Trip pt. 2

After posting yesterday, I met Scott at his house to meet him, see the house, and discuss my living there. As it turns out, the process was extremely simple (I won't have to fill out ANY paperwork), and he's a super nice guy, so I've found my place to live. Now, it's not the nicest place on earth; it's what you'd expect for $300 / mo., but the appliances are all very new, and the location is great. Since I've basically accomplished every objective I had coming here, I'm leaving early, moving my flight up one day to tomorrow. It costs $100 to move it, but I'll save at least $75 on my car rental, and it's definitely worth whatever less I come out in the end to not have to sit around in Casey and Andrew's house; it would be awkward and not the least bit boring.

In totally different news, last night I finished reading Michael Crichton's State of Fear. As always, it was extremely entertaining and well-backed by incredible research. So much so that reading it has made me question the entire issue of global warming. The real data and studies he uses (and cites meticulously) simply show that we cannot make any real conclusions about climate change, sea-level rising, and extreme weather which are all allegedly caused by global warming. Another theme throughout the book is that the environmental movement has now entrenched itself to be just like the corporations it so hates, so much so that it has the same type of agenda and is willing to threaten scientists it funds if their data does not support its own claims. Through his characters, Crichton posits a completelly new mechanism by which research should be funded, which makes scientists independent of their funding and brings true peer-review and iteration in their research. I'm no scientist, but it certainly seems like these are all the ideas which it seeks to accomplish.

At any rate, I still have plenty of reading to do. Casey gave me a couple of books already, one of which I will need to have read for the first week of class, so I'll have something to read on the way home tomorrow.