Lobster with a "split personality" .... to say the least

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine has seen its share of blue lobsters, orange lobsters, albino lobsters and calico lobsters. But one on display at a Portland research facility has all of those turning green with envy.

The lobster at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute is half orange and half brown.

The lobster was caught by lobsterman Jeff Edwards and was donated by Ship to Shore Lobster Co. in Owl's Head.

Research Institute spokesman Steven Profaizer says it's being kept in a tank used by the LabVenture education experience. For the program, the institute transports about 10,000 students each year.

As for the lobster, it is indeed rare. The Lobster Institute at the University of Maine tells WMTW-TV this type of two-tone lobster is one in 50 million. Only albino lobsters are rarer.

Obama aides to brief Senators on Saturday, House members Sunday as Syria strike looms

With the United States edging closer to a possible military strike on Syria, President Barack Obama on Saturday ramped up efforts to convince skeptical American lawmakers and wary international partners of the need to act.

Obama’s top national security aides planned to hold the first of two days of weekend briefings for Congress. And the president and top aides were expected to continue consultations with foreign allies.

Senate Republicans and Democrats were to get separate briefings on Saturday. House members of both parties received an invitation to attend a members-only classified briefing at 2 p.m. ET Sunday.

It was not clear what the weekend sessions meant for the timing of a possible attack. Obama has signaled that he does not think he needs explicit congressional authorization to make war on Bashar Assad’s regime — but it seemed somewhat unlikely that the president would pull the trigger before the Sunday briefing.

National Security Adviser Susan Rice, Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral James Winnefeld, were to update Senators via an unclassified conference call "this afternoon," a senior administration official said.

SMI - 8/31/13

My cold, or whatever is better today, slept some last night, so getting ready for an afternoon of football. I set my wife up for her "demos" and that makes me forget about feeling sorry for myself, I get to "bitch" a lot at her, drive there, set her up and drive back, and, oddly enough, I feel much better since I have done that.

I had a paragraph written here, about firemen stopping traffic at a BUSY intersection collecting money for MDA, but I decided not to print it. I enjoy being held up in traffic, being late to an appointment and having a smelly boot stuck in the window. DONATE - GAMBLE, probably in the trillions a year.

I am in greater awe all the time of Krogers, and all grocery stores. I think we take too much for granted. Just think of the amount of product in the store, how it got there, the logistics involved. Heinz Catsup end cap display had about plastic bottles, and there were other displays in the store of the same product, and that was just one brand, in one store. I  cannot conceive how much catsup they must produce to fill all the orders. We are spoiled, we go to the store and expect them to have every product in stock, on shelves, that we want to purchase. I have seen the "mountains" of product that comes in the back, and the army of employees it takes to get it on the shelves, I saw we should have a "Grocer Appreciation Day" set aside as a holiday. They would stay open that day though, so that those celebrating, would be well fed.

In that same vein, how are we able to produce enough tomatoes to make all that catsup. I cannot comprehend how many chickens it takes a day for all the poultry products, and chicken for the Colonel and everyone else, a billion a day? We  take food for granted here in the USA. And if you have no money for food, the government will give you food stamps to buy it. We should say a "Thank You" every day for the farmers, processors, shippers and grocers that enable us to live the life that we do.

I wonder, how many people, went to work today, because of "football?" A humungous industry, and it produces noting, but entertainment. Comes right around to advertisers who want to sell their product, on those shelves I talked about above here.

Colonel Edward Andrew Deeds

Another Daytonian whose home I passed often. He had a landing field and an observatory at his home. Granville is a short distance from where I live now. 

He was born in 1874 near Granville, Ohio to Charles and Susan Deeds. Deeds graduated in 1897 from Denison University where he was valedictorian. He studied electrical engineering at Cornell University, but was unable to complete his graduate studies due to lack of sufficient funds. He married Edith M. Walton (1870-1949).

Relocating to Dayton, Ohio, he began working as an electrical engineer and draftsman for the Thresher Company, designing and installing electric motors. After eighteen months, he was named superintendent and chief engineer of the firm. The National Cash Register Company was headquartered in the same building as the Thresher Company and in 1899, Frederick Patterson invited Deeds to join "the Cash" to strengthen its team. There he oversaw the electrification of the NCR factories and built its first electric generating station. He left NCR to build the Shredded Wheat factory, known as the Palace of Light, for Henry Perky at Niagara Falls. The factory was white-tiled, air-conditioned, well-lit, and equipped with showers, lunchrooms, and auditoriums for the employees and clearly was influenced by Deeds' exposure to the ideas of John H. Patterson at NCR. The Palace of Light preceded the Pure Food and Drug Act's requirements for a clean work environment for food production by 6 years. Deeds was a director of Perky's National Food Company.

In 1903 he returned to NCR as chief of development and construction. Deeds constructed some prototype electric motors to demonstrate that they could be used to power cash registers. He hired Charles F. Kettering to prove the concept and three years later, Kettering had a working production model which revolutionized the register business and established National Cash Register as the dominant manufacturer worldwide for decades. Deeds oversaw the establishment of NCR factories in England, France, Italy, Germany and Canada. In February 1913.

Kettering and Deeds had a lifelong professional relationship and friendship. Deeds provided space in one of his barns for Kettering to work on an electric starter for automobiles. In 1909, Henry Leland of the Cadillac Company ordered 5,000 ignition sets and Deeds and Kettering formed the Dayton Engineering Laboratories company, Delco. Delco was eventually sold to United Motors Company which was later acquired by General Motors. Deeds was a member of the board of United Motors.

Kickoff

College Game Day - probably heralds the start of the most popular season of the year, college football. They are showing some of the stadiums around the country, multi million dollar facilities, billion dollar facilities, beautiful structures.

I think it is ironic, that they show these, shortly after the announcement of the lawsuit by the NFL, settling with players over head injuries. These  colossal structures, where this game is played, grooming players, who may get a nod from the NFL, to play there .......... I just find that somewhat ironic.

A thought that followed, what is it about people, that they have to be entertained. The ruins in Rome, the Coliseum, will someday in the far off future, these relics of the past, the stadiums, be visited by future tourists.o

Football,, and I love the sport, how and when did it become such an integral part of education. When schools need a levy passed, they threaten to take away ...... sports, football, and generally, the levy passes, the voters bow to the threat.

I wonder also what will be the repercussions of the NFL lawsuit, how far down the chain will it extend. A sports related head injury has no age limits. Since the NFL lawsuit, and it was a landslide win for the NFL, what they have to pay is a drop in the bucket to what it could have been, I can see it filtering all the way down to Little League,  the "Tip" of the iceberg.

The season has started ......................

He won by a nose ..............

I have a cold .............

Slow  posting today, cough, runny nose, headache, congestion .......


Maybe more tomorrow .............



Hope all out there are well.



Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Common Sense .................

Barack Obama, at a recent rural elementary school assembly in

South Texas, asked the audience for total quiet.

Then, in the silence, he started to slowly clap his hands once every

few seconds, holding the audience in total silence.

Then he said into the microphone, 'Children, every time I clap my

hands together, a child in America dies from gun violence.'

Then, little 10 year old Darrell, with a proud Texas drawl, pierced the

quiet and said: "Well, stop clapping!”

A New Day ................

Rumors are running rampant around Washington that a ground swell of support is foot, to change Labor Day, in 2014, to a new Holiday. One well known Senator, who opted to not be named, stated, "We have no workers anymore, we have "welfare recipients," and, I might add, many, many more of them, let us celebrate a day for them."

Various names have been brought forward. One young lady in Detroit stated, "We already got Thanksgiving, let's just combine the two into one, I be really thankfull fo all the welfare I get, With all my kids, I be makin over a hunert thou a year, and yea, you bet labor, I've had 11 kids, an they be paying me to go to college an i only got two more years till i be dun. What do ya mean degree?"

When a questionnaire was included in Welfare Checks determining how many might participate in such a "Welfare Parade," almost 47 million answered that they would be willing to march. Harvey Klockman, one of the organizers stated, "It might be bigger than "Hands Across America," we might start one group in San Francisco and another in New York City and have them meet in the middle somewhere." He concluded by saying, "I wonder if anybody will be left to watch the darn thing."

Our Labor Day Parade being held in China

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September, that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.

It was first nationally recognized in 1894 to placate unionists following the Pullman Strike.

With the decline in union membership, the holiday is generally viewed as a time for barbeques and the end of Summer vacations.

Due to a lack of "worker" participants, the Labor Day Parade this year will actually be held in Honche, China, the area that received most of the jobs from the USA. Harry Pertcowski, Parade Organizer stated, "Hey we put out a call for workers that could afford to come to New York and participate and no one replied except six prostitutes from Nevada and some guy from Peoria who said he "makes sawdust from wood" and sells it to guys thats got workshops but are afraid to use the machines, who ever heard of that?" He further stated that many towns in China offered to sponsor gigantic parades, "And a few from India, and some countries I couldn't even pronounce."

Kittens bring NY Subway to a halt

NEW YORK (AP) — It only took two kittens to stop the city's subway in its tracks.

Power was cut to the B and Q lines in Brooklyn for more than an hour after a woman reported Thursday morning that her kittens were loose in the nation's largest subway system, transit officials said.

The furry felines, one black and the other white with gray stripes, were finally found on the tracks and rescued about seven hours later. How they got there was a mystery. But they were seen running dangerously close to the high-voltage third rail. Their owner rushed to a subway station with cat food for transit workers dispatched onto the tracks to use to try to corral them.

Power was suspended between several stops — about half the Q line and the B line's entire service in Brooklyn — on the local and express tracks for 90 minutes, Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokeswoman Judie Glave said. The express line was stopped another half-hour while workers kept searching.

But the skittish kittens disappeared again before being discovered Thursday evening under the third rail of an above-ground express track. Police officers removed the kittens in crates, Glave said.

Officials said workers and passengers in Brooklyn's Flatbush neighborhood had been on the lookout for the kittens and train operators were asked to proceed with caution. If they saw anything moving on the tracks, they were required to stop and notify the rail control center.

Some passengers wanted to help by scouring the tracks but were turned down by MTA workers citing safety concerns.

Sorry, I don't write them .....

Kickoff Time ..............

The start of another football season. When I watch the last games of the season, I always wonder, will I be around for the next one. Looks like I am going to make another one. Many sportscasters and "analysts" are on the sports network now, going over last season, and how that is going to relate to this season. One comment, all of those I have seen so far, are wearing nice shirts and tie.

A  game tonight, North Carolina and South Carolina, will watch the Gamecocks. Also Tulsa at Bowling Green, those are usually good games, will be switching back and forth, and the US Open,, will be doing a lot of switching. I remember the day we had to get up and change station at the set. Then we got a set that had the controller on a long cord, you could lay on the couch and change channels from there, how great was that. Soon, I will be sitting here and THINK I would rather watch another channel, and it will happen. At least, tonight, I can wat one and record one, maybe even watch one here on the laptop.

The High School season starts tonight, Columbus, Ohio is excited, "Football Friday Night" is the rage, an exciting time of the year. But it comes and goes fast. Walmart will soon have their Spring stuff out.

Thank You for giving me another football season to watch ...............

Any donations are appreciated

I  want to thank those who have donated so far, my fund drive will run through September, so anything you care to donate would be appreciated. I have been getting an occasional 500 hits a day, with readership all over the world.

I intend to upgrade the blog to a different format, which entails a monthly expense, but the quality and marketability will be much greater.

I have this link in my wifes account, thus the difference in names.

I thank you in advance for any donations, which will be used to defray expenses, and add additional marketing, some material to add to the site, and advertising.

Joe Dooley

Obama and al-Qaeda Fighting on Same Side

Conservative Byte

War makes for some interesting relationships. 

The thought of the imbecile Obama attempting to lead us is not a comforting thought. 

Check it out: If Barack Obama decides to attack the Syrian regime, he has ensured – for the very first time in history – that the United States will be on the same side as al-Qa’ida. 

Quite an alliance! 

Was it not the Three Musketeers who shouted “All for one and one for all” each time they sought combat? This really should be the new battle cry if – or when – the statesmen of the Western world go to war against Bashar al-Assad. 

The men who destroyed so many thousands on 9/11 will then be fighting alongside the very nation whose innocents they so cruelly murdered almost exactly 12 years ago. 

Quite an achievement for Obama, Cameron, Hollande and the rest of the miniature warlords. This, of course, will not be trumpeted by the Pentagon or the White House – nor, I suppose, by al-Qa’ida – though they are both trying to destroy Bashar. So are the Nusra front, one of al-Qa’ida’s affiliates. 

But it does raise some interesting possibilities.

Judge: NFL, Players Reach $765M Concussion Deal

"All I member was I was runnin down thet field and I wasa thinking about where I wasa gonna park my new Lamborghini cause we put in a new pool down by the tennis court n then this big guy hit me un i lost the ball and then this big guy picked it up n run down thet feeld n scord a tuchdown n we lost the dmn superbowl n now i gotta sell the Lamborghini and i forget where i parked it .. how much do i get?

The NFL has reached a tentative $765 million settlement over concussion-related brain injuries among its 18,000 retired players, agreeing to compensate victims, pay for medical exams and underwrite research.

A federal judge announced the agreement Thursday after months of court-ordered mediation. It came just days before the start of the 2013 season.

More than 4,500 former athletes — some suffering from dementia, depression or Alzheimer's that they blamed on blows to the head — had sued the league, accusing it of concealing the dangers of concussions and rushing injured players back onto the field while glorifying and profiting from the kind of bone-jarring hits that make for spectacular highlight-reel footage.

The NFL has long denied any wrongdoing and insisted that safety has always been a top priority. But the NFL said Thursday that Commissioner Roger Goodell told pro football's lawyers to "do the right thing for the game and the men who played it."

The plaintiffs included Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett, Super Bowl-winning quarterback Jim McMahon and the family of Pro Bowler Junior Seau, who committed suicide last year.

Under the settlement, individual awards would be capped at $5 million for men with Alzheimer's disease; $4 million for those diagnosed after their deaths with a brain condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy; and $3 million for players with dementia, said lead plaintiffs' lawyer Christopher Seeger.

Any of the approximately 18,000 former NFL players are eligible.

Senior U.S. District Judge Anita Brody in Philadelphia announced the proposed agreement and will consider approving it at a later date.

Body Flush and Detox Water

Body Flush and Detox Water

1 cucumber  -  1 lemon  -  1 or 2 oranges  -  2 limes  -  1 bunch of mint

Slice them all and divide the ingredients between four 24 oz water bottles and fill them up with filtered water. Drink daily 

Not only does this taste delicious and help flush fat, but it also counts toward your daily water intake!

Lemons: Help in the absorption of sugars and calcium and cuts down your cravings for sweets.

Cucumbers act as a diuretic and flush fat cells. 

It is alkalizing to the body (if you have an alkaline body, no diseases can live there), 

and increase your energy levels.

Limes promote a healthy digestive tract.

Mint is a natural appetite suppressant that also aids in digestion.

You gotta be kiddin .............

Received this from my good friend, Ernie, in California ....

Fw: This Will Make Your Day

  

So, Jesse Jackson, Jr. 17-year veteran of the US Congress, suddenly gets a "mood disorder" (about the same time he learned he was to be indicted) and is going to prison for 2.5 years.  Because his "mood disorder" was so severe, he has become disabled and will receive $8700 per month as a disability payment as well as $45000 a year from his congressional pension, a total of about $150K per year. 

    Is this a great country or what?

    By the way, I have had a rather substantial "mood disorder disability" ever since Obama got elected in 2008.  I have not committed any felonies, have not been convicted and sentenced to prison and I don't get squat - other than a higher and higher tax bill every year and the privilege of watching our federal deficit grow every day of the year.

Jesse Jackson Jr. to Grab $8,700 Per Month in Disability, Plus Pension In Prison

-- There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One by the sword....the other is by debt.
John Adams   1826

White Woman Brutally Beaten By Group Of Black Teens Yelling Racial Slurs

But of course this won't be seen as racism by liberals.

Check it out: A woman who said she was brutally attacked by a group of black teenagers in Pittsburgh’s North Side Sunday said the girls savagely beat her while calling her racial slurs.

Ginger Slepski said she suffered multiple injuries, including torn shoulder ligaments.

She said she thought the girls were going to kill her.

“I thought it was so animalistic. So violent. I’m so afraid for these girls to get out and walk the streets,” Slepski said. Police said Slepski was savagely beaten after the girls threw a bottle at her car on Concord Street and she stopped to confront them.

“I was mad. I knew they were younger. I thought they were in their early 20s. I got out and said, ‘What is your problem?’” Slepski said. All four African-American girls then called her names before getting physically violent.

Remember this?

On November 24, 1971, a man wearing a black raincoat, a dark suit and wraparound sunglasses took his seat on Northwest Orient Flight 305, scheduled to take off in Portland, Oregon, and arrive in Seattle, Washington. 

After takeoff, he handed a note to a flight attendant, who assumed he was hitting on her and placed it in her purse. He then told her he had a bomb in his briefcase and demanded $200,000, four parachutes and “no funny stuff.” 

The passenger identified himself as Dan Cooper, but thanks to a reporting error as the story was breaking he was forever immortalized as “D.B.” Cooper.

The plane landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where authorities handed over the items and evacuated most of the passengers. Cooper then instructed the pilot to fly toward Mexico City at a low altitude and ordered the remaining crew into the cockpit. A short time later, he jumped out of the plane and into a raging thunderstorm. He was never seen or heard from again. Since his disappearance, the FBI has investigated and subsequently ruled out more than a thousand suspects; they agency now believes it is likely Cooper died in the fall. While his body has never been recovered, in 1980 an 8-year-old boy found a stack of nearly $5,880 of the ransom money in the sands along the north bank of the Columbia River, five miles from Vancouver, Washington.

Say it ain't so ...........Abner Doubleday (for inventing baseball)

Abner Doubleday was a Civil War general and abolitionist who famously ordered the first Union shots in defense of Fort Sumter. But while he had a distinguished military career, Doubleday is more commonly remembered for inventing baseball—even though he did no such thing.

The story dates back to 1905, when former National League president A.G. Mills headed a commission to investigate the origins of America’s favorite pastime. 

Based on a letter from a man named Abner Graves, the commission incorrectly concluded that Doubleday had invented baseball in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. 

In truth, Doubleday was attending West Point in 1839 and had never claimed any involvement with baseball. 

Nevertheless, the myth persisted for years, and the Baseball Hall of Fame was even established in Cooperstown on the sport’s mistaken centennial in 1939.

Aug 29, 1876: Charles F. Kettering, inventor of electric self-starter, is born

Kettering lived in Dayton, Ohio, and I have seen him on a number of occasions. Our next door neighbor, who was a GM plant manager, later on, head of Truck and Bus, and then Cadillac, had some joint patents with him. Another neighbor, a Doctor, was his family physician. GM gave Kettering a new Cadillac each year, he drove around in a Chevy, which he bought, the story goes. 

Charles Franklin Kettering, the American engineer and longtime director of research for General Motors Corp. (GM), is born on August 29, 1876, in Loudonville, Ohio. Of the 140 patents Kettering obtained over the course of his lifetime, perhaps the most notable was his electric self-starter for the automobile, patented in 1915.

Early in his career, Kettering worked at the National Cash Register Company in Dayton, Ohio, where he helped develop the first cash register to be equipped with an electric motor that opened the register drawer. With Edward A. Deeds, he formed Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO), a business dedicated to designing equipment for automobiles. Kettering's key-operated electric self-starting ignition system, introduced on Cadillac vehicles in 1912 and patented three years later, made automobiles far easier and safer to operate than they had been previously, when the ignition process had been powered by iron hand cranks. By the 1920's electric self-starters would come standard on nearly every new automobile.

United Motors Corporation (which later became General Motors) purchased DELCO in 1916, installing Kettering as vice president and director of research at GM from 1920 to 1947. During his tenure at GM, Kettering was instrumental in the development of improved engines, quick-drying automobile paints and finishes, "anti-knock" fuels (designed to reduce the damaging process of engine knocking, which occurs when gasoline ignites too early in an internal combustion engine) and variable-speed transmissions, among other innovations.

Officer killed

CATONSVILLE (AP) — A Baltimore County police officer was shot and killed during an exchange of gunfire early Wednesday while serving a search warrant at a Catonsville home, police said.

Officer Jason Schneider, 36, was pronounced dead at the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Shock Trauma Center.

Late Wednesday, police said the man suspected of shooting Schneider, 25-year-old Tevon Smith of Catonsville, died at Shock Trauma.

A preliminary investigation showed that Schneider’s vest stop-ped several rounds, but one round traveled underneath his vest, striking him in the back.

Schneider was part of a team of tactical officers whose duties include serving high-risk warrants. They were delivering a warrant for a non-fatal shooting a week earlier, said Police Chief James Johnson. People inside tried to flee as soon as the officers entered, and Schneider was shot several times as he turned a corner, returning fire as he fell and striking a man, the chief said.

“While in the structure, searching room-to-room, their presence was clearly known. We know the suspects clearly knew that we were police officers,” Johnson said.

Everyone who was in the house was taken into custody for questioning, police said.

What happened?

It dawned on me last night, watching the news and listening to some radio, when did we start using the term, "black" again? There was a time when it was a "nono" to use that term. The mood in the country was that we were all equal, no blacks, no whites, just people. I remember, to do my share, I did not use the term in anything.

But now, all of a sudden black is used again. There are black organizations, black groups, black caucus, black this and black that. When did we revert back to that term? You never hear the term "white" other than used for an annual sale at JCPenney. Now little children will be tugging on their mother's apron and saying, "Mommy, I wanna be black."

When did all that change, was it just gradual, and when and who decided they would rather be referred to as black again. I don't remember seeing a memo on it, but it happened.

I remember when it was stated, "Don;t use the term black." All other "words" are pretty much acceptable now, just watch TV, or as some do, go to a movie. It must be difficult now, for Mom and Dad and all the little kiddies gathered together, to watch of movie, on their BIG screen TV. "Daddy, what does that mean." And they were watching a "family oriented" show.

I did a blog a few days ago, "Bernice King: ‘African Americans are still not free’ 150 years after slavery’s end." I have been haunted by that "still not free." I think of all the changes that have occurred since then, and with the exception of all the "whites" moving to Canada, I don't know what more could have been done. And if all the "whites" had moved to Canada, who would all those black guys married?

One quote keeps coming back to me, in regards to the King statement. It was in "Pretty Woman" which we have all seen umpteen times. But, towards the end, she tells Edward,  "I want more, I want it all," or words to that effect, "I want it all." Perhaps that is what she meant, I think she has just about made it.

Maybe not so FAST today ...

Fast-food customers in search of burgers and fries might run into striking workers instead.

Organizers say thousands of fast-food workers are set to stage walkouts in dozens of cities around the country Thursday, part of a push to get chains such as McDonald's, Taco Bell and Wendy's to pay workers higher wages.

In Tampa, a protest is scheduled for 4 p.m. at a Wendy's at Fowler and 15th Street.

It's expected be the largest nationwide strike by fast-food workers, according to organizers. The biggest effort so far was over the summer when about 2,200 of the nation's millions of fast-food workers staged a one-day strike in seven cities.

Thursday's planned walkouts follow a series of strikes that began last November in New York City, then spread to cities including Chicago, Detroit and Seattle. Workers say they want $15 an hour, which would be about $31,000 a year for full-time employees. That's more than double the federal minimum wage, which many fast food workers make, of $7.25 an hour, or $15,000 a year.

The move comes amid calls from the White House, some members of Congress and economists to hike the federal minimum wage, which was last raised in 2009. But most proposals seek a far more modest increase than the ones workers are asking for, with President Barack Obama wanting to boost it to $9 an hour.

41 dead in Kenya bus disaster

At least 41 people were killed Thursday in a bus crash west of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, the Kenyan Red Cross said.

"It is a horrible scene. Bodies are strewn all over," traffic police official Samuel Kimaru said by telephone from the scene near the town of Narok.

The bus was travelling from Nairobi to Homa Bay on the banks of Lake Victoria when it flew off the road, rolled over and plunged down a hill.

"It is difficult to tell exactly what happened but all indications point to speeding and possibly overloading," he said. "It is quite disturbing."

Police also told the Standard newspaper that the driver may have fallen asleep.

The Red Cross said the accident occurred shortly after 2:00 am (2300 GMT Wednesday) some 160 kilometres (100 miles) west of the capital.

Massive wildfire prompts new travel restrictions through Yosemite

By Laila Kearney

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Firefighters determined to keep a massive blaze from raging into the heart of California's Yosemite National Park have shut down half of its main east-west corridor, just days before a holiday weekend marking the end of the peak summer tourist season.

A long stretch of Tioga Road through the western half of the park was closed on Wednesday as fire crews tightened their grip on the blaze, extending containment lines around 30 percent of the wildfire's perimeter by the end of its 12th day.

The so-called Rim Fire has blackened about 192,500 acres, or more than 300 square miles, of dry scrub and timberlands, mostly in the Stanislaus National Forest west of the park. Its cause is still being investigated.

The firefighting force of more than 4,500 is backed by teams of bulldozers, water-dropping helicopters and airplane tankers carrying payloads of flame-retardant chemicals.

Seems like a lot ....

Police Search for Armed Robber at Greenwich Metro-North Station

The Metro-North station in Greenwich, Conn. has reopened after police shut it down to search for an armed bank robber.

Police said a man wearing a hat and sunglasses robbed nearby People's United Bank at about 5 p.m., firing at least one shot.

Authorities said he spoke to the teller in Spanish.

He fled down Steamboat Road in the direction of the train station. Police said they thought he may have boarded a train to New York City.

They held one train in each direction at the Greenwich Station on Railroad Avenue and held a stopped a third train at the Fordham station. Transit police searched all four Greenwich station tracks, authorities said.

The searches turned up negative and service was restored around 5:45 p.m., according to police.

Passengers on a train into Greenwich said their train was stopped and police entered with guns drawn. A witness told NBC Connecticut that passengers were told to duck down.

No injuries were reported.

New Haven Line trains are experiencing delays of up to 60 minutes.

Another mess gonna happen??????

NEW YORK — Law enforcement officials around the country are keeping a close eye on the threat of U.S. military action in Syria amid the possibility it could spur retaliatory domestic attacks.

In New York, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said there is currently no intelligence indicating the possibility of an attack on the city should the Obama administration launch a strike on Syria.

But the threat of war comes as the New York Police Department already was planning to ramp up its security around the city ahead of the Jewish holidays — including Rosh Hashana, which begins at sundown Sept. 4 — and the upcoming anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In a meeting with Jewish leaders on Tuesday night, Kelly said the NYPD is constantly monitoring world events, including the action in Syria, and insisted the force will be “as well-prepared as any big police department in the country to respond.”

“We’re always looking over the horizon. We are aware of conditions throughout the world, we have a large police force, and we’re always looking at contingencies, things that may happen,” Kelly said, according to WCBS “I can only tell you that we will respond, in our judgment, accordingly if something happens overseas. We've always been concerned about what happens throughout the world. It’s become much smaller after 9/11.”

Kelly’s comments echoed what other law enforcement agencies around the country were saying amid speculation the United States and its allies could soon strike at the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad for allegedly using chemical weapons against his own people.

The First Drive-In Theater 1933

The date is May 19, 1933 Richard H. along with 3 other investors, Willie Warren Smith, Edward Ellis and Oliver Willets, start construction. After three weeks and $30,000 the first Drive-In Theater opens on Tuesday June 6, 1933. On Crescent Boulevard, Camden New Jersey. By the name of "Drive-In Theatre" with admission price of 25 cents for the car, 25 cents per person and no car to pay more that $1.00 total.

George Zimmerman Will Ask Florida to Reimburse Him for Trial Costs

George Zimmerman wants the state of Florida to reimburse him for the costs of mounting his defense in the Trayvon Martin shooting case. Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara, told ABC News today that he plans to file a motion to recoup as much as $300,000 in legal costs spent on defending Zimmerman.

Zimmerman was acquitted in July of second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting of Martin, an unarmed Florida teenager. Zimmerman claimed he shot Martin in self-defense during an altercation. The not guilty verdict triggered protests around the country.

After he was charged, Zimmerman employed a 10-person legal team, which ultimately conducted dozens of depositions, flew in experts, and even ordered up a 3-D animation to be aired toward the end of the trial.

State law requires the reimbursement of all but the most expensive item -- lawyers fees -- estimated at well over $1 million. The state of Florida reported the trial cost it more than $900,000, much of it for security.

O'Mara said it could take four to six weeks before Zimmerman's team can negotiate the reimbursement with the state.

Zimmerman had largely been living off of donations solicited on his website before and during the trial that he said have dried up. His wife, Shellie Zimmerman, faces a criminal charge of perjury for allegedly lying to the court about the amount of donations the couple received.

Last week, Zimmerman appeared in public, a rare occurrence since charges were brought against him. He visited a Kel Tec factory, the company that manufactured the gun he used to kill Martin, and reportedly bought a gun at the store.

An old friend has died ......

An Obituary printed in the London Times.

An Obituary printed in the London Times.....Absolutely Brilliant !!

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense ,

who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure

how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red

tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;

- Why the early bird gets the worm;

- Life isn't always fair;

- And maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple,

sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable

strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health

began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations

were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment

for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after

lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened

his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when

parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to

do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer

sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a

student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to

live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better

treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating

when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the

burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up

the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of

coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a

huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death,

-by his parents, Truth and Trust,

-by his wife, Discretion,

-by his daughter, Responsibility,

-and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 5 stepbrothers;

- I Know My Rights

- I Want It Now

- Someone Else Is To Blame

- I'm A Victim

- Pay me for Doing Nothing

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

4 NJ College Football Players Caught Being Honest

This is certainly worth a mention of two .... I saw the video last night on the news .... I guess they were on the Today show, or one of them.

WAYNE, N.J. (AP) - Four New Jersey college football players are being rewarded for their honesty.

The members of the William Paterson University football team each received $50 gift cards after surveillance cameras captured them paying for some batteries and sunglasses even though no employees were around.

Buddy's Small Lots in Wayne, N.J., was actually closed Sunday night. But the lock malfunctioned and the lights were on, making it appear as though it were open.

Cameras showed the men calling out for a clerk. Two can be seen depositing cash on the counter, one waving bills in the direction of a camera.

One of the players, Thomas James, tells News 12 New Jersey not everyone is a thief.

Darts: World No 5 James Wade banned for next four PDC tournaments

James Wade will miss the next four PDC tournaments after being suspended following a breach of the Darts Regulation Authority disciplinary code. The world No 5 misses the Sydney Darts Masters later this month, the European Tour event in Hildesheim, Germany and two Players Championships in Barnsley.

He was found to have "acted in a manner which may reasonably be considered to injure or discredit the DRA or bring the game into disrepute".

Wade, 30, is free to return at the German Darts Masters in September but the troubled star has not won a televised PDC tournament since in sixth, the UK Open in June 2011.

"As a result of a series of referrals to the Darts Regulation Authority relating to the behaviour of James Wade at PDC Tour Events, James Wade was found to be in breach of rule 4.1 of the DRA Rules," read a DRA statement. "'No Player or Member shall act in a manner which may reasonably be considered to injure or discredit the DRA or bring the game of darts into disrepute'.

"He has been suspended from the next four tournaments.

"The DRA do not routinely publish the outcomes of hearings, but in this case it related to a senior player not being able to enter high-profile tournaments and it was important to clarify the reason for this."

Wade will be replaced as a Seeded Player for the Sydney Darts Masters by Paul Nicholson, with an additional qualifying place to be made available at the Oceanic Masters on Wednesday August 28.

As a general rule I don't reprint darts articles, but this one intrigued me. I read it a number of times and have NO idea why he is suspended. I can't imagine what he did, I wonder how many rules the darts people have?

A sad story with a questionable ending .... in Indiana

Stephanie Wang - The Indianapolis Star

BLOOMINGTON, IND. — Rick and Angi Fiege know that people want to judge. People want someone to blame. But while people are yammering about whether a group of college kids neglected a friend, Rick and Angi Fiege are buying a casket and a cemetery plot for their 19-year-old daughter — a girl who idolized her older brother, color-coded her college course schedule and once begged her dad for a puppy from the Humane Society.

While some want to talk about college party culture, the Zionsville, Ind., couple is thinking about their blond daughter whose childhood teddy bear sat on the bed in her dorm room.

Did it matter, the night that Indiana University freshman Rachael Fiege fell down a flight of stairs at a party and suffered a fatal head injury, whether friends freaked out about calling 911 because alcohol was possibly being served to minors? Did it matter whether they knew about a state law that would protect minors from alcohol-related citations if they sought medical help for her?

Did it matter why students waited six hours before calling an ambulance, when they noticed Rachael wasn't breathing? Some people on social media and elsewhere want to say it does. But to her parents, what killed Rachael was an accident and maybe a few bad decisions.

They don’t know whether Rachael had been drinking. Her mom acknowledges that she probably was. But they’re not so sure Indiana’s Lifeline Law would have helped. If anything, they say, the students simply did not recognize the seriousness of the situation.

“I think you should know,” Angi Fiege said, “that really, really, really good kids sometimes make choices that are not the right choices. I’m heartbroken that anybody would judge anybody at that house. They made a mistake. They were young. They didn't understand.

“Was there alcohol involved? Yeah, there was alcohol involved. Obviously that plays into it. But hopefully other people can learn vicariously through this. Know when to call for help. It just wasn't that these kids were doing anything malicious. They just didn't recognize it. ...

I won't comment on this, but I have mixed emotions about it. I cannot comprehend waiting six (06) hours. A three year old calls 911 when Mom is sick, we have heard many such cases, these were young adults who stood and stared for six hours, something is wrong here, any of them taking pre-med? I have always held IU in high esteem but I question this.

Are you ready for some football .... or a gas attack?

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council was set for a showdown over Syria on Wednesday after Britain sought authorization for Western military action that seems certain to be vetoed by Russia and probably China.

U.N. chemical weapons experts investigating an apparent gas attack that killed hundreds of civilians in rebel-held suburbs of Damascus made a second trip across the front line to take samples. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pleaded for them to be given the time they need to complete their mission.

But the United States and European and Middle East allies have already pinned the blame on Assad and, even without full U.N. authorization, U.S.-led air or missile strikes on Syria look all but certain, though the timing is far from clear.

That has set Western leaders on a collision course with Moscow, Assad's main arms supplier, as well as with China, which also has a veto in the Security Council and disapproves of what it sees as a push for Iraq-style "regime change" - despite U.S. denials that President Barack Obama aims to overthrow Assad.

Uncertainty over how the escalation of the conflict at the heart of the oil-e

xporting Middle East will affect trade, and the world economy sent oil prices, and gold, to their highest levels in months while stocks fell. Fears over the economy of Syria's hostile neighbor Turkey pushed its lira to a record low.

Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain would propose a resolution on Wednesday at the Security Council in New York, seeking authority to take "necessary measures" to protect Syrian civilians. Sure of a veto, it seemed part of diplomatic strategy to isolate Moscow and rally a broad coalition behind Washington.

NO COMMENT ..... just believe it or not ....

Another missed opportunity .... or two

I have mentioned that, perhaps, I was in a position, or could have had the opportunity, to sit on his porch, and talk with Orville Wright. It might have happened, but was not important at the time.

In the late 50's I went with a friend to meet L. Ron Hubbard, who was on the Seventh Floor of Harolds Club in Reno, meeting with some people, and giving a brief speech. I had read Dianetics, so I knew who he was, but then, he was just the guy who wrote the book. Someone said, "The crowd is thinning out, let's go over and talk with him." I didn't want to.

We attended a presentation one evening for Koscot, and Glenn Turner spoke, the couple that we went with, knew him, "Come on, let's go down and I will introduce you to him, we can chat a bit."

"Not now, let's head back to Newark."

On another occasion, my friend, Danny, who had a limo, in New York, was contracted to take a lady around to meetings in New York City, for the day. I opted not to go with him, I missed spending the day, possibly, with Debbie Reynolds.

Last, but not least, a few dealer friends of mind, and myself, had a night off. We decided to head to Lake Tahoe, go to the Cal Neva, to see Dean Martin who "might" be appearing there for his good friend. We partied a bit before we got there, hit a few other spots, and by the time we got there, well, I was feeling good, and getting short on money. To make a long story short, we roamed around, not taking reservations, room full, so Hoot saw the Maitre de's reservation book, erased a name and put in Dooley, party of four. Apparently, Frank saw him do it, joked with them a bit about it, and invited them in to his table in the lounge. I had gone out to gamble a little.

I shot craps, the boxman was an "old timer," he fit the part. I had a "shot" I had worked on for some time, could hold a "high" or a "low" side on one die. Got pretty good at it, Don Eammelli had shown me the shot. Anyway, and had enough to drink to be brave .... made some bets, tried the shot, it either worked some or I just got lucky, won a few hundred. But when I sevened out, on a six ace, I had held the six, the boxman beckoned me down to the end of the table. He looked at me  and said, "Son, I don't know what you were doing to me, I know you were doing something, so we would rather you take your action someplace else."

I headed to the bar, Hoot saw me and said, "Hey Joe, come on in with us, Frank is buying us a drink."

"No, I'm gonna go to the lounge, I want to hear Trini Lopez, I like that hammer song." I did, Trini was singing his one and only song, "If I Had A Hammer," which he sang over and over, I thought, who, FRANK!" Too late, they joined me in the bar, after having their drink with Sinatra. I did go to the rest room later and stood next to Trini ..... but .... I could have had a drink with Frank.

That same weekend, Sam and Dorothy were there, as was Marilyn and Ted, and rumor had it that perhaps John, his brother might have secretly flown in, the Gaming Commission spotted Sam there and Frank ultimately lost his license, and rumor has it that Frank and Marilyn might still be there, doing a little haunting.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda ...............

So sad ....

Some of the saddest little guys I have ever seen ..............

Michelle, we don't like it and we ain't eatin it ...

After just one year, some schools around the country are dropping out of the healthier new federal lunch program, complaining that so many students turned up their noses at meals packed with whole grains, fruits and vegetables that the cafeterias were losing money.

Federal officials say they don't have exact numbers but have seen isolated reports of schools cutting ties with the $11 billion National School Lunch Program, which reimburses schools for meals served and gives them access to lower-priced food.

Districts that rejected the program say the reimbursement was not enough to offset losses from students who began avoiding the lunch line and bringing food from home or, in some cases, going hungry.

"Some of the stuff we had to offer, they wouldn't eat," said Catlin, Ill., Superintendent Gary Lewis, whose district saw a 10 to 12 percent drop in lunch sales, translating to $30,000 lost under the program last year.

"So you sit there and watch the kids, and you know they're hungry at the end of the day, and that led to some behavior and some lack of attentiveness."

In upstate New York, a few districts have quit the program, including the Schenectady-area Burnt Hills Ballston Lake system, whose five lunchrooms ended the year $100,000 in the red.

YOU NEED this .... I heard it on the TV

I like marketing and advertising, they are awesome in their capacity to control millions of people.

Saw one tonight and had to wonder, how and when it happened. Case in point, the Sleep Number Mattress. It got me to thinking about my life so far, all 80 years. The first years I cannot account for, then, I had a regular box spring and mattress, not sure what kind, but as I recall I slept well.

I remember when Fall rolled around, and those cooler nights. Mom would break out the Hudson Bay Blankets that had been stored in moth balls all Summer. I still remember crawling under those crisp, clean sheets and then Mom would pull up that Hudson Bay blanket, we had the red, blue and green, I generally got the red one. That Cedar odor is fresh in my minds-eye today. The introduction of that odor meant so much, Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, introduced a whole new season. I slept on that mattress, well, until 1950.

From that point on, for a number of years, college and the Navy, thin little mattresses on steel slats, held to the frame by springs, nothing fancy, but I slept well.

I don't know how much better I would sleep on an adjustable mattress, know I would toss and turn over spending so much money on a mattress.

Cost, I have spent a number of night is perhaps the most expensive beds, those new ones in the hospital, some going for six figures, they weight me, have unlimited positions, call the nurse, telephone, TV, adjustable in many ways, and I have not, ever slept well on one of them. So, money has nothing to do with it.

But, watch the ad, YOU must have one to get a good night sleep ..... advertising

Food for thought

I've seen a number of "new" shows recently pertaining to Name brands versus Store Brands, and they are always "amazed" that, in some instances, the store brand is as good or better than the name brand.

Think for a minute, which companies would be large enough to fill an order for Walmart. Oh, the biggest companies, I guess. So, what you mean is, oh, I see, they often just change the label and "keep on runin." That makes sense. That explains why they are often the same.

I was told, a while back, by a company rep that had been sent in for a demo, his company often just changed the box the product went it, from their brand to the Walmart brand. They have to produce so much product they never have time to stop and make changes.

Think about it ..... makes sense

This will keep you swimming for a while

Slow day, bored, try this, it will make the time go by faster .............. move your cursor around

TRY IT HERE

Harolds Club in Reno

There is a documentary being prepared on Harolds Club in Reno. I have spent many hours there, and some of these faces are quite familiar. Nevada and the entire casino industry can thank the Smith family for pioneering state and the entire industry.

It is difficult to explain a visit to Harolds Club. it was a world unto itself. There were fun collections, silver dollar bars, so many different "themes" in each area on the various floors. The Seventh Floor was unique, very intimate. I have seen Carl Ravazza entertain there often. He was a "matinee" idol  and a singer and a band leader from years past and lived in Reno.  The houselights would dim and he would enter from the back of the room and slowly make his way to the front singing some intimate lilting French song, and then for an hour captivate you with songs, stories and golf jokes. I have seen many well known entertainers while out there, but none as memorable as Carl Ravazza.

Anyway, this clip gives you a taste of Harolds Club. Notice she states that they all were taught to deal the same way. On my Nevada Club blog I have given my explanation and reason for them doing that. Harold was smarter than other owners, and I have never seen it stated before, but, in my opinion, we detected one of the reasons why they were so successful.

Be patient, it may take a while to download.

THE HAROLDS PROMOTIONAL DOCUMENTARY

New York state lawmaker calls for boycott of ‘misogynistic’ Al-Jazeera

I shake my head when I see them listed on my TV screen. Are we a great country, or what? If we had been broadcasting Japanese Radio on our local stations, Pearl Harbor might never had happened, at least we would have been forewarned ....

A New York state assemblyman and Marine Corps veteran is calling on Verizon, Comcast, DirecTV and Dish Network to drop “the notoriously anti-American, anti-Semitic and misogynistic” Al-Jazeera network from their basic cable package.

Assemblyman Kieran Michael Lalor is calling for a boycott of the cable providers if they do not drop Al-Jazeera by Sept. 11, his office said in a press release Monday.

“Al Jazeera is the anti-American, anti-Semitic, misogynistic propaganda wing of a foreign government,” Mr. Lalor, a Republican who represents a Hudson Valley district, said in a statement. “The network has celebrated brutal terrorists and ‘reported’ as fact anti-Semitic 9/11 truther conspiracy theories. American TV viewers shouldn't have to subsidize Al Jazeera through a part of their basic cable bill.”

Mr. Lalor, who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, said he’s outraged “to have this propaganda piped into my home.”

“To be clear, this is not a First Amendment issue, continued. “The free press clause of the First Amendment does not protect foreign powers who wish to broadcast propaganda into our country and our homes. Moreover, at this time my constituents and I are not objecting to the existence of the channel. We object to Al Jazeera America’s inclusion as a basic cable channel that subscribers are forced to pay for and receive rather than as an a la carte channel that can be added to a basic package.”

Reality is here .... get on board

Bernice King: ‘African Americans are still not free’ 150 years after slavery’s end

I suppose you would have to be black to understand her comment, and I have to wonder, what more could be done, or happen. What more could anyone do. 

As slaves, and I often wonder just how slavery came about, they were "owned" and wished to be free. That I understand, but when they were free, and no longer owned, what more could be done, their future was then, up to the individual. There were obstacles, but they were FREE, they had their FREEDOM.

At some point, individual initiative takes over, the same as it has done for all races creeds and colors of people in this country. In some respects, minorities have more opportunities afforded to them, oh, wait, what is a minority? Who are the minority?  Are they just those with a "defeatist" attitude? Are they those with a "I am not free" mentality. 

I, a white, male, natural born citizen of the USA, can tell you that there are areas and places in this country that I would not enter, I am not "free" to go there. My own personal solution, "I don't go there."

Bernice's problem could just be, within herself, and unfortunately for others, she has a "voice" and she tells others that .... "you are not free." And, then, they agree, without thinking. Then, they get in to their Lincoln Escalade, drive to their 200 thousand dollar home, in a nice, integrated area of town, grill their twenty dollar a pound "steaks" for dinner, and then sit around and talk about how how they are not free. Perhaps their second car is a Chevy, and their pool cover has a hole in it.

I am not black, I have never had to sit in the back of the bus, because I HAD to. As a kid, we always headed to the back of the bus, but it was our choice.I have never been denied service in a restaurant, I cannot imagine the frustration of being "denied" because of race. In reality, those things no longer exist, but perhaps, they can never be forgotten.

Maybe "the dream" has happened, but waking up, is difficult.

She must be doing well: one year after the death of her mother Coretta Scott King, Bernice King founded the Be A King Scholarship at Spelman College, Georgia, in honor of her mother's legacy. Bernice King donated $100,000 of her personal funds.

This is rather awesome .........

Check out this cockpit video from one of the fire drops on the Rim Fire (Yosemite)

  http://www.news10.net/news/article/255158/2/See-the-Rim-Fire-from-the-air

The voice stating "landing gear" is the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) advising the pilot that if you're that low, you should be landing and consequently have the landing gear down.    

One might ask .......WHY?

Second suspect arrested in death of WWII veteran

I wonder if this incident was spoken of at the march yesterday in Washington?

SPOKANE, Wash. - Police arrested a second teenage suspect Friday in the fatal beating of an 88-year-old World War II veteran outside an Eagles Lodge in North Spokane.

The victim, Delbert Belton, was attacked and robbed in the lodge's parking lot last Wednesday night. One of the suspects, a 16-year-old boy, surrendered to authorities Thursday night, and he was being held on charges of robbery and first-degree murder. His identity has not been released because he is a juvenile.

The second suspect, also a 16-year-old boy, was arrested in a basement apartment in Spokane just after 3 a.m. Monday. His identity and photograph were released as police searched for him, but The Associated Press, which typically does not identify juveniles accused of crimes, is no longer using his name because he is in custody.

Several other people with him were arrested for investigation of rendering criminal assistance, Spokane police spokeswoman Monique Cotton said.

Investigators believe the boys targeted Belton randomly as he sat in his car and waited for a friend.

Officers found Belton with serious head injuries, and he died in the hospital Thursday.

Both teens have juvenile court records and past convictions for assault, Chief Frank Straub said last week.

Come one, come all ....................

Lengthy, but a good read written by Wesley Pruden ..........

Al Gore and his traveling medicine show is back in town with his new, improved snake oil, guaranteed to grow hair, improve digestion, promote regularity and kill roaches, rats and bedbugs. Al and his wagon rumbled into town on the eve of "a major forthcoming report" from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is a panel of scientists affiliated with the United Nations. Their report is expected to buck up the spirits of the tycoons of the snake-oil industry.

A snake-oil salesman's lot, like a policeman's, is not a happy one. There's always a skeptic or two (or three) standing at the back of the wagon, eager to scoff and jeer. The global-warming scam would have been right up Gilbert and Sullivan's street. Would Al and the U.N. deceive us? No! Never! What! Never? Weeeell, hardly ever.

The New York Times, a faithful shill for Al's snake-oil elixir, following the wagon from town to town, got an advance copy of the U.N. report and gives out with the "good" news: It's a "near certainty" that humans are responsible for the rising temperatures of recent decades, and warns that by the end of the century all the little people - small children, midgets and others whose growth was stunted by drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes at an early age - will be up to their belly buttons in salt water. The seas will rise by more than three feet.

The inconvenient truth Al and the junk scientists have to deal with is that temperatures aren't rising, but falling. In fact, since the early 1990s we've had global cooling. It got so embarrassing Al and the junk scientists started calling it "climate change." Some days it rains, some days it doesn't and some days it's a little of both. That's real change. The U.N. panel concedes that global warming has in fact given way to global cooling, but attributes this to "short-term factors." The minions of the compliant media, ever eager to blow hard about the coming end of the world, when women and minorities will suffer most, will rattle and twitter about the U.N. climate report with their usual tingle and flutter.

President Obama tried the other day to elbow Al aside to lead with his assertion that hurricanes are getting worse and that only he has the power to put them in their place. Hurricanes are actually getting not worse, but fewer. Only three major hurricanes have made landfall so far in Mr. Obama's presidency. Grover Cleveland, who was president between 1885 and 1889, entertained 26 major hurricanes during his presidency, and that was before global warning was invented.

We were scheduled to see an enormous melting of polar ice by now, but even the ice won't co-operate. The U.S. Navy forecasts twice as much mid-September ice this year as it measured in 2012.

The only way to deal with the inconvenient truth is to bellow and bawl the convenient whopper louder than ever. In an interview this week with a blogger for The Washington Post, Ezra Klein greeted Al with a shower of sanitized softballs, and Al knocked some of them halfway back to the pitcher's mound. Al is exhausted dealing with the skeptics, whom he calls "denialists," as in denying the Holocaust. The denialists, he says, are "like a family with an alcoholic father who flies into a rage every time a subject is mentioned and so everybody avoids the elephant in the room to keep the peace."

Al, who is a decent sort who tried to be a good ol' boy when he went back home to visit the family tobacco farm, says the denialists remind him of racists, warmongers, homophobes and other congenital undesirables, but he thinks it won't be long until they're permanently silenced. "We're winning the conversation," he says.

On the contrary, what frustrates Al and the snake-oil industry is that the skeptics can no longer be shut out of the conversation. "We can expect the climate crisis industry to grow increasingly shrill, and increasingly hostile toward anyone who questions their authority," Kenneth P. Green, a former member of the U.N. panel, predicted three years ago. Another former panelist, Dr. Kimimori Itoh, a Japanese physical chemist, calls the phenomenon "the worst scientific scandal in history. When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science and scientists."

That's too bad, because when science and scientists one day discover a genuine crisis, nobody will listen. We're up to our ears already in snake oil.