Eil, Computer Techniques

Sometimes laying on the keyboard just doesn't work. That's when you just have to settle for the arm around you while you cuddle. Don't worry about your human. They can type with one hand.

More cats at Friday Ark and Carnival of the Cats

Waiting for the Storm

Ahhh, the wonders of the Internet and the National Weather Service's Enhanced Radar. I get to watch the storm that's knocking on our back door while getting some work done on the computer. I wonder how much sleep I'm going to get. Hopefully we won't get any tornadoes. I'm going to keep the bathroom door open so Trixie can hide in there once the storm starts. She scared of thunderstorms
I'm in the midst of arranging a neighborhood garage sale for Saturday. Boy, I sure hope it doesn't rain. Tonight I got all the stuff I want to sell down from the attic. I took out all my tables to the garage. I had to take them apart to get them through the door. I'll finish up tomorrow night.

Fayetteville, Planning Commision Dust-up

I'm with Ward 4 Alderman Lioneld Jordan and Ward 2 Aldermen Kyle Cook.

Jordan also said, during the meeting, that such an issue should be dealt with as soon as it’s made known to the administration.
" If somebody’s out of line, somebody needs to get in line," he said.
Cook was also of the sentiment that if a commissioner was abusing staff there would be no reason to let it go on for month.

The issue of a commissioner being abusive to staff should have been taken care of long ago and not before a nomination committee or the City Council. If staff really felt that strongly about Candy Clark they should have said something when it first started instead of presenting a statement before City Council.

Gary Dumas, director of operations, also read from a prepared statement, dated March 19. Dumas urged aldermen to consider the potential impact on the morale of employees as they consider the appointments. " I believe that most will agree that there are problems within the Planning Commission, " he read. " I believe that a change in commission composition at this time can help recreate a Planning Commission which serves its important function while maintaining a level of respect and dignity for staff and others."

City staffers should have a resource to make complaints. It is the responsibility of the Mayor to make sure that they do and also to make sure that their complaints are resolved instead of brushed off. What I saw last night made me angry that this whole situation was handled so badly by Mayor Coody. If I were Jordan and Cook, I'd started questioning staff to make sure there isn't any other situations festering and also make sure there is a mechanism in place so that issues with people sitting on City committees are appropriately resolved.

Fayetteville, Southpass Project

I went to the meeting where I got a peek at the proposed plans for the Southpass project. I was really truly and impressed by the presentation by Urban Design Associates. This project is a public/private development which encompasses 1,000 acres. It will be composed of 5 parts. Eastside Flats where most of the shops and restaurants will be. A Mill district which will take care of the water run-off and looked a bit like Venice with lofts lining a canal. Cresent Park, which would be mostly mixed housing. Kessler Bluffs which would occupy the flatter part of the bluffs and will look similar to Eureka Springs. Lastly, Southpass Park, with about 200 acres of parkland housing playing fields,pick-up fields and outdoor theaters/pavilions. Another 200 acres will be conservation, mostly along Kessler Mountain where most of the hiking and biking trails will be. This project will take about 10 years to complete. They will be building up the park first. The park will eventually be hosting baseball and soccer tournaments. It will probably have cycling and frisbee tournaments too. The park will bring in people who will start drawing in the shops and restaurants. The hope of the City and the developers is to make this a real gem of the region.

Mark Pryor Lost His Award

Well, I am just going to have to take back the Kudos Award I gave to Sen. Mark Pryor. I will instead give him the Twit Award. I can't believe the stupid idea that fell out of his mouth.

"My strong preference would be to have a classified plan and a classified timetable that should be shared with Congress," Pryor said yesterday. A public deadline would tip off the enemy, "who might just bide their time and wait for us to leave," he said. "Then you'd have chaos and mayhem and instability."
Pryor said a classified plan would be provided by the president, shepherded by Senate committees and ultimately shared with Congress and Iraqi leaders. He is confident that the plan would remain secret, because Congress is entrusted with secrets "all the time."

Come on! Members of Congress will be scrambling over each other to blab it first to the New York Times. In fact, it really doesn't matter what date gets set. The terrorists know that the Democrats want to leave by 2008, so all they have to do it wait until 2009. They are probably so confident that the Democrats will control the government that they are planning chaos and mayhem bashes starting sometime in 2009.

The Outdoors is Calling

Light blogging this weekend because it's so nice that I'm spending it outside. Casey, Trixie and I have had a couple of nice hikes. I am spending most of the weekend getting dirt in my fingernails. I've gotten my lettuce, potatoes, swiss chard and onions planted and most of the beds weeded. The front lawn has been mowed too. I didn't do very much spraying with Roundup because it has been too windy. I've done enough to declare the weekend successful.
On a sour note, one of the histotechs called me Sat. morning. The ***&&^% machine had errored out again. Fortunately, I was close by so I dropped in on the lab. I got it up again (maybe) and left a call to technical support. Guess what I going to be dealing with Monday morning?

Did John Edwards Do Right?

Strange that the Edwards's decision would be so controversial.

John and Elizabeth Edwards's announcement yesterday that her cancer has recurred and he is still running for president drew some emotional criticism

I agree more with Dean Barnett.

I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW BAD I FEEL FOR ELIZABETH AND JOHN EDWARDS. I’m familiar with the body-blow of a sudden diagnosis that turns your world upside down. It’s incredible – you walk into a doctor’s office and within a span of minutes you find out your life will never be the same. In the back of your mind you nourish the hopes of miracle cures or that you might be like that guy in Dubuque who got the same diagnosis but oddly enough lived forever, but the reality of the situation sits there in your mind. You can’t shake it – it just won’t leave.
But you try to carry on. I think I may know some of what the Edwards are feeling

While my bout with cancer at this time isn't life threatening, you never know. I, however, am not going to stop living my life to the fullest nor am I going to stop anything I want to do because of it. This touch of death has actually pulled me into living more. I think that is what Elizabeth Edwards is doing. She's going to live her life and dreams, that includes helping John run for President.

Queen of the Doghouse

Spring is here and we've all taken to playing outside after I've come home from work. Bows and Eli have discovered that the new doghouse I put in last fall has a flat roof. It's just purrfect for a game of "King of the Doghouse". Or in Bows' case, "Queen of the Doghouse".



Bows is winning the game and she is willing to take on all comers. Just bring it on!


Perhaps Bows will find more cats willing to play with her at Friday Ark and Carnival of the Cats

Fayetteville's Finest, So Proud Of Them!

As I was getting ready for work this morning I heard "Fayetteville, Arkansas" on Fox news. Huh! I ran to the TV and they were showing a video of a burning car with two policeman rescuing the guy inside. Corporals Chris Denton and Philip Crosby are absolute heroes and I'm glad they are getting national recognition. The story is here and the Fox video is here. Hope that video link works for awhile.

Arkansas Legislators Need History Lessons

It should be mandatory that Arkansas legislators take an intensive 4 week course in American History before they start the Legislative Session. Then they won't vote for asinine bills like HB1703. This bill is part of an agenda trying to do away with the role of the Electoral College and have the President voted in office by a majority of votes. If this bill passes out of the legislature, Arkansas's votes and influence in Presidential elections would be worth diddle squat. The bill will ensure that no Presidential candidate will set foot in Arkansas. They will go to the heavier populated cities, New York, LA, San Francisco, Dallas etc. These cities will be electing the President.
The Electoral College was specifically set up to protect the smaller populated states like Arkansas and the dumb-ass legislators are going to throw away that protection.

Those Machine Blues

Yesterday was not a very good day. That #$#%^& machine at work broke down again. I managed to get it started again, but when I came this morning it had stopped again. Fortunately one of the technical support guys was in Little Rock, so he was at the lab this morning. He pulled two microscope slides out, one of them broken. Anyway, he thinks he's got it truly fixed now. We'll see.

I put my truck in the shop yesterday and pick up my rental. It's all right but I miss my big leather seats and steering wheel. This SUV is a bit cramped. I also miss the garage door opener button on my truck's overhead consul. Yeah, I left the remote in the truck. I dawned on me when I drove up in my driveway and realized I couldn't open the garage door. Man, I haven't used that thing for several years. Picked up the remote from the repair shop on the way home. OK, I'm pulling out the wine and having a little drink.

Carl Rove to Visit Fayetteville Again

The Washinton County Republican Committee announced at it's monthly meeting that Karl Rove will be the speaker at its Lincoln Day Dinner. The Dinner will be either May 11th or 12th. Ticket prices will start at $35. I know this will make those looney, moonbat, leftists foam at the mouth. Let the fireworks begin!

NWA Blogger Bash

I showed up at the NWA Blogger Bash at the Celtic Grill. Boy, was it really crowded. I went up to the girls taking names and asked about Matt and Bloggers. Nope, didn't know them. While I was contemplating which direction to look first, Ryan and Heather show up. Well, we go around asking people for Matt or bloggers. Man, I swear, there a quite few people who thought they were comedians. You'd be surprised how many guys told me they were Matt. Dumb-asses! One guy told me that if I didn't find Matt to come back because he needed a date. No way was I coming back to that table! Sheesh! Few people in bthe place knew what bloggers were.
Any hoo, I talked with Ryan and Heather a bit, and decided to leave. The table wait was a 1/2 to 1 hr. Ryan and Heather decided to stay and according to Ryan did finally meet up with the others. I decided to do some shopping while I was in Bentonville, so I hit Belk. Man did I hit the jackpot! They were having a really big sale. I got me a couple of outfits, 50% off. So, while I was disappointed about missing the blogger bash, I found comfort in a clothing sale.

Gathering of Eagles, Mission Accomplished!

The dinosaur media deliberately under-reported a news story again. While they were highlighting the hundreds of anti-war protesters in Washington,DC, they somehow missed the estimated 30,000 counter-demonstrators. Here's how the Washington Post reported it. Kudos goes to our own KATV 7 for covering the caravan that came through Little Rock. Michelle Malkin has a great round-up of pictures and videos. Also check out the Gathering of Eagles website

The Great Global Warming Swindle, The Review

I finally got time to look at the video. It was a nice scientific look at "global warming." That is, it had the science to back up the fact that climate is changing, but not because of man. The video was pretty complete on the how climate has changed over the millennium and evidence was presented which strongly favored the climate of the sun having more effect on the earth than man does.
The video also went into the history of how the myth of "global warming" started. You'd be surprised. It also described how "global warming" is funded and why. I definitely recommend seeing this video.
I hope that with this film, more scientists would bravely come out and declare their opposition to science being politicized. The scientific world needs to take back their research and the scientific method.

Good Job, Mark Pryor!

Kudos goes to Senator Mark Pryor! He broke Democratic ranks and joined the Republicans in defeating a U.S. surrender by March 2008. Republicans allow the votes to go forward. They wanted to because they were eager to highlight just how wrong it was. Harry Reid took the bait warning,

"They may wind up with a surprise," Reid, told reporters. "More Republicans than they think may wind up being in favor of this."

Surprise, surprise! The vote was 50-48 against. Only one Republican voted for it and three Democrats broke ranks and voted against the resolution: Connecticut's Joseph Lieberman, Nebraska's Ben Nelson and Arkansas's Mark Pryor. Way to go Mark!

Fayetteville, Clabber Creek Construction

Last night the dogs and I walked the Clabber Creek Trail. There was a lot of construction debris strewn around but the road was walkable. The trees are bare making it a perfect time to see the birds, which were plentiful. This will be a great place to do some bird watching.

Clabber Creek is a nice little stream that does have frogs, minnows and turtles. The creek does need to be cleaned up as there is quite a bit of trash in it. I'll suggest a clean-up day to Parks and Recreation. This trail will be quite a gem in Fayetteville's Trails System.

Casey's Jump or Bows' Pillow

Why did Bows decide to use the jump as a pillow? Probably just being a pain in the butt. She knows that Casey really respects her claws and won't come near the jump while she's there.

You might find some better behaved cats at Friday Ark and Carnival of the Cats

March 15th

Oh Boy! Am I tired! I've had a very long day. Well, the machine that broke down at work will be fixed tomorrow. We will have to play catch-up on our specimens, but it should be all sorted out by Monday.

There was a special meeting tonight of the Parks and Recreation Committee. First item was the development by Hank Broyles which we tabled last week so the Park staff could work something out with him. They did work out a nice arrangement. Hank purchased 6+ acres from John Nock further south along Owl Creek. It adds to the Park's plan to have a 25 acre park on the West side of Fayetteville. Hank even kept the small parks he originally had in the development. Very nice of him!

The last item was a request to put a cell tower in Walker Park. It generated a big discussion. The cell tower would generate some money for the city. Several members were interested in receiving that money. I, however, was not happy about it being placed in a natural area of the park. Also do we really want to start a precedent of putting cellular towers in our city parks? Thankfully the committee voted down the tower.

Matt Mihalevich, the Park's trail coordinator, told me that Clabber Creek Trail was walkable and that the official grand opening will be sometime next month. I've got to try it out this weekend.

The Great Global Warming Swindle, The Video

Charles has made the video available on LGF. I haven't watched it yet. It's over an hour long and I just don't have time right now. Hopefully I'll get around to it sometime this week.

UPDATE:
The video was taken down. However, Power Line has it up.

Recycling

Well, yes, I do recycle. However, I think this is going a bit far.

"Using recycled toilet paper is a no-brainer yet people are not prepared to make the sacrifice on their arse."

Eeeewww!

Huh! Well, Duh!

From Slate
"An economic mystery: Why do the poor seem to have more free time than the rich?"

By and large, the biggest leisure gains have gone precisely to those with the most stagnant incomes—that is, the least skilled and the least educated. And conversely, the smallest leisure gains have been concentrated among the most educated, the same group that's had the biggest gains in income.

Ok, I'll take a stab. How many of these poor are actually working? Maybe they have so much more leisure time because they don't have a job.

Arkansas, Gathering of Eagles

Yesterday I participated in the Arkansas Federation of Republican Women's Legislative Day in Little Rock. We dressed up in red and invaded the Capital Building. We sat in on committee meetings and the Senate Session. Bill Pritchard said that the bill which banned homosexuals from fostering or adopting children was going to be debated. (It was approved, BTW) At lunch a number of the legislators joined us, so it was nice to talk with those that sat at my table. I really enjoyed myself.


While Matt was bravely mixing with our local anti-war kooks, we ladies were on hand to welcome a caravan heading for Gathering of Eagles. This group from California arrived at the Capital at 8 AM and we welcomed them through the Capital with our flags waving. The flags were later given to them to take to Washington DC. The media was there and they did make the news






They proudly announced that in their caravan were a Gold-star and a Blue-star Mom. I noted that our Governor did not see fit to welcome them nor did any of the Democrat legislators. We did get a couple of the Republican representatives to show up. Apparently the Democrats don't support our troops.

I Should Have Stayed Home

I came back to work today to find that one of our machines decided to croak. At least the worst of it happen yesterday. Some one else had to clean up the mess it made. Still, I spend half of the day trying to get it to work. I finally gave up and told technical support I wasn't going to put any more slides on the Imager until they come fix it. I also told them that I was going make sure we got credit for slides that didn't make it on the Imager. The technician comes tomorrow morning.

Should You Vote in the Next Election?

I'm going to be busy the next couple of days with meetings. While I'm gone you can take this little test.
I got 100%. Mmmm, either this test is too easy or I'm spending way too much time on the Internet. I even got the entertainment questions right. Scary!

It Starts With Fox News

The Nevada Democratic Party shouldn't have bent over and let the leftist dingbats screw them. There is now blood in the water and those far-lefties have tasted victory. What are they going to pressure the Democratic Party on next? They are going to expect the Party to come to heel. The Democratic Party has a really big problem on their hand. How is the Democratic Party going to reach conservative and values voters if they're dancing to the lefties tunes?

Laughter

There are times when all you need to do is LAUGH!

The Cat in the Box

Tigger is almost ready to be shipped out. Hmmm, I wonder where I should sent him.

More cats at Friday Ark and Carnival of the Cats

Bathing

I gave the dogs a bath last Sunday. It was a gorgeous day. Trixie laid in the sun, drying out after her bath.


More dogs at Friday Ark and Carnival of the Dogs

Getting Our Panties in a Wad

I think we should officially name this decade "The Generation of the Offended". It would appear that 'Stone Age' is considered an insult.

Attention Fred Flintstone and the Geico cave guys: "Stone Age" is no longer acceptable, joining the list of other words and terms deemed offensive in polite society.

People, get over it! One of the great rights we have in America is our freedom of speech. We also have another great freedom and that is to completely ignore those that say something stupid.

So Long Mr Humphries!

One of my favorite British comedians has died. I just loved John Inman in "Are You Being Served"

Great Global Warming Swindle

This is one program I'd like to see. I hope it comes over here to America. I'm finally glad that real scientists are being engaged in the debate instead of politicians and snake oil salesmen. Maybe there's a glimmer of hope that sanity may yet prevail on this issue

Arkansas HPV Vaccine Bill

This is a good thing. A bill was introduced to make immunizations that protect against sexually transmitted diseases voluntary. This is because of the little tempest that Texas Gov. Rick Perry created when he mandated that HPV vaccines would be mandatory for young girls.

"It’s not a disease that’s innocently contracted by either an airborne illness or through some sort of contact in a nonsexual manner," said state Sen. Shawn Womack, R-Mountain Home, a co-sponsor of the bill. "These are diseases that are specifically sexual in nature. And to put parents and children in the position that they’re mandated to be vaccinated, I just don’t think is the right public policy approach on that."

I definitely think this is one health issue that the parents should decide on and not the government.

Spring Fever

I think I'm going to come down with a severe case of spring fever. The weather is so nice, my bulbs are blooming, Casey is finally learning the weave and I rather be spending time outdoors hiking or gardening. I've got some deadlines to meet at work which means I'm still putting in extra hours at home and on Saturday. I'm just getting too frustrated and resentful at work. I keep hoping things will get better but they just don't seem to. Arrrgh!

Fayetteville, Parks & Recreation

Well, I think I really torqued a developer Monday night. He wanted to donate less than an acre of land and money for a high-density mixed used development. He was required to donate over 6 acres or money in lieu or any combination thereof. I said that having discussed with a few people I would like to have the whole 6+ acres. Oh boy! He was not happy with that. Any way, it lead to a big discussion of the how few parkland there is on the west side of Fayetteville, the needs of developers to make profits and the needs of a neighborhood to have a decent green space. It looks as if the developer can obtain other land elsewhere to donate. He's going to work with the P & R staff. I bet the staff of the Parks & Recreation are really sorry that I'm on the committee. Anyway, we're having a special meeting next week which I hope the developer and city staff come up with a solution.
What I don't understand is why a developer submits an proposal that obviously isn't acceptable. The Parks & Recreation have written criteria for accepting land so the developer should have known he'd get some opposition.

The First Daffodils

Spring is here! I picked the first daffodils blooming in my garden. Tigger is appreciative of their beauty or perhaps the signal that soon the freezing temperatures will be gone.

More cats at Friday Ark and Carnival of the Cats

Which Is It?

Headline!
Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says

Come on! You can't have it both ways! Global warming is either caused by humans or it just a natural process. Can't Mars' global warming been man-made? We've been shooting probes up there and we've left a bunch of garbage on Mars.

Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of the St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun.

"The long-term increase in solar irradiance is heating both Earth and Mars," he said

Found this via Drudge so hopefully it will begin to appear in the dinosaur media. Shouldn't get my hopes up though. It'd be nice if more real scientists speak up on how incredibly stupid global warming is. Especially after the revelation of the scam that Dr. Global Warming himself is running.

Sleeping Together

Bows and Eli peacefully sleeping together. This is just so odd! None of my cats really sleep together, they usually prefer their own little spot. Bows more so, since she is the Queen Who Rules All. They do look so cute though!

More cats at Friday Ark and Carnival of the Cats

"Fear the Football"

Absolutely fabulous new masthead Charles! Great Job, Cox and Forkum, you do excellent work! Save a T-shirt for me!

A Better Term

I think the term "Criminals" is more appropriate.

Because They're Black

Nolan Richardson is still at it. Now he's saying it in front of Congress.

Richardson voiced his support of Heath after testifying before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on the lack of black coaches and athletic directors in collegiate sports.

He's chiming in on the rumor than Stan heath will be fired if his team doesn't win a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Richardson is insinuating that if Heath is fired it's because he is black.

"You’ve got to have at least five years to get your direction going the way you’d like it," Richardson said in an interview. He said university officials are less patient with black head coaches. "They’re not as tolerant of us as they are for a white coach."

When will it end? When will the African American community stop using the excuse "because we're black" as an excuse for failures or set backs. Hey! Wake Up! Start taking responsibility for your own life and decisions!