I promised I would write again about the ongoing sex scandals within the Catholic Church. Sadly, there are still too many in the Church hierarchy who seem not to understand the horror of what has occurred.  The above video from an NBC interview with Cardinal Cupich of Chicago is one of the most shameful things I have seen in a very long time. The Cardinal claims the above snippet is out of context. I have read the full transcript here and it doesn't seem out of context to me. You may make your own judgment. Here is why that snippet so bothers me: The Catholic Church has one job and that is to facilitate the salvation of every soul on earth. It has a secondary mission of helping the world's poor better their lives. [The good news is there is less extreme poverty than at any time in the history of our planet . That does not mean our work is done but it does mean it can be concentrated where it is most needed.] It is an utter mystery to me why some of the Church's hi

Pro tip for safety: tornadoes occur in all terrain.  Wyoming tornado taken by Reed Timmer in July.

Article is here .

I had no idea.

Remember the movie Sully  which tells the story of US Airways Flight 1549? It crashed after both engines were destroyed by the ingestion of birds. Here is the fascinating story of people who work to prevent to prevent a similar occurrence at Denver International Airport .

I know we have a number of readers in the St. Louis area. By coincidence, Kathleen and I dined at the new Cinder House restaurant last night. They had a soft opening last week and tonight is its grand opening. Kathleen liked her entree, Ozark Trout (the taste I had was quite good). There was nothing special about the $64 (!!) eight-ounce filet is a small piece of meat on a plate. No side. I did like the black bean side which was $9. The menu is surprisingly limited and everything is dreadfully overpriced. My verdict: Pass.

.... this essay about affirmative action is essential reading. Dr. Stephen Asma, a professor of philosophy at Columbia College, shows considerable intellectual courage writing such a piece. A sample paragraph: We need to face reality. College admission and employment generally is a competitive zero-sum game. Affirmative action started as a well-intentioned way to redress inequalities, but it has become an ethical and practical quagmire. It is now effectively pitting races against each other, and rigging the results so that individual merit differences are discounted. Liberals are afraid that eliminating affirmative action is the same as turning away from those who are less fortunate, whereas conservatives and libertarians think that, when the State gets out of the way, individuals and families make themselves more prosperous. If the State  must  be involved in the redistribution of social outcomes through college admissions, then it should stick to a problem it can actually solve—

Here is an excerpt from Bjorn Lomborg's piece in the New York Post  this morning: Activist organizations like Worldwatch argue that higher temperatures will make more people hungry, so drastic carbon cuts are needed. But a comprehensive new study published in Nature Climate Change led by researchers from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis has found that strong global climate action would cause far more hunger and food insecurity than climate change itself. The scientists used eight global-agricultural models to analyze various scenarios between now and 2050. These models suggest, on average, that climate change could put an extra 24 million people at risk of hunger. But a global carbon tax would increase food prices and push 78 million more people into risk of hunger. The areas expected to be most vulnerable are sub-Saharan Africa and India. Trying to help 24 million people by imperiling 78 million people’s lives is a very poor policy. More and mo

Via Twitter...

You can compare what you would pay against others in the chart below.

"'Hurricane Lane' sounds like the more sophisticated cousin of 'Tornado Alley'."             -- Gloria Van Rees

Want a great book for that end-of-summer vacation? It tells the story of how storm warnings (like the ones in the Ozarks region yesterday) save lives. It has a 5-Star rating from Amazon. Take a look, here .

A new way to stay healthy! Exclusive Preview For Our Readers The last few weeks have seen headline after headline regarding public health and medical issues across our nation. The items below are a small sampling. And, every one of them is from the last two weeks. Again, these are just in the last two weeks.  And, a growing concern: Keeping yourself, your family, and your coworkers healthy and safe has never been more important. After all, the best way to keep healthcare costs down is with prevention. Since 2010, Ascel Bio has been taking peer-reviewed science, developing models, and creating ways to, --  for the first time in human history -- forecast the relative risk of disease. Ascel is forecast the risk of disease in much the same way as meteorologists forecast the risk of tornadoes or hurricanes.  I an investor in the company and am proud of our new site: www.diseasecast.com                                                       

Why we universally remember vacations with fondness , including the ones that are disasters.

Headline from the Dallas Morning News... Their story is here . Here is the radar at the time. The most intense part of the storm is directly over the Casino. There are multiple reports of injuries but not much else is known at this time. According to the Dallas Morning News  14 were injured. The severity of their injuries was not reported. ADDITION: Good news.

Happy to report the Atlantic and surrounding waters are quite tranquil at this time.

Tragedy has struck again; this time in my home state of Kansas last night. Yet again, a car has been swept off the road in flash flooding and two died . By far, the #1 cause of deaths in flash floods is automobiles. "Apparently what happened, they hit the high water, the vehicle probably stalled. It was found in park with the engine shut off and, we believe, high water came and just swept the vehicle off in a high ditch," Dierks said. It happens over and over, people who are safe one minute make the fatal decision to drive into a flooded area and are swept away to their deaths. Or, emergency response personnel risk their lives to make a swift water rescue. When driving, you do not know if the roadway has been washed away when flash flooding is in progress as this photo from Twitter reveals. And, from KOCO-TV's helicopter: Can you imagine what would have happened to any driver who drove into that rapidly flowing stream without knowing the road beneath wa

The news pertaining to the Catholic Church the last few weeks is beyond sickening. I don’t believe my vocabulary is adequate to express my revulsion.  The Catholic Church is a divine institution run by humans. We “cradle Catholics” were educated to believe the leaders of the Church were chosen because of their holiness and devotion to helping their flock attain Salvation by striving to live lives worthy of Christ.  The faithful now know we have been betrayed in the most evil possible way. And, we have learned it wasn’t a few rogue priests or that the press has been libeling the Church (as the Church’s leadership wanted us to believe) but that the rot exists throughout. Even Pope Francis doesn’t seem to fully grasp or want to grasp the seriousness of the problem both in the United States and internationally. There are far too many -- to this day -- in positions of leadership in the Church who seem to think if they ignore the problem it will go away. My diocesan newspaper, T

This is exactly  correct. It perfectly describes Big Climate. Full article is here .

The New York Times  has published a piece of climate fluff regarding the recent tornadoes in New York City and New England. The article is here . The two scientists the author consulted did not provide support for the author's hypothesis but that didn't stop her from writing the article or the Times  from publishing it. Let's look at the facts. Here are world temperatures since the 1880's. Current temperatures are circled. I've placed an arrow at 1953's temperatures, which I will come back to. Please note that temperatures are significantly warmer now than they were in the 1950's. Yet, as temperatures have risen, the number of significant tornadoes is strongly down. So, if anything, warmer temperatures means fewer strong tornadoes across the country.  The worst tornado outbreak in New England history occurred in June of 1953. The Worcester tornado, which was on the ground for 48 miles, killed 94. Six more died that day elsewhere in New En

While there are unquestionably problems in our world, it is vitally important to keep things in perspective. Here are some graphics that help make the point that right now -- 2018 -- is the best time in the history of the world and that things will almost certainly get even better. click to enlarge Diseases Are Receding. Polio has been nearly wiped out thanks to Rotary International and the Gates Foundation. HIV deaths are also decreasing. Child mortality is improving. Sanitation is often overlooked but it is a vital part of the public health. India, in particular, is making rapid progress. Starvation is disappearing. click to enlarge And, not only are fewer people malnourished, the quality of our diets is improving. You can go here for the entire story of our rapidly improving world. Finally: Did you know that is you make more than $35,000/year (US) you are in the world's top 1%?  So, let's keep our issues in perspective.

There is very little good news to come out of the grim stories of the California wildfires. But, here is some, via Twitter. An enlargement of the letter: Let me add my thanks to the brave California firefighters.

From Twitter: The radar was knocked out Friday afternoon.

While I was posting this in Kansas yesterday, two young people in Arizona were hit by lightning; and it was caught on video yesterday. You can see it here . They were in a less open area than the golfers I wrote about below.  One of the teens is in critical condition and the other has second degree burns. Hopefully, it won't be the case here, but many who survive lightning strikes are permanently impaired.  It is just not work the risk. Please continue reading below.  -- Original Posting --  Today is a big (for me, I don't play) golf day at The Smith House. My brother, Mark, scored a hole-in-one for the first time (he plays a lot). I spent a good part of the day watching the PGA Tournament because I enjoy watching the majors and I'm hoping Tiger Woods can continue his comeback. After the PGA correctly suspended play when lightning moved through St. Louis County this afternoon, some Wichita golfers pulled a really stupid move about an hour and a half later. Rada

click to enlarge

I give Big Climate credit for finally figuring some of the many dangers in attempting to engineer the climate before  the scheme was deployed. From Watts Up With That ... Unfortunately, the article continues the implication that wildfires in the United States have increased. They have not .

It is from the Capital Weather Gang and you can access it here .

Lisa Teachman, chief meteorologist of KSN-TV in Wichita, has been honored for having the best weathercast in the state. The selection was made by the Kansas Association of Broadcasters. The honor is richly deserved. Congratulations, Lisa.

Asbestos may be making a comeback. As I am not an expert in this area, I'm posting the article without comment.

Mark Zuckerberg Photo by Media Matters ...the censoring of various people and groups deemed "politically incorrect" must stop. While the First Amendment gives us some protection from federal government censorship, the giants of Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc., need to stop their fascist-like behavior. I am writing this post using an Apple MacBook Pro and I have, personally and as a businessman, spent well over one-hundred thousand dollars on Apple's products. But, I certainly do not like Apple's recent behavior. Hollywood's Roger Simon puts it well:   Fascist is a big word not to be bandied about (though it too often is these days), so let me make myself clear.  I've spent about ten minutes of my life on InfoWars and think Alex Jones is a boring blowhard of little interest except to those who want to spend their lives worrying about whether there was a second gunman on the Grassy Knoll.   Nevertheless, the  group censorship of Mr. Jones , led

Not only banking information , Facebook has been accused of sending employees disguised as physicians into hospitals to obtain confidential information about Facebook's customers. I no longer wanted to be associated with such sleaze.

Thanks to Dr. Marshall Shepherd, I learned this is a photo of a Hawaiian sunset reflecting off the clouds, not a California wildfire. I fell for "fake weather." It is a California wildfire as seen through an undercast of altocumulus clouds.