“Citizens for Fire Safety” Answers Threat from “Citizens for Fire Recklessness”

The Citizens for Fire Safety has blanketed Maryland with scary flyers calling Maryland legislative bill HB1 “A Deadly Mistake” - “Help stop the bill that will ban material used to make flame resistant products. Call your state Senator!”

Undoubtedly, there are a lot of “Citizens for Fire Recklessness” groups that are mad now…

Strangely, the Maryland State Fireman’s Assocation supports SB1:

The Citizens for Fire Safety have not returned phone calls or e-mails as we have requested them to do to validate their existence or claims. Lobbyists have been hired by this group to contact as many fire service personnel as possible to assist in the defeat of this bill. We are not sure if they have given a complete and accurate set of facts with their requests.

PLEASE!!! If you have been contacted by this group, call us and get the true facts from people you know and can trust to be there tomorrow. Be sure you know the FULL STORY before you make your decision to call your legislators.

Which likely leads one to believe that Citizen for Fire Safety is really just Manufacturers of Chemical Crap with a website.

Minnkota Power not happy about climate change

Minnkota Power, a generation/transmission cooperative serving electricity consumers in northwest Minnesota and eastern North Dakota, is not happy about climate change and they want their customers to know about it, every other month. A review of their customer newsletter, the Minnkota Messenger, indicates a consistent concern that climate change is a massive environmental sham. Some of it reads like grocery store tabloids and it’s quite interesting how much coverage they give to it, perhaps hoping that quantity will make up for quality. They might do well to read “How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic.”

• Nov/Dec 2007, p6 - “A Developing Catastrophe”

• Sep/Oct 2007 - break

• Jul/Aug 2007, p9 - “Global Warming: The Rest of the Story”

• May/Jun 2007 - break

• Mar/Apr 2007 - break

• Jan/Feb 2007, p9: “Polar Bears and Climate Change”

• Nov/Dec 2006 - break

• Sep/Oct 2006, p6: “A shaky foundation”

• Jul/Aug 2006, p6: “Another Perspective: Noted scientist weighs in on climate change issue”

• May/Jun 2006, p10: “Political Science: New film puts climate change in headlines”

• Mar/Apr 2006, p10: “Myth: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate.”

• Jan/Feb 2006, p10: “An astonishing discovery: Recent finding underscores cautionary approach”

• Nov/Dec 2005 - break

• Sep/0ct 2005, p11 - “A hurricane of misinformation global warming activists turn storms into spin”

• Jul/Aug 2005, p6 - “Earth’s ever-changing climate state geologist offers his perspective”

• May/Jun 2005, p12 - “Alarmist warning; Myth: Carbon dioxide levels in the Earth’s atmosphere are currently at an all-time high.”

• Mar/Apr 2005, p11: “Baliunas debunks Kyoto Protocol”

• Jan/Feb 2005, p12: “Myth: Global warming caused the recent tsunami in Sumatra.”

And the list goes on…

20 Things You Have to Believe to be a Republican

This has been posted in numerous places online, but I thought I’d continue the virus (Source):

1. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you’re a conservative radio host. Then it’s an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.

2. The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.

3. Government should relax regulation of Big Business and Big Money but crack down on individuals who use marijuana to relieve the pain of illness.

4. “Standing Tall for America” means firing your workers and moving their jobs to India.

5. A woman can’t be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multinational corporations can make decisions affecting all humankind without regulation.

6. Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

7. The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veterans’ benefits and combat pay.

8. Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins unless you someday run for governor of California as a Republican.

9. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won’t have sex.

10. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our longtime allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

11. HMOs and insurance companies have the interest of the public at heart.

12. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.

13. Global warming and tobacco’s link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

14. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush’s daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy when Bush needed a “we can’t find Bin Laden” diversion.

15. A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is a solid defense policy.

16. Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.

17. The public has a right to know about Hillary’s cattle trades, but George Bush’s driving record is none of our business.

18. You support states’ rights, which means Attorney General John Ashcroft can tell states what local voter initiatives they have a right to adopt.

19. What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the 1980s is irrelevant.

20. Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist; but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

[Update 1/5/08: It's pretty sweet when your blog has thousands of hits, not because of something intelligent you wrote (if I've in fact done that), but because of humerous crap that you passed along.]

DC Signs: That’s a Sharp Pencil

Rhode Island Avenue is in the process of being resurfaced from North Capital to 30th St NE. In an amazing feat of accountancy, the project’s costs are known down to the penny…

Federal Highway Trust Funds: $1,495,597.23

District of Columbia: $303,076.53

Road Trip from Mount Rainier (MD) to Fairlington (VA)

We live in Mount Rainier, Maryland, that town you’ve never heard of that is not a mountain and is right next to DC. When we go to visit friends in Fairlington, we pass some curious sights and good food on the way…road trip!

1. Rita’s Ice Cones - Rhode Island and South Dakota

You can get soft serve ice cream, but why? Instead, go for the gelati. Tonight I had custard with pina colada and wild black cherry flavored shaved ice on top of more custard. Incredible. The choice for DC and Prince George’s County ambulances - five stopped by in the hour we were there.

2. Road Funds Sign - Rhode Island and 13th St NE

Rhode Island Avenue is in the process of being resurfaced from North Capital to 30th St NE. Love the construction. But in an amazing feat of accountancy, the project’s costs are known down to the penny…$1,495,597.23 for the Feds and $303,076.53 for DC.

3. Etete Ethiopian Restaurant - 1942 9th St NW

As you continue down Rhode Island, you might get hungry and swing off near the Shaw Howard University metro station to Etete Ethiopian near U-Street. Amazingly good Ethiopian that feels less commercialized than Dukem (it’s half-house, half restaurant after all). Plus, if you’re lucky, they’ll fire up the projector and play African music videos with pelvis thrusting women for your fine dining pleasure (even if you’re the only ones there)…

4. I-395 Speed Camera Slow-Down - south of the New York Avenue entrance

There is a speed camera just after the tunnel on I-395 at New York Avenue. Everyone local knows it and the speed limit is 45 mph. But everyone slows down to 35 mph. Why????

(Picture TBD)

5. Guy Camping on I-395 - under 7th Street SW

So you’re finally getting somewhere and are set to head over to Alexandria. But wait, there’s a guy camping, complete with a tent, BBQ, and lawn chairs in the grassy median underneath the 7th St NW overpass between the east and westbound I-395 traffic. He’s been there for at least a month, hanging out in broad daylight. The Washington City Paper did a story on him last week, “Median Man.”

6. Idiots Crossing Five Lanes of Traffic - Jefferson Davis Hwy exit

You’ve crossed the river and are in Virginia! Congratulations. But here’s an SUV going 25 mph, trying to cross five lanes of traffic after gawking at the Pentagon and throwing the bird because you didn’t let him in…Have a nice day.

(Picture TBD)

7. All These Condos Looks the Same - Fairlington

You’ve finally made it to Arlington, home of your friends. But every single one of these condos looks the same and now you’re lost…

“They Tried to Teach My Baby Science”

From the Onion…

Is James Blunt Napoleon Dynamite?

 

Is James Blunt, singer songwriter and celebrity babe magnet, masquerading as Jon Heder, Napoleon Dynamite and Mormon Figure Skater? You be the judge.

Stretching Doesn’t Prevent Injury

In November of 2003 I was diagnosed with illiotibial band friction in my left knee and told the only thing I could do was stretch it and try to build up pain stamina by increasing my short jogging distance every few days. I had previously done light stretching before every exercise. After 3-4 months of physical therapy and stretching, I got fed up with it and quit stretching. Three weeks later the pain was gone.

For the last three years I’ve played club and league ultimate frisbee 2-3 days a week (seasonal), i.e. lots of sprinting, and didn’t stretch beforehand. I do about 5 minutes of jogging, cross-overs, and a bit of cutting instead. I have been injury free for 3 years and never stretch. Am I crazy?

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control doesn’t think so. They published a meta-study in 2004 that found “no benefit positive or negative in stretching to preventing injuries”:

“For Dr. Thacker’s paper The Impact of Stretching on Sports Injury Risk: A Systematic Review of the Literature (PDF) he and his colleagues pored over nearly 100 other published medical studies on the subject. Their key conclusions: stretching does increase flexibility; the highest-quality studies indicate that this increased flexibility doesn’t prevent injuries; few athletes need extreme flexibility to perform their best (perhaps just gymnasts and figure skaters); and more injuries would be prevented by better warmups, by strength training, and by balance exercises, than by stretching.” (BioMechanics Magazine, October 2004)

Pretty much everyone I tell this to thinks I’m crazy. As was pointed out last night by some WAFC-league teammates, science also brings us evolution, global warming, and by association, American freedom haters, so can we really trust it? But I think this is another “idea” that’s gone “scientific.”

Did you know that the recommendation for 8 glasses of water each day has no scientific basis either? Sure you need liquid, but 8 is essentially made-up. (“Drink at least eight glasses of water a day.” Really? Is there scientific evidence for “8
8”?, American Physiological Society, August 2002).

So go ahead and stretch if you’d like to. Maybe it feels good. Maybe there’s a placebo effect. Maybe everyone else is doing it. Maybe stretch after you workout (a totally different motivation). But don’t tell me it prevents injury.

My Cat Meowed About Global Warming On NPR

It’s not often you get on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” and it’s probably even less often that your cats do too…

NPR is running a series called “Climate Connections” and this particular story was about trying to find the United States’ biggest greenhouse gas polluter. I signed up for a voluntary government greenhouse gas tracking program a few years back (”Count Me In” is a story I wrote about it for Grist.org), which led the NPR reporter to me since I was one of 2-3 regular people in the whole country who signed up with the likes of Ford, Pepco, BP, and IBM.

The best part about the story is that my cats were mentioned and one of them even meows for the story…

Click Here (listen around the 1:40 mark)

What’s kind of ironic about the voluntary greenhouse gas tracking system is that the government hasn’t signed up to report its emissions. If George Bush would like to start, I can help them calculate the White House’s emissions, and maybe they can challenge Al Gore to a climate reduction contest…

DC Signs - “Not the Best, But Still a Good Price”

Un-Safeway not-withstanding, Ghetto Giant on Queen’s Chapel in Hyattsville is kind of the K-Mart of supermarkets, and includes a reduced produce cart, bearing this sign, and packages of fruits and vegetables with a similarly labeled barcode sticker. I did in-fact buy the two packages of potatoes seen above and made a very nice roasted vegetables medley.