Unintended Consequences - Plumbing

A couple of Christmases ago, sweet Wifey got me a hand held shower massager for my shower stall. What a nice gift. This was one of those high tech, oh so green, devices that had water saver features and was supposed to reduce our water bill (go read about our water bill) and save the planet all at the same time.

Well, for the first year or so, everything was just hunky dunky, but eventually, slowly but surely, the flow seemed to diminish with every refreshing shower until there was only a trickle. Yes indeed, just like a feeble old geezer with a huge prostate gland, that youthful flow was a thing of the past. It took the water forever to get hot and when I got out it seemed as if I had only gotten just a little bit damp.

Finally I had no choice but to disassemble the thing and search for answers. Attached to the pipe coming out of the stall, I found a curious little disk. See the picture at the left. This little disk was full of little slits. I held the disk up to the light but I could see no light shining through. On further inspection with a magnifying glass, it dawned on me that this little disk was the water saver and the holes in it were plugged with gunk which seems to accumulate on all our fixtures due to the very hard water we have here (our water comes from the mighty Tennessee River). I attempted to clean out the holes best as I could with a pick and a small piece of wire. Finally I could see daylight again. So I reinstalled the water saver and put everything back together.

SUCCESS! I had a good flow going again! Unfortunately, my glee did not last very long. Over a period of about 3 or 4 months, the flow diminished rapidly. That prostate had grown back at record speed.

Grumbling heavily, I removed the water saver once again only to find it plugged worse than before. So I just left the damned thing out. Now that shower head will knock you half way across the stall if you don't brace yourself first and I have enough pressure to almost remove the hide. Yes I am wasting water hand over fist, although the water department will never know the difference, and I am destroying the planet at light speed. One thing is for sure though, I'm getting squeaky clean with not a speck of cereal anywhere. Hope the water Nazis from Obama's administration don't come snooping around.

Just a Few Thoughts on Global Warming

Last night I retrieved the following picture from my favorite weather website. Please study it carefully.

This map represents a tropical disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico. I want you to pay attention to all the projected paths (lines) on the map. Don't you feel reassured that these weather experts are so certain about where this thing might go?

Now realize that some of the same people that generate predictions like this are also the ones telling us that global warming is real and manmade and it's going to kill us and destroy the planet. They want to give us cap and trade, more gubment control over our lives, less freedom and liberty, higher energy costs, no more fossil fuels, electric cars for all, and a giant sing-a-long of Kum Ba Ya.

They make a convincing argument, doncha think? Just sayin'.

Hybrid Cars will Reduce Tornadoes! Only an IDIOT DEMOCRAT Would Make Such a Connection!

Upset about recent tornadoes around Dallas Texas, Illinois senator, Dick Durbin DEMOCRAT has declared that we must introduce more laws regulating carbon output (Translated: Higher energy costs for you and your family and loss of jobs in the energy sector (Closing of coal fired power plants)).

He also says that we must convert to hybrid cars or lose our lives and that we must "spend money now to fix the problem" (Translated: We're going to take more of YOUR money, and waste it on more bullshit).

I can see Durbin's point though. Of course there have never been any tornadoes in Texas before. Can you remember any?

Sigh, is there ANYBODY out there reading this that REALLY believes that driving hybrid cars will reduce tornadoes? Anybody? Really?

I pray the Supreme Court strikes down the Obamacare mandate. If not, the next mandate will be electric cars for everyone, and bean sprouts and watercress sammiches for all your little kiddies. Think I'm kidding? Think again!

Read all about it HERE.

Algae Instead of Oil?

And now as gasoline prices head toward the stratosphere, our dear leader, Hussein Obama proposes that we use algae in place of oil to power our cars. God help us.

Is there anyone out there that thinks this is a good idea?

It's all about SPECULATION!

It is fun to get into arguments with liberals over gasoline prices. The looney environmentalist wackos would have us believe a bunch of nonsensical things. The first of which that drilling for oil will not reduce oil prices, stating that it will be years before we will see any of that oil.

Even if that were true there is still no reason NOT to drill, if not for now, for the future. The truth is that the price of oil is driven by SPECULATION of the supply rather than the actual supply at any given time. This is the case with any commodity. If the feeling is that the crop of oranges in Florida and California is going to be affected by bad weather or some kind of plague, prices will go up on the speculation that the supply will be limited. It is the same with oil, perhaps even on a greater scale.

Building the Keystone pipeline NOW, drilling in ANWR, and lifting the moratorium on gulf drilling would have an immediate effect. Building more refineries would be a good start as well. I read on Drudge the other day that Saudi Arabia is reducing the supply of oil in the face of our skyrocketing gasoline prices. You can bet if suddenly the Arabs believed that the US was deadly serious about producing its own oil and becoming independent of OPEC, the spigots would be mysteriously opened. Supply would increase and prices would fall. Due to speculation of future increased supply, prices would also be pushed downward and it would happen rather quickly.

Environmentalist wackos would also have us believe that wind and solar must be factored into the future energy equation. Anyone with half a brain can see that wind and solar do not work and will not meet our energy needs. Millions, perhaps billions of dollars have already been wasted on solar projects that simply do not work.....remember Solyndra? No telling how much money has been wasted on electric cars that simply do not work and people simply don't want. The irony is that many studies have now appeared that indicate electric cars have a higher carbon footprint than conventional automobiles. Yes indeedy, when you plug in your little bundle of nonsense and you're feeling so good about yourself, you are consuming electricity most likely generated by...........wait for it......

Fossil fuels! And it is most likely from one of those oh so nasty coal fired plants. Unless your electric car gets its charge from hydro power or nuclear, you're doing some mighty unclean charging.

The wackos also have hissy fits over the environmental issues of drilling. The Keystone pipeline has been studied and studied and studied. The area in Nebraska in question already has 25000 miles of pipeline. Why can't the wackos just be truthful? They just don't want anybody to have oil. No matter what the truth or the facts, they will still come up with yet another excuse not to drill. They want us to have more big gubment to force us to buy electric cars and ride electric trains and give up our pickup trucks and SUV's. Yes indeed, they need to employ gubment to save the planet from the HOAX of manmade global warming.

One day the technology may exist that allows things like solar and wind power to meet our energy needs. There will probably appear new technologies that might seem like science fiction to us now. But for the foreseeable future, oil is where it's at and we're stupid not to exploit our oil resources to the max.

I told a goofy liberal the other day that when we could fly a 767 across the ocean on cool breezes and sunbeams that I would believe his environmentalist BS.

Hussein Obama is a loon. He is just not convinced that drilling alone is the answer.

Unintended Consequences

Wifey was having problems trying to turn off this light during a recent stay we had in a hotel room.

She fiddled and fiddled and finally lifted the shade off the bulb only to find this:

Ahh yes, a glorious compact fluorescent bulb. The only problem was this:

The original shade would not fit on the CFL. Instead the hotel folks just sat the bare metal frame onto the glass of the bulb. Now what if someone else starts jiggling the shade around and ruptures the glass on the bulb? HAZMAT  time! Thank you federal gubment! Bring back our incandescent bulbs!

I Survived Irene!

It was the "Doomsday Scenario". It was the "50 year storm". There was non-stop, wall to wall coverage of this monster hurricane on the Weather Channel and the news channels. Weathermen and weatherwomen across the nation were standing out in the storm. Many of them have prepared all their lives for such a moment! They were going to have their perfect storm and nobody, including mother nature, was going to deprive them of it.

We were all awestruck and trembling in our boots as we watched the category 1 monster slam into the outer banks of North Carolina! Never before has that state suffered such a fate!

New York Mayor, Nanny Bloomberg, was wringing his hands telling New Yorkers to "get out" reminding them that failure to do so was "illegal". Nanny Bloomberg just loves telling people what to do. After all, he knows best. The average New Yorker is just a blithering dumbass. Wonder what Bloomberg is going to do with all those lawbreakers?

Shepard Smith on the Fox News Channel actually peed his pants 4 or 5 times as he watched the storm approach. It is a good thing for Shepard that there was not a car chase going on in Los Angeles. Otherwise he would have had to do split screen commentary. The Dimocrats have said, "Never let a crisis go to waste." Smith has been heard to say, "Never let a car chase go to waste!"

I was reassured when Hussein Obama finally came on TV to "take charge". He can lower the sea level with a wag of his finger doncha know?

I was even more relieved when MSNBC brought Ray "Schoolbus" Nagin, former New Orleans mayor, on camera to discuss emergency preparedness!

I find it so invigorating when people who generally cannot find their butts with both hands come around to lend their sage advice.

Of course, as I already predicted, the Algore types are saying that the massive category 1 Irene is a signal of "climate change". You just knew it was going to happen.

A couple of days ago I changed from Fox News to the Weather Channel. "Why did you do that?" sweet Wifey asked.

"Because Geraldo Rivera just came on to talk about the Hurricane." I replied.

Sweet Wifey pointed out to me that one good thing about the hurricane was that we actually got WEATHER on the Weather Channel instead of the usual Storm Stories or Jim Cantori's, TALES FROM THE CRYPT. I actually got a little aggravated at Jim Cantori because when they would put the "hurricane expert" on to discuss the storm, Jim Cantori would keep talking......he just wouldn't shut up. Did any of y'all notice that?

It was touch and go there for a while, but with a good stiff drink and some Cheyenne and Maverick reruns stored on the DVR, sweet Wifey and I somehow miraculously survived Irene!

The Nightmare Scenario - Will Global Warming be Blamed?

Well hurricane Irene is headed for North Carolina. Right now it is leaving the Bahamas as a category 3 storm. According to the chart above it should strike North Carolina as a category 2. Some are saying this is the "nightmare scenario".

Hmmm, well when I look at it I don't find anything at all so special about Irene. Plenty of category 2 storms have struck North Carolina in the past. This is really nothing out of the ordinary. By Sunday afternoon it is supposed to be down to a category 1, again nothing special.

The special thing about this storm is the track. It is supposed to go right up the I-95 corridor. If it does there is no doubt it will create quite a mess. If it veered 100 miles to the west it would make landfall and quickly dissipate. If it veered 100 miles to the east most of its effects would be over open water. So it is not the strength of Irene but the track which is determined by the position of the Bermuda high and the position of the jet stream over the United States.

Somehow if Irene does make history as a major troublemaker, I have a feeling the global warming hoaxers will come crawling out from under their rocks spewing more of the nonsense of man-made global warming. It will be most interesting to me to see how they will explain how global warming can effect the position of steering currents and turn a rather large but otherwise plain vanilla hurricane into a real troublemaker.

From what I have read, Katrina actually made landfall as a category 3 rather than the cat 5 status it had over the Gulf of Mexico. It seems that the destruction most of the time is a matter of where the hurricane strikes rather than the intensity of the storm. Beware to those who choose to live on the coast!

It is a similar thing with tornadoes. I have heard it said that if the tornado that devastated Joplin, MO. had passed 20 miles to the south, it would have been over open country and we probably would not have heard much of anything about it.

Somewhere tonight, Algore is screeching and wringing his hands.

Jon Huntsman - Another RINO Eliminated

Well since Mitch Daniels dropped out of the presidential race, the state controlled media has suddenly been touting another candidate, Jon Huntsman, as top Republican. I have to admit I really knew nothing about this guy, but I had to find out.

My friend, Rush Limbaugh, was talking about Huntsman on his radio program today. It is apparent that Huntsman is for cap and tax trade and from his comments, believes that man made global warming is real. Yes another HOAX believer, and you can bet the money in your pocket book that he will be searching for new and expensive ways to solve the imaginary problem.

He also believes HEALTHCARE IS A RIGHT! Therefore if someone comes to my door demanding healthcare, I cannot refuse them. As Rand Paul said, I would become their slave.

I have heard enough. No wonder the lamestream media likes this guy. He's just another damned RINO. I have eliminated him from the GROUCH vote along with Romney and Gingrich. Nope! No RINO's for the GROUCH this time. McCain was enough for me.

I'll Marry You, but I Don't Love You

That's kinda how I felt when I read about New Jersey governor Chris Christie's stance on Cap and Trade. He has announced that New Jersey is pulling out of the region's "gimmicky" cap and trade program by the end of the year. Christie said the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative was doing nothing to solve the problem.

THIS IS GOOD!

Then he turned around and acknowledged the effects that humans are having on climate change. WHAT? So Christie believes in the hoax of man made global warming? I guess he does. So he's giving the current cap and trade program the ax, but what does this mean for the future? Will he support some other costly and nonsensical program in the future to combat a problem that does not exist? For that matter what kind of program in his way of thinking would work? I'd really like to know! How do you FIX an imaginary problem?

I have viewed Christie as a mixed bag for a very long time now. So far he is not running for president and he says he will not. If I had any notions of supporting this guy they are gone now. I do admire the courageous cost cutting measures he has tackled in New Jersey and he deserves a lot of credit, but I am afraid he is no conservative, at least not away from the fiscal arena.