CO2 A danger to human health

In case you haven't seen it yet, the US EPA has deemed CO2 (along with a number of other naturally occurring greenhouse gases) a danger to human health. (EPA: Greenhouse gases endanger human health)

Such an action paves the way for the EPA to write rules restricting the emission of said gases without any input by--well--anybody. The rules they are expected to approve will create havoc within our economy while doing absolutely nothing positive.



The EPA served a purpose once upon a time. Clean water, clean air are all something to strive for but this dictate is something well beyond its original mandate.

Aerie Report, December 7, 2009

It dropped down to 20 degrees again last night. It's now "up" to 27 at the Aerie at 1:30 PM. Weather.com says it's 31 wherever they've got their station and AccuHunch agrees. Both say we'll get up to 36 but, with overcast skies and precious little wind, I don't see it happening. The radio forecaster says we'll get some more snow late afternoon tomorrow and that it will transition to freezing rain overnight and then all rain on Wednesday. We'll see.

UPDATE: AccuHunch now says 1-3 inches tomorrow afternoon into the night. Then, they say, it will be flurries and sleet on Wednesday. Feh.

UPDATE 2: It's just after 4 PM and it's snowing. Not supposed to be happening. Never did get above 27 degrees. Double "feh" plus.

******

Terry's stitching clubs have started their Christmas parties at she made a big pot of vegetarian chili for today's event. I hope they leave some for us to add a bunch of venison chop meat to for tonight's dinner.

UPDATE: Half a pot came home! Yipee!

******

There were three windmills turning earlier today but they came to a stop despite some breeze still blowing. A couple of them have been doing that the last few days. Intermittent operations seem to be the norm at the moment. Makes me think that the crews are just running tests on them and that they are not yet ready to be put on line.

Even when the closest ones are turning, I can't really hear anything from them. Part of that is due to the rustling in the trees as the wind shakes the branches and part of it is probably due to the design of the windmills themselves. A spokesman for the company doing the installations did tell us that at 100 yards it wouldn't be any noisier than a refrigerator operating across the room. Not bad considering the blades on the things are 75 feet long. And the closet windmill is between 400 and 500 yards away and slightly over the ridge, to boot. Only its topmost blade can be seen when it's whirling about.

******

When I walked out on the deck around 1:30 this afternoon I was pleased to see a sharp-shinned hawk come swooping down amongst the little birds at the feeder. I didn't see it actually capture any bird but it sure shook them up! It landed on the garden fence a short distance from the deck and looked over its shoulder at me before taking wing and heading into the pines a dozen yards away. Its presence there got all the mourning doves upset and they fluttered away from the pines and the ground below the deck. The small hawk eventually took off to seek other prey--or perhaps just to launch another sneak attack later.

Let's Go Bowling!

If you’re a college football fan as I am, then you know that the second season is nearly upon us. I am referring to the Bowl Season, of course. Yesterday (Sunday) nearly the entire lineup for this season was presented to us. I say “nearly the entire lineup” because there is still some doubt as to who Temple will be playing in the EagleBank Bowl on December 29th. Should Army pull off a minor miracle and defeat Navy on Saturday, they will be the foe. If they do not, then it will be UCLA.

In any event, I present the matchups as they now stand including the network airing the game and the start time. There are 34 games in all starting December 19th and ending with the BCS Title Game on January 7th. Plan your holiday festivities accordingly


In the BCS games:

Jan. 1 Oregon (10-2) vs. Ohio State (10-2) Rose Bowl Pasadena, Calif. ABC 5 p.m.

Jan. 1 Cincinnati (12-0) vs. Florida (12-1) Sugar Bowl New Orleans, La. FOX 8:30 p.m.

Jan. 4 TCU (12-0) vs. Boise State (13-0) Fiesta Bowl Glendale, Ariz. FOX 8 p.m.

Jan. 5 Georgia Tech (11-2) vs. Iowa (10-2) Orange Bowl Miami FOX 8 p.m.

Jan. 7 Alabama (13-0) vs. Texas (13-0) BCS Title Game Pasadena, Calif. ABC 8 p.m.


In the Non-BCS Games:

Dec. 19 Wyoming (6-6) vs. Fresno State (8-4) New Mexico Bowl Albuquerque, N.M. ESPN 4:30 p.m.

Dec. 19 Rutgers (8-4) vs. UCF (8-4) St. Petersburg Bowl St. Petersburg, Fla. ESPN 8 p.m.

Dec. 20 Middle Tennessee State (9-3) vs. Southern Miss (7-5) New Orleans Bowl New Orleans ESPN 8:30 p.m.

Dec. 22 Oregon State (8-4) vs. BYU (10-2) Maaco Bowl Las Vegas, Nev. ESPN 8 p.m.

Dec. 23 Utah (9-3) vs. California (8-4) Poinsettia Bowl San Diego, Calif. ESPN 8 p.m.

Dec. 24 Nevada (8-4) vs. SMU (7-5) Hawaii Bowl Honolulu ESPN 8 p.m.

Dec. 26 Ohio (9-4) vs. Marshall (6-6) Little Caesars Bowl Detroit, Mich. ESPN 1 p.m.

Dec. 26 North Carolina (8-4) vs. Pittsburgh (9-3) Meineke Car Care Bowl Charlotte, N.C. ESPN 4:30 p.m.

Dec. 26 Boston College (8-4) vs. Southern California (8-4) Emerald Bowl San Francisco ESPN 8 p.m.

Dec. 27 Kentucky (7-5) vs. Clemson (8-5) Music City Bowl Nashville, Tenn. ESPN 8:30 p.m.

Dec. 28 Texas A&M (6-6) vs. Georgia (7-5) Independence Bowl Shreveport, La. ESPN2 5 p.m.

Dec. 29 Temple (9-3) vs Army or UCLA EagleBank Bowl Washington D.C. ESPN 4:30 p.m.

Dec. 29 Miami (Fla.) (9-3) vs. Wisconsin (9-3) Champs Sports Bowl Orlando, Fla. ESPN 8 p.m.

Dec. 30 Idaho (7-5) vs. Bowling Green (7-5) Humanitarian Bowl Boise, Idaho ESPN 4:30 p.m.

Dec. 30 Nebraska (9-4) vs. Arizona (8-4) Holiday Bowl San Diego, Calif. ESPN 8 p.m.

Dec. 31 Stanford (8-4) vs. Oklahoma (7-5) Sun Bowl El Paso, Tex. CBS Noon

Dec. 31 Air Force (7-5) vs. Houston (10-3) Armed Forces Bowl Fort Worth, Tex. ESPN Noon

Dec. 31 Missouri (8-4) vs. Navy (8-4) Texas Bowl Houston ESPN 3:30 p.m.

Dec. 31 Minnesota (6-6) vs. Iowa State (6-6) Insight Bowl Tempe, Ariz. NFL Net. 6 p.m.

Dec. 31 Virginia Tech (9-3) vs. Tennessee (7-5) Chick-fil-A Bowl Atlanta ESPN 7:30 p.m.

Jan. 1 Northwestern (8-4) vs. Auburn (7-5) Outback Bowl Tampa, Fla. ESPN 11 a.m.

Jan. 1 West Virginia (9-3) vs. Florida State (6-6) Gator Bowl Jacksonville, Fla. CBS 1 p.m.

Jan. 1 Penn State (10-2) vs. LSU (9-3) Capital One Bowl Orlando, Fla. ABC 1 p.m.

Jan. 2 South Florida (7-5) vs. Northern Illinois (7-5) International Bowl Toronto ESPN2 Noon

Jan. 2 Oklahoma State (9-3) vs. Mississippi (8-4) Cotton Bowl Dallas FOX 2 p.m.

Jan. 2 Connecticut (7-5) vs. South Carolina (7-5) Papajohns.com Bowl Birmingham, Ala. ESPN 2 p.m.

Jan. 2 East Carolina (9-4) vs. Arkansas (7-5) Liberty Bowl Memphis, Tenn. ESPN 5:30 p.m.

Jan. 2 Texas Tech (8-4) vs. Michigan State (6-6) Alamo Bowl San Antonio ESPN 9 p.m.

Jan. 6 Central Michigan (11-2) vs. Troy (9-3) GMAC Bowl Mobile, Ala. ESPN 7 p.m.

Update on Terry's Doctor's visit

I should have posted this before since I made mention of Terry's follow up mammogram in this post a couple of days ago.

They did a second mammogram and determined that the little blip they saw a few months ago was nothing more than some debris in a duct. So they kicked her tires and sent her home saying she was good for a year.

It was good news and like the main stream media deals with good news, I promptly forgot to mention it here.

Nearly FInal Top 25 (more or less)

The final week of college football is in the books. Only one regular season game remains to be played as Army and Navy will square off this upcoming Saturday. Win or lose Navy will be heading into a bowl game. Not so Army. [UPDATE: Should Army defeat Navy they will become bowl eligible with a 6-6 record and will play in the Eagle Bank Bowl against Temple. Should Army lose, then UCLA goes bowling in their place.]

As you might expect, with the championship play and several upsets there was considerable movement in the Top 25 polls. Each of the teams listed here will be going to a bowl as will about 30 other teams. There are some 34 bowls starting December 19th and running until the National Championship game on January 7th in Pasadena.

(The rankings are from the AP/Coaches Poll/CBSSports 120. Those in parentheses are those going into week 14. Team records are those after week 14 play.)


1/1/1 (2/3/3) Alabama (13-0)

2/2/2 (3/2/2) Texas (13-0)

3/3/3 (4/4/4) TCU (12-0)

4/4/4 (5/5/5) Cincinnati (12-0)

5/5/5 (1/1/1) Florida (12-1)

6/6/6 (6/6/6) Boise State (13-0)

7/7/8 (7/8/8) Oregon (10-2)

8/8/7 (8/7/7) Ohio State (10-2)

9/10/9 (12/12/11) Georgia Tech (11-2)

10/11/10 (9/10/9) Iowa (10-2)

11/9/11 (10/9/10) Penn State (10-2)

12/12/13 (11/11/14) Virginia Tech (9-3)

13/13/15 (15/14/17) LSU (9-3)

14/15/14 (17/17/15) Miami (Fla.) (9-3)

15/14/12 (16/13/12) Brigham Young (10-2)

16/20/25 (13/16/18) Oregon State (8-4)

17/16/19 (14/15/16) Pittsburgh (9-3)

18/17/18 (24/23/NA) West Virginia (9-3)

19/21/20 (23/24/23) Stanford (8-4)

20/19/21 (21/20/19) Nebraska (9-4)

21/18/NA (22/21/NA) Oklahoma State (9-3)

22/23/22 (NA/NA/NA) Arizona (8-4)

23/24/NA (NA/23/NA) Utah (9-3)

24/22/17 (NA/NA/22) Wisconsin (9-3)

25/NA/23 (NA/NA/25) Central Michigan (11-2)

NA/25/NA (18/18/21) Houston (10-3)

NA/NA/24 (NA/NA/NA) East Carolina (9-4)

Brrr!

Hey baby it's cold outside!

Got down to 20 degrees overnight making it the coldest morning of the season. and the snow that was supposed to have stopped sorta lightly kept on keeping on. Not much additional accumulation from last evening's 1-1/2 to 2 inches. What was coming down this morning was more along the lines of the lazy lake effect type of snow. Moisture in the air just gave up because it was too cold and became snow flakes. Since there is a gentle wind coming out of the west northwest it could well be from Lakes Erie and Ontario. Now that the sun is out, those lake effect snow showers will be more confined to the lake shores.

Points east of here--the Poconos for instance--got 6 or 7 inches of snow from the coastal storm. Looking at the maps for up in NY, There's some lake effect (1-3 inches) off the east end of Lake Ontario but it hardly reaches the Bolt Hole and might miss Utica completely. (They are still looking for their first 2-inch snowfall of the year. Normally happens early November.)

Anyway, the Sun is out now and we should be warming up to, or sightly above, the freezing mark. Certainly, the sunshine will melt the thin layer of snow on the driveway--won't it?

Week 14 Results

WOW! What a weekend. Lots of close games, a few blow outs. Some great individual performances. And several upsets. Who could ask for more? (The rankings are from the AP/Coaches Poll/CBSSports 120. Those in parentheses are those going into week 13. Team records are those after week 14 play.)

1/1/1 (1/1/1) Florida (12-1) The Gators lost to #2 Alabama(13-0) 32-13 for the SEC title.

2/3/3 (2/3/3) Alabama (13-0) The Crimson Tide made a statement against #1 Florida (12-1) winning the SEC Championship 32-13 in a game that wasn’t quite that close as the Tide dominated both sides of the ball.

3/2/2 (3/2/2) Texas (13-0) The Longhorns edged past #21 Nebraska (9-4) 13-12 for the Big 12 title. It took a video replay to show the Longhorns had one second left on the clock in which to attempt a 46-yard field goal by Hunter Lawrence. The Cornhuskers came T-H-I-S close to pulling off the upset after sacking Colt McCoy nine times. Nebraska was held to just 106 yards total offense on 55 plays but also held Texas to just 202 yards on 74 plays.

4/4/4 (4/4/4) TCU (12-0) DONE

5/5/5 (5/5/5) Cincinnati (12-0) The Bearcats outlasted #14 Pittsburgh (9-3) on Saturday scoring a 45-44 victory on when the Panthers flubbed an extra point in the final minutes and the Bearcats came back to score and make their own point after with just 33 seconds remaining. Mardy Gilyard scored on a 99 yard kickoff return, a 68 yard pass from Tony Pike and a 2 point conversion pass from Pike. Dion Lewis ran for 194 yards and three TDs for the Panthers.

6/6/6 (6/6/6) Boise State (13-0) The Broncos routed New Mexico State (3-10) on the Blue Rug 42-7. Kellen Moore was 19 0f 30 for 272 yards and just one TD in three quarters of work. He left with the score 35-0 after three periods. The TD was his 39th of the year, a school record. The Broncos’ Doug Martin ran just eight times for 84 yards but scored four TDs.

7/8/8 (10/10/10) Oregon (10-2) The Ducks slipped past #13 Oregon State (8-4) 37-33 on Thursday night to claim the PAC-10 Championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl. LaMichael James ran for 166 yards and three TDs in the victory.

8/7/7 (9/8/9) Ohio State (10-2) DONE

9/10/9 (13/13/11) Iowa (10-2) DONE

10/9/10 (12/11/12) Penn State (10-2) DONE

11/11/14 (14/14/18) Virginia Tech (9-3) DONE

12/12/11 (7/7/7) Georgia Tech (11-2) The Yellow Jackets edged Clemson (8-5) 39-34 for the ACC title when Jonathan Dwyer scored his second TD of the game with 1:20 remaining. C.J. Spiller rushed for 233 yards and four TDs for Clemson.

13/16/18 (16/18/20) Oregon State (8-4) The Beavers dropped a close one to #7 Oregon (10-2) 37-33 on Thursday night.

14/15/16 (8/9/8) Pittsburgh (9-3) The Panthers lost a heart breaker to #5 Cincinnati (12-0) 45-44 on a flubbed extra point attempt in the snow/sleet with less than two minutes to play. They still lead at the time 44-38, but Tony Pike and crew were not to be denied as they rapidly scored and made their extra point for the win with 33 seconds to go.

15/14/17 (17/17/22) LSU (9-3) DONE

16/13/12 (18/15/15) Brigham Young (10-2) DONE

17/17/15 (19/21/19) Miami (Fla.) (9-3) DONE

18/18/21 (25/20/NA) Houston (10-3) The Cougars had a problem all afternoon with East Carolina (9-4) as the Pirates took the Conference USA title 38-32. That despite Case Keenum completing 56 of 75 passes for title game-record 527 yards and five touchdowns. However, he also threw three INTs.

19/22/13 (21/NA/NA) California (8-4) The Golden Bears got thumped by Washington (5-7) Saturday evening 42-10. Huskies QB Jake Locker was 19 of 23 for 248 yards and three TDs and also ran for another two in the rout. (Washington was 0-12 last year.)

20/19/24 (24/22/NA) Southern California (8-4) The Trojans lost to Arizona (8-4) on Saturday 21-17.

21/20/19 (NA/23/24) Nebraska (9-4) The Cornhuskers saw their chance for an upset over #3 Texas (13-0) sail through the uprights on a last second (literally) field goal 13-12.

22/21/NA (11/12/13) Oklahoma State (9-3) DONE

23/24/23 (NA/NA/NA) Stanford (8-4) DONE

24/23/NA (NA/NA/NA) West Virginia (9-3) The Mountaineers beat Rutgers (8-4) Saturday for the 15th consecutive year. This time it was by a score of 24-21. The Scarlet Knights held Noel Devine to just 65 yards rushing with one TD and had a 91 yard kickoff return by Joe Lefeged and a 65 yard TD pass reception by Mohamed Sanu. A 24 yard interception return by WVU’s Sidney Glover and a last minute interception of a tipped Tom Savage pass by the Mountaineers proved to be the difference.

25/NA/NA (15/16/16) Clemson (8-4) The Tigers lost to the #12 Georgia Tech 39-34.

NA/25/NA (22/19/23) Utah (9-3) DONE

NA/NA/20 (NA/NA/25) Northwestern (8-4) DONE

NA/NA/22 (NA/NA/NA) Wisconsin (9-3) The Badgers played at Hawaii (6-7) Saturday night. They really, really enjoyed their trip as they thumped the Rainbow Warriors 51-10. John Clay rushed for 172 yards and three TDs as the Badgers rolled up 554 yards of offense.

NA/NA/25 (NA/NA/NA) Central Michigan (11-2) The Chippewas beat Ohio (9-4) 20-10 for the Mid American Championship Game Friday night.

On a side note:

Thus far only Eastern Michigan (0-12) has failed to achieve even one victory in the 2009 season. The Eagles hardly soared as they are ranked 119 out of 120 in the CBSSports120 rankings.

Number 120? That would be Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. The Hilltoppers have one more chance for a W as they play the 3-and-8 Arkansas State Red Wolves in their final game of the season on Saturday. As Chris Berman says on ESPN, “Everyone deserves at least one win. No one should go 0-for-the-season.” (I’m paraphrasing there.)

Let’s go Hilltoppers!

UPDATE: The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers played Thursday, not Saturday. And they lost to the Red Wolves 24-20 despite leading early in the second half 20-3. The winning score was on a sack, fumble and 27 yard return of same for a TD.*sigh*

Aerie Report, December 5, 2009

I woke up this morning at 5:30 AM, ate breakfast, got geared up and headed out to the woods. It was dead calm at 6:45 AM as I went out and the temperature had dropped down to 28 degrees. The sky was overcast and snow flurries were promised for the afternoon.

I took my seat and waited. And waited. And waited. The temperatures fell through the morning but there would be no new venison falling to the turf.

At 11 AM--after seeing nothing but one other hunter crossing the top of my property--I headed back to the Aerie.

******

Why return to the Aerie by noon? Two reasons really: Pitt vs Cincinnati and Rutgers vs West Virginia.

The first was a high scoring affair with Cincinnati eventually prevailing by virtue of a Pitt missed extra point 45-44. Not much defense there!

The second was a heart breaker if you're an RU fan. The Knights lost to WVU for the 15th consecutive year. The final was 24-21 and there was a lot of defense in this one. Each team had to punt nine times. RU returned one kickoff for a TD. WVU returned one of two interceptions for a TD. Neither team got more than 280 yards of offense. Noel Devine got 65 yards rushing for the Mountaineers--the same amount as the entire RU running squad. Tom Savage got sacked five times for minus 33 yards on the ground.

Both games were played on sloppy fields with rain, sleet and snow falling throughout.

West Virginia will be going to the Gator Bowl to be played on January 1st. Rutgers is also bowl-bound but we'll probably have to wait until Sunday night to find out where.

******

Speaking of snow.... We got our third measurable amount of snow here at the Aerie. It started son after I got back to the house after my morning hunt. A fine, light snow fell all afternoon yielding one to two inches by dark. It looks like it's stopped now, but it continues from a short distance east of here to the eastern seaboard. All afternoon, the temperatures fell slowly so that it is now 25 degrees.

Some one pointed out on TV today, that Houston, TX had two inches of snow before Syracuse, NY. Then again, there are towns on the shores of Lake Erie that have had over a foot of lake effect snow. Go figure.

Interesting...

ADDED: The End of the Line for Climate Hysteria? Read the whole thing.

Heh?

The AGW meme must be imploding big time:

Gore cancels on Copenhagen lecture – leaves ticketholders in a lurch

Or maybe Gore just didn't want the whole thing to be snowed out.

Remember, this is the man with a Nobel Prize and an Oscar for his hype work and a bank vault full of weregelt from his proselytizing. This is also the man who has said repeatedly that "the science is settled" and refuses to debate any one of the many, many scientists who believe he is in error.

Thank goodness for Florida 2000!

(as seen at Watt's Up With That)

Oh my!

Under the heading of "Be careful what you wish for..."

Antarctica may heat up dramatically as ozone hole repairs, warn scientists

The hole in the Earth's ozone layer has shielded Antarctica from the worst effects of global warming until now, according to the most comprehensive review to date of the state of the Antarctic climate. But scientists warned that as the hole closes up in the next few decades, temperatures on the continent could rise by around 3C on average, with melting ice contributing to a global sea-level increases of up to 1.4m.

Let me first say that I sincerely doubt that the ice cap will melt if the average temperature rises just 3 degrees C. It will still be freakin' cold! They don't get many days above 0 degrees C on Antarctica but they get an awful lot of them at minus 20 and minus 30 degrees C.

My second thought is if the temperature did rise, wouldn't that allow for more evaporation and eventually precipitation? The place is a desert now getting only a meager amount of snow each year. More precipitation would mean more snow replacing the melting ice on the edges of the continent.

Third, wasn't it just a few short years ago that scientist screamed that we had to do something to shrink the ozone hole or we would all fry under the sun's brutal UV rays?

Yeah, I thought so.

A perfect example of why no one should be jumping to "do something" about AGW. Which doesn't exist. Or any global warming which hasn't existed for the last 11 years picture of polar bears on ice floes or not.

Repeat after me: There is no AGW

Oh for crying out loud! Let's just call these: "Stuck on Stupid!"


Boxer: Hackers should face criminal probe over 'Climategate'
This in response to a call by Sen. Inhofe to investigate the scientists for possible fraud since they 1) fudged data, 2) destroyed the original data, 3) violated FOI laws, 4) apparently trashed the peer review process, etc., etc., etc.

Sen. Kerry sees 'definite Republican votes' for climate change legislation
(But he's not naming names. sounds like a strawman to me. "They" will vote for it so you should to.)

Obama Science Adviser Urges Climate Action Amid Uproar

The adviser, John Holdren, said scientists generally are capable of defensiveness, bias and "misbehavior." But he said the meaning of some of the statements in the emails isn't clear, and that the significance of others has been exaggerated.

Human activity is "beyond any reasonable doubt" the primary cause of warming temperatures, Mr. Holdren said.

Mr. Holdren's comments drew a unanimously supportive response from Democrats

I guess there's too much power and money to let a little thing like fraudulent "science" get in the way.

******

Perhaps the folks still clinging bitterly to their AGW should listen to some real scientists. This is especially true for Senators Kerry and Boxer as well as Carol Browner (one of Omaba's czars dealing with global warming) who has said she will stick with the 2500 scientists promoting Anthropogenic Global Warming. Most of whom have either direct connections to the East Anglia Climate Research Unit or who have used the same fudged data.

Flawed climate data

Steve [McIntyre] and I [Ross McKitrick] showed that the mathematics behind the Mann Hockey Stick were badly flawed, such that its shape was determined by suspect bristlecone tree ring data. Controversies quickly piled up: Two expert panels involving the U.S. National Academy of Sciences were asked to investigate, the U.S. Congress held a hearing, and the media followed the story around the world.

The expert reports upheld all of our criticisms of the Mann Hockey Stick, both of the mathematics and of its reliance on flawed bristlecone pine data. One of the panels, however, argued that while the Mann Hockey Stick itself was flawed, a series of other studies published since 1998 had similar shapes, thus providing support for the view that the late 20th century is unusually warm. The IPCC also made this argument in its 2007 report. But the second expert panel, led by statistician Edward Wegman, pointed out that the other studies are not independent. They are written by the same small circle of authors, only the names are in different orders, and they reuse the same few data climate proxy series over and over.

Go read the whole thing for a clearer definition of "circle jerk."

CLIMATE CHANGE 'FRAUD'

THE scientific consensus that mankind has caused climate change was rocked yesterday as a leading academic called it a “load of hot air underpinned by fraud”.

Professor Ian Plimer condemned the climate change lobby as “climate comrades” keeping the “gravy train” going.

Professor Plimer wrote Heaven and Earth: Global Warming, The Missing Science wherein he goes into great detail as to what the climate "experts" missed in their investigation into global warming as they rushed to pronounce it "Anthropogenic" (man-made) in nature and that "the science is settled." (BTW Professor Plimer freely admits the Earth has warmed over the last 18,000 years and, more specifically since around 1800 AD. That's what happens after an ice age.)

Aerie Report, December 2, 2009

There's not much to report on at the Aerie.

I've been watching them make progress on the three windmills across the way. They got one of them up and running early this afternoon. Wouldn't know it was spinning if you weren't watching it. Totally silent as far as I can tell. A second was turned to face the wind but it hadn't yet been let loose to do it's thing yet. Both have blinking red light to ward of any planes stupid enough to be flying that low. Still, the blades reach some 75 feet above the lights. I imagine all three will be churning out the watts by tomorrow night. Most of those alone the ridge east of here and into Bradford County are already online.

I spent part of the day composing our annual Christmas letter while Terry has been addressing the cards. They'll get into the mail in the next day or so. We've already received one card from an old girlfriend of Terry's.

******

An hour with the Kitchen Aid yesterday turned out ten pounds of ground venison for the freezer. It's remarkable lean meat since the deer, unlike the cow, stores its fat beneath the skin and isn't marbled like beef. Tastes great in spaghetti sauce or in tacos but it makes a poor hamburger without more fat.

Add the ten pounds of stew meat chunks, all the steaks, fillets and roasts and we could live high on the buck for quite a while.

******

Terry has a follow-up mammogram tomorrow over at the hospital in Sayre. They'll take a second look at a small lump they found and investigated six months ago and determine a course of treatment if any is necessary.

******

It's been around 40 degrees all day with a leaden sky for much of the time. Rain finally started falling around 4:30 PM and will last much of the night. The guy on the boob tube says it will be heaviest around 4 AM but will end before 7 AM. Then the temperatures will drop...again...into the 30s for the rest of the week.

******

I'll be headed back into the workshop tomorrow to work on another wooden quilt square. I hope I cut the strips to the right width this time since I don't have any spare wood to use if I goofed. When the square is done, I might turn to the scroll saw to do some patterns I've got for ornaments/hangers. That is, if I don't grab the rifle to hit the woods in hopes of filling my doe tag.

******

Speaking of hunting. Things have really quieted down from opening Monday. Hardly any shots were heard today. I guess that's to be expected since the kids are back in school and the dads are probably going back to work for a few days. I know the number of guys at the camp down the hill has decreased and the deer (or was it two?) they had on their meat pole has (have?) disappeared. I expect Saturday will be another big day as will a week from Saturday which is the final day of the season.

******

Well, that's about all I got on the home front for now.

I don't watch TV, but...

Jon Stewert on Climategate



If you've lost Jon Stewert, you've lost the battle.

Just say no to Copenhagen and Cap and Tax

BCS Ranks Post Week 13

The BCS Ranks after Week 13 show little change at the top. Georgia Tech and Pitt dropped out of the Top 10 as might be expected after their losses over the weekend. The Top 3 solidified their positions going into the big showdown between #1 and #2 this week. That leaves #4 TCU and #5 Cincinnati with little to no chance of getting into a National Title game. I mean, either Florida or Alabama is in--unless they manage to play to a tie with a negative score or a jihadist blows up both team busses prior to the game. As for Texas? The Longhorns play Nebraska for the Big 12 Championship. The Cornhuskers may have been able to corral the Buffaloes of Colorado last week, but the Longhorn is a whole ‘nother critter. Unless there's a lot of swine flu on the Texas campus this week, they will play for the National Title against the SEC Champ.


1 Florida 0.987

2 Alabama 0.951

3 Texas 0.928

4 TCU 0.869

5 Cincinnati 0.855

6 Boise State 0.81

7 Oregon 0.734

8 Ohio State 0.688

9 Iowa 0.603

10 Georgia Tech 0.581

11 Penn State 0.55

12 Virginia Tech 0.538

13 LSU 0.514

14 Brigham Young 0.439

15 Pittsburgh 0.41

16 Oregon State 0.407

17 Miami (Fla.) 0.384

18 Southern California 0.357

19 California 0.239

20 Oklahoma State 0.225

21 Houston 0.22

22 Nebraska 0.149

23 West Virginia 0.14

24 Stanford 0.12

25 Utah 0.071

Week 14 Top 25 (more or less) and their opponents

Heading into Week 14 (and the final week except for the Army-Navy Game) we see lots of shifting around in the rankings once you get past those in the top 6 teams—which all remain undefeated. That, at least will change when #1 Florida plays #2 Alabama Oklahoma State (now #22 from #11) and Clemson (now #25 down from #15) fell the most after big upsets last week. Both have a chance to redeem themselves against higher ranked opponents this week. Lots of conference titles on the line this week, too, as well as bowl slots. Should be some good football on store. (The rankings are from the AP/Coaches Poll/CBSSports 120. Those in parentheses are those going into week 13. Team records are those after week 13 play.)

1/1/1 (1/1/1) Florida (12-0) The Gators play #2 Alabama for the SEC title.

2/3/3 (2/3/3) Alabama (12-0) The Crimson Tide squares off against #1Flroida in the SEC Championship game.

3/2/2 (3/2/2) Texas (12-0) The Longhorns will play #21 Nebraska (9-3) for the Big 12 title.

4/4/4 (4/4/4) TCU (12-0) DONE

5/5/5 (5/5/5) Cincinnati (11-0) The Bearcats play at #14 Pittsburgh (9-2) on Saturday.

6/6/6 (6/6/6) Boise State (12-0) The Broncos will play New Mexico State (3-9) on the Blue Rug on Saturday.

7/8/8 (10/10/10) Oregon (9-2) The Ducks host #13 Oregon State (8-3) on Thursday night.

8/7/7 (9/8/9) Ohio State (10-2) DONE

9/10/9 (13/13/11) Iowa (10-2) DONE

10/9/10 (12/11/12) Penn State (10-2) DONE

11/11/14 (14/14/18) Virginia Tech (9-3) DONE

12/12/11 (7/7/7) Georgia Tech (10-2) The Yellow Jackets play Clemson (8-4) for the ACC title.

13/16/18 (16/18/20) Oregon State (8-3) The Beavers play at #7 Oregon (9-2) on Thursday night.

14/15/16 (8/9/8) Pittsburgh (9-2) The Panthers will host #5 Cincinnati (11-0) on Saturday.

15/14/17 (17/17/22) LSU (9-3) DONE

16/13/12 (18/15/15) Brigham Young (10-2) DONE

17/17/15 (19/21/19) Miami (Fla.) (9-3) DONE

18/18/21 (25/20/NA) Houston (10-2) The Cougars face East Carolina (8-4) for the Conference USA title.

19/22/13 (21/NA/NA) California (8-3) The Golden Bears play at Washington (4-7) Saturday evening.

20/19/24 (24/22/NA) Southern California (8-3) The Trojans host Arizona (7-4) on Saturday.

21/20/19 (NA/23/24) Nebraska (9-3) The Cornhuskers face #3 Texas (12-0) for the Big 12 title.

22/21/NA (11/12/13) Oklahoma State (9-3) DONE23/24/23 (NA/NA/NA) Stanford (8-4) DONE

24/23/NA (NA/NA/NA) West Virginia (8-3) The Mountaineers play at Rutgers (8-3) at noon on Saturday.

25/NA/NA (15/16/16) Clemson (8-4) The Tigers face #12 Georgia Tech for the ACC title.

NA/25/NA (22/19/23) Utah (9-3) DONE

NA/NA/20 (NA/NA/25) Northwestern (8-4) DONE

NA/NA/22 (NA/NA/NA) Wisconsin (8-3) The Badgers play at Hawaii (6-6) this weekend.

NA/NA/25 (NA/NA/NA) Central Michigan (10-2) The Chippewas host Ohio (9-3) in the Mid American Championship Game Friday night.


On a side note:
Thus far only Eastern Michigan (0-12) has failed to achieve even one victory in the 2009 season. The Eagles hardly soared as they are ranked 119 out of 120 in the CBSSports120 rankings.

Number 120? That would be Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. The Hilltoppers have one more chance for a "W" as they host the 3-and-8 Arkansas State Red Wolves in their final game of the season on Saturday. As Chris Berman says on ESPN, “Everyone deserves at least one win. No one should go 0-for-the-season.” (I’m paraphrasing there.) Let’s go Hilltoppers!

Who Dat!

Can any team stop the Saints? It sure didn't look like it last night! If my hearing didn't deceive me, I thought I heard the announcers say that there have been 19 (!) different guys to score for the Saints this year. NINETEEN! That's an amazing number. Yet they have no runner who has come close to rushing for 1,000 yards (Pierre Thomas leads with 648) or receiver close to 1,000 yards (Marques Colston has 808 yards and may make that 1K mark in the final five games). They currently rank #1 in rush defense and #31 in pass defense (probably because their opponents can't run and are usually way behind) for a #22 ranking in over all defense. But offensively...ah, offensively they are #2 in rushing offense and #5 in passing offense for a combined ranking of #1, baby.

So we now have two teams that are 11-0. While the Indy Colts have had some cardiac finishes, the closest any one has come to beating the Saints was in game 9 when the St. Louis Rams came within five points 28-23 thanks to three New Orleans' turnovers.

Atlanta at 6-5 and Dallas at 8-3 are the only teams remaining on the Saints schedule with a winning record at this time. They beat Atlanta on November 2 by a score of 35-27 in the Dome. They play in Atlanta on the 13th. The play Dallas in New Orleans on the 19th. They also play Washington (3-8) and Carolina (4-7) on the road while hosting the 1-10 Tampa Bay Bucs.

The Colts host 5-6, but red hot, Tennessee next week and then 7-4 Denver a week later. They're on the road for 6-5 Jacksonville, at home for the 5-6 Jets and then on the road to finish against 4-7 Buffalo Bills on January 3rd. Anything could happen but don't wager too heavily against Payton Manning and his peeps in any of these games. They have shown an ability to be stretched without ever really snapping.

Could we have two teams at 16-0 going into the playoffs? Maybe, but this is the NFL and on any given Sunday....

Aerie Report, December 1, 2009

Welcome to December!

I'm glad I got my deer yesterday morning. Not only were there more hunters afield than today (based upon the number of shots I heard between 7:30 AM and 9:30 AM) but the temperature has dropped like the proverbial stone. It was a rainy 45 degrees when I left the Aerie at 6:45 Am yesterday. Today it was a mere 30 degrees at that hour with very light snow flurries. It seems the temperature began dropping about the same time I was bent over and field dressing my buck. It got down into the mid to low 30s as I was boning out the meat.

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After the venison gets ground and packaged this morning, I'll have to get back into the workshop to finish one more quilted square for Christmas. Then it will be time to put the finishing touches on the basement steps, frame the utility room door, put up the trim around the chair rail in the basement, build a shelf/closet or two in the laundry room, and do a myriad number of little items here and there. (If one thing is certain, the shelf/closets in the laundry room will get built around the freezer. No way am I going to move that thing for awhile!)

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Speaking of venison and freezer...In order to make room for all that fresh meat, Terry pulled out a loaf of zucchini bread for today's breakfast and a package of pork spare ribs for dinner today and--based upon the size of the package--tomorrow. That spare rib pack sure looks good to eat, but they sure don't come in nice, neat rectangles now, do they?

I'll try to help out with the space problem by pulling out a bag of blue berries for cereal and ice cream topping. And another half gallon (more or less--mostly less) of ice cream will get moved tot he fridge freezer for consumption.