From The Guys At Crainium

I just had to share this post form the guys over at within the crainium.

Way To Go John Coleman!!

For those who don't know who John Colman is, he was the founder of the Weather Channel. He is also the Chief Meteorologist at KUSI, an independently owned San Diego. He is coming forward and doing something that a lot of people wanted to do, I am sure of it, because I am one of them. Step out against Global Warming. I am getting sick and tired of Al Gore and is load of crap. Global Warming is the biggest money making, marketing ploy, scam in the worlds history and we're just sitting back and letting people like Mr. Gore walk all over us. Here is a video of John Colman in an interview discussing his view points on the subject.

Shamwow!!!!

Of course you have heard the stupid commercial on TV. The one with the annoying guy, not Billy Maze, that other annoying guy, Vince with Shamwow. The commercial is bad enough, but look what these idiots did.

ShamWow Song (lyrics from Vince Offer) @ Yahoo! Video

Am I Doomed Or Not?

Well, this all started about 5 weeks ago with a really bad case of back pain. I didn't really think much of it because I have had pain in my lower back for as long as I can remember. So, when it started, I just took it easy and laid back. It never got better, it was so bad that I couldn't stand up straight. I couldn't sit down, I couldn't stand up, the only position I could be in that felt good was laying down.

So, I went to the doctor. He wanted me to go get an MRI. A week later, I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease in my lower back. Here is what the MRI doctor wrote in his findings:

"Mild central disc bulging at L3-L4 with mild impression on the thecal sac (the surrounding membrane of the spinal cord). Central disc herniation at L4-L5 causing a mild compression of the thecal sac and a mild central canal stenosis. Small central disc protrusion at L5-S1 with no mass-effect associated."

For some of the readers of this blog, this diagnosis is all too familiar. Instead of surgery, I am going to give the Disc Decompression treatment a shot. I just found out last night that I am perfect candidate for the procedure. The problem is the cost. This procedure isn't cheap. I am sure it will all work out and I am just counting my blessings that I have the opportunity to undergo this treatment.

Another blessing I have in all of this is the amount of sick time and short-term disability I have. I don't have to worry too much about money through this ordeal, all I have to focus on is getting my back in shape and back to work in the least amount of time.

The reason it took me so long to post the news is because I have been trying to figure out how to get the images of the MRI off the CD I have. I finally figured it out this morning. So here you go.

You May Have Seen This One

I am sure you have all seen the talking E*Trade baby and all of his weird antics. And I'm sure you have seen the new golf episode. I have a blog I read every day called Prayers for Blowouts. The tag line Bryan (the creater) uses for the sight is as follows: "Examines the frequent collisions of sports, faith, and funny since David upset Goliath."

One of the contributors to the site is a guy named Chad Gibbs. Not really sure exactly what he does for a living. Anyway, he has a weekly golf post that he runs during the PGA season about the weeks tournament. He never had a name for it, all he would put is "Chad's Untitled Weekly Golf Post." That was of course until the video. Now the post is called "The Great Shankopotamus." If you don't get it, here is the video, you might get it then. Enjoy.

And Now For The Response...

This is the response I wrote and submitted to Burnside Writers Collective (that they didn't post, or at least haven't yet). Anyway, I tried not to beat down anyone's viewpoint or anything (believe me, I have the information to), I just tried to be as informative as I could. So, here is the response, let me know what you think.

Let me start off by saying that I work for a large utility company here in the U.S. To add to that, I work at a coal fired power plant. After reading the letter from Mr. Berry and McKibben, I was a little concerned. The main reasons for my concern aren’t my job, the well being of Mr. Berry and McKibben, or the future of coal in the U.S.. My main concern is for the people reading the letter. This letter is nothing but a desperate attempt to round up followers and a scare tactic. Another thing I would like to mention before I get started is that I do believe we need to do a better job at energy conservation and controlling pollution. That said, here is my response.
There are interesting statements made in the letter. All of these statements however, have no credible sources (at least none posted with the letter). The first declaration made, “Coal-fired power is driving climate change. Our foremost climatologist, NASA’s James Hansen, has demonstrated that our only hope of getting our atmosphere back to a safe level—below 350 parts per million co2—lies in stopping the use of coal to generate electricity.” That’s really a bold statement considering it rules out everything else that “supposedly” contributes to “climate change.” In addition, CO2 isn’t the only gas that contributes to the issue. Mr. Hansen from NASA claims that we need to get below 350 parts per million in CO2. That’s fine, but instead of focusing on just one producer of CO2, why not all of them. Think about that for a moment; big list isn’t it. Bread production (rising yeast), cars, breathing, anything having to do with combustion, concrete production, and that’s just to name a few. To say coal fired power alone is driving climate change is just absurd.
I like their statement of, “Coal smoke makes children sick.” Coal smoke? Really, is that what you call it? Where exactly is this “coal smoke” they speak of? If they are talking about the emissions from the stack, the last time I checked that wasn’t smoke. While on the subject of “stack smoke”; just a little FYI for everyone in the world, the white plums the media show in video clips and pictures, that is not smoke, its steam. That’s right, the same thing that comes out of your tea pot when you boil a bit of water.
Let’s talk emissions for a moment. That is always on everyone’s mind when this sort of subject comes up. Now, at the facility I work at, we continually monitor our emissions. When I say continually I mean every minute, of every day 365 days a year. We omit nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). Your run of the mill car on the road omits the same thing, but how often do you monitor that. Once every two years, or longer, depending on what state you live in. How do you know if your car is releasing over the allowed limit in between tests? You don’t do you. A power plant build in the U.S. has a much more stringent limit than your car.
Here’s something else to think about. What would happen if one day, all of the facilities burning coal to produce energy stopped? What do they expect to take its place? I would like to know what Mr. Berry and McKibben position is on nuclear power. The reason being, nuclear power is the most logical form to use in making up the difference from fossil fuel energy.
One other thing before I close; I would like to make a comment about the coal field encroaching on the small town. There’s something I want to know about that statement. Who is complaining about the field, and how many of those people living in that town work at that field? The reason I ask is this. I was born in Craig Colorado. That town has two coal mines and a three unit coal fired power plant just outside of town. No one in that town complains, they know those places are the main reason the town is there. If those facilities were to go away, that town would no longer exist.
I intended this response not to be an argument about the letter. I do feel we need to conserve the resources we have and find ways to be good stewards of this planet. The main focus I would like to stress is to think for you. Don’t take someone’s word for something. If you read something, do some research for yourself. The internet is one of the most amazing tools we have. Please use it, come up with your own conclusions on the different world issues. Just because someone says something is bad and we need to change it, doesn’t mean it should be followed nor does it mean it is fact.

Thanks, Erik Adams

The Carbon Emission Of The World!!!!

I had never heard back from the Burnside Writers Collective on my response to a letter they posted on the site a month or so ago. I had mentioned earlier that I would let you all know when they posted the letter I wrote. Well, seeing as though it never happened, here is the letter they originally post. Tomorrow I will post my response to this letter. I will say that this just goes to show how ignorant people truly are. To think that some people out there will jump at the chance to "join the cause" by just taking some ones word for it, and not doing their own research and coming up with their own conclusions. Enjoy...

Dear Friends,
There are moments in a nation’s—and a planet’s—history when it may be necessary for some to break the law in order to bear witness to an evil, bring it to wider attention, and push for its correction. We think such a time has arrived, and we are writing to say that we hope some of you will join us in Washington D.C. on Monday March 2 in order to take part in a civil act of civil disobedience outside a coal-fired power plant near Capitol Hill.
We will be there to make several points:
- Coal-fired power is driving climate change. Our foremost climatologist, NASA’s James Hansen, has demonstrated that our only hope of getting our atmosphere back to a safe level—below 350 parts per million co2—lies in stopping the use of coal to generate electricity.
- Even if climate change were not the urgent crisis that it is, we would still be burning our fossil fuels too fast, wasting too much energy and releasing too much poison into the air and water. We would still need to slow down, and to restore thrift to its old place as an economic virtue.
- Coal is filthy at its source. Much of the coal used in this country comes from West Virginia and Kentucky, where companies engage in “mountaintop removal” to get at the stuff; they leave behind a leveled wasteland, and impoverished human communities. No technology better exemplifies the out-of-control relationship between humans and the rest of creation.
- Coal smoke makes children sick. Asthma rates in urban areas near coal-fired power plants are high. Air pollution from burning coal is harmful to the health of grown-ups too, and to the health of everything that breathes, including forests.
The industry claim that there is something called “clean coal” is, put simply, a lie. But it’s a lie told with tens of millions of dollars, which we do not have. We have our bodies, and we are willing to use them to make our point. We don’t come to such a step lightly. We have written and testified and organized politically to make this point for many years, and while in recent months there has been real progress against new coal-fired power plants, the daily business of providing half our electricity from coal continues unabated. It’s time to make clear that we can’t safely run this planet on coal at all. So we feel the time has come to do more—we hear President Barack Obama’s call for a movement for change that continues past election day, and we hear Nobel Laureate Al Gore’s call for creative non-violence outside coal plants. As part of the international negotiations now underway on global warming, our nation will be asking China, India, and others to limit their use of coal in the future to help save the planet’s atmosphere. This is a hard thing to ask, because it’s their cheapest fuel. Part of our witness in March will be to say that we’re willing to make some sacrifices ourselves, even if it’s only a trip to the jail.
With any luck, this will be the largest such protest yet, large enough that it may provide a real spark. If you want to participate with us, you need to go through a short course of non-violence training. This will be, to the extent it depends on us, an entirely peaceful demonstration, carried out in a spirit of hope and not rancor. We will be there in our dress clothes, and ask the same of you. There will be young people, people from faith communities, people from the coal fields of Appalachia, and from the neighborhoods in Washington that get to breathe the smoke from the plant.
We will cross the legal boundary of the power plant, and we expect to be arrested. After that we have no certainty what will happen, but lawyers and such will be on hand. Our goal is not to shut the plant down for the day—it is but one of many, and anyway its operation for a day is not the point. The worldwide daily reliance on coal is the danger; this is one small step to raise awareness of that ruinous habit and hence help to break it.
Needless to say, we’re not handling the logistics of this day. All the credit goes to a variety of groups, especially EnergyAction (which is bringing thousands of young people to Washington that weekend), Greenpeace, the Ruckus Society, and Rainforest Action Network. A website at that latter organization is serving as a temporary organizing hub. If you go there, you will find a place to leave your name so that we’ll know you want to join us.
Thank you,
Wendell Berry, Bill McKibben