Winter's Stern Command

Courtesy of Environment Canada, this is the winter cyclone that clobbered us here in Newfoundland yesterday. This is a different storm than the one that hit the eastern US yesterday.

It took me four hours to snowblow the two driveways and clear the paths and doorways (now you understand my fixation on mad super-powered snowblowers). While the center of the storm stayed well out to sea, we still received 30-plus centimeters of heavy snow. The Americans got over 30 inches or about 80 centimeters..

But the real issue was winds gusting over 100 kph. From VOCM, here are photos of the damage caused in the Battery, the neighbourhood right in the narrows of St. John's Harbour.

By the way, the title, Winter's Stern Command, comes from the Ode to Newfoundland, Newfoundland's historic National anthem.






And here is Newfoundland metal guitarist Chris Feener with a mashup of The Ode to Newfoundland, Salt Water Joys (our unofficial anthem), and a Christmas tune of all things, The Mummer's Song.



So that's why we live here!

"...Ice Work If You Can Get It"

Writing in Macleans Magazine, Mark Steyn questions how it is that, despite the avalanche of evidence of corruption in climate science, people still insist the science of global warming is "settled" and that humanity is to blame. Even as the IPCC reports are collapsing under their own falsehoods.

Meanwhile, over at the London Telegraph:

The Indian government has established its own body to monitor the effects of global warming because it “cannot rely” on the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the group headed by its own leading scientist Dr R.K Pachauri.

The Red Army Choir and The Rockers

I have heard the Russian Red Army Men's Choir many times. And so have you if you ever watched any of the old Canada-Soviet hockey wars. Here they are singing the old Soviet anthem. Someone has even thoughtfully translated the words so you can sing along if you like. Kind of like Kommie Karaoke:




Now I never ever heard of the Finnish rockers the Leningrad Cowboys until today. But thanks again to SDA, here they are in Helsinki, backed up by, you guessed it, the Red Army Choir. And what do they sing? Well the national anthem of Finland first, but then, well, you'll just have to watch. And turn it up loud.

Government Motors Vs. Toyota

Via SDA, from the Washington Examiner:

"Nice car company ya got there, be a shame if anything happened to it."

Given the Obama administration's catering to one of its favorite special interest groups, the United Auto Workers union, during the government's bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler last year, it is difficult to avoid wondering whether Toyota has become a victim of the Chicago Way of dealing with competitors.

Government Guns

The US tax collection agency, the IRS, has ordered 60 shotguns to go along with the ones it already has.

Glenn Reynolds reminds them that US taxpayers have a lot more.

Complex Computer Model: Speed Kills!

From the Vancouver Sun:

Using complex computer models, a team at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre determined that ... the more time spent behind the wheel, the more likely a person is to die in a car crash.

But the study also found that slowing down the average speed of North American drivers by just three kilometres an hour "yielded 11,000 fewer crashes each day, saved about $10 million from property damage each day, and conserved about 199 cumulative life years" across the continent.

Imagine if we all came to a dead stop. We should all be immortal.

All this is just a rehash of a couple of favorite 20th century nanny-state memes: Speed Kills! and Slow Down and Live! The first is untrue and the second is merely an excuse for generating revenue. Witness the foolish 55 mph national speed limit in the US thirty years ago. It saved neither lives nor fuel. But it sure raised a lot of money via enforcement.

To me, speeding is simply reckless driving. It is driving that disregards prevailing conditions, regardless of arbitrary speed limits. Crazy driving. And drunk driving. That's what kills. If it is speed alone that kills, we should all not exist.

I think the most damning fact in this whole report is that it was generated by  "complex computer models". We have heard this before, where?

Ezra Levant Slams Danny Williams

Ezra Levant, a man for whom I carry the utmost respect, has slammed Danny Williams for going to the US for heart surgery. He damns with faint praise.

His constituents can rot on a waiting list. Not for him, the King of the Island. At least he isn't lying about it, and at least he's not using taxpayers money to fly there. Unlike Jean Chretien.

No he's not lying. He just hasn't told us the whole story. Yet. His own doctors recommended he leave Newfoundland for the surgery. Did they tell him to go to the US? Who knows.

What I do know is that ever conservative Danny Williams is looking out for himself and I don't blame him. He is arguably the best educated, most accomplished, toughest, richest, cleanest and most enduringly-popular politician Newfoundland has ever known. And his work is not finished here. I think we Newfoundlanders would take up a collection to send this man to anywhere in the world to get his surgery. But we don't have to. He is paying the shot - all of it - himself. And he is not bumping anyone off a waiting list.

Funny Apple iPad Video

Haven't heard about Apple's new iPad? Well here's Apple CEO Steve Jobs to tell you everything you need to know.

Oh For F(bleep)'s Sake

As John Stewart would say.

Here we have the BBC Pension Trust worth 8.2-billion pounds and it is...

...heavily invested in an international group of investment managers who bust a gut to invest in 'climate change' schemes.

Helen Boaden, who is the overall boss of the BBC's news and current affairs operation, was appointed to the trust in 2008.

So the woman who tells environment reporters such as Roger Harrabin and Richard Black that the science is settled also works to maximise the returns of the pension fund.

Oh for f(bleep)'s sake.

NL Premier's Heart Surgery Will Be In US

It's a big enough surprise that Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams actually needs heart surgery, being a healthy-looking, hockey-playing specimen and so on. But the bigger surprise to some is that he's already left to have the job done in the US.

What does this say about our Canadian health care system? Probably not much. Danny Williams is an immensely wealthy man and I believe many Canadians in his circumstances would do the same thing.

I have a hunch that Danny is going someplace where he knows the surgeon, possibly an ex-patriate Newfoundlander.

UPDATE: The story goes viral. Instapundit Glenn Reynolds is linking to the same story.

More: This story has legs in the US. Drudge is linking to the National Post.

Another update from the CBC.

Glaciergate: Hitler's Last Straw

Hitler finds out about Glaciergate and the whole global warming card house just comes... well, let Hitler deal with it.




More about the "Hitler Finds Out" meme here. And the ever classic Hitler Finds Out He's An Internet Meme.

Mad Snowblower Mods

How on earth did I miss this? I found the 1/6 scale Chevy V8 that actually runs and I found the V8 chainsaw... but this V8 snowblower at Popular Science is totally awesome. I want one... unfortunately no video.

Consolation prize: How about video of a 1979 Wheel Horse snowblower with a transplanted 1979 340 Arctic Cat two-cylinder two-stroke snowmobile engine? With around 30 horsepower at 6,000 rpm, it's fast (for a snowblower), and it's LOUD.