be me when my mouse died.

Oh, I also got some shampoo...that's a good thing too.

My Hero Has Died

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 23:44:42 GMT

My hero passed away this year. I'll miss him.

Who:

Edward Abraham ‘Bozo’ Miller, Gastronomical Champion of competitive eating

How:

"Natural causes"

The Legacy:

This is a man who weighed 300 pounds, ate up to 25,000 calories per day, once ate 1000 packets of potato chips (flavor unspecified) and one time drank a lion under the table. Yet he lived until the age of 89 and married a former Princess of the Pasadena Rose Bowl (basically, a beauty queen). He was what all of America aspires to be.