Another fun blog

Lately the blogs that I consistently read have begun to disappoint me. A couple of my long time favorites have become so bad that I don't even bother to look at them anymore. So I went off in search of some replacements and I stumbled upon Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. (You can link to it on the right as well). I'm not exactly sure why I love it so much. It could be because I secretly wish I lived on a real workin' ranch or because I not-so-secretely wish I had four kids to homeschool right now but I think the real reason is because it is SO FUNNY! The next time you have 15 minutes, go there and read the archives in "Frontier Follies" or "The Humiliation Chronicles." I don't think you will be disappointed. Unless you too wish to have four kids like me or just really love kids, you might not find "Juice Bag" as amusing as I did, but you can always give it a try. She also has a another blog The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I made her lasagna last week and it was pretty darn tasty. And I know it won't be too long before I can no longer hold out against the chocolate cake.

Religious Test

The blog Mormon Coffee has picked up on something I have noticed a few times. When people discuss the impact of Mitt Romney's religion on his presidential chances, the Constitutional prohibition of a "religious test" for public office is cited, as if to say, "The Constitution prohibits you from not voting for Romney because of his religion." Here's an example:

Voters of all political persuasions need to be reminded of a core American value - your rights as a citizen, including the right to run for public office, do not depend on your religious beliefs. Our Constitution is clear there can be no religious test for public office.

This, of course, is patently false. You can vote however you want, for whatever reason you want. What we can't do is prohibit someone from holding or assuming an office because of their religious beliefs.

A letter-writer made the same point in the Salt Lake Tribune this week.

I'm not saying I'm going to discriminate based on religion. In fact, I'm starting to think Romney may be a good choice for Fred Thompson's running mate.

A Quiz For You

Here's a quiz question for you, from our recent trip to Dinosaurland. First person to answer correctly in the comments gets to write a guest post. Answer in the form of a question.

Softball Success

After five or so losses to start the season, my church softball team, comprised mostly of high-schoolers, won our first game tonight. Appropriately for me, we beat a team wearing burnt orange. My perplexing inability to consistently hit a large, slow-moving ball continues. I got one good hit, one bad hit, and two outs. But I played a good game of first base, without sustaining an eye injury like last week.

Your Nearest Weather Station

One of my favorite blogs, Coyote Blog, alerted me to a project taking place to locate, survey, and photograph all of the US Historical Climate Network stations in the country. Evidence from these stations is used, among other things, to examine claims of global warming, and there is evidence that some stations, like this one, are not in optimum locations for data gathering. Stations that are near an air conditioner vent, or surrounded by asphalt, are not going to give accurate readings. If the area around a station was paved in, say, 1984, the data from that station will show a warming trend that could inaccurately be credited to global warming. So the goal of this project is to catalog all of the stations, to determine what other siting errors may exist.

So I looked at the list of stations, and found that there is one in Logan. I went ahead and surveyed it. Here's my entry. Here's a picture:



This site was at least 20 feet from pavement, and at least 50 feet from buildings. The paint on the shelter (the big white box, which contains instruments) was chipped somewhat. The paint helps reflect sunlight, to keep conditions inside the box the same as those outside of it. In all, the station seems to be OK.

I would encourage you to participate in this project. Here are some locations that have stations:

• Brenham, TX
• San Antonio, TX
• Jamestown, ND
• Leitchfield, KY
• Portage, WI
• Zumbrota, MN

I, of course, would be glad to offer my assistance to your survey effort.