General commentary

Wizbang has a link to more information on the NEW! IMPROVED! prediction about global warming. Excuse me for not giving a crap. History lesson: when I was in junior high, I read a lot of stuff on 'global cooling'. Crops that had been bred/engineered for higher yields wouldn't be able to stand the cooler temps, resulting in widespread starvation. Sea levels would drop since the water would be going into the ice caps, and glaciers would be moving down as the new ice age began. Etc., etc. And all this 'scare everybody to death so they do what we want' was coming from the same people who have spent the last few years trying to scare everybody to death about 'global warming'. Never mind the cycles nature goes through, never mind all that stuff, it's ALL OUR FAULT!

Powerline notes a family murdered, quite possibly by some Islamist nutcases. I'm sure CAIR is working hard to make sure nobody looks at the probably suspects because it would be 'racist' or something.

Blackfive has this on the problem with the way a lot of the media only reports on the bad things that happen in Iraq. He's got a lot of other good stuff, too. Including on the way Afghanistan has pretty much dropped off the media screen.

It's still damn cold outside, low this morning about 15, and the high'll be about 30. I really, really dislike it when it gets this cold and stays for a while. Back when my daughter was about six months old, the temp here dropped to zero, and stayed within a degree or so above or below for damn near two weeks. The water line in the street in front of the house cracked and leaked, happily just on the other side of the hillcrest in front of the house. By the time the weather broke and started warming up, the ice at the bottom of the hill was more than a foot thick in places. That sucked.

Handguns are ok to shoot in this weather at the indoor range, although it's hard to shoot well with the draft from the ventilation freezing the back of your neck; rifles are more difficult, at least when trying to do careful offhand shooting with a .22. I'll be very glad when can get back out to an outdoor range without freezing.

For that matter, I'll be glad when I can light the forge and do some hammering. I'd also like to do some guard, pommel and grip work on some blades I have finished, but this needs the vise on the workbench in the garage, and it's hard to do careful work when your fingers are going numb.

My son used to work part-time at a deli, mostly doing deliveries. 'Used to' because of two things. One, tips dropped way off, and with the cost of gas that is a real problem. Second, there was a bunch of people at a hospital that would consistently call in a big order fifteen minutes before cutoff, and they stopped tipping entirely. One of his last deliveries to them he asked why they waited so late, and this jackass answered "Because it pisses you off". So he told the boss he was quitting and what happened at the hospital. I'm hoping those jerks don't get any deliveries again, preferably from anybody; they can bloody starve or eat out of the machines, the arrogant little dipshits.