November 20, 2005 Archives

Two years ago, celebrating our twentieth wedding anniversary, Helaine and I took Steffie to New York City for the annual Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was an unreal experience (click the link, it's worth reading if you're considering going)!

We got there early enough to sit at the curb... and early enough for me to nap before the parade began.

I brought my Fuji S620 along and took hundreds of shots. It's tough to get a bad one when you're right on the line of march and the sunlight is strong.

Over the past few days my website has taken a growth spurt and it's totally because of those photos.

I am going back this year, though under somewhat different circumstances.

My boss called Friday. He had spoken to a producer at ABC's affiliate news service. Somehow, they had given everyone Thursday off! That left them short a reporter to stand on a rooftop, overlooking the parade, providing live shots to all the affiliates (though most will happen before the parade actually starts).

He thought of me, and the rest is encompassed in my anticipation of sleep deprivation.

I'll know more Monday, but it looks like my days starts on Central Park West sometime around 4:00 AM. Since there are affiliates coast-to-coast, I'll be feeding until the West Coast starts Good Morning America at 10:00 AM EST.

I'm really looking forward to it, in spite of an awful weather forecast. It's a fun event and will lend itself to having a good time on-the-air. And, it will be interesting to test myself over dozens of similar, yet different live shots.

If you read this blog for no apparent reason and have no real idea who I am or what I do, check your local ABC TV affiliate Thanksgiving morning. I'll be looking for you.

When I mention to people I play poker, they normally bring up the same thing: luck. There's plenty of luck involved and it does affect you in the short run. Over a long period of time luck becomes statistical noise and should even out.

Last night was a prime example of luck! I decided to play in a $10 no-limit tournament. 890 players bought in. I finished 883rd!

How is that possible? Just one of those flukes of luck, I suppose.

Since that took all of a minute or so, I decided to play later. This time it was a smaller tournament with a $3 buy-in. 700 started - I finished 8th. That turned my $3 into $52 and change.

Of course the $10 I played earlier turned into $0. I'd like to think I was unlucky the first time and skillfull the second.

These tournaments are structured in such a way that the prizes rise in a non-linear fashion. At one point it looked like I'd be gone in 11th place. That would have paid $12 (as I remember). First paid over $500.

It would have been a shame to play four and a half hours (which is how long it took) to win $12... or lose my $3.

I am somewhat skeptical about all the gloom and doom of Global Warming. I'm not saying the theories aren't based in fact (we do know CO2 is a greehouse gas). It just seems as if the calculations are overdone.

I would feel better if Global Warming proponents mentioned the positive effects of their theory along with the doom. Isn't that what imparital scientists do?

Just about all the operational meteorologists I know are skeptics. Nearly all the meteorologists who are cited as proponents are theoretical or research guys. Us day-to-day guys aren't quick to jump on the multi-decadal forecast bandwagon as long as we're having trouble getting Friday right on Monday.

Today I read an article which again puts the whole thing up in the air. I'm inclduing this link, but with the proviso that I can't/won't vouch for the author.

This new article says the Sun is getting warmer. We notice it from space probes and think we see evidence on other plants, like the shrinking polar ice cap on Mars.

Yes - on the face of it, the science sounds right. I just don't know if the books are cooked.

It has become more and more difficult to fight the tide of Global Warming pronouncements. Not because there's more science, because there are more an louder voices.

I'm curious how this article will fit into the discussion.