A Few Updegrove Christmas Photos

7 Reasons Why I Don't Trust Climate Change

7. Anecdotal evidence. When it is 70 degrees in the northeast in January, people claim it is global warming. When it is 50 degrees in the southeast in July, people question global warming. Al Gore uses a photo of a polar bear standing on a small floating piece of ice to scare little kids about the future of the earth (and polar bears). I read where they found the photographer who took that photograph. The photographer said that they were surrounded by all kinds of ice. The polar bear was basically on a joy ride, which made for a fun photo. The photographer had no idea that his photo would eventually be used to sell global warming. The reality behind the image would have told the exact opposite story. I remember hearing an 18 year old student from Alaska testifying before Congress a couple years ago. She was in tears because of all the climate change she had witnessed during her lifetime. Are you kidding? That is the kind of testimony being given before Congress? Anecdotal stories should not be used in the selling of global warming.

6. Where is the real science? Actor and activist Ed Begley says we should follow the peer to peer reviews to get the most accurate scientific information about global warming. With the release of the thousands of emails from Climate Change Alarmists (CCA) a couple months ago, it is clear that people with power in the scientific world were out to "politicize" the data and research, even tainting the peer to peer reviews. Scientists with opposing data, research, and analysis were routinely dismissed and trashed. The central tenet of Al Gore's movie was the hockey stick graft, showing a dramatic rise in temperature over the past 100 years, backing his contention that global warming is man made. Without that graft, Al's argument loses a lot of its punch. Many mathematicians and scientists have made their case disputing the data behind that graft. Al refuses to talk about it. The leaked emails seem to indicate a systemic move to block any data or research that would question what the CCA crowd wants to protect. That is not science.

5. Economics. There is the science side of climate change, which has been politicized with suspect data; and then there is the economic side of climate change. The U.S. economy is carbon based. We need energy, good energy, to be productive and prosperous. Right now that energy comes from things like oil, coal, gas and nuclear means. Relying on wind or solar simply won't cut it. The arguments against carbon based energy is that 1) it damages the earth, and 2) in the U.S. we rely too much on foreign sources for our energy. We pay out too much to these other countries. Of course the people who make this argument are the same people who refuse to let us explore and mine our own oil and coal. Imagine what a boon to the economy it would be if we could go after our own resources? I believe one of the things that is holding back our economy is the government and the CCA crowd putting a stop to anything sensible that would free up our energy needs, which gets to the first point, that carbon based energy is damaging the earth. Here it would be nice if the science was reliable. On the contrary the evidence for man made global warming is just not there, at least not to the degree that it should be trusted or that trillions of dollars should be wasted chasing the possibility of making a half of a degree difference. When it comes to spending money, there are certainly much better ways to enhance the quality of lives, or indeed to save lives.

4. So what is "normal"? Normal body temperature is considered to be 98.6 degrees, One of God's imprints on man is that temperature. It doesn't matter where you live or when you lived, your normal body temperature while alive is 98.6. Now there are slight variations, depending on whether the temperature was taken orally or through the ear or through some other means, but a person doesn't have to worry about variations until they are more pronounced. At that point, when you feel awful, a doctor can come in and help diagnose why your temperature is now 104, and hopefully help heal it. So what is the normal temperature of the earth? Climate change alarmists seem to believe that there is such a thing. The problem is 1) there is no normal universal global temperature that fits no matter where or when you live, and 2) even in a static place like Virginia, climate changes day to day, week to week, year to year. This leads to my next point:

3. Climate changes both fast and slow. I certainly can remember times when it was near 70 degrees out one day and the very next day it snowed. On the opposite spectrum, we have not experienced an Ice Age in my lifetime, but in the lifetime of the earth there have been several variations of Ice Ages. Significant climate change can occur over stretches of thousands of years, just as easily as it can occur overnight. Now, let's figure that an Ice Age is not a good thing for humans, but the warming age that follows is good. Now let's imagine that Al Gore was around during the tail end of an Ice Age. Wouldn't we be hearing the exact same message from him: the earth is warming, the ice is melting, the poor polar bears, the world is coming to an end? All of this gets back to my previous point: what is "normal"? Perhaps the earth is warming to a previous normal, or to a new normal. Who are we in the year 2000+ to say that our time in the earth's existence is the correct normal?

2. Evolution? It is at this point that I am mystified by evolution minded people. The basic tenet of evolution is the survival of the fittest. Another tenet is that species adapt to their changing environment, evolving into something else. If the climate is changing, shouldn't we just let evolution take its course? Maybe the evolution gods have something better in mind for us.

1. The debate is over? If I could ask Al Gore one question, it would probably be this: "Please provide us with the transcripts, either from video or audio, of the public peer to peer debates that you and your fellow alarmists have engaged in with those who disagree with your data and the interpretations of that data? As I see it, Al Gore put out a movie that gave his side of the argument. In that movie he used data, research, video and photo images . . many of which have been disputed and/or shown to be false . . to make his case. With the release of the movie Al declared that the debate was over, which was understandable because at that point Al was ready to reap his millions from this "scam". He didn't want to waste valuable time with debates. It was time to cash in while the cash was flowing. I'm thinking those transcripts don't exist, primarily because those debates never occurred. So what exactly is Al talking about when he says the debate is over. What debate? This is where the media has been lazy. I just don't recall witnessing a series of real peer to peer public debates regarding climate change. Al, did I miss something? Please show us the transcripts. I would love to catch up on what apparently many of us missed.

This Should Disgust You

I realize that politicians are known for wheeling and dealing, but what Senator Ben Nelson and Harry Reid just did today should indeed want to make you scream. This is absolutely outrageous, outdoing the $300 million Louisiana Purchase that took place a few weeks back with Mary Landrieu. For more info, please read this.

Global Warming Reading For a Snowy Day

For those of you stuck inside because of the possible two feet of snow expected along the east coast, here is a recommended short article about the global warming hype. Settled science? Two feet of snow?

There They Go Again

Just got done listening to Neil Cavuto interview Congresswoman Kilpatrick from Michigan. When challenged by Cavuto about Congress spending so much money, she proceeded to talk about the condition of the economy left to them by George Bush, then said we have to now spend more money in order to take care of the American people. Taking care of the people is always the excuse used by people in government for spending more money. Can you think of any appropriation bill that did not carry with it the promise that this was going to serve the people? Maybe they all have good intentions (as opposed to serving their own needs . . yeah, okay, probably not), but their "generosity" with our money is largely what is driving our economy into the ground. Basically what this congresswoman was saying is that it was bad when Bush did it, but our efforts are noble. Do they ever listen to what they are saying?

Family Photos

Some people were asking me lately about my Family Album project. For those who are not familiar with it, about 6-7 years ago I started scanning some of the old photos and slides from our family. It started with several hundred black and white prints that my dad photographed, developed and printed. Most of these were of our immediate family. I also had several hundred slides that I had taken over the years as well. When I first started the project, it was meant as a Christmas present to everyone in the family . . their own set of digital images.

Well, in the following years this project has continued to mature . . and get bigger. What started as maybe 200 images that first year has grown into roughly 35,000 images today. That number is correct: 35,000. With weddings, beach trips, my brother Craig's very large collection of negatives over the past 25 years, the discovery of my dad's old black and white negatives (about 4000), and all kinds of other stray groups of images, the Updegrove Family Album is huge.

What makes it nice are three things: 1) everyone in the family has their own dedicated hard drive with all the images stored on it, that way if there is ever a fire, we will never lose our family photos; 2) the photos are all keyworded by name(s) and/or events and are indexed into galleries . . if I want to pull up every photo with my mom in it, I just click on her name in the index and there they all are; and 3) I have had a built in Christmas present decided every year for the past 6-7 years. Throughout the year I continue to scan, or in some cases re-scan, old images; plus add newer digital images to the collection. On average I probably add about 4000 images each year. That number will probably soon slow down though as we reach our threshold of old images. At Christmas everyone gets their update with a Merry Christmas from me.

Anyhow, I am including a few images of my folks here, taken right about the time they were dating each other.

Obama's B+

When asked by the Oprah to grade himself concerning his presidency so far, Barack Obama gave himself "a strong B+". This, of course, is laughable; and it shows just how completely self absorbed this president is as he sits in the oval office. My assessment of what Obama means by B+ is that he is really, really trying really, really hard. He has giving hundreds of speeches, has been on the television and in the press constantly, has traveled to a number of foreign countries, and has laid out dozens of policies destined to transform America into Europe.

The key here is that he is really trying hard . . really working hard. The results of all that trying and all that hard work is besides the point. In school lingo, if a student studies really hard, putting in all kinds of time to prepare for a test . . but then flunks the test, should that student receive an "F" as a grade, or should they receive "a solid B+", because they tried really hard? This is the problem with someone who has never held a private sector job. In business, you can put in 16 hour days for two years . . trying really hard to build your business; but if you never make enough money to stay in business, and in fact end up owing people a lot of money that you could never repay, it would be very hard to call that a success. I doubt if that person could look at their situation and say they deserve "a solid B+", simply because they put in so much effort. Or consider an NFL team that finishes a season 2-14. Certainly the players and the coaches practiced hard, and prepared hard; but if they end up with that kind of record, would anyone in their right mind say they deserve "a solid B+" as a grade?

This kind of accounting can only happen within government, and/or with someone who is delusional. Take your pick.

Code Red December 15 DC Rally

Made it down to DC for the Code Red rally Tuesday. Not a large enough crowd to make Washington quake in their boots, but I kind of get the feeling that most people in Washington don't seem to care about their political futures anymore. Why else would these folks vote for a bill that, by all accounts, most Americans don't want? Second photo down is Laura Ingraham and SC Senator Jim Demint.

The Audacity of Copenhagen

Perhaps you have heard that there is a climate change summit taking place in Copenhagen. Thousands of zealots flew in on private jets, renting so many limos that more had to be brought in from neighboring countries, and expending tremendous amounts of carbon . . all for a summit. Undoubtedly many of those attending the summit will justify their journey by saying what they are doing now, while perhaps contributing to the crisis, will ultimately contribute more by saving the planet. In other words, their motives and their work is so pure and holy that it really doesn't matter whether they are being hypocritical. The ends justify the means. This work is so important that we cannot be caught up in trivial issues. And it is so important that we meet in person rather than have our summit through more modern and "green" means, such as online. Imagine that, everyone sacrifices for the sake of the earth by staying home and having their summit online.

This is the same argument Al Gore uses. His work and his message is so important that he must travel all over the world so he can personally deliver it. There is no other way around it. People want to hear from him (hard for me to believe, but apparently true), and they want to hear him in person. All of this does make sense. Just like it makes sense for someone to travel cross country to personally be at their best friend's wedding. Just like it makes sense for a company to pull together it's managers for several days of workshops and training. Just like it makes sense for a family to fly to Florida for spring vacation. In other words, we all have our own reasons for being somewhere in person. We all have our own reasons for traveling, which inevitably, expends carbon; and according to the zealots, inevitably will destroy the earth.

For Al and his friends, their preference would be for you and me to give all of that up, to make our own personal sacrifices. We can no longer freely come and go wherever we want, however we want. But not for Al, or his friends. Flying to Copenhagen for a summit is okay. It is holy after all. Family vacation . . business trip . . not so holy. I think many people would beg to differ.

Man Made Global Warming

John Hawkins does a nice, concise job exposing what can only be called a political and scientific scam: global warming. The big walk away here is that global warming is something our earth had experienced many times before man was even capable of contributing to it. In other words, it is very, very suspect whether man is responsible for whatever warming has taken place over the past century. If man has not been responsible, it seems to me that should change the entire climate change argument a la Al Gore. It should also change the straggle hold these people have placed on our energy and our economy. I've always said that I am 100% behind a sensible approach toward protecting our environment. Clean air, clean water, protecting nature whenever possible, protecting national treasures. All of this comes at a cost though. Being sensible means not imposing regulations and taxes that ultimately drive people into poverty, all to maybe drop the temperature by .1 degree over the next 20 years, especially when these kinds of decisions are based on faulty, politicized data. I'm not a conspiracy person, or a nut, but it sure seems to me that this is all being forced through by people who ultimately want some kind of one world government. What comes out of Copenhagen will be a good example of this. And our country, especially our politicians, seem to be falling for it.

Time To End The Global Warming Scam

Anyone under the age of 25 probably has been indoctrinated with a belief in man made global warming. They have been taught in school and in our media that 1) global warming is unique to our time in the history of the earth, and that 2) man is responsible for this warming, and that 3) changing light bulbs, driving corn run hybrids, and paying carbon credits will save the earth. They have also been told by people like Al Gore that the science is settled, therefore not only is there is no reason for any debate, but dissension will just not be tolerated. This is the gospel truth, according to Al.

I'm reminded at this point of all the talk about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) throughout the Clinton and the Bush administration. The intelligence reports were in and they were all consistent: Saddam Hussein was hiding WMD and was ready to use it. We acted on that intelligence, only to find that apparently it was not true. As a result people on the left came up with their infamous rally cry: Bush lied, people died. This of course was nonsense. Bush may have been wrong and/or may have been misled with faulty information; but he did what he should have done with the information he had . . he acted. What if the intelligence ended up being accurate?

This past week we found out that the foundational "science" behind global warming has been made up. We found out that some of the main movers and shakers in the global warming scam have been hiding information that countered their assertions. They purposely set out to quiet any dissenting views. They have generated their own version of a man made crisis, one that was/is certain to cost us trillions of dollars.

There are legitimate questions about Al Gore's intentions and just how much he really believes the crap he preaches. If he really believed the world would end in 10 years if we don't do something now, would he continue to fly in personal jets, live in an overly large home, eat hamburgers? But for the moment, let's say Al really does believe all of this, and that his belief system was built on all the "science" that is now suspect. Are people on the left willing to cry out: Al lied, people died? After all, think of all the people who have suffered because of the limitations hard core environmentalism has placed on them. If the science is wrong and if there is absolutely no global warming impact with burning coal or oil for our energy needs, think of how that would transform our economy and national security. More to the point, if before going into Iraq we were told that the intelligence was wrong, should we have still gone in under the pretense of getting rid of WMD? I don't think so. We are now faced with the same mis-information about man made global warming. So how will we respond?

People under the age of 25 probably don't know what to do with this kind of scam. It goes against everything they have been taught. My guess is that most have never heard a counter argument to man made global warming. It will be curious to see what politicians do with this information. They too have become beholden to interest groups who preach "green", at a cost that could bankrupt our country. Look at California. Hopefully they will have the guts to put an end to anything having to do with cap and trade, or with keeping us from drilling for oil or coal. We cannot survive on wind and solar. We don't need to.