OK, I guess I need to explain this a bit better. My point of the record snowfall on Christmas Day was that there was one day out of 100 years that the media, and other humans, seemed to think was important. You are correct, there is nothing really important about it. I think that all would agree that in the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't mean anything. Likewise, the climate change / global warming people are trying to do the exact same thing on a larger scale. Rather than pointing at one day in a 100 years, they are looking at one decade in 100 years. Don't you think, in the grand scheme of things, it would be much more scientific and honest to look at something on a similar scale? 1 day in 36,500 days or 10 years in 36,500 years? As far as the quotes, again, I was trying to demonstrate that the media is making a big deal of a one day event. This are all quotes from Denver's Channel 7 web site, www.thedenverchannel.com They are not anything I made up. Again, another example of sensationalism. As far as being bold, I'm not sure where that came from. I'm not trying to be bold, I'm trying to make people think for themselves. Things rarely happen in this country (this world) unless someone is out to make a buck. When recycling was all the rage, there were a lot of people out there willing to pay extra to 'save the planet'. Pay extra for what? Let's look at an example of this. You pay someone to recycle your newspaper. The trash company sells / pays some recycler to take it away. You buy products made from recycled paper, and if it is labeled as 'green', you can bet you will pay more for it, even though it cost less (in processing and environmentally) to produce than paper goods made from virgin paper or wood pulp. (Compare prices between paper towels at the grocery store.) As far as who is making money on the global warming / CO2 credit / CO2 exchange hype, take a look at Al Gore's site: http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator/ Calculate your carbon footprint, and then go offset it by clicking on the text "OFFSET AN AVERAGE HOME or CAR NOW". It takes you to http://nativeenergy.com/pages/an_inconvenient_truth/29.php?afc=climatecrisis where YOU can PAY THEM $28 / month for THEM to use methane from a cow manure digester at THEIR dairy to heat and electrify THEIR farm. If you believe so strongly in this, how about paying me to grow some trees that I can donate to my town? It covers your carbon footprint, helps out the earth, makes me look good in the eyes of my community, and I can take the donation off on my taxes as a charitable contribution. Honestly, it's more effective than some of the other schemes out there that are being run by parent companies of logging companies who are convincing people to buy carbon credits, and then the companies replant clear cut areas in the Pacific North West. Another way of looking at this is to make people feel guilty about some problem (imagined...

Wind turbines have been pretty tough on the raptor population here in CA. I'm much more excited about the possibility of learning from wind turbines technology applying it towards creating ocean turbines in the Pacific. Wave power can spin magnets (like all turbines) to create electricity directly (which requires a netwotk of cables for transmission) or it can be used for electrolysis of seawater to create hydrogen gas, it the US can ever get the hydrogen fuel cell to be practical. Wave power devices extract energy directly from surface waves or from pressure fluctuations below the surface. Renewable energy analysts believe there is enough energy in the ocean waves to provide up to 2 terawatts of electricity. (A terawatt is equal to a trillion watts.) Offshore systems are situated in deep water, typically of more than 40 meters (131 feet). Sophisticated mechanismsÂlike the Salter DuckÂuse the bobbing motion of the waves to power a pump that creates electricity. Other offshore devices use hoses connected to floats that ride the waves. The rise and fall of the float stretches and relaxes the hose, which pressurizes the water, which, in turn, rotates a turbine. Specially built seagoing vessels can also capture the energy of offshore waves. These floating platforms create electricity by funneling waves through internal turbines and then back into the sea. Built along shorelines, onshore wave power systems extract the energy in breaking waves. Onshore system technologies include the following: Oscillating water column The oscillating water column consists of a partially submerged concrete or steel structure that has an opening to the sea below the waterline. It encloses a column of air above a column of water. As waves enter the air column, they cause the water column to rise and fall. This alternately compresses and depressurizes the air column. As the wave retreats, the air is drawn back through the turbine as a result of the reduced air pressure on the ocean side of the turbine. Tapchan The tapchan, or tapered channel system, consists of a tapered channel, which feeds into a reservoir constructed on cliffs above sea level. The narrowing of the channel causes the waves to increase in height as they move toward the cliff face. The waves spill over the walls of the channel into the reservoir and the stored water is then fed through a turbine. Pendulor device The pendulor wave-power device consists of a rectangular box, which is open to the sea at one end. A flap is hinged over the opening and the action of the waves causes the flap to swing back and forth. The motion powers a hydraulic pump and a generator. Clearly, we can't keep burning carbon-based fuels.

Sorry, but 1/8th is by far the most common royalty payment in the USA and is so by a huge margin. For certain, a 50% increase over that rate is very rare. Occasionally, I will see lease agreements that include 1% or 2% over-rides but not 6.25%. Only those private mineral rights owners who happen to own minerals in areas with very good potential or have control of large contiguous tracts of land will get more than 1/8th. By far, most who hold out for more than 1/8th royalty get to settle for zero instead, and that goes for the US government as well. For the Federal government, by far the largest mineral holder in the USA, to hold out for a substantially larger royalty than is considered standard by the industry would likely amount to excessive interference of the government in interstate commerce. In regard to Yellowstone Park and the grizzlies, no oil and gas drilling is currently active in the immeadiate vicinity of the park, that I am aware and that is the business I am in. In fact, I am not aware of any drilling having occurred in that area for many years. Sounds like environmentalist or wildlife activist scaremongering to me. Most drilling is at least 50 to 100 miles away, either to the south around Rock Springs or Wamsutter, Wyoming or to the east in the Big Horn basin. Neither of these areas is likely to be grizzly territory at this time. The immeadiate Yellowstone Park area itself is not likely to have conducive geologic structures or lithology for oil and gas accumulation. However, the average American is so geographically challenged today that mentioning drilling anywhere in Wyoming probably equates to drilling next to Yellowstone Park regardless of the fact that much of the state is hundreds of miles from the park.

We just got rain and a lot of wind that are supposed to cool us down all the way 95 or so tomorrow. Temps will be back to 100 and above this weekend through at least middle of next week. I have a rain gauge on either side of the house. They are usually within 1/4 to 1/2 inch of each other, but tonight, I was checking them in the dark, but the side yard measured about an inch and a half and the backyard one measured less than half an inch. I wish I had a rain gauge the chairs around the fire pit are in a pile along with the umbrella, our yard recycling can and some other things. In the front yard, we had a lot of debris -- leaves, small branches and such covering everything like mulch and two large branches down on our largest oak tree. Then I discovered an apple tree in the side yard had blown down. The neighbor across the street from our son lost all or most of a tree that was across the road going to his house. I suspect we lost trees and parts of trees all around us.