What on earth is the appeal of "rocket stoves?"

If you go to YouTube and type in "Rocket Stove" you be overwhelmed by the number of entries. These are little homemade wood stoves made out of bricks or metal which burn hot and fast. They are nothing which any six year old couldn't have made in 20 minutes on a Saturday morning. Yet the builders are so proud of their projects that they post videos of the things before they've even finished the first one, let alone made one that works better than lighting a pile of sticks on the sidewalk. Man!

Stupid Parents, Stupid School

I just read that another a school had a boy arrested because he posted a message saying he might bring a "toy gun" to school (to protest what he described as lax security at the school). Naturally the police arrested the boy--on the grounds that he was shouting fire in a crowded theater. Apparently up to 50 parents kept their kids home that day when they heard about his message. I don't know why schools (and parents) are so dumb these days. I find it hard to believe that school authorities think that a statement that a kid might bring a "toy gun" to school is actually a security threat.

I suspect they looked at the attendance numbers and flew off the handle at all the money they lost that day based on their school's average daily attendance figures. That's what really pissed them off--that other parents were so stupid they kept their kids home from school. Someone needed to suffer for that loss of income and so the boy did.

Geldof The Lame

Aging British musician turned activist Bob Geldof recently gave a speech in Johannesburg in which he said global warming would kill us all by 2030. Now I know Geldof is not a climate scientist (and wears his sunglasses indoors too boot) so maybe he deserves a little leeway but if he really truly believes his own claim that climate change will kill the entire human race in 17 years he ought to consult a mental health professional. According to a Berkeley physicist, Richard Muller, who started an organization (Berkeley Earth) to exhaustively examine worldwide temperature trends, the average world temperature will increase one degree Fahrenheit by 2030. How big a change is that? Well, it's like moving from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where the average midsummer daytime high is 85 degrees, 40 miles south to Gettysburg, where the average high is 86. Surely Geldof doesn't believe the current residents of Gettysburg are all dying of drought and heat prostration. So why would he believe the residents of Harrisburg will all start dying off if summer highs go up one degree in 17 years?

The Shutdown

I know the reason Obama is closing down national parks and memorials. If it weren't for those, the public wouldn't even notice the government shutdown. It's the Democrats who suffer most from a shutdown. All the bureaucrats (and most other government employees) consistently vote Democratic. Of course, since everyone agrees that federal employees deserve to get their back pay the shut down amounts to nothing more than a paid vacation. A good time to go view the fall leaves in Vermont, or take their children to a pumpkin farm.

The Place Where Character Shows

I've hit the wall. My weight is bouncing back and forth between 233 and 232 for the seventh day in a row. I'm not breaking the rules. At worst I'm eating more fat than I'm supposed to but that's supposed to be a good thing.

Mean Republicans Won't Pay the Cops Who Protect Us

Nearly every single story I read about the Stamford, Connecticut, dental hygienist who was killed trying to ram her car into the capitol in Washington mentioned that the cops who shot her were working without pay since Tuesday. As the incident happened Thursday, that meant the cops were working two days without pay.

I don't know how they pay cops in Washington DC but around here people get paid either once a week, once every two weeks or once a month. To go two days without a paycheck is not only not unfair, it is the standard practice of every business and government agency in the country.

My Diet (again)

The lord giveth and the lord taketh away. Right now he's taken away 10 pounds. I'm down to 233.