Snowbound, Duty Bound, House Bound. . .Blog Moribund!

Okay, maybe not moribund. That means "dying," and in truth, the problem this week is just going to be time. During the past week, I got a semblance of my blogging mojo back. Maybe not full strength, but I got some stuff up there, much of it involving actual writing and thought on my part. So, yay me!

But this week is bound to throw in a whole toolbox of wrenches. Not only am I presently hopelessly snowed-in (which you'd think would lend me more time to blog, I know), but I need to get out. The Other Half is coming back after three weeks away working, and my parents--who own the manse I happen to be ensconced in--are coming back after a winter away. Beyond tidying up and preparing for that on the inside of the house, I've got to figure out the logistics of what to do about tons and tons of very deep snow in a very long lane.

This in addition to the regular telecommuting I do with my design work, closing on our new house, setting up utilities, and actually moving in. All amidst new snow, and all the other weather surprises Ohio can throw at me. So, the odds that this blogging space is going to look really deserted this week are quite high. I'll still try to get in here, I just wanted to drop this line of explanation.

Have a great week everybody. Here's hoping spring comes soon, and all over the place.

What Happens in Vegas: Will It Snow, Will It Snow, Will It Snow?

Well, it's almost time to retire my What Happens in Vegas feature, along with the year of 2014. In a month or so, I'll officially be a Buckeye again, after a lapse of 20 years. Time will tell if I develop a Useless Nut feature when Greenlee Gazette takes up root back in Ohio.

For now, my soon-to-be abandoned adoptive state and city look to be giving me a going away present: snow on New Year's Eve. It's never happened, at least with anything resembling accumulation, since people have been keeping track of such things. I've been here for a handful of  Las Vegas' very few recorded snow storms, and I'm very much looking forward to this one! If it happens. I know I'll quickly have my fill of snow when I get back to Ohio, but there's something different about it when it happens here. Probably the palm trees.



Yeah, yeah. You've promised this before.
Image from source, LVRJ.com

Still, the tourists from out of town have got to be cursing my enthusiasm. Some years you don't even need much beyond long sleeves on the strip for NYE. This year, you'll freeze your (by now, pointless) 2015 novelty glasses off.

[Excerpt]

It’s gonna snow! Probably.

People celebrating the eve of the New Year in Las Vegas may be seeing more than confetti falling from the sky. The best chance for snow — it’s a 60 percent chance — will come late Wednesday afternoon and early in the evening, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Stachelski. Even though the storm system is carrying less moisture than was forecast Saturday, Las Vegas will likely see between a half-inch to an inch of snow and record low temperatures, Stachelski said. . .

Read more at: Las Vegas Review-Journal

Limbaugh: Media Created "Polar Vortex" as Part of Global Warming "Hoax"

Noted Climatologist (and weather balloon) Rush Limbaugh,
image from source, Talking Points Memo.

As The Daily Show with Jon Stewart rightly noted on Monday night, FOX "News" has shifted gears from The "War" on Christmas to The Global Warming "Hoax." And whether FOX leads Rush Limbaugh, or he leads them (or they somehow coordinate with The Drudge Report), you knew that Limbaugh would be going there too.

I still haven't figured out why having a conservative world view means you can't believe 97% of climate scientists when they say there is a consensus on man-made global climate change. I haven't figured out how, why or when these scientists are alleged to have gotten together and conspired to pull one over on the world. But it makes sense to conservatives, because if there's one thing I've learned about 'em, it's that they don't track a theory to its logical conclusions to figure out if it makes any sense. It's Stephen Colbert's "truthiness" concept in action: they just feel it in their guts. Plus, if Limbaugh says it, it must be true.

And what Limbaugh says is, a "polar vortex"--in the news for its wrath on much of the country in recent days--was invented by climate scientists to aid them with the global warming "hoax." Even though a polar vortex was the major plot point of the craptastic movie, The Day After Tomorrow, which despite the title came out ten years ago. And that's just the recent stuff. According to Wikipedia (and yeah, I know it's publically edited, but it is also sourced.), the first mention of a polar vortex in science was at least 1853.

Keep this in mind next time you see a "Rush is right!" bumper sticker. He's wrong. A lot.

[Excerpt]

Limbaugh: Media Created Polar Vortex To Advance Global Warming 'Hoax'
 
. . ."We are having a record-breaking cold snap in many parts of the country. And right on schedule the media have to come up with a way to make it sound like it's completely unprecedented," he said on his radio show. "Because they've got to find a way to attach this to the global warming agenda, and they have. It's called the 'polar vortex.' The dreaded polar vortex. . ."

Read more at: Talking Points Memo

Report: Man-Caused Global Warming Virtually Certain

Image from source, Huffington Post

To this I say, well, DUH. I've always thought it was incredibly nonsensical to think that we could pollute to the levels we have for as long as we have and not have something to do with changing the climate. I mean, to have measurable, obvious differences in climate in my lifespan of less than 50 years? How could it not be because we're pumping pollutants into the air, water and ground?

Also, I've yet to hear a logical argument for motive on the part of climate scientists to lie to us about it. They're climatologists. They get paid whatever the climate is. It makes much more sense to me that the energy companies have a huge motive to deny climate change. And when you throw in that the right wing--which is wrong about virtually everything--is heavy on the denialism, it just makes it that much more obvious.

[Excerpt]

IPCC Climate Change Report Expresses Extreme Confidence In Human Cause Of Global Warming

Scientists now believe it's "extremely likely" that human activity is the dominant cause of global warming, a long-term trend that is clear despite a recent plateau in the temperatures, an international climate panel said Friday. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Why's it So Freakin' Hot?

When people back east complain about heat, I always roll my eyes. I live in Las Vegas, where we can go two or three months with over 100-degree temperatures. It's not rare to see 100 at midnight in the heart of August. And though the media will read 115 on some days, actual thermometers will go much higher (can't scare the tourists!).

But even I know that this year is different. It started getting hot here in April. June felt like July or August. And now, people in Ohio are apparently melting. It makes many people wonder, "Is it global warming? climate change? It isn't an unreasonable question. Of course, my right-wing friends no doubt think this is a psychological heat wave. Or some kind of Obama conspiracy. Well, what do the scientists say about it?

[Excerpt]

What's Behind The Record Heat?

Heat is beating records around the country: the first five months of 2012 have been the hottest on record in the contiguous United States. And that's not including June, when 164 all-time high temperature records were tied or broken around the country, according to government records.. .

Read more at: Yahoo! via Live Science

And Now A Weather Report