Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Pandemic Emergency Fizzles

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If you are a regular reader, it should strike you as no surprise that the pandemic, national emergency H1N1 ‘swine flu’ is no worse than the regular flu. I’ve been saying that all along.

Well, after spending the better part of a year blathering on about how we’re all going to die despite any evidence whatsoever of this flu being any more dangerous than the regular flu, it seems that the scare-mongering officials are finally sheepishly admitting their mistake [or deception]: this ‘pandemic’ is shaping up to be the mildest on record, and this flu has been less virulent and less deadly than the regular seasonal flu.

The cynic in me is so very, very tempted to declare this year of ‘swine flu’ hysteria to be a fabrication. Perhaps it was intended to get us all to go along with an ill-advised socialized health hare system. Perhaps it was designed to dump federal dollars into pharmaceutical and household product [i.e., hand sanitizer] companies without having to call it a ‘stimulus’ or ‘bailout’.

Is my inner cynic right? Who knows. All I know is that I said in August that the government owed us an explanation. I’m still waiting for one.

EPA: Everybody Stop Breathing!

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has declared carbon dioxide (CO2) to be a public health threat, and thus subject to administrative action by the agency. If you buy into the argument that human activity is causing ‘global warming’ or ‘global climate change,’ this sounds really good. After all, these terrible carbon emissions are messing everything up and need to be reined-in, right?

There’s a problem though. You see, most chemicals regulated by the EPA as public health threats are . . . you know . . . dangerous. They’re poisons, pollutants, and toxins. CO2 is not; it is a natural byproduct of animals breathing. You produce CO2 every time you exhale. CO2 is also very important for plants, which take it in and produce oxygen. Plants thrive in CO2-rich environments.

So let us accept, for a moment, the argument that CO2 is a ‘greenhouse gas,’ is causing a rise in global temperatures, and that all this is a bad thing. There are all kinds of problems with this argument (which I will get into some other time), but let’s accept it as fact for a moment. Even if this is true, the idea that CO2—a naturally occurring chemical essential for life on this planet—is a grave public health threat is just insane. Why don’t we declare oxygen to be a threat too, since it’s explosive in its pure form. How about water; people can drown in water. I think it’s time that the EPA stepped in and did something about water.

Read more . . .

Stuff From Today: Hiccups, Snow, Penguin

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This morning, I had to take Melissa to an art show in Falls Church. It was raining on the drive, but nothing too bad. As I loaded her stuff into the show, I came down with a terrible case of the hiccups. I absolutely hate hiccups and all of the supposed remedies—holding breath, drinking water, etc., etc., etc.—never seem to work.

So I did a Google search from my phone and  the first result was a site claiming it has a 30-second cure for the hiccups. I was completely skeptical but, much to my surprise . . . it worked. It worked instantly and the hiccups were completely gone and have not returned. If you come down with the hiccups, give it a shot and see if it works for you. Your mileage may vary.

On the drive back to the house (around 9:30 a.m.) the rain began turning to sleet, and then quickly to accumulating snow. We got about 2 or 3 inches by the end of the day. I absolutely love snow, so it was a good day for me. It was also my first chance to try out the Subaru in snow, since we haven’t had hardly any winter weather since we got it. I was very satisfied with its performance.

Aside from the two snow pics (1st right when it was starting to accumulate, and 2nd later in the day), I’ve also included a really scary penguin we saw at Target. Enjoy!

Site Host Change

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You may have noticed some downtime last night and early today. Things were briefly wonky while I moved Off on a Tangent‘s (and our other sites’) web hosting to Network Solutions, my employer. As far as I can tell the migration went just fine and everything should be working. If you notice anything not working right, please let me know.

There are a couple other things that will be happening on the site over the next few weeks if/when I have time. There is probably a pretty large WordPress update coming out soon which I intend to apply fairly quick after it becomes available. I’m also planning to do a minor version update pretty soon to refresh the look a bit and improve some of the technical bits. More on those as they come.

Trespassing on Your Own Property

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A man in Minnesota was arrested by police on Wednesday for trespassing . . . on his own property. Welcome to the new America, people, where the rights to ‘life, liberty, and property’ cover none of the above. In this case the problem stems from a dispute over a pipeline easement. Enbridge Energy Partners, owner of the pipeline, wanted to expand its easement. Jeremy Engelking, the property owner, did not want the easement expanded.

It’s a simple dispute, really. Both sides must abide by whatever the terms were of the original easement (from 1949, in this case). If the original terms allowed unilateral expansion of the easement, then Enbridge can expand it without Engelking’s approval. If the original terms did not allow for this, then Enbridge and Engelking must come to some agreement or find a way to work within the original terms..

Either way, however, Engelking committed no apparent crime in being on his own property—and he certainly wasn’t trespassing! Maybe it’s illegal in Minnesota to interfere with a utility company doing work on an easement (regardless of any separate issues relating to that easement), and if so maybe that’s actionable, but what kind of despotic local government would arrest somebody for being on their own land?

Oh, and speaking of property rights, isn’t it nice that we live in a country where unelected, unaccountable homeowners’ associations can tell you how you’re allowed to fly our national symbol of freedom and liberty?

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.