Weather or Not

Severe Outflow by R. Edwards

Scattershooting 180115

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Scattershooting while wondering what happened to respect for the Constitution as it was written…

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WHAT IS THE LINE BETWEEN A TORNADO and NOT A TORNADO?: In SkyPix, I don’t just exhibit photos, I discuss stories, lessons & issues behind them. Please browse this entry on a near-tornado from 2015 near Renfrow, OK. The issues here: Is it a tornado? Where’s the line between tornado and mesocyclone? What is a tornado? Not simple…sometimes the binary yes/no tornado question is too hard to answer, even for those of us who have seen numerous tornadoes over decades, and we just need to accept that. The spectrum can get very messy sometimes. It would be nice to have a mobile-radar interrogation of this, and I have been fortunate to have landed on many of the same storms as the DOW and/or OU+UMass radars the last several years (LaGrange WY, Sulphur OK, El Reno/Piedmont-2011, Dumas-2010, Bennington-13, and several more). Of course, those were no-brainer tornadoes, even the weak ones with the Dumas supercell. Having that data on this storm would have made things far less subjective; but barring that and/or sufficient damage, we’ve got what we’ve got, which is no more than what you see here — visual evidence. So we do the best we can with that, and my best call was, “not quite a tornado”. I am more than secure enough in my own skin not to let any sort of “notch in the gun” mentality infect reasoned judgment!
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CLIVEN BUNDY, RUBY RIDGE and the CONSTITUTION: Both the Bundys and the Feds did wrong things that escalated all this. Regardless, the standoff happened, the Feds lied and covered up, and this dismissal of charges “with prejudice” (defendants cannot be tried for those charges again) by Judge Navarro. [This judge is an Obama nominee and Hispanic woman with no intrinsic reason to side with the Bundys, if that matters to you, and was in fact sued to be dismissed by the Bundys.] This dismissal simply was the right thing for her to do. For once, a Federal judge simply compared what happened to the Constitution and acted accordingly, despite all the reason in the world she had to do otherwise. Kudos to her. The Constitution still matters, at least in this one instance. Whether you or I agree with the Bundys’ opinions on Federal land and cattle ranching is irrelevant. That’s not the issue here. The Bundy family (and the Weaver family in the early 1990s, much as I disagree with their stance on separatism!) was and is entitled to the same Constitutional rights of due process as everybody else. Whether you like it or not, our Constitutional rights are supposed to be completely blind to sociopolitical opinion. Nowhere does the Bill of Rights say “except” or “unless”. If you think it does, prove it , in the literal, black-and-white words of the text. In fact, the Constitution is designed specifically to protect unpopular opinion. If that bothers you, suck it up and deal with it.

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NFL CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES: Amazing. One team with a starting backup QB — either Minnesota or Philadelphia — is going to the Super Bowl. It could be a Jeff Hostetler situation. Of course, if Brady is on the other side, forget I brought it up. He is the king until deposed. In the meantime, congratulations, all Vikings fans. You have put up with a lot of futility and bad breaks over the years (though I still say Drew Pearson did not push off in ’75!). I’ll be rooting for MN all the way in PHL..and not just because I can’t stand PHL!

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HAWAIAN NUKE-ATTACK FALSE ALARM:

I just got back from vacation to Hawaii (the Big Island) a week before their infamous nuclear-attack false alarm, and inexcusably long time to retract. [By contrast, in 1971, this more vague but still ominous false alarm went out, and was retracted within five minutes!] A friend who lives in Hawaii, and who is involved with their emergency weather-warning system, stated on social media: “Real kudos to our local media (broadcast and print) for swiftly getting to the bottom of things yesterday and demanding answers. Mistakes like this are never fun but the public deserves to know. I would say, though, to be cautious about putting all of your anger and blame on one single person. A root-cause analysis of these things typically reveals several things went wrong. It’s possible the software was very hastily and poorly designed in the rush to get a procedure in place. Experience tells me this will not be Hawaii’s last false alarm. It certainly wasn’t our first. We’ve had other, similar things happen over the years, unfortunately. Hawaii is a vulnerable place, the most isolated island group in the world. You NEED to be fully prepared for an emergency if you live here. When we have a disaster, and (just like in Puerto Rico) help is not going to come right away after a disaster strikes. I wish people took the hurricane and tsunami threat as seriously as they apparently take ballistic missile threats. And finally: Shame on those of you who selfishly and stupidly acted foolhardy, reckless, and put lives at risk, panicking during the false alarm.”

I can’t state it better, and agree completely. I am a parent, and have taught my now-adult children to use reason and not emotion when decision-making under stress. [Whether they choose to do so and make rational decisions, or panic and endanger people, is up to them, but they know that self-control is a choice.] Rationality vs. emotion can be the difference in living vs. dying. And as someone who has worked in a clunky and inefficient bureaucracy for decades, I stand firmly behind the notion that procedures can fail just as readily as people, and should be examined and held accountable too. If a rule/procedure/software goes bad, change the damned rule/procedure/software!

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RACISM AGAINST OWN RACE: It is possible to be racist against your own kind. I see it often on social media, especially amongst self-loathing white liberals. Racism is not necessarily defined by the color of the perpetrator. From “dictionary dot com”, racism is: “A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human racial groups determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to dominate others or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others.” That doesn’t rule out one’s own group. If you believe whites are inferior, even if you are white, you are racist. If you believe blacks are inferior, regardless of your color, you are racist. Same goes if you’re any other race. That is the end of that.

Scattershooting 171126

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Scattershooting while wondering why Jason Garrett could be retained as Cowboys coach after this season, when it’s so clear he has either zero, or negative, influence on performance…

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“BLACK FRIDAY” MATERIALISM: Here we go yet again with more pathetic stories of “Black Friday” violence and mayhem. I’ve already spoken my piece about this festering sore on the face of society. Instead I’ll add a thought on the root phenomenon: materialism. Materialism necessarily occurs at the expense of spirituality. This idolatry of the tangible possession is but a small symptom, among many, of a far greater neglect manifest on both individual and collective levels in society, and in every case, the common denominator is the supremacy of self.

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GREG SCHIANO and ONLINE LYNCH MOBS: This is a pointed essay on how the “virtue signaling” mob mentality of emotion-driven, reactionary and vindictive social-media hordes, with no more basis than unsubstantiated hearsay, undermined someone’s career and changed the future of U. Tennessee and college football in mere hours. I’m not a fan of Schiano, for other reasons involving his coaching itself. Only time will tell if they hire a good coach and go on to success, or not. Both points are really beside the point. The issue at hand is about mob justice, a phenomenon rooted in emotion and not reason. As the author noted: “This is no better (in some ways it is worse) than what they did during the Salem Witch Trials.” It really is the very worst of the thoughtless herd mentality, as Clarence Thomas once infamously put it well before today’s time, a “high-tech lynching”. We see it so much across social media, this ten-second attention-span, mindless mob justice. Unjust idiocy!

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ALGEBRA = “WHITE PRIVELEGE”:
As a texter might say: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! That premise is so preposterous and irrational as to be deranged. Algebra began in Babylonia and was refined geometrically in the dark-skinned Middle East (back when Middle Eastern Islamic culture as a whole was advanced, instead of backward). The word “algebra” is Arabic, for crying out loud. Did she read any math history at all? Does she pay any attention to anyone but herself? Many east-Asian and east-Indian people occupy top positions in mathematics and are math faculty nationwide. Many outstanding mathematicians and physical scientists exist of all skin colors. Yet the latest entry in my nutty-professor files claims it’s a symbol of “whiteness”. What a crock of unadulterated horseshit! Math is the language of science, so…by extension, this whack job is necessarily saying science is “white privelege”. Some of these academics have become so detached from history and the real world as to be delusional. Sadly, plenty of gullible students may buy into her racist rubbish.
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TRUMP’S JUDICIAL IMPACT: Readers of this BLOG know I have been (and remain) no fan of Trump’s imprudent and undignified behavior as President, his long history of rank dishonesty and personal immorality, and his general lack of bonafide conservatism. Regardless, when someone does something right, give him just due. Trump already has filled 13 vacancies in the Federal judiciary, the most for a first-year President since Reagan. This is a wonderful and fantastic gift that will keep giving for decades, because not only are so many of them conservative, but also relatively young. For once, the administration and Congress are correctly playing the long game, and right where it matters most. Aside from isolated, unrepresentative examples of seemingly low qualifications for the sake of leftist argumentative convenience, the bulk of the judicial appointees are qualified, rock-solid conservative jurists, and ready to go. Justice Gorsuch is a fine and most meaningful example. I find this great cause for hope for what is left of this nation, in the face of (and counterbalancing) a toxic blast wave of radical-left judges planted by Clinton and Obama, who overstep their bounds and legislate ghoulish social agendas from the bench. Trump obviously is being advised very well on the judicial front, and lo and behold, he appears to be listening, for once. I hope he continues to follow the Federalists and the Heritage Foundation very closely here. And for those on the left who don’t like this state of affairs, please blame fellow liberal Harry Reid for killing the judicial filibuster in 2013. It’s about the only thing I can think to thank him for.

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SELF-DRIVING CARS vs. ETHICS: Self-driving cars and trucks are coming, and in the net, likely will be for the better. When grandma, who can’t see well enough to drive anymore, wants to go get groceries and her hair done, she’ll be able. When the paralyzed veteran needs to get his medical work done, the robocar will take him. When I am old as dirt but still want to be on the dryline outside Shamrock by initiation time…set its target lat/lon and make sure to leave soon enough. [But can it handle quick turnarounds to unknown destinations on-the-fly, 75-mph RFD winds and rapid changes in road conditions?] However, as so often has been the case in history, technology outpaces ethics. Ethics matter! Who gets to live and die if a collision is inevitable? Who decides this: the driver who is in the situation, a car programmer in a Michigan laboratory, or a one-size-fits-all suit-and-tie government bureaucrat in DC? What about unique situations for which programming is not realistic (like tornadic inflow with other vehicles around)? Lots of thought and discussion need to occur to resolve this, before our tendency towards “latest is greatest” recency fallacy kicks in and we rush into this realm.

Scattershooting 170710

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Scattershooting while wondering why, on cars with computers, they don’t display the specific problem in plain English (“Intake manifold broken” or “Throttle body needs cleaning”) instead of activating a generic “check engine” light or giving an obscure diagnostic code.

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LEFT-WING BUTT-HURT over where IVANKA’s BUTT WENT: A friend recently posted to Facebook: “First and foremost, I don’t approve of Trump as POTUS. However, hypocrisy is rampant in our political system and the backlash about Ivanka Trump sitting at the table during last week’s G20 summit is a prime example. Many on the left have expressed outrage given quote “She wasn’t qualified to sit there.

So now, (according to many on the left) in order to have a voice at a world forum that is made up of 95% men (G20 Summit) you must have a PhD and Master’s degree in political science and you certainly can’t be a conservative woman. That’s the new rubric, you must have a PhD. Kinda puts the 99% into a smaller bucket.

Incidentally, the majority on the left applauded this statue when it was placed on Wall Street [bronze sculpture of girl staring down a huge bull] yet they then denounce an educated woman sitting at a table (albeit briefly) during the G20 (which by the way is an economic symposium). And as the father of two daughters I find the “outrage” quite amusing.

Hypocrisy abounds.”

Splendidly expressed! The left keeps moving the goalpost on conservative women and minorities, now finding assorted, alleged and largely imaginary disqualifications to credibility under every nook and cranny. It’s as if the conservative racial minority and/or woman has gotten too “uppity” and must be put in her place. That mentality is just as racist and sexist as anything they (often with some justification) accuse Trump and his followers of doing.

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COMMENTARY with a CLEAR CONSCIENCE: As one who has been labeled (with abundant justification) as “fiercely independent”, I’m more glad, by the day, to have voted third-party. One reason is that my hands are clean of all this nonsense. I also can credibly evaluate these events from the side, as an independent thinker, not beholden to defending a vote for either of the corrupt, egomaniacal, contemptible jerks who led the major-party tickets!

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LIBERAL TALIBAN in AMERICA: I strongly disagree with aspects of what the subjects of Confederate statues stood for; yet it is part of their (our) history. I also attended an elementary school named after Robert E. Lee, and am not the least bit bothered by that, regardless of the side he defended. You see, wisdom (which too many lack) dictates that such things be examined calmly and rationally, which means with level head and clear thinking, in the context of the time they occurred and/or were memorialized — not in the throes of emotional, reactionary revisionism of many decades or more later. Having them there doesn’t “glorify” the wrongs their subjects committed. Instead, examined through pragmatic, educational frameworks, the monuments and names can help us to learn of and understand them better. That’s a win-win.

Being offended is a choice! If you feel sad or angry, look in the mirror for the solution, not the oppressive hammer of censorship. You see, snowflakes, life isn’t unicorns crapping Skittles in fields of marshmallows. Leave the statues and names up as a reminder of that history, good and bad, in all its influences.

Moreover, realize this: There are two groups in this century actively, zealously and shamelessly pulling down multiple monuments to past people and ideas they oppose:
1. Taliban
2. Left-wingers
The similarity is not coincidental.

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TRASHING the ECO-HIPSTER LEFT — A CONFESSIONAL: Portland is well-known as a bastion of left-wing ideologues and self-righteous, latte-sipping eco-hipsters. Even many liberals there admit this. Such is not news, yet it is important background. Also important to this tale is the fact I often pad my suitcase’s empty space with paper or throw-away clothing to cushion contents and occupy the space that will be used for items being brought back.

Before going to Portland for a recent trip, being a longtime iconoclast with a well-developed (figurative and literal) right jab, and knowing of the greenies’ Earth-worshiping piety and smugness: I quite deliberately and purposefully saved up non-numbered plastic trash instead, and padded my luggage with that. Once no longer useful, it then was discarded properly in trash receptacles, to go to the Portland landfill instead of mine in Oklahoma. Admittedly this felt marvelous, not at all shameful…much in the same spirit as when staying in Hyannis, MA, in 2004, and I wore a bright white Bush/Cheney-2004 shirt whilst strolling with friends all over the liberal artists’ colony of Provincetown. [Some conservative restaurant patrons bought my friends and I a round of drinks for that!] Like chocolate for the tongue, such actions are not-so-guilty pleasures for the ideological conscience. Smiling even now…sue me.
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