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After seeing a lot of blank profiles, and web pictures posted by quite a few losers, I've come to the conclusion... that the actual posters closely resemble this caricature:

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As of TODAY, that old ball of glowing gas over our heads has now been without sunspots for over 85% of the days this year. This has persisted for over four months now. Last century, in 1913, 85% of the days were "spotless". Over the past 4 months, we are higher than that, at 86%. There were two periods last year of relatively higher activity, but the rest of last year was in the dumps, too.

Question: Why does this make any difference?
Answer: Historically, for reasons we don't yet fully understand, high solar activity has been correlated with higher temperatures on earth, and lower temps have come with lower activity.



As you can see from this graph, there is a surprisingly good match of solar activity with the Earth's temperature. As of right now, by at least one correlation of data, 10 years from now, we should expect the Earth's temperature to be about 0.8C (1.5F) lower. If so, this will dwarf any carbon dioxide effect, and will show concerns about that beneficial gas as only a ruse for the world's power mongers to gain more control over all of our lives.

Last updated March 19, 2009 5:34 p.m. Pacific Time

NJ CONSIDERS BAN ON BARE IT ALL BRAZILIAN WAX

By BETH DEFALCO
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

New Jersey is drawing the line when it comes to bikini waxing. The state Cosmetology and Hairstyling Board is moving toward a BAN ON GENITAL WAXING altogether after two women reported being injured. Both women were hospitalized for infections following so-called "Brazilian" waxes. The board will decide on April 14, 2009.

TRENTON, N.J. -- New Jersey is drawing the line when it comes to bikini waxing. The state Board of Cosmetology and Hairstyling is moving toward a ban on genital waxing after two women reported being injured in their quest for a smooth bikini line.

Both women were hospitalized for infections following so-called "Brazilian" bikini waxes; one of the women has filed a lawsuit, according to Jeff Lamm, a spokesman for New Jersey's Division of Consumer Affairs, which oversees the cosmetology board.

Technically, genital waxing has never been allowed - only the face, neck, abdomen, legs and arms are permitted - but because bare-it-all "Brazilians" weren't specifically banned, state regulators haven't enforced the law.

"The genital area is not part of the abdomen or legs as some might assume," Lamm said.

Officials with the National Cosmetology Association and National-Interstate Council of State Boards of Cosmetology said they were unaware of another state that has banned genital waxing.

Regular bikini waxes would still be allowed.

Genital waxing can be dangerous in that the hot wax can irritate or tear delicate skin in the bikini area, resulting in infections, ingrown hairs and rashes, according to skin care experts.

Despite such risks, millions of American women - and some men - choose to have the hair down there ripped away, and a majority of salons in New Jersey offer the procedure for between $50 to $60.

The state Board of Cosmetology meets next on April 14 and will decide whether to move forward with banning the procedure, made popular in Brazil to accommodate skimpy thong bikinis.

The earliest the ban could take effect would be sometime in May, Lamm said, and salons that continue to perform it could be fined.

For salon owners, discontinuing the popular service could mean a substantial drop in business, especially as summer swimsuit season nears.

Spa owner Linda Orsuto, who owns 800 West Salon & Spa in Cherry Hill, estimates that most of 1,800 bikini waxes performed at her business last year were Brazilian-style.

"It's huge," she said, adding that her customers don't think their bikini lines are anyone's business but their own. "It's just not right."

She said many customers would likely travel across state lines to get it and some might even try to wax themselves.

==========================

So, NJ is going to BAN this because of TWO people? Yup - that was the story yesterday. I saw it on another news Forum yesterday morning, and looked at the original AP story, and copied it. Some of the first commenters made these observations:

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--: Anytime you hear news like this, look who stands to benefit.
Likely some State Board “Approved” (read - donors) Hair Removal “Specialists”.

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--:Rush Limbaugh is talking about this now and it is hysterical.

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--:When bikini waxes are made criminal, only criminals will have bikini waxes!

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--:Anytime you hear news like this, look who stands to benefit. ??? Bush Doctors???

...
So, today, if you try to find the story, AP has changed it! You MIGHT be able to get it in a web cache, but they've purged it from most places.

NJ apparently got the message that they are being made fun of, on Limbaugh's show and elsewhere. So what is the result? Keep in mind POSTER #1's comment as you look at the modified story! (dateline is 90min after the end of Limbaugh's show)

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(03-20) 13:33 PDT Trenton, N.J. (AP) --

New Jersey is smoothing out differences over a plan to ban bare-it-all bikini waxing.

The state on Friday decided to reverse course on the proposal after angry salon owners complained about losing business ahead of swimsuit season.
...

On Friday, Consumer Affairs Director David Szuchman effectively killed the plan. In a letter to the board, Szuchman says he won't support the ban, and since his office oversees the board, the ban would never be approved.

"Many commenters have noted that the procedure can be safely performed. I, therefore, believe that there are alternate means to address any public health issues identified by the board," Szuchman wrote the board. He encouraged the board to "to begin an immediate review of the training necessary to safely provide this service, and to establish appropriate protocols and safeguards."
===============

= GOVERNMENT TAXING, TRAINING, LICENSING AND REGULATING. Probably BANNING the product from sale to some not licensed.

Balderdash!

Typical government at work.

Here is an absolutely beautiful picture from SpaceWeather.com today. The technology we have right now never fails to astound me.



This shows Jupiter and its four large "Galilean moons" virtually on top of the Sun. In the frame, there is also the beginning of a CME - Coronal Mass Ejection - an explosion of material rushing away from the sun. If you go to [url]http://www.spaceweather.com[/url] today, you will quickly find a link to a 5Mb movie which shows these moons going around Jupiter, as well as the CME exploding away from the Sun. It also has a brief explanation of the equipment used to view this scene and a link to that.

Another item on that page today is the picture of a wonderful series of arcs around the Sun created by ice crystal clouds over France. You have all seen a "halo" around the Sun at times, and probably have noticed "sundogs" or parahelia. These arcs are essentially the same processes, but a fascinating extension, and it's quite rare to see so many. I'll put the picture here now, but for the explanation you'll have to bug me later as I'm pressed for time now, or you can find more about them elsewhere. This is looking straight up and using a "fisheye lens". You can see the sun masked by the lightpole in the lower right, and the normal "22 degree halo" which here looks small circling the sun and almost touching the ground near that lamp. The large sky-encompassing circle is known as the "parahelic circle", and it is quite unusual to see it in entirety.



SpaceWeather.com changes their page each day, so if you are looking for that page later than today, you'll have to navigate to March 20,2009 using their tool on the right side of their home page.

"March Madness" is what the College Basketball Tournament in the US is known as. Sixty-five University and college Teams compete in a single elimination tournament - 2 games each weekend for three weekends. It is the only time I ever really watch basketball in the year. Very entertaining, and you know from the "seeding" how the teams "ought" to do, and even if you don't know much about the teams, that helps your estimating their play that day.

Three quite local teams from my area are in the NCAA Tournament this year: Cornell, Syracuse(no surprise) and small college Binghamton. I expect Binghamton to get absolutely CRUSHED into something resembling wine tonight by a team that may well win the tournament this year, Duke. Cornell is extremely likely to fare no better tomorrow.

Syracuse is a different story. They always have decent talent and decent coaching, but they tend to be completely unpredictable in how they will play. Sometimes they play way over their ability for many games; sometimes a grade school team might be able to beat them... well, not quite that bad. I wouldn't hazard a guess as to whether they'll do well this year or not.

I'll be keeping at least one eye on that tournament during this next three weeks, though, as it is always entertaining.

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"Da Toy" blogged yesterday asking about Ice Ages. I gave an extensive answer there, but there is much more to say. If someone is interested in goading me on, I'll take up the subject on my own blog here. There are many scientific and historical topics I'll be happy to answer questions about if folks are interested, in fact. Let me know.

Here is another very good introductory resource discussing the Ice Ages I'd forgotten about when I was answering Da Toy yesterday - it is even more easy to understand ----

[url]http://muller.lbl.gov/pages/IceAgeBook/history_of_climate.html[/url]

Well, the saddest day of the year, possibly... It is now 364 days until St.Pat's day... Let the count down begin, and may it go Rapidly!

Sitting here with my Traditional after St.Pats Irish Coffee to rise with "the hair of the dog" - Which of course begs the question, what exactly does that mean?



Now, how could you not believe that the science is "settled". Well, that picture of the "scientific explanation" is at least it is just as good science as a lot of other Junk Science that is widely broadcast by the Dinosaur Media and swallowed by politicians as "science" nowadays.

"In Scotland it is a popular belief that a few hairs of the dog that bit you applied to the wound will prevent evil consequences. Applied to drinks, it means, if overnight you have indulged too freely, take a glass of the same wine next morning to soothe the nerves. 'If this dog do you bite, soon as out of your bed, take a hair of the tail in the morning.'" --- as Ebenezer Cobham Brewer writes in the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (189

Well, whatever, I don't really care. I actually have no hangover, having had on the order of only about six beers all day yesterday spread out over 15 hours. It has always seemed to be a good tradition to me, though, so it is how I wind my St.Pat's down... - or maybe it is how I blunt my dissappointment that it is now 364 days go go.

Had a great day. Lots of singing, and the corned beef and cabbage as promised. Some dancing. Patty, a pretty long-black-haired lass, and I had been giving each other the eye quite a bit during the concert/singing. She got me up to dance a rather vigorous jig with her in rather close quarters. About halfway through, while I was drawing my leg back in once, Patty kicked her leg in under my down-swinging knee, and there was no hope for to avoid flopping in a heap to the floor. She realized what was happening, and tried to help catch me, and ended up laying full on top of me. Between the two of us, my head only barely touched the floor - so no lumps were raised. We got back up, bear hugged hard and talked ten seconds in each other's ear, and finished dancing then for the rest of the music.... both of us being just about as vigorous as we had been before despite the spill.



I was so happy that she came down on top of me instead of me on her! I have a well developed talent for taking nasty falls without getting hurt- probably since I have had so much practice in my life - lol. I don't feel any soreness at all from the fall or anything else today. The band's cameraman had the camera on us during the fall, and after! I asked after the dance about it and she said, "Oh, it won't be published". I told her, "Oh, I don't care if you do! I just would like a copy of it if you were filming it!" She was surprised that was my attitude. So, there is a possibility I may get a copy of this. I really hope so! It should be pretty funny to watch.

Another notable: Nicole, a very pretty blonde was celebrating her 21st birthday - wearing a shirt, "kiss me or else..."(front) "buy me a drink"(back). I did both of course! What a great birthday to have! I couldn't believe I was the first to take her up on her shirt challenge!

Watching Brigadoon again this morning (Gene Kelly, Syd Charisse, Van Johnson- musical, 1954)- about a Scottish town that appears only once every 100 years. Great dancing, great tunes. Good background while I'm doing EMail and some other morning chores.

"If you love someone enough, anything is possible"

I love the song, "Go Home to Bonnie Jean" in that musical.

Also, the wedding dance to bagpipes! Beautiful.

Time to get on to some of the other morning tasks.

I hope everyone else had at least half as great a day yesterday as I had!

Sitting here getting EMail and other details done while drinking the Irish Coffee to get the day started.

Have to get to the pub well before noon or I won't be able to stake out one of my favorite seats at the bar before the hoard arrives.

Corned Beef and Cabbage, songs, dancing, jokes and laughter are on the docket for the day, and,,, oh yeah - beer! - green, brown and polka dotted beer.



Here's hoping you all have a great time today!

All Australia is now in St Pat's territory!

Drink up and Cheers to all!



Make my first one:

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I just read this very well written article about the way newspapers have been trying to cope with the age of the internet:
[url]http://www.shirky.com/weblog/[/url]
Half way through the article, he has a brilliant commentary I'd never heard before regarding the transition period around 1500AD when there was absolute chaos in media distribution due to the invention of the printing press, and he goes on to discuss that a similar chaotic environment now prevails in media due to the internet. There is still no telling where it will lead.

If you stop reading here and go to his article, I'm fine if you don't return to this. Anyone who goes to that link will any find their time spent there rewarding and educational. After looking at that and a couple other articles, it got me to thinking about my role in the death of what I have variously called the Dinosaur Media, the Old Media, or the FRAUDcasters.

Those media have depended for the last half century and more on consumers, as the blogger points out. Consumers have funded their forays into Baghdad news offices and Manila jungles and Seattle city hall. WalMart and McDonalds and Coke now subsidize their sportscasts.

But I'll tell you, I am a lousy consumer.

I've never understood the reason people 'must have' the latest version of a telephone or the newest computer game, or to watch the new movie, or be the first in the neighborhood to get the latest fad car. It has always seemed smarter to me to wait a while and see whether the new thing is worth the money or the time. I've found it seldom is worth it, and I can almost always get along just fine without it thank you.

I've come to realize the more something is hyped by advertising campaigns, the more questionable that product must be. When friends start to recommend something or tell me how great an item or food is, or how much time it has saved someone they know, THEN is the time for me to take note of it. If the recommendations are all coming from Madison Avenue or some salesman, I stop listening right then. If they need to push it that hard to sell it, it must be something I should not get. Why should I pay for their advertising an inferior product?

Maybe it is because I'm a simple guy. I couldn't care less whether the cola I mix with the rum is Pepsi, Coke, RC, or store brand. I don't need hundreds of computer games; three to five good ones serve me just fine, and Tetris and PacMan are still fun. I don't need a different movie every day: give me a dozen good ones and I'll watch only those for over for a year, and even more times after that. Give me a good B&W movie from the 50s instead of some WoW movie from 2008. I eat food to sustain me, not to make me swoon, so as long as I get some reasonable amount of nourishment and calories, fancy taste isn't going to sway me much, and no amount of hyping it is going to change that.

If 95% of the entertainment industry were to disappear, you wouldn't see me crying. There is a mountain of older stuff that is more worthwhile than the bulk of what is "new", whether it be movies, songs, books, games, etc. If Coke and Pepsi could no longer afford their huge advertising budgets and went bankrupt, I wouldn't notice their demise. If car models were updated once a decade instead of once a year, I would be just fine with that. If you take all that hyped stuff away from the commercials media survive on, what would we be left with in advertising? Oh yeah - ambulance chasers and political ads... that can wait until a later day.

The end of it is that I can't say I'd lose any sleep if the newspapers and TV networks go away since I don't find their ads or other products exceedingly worth while, and if the bulk of the products advertised go away, it would not bother me at all.

I suspect I'm not at all alone.

If that suspicion is accurate, the result of the Internet Revolution is likely to be far more extensive than the blogger above suggests.

Springtime is definitely on the way here in Western NY, finally, about two weeks late. I thought I detected a bit of a zephyr of spring about ten days ago while I was outdoors, though it was in the single digits. We had a half thaw, followed by a refreeze for a couple days, now thawing is going to occur again the next week.

Starting about 5 days ago, Canada Geese are flying north, even when the temp is in the teens. Yesterday I found crocus leaves are poking up in my yard. No robins, but they are not reliable here anyway since some stay all winter, and the rest don't seem to have a good read on the weather here anyway. I also saw a wooly bear caterpillar wandering around yesterday.

The bird I'm looking for now is a red-wing blackbird. When they come to the marshy areas here, that means spring has truly arrived. Red-wing blackbirds are beautiful birds. Male have glossy black plumage with a bright shoulder patch. The picture here is stolen from an avian poetry website, which has some nice material: [url]http://incolor.inebraska.com/tgannon/bird3.html[/url]


This reminds me - I woke in the wee hours of the morning, and wandered outside for a while. The "Summer Triangle", consisting of the bright stars Vega, Deneb and Altair popped right out in front of my face. I always love seeing that in springtime. It is just like seeing "Bold Orion, Mighty Hunter" in the wee hours of September signaling the impending coming of winter. Summer is on its way, despite all the "global warming" that has given those here in WNY a very cold winter.

Here is a link to Weather data for this past winter in the NorthEastern part of the US.
[url]http://www.nrcc.cornell.edu/climate/Summary_2009-Winter.html[/url]
The temperature this winter has been approximately 7F (4C) lower than the warmest winter (2001-2002), so I guess Bush stopped global warming in the NE US, anyway. The temp has been somewhat below the average temperature for the last 114 years, according to the data, and more than 60% of those winters have been warmer than this. The amount of fuel we have had to use to heat our homes has been significantly greater, I certainly will attest.

I sure wish we had more REAL global warming in this area.