Susan Speaks! (or, if you want to get technical,writes)

Hello!

This is my first foray into blog posting, something Mike has been after me for a while to do. I still have to learn how to add pictures, which will undoubtably make my postings more interesting. I plan to take a picture of my first knitting project and put it up. That's right, I am taking a knitting class. There is a cute little yarn store right at the end of our block, and every time I go past it I think "Wouldn't it be fun to learn how to knit?" Well, it took me three years to get around to it, but I've been to two of the four classes and have mastered the two basic stitches. This has allowed me to start on what has historically been every beginning knitter"s first project since the dawn of time - a scarf. When that sucker is done I will be so proud of myself I'm going to wear it every day, even if it is made out of thick ropy wool and the temperature hasn't dipped below 60 degrees in weeks.

Well, that's it for this evening. I'm going to try to post this now and see if it works. ( Extreme skepticism surrounding technology + knitting = I am turning into an 85 year old woman!) Now if you'll excuse me I have to remove my hearing aids, take out my teeth and set my hair in rollers before I go to bed - I want to be well-rested for my bridge game tomorrow. Good night!

Susan

Willy Wonka Factory? Not quite.

We set off with our new French friends to visit the Scharfenberger chocolate plant in Berkeley!


Before we were allowed to enter the chocolate factory we had to don hairnets and endure a lecture on the history of the cocoa bean. Highlight of the talk was a guy who took issues with Scharfenberger not being "Fair Trade". Hey, it's Berkeley afterall. Click the image to watch the video.

A chocolate machine of some sort.

Cat Blogging

Friend or foe?

Hank learning to blog. Who will publish a post to this blog first? Susan or Hank? Odds anyone?

The Great Global Warming Swindle

Here's a great video with real scientists and real science countering the almost religious-like dogma of the man-made global warming (MMGW) crowd. Most important points to take away from this video:

1. Throughout earth's history, ice core analysis shows that CO2 levels actually have FOLLOWED temperature trends. In other words, CO2 is an EFFECT of temperature change. This evidence is directly contrary to the implicit MMGW assumption that C02 is te CAUSE of temperature change.
2. Solar patterns are a much better indicator and predictor of global temperatures. Also, as the earth is currently warming, so are the other planets in the solar system.
3. MMGW logic dictates that the earth's troposphere should be warming faster than the surface temperature of the globe...it isn't.
4. The earth has been much warmer than it is now...and has had had bigger "mood swings" than now. The Arctic and Antarctic have been much bigger than they are now. They've also been smaller before, no thanks to human CO2
5. During the post-WW2 boom in industry and CO2 production, global temperatures actually fell (from 1940-1970)
6. CO2 is a MINOR greenhouse gas that comprises a tiny fraction of the greenhouse gas total pie. Human contribution to the total CO2 mix is even smaller. Water vapor is by far the biggest greenhouse agent.

Woman of Courage: Ayaan Hirsi Ali

We had a chance to listen to Ayaan last week as she talked about her new book, Infidel. If you don't know who Ayaan is, you simply must learn more about her. I don't use the word "hero" lightly, but she qualifies. And Ayaan had about 6 bodyguards with her to prove it. The Western World needs more women like Ayaan. Ironically, Ayaan was born and raised in Africa. What makes her of particular interest is not only her remarkable courage in the face of Islamic death threats but also the fact that she is of a gender and skin color which prevents the modern-day Left from dismissing her with the usual "racist" and "Islamopobe" smears.

That's a copy of Atlas Shrugged under her arm there - a fellow guest gave her a copy to read.

Animal Matrix: The Intro

Here's the intro to a movie that was alas, never completed. Promising beginning, especially with those animal mixed martial arts! Click the image to start the video. Turn your audio on!