Monday, March 31, 2008

'Peanut Stars'

Ohio State University astronomers and their colleagues have discovered a new type of star system, one that may be the progenitor of a rare type of supernova. The star system is called a “yellow supergiant eclipsing binary” -- it contains two very bright, massive yellow stars that are very closely orbiting each other. In fact, the stars are so close together that a large amount of stellar material is shared between them, so that the shape of the system resembles a peanut. (Credit: Image by Kevin Gecsi, courtesy of Ohio State University)

This is wierd, a couple of bound together stars. The observations were made with the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) on Mt. Graham in Arizona. More here. There is a short video animation here that shows how the Peanut Stars might orbit each other. I would guess the solar system of these stars would be interesting. The find may go a ways to explaining some hereto unexplained supernova events; two supernova explosions have been linked to yellow super giant stars, but current theory doesn't predict any supernova should be yellow super giants.

As man's knowledge expands, the more he finds the less he really knows.

Fitting Three Shows Where There Were Two

Digital compression, in it's many flavors is exciting stuff. A provider like Comcast can get more on their system, without much expenditure expect computer cycles. The problem is most compressors are lossy, the quality degrades the higher the compression factor. The reason digital zooms are useless on cameras, just take the camera pixel capability shot and zoom it on the computer.

I have noticed this when I had DTV and now on Comcast, the DVD when played on an up scaling DVD player looked so much better than the one broadcast by the service. But lacking the equipment to measure, I just assumed it was all there was ... But I knew there was more. The pictures on the screens at the video store looked so much better than my high cost service provided. Over at Gizmodo they have some measurement data and some screen captures.
Comcast has begun compressing HDTV shows in order to deliver more HD channels to you while using the same amount of bandwidth. They didn't use to do this before, but now, when compared to Verizon FiOS, the channels are grainy and blocky and full of artifacts—a result of shoving three channels into a space where only two previously occupied. A guy at AVSForum measured how the new bitrate stacks up against Verizon.
If you look at the picture on the site, you see the bitrate is badly mismatched to the channel capacity. Hence the distorted picture, better get used to it, it's not going to go away. You do have multiple cable companies to choose from, don't you -- hah!

The temptation is too great to just compress it down -- Afterall, it's channel choice people want, not quality, right? I have cancelled all my subscriptions for TV and now use only DVDs. TV is slowly becoming a wasteland of the uninspired.

Common Sense Approach

This report in the Telegraph is facing up to the real world. Adapting to natural climate change is the only sensible policy. Any attempt to change the climate is completely ridiculous! Mankind can change the weather, if he will only pay enough in taxes -- How stupid is that, and how many ignorant people will believe that?



Warm good, cold not so good, ice ages, really really bad. The Earth is now cooling.

Weird Technology




I think the buzzing soundtrack is an extra.

Can You Trust The Polar Bear



Should we trust another Washington insider?

Anecdotal Evidence

Notice how it's a one-way street? An ice chip falls off of Antarctica and we are all going to melt because of global warming. Polar bears will drown. The winter of 2007-08 is one for the record books, erased 100 years of warming in one season, we are all going to freeze. I know the friends I have in the north all think that :0)

While icebergs are breaking apart , polar bears drowning and killing seals, winter in America (and most of the rest of the flat earth world according to Al Gore), threatens to continue into April. It hysterical, hysterically funny that so many ignorant people lack the basic skills in math, science and chemistry to cal BS to the lies. If you consider empirical evidence like minuscule amounts of crumbling ice in the Antarctic(Do you know how big the Antarctic is or how much ice crumbles off each year?), you also must consider the huge number of press reports worldwide about the brutal winter this year that erased 100 years of "warming" in one season! Yeah, I know, technically, it's an anomaly, but when every out of the ordinary weather event from severe hurricanes to who knows what is hyped as 'due to global warming', fair is fair right.

N.H. snowfall now 3rd in all-time list - USATODAY.com:

Today's snow has moved New Hampshire up a notch in the list of all-time snowy winters, making this the snowiest winter in 135 years.

The National Weather Service says that as of 7 a.m., an inch of snow had fallen in Concord from the latest storm. That inch moved the state into third place for all-time snowfall, at 113.4 inches. It hasn't snowed this much since the winter of 1872-73.
While seals continue dying and the polar bears continue drowning at sea, in the Arctic due to AGW-created melting ice, seal hunters in Canada have slightly different a different problem.

Thick ice hinders Canada's controversial seal hunt:
Canada's annual seal hunt, which the government promised would be more humane this year, cranked up slowly on Friday because of thick ice.

The government is allowing hunters to kill up to 275,000 young harp seals on the ice floes off Eastern Canada, but only three had been reported killed on the first morning of the hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

"It's a very slow start," said Phil Jenkins, spokesman for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, noting that sealing boats were finding it difficult to get to the herds because of thick ice.
Polar bears are fairing no better. The ice is so thick in the Arctic that the polar bears can no longer break through to get to the seals.
Iceland fears bears that go with the floe

The ice has proved a headache for fishermen, who have been unable to put to sea, but it is what comes with pack ice that has caused most concern: polar bears.

People living around the fjord of Dyrafjördur, which last week was almost filled with the ice, were keeping an eye on the sea, conscious that the bears live on the pack ice that covers much of the Arctic ocean.
Now polar bears have taken to living on the pack ice so they can reach the thinner sections and open water so they still get dinner. Polar bears are really good swimmers, going up to a 100 miles in a single swim.

---

Fair is fair, global warming I am officially declaring over, killed off by the winter freeze of 2007-08. It's been one hell of a winter all around the globe.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Ethanol Saves The Planet

Works the same way DDT did and still does. 30+ million have died of malaria since the bogus DDT ban was enacted. I wonder how many millions this new liberal CO2 boondoogle will kill before it's put down.

And in the same venue, More Americans illegal aliens receive food stamps ...

Democrats 2009, Jimmy Carter II with a planet to save and Iran trying to blow it up. Not going to be a fair fight.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Sunspot Cycle 23 -- The Movie

Anthony Watts has a great post on Sunspot Cycle 23. It is a flash animation movie showing the progression of sun spots through the later part of the cycle. Both the sunspot progression and the prediction plot is included. Go here.

Iraq's 'Tet'

Looks like it has begun, 'Tet II' the battle we have all been waiting for. The Iranians know they have to keep the Iraq war going, they need to engage and defeat the Iraq Army. They need a Democrat in the White House, who will then cut and run. The result, the Iranians can then control the region and 'wipe out Israel'. So here we are, at the final hour.

The Iranians know they have to generate the headlines "US Iraq war deaths rise" or else. It's the only way to get the US media back engaged in Iraq war coverage, which the Iranians so desperately need. How cool is that, the enemies of America needs the US media to cover the story so the enemies of America can defeat America. Think that one through for a minute.

Bush calls it the Iraq's "defining moment" -- And it surely is. Without a Democrat in the White House, the Iranians know they are cooked. They have to do all they can right now to make that happen. Gen Petraeus, Bush, al-Maliki need to do all they can to stop it in it's tracks. The final offensive was allowed to be generated by the Brits 'tuck and run' tail act. Now the Brits need to re-engage, or they will have lost Iraq.

Michael Yon phoned home via Instapundit.
Michael Yon called on his satellite phone to talk about what's going on in Iraq. I recorded it and it's up here for your listening pleasure -- nothing fancy, just a quick recording posted less than 20 minutes after it happened. Click here to listen.
It's not going well for them ... Newspapers' ad spending off 10% in fourth quarter -- If they can't pull off the defeat of America, it's looking bleak indeed for them.

Oh, I almost forgot, you didn't I hope, Iran's nukes. They are the reason why.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Massive Oil Find In North Dakota

America is sitting on top of a super massive 200 billion barrel Oil Field that could potentially make America energy independent and until now has largely gone unnoticed. Thanks to new technology the Bakken Formation in North Dakota could boost America’s Oil reserves by an incredible 10 times, giving western economies the trump card against OPEC’s short squeeze on oil supply and making Iranian and Venezuelan threats of disrupted supply irrelevant.

The new technology is a combination of what I had talked about in this post. There are some differences, but the main drilling is the same. The main idea is to 'turn the drill hole horizontal'. In the case of the new find, this is necessary because the oil is about two miles below a lake created by the Federal Government for water storage in the 1950s, Lake Sakakawae. The fracturing is an added feature designed to add contact area between the drill hole and the oil reservoir, not needed at this particular oil find.

However it's done, the find is looking huge. The oil reservoir was known to exist some time back, but drilling technology wouldn't allow for exploitation, drilling would have to be done in Lake Sakakawae, which could pollute the water. But slant drilling two miles under the lake is not going to disturb the water or effect water quality.

How big is this? Really really big. As much as 10 times the proven reserves of the USA -- With new horizontal drilling technology it is believed that from 175 to 500 billion barrels of recoverable oil are held in this 200,000 square mile reserve. Today Saudi Arabia has about 260 billion barrels proven reserves.

AP story is here.

The Party Of Corruption

You cannot deny it, the liberal Democrats are the champs when it comes to institutionalized corruption. Their entire liberal ideology is based on a lie, welfare, health care, freebies for votes, the ideology is fatally flawed. There is not one thriving, surviving, functioning socialist/communist state in the world. There can't be, like the Soviet union, they eventually collapse under their own weight.

The American Thinker has a good wrap up of the situation.

Think not? Then why do morons like Obama think you can tax your way out of recession? Reagan combined tax cuts with deregulation to create the longest sustained period of economic growth in American history. That said, what is Barack Hussein Obama's cure for our recent economic downturn? Regulation combined with tax increases. And how does it differ from the confiscation of profits routine that Mrs. Clinotn proposes?

FITNA




The link below went dead after LiveLeak received what they believe were multiple credible death threats from members of the Religion of Peace.




Islamists in their own words. What's inflammatory about that. They did the deeds for all to see as a threat, why would they be afraid some would see the short film? It's what they wanted, wasn't it?

If these links fail, Pat Dollard has vowed to keep the video available here.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Nerves Of Steel

Americans Say 2nd Amendment Protects Individual Right

This is odd, I doubt the Bill of Rights hasn't been taught in government schools for probably 20 years or more -- Yet somehow the American public knows the truth. What happened?

A solid majority of the U.S. public, 73%, believes the Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the rights of Americans to own guns. Twenty percent believe the amendment only guarantees the rights of state militia members to own guns.


Failure, despite the best efforts of the government school system, the drive by media and members of Congress. Not only that, but after listening to the Supreme Court hearing on DC v Heller, I wouldn't be surprise to find the dreaded black militia rifles were the very arms the second amendment protects. Maybe that's why the Democrats want to ban them ... could be.

Flat Earther's Sen Schumer and Sen Fienstien are going to be deeply saddened.

Expect the media drive bys to up the number of falsified stories regrading the dreaded black guns in the coming weeks as they attempt to shape public opinion. The media drive bys are good at lying so keep your eyes open.

Maunder's Butterfly Diagram


Throughout the solar_cycle, the latitude of sunspot occurrence varies with an interesting pattern. The plot above shows the latitude of sunspot occurrence versus time in years. Sunspots are typically confined to an equatorial belt between -35 degrees south and +35 degrees north latitude.

At the beginning of a new solar cycle, sunspots tend to form at high latitudes, but as the cycle reaches a maximum (large numbers of sunspots) the spots form at lower latitudes. Near the minimum of the cycle, sunspots appear even closer to the equator, and as a new cycle starts again, sunspots again appear at high latitudes.

This recurrent behavior of sunspots gives rise to the ``butterfly'' pattern shown, and was first discovered by Edward Maunder in 1904. The reason for this sunspot migration pattern is unknown. Understanding this pattern could tell us something about how the Sun's internal magnetic field is generated.

You should be able to tell when solar cycle 24 starts by looking at the latitude of the sunspots that form. Today's current crop of sunspots are at or near the sun's equator, so you can conclude they are leftover from cycle 23. The magnetic polarity of the 'new spots' also switches, but it's harder to measure that parameter. However, the measurements confirm, the spots are leftovers.

Global Sea Ice

Been a lot of talk about a very small piece of the Wilkins ice shelf in Antarctica breaking off. You need to know, the place where it broke off is out in the south oceans and in a known area of under ice volcanism. It's the place where Al Gore takes visitors, because the other parts of the Antarctic are too cold. Been this way for a long long time, long before man got there.

The scare mongering is in full force, the ice shelf is dissolving, the ice shelf is disintegrating the ice shelf ... is likely melting because of all the hot air swirling around. How do you melt the ice cap when the average temperatures there are below zero? Good question actually. I assume you know your basic science, things like ice melts above the freezing point, not below? And what again are ice bergs, if not pieces of ice shelves and glaciers which became "melted off". The Titanic made them famous long before the current scare mongering about man being able to control the weather, only if you pay more taxes of course.

Never have understood how paying more in taxes ever 'fixed' anything, except decreased the amount of money I had to spend that I earned.

The ice caps aren't melting, in fact they are growing. I wonder what happened when all the ice melted and the planet was virtually free of ice 'everywhere'? It happened in pre-SUV days.


Global sea ice extent now 1,000,000 kilometers above the "long-term" average! To put that in perspective, that amount of extra ice is over 2,400 times as big as the little chunk that just broke off the Wilkins Ice Shelf. That truly vast amount of "unusual" ice is more than 17,000 times as big as the land area of Manhattan!

So perspective changes everything. With the hoaxers, it's all about focusing on the minutia and trying to bring that focus up so it appears to be the whole. Typical propaganda technique used by the old communists, and the new communists. For all you young people, the first thing you should learn about communists and Democrats, they lie about everything. Liberalism is a lie, the whole ideology of Democrats is a big lie, star to finish. But they keep trying ...

The latest, the anti-gun attacks by the drive by media is gearing up for the same push to try and counter the Supreme Court, that may decide favorably for gun rights advocates. The communist propagandists always try to stay out front. Look for their nonsense to start showing up in your area.

Oil For Stooges

Ever wonder who funds Democrats? Every terror supporting regime there is. I have no idea why the Democrats like terrorist and thug dictators so much, must be envy. Democrats seem most attracted to communists like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, the crop has been thinned lately ... If you have the occasion, ask them why.
Kooky Seattle Congressman- For- Life "Baghdad" Jim McDermott has been fingered as one of three Democrat representatives whose 2002 Iraqi holiday was apparently funded by the regime, according to the Washington Post and many other news agencies late Wednesday:


Federal prosecutors on Wednesday accused a Michigan nonprofit executive of funnelling money from Saddam Hussein to pay for a 2002 trip to Iraq by three House Democratic lawmakers, according to the Associated Press.

The AP says the dates of the 2002 Iraq trip correspond to those of an infamous visit to the country by Reps. David Bonior (Mich.), Jim McDermott (Wash.) and Mike Thompson (Calif.). Their trip, which came in the heated run-up to the war, sparked controversy and drew heated criticism from many war supporters who suggested that they were doing the public relations bidding of Hussein.

Referring to the true source of the trip's funding, McDermott's spokesman told the Associated Press: "Obviously we didn't know it at the time."
Obviously they didn't know ... Don't you remember? It was for the children.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Florida Gun Law Action

Making progress. Update here. Don't forget the make your opinion known.

UPDATE: Success, Gun rights advocates and the National Rifle Association won a victory today with the Florida House's passage of a contentious bill that would allow employees to bring their guns to work.

The measure (HB 503) is a watered-down version of what the NRA had hoped for but is seen as a compromise that the Senate is also expected to sign off on. It is only for CCW holders, but it's a start.

7 Energy Efficiency Myths Debunked

Here. It will change your perspective on change and hope.

Suck Up Some Science

In this 10 minute film, Professor Bob Carter, introduced by Jennifer Marohasy, explains in simple, yet powerful terms, why the theory of CO2 driving climate does not match the evidence, well illustrated with excellent graphs. Prof. Carter speaks with great depth of knowledge about the subject.

First There Was The Internet Bubble

Then there was the Housing Bubble, now comes emissions trading, the new Bubble Economy. More here.

Time to give up on bubble economies, before they wreck the financial world and all our lives.

Black Liberation Theology

You probably never heard of this, I know I haven't, but there it is, Obama's church is one of the subscribers to this nonsense. And what are some of the church's teachings? I think you should know.
Though I am not a professional theologian, I daresay that Jesus would not, repeat not, approve of BLT. Because Black Liberation Theology seems to go straight against every single word in the Sermon on the Mount. Odd that the UCC has never noticed that over the last fifty years.

In fact, the liberal churches have bestowed great influence and prestige on the inventor of Black Liberation Theology, a Dr. James Hal Cone. Writes Dr. Cone, among other things,
* "Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him."

* "All white men are responsible for white oppression."

* "While it is true that blacks do hate whites, black hatred is not racism."

* "Theologically, Malcolm X was not far wrong when he called the white man "the devil.""

* "The black theologian must reject any conception of God which stifles black self-determination by picturing God as a God of all peoples."

* "We have had too much of white love, the love that tells blacks to turn the other cheek and go the second mile. What we need is the divine love as expressed in black power, which is the power of blacks to destroy their oppressors, here and now, by any means at their disposal."
Apparently liberal religious authorities like those at the United Church of Christ love this preaching so much that they have made Dr. Cone a professor at the Union Theological Seminary, the "Charles Augustus Briggs Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology." It is a stamp of official approval for a peddler of race hatred.
Hate mongering racism at it's best. It should be shunned, and so should someone why sat for 20 years sucking up this drivel.

Critical Gun Law Help Needed

What you can do ... Contact the Interior Department and ask to comment on the proposed rule changes. Add your voices to the fray, the right of self defense should not be denied. Here is the NRA bulletin on the subject.

I live on the edge of Everglades National Park, and I can tell you, it is a pretty deserted place. Everglades National Park is in the back county, as we locals like to call it, you could be lost forever. Yes it's that dense. The tall mangroves are high, you can't see over, and the twists and turns of the good fishing spots makes for easy disorientation. . The first time you go, you turn around and all the mangroves look the same. Without GPS, a good compass and some savvy about the place, you would be sunk. Being spotted from the air in the back country is likely not going to happen, the over hang is that thick. But you never know who waits around the next bend. I sometimes fish alone and when another boat approaches too close, you never know. I always have a very large fillet knife close at hand, and a long handled gaff, it's all that is allowed.

It's not for the faint of heart. But the fishing is the best there is.

If you are stopped by one of the various law officers, and it seems fishing rods are the key law enforcement attractor, the first question asked is "are you carrying". Been there plenty of times, stopped plenty of times -- The answer must be NO!. If you have ever been down in that part of Florida, you also know that neither radios nor cell phones reach help. The only thing that works reliably is hugely expensive satellite phones.

Typical article from the very liberal Miami Times ...
More guns may enter U.S. parks

Florida has currently relaxed the law on carry on it's parks and forests and now the Federal Level we are trying to do the same thing.

Of course, the usual suspects are out in force, the same ones that told us the "castle doctrine" would cause blah, blah, blah ... hey you know, they just make it up, but they do squawk loudly..

More guns may enter U.S. parks National parks may follow in Florida's quiet footsteps in relaxing gun restrictions in wild lands. Marion Hammer is the executive director of the Unifed Sportsmen of Florida and the NRA's chief lobbyist in Tallahassee. She understand the problem and has been working tirelessly to change the rules and allow sensible carry in Nation Parks.

Along with cameras, coolers and camping gear, visitors to Biscayne and Everglades national parks sometimes pack something else: Guns.

Bonnie Foist, chief ranger at Everglades for a decade, said rangers encounter enough illegal firearms -- they wrote 132 violations last year -- that it's the first thing they ask about when stopping someone.

' `Do you have a weapon aboard or in your car?' It's the standard question,'' Foist said. ``We want to know what we're facing.''
Yes they allow guns, but ...
National Park Service rules already allow guns -- but only unloaded and stored so they are not ''readily accessible.'' Gun-rights advocates argue that restriction infringes on their ability to defend themselves.
Not readily accessible, same as for pilots, what use is a defensive firearm that 'is not readily accessible'? Only a bureaucrat gets that.

It's a shame that the responsibility and the right of self defense is so easily surrendered by most people, in exchange for a chalk outline. Never made any sense to me. Life, Liberty the two most important reasons we have a constitution.

Your responsibilities and rights are interchangeable. You shirk your responsibilities, you will have no rights.

Florida Gun Bill In Debate Today

House Bill 503 by Rep. Greg Evers (R-Milton) will be heard on the Florida HOUSE FLOOR Wednesday, March 26th.

For three years we have fought corporate giants and big business bullies. They want ban firearms and prohibit you from parking in public access parking lots if you have a firearm locked in your car or truck for protection while traveling to and from shopping, work, or wherever your daily routine takes you.

This is a WAR for your safety and your firearms freedom. Your right to have a firearm in your car or truck when you are parked in a parking lot is on the line. Whether or not your firearm rights live or die comes down to House Floor action on Wednesday.

Get your comments in today.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Pilot Accidental Discharge

A pilot, trained and packing, had his gun go off in flight. I wonder why? Maybe there is a clue with the type holster the pilot was using. It was the FAA mandated "holster vault. Yes you read that right, it was a "holster vault". A bureaucratic design that all pilots must use, and the standard carry gun a .40 cal Sig SauerH & K. You may inquire, what exactly is that holster again? It's sort of like a holster with a built in trigger lock. It looks like this ...
This model is made by Galco, a reputable company. Armed airline pilots who are part of the Federal Flight Deck Officers will find that the Holster Vault™ meets that program’s requirements for pre- and post-boarding weapon security, and provides extra peace of mind when flying with a firearm.
If there ever was an abomination, I bet it couldn't top this. The idea is the gun is holstered and the pilot must thread the trigger lock through the holster and the firearm trigger guard. A recipe for disaster.

Here is a press report of what happened.
A gun belonging to the pilot of a US Airways plane discharged as the aircraft was on approach to land in North Carolina over the weekend, the first time a weapon issued under a federal program to arm pilots was fired, authorities said Monday.

The "accidental discharge" Saturday aboard Flight 1536 from Denver to Charlotte did not pose a danger to the aircraft or the 124 passengers, two pilots and three flight attendants aboard, said Greg Alter of the Federal Air Marshal Service.

"We know that there was never any danger to the aircraft or to the occupants on board," Alter said.

The firing is the first time a pilot's weapon has been fired on a plane under a program created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to allow pilots, for example, to use a firearm to defend against any act of air piracy or criminal violence, he said.

The Transportation Security Administration is investigating how the gun discharged and is being assisted by the Air Marshal Service, Alter said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mike Fergus said his agency is also investigating to make sure that the plane is safe. The aircraft has been removed from service, the airline said.
The pilot's rig actually looks like an accident waiting to happen, and it did. All in the name of "saftey".

Actually it's all because of bureaucratic paranoia. A proper holster and proper training will do thank you. The guy is driving the plane for goodness sake.

UPDATE: The APSA reacts -- They’ve echoed what I said above, give the pilots a proper holster for carry.

Read the APSA Press Release here.

Cycle 23 Sunspots



March 25, 2008 -- The quite sun has perked up a bit. A couple of small sunspots have emerged and the STEREO satellite says there may be more around the bend. They are all mid-latitude sunspot cycle 23 sunspots, which is lengthening the period of cycle 23, now at about 12 years, depending on how you count. Cycle 23 began officially May 1996. We are still waiting for Cycle 24 to start, indicated by the magnetic polarity of the sunspots reversing. The reverse polarity sunspot that showed on January 24, 2008 signalled the start of cycle 24 on January 4th, dissolved within two days after that. Since then, the sunspot polarity has been showing at the old cycle 23. A false start ?

The interesting thing is the quite magnetic field of the sun.

WattsUpWithThat has more on this abrupt changehere. Many scientists don't see this as unusual, but since we don't really know who is to say. It appears from the chart to be as if "the sun switched off' some part of it's magnetic field generator. It's happened before, it's just that when it did, mankind did not have the instruments to measure what happened next. We can only speculate. Now with a wealth of sun observation platforms, maybe the riddle will be solved. Time will tell.

One thing I believe is that the Earth is a very sensitive thermometer to changes in the Sun. Everyone except Al Gore and the IPCC seem to get that point, as the snow pack builds worldwide. When the sun's output decreases, the solar wind decreases, causing an increase in the Galactic cosmic rays hitting Earth. This in turn increases cloudiness and raises the Earth's albedo, reflecting more heat back into deep space. The result, Earth cools off, regardless what AL Gore says. The minimum additive warming effect of the trace gas CO2 will have little or no effect on the cooling Earth. The sun will do what the sun will do, we can only wait, and observe.

Not to worry, the next ice age will be along soon enough -- Just don't toss your old coats out thinking it's all going to be sunshine and warm from now on. Warm is good, cold, not so good. Afterall, where will all the Canadians live when Canada becomes an ice sheet again? Maybe they can buy some of our housing bank repossessions? There is even good in ice ages. This site is chronicling the various events that may be leading us to the next Dalton Minimum, or beyond.

Do the math, for eons the Earth has been about 90% ice age, 10% interglacial warm, like today. Which do you think is 'normal'.

We're Number One !!!

In Taxes that is, corporate taxes. That would be the companies that pay the salaries. That would be the companies that are moving operations offshore.

I wonder why a company would move operations to another country?


Source here and here.

If you think this is bad, you obviously weren't around for Pres Jimmy Carter. He defined bad. The current crop of old hippie Democrats are planning on beating him out for the title of worst.

Democrats Energy Plan


So how are we doing with the new Democrat Congress and energy prices. Not too good it would appear -- And getting worse.

Ever wonder why there aren't truckers blocking the freeways like in the good old days? They are 'their Democrats', what do you expect.

Recession ...

Monday, March 24, 2008

Where The Buoys Are

Perhaps, just perhaps ??
Perhaps The Climate Change Models Are Wrong

They drift along in the worlds' oceans at a depth of 2,000 metres -- more than a mile deep -- constantly monitoring the temperature, salinity, pressure and velocity of the upper oceans.

Then, about once every 10 days, a bladder on the outside of these buoys inflates and raises them slowly to the surface gathering data about each strata of seawater they pass through. After an upward journey of nearly six hours, the Argo monitors bob on the waves while an onboard transmitter sends their information to a satellite that in turn retransmits it to several land-based research computers where it may be accessed by anyone who wishes to see it.

These 3,000 yellow sentinels --about the size and shape of a large fence post -- free-float the world's oceans, season in and season out, surfacing between 30 and 40 times a year, disgorging their findings, then submerging again for another fact-finding voyage.
When the facts don't add up, you improvise. The Argo buoys, instead of finding the global warming as the computer models have predicted have found a slight cooling of the worlds oceans. This is dismissed as an 'anomoly' and not important. I ask a simple question, if the Argo buoys had detected a slight warming, would it be an 'anomoly' and not important? You know the answer, don't you?

It is important, it means the global climate models(GCMs) have the sign wrong, more specifically as has been pointed out by many, the effects of clouds ... the GCMs are all in error when trying to predict the future. I have a simple test, easy to perform, takes just computer time. Initialize the GCMs for the year 1979, using the conditions that existed -- And then run the computer models and predict the year 2007. That should settle it. Why start with 1979, simple, it's the first year that reliable monitoring data is available, satellite data.

Back to ARGO ...

Argo is a global array of 3,000 free-drifting profiling floats that measures the temperature and salinity of the upper 2000 m of the ocean. This allows, for the first time, continuous monitoring of the temperature, salinity, and velocity of the upper ocean, with all data being relayed and made publicly available within hours after collection." - from the Argo website. In Greek mythology, Jason sailed on the ship Argo to capture a golden fleece. In the world of oceanography, Jason is a satellite altimeter that allows scientists to measure the heights of the ocean surfaces. This worldwide buoy program was named Argo because the data from the Jason project and from this buoy project will be used together in computer models to help forecast ocean climate.

This visualization shows the locations of the ARGO buoy array over time. When the bouys are above water, the lines are brighter; when the buoys are under water, the lines are fainter. The ARGO buoys measure ocean salinity, column temperature, and current velocities.

Animation showing locations of the ARGO buoy array Animation showing locations of the ARGO buoy array
Duration: 1.6 minutes
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How to play our movies


ARGO buoys over the northern Atlantic ARGO buoys over the northern Atlantic

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80 x 40 PNG 5 KB
160 x 80 PNG 19 KB


ARGO website has some fascinating animation tools and lots of images of buoys and plots.

Is This The Sound Of Settled Science ??

"Is the Earth still warming?"

Marohasy replied: "No, actually, there has been cooling, if you take 1998 as your point of reference. If you take 2002 as your point of reference, then temperatures have plateaued. This is certainly not what you'd expect if carbon dioxide is driving temperature because carbon dioxide levels have been increasing but temperatures have actually been coming down over the last 10 years."

Duffy: "Is this a matter of any controversy?"

Marohasy: "Actually, no. The head of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has actually acknowledged it. He talks about the apparent plateau in temperatures so far this century. So he recognises that in this century, over the past eight years, temperatures have plateaued ... This is not what you'd expect, as I said, because if carbon dioxide is driving temperature then you'd expect that, given carbon dioxide levels have been continuing to increase, temperatures should be going up ... So (it's) very unexpected, not something that's being discussed. It should be being discussed, though, because it's very significant."

Duffy: "It's not only that it's not discussed. We never hear it, do we? Whenever there's any sort of weather event that can be linked into the global warming orthodoxy, it's put on the front page. But a fact like that, which is that global warming stopped a decade ago, is virtually never reported, which is extraordinary."

........

Marohasy: "That's right ... These findings actually aren't being disputed by the meteorological community. They're having trouble digesting the findings, they're acknowledging the findings, they're acknowledging that the data from NASA's Aqua satellite is not how the models predict, and I think they're about to recognise that the models really do need to be overhauled and that when they are overhauled they will probably show greatly reduced future warming projected as a consequence of carbon dioxide."

Duffy: "From what you're saying, it sounds like the implications of this could be considerable ..."

Marohasy: "That's right, very much so. The policy implications are enormous. The meteorological community at the moment is really just coming to terms with the output from this NASA Aqua satellite and (climate scientist) Roy Spencer's interpretation of them. His work is published, his work is accepted, but I think people are still in shock at this point."

The 'sign' of the feedback is wrong. Instead of positive, as the global warmong computer models use, it is negative ... which means it compensates does not "run away" as flaming ball of fire. The problem is now that the opportunists have shown up, it's going to be hard to tell them they can't share in the tax bounty that was to follow the hoax.

Going to be very interesting to see how this plays out, now that the science picture has reversed course.

Hillary Lies About Bosnia

The poor woman has neither the talent nor the smarts to lie the way BJ did ...


What Is MODIS?

I post artwork from the MODIS instrument package from time to time and several have asked what exactly is it ... Here is a brief description for their website.
MODIS (or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) is a key instrument aboard the Terra (EOS AM) and Aqua (EOS PM) satellites. Terra's orbit around the Earth is timed so that it passes from north to south across the equator in the morning, while Aqua passes south to north over the equator in the afternoon. Terra MODIS and Aqua MODIS are viewing the entire Earth's surface every 1 to 2 days, acquiring data in 36 spectral bands, or groups of wavelengths (see MODIS Technical Specifications). These data will improve our understanding of global dynamics and processes occurring on the land, in the oceans, and in the lower atmosphere. MODIS is playing a vital role in the development of validated, global, interactive Earth system models able to predict global change accurately enough to assist policy makers in making sound decisions concerning the protection of our environment.
MODIS is an Earth sciences instrument package aboard two different satellites, Terra and Aqua in similar but counter rotating orbits. The first MODIS Flight Instrument, ProtoFlight Model or PFM, is aboard the Terra (EOS AM-1) spacecraft. Terra successfully launched on December 18, 1999. The second MODIS flight instrument, Flight Model 1 or FM1, is aboard the Aqua (EOS PM-1) spacecraft; it was successfully launched on May 4, 2002. These MODIS instruments offer an unprecedented look at terrestrial, atmospheric, and ocean phenomenology for a wide and diverse community of users throughout the world.

A MODIS Image of the Day Dashboard Widget is now available for download for use with Mac OS X. Download this widget, and enjoy the ease of viewing the IOTD from your desktop

The MODIS Brochure (27 MB PDF file that requires Adobe Acrobat) is a non-technical description of the MODIS mission and the scientific questions being investigated by it.

There is a 6-minute QuickTime Movie describing MODIS and its mission - both a large, hi-resolution version (34 MB) and a smaller, faster-downloading version (3.5 MB).

To read about one of the most recent discoveries made by the Aqua satellite, the computer models for global warming have it all wrong, read this article "Climate facts to warm to".

I will have more on this recent discovery that disproves the whole notion of CO2 caused global warming. meanwhile, if you want more information, I suggest the book Climate Confusion by Dr Roy Spencer as a place to start.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Cool Drag Race

Eyewitness





Youtube first place videos...

Friday, March 21, 2008

Weather Channel Founder On Global Warming

Climate realist ...



Bill Jasper, Senior Editor of The New American magazine, interviews the founder of the Weather Channel, John Coleman, on Global Warming.

Iraq Is 'Perfect Base'

The Democrats want to pull out of Iraq, al Qaeda wants to move in. The latest tape from whomever says this ---

Al-Jazeera broadcast on Thursday an audiotape on which a voice identified as Osama bin Laden declares "Iraq is the perfect base to set up the jihad to liberate Palestine."

Terrorist leader Osama bin Laden spoke on a video released by al Qaeda in September.

The voice calls on "Muslims in neighboring countries" to "do their best in supporting their mujahedeen brothers in Iraq."

"My speech to you is about the siege of Gaza and the way to liberate it," he said.
CNN

SplashTop

A really interesting concept whose time has come --- Instant on Linux, well a few seconds is instant compared to what is normal for today. The OS is stored in ROM on the motherboard and boots from there. It's a compact version, includes things like Firefox browser and a few other applications.

An interesting concept ... I wonder if it is expandable to other distributions, like Ubuntu. I bet there is no reason why it couldn't be expanded. I think that instant on is going to get a lot more popular as web apps become used by more and more people. The power savings, lack of desktop heat, and other advantages are going to drive the market. Sun Microsystems used to say the network is the computer, and now unequivocally it has come to pass -- The web has become the computer.

The way it works now is the software is loaded into a flash memory chip and installed on the motherboard. But, nothing prevents the motherboard manufacturers from adding a flash chip, or even a socket for a flash chip, and having a piece of software that would load an OS image on the chip. Much the same as USB Linux boot works today, only the chips are on the motherboard. The USB boot is noticeably faster, but not as fast as would be a native chip boot. BTW, usb boot is a great way to test Linux, no need to burn an image to a CD. Most distributions have a tutorial on their websites, Ubuntu's is here. I use it when tested new releases. USB boot works with any PC that can boot from the USB port.





Splashtop is here.

The Next Big Dog

Development Release: Ubuntu 8.04 Beta was announced today. Go on over to DistroWatch or Ubuntu and grab a copy to test. Betas are usually pretty stable, but not for use yet on production systems. The LiveCD does not require you to install, it runs off the CD. Decide for yourself if Hardy Heron's April 24th official launch date means something special for you.

An introduction to 8.04 is here.

There is a new installation option for Windows users. Wubi allows users to install and uninstall Ubuntu like any other Windows application. It does not require a dedicated partition, nor does it affect the existing bootloader, yet users can experience a dual-boot setup almost identical to a full installation. Wubi works with a physical CD or in stand-alone mode, by downloading an appropriate ISO to install from. It can be found on the root of the CD as Wubi.exe. A full installation within a dedicated partition is still recommended, but Wubi is a great way to try Ubuntu for a few days and weeks before committing dedicated disk resources.

The NanoSAR For Drones

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar in which sophisticated post-processing of radar data is used to produce a very narrow effective beam. It can only be used by moving instruments over relatively immobile targets, but it has seen wide applications in remote sensing and mapping.

The "NanoSAR" lightweight synthetic aperture radar made a 90 minute flight above Oregon aboard a small ScanEagle drone on 7 January, according to Boeing. The info gathered was successfully used to generate radar imaging of vehicles and structures, though at present the data has to be processed offboard after landing. Boeing believes it will soon be possible to generate imagery onboard and pass it over the air in real time, however.

The ScanEagle Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is a 40 lbs (18 kg) UAV designed for continuous mission of 15+ hours, cruising at speed of 50 kt at an altitude of 5,000m'. The system was designed for autonomous field operation. ScanEagle carries a payload of 6 kg, operating at a ceiling of 5,000 m'. It can be launched and retrieved over any terrain, including naval operations.

The system includes a UAV, a Sky Wedge hydraulic launcher, Sky Hook retrieving system, and mobile ground control element. The UAV is equipped with nose-mounted inertial-stabilized camera turret, designed to track an object of interest for extended periods of time. The gimbal carries either zoom CCD or IR sensor. Maximum level sped is 70 kt. ScanEagle is currently deployed with the US Marine Corps in Iraq, where the system flew over 4000 hours this by July 2005.


Now if they would station a few at the southern border ...

When Seconds Count

The police are only minutes away, hang on.
Woman shot, killed while talking to 911 dispatcher

A woman was asking a 911 dispatcher for help when her pleas were interrupted by gunshots, then silence. She was shot to death.

The woman told the dispatcher someone was trying to break into her home in upscale West Covina, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lt. Dan Rosenberg said. “Deputies heard gunshots followed by silence and an open phone line,” he said.

Deputies arrived at the house, 20 miles east of Los Angeles, a few minutes after Wednesday’s late-morning call.

The woman, whose name was not released by police, had been shot several times. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. “At this point we believe it was a burglary gone awry,” Rosenberg said.
You are responsible for your own defense, period. Police draw chalk lines after the fact.

Saddam's Iraq Did Work With Terror Groups

First off, to restate the obvious, it never was claimed that Saddam was involved in the 9/11 attacks, it never was claimed that Saddam was coordinating with al Qaeda. Never said that Iraq supported al Qaeda. It is only in the minds of some liberals that this tripe came forth. What was said is that exactly what is being brought out in the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) report, Iraq worked with and supported various Islamic terror groups.

Who can forget, Saddam giving money to every suicide bomber who attacked Israel? But that is old news, right?

Can't we all be honest, all Islamo-Fascists are the same, have the same objective and work by and towards the same ends. The beloved Islamic caliphate that recaptures world dominance for Islam preached in the 7th century.

Bush didn't lie, and the liberals had access to all the facts before the Iraq war vote. After seeing the facts the liberals said things like Hillary Clinton said, they just now want to disavow it. Like Sen Jay Rockefeller, the only one to say Iraq was an eminent nuclear threat, those statements live forever, enshrined in the Senate transcripts. After seeing the facts, the liberals demanded a vote in October 2005 to prove they were on board ...

This was tough to figure out? For whom?
Newly declassified documents show a number of links between the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein and violent terrorist or Islamist groups, many of them dating from the early 1990s.

A Pentagon-funded study of the documents failed to find a direct link between Saddam and al Qaeda, the group that carried out the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. But it did establish Iraqi support for Egyptian Islamic Jihad, whose leader Ayman al-Zawahri merged the group with al Qaeda years later.

The papers also show that Saddam's Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) maintained a working relationship with Palestinian terrorist groups, secretly sent representatives to meet with them and trained scores of non-Iraqi Arabs to attack Israel.
Read the rest here.

The Obama Race Speech: A Brilliant Fraud

Charles Krauthammer nails is -- As with most things Obama ...
The beauty of a speech is that you don't just give the answers, you provide your own questions.
It was a two part speech, moral equivalence and white guilt, Krauthammer is having none of it.
(a) Moral equivalence. Sure, says Obama, there's Wright, but at the other "end of the spectrum" there's Geraldine Ferraro, opponents of affirmative action and his own white grandmother, "who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe." But did she shout them in a crowded theater to incite, enrage and poison others?

"I can no more disown [Wright] than I can my white grandmother." What exactly was Grandma's offense? Jesse Jackson himself once admitted to the fear he feels from the footsteps of black men on the street. And Harry Truman was known to use epithets for blacks and Jews in private, yet is revered for desegregating the armed forces and recognizing the first Jewish state since Jesus's time. He never spread racial hatred. Nor did Grandma.

Yet Obama compares her to Wright. Does he not see the moral difference between the occasional private expression of the prejudices of one's time and the use of a public stage to spread racial lies and race hatred?

(b) White guilt. Obama's purpose in the speech was to put Wright's outrages in context. By context, Obama means history. And by history, he means the history of white racism. Obama says, "We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country," and then he proceeds to do precisely that. What lies at the end of his recital of the long train of white racial assaults from slavery to employment discrimination? Jeremiah Wright, of course.
Obama holds up his pastor as his role model, his beacon, well it's not mine. America does not need a 'hate America first' role model, especially one who practices divisive racial politics, nor the screw-ball conspiracy crap. I see Obama as the same old tired liberal socialism wrapped with a hate filled racist bow. No change in that, just more of the same. Not for me.

Pushing all the right buttons ...
This contextual analysis of Wright's venom, this extenuation of black hate speech as a product of white racism, is not new. It's the Jesse Jackson politics of racial grievance, expressed in Ivy League diction and Harvard Law nuance. That's why the speech made so many liberal commentators swoon: It bathed them in racial guilt while flattering their intellectual pretensions. An unbeatable combination.
You being hoodwinked and bamboozled, now I think you know it.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Why Is Easter Early This Year ??

Been a lot of loony talk about global warming causing an early spring, it doesn't, but we do have an early Eater this year. Why? Global warming ??

According to Wikipedia, not always right but I think it can be trusted this time, it's the cycle of the moon. Easter is not fixed on the calendar, it follows the moon cycle, and has been agreed to fall at some point between late March and late April each year. Easter is the first Sunday after the first fourteenth day of the moon (the Paschal Full Moon) that is on or after March 21 (the ecclesiastical spring, or vernal, equinox). This year the equinox is today, the full moon is tomorrow, so Easter is this Sunday. Got it?

It doesn't have anything to do with global warming causing an early spring and moving Easter up. It does have something to do with this being a leap year, the imperfect orbit, so now you know.

Sunspot Cycle 24

Not looking good for a March 2008 sunspot cycle 24 start so now NASA has revised the prediction. It's been revised repeatedly before, so don't get your hopes up ....
They now say that May 2008 is a go. I say if you look real close to the graphic from Spaceweather, you see they predict that cycle 24 will be have a roaring start and a future that is as bright as 23. Me, I say I don't know. In the past when the cycle start has been late, the peak has been low. I also wonder how the sun is going to leap into action so quick.

But since it's all prediction, and we know how well those are working out for the temperature, I say we shall see. Man doesn't seem to be particulary apt at predicting the future for nature.

Meanwhile the sun is quite, with just a peep of a spot about every three weeks on average, kind of like it's been for some time now.

Organic Molecules Found On Distant World

I really don't know what to make of this, locating a molecule of life is not locating other life, or even the conditions that could harbor life -- carbon lifeforms is how we humans describe life. Yes, the dreaded carbon, the stuff of life as we know it. There are entire bodies in our solar system which are swimming in methane, but have no known life forms. But a discovery is a discovery, make of it what you will.
Methane found on distant world

A carbon-containing molecule has been detected for the first time on a planet outside our Solar System.

The organic compound methane was found in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a star some 63 light years away.

Water has also been found in its atmosphere, but scientists say the planet is far too hot to support life.

The discovery, unveiled in the journal Nature, is an important step towards exploring new worlds that might be more hospitable to life, they say.

Methane, made up of carbon and hydrogen, is the simplest possible organic compound.

Scientists detected the gas in the atmosphere of a Jupiter-sized planet known as HD 189733b.

Co-author Giovanna Tinetti from University College, London, told BBC News: "This planet is a gas giant very similar to our own Jupiter, but orbiting very close to its star.

"The methane here, although we can call it an organic constituent, is not produced by life - it is way too hot there for life."
Life requires things other than just the right molecules.

Blue Light Special

Now we know why the lights are blue.
Eerie blue LEDs in truck cabs and truck stops could be the key to reducing accidents caused by drowsy drivers, say US researchers. They say bathing night drivers in the right light can increase their alertness by resetting their body clocks.

The scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, are testing blue LEDs that shine light at particular wavelengths that convince the brain it is morning, they say, resetting the body's natural clock.

That could help reduce the number of accidents that occur when people drive through the night. Nearly 30% of all fatal accidents involving large trucks in the US happen during the hours of darkness, according to a recent report by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, while fatigue causes half of all truck accidents in the early hours on UK motorways.
Wakey wakey

"The concept of using light to boost alertness is well established [in other areas]," says Mariana Figueiro, co-author of a new white paper published by the institute's lighting research centre.

"Translating that understanding into a practical application is the next challenge." Drivers could take 30-minute "light showers" in truck stops fitted with similar lights, or the lights could be fitted into truck cabs.
Who knew ??

The Democrats Debate

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

OLEDs Reach Milestone


A demonstration of the world's first roll-to-roll manufactured Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) at GE's Global Research Center in Niskayuna, NY.
GE Global Research, the centralized research organization of General Electric (NYSE: GE), and GE Consumer & Industrial, today announced the successful demonstration of the world’s first roll-to-roll manufactured organic light-emitting diode (OLED) lighting devices. This demonstration is a key step toward making OLEDs and other high performance organic electronics products at dramatically lower costs than what is possible today.

OLEDs are thin, organic materials sandwiched between two electrodes, which illuminate when an electrical charge is applied. They represent the next evolution in lighting products. Their widespread design capabilities will provide an entirely different way for people to light their homes or businesses. Moreover, OLEDs have the potential to deliver dramatically improved levels of efficiency and environmental performance, while achieving the same quality of illumination found in traditional products in the marketplace today with less electrical power.

Researchers have long dreamed of making OLEDs using a newspaper-printing like roll-to-roll process,” said Anil Duggal, manager of GE’s Advanced Technology Program in Organic Electronics. “Now we’ve shown that it is possible. Commercial applications in lighting require low manufacturing costs, and this demonstration is a major milestone on our way to developing low cost OLED lighting devices.”

Duggal continued, “Beyond OLEDs, this technology also could have broader impact in the manufacturing of other organic electronic devices such as organic photovoltaics for solar energy conversion, sensors and roll-up displays.”
Press release here.

Product packaging in lights, the coming thing.

Sun Microsystems Starts Distributing Ubuntu

Hooray, my favorite daily driver distro. Ubuntu is on the move -- The signs are everywhere. Canonical, which developed this version of Linux, has been very busy talking with the major server and desktop vendors and is making inroads with both.

Sun Microsystems is one of the server vendors getting into the Ubuntu game, Sun also offers Linux distributions from Novell and Red Hat, but its inclusion of Ubuntu is a significant demonstration of Ubuntu's clout.

Sun is firmly committed to Solaris. No doubt about that. But think about how cool a Sun-acquires-Ubuntu-Linux story would be. Competition based on product quality, not on cheap support. That would be a hugely disruptive story to tell the OS market.

Give it a try, the price is right. Click Ubuntu on my sidebar.

Global Warming Fails To Deliver, Again

To get you referenced, here is a plot of actual monthly temperatures and the trends from the Hadley global data set (HADCRUT3v) and University of Alabama satellite derived lower tropospheric temperatures covering the same period as the robots measured ocean heat content. Like the robots this shows a downtrend (cooling).


Remember as you read, this is NPR where agenda trumps accuracy everytime.

To the soothsayers and prophets of doom, who have been wrong about so many things so many times that the count can't be totalled, add global warming to the stack. NPR no less, has the story that the oceans are cooling, not warming, despite the computer models prediction otherwise.
Some 3,000 scientific robots that are plying the ocean have sent home a puzzling message. These diving instruments suggest that the oceans have not warmed up at all over the past four or five years. That could mean global warming has taken a breather. Or it could mean scientists aren't quite understanding what their robots are telling them.

This is puzzling in part because here on the surface of the Earth, the years since 2003 have been some of the hottest on record. But Josh Willis at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory says the oceans are what really matter when it comes to global warming.
It's only puzzling to those who believe in the hoax, but to science it is easy to understand. Now that the data has been corrected, the Earth has been cooling moderately for the past 10 years, and more suddenly in the last 2 years.
In fact, 80 percent to 90 percent of global warming involves heating up ocean waters. They hold much more heat than the atmosphere can. So Willis has been studying the ocean with a fleet of robotic instruments called the Argo system. The buoys can dive 3,000 feet down and measure ocean temperature. Since the system was fully deployed in 2003, it has recorded no warming of the global oceans.

"There has been a very slight cooling, but not anything really significant," Willis says. So the buildup of heat on Earth may be on a brief hiatus. "Global warming doesn't mean every year will be warmer than the last. And it may be that we are in a period of less rapid warming."

In recent years, heat has actually been flowing out of the ocean and into the air. This is a feature of the weather phenomenon known as El Nino. So it is indeed possible the air has warmed but the ocean has not. But it's also possible that something more mysterious is going on.
Searching for a thought at the church are we? Maybe it's because the sun's magnetic field has now gone on holiday and the sunspots have all but disappeared? To the believers at the alGore church of global warming, couldn;t possibly be the sun that is doing it. They won't allow that heresy.
"But in fact there's a little bit of a mystery. We can't account for all of the sea level increase we've seen over the last three or four years," he says.

One possibility is that the sea has, in fact, warmed and expanded — and scientists are somehow misinterpreting the data from the diving buoys.

But if the aquatic robots are actually telling the right story, that raises a new question: Where is the extra heat all going?
The robots are broke, I knew it had to be simple. And the last paragraph ...
Trenberth and Willis agree that a few mild years have no effect on the long-term trend of global warming. But they say there are still things to learn about how our planet copes with the heat.
For those of us who are chasing the science and staying out of the church, the failure of multiple doom and gloom scenarios has made us keen to spot the next liberal hoax. Ever wonder why there is an ideological divide on global warming? But I digress.

Here are the facts, the modern maximum appears to be coming to a close, the sun signalled a change back in October 2005 when the Geomagnetic Average Planetary Index dropped. The fact the ocean waters are showing a cooling actually supports the theory we are headed for a down turn in global temperature due to lower than normal solar-sunspot activity. The facts that the evidence of global warming has gone missing is a liberal problem, not connected to science. How to explain all those models can't predict what is happening a few years out, that is the question, isn't it. Might it be the computer models don't do anything but generate pretty curves for liberals and government grant chasers to swoon over?

The ARGO robots in the story have their own short video here.

Here is the cute little HROV robot, they operate tethered or untethered.



It's too bad science has become political, it's not good for anyone.

Something to ponder, why is the r2 of CO2 to temperature close to zero, and the r2 of temperature to solar activity close to 0.8? There is a clue in there someplace.

Want a good book, this is one I would recommend. Man's knowledge of the universe continues to advance. Thank the computer engineers :-)

It's Happened Before

Climate hysteria, it's happened before it will happen again.
Two days ago I highlighted a news story from the Washington Post Arctic Ocean Getting Warm; Seals Vanish and Icebergs Melt dated from November 2nd 1922. That brought a flood of interest and some other interesting finds along with it as other readers contributed what they found on the story.

One of the most interesting finds was a study published in the Monthly Weather Review in September 1933 Titled: IS OUR CLIMATE CHANGING? A STUDY OF LONG-TIME TEMPERATURE TRENDS.
Source WattsUpWithThat.

How Not To Launch Your Product

Right after the HD camp folds you would think the shift would be on. But then up pops this little red flag at USA Today ...
New features coming for Blu-ray DVD format

The high-definition-video war may be over now that Toshiba has conceded defeat for its ailing HD DVD format, but those interested in buying a high-def Blu-ray player still might want to wait for new features coming in the fall.

Sure, existing Blu-ray machines can play the nearly 500 Blu-ray discs available. They can deliver gorgeous, top-of-the-line 1080p resolution on compatible high-def televisions. But the next crop of Blu-ray players will be compliant with the upcoming Profile 2.0 standard, which adds Internet connectivity to the machines via a feature called BD-Live.

"Imagine being able to download high-definition trailers to current theatrical releases right to your TV, or selecting additional language tracks or other online bonus materials," says Josh Martin, a senior analyst at consulting firm Yankee Group.

Depending on the disc, BD-Live will also let people chat in real time during films, type in their mobile phone numbers for free movie-related ring tones, play online multiplayer games or upload custom-made audio commentary.

Sony (SNE) has announced two upcoming Blu-ray machines with Profile 2.0 support: the BDP-S350, available this summer for $399, which can be updated to the latest profile over the Internet when it's available; and the BDP-S550 ($499), which will ship with Profile 2.0 in the fall.
Phhhtttt ... I bet this tanks sales nicely. Did for me. I will wait until this all shakes out before laying down $500 for a player -- Maybe by then they will be $200.

TV Viewing is getting old with me, I now stop by the local library and pick up an armful of DVDs, which have much better picture and content than local cable. I have reduced all my subscriptions to basic and of course high speed Internet. TV content is going downhill fast. We watch only one show now, American Idol.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Nature Just Refuses To Cooperate With The Alarmists

Now that the data has been corrected, temperature and atmospheric CO2 are not related. Period! There is no way to tell that the current rise in atmospheric CO2 is man caused or natural. Is it any wonder that the current talk is all about we have to act now, tipping points and all that hysteria.

Correlation Last Decade and This Century Between CO2 and Global temperatures Not There

By Joseph D’Aleo, CCM

This is the latest decadal plot from February 1998 to February 2008 of global temperatures from Satellite (UAH MSU lower troposphere) (blue) and land and ocean variance adjusted surface (Hadley CRU T3v) (rose) plotted with Scripps monthly CO2 from Mauna Loa (green).

image
See larger graph here.

The decadal correlation strengths (r-squared) of both the Hadley and MSU satellite with the corresponding CO2 is non-existent (r2=0.00). If you start in 2000 at the coldest point of the last decade, this does not significantly change (r2=0.01 for the Hadley and r2=0.08 for MSU). These numbers also do not change if you use the Scripps seasonally adjusted CO2 values (r2=0.00 for both the decadal Hadley and MSU). The correlation since 2000 stays at r2=0.01 for the Hadley but drops to r2=0.05 for the MSU using this seasonally adjusted CO2.

image
See larger graph here.

The challenge of course will be that a decade (or 7 years) is not a fair test, longer term monitoring is required to determine real trends. My response is that we are being told by Al Gore and James Hansen that the problem is worse than the IPCC and the scientists feared. That we are rapidly nearing the tipping point and that unless we take painful action immediately, temperatures will run away from us. If that was the case we should see some correlation even in the short term. It doesn’t take an advanced science degree to see there has been virtually no trend in the temperature data in the last decade or this century even as CO2 has increased 5.5%. Even the IPCC head Dr. Rajendra Pachauri has noticed the disconnect and acknowledged we have to look and see if natural forces were somehow countering greenhouse warming.

See in the attached pdf though how the temperatures do correspond far better with the ENSO cycles and longer term with PDO which controls the relative frequency of El Nino and La Nina. With an apparent shift on the regime of the PDO to cool and the prospects of solar cycles 24 and 25 being quiet, global cooling is more likely than global warming in the decades ahead.

Stolen from ICECAP because I can't seem to figure out how to link individual posts and I didn't want to lose this one.

Bill Of Rights And The Supreme Court

The arguments on the D.C. v Heller was held today at the Supreme Court. Short summary, D.C. bans handguns and severely restricts other guns, and has one of the highest per capita crime rates in the world.

Not a lawyer, just a lowly engineer, but am a gun owner and CCW holder. I see things as right and wrong, black and white, not so much greys. I have no problem with anyone of sound competence owning any firearm they want, carrying anywhere they see fit. I assume that murder is against the law and the courts will get to the truth. The audio available is only this low quality C-Span rebroadcast. Maybe I can find a better audio feed later.

Transcript here.

How Statists think ...
I think the reasonableness standard of the handgun laws in the District, which are not completely banned, because there is licensed handguns in the District of Columbia for law enforcement, retired law enforcement, federal law enforcement, security agencies. So, there is not a complete ban on handguns.

~ Washington DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier
It was a packed house and will take days for the facts to get out.

Countertop was there... and he is optimistic. So am I, after listening to the audio, the individual right argument carried the day, it is the Bill of Rights, but with what restrictions is unclear.

My lowly opinion, the DC gun ban is history. Banning entire classes of firearms is not likely to stand.

David Hardy at his website has some notes here.

Professor of Law Eugene Volokh and his bloggers have good coverage, search on Heller.

SCOTUSblog also has some good posts up.

Do Words Matter ??




Now we know the rest of the story.