Time for Bovine Tailpipes?

A recent article in National Geographic Online states that dairy cattle are responsible for 40% of the "greenhouse gases" released in California's Central Valley. Does this mean that soon all cattle will be required to have tailpipes with catalytic converters? Actually the article stated that most of the methane released was from belching, not farting. What the article didn't mention was that many dairy farms have moved to the Valley from SF and LA suburbs because they land they previously occupied became so valuable for subdivisions that the farms took the money and ran to the Valley, buying tracts of land, building new dairys and still pocketing a handsome profit.

Of course, the article approaches global warming as fact, also. I still am not convinced. When I was in my late teens/early 20s, scientists were screaming about a coming ice age. Now they are claiming the ice is melting and we are going to fry. Well, maybe a slow boil would be a better analogy.

Maybe it's time someone considered the idea that the Earth goes through cycles, and there is nothing we can do about it.

Overpriced? I don't know....

In a mildly interesting article on the CNN/Money website, there is a chart of a list of items perceived as "overpriced", "on the brink of being overpriced" and "good values". Gas was listed as overpriced and I think we would all agree on that. So were prescription drugs, which I would have never considered as I pay a flat co-pay and that is it. I also don't need many drugs, prescription or over the counter. I also found it interesting that Designer Jeans and Designer Shoes were listed. It seems pretty simple to me that if you feel they are overpriced, don't buy them or wait for them to come on sale or show up at an outlet.

I guess I don't understand the science of shopping.

One of the biggest surprises to me was that cell phone plans were listed as being on the brink of overpricing. I am a 20 year cell veteran. I still remember my first portable phone. It was a little bigger than a Tom Clancy novel in hardcover, the plan costs $60/mo (before taxes) for 30 minutes, it was before the days of free roaming and free long distance. A monthly bill of under $200 was cause for celebration.

My, how things have changed.

Range Report

I decided to take a trip down to the range tonight. What was different was I took a Colt Trooper on .357 Magnum. This is a gun I bought a long time ago, but gave to my son on his 18th Birthday. Other than a little plinking here and thee, I hadn't shot it seriously in 2 or 3 years. One of the first things I noticed tonight was that the trigger on this revolver breaks a little but sooner than on my Kimber pistol. So consequently, most of my shots were high as I was still settling on the target when it went off. After a few cylinders of this, I said the heck with it and went to defensive DA drills. Doing that, I was able to constantly place double taps in center of mass. Not as quickly as a dt from my Kimber but every bit as accurate. That Colt is still a sweet shooter. All in all, a good evening. Now if I can just find a real similar looking Colt, and pull a switch.

There is an old saying that goes something along the lines of "Beware the man with just one gun, he probably knows how to use it". After experiencing the difference and the adjustments necessary between the Colt & the Kimber, that old saying has taken on new meaning. Maybe I'll take the Kimber to the range tomorrow.

Sacrifice at the PC Altar

If any of you have seen the flap involving Larry Krueger of KNBR Radio and Felipe Alou, the San Francisco Giants Manager, it came to a head yesterday. Alou was up in arms over Krueger's reference to "brain dead Caribbean hitters swinging at slop" and for saying Alou's brain had turned to "Cream of Wheat". Alou immediately branded Krueger a racist and gathered all the latin players together for a meeting. Never mind that Krueger almost immediately apologized, an apology which Alou refused to accept. The fact is, the Giants hitter (latin & non-latin) have been pretty much swinging at slop. But Krueger's reference was to the old saying "you don't walk off the island", meaning that being patient at the plate will get you nowhere. In addition, the "Cream of Wheat" comment was in reference to Alou having to try every conceivable combination of things with the subpar talent he had been provided for so long that his brain was wore out. When taken in the context with the whole quote, it was not derogatory. Alou then went on ESPN and called Krueger a "messenger of Satan". What I will say is that while Krueger's remarks may not have been in the best of taste, they are not enough to brand him a racist. Or as a messenger of Satan. Yet branded he has been. Originally suspended without pay for 1 week, Krueger has now been fired. As a man in the broadcasting industry, he is probably untouchable. I hope he has an alternate career path mapped out.

Also fired was Program Director Bob Agnew and producer Tony Rhein. Rhein made a tape of Alou's comments mixed with Satan jokes culled from the TV show "South Park" and was fired for that. Agnew was fired for allowing it to be played on the air.

I don't know much about Rhien, but I don't see Agnew as being a big loss. Under his stewardship KNBR has gone from being a serious sports talk station to the radio version of Maury Povich with a sports slant. I quit listening to KNBR several years ago as at that time it seemed the callers alternated between Raider Haters and Raider fans, neither of whom were worth listening to.

What about the Giants? They are probably as happy as pigs in slop. Larry Krueger loved the team and pulled no punches in his critique of management and the team they had put together for 2005.

Google Gooses CNET

From the San Francisco Chronicle.

Google is upset with CNET. "Googling" someone, a common practice to look up information about someone using the Google search engine, was done by CNET on Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Google felt CNET revealed personal info about Schmidt in the article, CNET takes the position (correctly, in my opinion) that since the information was found publicly using the Google Search Engine, it was public info. Now Google is saying they won't speak to CNET reporters until August 2006. I guess it's ok for Google to provide information about you and me, but when their own goose is googled, they don't like it one bit.

Read the full article here.

Vonage VoIP Update

It’s been about 6 weeks since I installed a Vonage VoIP router on my cable modem line. I plugged a cordless phone into it and off I went. I have to say I am really happy with the way it works. You get a dial tone (just like a regular phone line), You dial (just like a reg line) the calls are just as clear as the ones I make on my regular phone line. For a nice flat fee, no matter where I call in the U.S. Supposedly it includes Canada & Puerto Rico, but I don’t call anyone in those places. Yet. LOL With taxes my phone bill is $27. and some change. Unlimited calling. I even hooked a fax up to test it and that worked fine. I don’t know if VoIP is the wave of the future, but for me it’s a product who’s time has come!