Tuesday in the Tundra...

And if 35 degrees BELOW ZERO (factoring in the wind chill) doesn't qualify as being in a tundra-like environment, I don't know WHAT does.

Even the FROST has frost on it!

Welcome to the Hoosierland, where keeping things FROZEN has become commonplace.
Our weather today is becoming more and more repetitious in nature, isn't it?
Today's forecast...COLD (as in damn-frigging), so expect a "high" today to NOT reach POSITIVE NUMBERS.
As can be expected, schools are closed (again) and many businesses are on abbreviated schedules and limited shifts.
The good news for ME...I don't have to shovel one damn thing...(finally)!!!
Current conditions (at 0700 hrs) is 25 BELOW and it feels like 32 BELOW...actually it feels like McMurdo AFB on a summer day...LOL.
So, with conditions as they are, let's hunker down, pour ourselves a very large HOT cup of morning fortitude, and see what is going on outside our humble abodes...fair enough?
*** First off the glacier today is our local Indiana electric company (not to be confused with the one on PBS) asking us to cut BACK on usage....on possibly the COLDEST DAY IN DECADES...

Now THAT'S cold!

Now, I can take this one of two ways...
1) WTH are these people smoking, and why hasn't it been rendered ILLEGAL yet?
Or...
2) Our power grid has become so antiquated and has not been upgraded in too many decades, so as to cause concern when it's called upon to perform in the manner for which it is supposed to be designed.
Personally, I think it's a wonderful combination of BOTH.
Are we going the route of the Socialist Republic of Kalifornia, and will suffer "rolling brown outs" (or worse)?
And that takes me to another point of contention...
*** I find it shameful that every method of energy production is NOT being utilized.
Don't take this as an advocacy for all those "alternative" plans, because many of them do not work NEARLY as well as we're being told.

Not gonna cover what we already USE!

I just believe that considering the majority of our power (electricity) is derived from either COAL or NATURAL GAS plants, the last thing we should want is to constrict our usage OF those two resources.
Were it not FOR coal and NG plants, there would be little if ANY electricity to charge all those green cars, right?
And with no electricity, farm crops would suffer as well, and there goes the soybeans and corn for ethanol...
(another less-than-efficient energy source)
Yet we see THIS administration closing coal plants, refuse to allow the Keystone Pipeline, being adverse to fracking, while chasing after the mythical pot of gold at the end of the energy rainbow with wind, solar and the like.
What good is a wind-farm if the temps drop SO far that the systems FREEZE?
Or what happens to those solar panels when the sky remains grey for days on end?

The example shows NUCLEAR power...a small part of the ENTIRE grid.

And these are only asides from the REAL issue of a power grid that simply is becoming increasingly unable to stay "up to speed" with increasing demand, and is also prone to outages that can range from the local to regions encompassing several or more STATES.
*** But, it's not even about energy these days, as I'm sure "da prez" will tell us in his State of the Coup address tonight at 9PM.
Our infrastructure crumbles around us, and all HE can speak to will be "income inequality" or "immigration reform", or his Ocripewe'rescrewedCare.

Mr. Executive Order...bypassing Congress.

And he's got his pen in hand ready to BYPASS Congress AND the Constitution to make HIS beliefs the law of the land.
Our Spoiled Brat-in-Chief will tell us how important it is to ALL Americans that we raise the minimum wage (and jack up the cost of everything as a result) and that the "gap" between the wealthy and poor grows every year (because more and more people are on the government teat, thanks to HIS policies).
All the while, as this BS session goes on, our cities are still suffering broken water mains, natural disasters, energy cutbacks, along with more violent crimes against our citizens, illegals pouring across out borders, and politicians too concerned about THEIR inner circles to see the BIG picture, and why they were elected in the first place (as civil SERVANTS).
Moving on...
*** Did you know....that crime is still alive and well not JUST in Washington, D.C., but also in the Summit City?
It's true, and here's the proof:
-- First off, the local GE plant will be shutting down after a century of being in Ft. Wayne.
THAT is a real crime.
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20140128/LOCAL/301289959
About 88 jobs will be lost, but maybe we can turn the place into low-income housing...and with those walls and fences, we can keep the undesirables AWAY from the general public and perhaps RECLAIM the SOUTH side of the city...again. Just a thought.
-- THIS is what happens when you have dreams of opening a "head shop"...
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20140128/LOCAL07/301289954/1002/LOCAL
Yes, you get ROBBED...and of your GUNS, too (another "thug-purchase").
-- And there was another shooting that left another person in serious condition this past Saturday.
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20140128/LOCAL07/301289953/1002/LOCAL

This happened in the 2700 block of Stardale Drive near another apartment complex.
The police report did not mention where the man had been hit.
It also doesn't mention if this was related to the Twin Oaks shooting, also on Saturday.
-- This proves that no matter how bad the weather is HERE...it can be worse elsewhere:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20140128/NEWS/301289983/0/SEARCH

The south-central town of Valdez in Alaska has been literally cut off from civilization, due to several avalanches that have blocked the one roadway into that town. Valdez is at the end of the trans-Alaska pipeline.
The problem with clearing this highway is that water has built up BEHIND the snow in Keystone Canyon, creating a lake 300 feet wide, and is reputed to be too deep on the upstream side to allow workers to clear the snow away without placing those workers at high risk from surging water.
See? It can always be worse.
*** Last back to the igloo today...it seems that no matter how FAR we (as a society and a nation) seem to progress, the road before us seems to never become any less lengthy.
In fact, is appears to get longer by the day, and one might take that to mean we're NOT making any progress at all.
Well, let's say we often progress the farthest in the wrong direction for what some might feel are the right reasons.
We need to again measure how far we ADVANCE by what lies BEHIND us...and we always SCOUT AHEAD (keeps one out of ambushes and minefields)...that's the way the military does it...and it's worked out pretty well so far in that regard.
If we say we advance, but only move to one flank or another, that is not TRUE advancement...but it makes for great deception.
History's battles are replete with such diversions.
And there are also those would would call a RETREAT as nothing short of..."an advance to the rear".
When we can look back, and see actual progress, we can certainly know we're on the RIGHT track and can proceed in THAT direction, but all the while never tossing caution to the winds of fate.
We can always try different TACTICS to achieve a specific goal, but when people try the SAME thing time and again, and expect different (and perhaps better) results, well, that's just being a fool.

The cornerstone of tactics

You go with what works, and if you find a better method of doing what you did before that netted good results, you give it a go, and prove yourself either correct or wrong, but at least you always try to move FORWARD.
None of us might be able to make the road any less long...or less rocky, but we can TRY, and when enough people do try, then the journey becomes less troublesome, if for no other reason, then the fact that is becomes a SHARED journey, and as we all know...
A joy shared is twice a joy,...a TROUBLE shared is HALF a trouble.
That you can take to the bank.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and..
Stay SAFE (and warm) out there, America.