Today's new word--archetypal

Again, not new, but can't think that I've ever used it, so I looked it up to find out why. Here's the context. "Polonius (Hamlet) is the archetypal yes-man, a court toady." Doesn't that just bring up an image of Robert Gibbs--Obama's yes-man. He sniffs at Climategate; sneers at Fox as not real news. Toady is such a wonderful word. But I digress. It comes from archetypum, arche + typos, stamped first. Archē (arkay) ἀρχή in Greek means that which was in the beginning, a first principle. It's the word used in the first verse of the Gospel of John, "in the beginning" and numerous other places in the Gospels. "Archetypal yes-man" then means constituting a model for all the court toadies to come.

There are so many delightful words that begin or end with "arch" meaning first in time or first in importance.

•monarch: The sole ruler of a state or country.
•archbishop: The chief bishop of a diocese.
•architect: The chief builder or designer.
•archeology; archeologist: The study of ancient civilizations; a scientist who excavates ancient cities.
•hierarchy: A group arranged in order of rank or grade.
•patriarch: The father or ruler of a family or group.
•matriarch: The mother or woman who rules the family or tribe.
•archdiocese: The district presided over by an archbishop.
•anarchy: Without a leader; absence of government and law.
•archduke: A chief duke.
•archipelago: A sea with a cluster of islands.
•archenemy: Chief enemy.
•archetype: Chief model.
•archaic: Belonging to ancient times; old-fashioned.
•archangel: Chief angel.
List from Word Focus

The real threat from global warming

It's driving politicians mad!

"Global warming just might be the most important problem facing Western civilization after all. Not because of anything the globe is doing, but rather because of the scientifically-proven fact that our politicians have all gone stark raving mad and could well agree to a plan, proposed at the Copenhagen Summit, to cut carbon dioxide emissions--and our economic output--by as much as 95%. . .

The only problem is that carbon dioxide, by any reasonable definition, is not a threat. Not counting our recent cooling period (or somehow massaging it away), the average global temperature, we were told, has increased by 0.6 degrees Celsius since 1900. To put this into perspective, 0.6 degrees is just barely within the human body's ability to detect. The new EPA ruling is not based on any observably harmful changes in the environment. Contrary what Al Gore may have told you, sea levels have not risen, the Arctic ice is melting and re-freezing pretty much as usual (although the amount of ice seems to depend on whom you ask), the main part of Antarctica is colder than ever, and hurricanes have, if anything, decreased in severity. The ruling is based solely on what a small number of scientists, who are psychologically committed to one specific conclusion, think might happen." Link Don't blame science for Climategate.

More arrests at Copenhagen's Hopenchangen

Wonder of Fancy Nancy has wept tears and spoken out against the leftists protesting in Copenhagen. Remember how she slandered the peaceful tea party protesters? Thousands of rowdy leftists--progressives, socialists, marxists and people along for the excitement--waving the Communist international flag--and where is Nancy? With tears. I want to see the tears she sheds over the "tone," violence and anger from the left. She insulted well behaved American patriots, many her age (but without the botox and surgical enhancements). Shame on you, Nancy. You're an embarrassment to your fellow senior citizens! This was said while choking back tears:

"Q: Madam Speaker, in terms of the political tone, the tone of the debate, Hoyer said earlier this week he thought it was the most vitriolic since ‘93-’94. And around that time we also saw acts of domestic violence, domestic terrorism. How concerned are you about the tone of the political debate, in terms of people talking about anti-government rhetoric and so on and the possibility of violence?


Speaker Pelosi: Well, I think we all have to take responsibility for our actions and our words. We are a free country, and this balance between freedom and safety is one that we have to carefully balance.

I have concerns about some of the language that is being used because I saw this, myself, in the late ’70s in San Francisco. This kind of rhetoric was very frightening, and it created a climate in which violence took place.

So I wish that we would all, again, curb our enthusiasm in some of the statements that are made, so that understanding that some of the people — the ears that it is falling on are not as balanced as the person making the statement might assume." From Caffeinated Thoughts

Who are the Deniers Now?

"A couple of years ago, supporters of global warming theory began referring to skeptics as “deniers” — implying that anyone who doubted climate change should be lumped with Holocaust deniers.

Now the shoe is on the other foot, thanks to the eye-popping e-mail dump that hit the Internet recently and quickly became known as “Climategate.” The response of much of the global-warming “community” has been … denial." Kansas City Star,"At the very least, it’s time for AGW hard-liners to climb down from their pulpits and stop treating every dissent as evidence of evil."

Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW)

Unstoppable Global Warming, Every 1,500 Years (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008) by Fred Singer and Dennis Avery sums up the theory of human-caused (anthropogenic) global warming:

• Computer models that cannot explain past temperature, let alone accurately forecast future ones, and whose funding depends on the public's fear of radical warming.
  
  
• Activists who oppose modern technology, abhor expanding human populations, and especially hate the low-cost energy that alleviates human poverty and misery. They say we must...renounce attractive lifestyles, give up high-yield farming, shorten millions of lives, and put more pressure on Third World forests for fuelwood.
  
  
• European politicians.
  
  
• Journalists looking for scary headlines.
  
  
• Various national and international bureaucracies and UN-appointed members and staff of the Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change. [p.198] Link

It's on list of books to read.

You don't need Sean or Rush to be a skeptic

Knowing I don't believe that humans control the climate, a friend asked me if I get my information from Sean and Rush. Why she would think that, I'm not sure since she knows how I love research and I question everything, regardless of the political slant and I seriously doubt she ever listens to either one of them. But the librarian in me just has to list this, 500 peer-reviewed papers supporting skepticism. . . Now I wouldn't agree with all of them, however, they represent an interesting span--some back to the early 1980s. But it's important to understand how government and foundation research grants are doled out, how peer-review is done, and how if you're not in the main stream (which could be flowing the wrong direction), you will be underfunded, understaffed, and under-promoted, whether in climate, astronomy, economics, library science, or war games. Even getting a published work to the shelf of a public library is political.

The triple crown of cooling

Joe Bastardi of Accuweather.com thinks we could be in more trouble if the earth cools. He sees the patterns of the past.

Today's new word--greenwashing

Although I've talked about this a lot (I receive all my husband's e-newsletters in architecture, materials, and construction methods), I didn't have a term.

"Greenwashing," a pejorative term derived from the term "whitewashing," was coined by environmental activists to describe efforts by corporations to portray themselves as environmentally responsible in order to mask environmental wrongdoings. The term "greenwashing" was originally confined to describing misleading instances of environmental advertising, but as corporations' efforts to portray themselves as environmentally virtuous have diversified and proliferated, so have charges of greenwashing. The term is now used to refer to a wider range or corporate activities, including, but not limited to, certain instances of environmental reporting, event sponsorship, the distribution of educational materials, and the creation of "front groups." However, regardless of the strategy employed, the main objective of greenwashing is to give consumers and policy makers the impression that the company is taking the necessary steps to manage its ecological footprint. Business Ethics

It is ubiquitous. And the public is very gullible. I'd throw "green jobs" into that mix, too. That's just a grab for government dollars. Greenwashing made the cover of TIME, but I don't read it unless I'm desperate and a copy has been abandoned somewhere, so I missed this very useful word.

Global warming measures and malaria

We've killed a lot of Africans and Asians with our messing around with malaria and other mosquito borne diseases--more than all the wars of the 20th century; more than all the lives lost in the transatlantic slave trade. But we could possibly do something with the money we're planning to throw at an unsuccessful warming trick. Like try to undo the damage.

"Take malaria. Most estimates suggest that if nothing is done, 3% more of the Earth's population will be at risk of infection by 2100. The most efficient global carbon cuts designed to keep average global temperatures from rising any higher than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels (a plan proposed by the industrialized G-8 nations) would cost the world $40 trillion a year in lost economic growth by 2100—and have only a marginal impact on reducing the at-risk malaria population. By contrast, we could spend $3 billion a year on mosquito nets, environmentally safe indoor DDT sprays, and subsidies for new therapies—and within 10 years cut the number of malaria infections by half. In other words, for the money it would take to save one life with carbon cuts, smarter policies could save 78,000 lives." BJORN LOMBORG

Unfortunately, to environmentalists a perceived non-threat to polar bears is a bigger deal than a real threat to an African child.

More Al Gore misinformation: Several weeks ago, Mr. Gore claimed on a TV talk show that the earth's core was millions of degrees hot, and at the Copenhagen climate change summit, he claimed new computer modelling suggesting a 75% chance of the entire polar ice cap melting during the summertime by 2014. However, Dr. Wieslav Maslowski, the climatologist whose work the prediction was based on, refuted his claims. “It’s unclear to me how this figure was arrived at. I would never try to estimate likelihood at anything as exact as this,” said Maslowski. Go home, Al. Buy a smaller home. Make a smaller footprint. You are an embarrassment.

Watching Glenn Beck

If you're not watching Glenn, if you're only getting him through the George Soros funded marxism filter (Media Matters), you're missing one of the best shows on TV. It's part theater (comedy, mime, silliness), part classroom (lots of blackboard and visuals) part spirituality (heavy redemption theme) and part politics and patriotism (libertarian). The left has no response except to ridicule, call him names, and threaten his sponsors. Because most of his sources and guests are very solid--Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, Joe Lieberman, Judge Napolitano (the guy with a hairline down to his eye brows) and he gives them time to talk without interruption, you can actually understand different perspectives.

Recently, he's been going after Robert Creamer, the convicted felon husband of Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. Because Glenn made light of being unable to pronounce her Slavic name, they got all over him and tried to inflame the Chicago Polish community. After that made the rounds of all the lefty bloggers they found out she was of Russian heritage, not Polish. And really, the way names get transliterated and adjusted by the census takers and Ellis Island gate people, who knows how Poles would pronounce it if she were Polish. (I used to work with an Illinois woman 40 years ago who had a Polish surname with a -wiec ending (vee-etts or vee-etch) which she pronounced -wick because she was 3rd generation American and didn't even have relatives who spoke Polish. But Beck was supposed to know. That's the level the left has fallen to--judging not his information, but his pronunciation of a Russian name they thought was Polish. It's not like the Left ever mispronounced BUSH as SHRUB or anything.

I've read through the Media Matters columns (many) on Glenn's Creamer story (from Breitbart TV) and they can't dispute anything Glenn says about Creamer, only that the facts are "smears." I believe Creamer has called him a McCarthyite--problem is McCarthy was an elected official going after the media and celebrities, so what to make of that? A bit like Creamer, one person removed from Congress, and author of the President's health care plan, going after someone in the media and or entertainment field to shut him up, isn't it? I don't know what you have to do in Illinois to get convicted as a felon, but it must be tough. He and his wife were also big Blagojevich supporters--or am I thinking of another Illinois politician?

Did you hear the lefties are now threatening Joe Lieberman's wife because he won't walk the plank for Obamacare? How low can they go?

Who will you believe?

Losing private coverage, cost increases, rationed care, doctors fleeing the field--it’s all there in Obamacare. Why would we want this? What were we promised during the 2008 campaign and since January 20? It hardly matters, does it? Go back and look it up, but it was all Lies. It was all lies. Our representatives have failed us by not reading their bill and then demeaning the outrage of the voters who did read it; our senators might as well be employees of the lobbyists and special interests. We were told the “system” was broken even though over 80% were satisfied with their employer or private based health insurance. In Europe about that many are dissatisfied or think their government plan is broken!

What to think when government agencies have different agendas? The White House Council of Economic Advisors says something completely different than the CBO and the CMMS. The new "fat cat" Obama attacks on the banks is just to take your eye off health care ball/bill, which is probably a ruse to take your eye off the economy busting cap and trade plan, which is probably a deception to confuse you about the complete take over through various regulations, laws and loss of freedoms of everything we thought we had in this country.

Robert Creamer, the Illinois convicted felon who wrote this plan, must be rubbing his hands with glee, a witch over a caldron, "Well my pretties, Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air." Indeed.

Today’s new word--impacted

“The Internet has impacted news and journalism more than almost any other category of information.” Library of Congress Preservation Newsletter, Oct. 2009

Not a new word--just grates on my ear/eye when I hear it/see it, and I always wonder if it’s correct. Not trusting the Library of Congress to be jargon free, I looked it up at Daily Writing Tips.

Using the word “impact” as a verb meaning to strike forcefully against something was first heard in 1916, according to Daily Writing Tips. And verbs have participles, thus the above sentence with “has impacted.”

Before that (and still in use) “impact” meant pack in or up, to press together--like an impacted tooth or impacted bowel. Impact as a noun was noted almost 200 years ago in 1817, “the effect of coming into contact with a thing or a person” or collision, forcible contact. And nouns become verbs all the time. Like Google and google. Or mother and mother. House and house. Impact is a word the EPA loves to use.

And the writer of that tip doesn’t like it either, but didn't say it was incorrect--just disconcerting.

Learning new words was one of my unmet New Year’s Resolutions for 2009. When I go back and reread them, I see I didn’t learn them, just wrote about them.

Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo

Last night we got in line, after line, after line along with thousands of others from central Ohio to see the Wildlights (Nov. 20-Jan.2). The temperatures had moderated a bit, and I think everyone within 100 miles had decided this was a good time. I can't tell you how many children and elders we saw in rolling vehicles bundled in coats and blankets. It was really fun to see people of all ages, but particularly multi-generational families, out having a good time. We took our house guests, Zeke and Frandy, citizens of Haiti and students at the University of Akron. But it was our first time to see the lights too, and I doubt that we'd been to the zoo in 20 years. All the animals that weren't asleep were visited, because people wanted to get inside warm buildings! We didn't leave home until about 6:30, and if you're planning to take in this show, I recommend you start out much earlier than we did. We were probably at our exit off Rt. 33 at least 30 minutes, and I think the people exiting the outbelt waited even longer. While we were waiting the boys sang "O Holy Night" for us in French. (They know four languages.) Fortunately, in our last line, the ticket line, someone had extra coupons for one person free with one adult purchase, so between the four of us that saved us $14.

At church today, our guests were able see our Haiti missionaries, Dave and Pam Mann, home for the holidays, and visit four of our nine services to meet the people who support Institution Univers. Our son joined us for dinner, and tonight our UALC couples' group and some neighbors will get together at our home.

No, you take her!

From Tim Reynolds AP report on how Tiger is hurting the other pro golfers and the fans.

"Take Dodie Mills, a 61-year-old pediatric nurse from Port Charlotte, Fla. She was at the Shootout to see Kenny Perry, among others, but says her real lure to watching and playing golf has been Woods.

Him, she wants to forgive.

The women whom Woods has reportedly been linked to, Mills has much harsher words for them.

"I think all the fame, all the money he has, all the women took advantage of it," Mills said. "He and his wife love each other. I know they do, and Tiger will do what's right. ... I can understand how a man in that position can be very easily swayed by women. I was 23 once. He's in his prime. All these women wanted a piece of him."

Mills was hardly alone in that assessment.

Noted sports attorney David Cornwell also pointed out that the women — more than 10 by some counts — who have been romantically linked to Woods in the last two weeks should bear as much of the blame as the golfer himself."

What vow did these women break? Who was bringing possible disease and mayhem home to the marriage bed? Poor, little helpless, self-centered, rich beyond his wildest dreams, Tiger. Victimized by all these low life Bimbos, run of the mill waitresses and "non-professionals" as a former madam called them. While his wife was pregnant. Yeah, lots of sympathy I'd give the adulterer. Most of these dreary look-alikes thought she only was "special," that she was the one to light the fire the wife at home couldn't. Where's the sympathy for confused, morally corrupt women? Give me a break. That's about the most idiotic piece of writing I've seen on this topic!

Getting a jump on New Year's Resolutions

Eat less, move more, don't smoke. Works for everyone. It was settled long ago--even our mothers and grandmothers knew this. But it's still good for a research grant.

"Combined impact of lifestyle factors on mortality: prospective cohort study in US women." Rob M van Dam and others. (Harvard School of Public Health) BMJ 2008;337:a1440 Free access to entire article.

If it's too cold to walk outside, walk in the halls and stairwells or the mall. And don't you believe that old myth that it's too expensive to eat healthy. It costs far less to take some fresh fruit to work, or warm up a few veggies in the microwave than to eat a loaded ciabatta bread with chips.

Now, if I could just take my own advice. . .

Creating jobs and wealth

Congressman John Campbell (R-CA) at Townhall wrote about how Obamanomics (saving and/or creating non-existent jobs) could work in real life using the Obamath. He gave an example of “saving” calories he could have eaten but didn't, and how he could gain weight. He asked his constituents for examples and thought this one the best.

Dear John:

Using Obamamath, I've just saved, nay, created a great deal of money. How? I had wanted to buy a new Lamborghini Gallardo roadster so that I could drive to the White House to personally thank our beloved President for all that he is doing to save us from financial ruin. The trip, via New Orleans in order to view the results of former President Bush's failure to forestall Hurricane Katrina, would have been an approximately 6,000-mile roundtrip.

I didn't buy the Lamborghini, as it wasn't manufactured by Government Motors. I not only saved (created) some $243,000 (including tax) by not making this purchase, but I saved (created) an additional $1,500 by not purchasing fuel for the trip.

Since both the Gallardo and its fuel would have been imported, I'm sure that the Governmental Accountability Office would classify these as "green" savings.
Thus by not buying a Lamborghini Gallardo, and not driving it to visit our President, I will have created a total of $244,500 in Green Savings. Not bad for an amateur!

But think for a moment: If each of the approximately 4 million families who live in Barack Obama's Illinois and Joe Biden's Delaware were to NOT buy a new Lamborghini, and NOT drive to the White House (via New Orleans), we would create an additional $1 trillion in new Green Wealth. Now that's Obamawealth with a vengeance!

But it's only a suggestion

Washington Post, again late to the party, says: "Arrests suggest U.S. Muslims, like those in Europe, can be radicalized abroad." Link. Actually, they can be radicalized at home too, as the Ft. Hood terrorist has proven, and other examples from the WaPo article. A-3 of yesterday's WSJ had a full page (2 stories) on young American Muslims radicalized right here in the good old US of A. Products of American schools and parents. David Headley (changed his Pakistani Muslim name) who is fair skinned due to an American mother is charged with helping the 2008 deadly Mumbai attacks. Then five American Muslims have been arrested by Pakistani anti-terrorism authorities. They had been reported missing by their DC area families. I wonder if they'll be treated as well as the Gitmo detainees by the Pakistanis?

Over a week ago (Dec. 4), the story in the WSJ about the al-Qaeda bombing of a graduation ceremony in Somalia brought ears to my eyes--and a lot of anger. Even the liberal WSJ seemed at a loss for appropriate "explaining away" the horrible images of a graduation blown up by fellow Muslims--why? For accepting aid and assistance from the U.S. so Somalia can drag itself out of the middle ages. Did Obama even mention it? No, he can personally and ignorantly condemn the Boston police on a moment's notice, but for 19 dead Muslims blown to pieces, a message from the State Department will have to do. It's not like there wasn't warning--an April WaPo story said the administration was "mulling" over the evidence. In that story it was reported 20 Somali-Americans were training in Somalia. Mulling. Is that another word for dithering--as in Afghanistan troop requests? He's the one with all the warm fuzzies, who thinks the power of himself will quell all this violence and evil. Oh wait. No, that was before his Afghanistan speech. Our just-fell-off-the-turnip-truck President must be a delight for the Muslim terrorists. Or maybe the Somali Muslims didn't get that message that he now knows there is good AND evil. Maybe they know he has no intention of stopping them. The account of Abdinasir Mohamed's of doctors, engineers, professors and government officials being left in a pile of mangled bodies is something all jihad-deniers need to read.

No creator, designer or planner

"MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs found in viruses, plants and animals. They regulate gene expression by binding to complementary sequences within target miRNAs. The mammalian genome encodes hundreds of miRNAs that collectively affect the expression of about one-third of all genes."

And to think this all just happened. No creator, no designer, no planner. We couldn’t exist without "the awesome power of miRNAs" as Nature magazine calls it. Awesome. Power. Seems I've heard that theme before.

Psalm 66: 1 Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
2 sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise!
3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.

Prosperity in the Heartland

A recent study at the University of Illinois found that much of rural America is actually prosperous. What accounts for their flourishing? Family ties and civic-minded churches, says the blogger at First Things, at Green Acres is the Place to be. I receive regular newsletters from the U. of I. on research, but must have missed this one of a few days ago.

"Why Some Rural Places Prosper and Others Do Not" was coauthored by Andrew Isserman, Edward Feser, and Drake Warren and published in the International Regional Science Review in July 2009.

Counties in America's Heartland came out on top with half its rural counties prospering. USDA defines the Heartland as Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa and parts of six adjacent states.

In the Southeast and Southwest, fewer than one in twenty rural counties prosper.

Prosperous rural counties have more off-farm jobs, more educated populations, and less income inequality than other rural counties. Geographical factors like climate, topography, distances to cities and airports, and interstate highways are unimportant in distinguishing prosperous counties from others.

"Instead, the results supported what many rural people believe to be true—civically engaged religious groups and a common ancestry can really matter," Isserman said.

Interstate highways and airports not so much. Hmmm. Go tell that to the pork fed Congress that never misses an opportunity for naming. From reading the press release it doesn't look like the scholars will pursue faith and shared values as a reason for prosperity--plan to dig deeper on the lack of prosperity in those counties with high minority populations.

When better isn't good enough

"After much soul-searching, I have decided to take an indefinite break from professional golf. I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person." Tiger Woods

Imagine that. He needs soul-searching to reach deep within his vacuous, moldy value system to see if bedding Bratz look-alike Bimbos was the best work out routine for his wife, family and career. If we can believe these devoted groupies, some of whom are probably confessing just to get their photo on the web, "everyone" knew--they were seen publically, photos were taken, arrangements were made for the hook-ups. Since he made no attempt to hide it, even other golf celebs knew and didn't say anything, just what did Tiger think was going to happen? (Probably not that his wife would clobber him with a golf club.) Where was the press which was so concerned about Lindsey Lohan, Britney Spears, Michael Vick, Dave Letterman (for 2 or 3 days) and other morally shriveled celebs? Apparently firmly attached to the Tiger gravy train. It was worth more to keep quiet than to sell that story to his adoring, blind public.

When these ladies of the night (and day and morning) start comparing dollar figures, there is going to be some flaming wrath and law suits like you wouldn't believe, but by then the press will have moved on to protect their next income source.