The Earth's orbital behaviors are responsible for more than just presenting us with a leap year every four years. According to Michael E. Wysession, Ph.D., associate professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, parameters such as planetary gravitational attractions, the Earth's elliptical orbit around the sun and the degree of tilt of our planet's axis with respect to its path around the sun, have implications for climate change and the advent of ice ages.
People often think of orbits as circular, but they're not that smooth and simple. They are often a less-than-perfect eccentric circle.
"All planets travel in an ellipse around the sun, but the shape of that ellipse oscillates," he explains. "When the Earth's orbit is more elliptical, the planet spends more time farther away from the sun, and the Earth gets less sunlight over the course of the year. These periods of more-elliptical orbits are separated by about 100,000 years. Ice ages occur about every 100,000 years, and they line up exactly with this change in the Earth's elliptical shape."
The purpose of the leap year is to keep our artificial calendars aligned with what the Earth actually does in its orbit around the sun and to ensure that roughly at noon on the winter solstice (Dec. 21) each year, the same point on the Earth is tilted toward the sun.
As in much of nature, the process is both neat and messy.
Wandering solstice
While we are accustomed to thinking that the Earth takes 365 days to go around the sun, it actually takes about 365.25 days. Thus, every four years the quarter days add up to one whole day. If the quarter days were unaccounted for, the solstice would wander away from its Dec. 21 date over time.
"Earth's 24 hour day is a transient thing," Wysession says. "It actually takes 23 hours, 56 minutes and four seconds to make one revolution around its axis — that is, to go all the way around so that the stars will appear in the same point in the sky day after day.
"However, during that time, the Earth also has moved one more day along its orbit around the sun, so it actually has to spin a little bit more for the sun to arrive back in the same place in the sky. This amount of time is three minutes and 56 seconds, which makes the 24 hours."
However, Wysession notes that our time units — 60 seconds, 60 minutes, 24 hours — would mean nothing had humans evolved 100 million years earlier or later because the Earth spun much faster then, and today, like aging baby boomers, it is slowing down.
Extreme seasons in the future
Despite what many people believe, seasons on Earth are not determined by the nearness of the northern and summer hemispheres to the sun.
"Seasons occur because in January, for instance, the North Pole points away from the sun, so the southern hemisphere gets more direct sunlight," Wysession says. "Six months later, that will be reversed. In terms of climate change, this has an impact because land heats up much more quickly than water, five times more quickly. The northern hemisphere has most of the land on Earth; the southern has most of the water. On January 3 or 4 (it varies) the Earth is at its closest point to the sun (the perihelion), but because water heats up so slowly, it doesn't make as much difference in temperature in the southern hemisphere as it otherwise might.
"In the northern hemisphere summer, despite the Earth being farther away from the sun, land heats up much more quickly than the southern hemisphere's water, and heats up about the same amount consistently. The two hemispheres end up buffering the climate swing, producing less severe winters than we would have otherwise."
Stick around, though, if you like extremes. Wysession says that in the future, the Earth will be farther away from the sun in winter and closer to it in the summer, causing more severe temperature swings in these two seasons. This will happen about 12,000 years from now.
"Orbital parameters of Earth, the sun and moon and the planets have great effects on ice ages and other climatic changes," he says. "Those major events are driven by very small changes in the planetary orbital functions."
Source: Washington University in St. Louis
The fancy name for all this is Milankovitch cycles
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Media Try And Coronate John (maverick) McCain
The John McCain-for-president website has posted a column from David Broder of the Washington Post praising the senator. This Republican candidate's campaign seems to think that people will be impressed that a Post columnist has found something nice to say about the Arizona Senator. I am not impressed. I know something about the paper, which we call the Compost. It is very liberal and pro-Democrat.
You see, 'maverick' means sticking it to your own side, putting your finger in the eye of your guys, while you get to go on TV and sound important. The reason you get asked to go on TV, well that is because you are sticking it to your side. So now the 'maverick voters' are saying, to hell with you John McCain -- You forgot one thing, the media can't elect you. Ha, the last laugh is ours.
Si Amigo, I si what I si, and I know what I si, and you the McCain amigo in the sombrero is no conservative, si. You sir, look more like 'McGovern' everyday, si?
Original article
You see, 'maverick' means sticking it to your own side, putting your finger in the eye of your guys, while you get to go on TV and sound important. The reason you get asked to go on TV, well that is because you are sticking it to your side. So now the 'maverick voters' are saying, to hell with you John McCain -- You forgot one thing, the media can't elect you. Ha, the last laugh is ours.
Si Amigo, I si what I si, and I know what I si, and you the McCain amigo in the sombrero is no conservative, si. You sir, look more like 'McGovern' everyday, si?
Original article
Hedge Funds Pressure N.Y. Times Co.
The top two executives of the New York Times Co. met Friday with a hedge fund group that wants to kick out four of the media company's directors, according to financial filings. A partnership between Firebrand Partners and Harbinger Capital Partners maintains that the Times Co. is underperforming and needs a new digital strategy. The partnership began buying Times Co. stock in December and now holds nearly 10 percent.
Original Article
Poor old Grey Lady, the fruits of being a DNC shill instead of an unbiased news source, are coming home to roost.
Original Article
Poor old Grey Lady, the fruits of being a DNC shill instead of an unbiased news source, are coming home to roost.
For Clinton, Bid Hinges on Texas and Ohio
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and her advisers increasingly believe that, after a series of losses, she has been boxed into a must-win position in the Ohio and Texas primaries on March 4, and she has begun reassuring anxious donors and superdelegates that the nomination is not slipping away from her, aides said on Monday.
They also said that they had not been especially soothed, and that they believed she might be on a losing streak that could jeopardize her competitiveness in those states.
“She has to win both Ohio and Texas comfortably, or she’s out,” said one superdelegate who has endorsed Mrs. Clinton, and who spoke on condition of anonymity to share a candid assessment. “The campaign is starting to come to terms with that.” Campaign advisers, also speaking privately in order to speak plainly, confirmed this view.
Several Clinton superdelegates, whose votes could help decide the nomination, said Monday that they were wavering in the face of Mr. Obama’s momentum after victories in Washington State, Nebraska, Louisiana and Maine last weekend.
Some said that they, like the hundreds of uncommitted superdelegates still at stake, might ultimately “go with the flow,” in the words of one, and support the candidate who appears to show the most strength in the primaries to come.
Original article
They also said that they had not been especially soothed, and that they believed she might be on a losing streak that could jeopardize her competitiveness in those states.
“She has to win both Ohio and Texas comfortably, or she’s out,” said one superdelegate who has endorsed Mrs. Clinton, and who spoke on condition of anonymity to share a candid assessment. “The campaign is starting to come to terms with that.” Campaign advisers, also speaking privately in order to speak plainly, confirmed this view.
Several Clinton superdelegates, whose votes could help decide the nomination, said Monday that they were wavering in the face of Mr. Obama’s momentum after victories in Washington State, Nebraska, Louisiana and Maine last weekend.
Some said that they, like the hundreds of uncommitted superdelegates still at stake, might ultimately “go with the flow,” in the words of one, and support the candidate who appears to show the most strength in the primaries to come.
Original article
Secret Money Floods Campaigns
Big Count of Small Gifts Is Opaque to the Public
February 12, 2008A torrent of secret money is flooding into the leading presidential campaigns, with more than $118 million, or one-quarter of the total raised in this cycle, banked without disclosure of who gave the funds or where the donations originated.
The money is coming from hundreds of thousands of donations of $200 or less, which have been widely praised for democratizing the system for funding White House bids. However, the surge in low-dollar gifts has come at the cost of transparency, since federal law only requires campaigns to itemize donations when a donor gives more than $200.
February 12, 2008A torrent of secret money is flooding into the leading presidential campaigns, with more than $118 million, or one-quarter of the total raised in this cycle, banked without disclosure of who gave the funds or where the donations originated.
The money is coming from hundreds of thousands of donations of $200 or less, which have been widely praised for democratizing the system for funding White House bids. However, the surge in low-dollar gifts has come at the cost of transparency, since federal law only requires campaigns to itemize donations when a donor gives more than $200.
Corn Ethanol
You know what it is, the stuff you are paying billions to subsidize so that you can have two CO2 modules for where you used to only have one. The stuff that gets you about 70% the mileage per gallon as gasoline. The crap that rusts your fuel system, storage tanks and pipelines. The crap in the old days that they once used for gasoline before they found gasoline.
Barbara Boxer loves the stuff --- Oh that useless stuff. Yeah She's useless as well, I think botox got to her brain.
Hey, even that liberal rag the NYTimes says using ethanol produces twice the CO2 per mile as does gasoline. Yep, twice, that is 2 times for those that can't do math. So why is it so great? Funny you asked, because look at all the smiling know nothing politicians tell you how great it is.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Bering Starit In Winter
The Bering Strait is approximately 58 miles wide, with a water depth of 100–165 ft. During the last ice age, which ended about 11,000 years ago, the Bering Strait was dry land and served as a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska. You may recall that since the last ice age ended, sea level has risen about 400 feet, completely flooding the Bering Strait and submerging the "land bridge".
Today the Bering Strait looks like this ...
This image of Alaska and the Bering Strait was captured by the MODIS on the Aqua satellite on February 5, 2008. This wintery scene shows the ground covered with snow, and the water full of ice - a contrast to this image of the region in summer.
The Bering Strait is the narrow passage between Russia (left) and the US state of Alaska (right). Just south of the straight is St. Lawrence Island. St. Lawrence Island might be one of the last surviving and above-water pieces of the famous Bering land bridge. East of St. Lawrence Island is the Norton Sound. South of the Sound is the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, which is where the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers empty into the Bering Sea.
If We Had Some Global Warming
C'mon, everybody...for the sake of the planet, sing along with Daryl and Elmer ...
Friday, February 8, 2008
Kerosene Lamps
I have highlighted the point that agricultural fires worldwide account for enormous amounts of pollution and CO2 dumped into the atmosphere. None of this can be good for mankind. Bur does anyone want to talk about lighting? Yes lighting, what we Americans take for granted, don't give any thought to, it's just there, or it least before the global warming alarmist it was, in the future not so clear.
But what about the rest of the world? In Africa alone there are 1.7 BILLION, yes BILLION with a B, people that live their daily lives with kerosene lights. Burning kerosene for light, emitting 200 million tons of greenhouse gases per year, equivalent to the emissions from 30 million cars. And this is just what the CO2 output is, not the other pollutants.
The poorest people in the world are paying the most for the worst quality light, causing the maximum pollution, and no one seems to even care. Developing clean and affordable light is more than an energy and environmental issue, it's about helping people achieve a small sliver of modern life, light on demand.
The reason the people are kept down and 'light-less' is because we would have to allow them to build power plants and distribution lines, and you know what that would do to the greenies and the other alarmists. Bonzo-ville over night. So these greenies are perfectly comfortable making life miserable for poor people in Africa and other parts of the world, not meaning to talk about the DDT ban and pest infected miserable lives these poor people are forced to live -- Nope, these people are held up, in all their misery, as examples of how we should all live.
There may be at least a minimum help for some light in the third world, LED lamps and new battery technology. No where near the needs that could be met with real power plants, real electricity technology, but that would allow them to develop a modern society with modern accoutrements. Nope can't have that, so say the people who care about the poor. If I see one more of these commercials for idiots with a Hollywood mega star walking around with a poor kid in tow pleading for food, I think I will puke. Why not build them a power plant and wire their country instead of sending endless bags of food which does nothing but reward those who send more bags of food, and so on ...
So technology may solve the problem, LEDs, solar panels and new Lithium rechargeable batteries may be the solution they hope for, but may not be able to afford. It's interesting that these solutions are considered 'emergency measures' when looked at for solutions in America. It should be this way in the third world, but for now it is the best that can be hoped for.
Politicians say that they can change the heavens, if they have enough tax money, and that is the key. Global warming is a big problem for the developed world. But then why if government can change the heavens, why can't they enforce the laws of the country, enforce the border, do the simple stuff first, then turn attention to changing the heavens.
But what about the rest of the world? In Africa alone there are 1.7 BILLION, yes BILLION with a B, people that live their daily lives with kerosene lights. Burning kerosene for light, emitting 200 million tons of greenhouse gases per year, equivalent to the emissions from 30 million cars. And this is just what the CO2 output is, not the other pollutants.
The poorest people in the world are paying the most for the worst quality light, causing the maximum pollution, and no one seems to even care. Developing clean and affordable light is more than an energy and environmental issue, it's about helping people achieve a small sliver of modern life, light on demand.
The reason the people are kept down and 'light-less' is because we would have to allow them to build power plants and distribution lines, and you know what that would do to the greenies and the other alarmists. Bonzo-ville over night. So these greenies are perfectly comfortable making life miserable for poor people in Africa and other parts of the world, not meaning to talk about the DDT ban and pest infected miserable lives these poor people are forced to live -- Nope, these people are held up, in all their misery, as examples of how we should all live.
There may be at least a minimum help for some light in the third world, LED lamps and new battery technology. No where near the needs that could be met with real power plants, real electricity technology, but that would allow them to develop a modern society with modern accoutrements. Nope can't have that, so say the people who care about the poor. If I see one more of these commercials for idiots with a Hollywood mega star walking around with a poor kid in tow pleading for food, I think I will puke. Why not build them a power plant and wire their country instead of sending endless bags of food which does nothing but reward those who send more bags of food, and so on ...
So technology may solve the problem, LEDs, solar panels and new Lithium rechargeable batteries may be the solution they hope for, but may not be able to afford. It's interesting that these solutions are considered 'emergency measures' when looked at for solutions in America. It should be this way in the third world, but for now it is the best that can be hoped for.
Politicians say that they can change the heavens, if they have enough tax money, and that is the key. Global warming is a big problem for the developed world. But then why if government can change the heavens, why can't they enforce the laws of the country, enforce the border, do the simple stuff first, then turn attention to changing the heavens.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Bush Administration Budget Includes $20M to FCC for DTV Education
Digital TV is coming, even the Federal Government feels the need to spend your tax dollars and get in the act.
The old days of get an antenna, get some wire, get a free tuner, connect wires to tuner and TV is just too tough for our modern grade school literate society -- I would guess. Good thing having babies doesn't require education ... Just free medical care.
The Federal Communications Commission will get another $20 million in 2008 for DTV education if the Bush administration has its way. That would be a big increase from its current DTV-education appropriation, which is $2.5 million for FY 2008, according to the an FCC source.Most people, who can read English, will likely find out all they need to know from stores and the media, but spending more tax dollars seems like such a good thing to do for government. And of course, the Democrats say $20 million isn't enough and we should spend $20 gazillion, because well, you know, education is a good thing.
In submitting its budget, the administration included the FCC's request for that money to help it get viewers ready for full-power TV stations' Feb. 17, 2009, switch to digital broadcasting. The FCC asked for a total of $338.9 million for fiscal-year 2009, which begins in September 2008.
The commission said it will use the money for "producing and distributing consumer-oriented educational materials; using news media to spread information through media tours and public-service announcements; attending and presenting at events and conferences representing a wide array of consumers; leveraging the Internet to disseminate information; coordinating with state, local, and tribal entities; and distribution of direct mailings to targeted groups."
The old days of get an antenna, get some wire, get a free tuner, connect wires to tuner and TV is just too tough for our modern grade school literate society -- I would guess. Good thing having babies doesn't require education ... Just free medical care.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Remember This
Do you remember this photograph used by the global warming alarmists to promte their contrived hoax? It was meant to tug at the heart strings, "the poor polar bears clinguing to a melting ice float, out to sea, no way back. problem is it was phony, now the biologist who took the photo, which was imporperly used by the Goracle to promote his fiction, is speaking out.
Now, thanks to a Canadian journalist, Carole Williams, we can read the story behind this picture, which was taken in 2004 just off Alaska by a marine biologist, Amanda Byrd. As Ms Byrd is happy to point out, the bears were in no danger so close to the coast (they can swim 100 miles). She wanted a photograph more of the "wind-sculpted ice" than of the bears.
The image was copied by another member of the crew and passed on to Environment Canada. Then it was eagerly adopted by the warmist propaganda machine - above all by Al Gore, who used it to powerful effect as an emotive backdrop to his highly lucrative lectures.
"Their habitat is melting," he likes to declaim, "beautiful animals, literally being forced off the planet."
As the old joke has it, it seems those famous bears were not drowning after all, they were just waving. But the BBC is no more likely to tell us that than it was to lead the news with last week's snow in Jerusalem.
More here.
Now, thanks to a Canadian journalist, Carole Williams, we can read the story behind this picture, which was taken in 2004 just off Alaska by a marine biologist, Amanda Byrd. As Ms Byrd is happy to point out, the bears were in no danger so close to the coast (they can swim 100 miles). She wanted a photograph more of the "wind-sculpted ice" than of the bears.
The image was copied by another member of the crew and passed on to Environment Canada. Then it was eagerly adopted by the warmist propaganda machine - above all by Al Gore, who used it to powerful effect as an emotive backdrop to his highly lucrative lectures.
"Their habitat is melting," he likes to declaim, "beautiful animals, literally being forced off the planet."
As the old joke has it, it seems those famous bears were not drowning after all, they were just waving. But the BBC is no more likely to tell us that than it was to lead the news with last week's snow in Jerusalem.
More here.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Free OTA HD TV
Of course you need a HDTV and it will not work in all areas, depending on terrain and distances. Here is a forum with some discussion of the DIY HDTV antennae.
You can buy them ready made here, but they cost a lot more than the home-made variety. You can find some good tips on HDTV here. In particular, there is some information on antennae for HDTV here.
The site AntennaWeb has a calculator for finding distance to your station antenna. Just enter your zip code.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Nothing Drives Home The Point Like a Picture
January 2008, it's cold all over the Earth ... And no one dare wants to look up to find the answer.
Not going to link to the mourning treehuggers site, but an excerpt from the caption is worth a comment ...
Excerpt:
In fact, it's very possible for large regions of the globe to get cooler while the average for the whole planet goes up as heat gets distributed differently.Yep, and it's also very possible for large regions of the globe to get cooler while the average for the whole planet goes down.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
A Blonde's Year in Review
January
Took new scarf back to store because it was too tight.
February
Fired from pharmacy job for failing to print labels.....
Helllloooo!!!.......bottles won't fit in printer !!!
March
Got really excited.....finished jigsaw puzzle in 6 months..... box said '2-4 years!'
April
Trapped on escalator for hours .... power went out!!!
May
Tried to make Kool-Aid.....wrong instructions.....8 cups of water won't fit into those little packets!!!
June
Tried to go water skiing.......couldn't find a lake with a slope.
July
Lost breast stroke swimming competition.....learned later,
the other swimmers cheated, they used their arms!!!
August
Got locked out of my car in rain storm...... car swamped because soft-top was open.
September
The capital of California is 'C'.....isn't it???
October
Hate M & M's.....they are so hard to peel.
November
Baked turkey for 4 1/2 days .. instructions said 1 hour per pound and I weigh 108!!
December
Couldn't call 911 . 'duh'.....there's no 'eleven' button on the stupid phone!!!
Took new scarf back to store because it was too tight.
February
Fired from pharmacy job for failing to print labels.....
Helllloooo!!!.......bottles won't fit in printer !!!
March
Got really excited.....finished jigsaw puzzle in 6 months..... box said '2-4 years!'
April
Trapped on escalator for hours .... power went out!!!
May
Tried to make Kool-Aid.....wrong instructions.....8 cups of water won't fit into those little packets!!!
June
Tried to go water skiing.......couldn't find a lake with a slope.
July
Lost breast stroke swimming competition.....learned later,
the other swimmers cheated, they used their arms!!!
August
Got locked out of my car in rain storm...... car swamped because soft-top was open.
September
The capital of California is 'C'.....isn't it???
October
Hate M & M's.....they are so hard to peel.
November
Baked turkey for 4 1/2 days .. instructions said 1 hour per pound and I weigh 108!!
December
Couldn't call 911 . 'duh'.....there's no 'eleven' button on the stupid phone!!!
THE BEST BLONDE JOKE OF THE YEAR - SO FAR
A man was in his front yard mowing grass when his attractive blonde female neighbor came out of the house and went straight to the mailbox.
She opened it then slammed it shut and stormed back in the house.
A little later she came out of her house again went to the mail box and again, opened it, slammed it shut again. Angrily, back into the house she went.
As the man was getting ready to edge the lawn, here she came out again, marched to the mail box, opened it and then slammed it closed harder than ever.
Puzzled by her actions the man asked her, 'Is something wrong?'
To which she replied, 'There certainly is!'
(Are you ready? This is a beauty...)
'My stupid computer keeps saying, 'YOU'VE GOT MAIL!'
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Scientists Debunk Polar Bear Extinction Fears
When all you have is fear, you have nothing ...
Scientists Debunk Fears of Global Warming Related Polar Bear Endangerment:
Canadian biologist Dr. Mitchell Taylor, the director of wildlife research with the Arctic government of Nunavut: “Of the 13 populations of polar bears in Canada, 11 are stable or increasing in number. They are not going extinct, or even appear to be affected at present,” Taylor said. “It is just silly to predict the demise of polar bears in 25 years based on media-assisted hysteria.” (LINK)Evolutionary Biologist and Paleozoologist Dr. Susan Crockford of University of Victoria in Canada has published a number of papers in peer-reviewed academic journals. “Polar bears, for example, survived several episodes of much warmer climate over the last 10,000 years than exists today,” Crockford wrote. “There is no evidence to suggest that the polar bear or its food supply is in danger of disappearing entirely with increased Arctic warming, regardless of the dire fairy-tale scenarios predicted by computer models.” (LINK)
Award-winning quaternary geologist Dr. Olafur Ingolfsson, a professor from the University of Iceland, has conducted extensive expeditions and field research in both the Arctic and Antarctic. “We have this specimen that confirms the polar bear was a morphologically distinct species at least 100,000 years ago, and this basically means that the polar bear has already survived one interglacial period,” Ingolfsson said. “This is telling us that despite the on-going warming in the Arctic today, maybe we don’t have to be quite so worried about the polar bear.” (LINK)
Internationally known forecasting pioneer Dr. Scott Armstrong of the Wharton School at the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania and his colleague, forecasting expert Dr. Kesten Green of Monash University in Australia, co-authored a January 27, 2008 paper with Harvard astrophysicist Dr. Willie Soon which found that polar bear extinction predictions violate “scientific forecasting procedures.” Excerpt: The study analyzed the methodology behind key polar bear population prediction and found that one of the two key reports in support of listing the bears had “extrapolated nearly 100 years into the future on the basis of only five years data - and data for these years were of doubtful validity.” (LINK)
Biologist Dr. Matthew Cronin, a research professor at the School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks: “We don’t know what the future ice conditions will be, as there is apparently considerable uncertainty in the sea ice models regarding the timing and extent of sea ice loss. Also, polar bear populations are generally healthy and have increased worldwide over the last few decades,” Cronin said. (LINK) & (LINK)
Naturalist Nigel Marven is a trained zoologist, botanist, and a UK wildlife documentary maker who spent three months studying and filming polar bears in Canada’s arctic in 2007. “I think climate change is happening, but as far as the polar bear disappearing is concerned, I have never been more convinced that this is just scaremongering. People are deliberately seeking out skinny bears and filming them to show they are dying out. That’s not right,” Marven said. (LINK) & (LINK)
Biologist Josef Reichholf, who heads the Vertebrates Department at the National Zoological Collection in Munich: “In warmer regions it takes far less effort to ensure survival,” Reichholf said. “How did the polar bear survive the last warm period? … Look at the polar bear’s close relative, the brown bear. It is found across a broad geographic region, ranging from Europe across the Near East and North Asia, to Canada and the United States. Whether bears survive will depend on human beings, not the climate.” (LINK)
Polar bear expert Dennis Compayre, formerly of the conservation group Polar Bears International, has studied the bears for almost 30 years in their natural habitat and is working on a new UK documentary about the bears. “I tell you there are as many bears here now as there were when I was a kid,” Compayre said. “Churchill [in Northern Canada] is full of these scientists going on about vanishing bears and thinner bears. They come here preaching doom, but I question whether some of them really have the bears’ best interests at heart.” (LINK)
Botanist Dr. David Bellamy, a famed UK environmental campaigner, former lecturer at Durham University, and host of a popular UK TV series on wildlife: “Why scare the families of the world with tales that polar bears are heading for extinction when there is good evidence that there are now twice as many of these iconic animals, most doing well in the Arctic than there were 20 years ago?” (LINK)
Man eating Polar Bear
The issue is that the wackos get the Polar Bear declared endangered, this then makes the Chukchi Sea an endangered habit, this then implies that there can be no oil drilling in the Chukchi Sea. The Chukchi Sea is a large body of water, north of the Bering Sea, the division line was bridged by a land bridge when the sea level went down by about 400 feet during the last ice age.
The fascists environmentalist have put all their effort in blocking drilling in the Chukchi Sea, that's how we help the Polar Bears. If you think Polar Bears are endangered, read the links, they are thriving and the contrived extinction fears is total BS. Even if it weren't, putting Polar Bears before people, it's what liberals do all the time, isn't it?
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
A Global Temperature History of the Past Two Millennia
Mean relative temperature history of the globe. Adapted from Loehle (2007).
Download original science paper here.
A Global Temperature History of the Past Two Millennia
Reference
Loehle, C. 2007. A 2000-year global temperature reconstruction based on non-treering proxies. Energy and Environment 18: 1049-1058.
What was done
Using data from eighteen 2000-year-long proxy temperature series from all around the world that were not developed from tree-ring data (which provide significant interpretive challenges), the author (1) smoothed the data in each series with a 30-year running mean, (2) converted the results thereby obtained to anomalies by subtracting the mean of each series from each member of that series, and then (3) derived the final mean temperature anomaly history defined by the eighteen data sets by a simple averaging of the individual anomaly series, a procedure that he rightfully emphasizes is "transparent and simple."
What was learned
The results obtained by this procedure are depicted in the figure below, where it can be seen, in the words of its creator, that "the mean series shows the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and Little Ice Age (LIA) quite clearly, with the MWP being approximately 0.3°C warmer than 20th century values."
What it means
Loehle notes that "the 1995-year reconstruction shown here does not match the famous hockey stick shape," which clearly suggests that one of them is a poorer, and the other a better, representation of the truth. Because of its simplicity and transparency, as well as a host of other reasons described in detail by Loehle -- plus what we have learned since initiating our Medieval Warm Period Record-of-the Week feature -- it is our belief that Loehle's curve is by far the superior of the two in terms of the degree to which it likely approximates the truth.
Bottom Line: There have been two periods during the past 2,000 years that were warmer than today. -- Both shown on the graph at the top. This historical temperature reconstruction only spans 2,000 years. If the scope were widened to the end of the last ice age, the Holocene climatic optimum, about 5,000 to 9,000 years before present, the temperature record would show even warmer temperatures.
The AGW proponents use a single temperature proxy, tree-rings, to predict global catastrophe. This article uses the average of 18 temperature proxies for the past two-thousand years.
Any time an enviro-wacko calls you a global-warming denier, wave this article in their face and ask them to refute it. If there isn't any global warming, there isn't any anthropogenic component either.More here at ICECAP.
NACREOUS CLOUDS
As January comes to an end, sky watchers in Scandinavia are recovering from a veritable storm of nacreous clouds. After mid-month, hardly a night went by without someone spotting the phenomenon. "It was incredible! They were all over the sky," says Morton Ross of Oslo, Norway. This picture, taken by Ross on Jan. 25th, shows a typical apparition:
Also known as "Mother of Pearl" clouds, nacreous clouds are peppered with tiny ice crystals that blaze with iridescent color when struck by light from the setting sun. It is these crystals that make nacreous clouds so rare: they require exceptionally low temperatures of minus 85 Celsius (-120 F) to form. Icy nacreous clouds float 9 to 16 miles high, curling and uncurling hypnotically as they are modulated by atmospheric gravity waves.
For much of January, these clouds rolled across the Arctic circle with puzzling regularity. Why the sudden abundance? Is the show over? No one knows. Stay tuned for February!
2008 Nacreous Cloud Gallery
[Night-sky cameras] [Nacreous Basics]
Friday, January 25, 2008
Gulf Red Snapper Regs Get Overhaul
Not really applicable to my neck of the sea, but the Red Snapper regs have been updated.
In June 2007 new Gulf red snapper federal waters regulations were passed, and are pending implementation, expect Gulf state waters to follow suit. The recreational bag of four red snapper per person, per day drops to two per person, per day, the new revised fishing season in federal waters is now from June 1 to September 30, the 16-inch fish minimum stays the same. The new regulations prohibits possession of a recreational bag limit by captain and crew of for-hire vessels in the Gulf of Mexico.
The GMFMC plans to have the final rules written into law early this year. After the federal laws are put into place, expect state waters to implement the same regulations.
This part applies to everyone who fishes for offshore reef fish -- required venting tools must be onboard all vessels fishing for reef fish species. Non-stainless steel circle hooks must be used when targeting reef fish with natural bait. We have used circle hooks exclusively for years when fishing for reef fish. Two reasons, it's better for the fish and you can use lighter test leader since the hook is what goes in the fishes mouth, not the leader. Vent tools are just good practice, no point in releasing a fish that is just going to promptly die.
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As a side note -- I wonder when the FWC is going to wake to the fact that inshore and offshore the Goliath Grouper has taken over. Yes taken over, and eaten most of the other fish. Another good plan gone bad. There needs to be an open season with bag limits, just like other grouper. When the Goliath Grouper was banned from all taking in 1990 without much fanfare, it was thought stocks were depleted. They were, the reason was profit since you can still sell grouper in the fish market. The docile curious Goliath was easily speared, weighed a lot and brought top dollar. Times change, now in many places you cannot bring up a fish without a Goliath Grouper snapping up the meal. It's clearly to the point that the balance has tipped.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The "Broken Window" Stimulus Package
Ever heard of the economist Frederic Bastiat? No? One of his most lasting works is "The parable of the broken window". This was created by Frederic Bastiat in his 1850 essay Ce qu'on voit et ce qu'on ne voit pas (That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Unseen) to illuminate the notion of hidden costs.
A lot of this can be applied to the nonsense of "green collar jobs". Sounds like a lot of "make work communism" does it not? Need an example, Ethanol. The EU bureaucrats just concluded a study that says producing and using ethanol causes more CO2 emissions and harm to the environment than just refining and burning gasoline. So what does the EU decide to do, produce ethanol. Yes, you might ask the begging question, "I thought the goal was to reduce CO2 emissions?" Obviously you aren't on the green collar jobs bandwagon and probably see the make-work provisions of all this green crapola.
OK, let's say we accept the premise that man is warming the planet. How do we fix it? There is only one answer and it is to convert electrical generation to nuclear power. The Democrats answer, ration energy. Which do you think is better for the American people, our economy and welfare of it's people.
The parable describes a shopkeeper whose window is broken by a little boy. Everyone sympathizes with the man whose window was broken, but pretty soon they start to suggest that the broken window makes work for the glazier, who will then buy bread, benefiting the baker, who will then buy shoes, benefiting the cobbler, etc. Finally, the onlookers conclude that the little boy was not guilty of vandalism; instead he was a public benefactor, creating economic benefits for everyone in town.Now look at the various "stimulus packages" threw the broken window.
Bastiat's original parable of the broken window went like this:
Have you ever witnessed the anger of the good shopkeeper, James Goodfellow, when his careless son happened to break a square of glass? If you have been present at such a scene, you will most assuredly bear witness to the fact, that every one of the spectators, were there even thirty of them, by common consent apparently, offered the unfortunate owner this invariable consolation—"It is an ill wind that blows nobody good. Everybody must live, and what would become of the glaziers if panes of glass were never broken?"
Now, this form of condolence contains an entire theory, which it will be well to show up in this simple case, seeing that it is precisely the same as that which, unhappily, regulates the greater part of our economical institutions.
Suppose it cost six francs to repair the damage, and you say that the accident brings six francs to the glazier's trade—that it encourages that trade to the amount of six francs—I grant it; I have not a word to say against it; you reason justly. The glazier comes, performs his task, receives his six francs, rubs his hands, and, in his heart, blesses the careless child. All this is that which is seen.
But if, on the other hand, you come to the conclusion, as is too often the case, that it is a good thing to break windows, that it causes money to circulate, and that the encouragement of industry in general will be the result of it, you will oblige me to call out, "Stop there! Your theory is confined to that which is seen; it takes no account of that which is not seen."
It is not seen that as our shopkeeper has spent six francs upon one thing, he cannot spend them upon another. It is not seen that if he had not had a window to replace, he would, perhaps, have replaced his old shoes, or added another book to his library. In short, he would have employed his six francs in some way, which this accident has prevented.
Fallacy of the argument
The fallacy of the onlookers' argument is that they considered only the positive benefits of purchasing a new window, but they ignored the cost to the shopkeeper. As the shopkeeper was forced to spend his money on a new window, he obviously could not have spent it on something else. For example, the shopkeeper may have spent the money on bread and shoes for himself, but now cannot so enrich the baker and cobbler because he must fix his window.
Thus, the child did not bring any net benefit to the town. Instead, he made the town poorer by at least the value of one window, if not more.
A lot of this can be applied to the nonsense of "green collar jobs". Sounds like a lot of "make work communism" does it not? Need an example, Ethanol. The EU bureaucrats just concluded a study that says producing and using ethanol causes more CO2 emissions and harm to the environment than just refining and burning gasoline. So what does the EU decide to do, produce ethanol. Yes, you might ask the begging question, "I thought the goal was to reduce CO2 emissions?" Obviously you aren't on the green collar jobs bandwagon and probably see the make-work provisions of all this green crapola.
OK, let's say we accept the premise that man is warming the planet. How do we fix it? There is only one answer and it is to convert electrical generation to nuclear power. The Democrats answer, ration energy. Which do you think is better for the American people, our economy and welfare of it's people.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Antarctic Volcano, Under The Melting Ice
This image released by NASA in 2002 shows Antarctica. A powerful volcano erupted under the icesheet of West Antarctica around 2,000 years ago and it might still be active today, a finding that prompts questions about ice loss from the white continent, British scientists report on Sunday.How big might is this volcano? According to news reports(and you know how accurate that can be) it's about 8800 square miles in total area. The volcano erupted under the icesheet of West Antarctica around 2,000 years ago and it might still be active today, a finding that prompts questions about ice loss from the white continent, British scientists report on Sunday.
(AFP/NASA-HO/File)
The explosive event -- rated "severe" to "cataclysmic" on an international scale of volcanic force -- punched a massive breach in the icesheet and spat out a plume some 12,000 metres (eight miles) into the sky, they calculate.
Most of Antarctica is seismically stable. But its western part lies on a rift in Earth's crust that gives rise to occasional volcanism and geothermal heat, occurring on the Antarctic coastal margins.
I wonder if this seismically active region, like the Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic Ocean might have anything to do with the melting of ice that is being reported under the banner of Anthropogenic global warming? Or do you think that the alarmists are blaming man for global warming to further their world fascists government desires? Tough choice, you decide.
I ran a quick experiment recently, I asked everyone I met, at least those that would chat, if they believed in man made global warming. If yes I then asked the followup question, how do you know? Not one had the slighest clue, they all went on what the TV person of Al Gore had said. But the fact remained, not one had a clue, and not one person said the sun might be to blame. Go figure.
Fed Cuts Interest 0.75%
The government gives, then the government must clean up the mess.
If you want to know what is the root cause of the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, google up "ADDI 2003". Don't bother trying to find it in the news, in the hits that come, pick on the ones under housing. When government dreams turn into disasters -- what usually happens when you follow government. Thank the Republicans and their attempts at attracting the AMNESTY vote.
Fascism, as preached by Hillary, Obama and what's the other guy's name, is so much more fun than just standard old socialism.
If you want to know what is the root cause of the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, google up "ADDI 2003". Don't bother trying to find it in the news, in the hits that come, pick on the ones under housing. When government dreams turn into disasters -- what usually happens when you follow government. Thank the Republicans and their attempts at attracting the AMNESTY vote.
Fascism, as preached by Hillary, Obama and what's the other guy's name, is so much more fun than just standard old socialism.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Message from Viscount Monckton
It will rapidly become evident that, notwithstanding the measures proposed or even adopted in mitigation of "global warming", carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere will continue to rise relentlessly, and harmlessly.This is what the fascists, like Hillary Clinton want, damage the economy and put all into servitude to the fascist state.
Of course, the West will suffer strategic economic damage until the day when the truth dawns on the majority, and much of the climate hysteria is being driven by forces that have long been inimical to the freedom and democracy and sheer bustling success of the West: but, a la larga, as they say in the casino counting-rooms of Puerto Rico, it will all sort itself out.
Read the rest here.
Ignorance is the most expensive commodity prodeced by modern society.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Must See Video
The linchpin of the new world fascism. The whole of global warming is not science, it is propaganda. If you don't know what fascism is, look it up. You need to familiarize yourself with your future.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Fred Bitch-Slaps CNN
Do it again Fred, they need it. I doubt it will change the minds of any of the fascists at CNN, but it's fun to watch.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Ice, And More Ice
What this latest study by the University of Bristol has shown is that some of the ice on the western coast that is over water may be melting due to a change in ocean currents (not necessarily due to any atmospheric warming). But what they aren't telling you is that ice on the eastern, northern and southern coasts, as well as the interior are all gaining ice in most areas. In fact the southern coast has gained substantial ice since recordings began in 1979. Where there were thousands of square miles of open water in 1979 there is now ice, some of it many meters thick. You can verify this for yourself from the satellite images at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) (University of Colorado Boulder, CO).
- These two images show the Antarctic sea ice extent and concentration in December 1979 (the year satellite measurements began):
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- The following two images show Antarctic sea ice extend and concentration in December 2007:
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The pink line is suppose to be the recent median ice edge extent. Total ice edge extent went from 10.5 million sq km in 1979 to 12.6 million in 2007, an increase of 20%. The sea ice concentration went from 6.0 million sq km in 1979 to 8.3 million sq km in 2007, an increase of nearly 40%! You can use the NSIDC link above to obtain larger images of this data.
So the hypothesis is man is awarming the atmosphere, so how does that compute with ice melt? Summer temperatures in the Antarctic interior only reach -30°C (-22°F) (with winter temperatures averaging -50°C (-58°F)), this is far too cold for warming to melt the interior ice. Most of the antarctic ice and snow rests on land and is not effected by ocean currents under them (such as at the Arctic).
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Might Be Right Afterall
“Telltale signs are everywhere —from the unexpected persistence and thickness of pack ice in the waters around Iceland to the southward migration of a warmth-loving creature like the armadillo from the Midwest. Since the 1940s the mean global temperature has dropped about 2.7° F.” — Climatologist George J. Kukla of Columbia University in Time Magazine’s June 24th, 1975 article Another Ice Age?
The next time you hear about worldwide crop failure, rising sea levels, species extinction, or other climate grief you might want to remember that it's all been predicted before -- and never happened as predicted. Just being an expert, or even having a consensus of experts, doesn’t necessarily mean that a claim is true.
The next time you hear about worldwide crop failure, rising sea levels, species extinction, or other climate grief you might want to remember that it's all been predicted before -- and never happened as predicted. Just being an expert, or even having a consensus of experts, doesn’t necessarily mean that a claim is true.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Mercury Revealed
Before this week, maps of the planet Mercury were mostly blank. Mariner 10 flybys of the 1970s had photographed only 45% of the planet's surface. But now the unseen side has been revealed:
NASA's Messenger spacecraft took this picture from a range of 17,000 miles on Jan. 14, 2008. At first glance, it seems to show little more than a repetitive expanse of craters. But researchers are excited. One of the craters is the giant Caloris Basin never before seen in its entirety. Formed by the impact of a large asteroid or comet, Caloris is one of the largest and perhaps youngest basins in the Solar System. Close-up photos of the 800-mile-wide crater (still being downloaded from the spacecraft) may reveal new things about the history of Mercury and the physics of catastrophic impacts.
See for yourself -- This month, you can see Mercury with your own eyes; just look west any evening after sunset. "As the twilight deepened, Mercury stepped onto the stage and sparkled like a superstar!" reports Doug Zubenel of DeSoto, Kansas. He took these pictures on Jan. 15th.
Democrats UnCivil Race War
This is an interesting take on the subject from Obama's preacher ...
Read the rest here.
Some argue that blacks should vote for Clinton "because her husband was good to us," he continued.Pretty accurate if you ask me, the party of the KKK has a lot of hutzapah to say they are looking out for black's welfare. Looks to me they are finding their viose and saying BS about the Democrats race card.
"That's not true," he thundered. "He did the same thing to us that he did to Monica Lewinsky."
Many in the crowd were on their feet, applauding - amazed, amused and moved by the fiery rhetoric of their preacher, who is about to retire.
Read the rest here.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Richard Hammond Presents Bloody Omaha
It's amazing what filmmakers can do with so little. Richard Hammond
They recreate the WWII Omaha beach landings with three actors, a camera, a green screen and lots of computer work. Really amazing results. Beware anyone whose business model relies on movies being produced in the traditional manner, with lots of actors and props.
They recreate the WWII Omaha beach landings with three actors, a camera, a green screen and lots of computer work. Really amazing results. Beware anyone whose business model relies on movies being produced in the traditional manner, with lots of actors and props.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
Global Warming Nuttery
Light snow fell in Baghdad early on Friday in what weather officials said was the first time in about a 100 years.In case you haven't noticed, the Earth has been seriously cooling for the last two years and many predict the trend will continue.
Rare snowfalls were also recorded in the west and centre of Iraq, plunging temperatures to zero degrees Centigrade (32 degrees Fahrenheit) and even colder, an official said.
The snow in Baghdad, which melted as it hit the ground, began falling before dawn and continued until after 9 am, residents said.
"Snow has fallen in Baghdad for the first time in about a century as a result of two air flows meeting," said a statement by the meteorology department.
"The first one was cold and dry and the second one was warm and humid. They met above Iraq."
The director of the meteorology department, Dawood Shakir, told AFP that climate change was possibly to blame for the unusual event.
"It's very rare," he said. "Baghdad has never seen snow falling in living memory.
"These snowfalls are linked to the climate change that is happening everywhere. We are finding some places in the world which are warm and are supposed to be cold."
Snow was also reported in the mountainous Kurdish north of the country, where falls are common.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Pakistan, Disaster Waiting In the Wings
Bill Roggio captures the intrigue that is Pakistan, and the danger to the West in this short piece.
Pakistani security forces have captured the leader of an al Qaeda suicide cell which was behind the attack on the Sargodha military base last fall. Ahsan al Haq and five cell members have been detained by Pakistani security forces in the city of Lahore, Reuters reported.A fanatical suicide ideology woven throughout the fabric of the school system for the young, a society that produces an Army filled with supporters and sympathizers ready to carry out their plan to seize nuclear weapons and rule the world. Meanwhile, the West sleeps, and plans their next big socialist bread and circuses extravaganza, global warming.
"We recovered explosives and jackets used for suicide bombings at his house next to a madrassa (Islamic school)," and anonymous intelligence official told Reuters. "All of them admitted they were behind the Sargodha attack and were planning to carry out similar attacks, even against politicians."
Al Haq is a retired Pakistani Army major "was said have been close to Afghan Muslim guerrilla commander Younis Khalis, who battled Soviet forces in the 1980s and later had links with the Taliban," Reuters reported. "Haq ran a militant training camp in Afghanistan during Taliban rule." ...
The Sargodha Air Force Base is a nuclear weapons and missile storage facility in central Punjab province. The Taliban and al Qaeda have conducted multiple strikes on or near Pakistani nuclear facilities, as well as against military and police facilities situated near nuclear facilities. There have been two suicide attacks at Sargodha since the summer of 2007.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Polling, What Went Wrong?
One thing for sure when your polling is dead on with one party, the Republicans, and then off in double digits across the board with the Democrat party, your credibility as a pollster is in serious question.
It is imperative that the polling wizards figure out what went wrong, or never to be believed again. Polling is news making, that's it's only purpose these days, but being this bad wrong is disastrous if you want people to watch next time. Internet polling is clearly a trailing indicator, reflecting the drive by media's news cycle, so it's useless on it's face -- Well maybe as a gauge of the drive bys success in pushing whatever line they are pushing that day. But not so the vaunted drive by polling units, the real deals, Gallup, Rasmussen, this is supposed to be accurate, and it wasn't.
Was it the drive by media wanted Obama to win? The drive by media must find out, their credibility, and audience, is at stake from here on. More here.
My take, illegal Hillary voters in NH, from Massachusetts and Vermont.
It is imperative that the polling wizards figure out what went wrong, or never to be believed again. Polling is news making, that's it's only purpose these days, but being this bad wrong is disastrous if you want people to watch next time. Internet polling is clearly a trailing indicator, reflecting the drive by media's news cycle, so it's useless on it's face -- Well maybe as a gauge of the drive bys success in pushing whatever line they are pushing that day. But not so the vaunted drive by polling units, the real deals, Gallup, Rasmussen, this is supposed to be accurate, and it wasn't.
Was it the drive by media wanted Obama to win? The drive by media must find out, their credibility, and audience, is at stake from here on. More here.
My take, illegal Hillary voters in NH, from Massachusetts and Vermont.
The Fiery Face of the Arctic Deep
Gakkel Ridge, what's that? Why is this important to the Arctic and the ice melting.
Results from a German-American Arctic expedition to the Gakkel Ridge have implications for the understanding of the generation of new seafloor
The Gakkel ridge is a gigantic volcanic mountain chain stretching beneath the Arctic Ocean. With its deep valleys 5,500 meter beneath the sea surface and its 5,000 meter high summits, Gakkel ridge is far mightier than the Alps. This is the site of seafloor spreading that is actively separating Europe from North America, and was the goal of the international expedition AMORE (Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge Expedition) with two research icebreakers, the "USCGC Healy" from USA and the German "PFS Polarstern". Aboard were scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and other international institutions. The scientists had expected that the Gakkel ridge would exhibit "anemic" magmatism. Instead, surprisingly strong magmatic activity in the West and the East of the ridge and one of the strongest hydrothermal activities ever seen at mid-ocean ridges were found. These results require a fundamental rethinking of the mechanisms of seafloor generation at midocean ridges (Nature, January 16 and June 26).
It's really hot down there, right under where all the icce is melting which everyone is being told is due to man caused global warming.
The Gakkel ridge extends about 1800 kilometers beneath the Arctic Ocean from north of Greenland to Siberia. It is the northernmost portion of the mid-ocean ridge system, the global 75,000 kilometer long volcanic chain where the ocean crust is generated by erupting magma. Because of its extremely slow spreading rate of about one centimeter per year, the slowest rate of any mid-ocean ridge and 20 times slower than the better explored East Pacific ridge, Gakkel ridge is of particular interest for scientists. It shows a number of unique phenomena that could give more information about the generation of new oceanic crust.
Read more here.
Results from a German-American Arctic expedition to the Gakkel Ridge have implications for the understanding of the generation of new seafloor
The Gakkel ridge is a gigantic volcanic mountain chain stretching beneath the Arctic Ocean. With its deep valleys 5,500 meter beneath the sea surface and its 5,000 meter high summits, Gakkel ridge is far mightier than the Alps. This is the site of seafloor spreading that is actively separating Europe from North America, and was the goal of the international expedition AMORE (Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge Expedition) with two research icebreakers, the "USCGC Healy" from USA and the German "PFS Polarstern". Aboard were scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and other international institutions. The scientists had expected that the Gakkel ridge would exhibit "anemic" magmatism. Instead, surprisingly strong magmatic activity in the West and the East of the ridge and one of the strongest hydrothermal activities ever seen at mid-ocean ridges were found. These results require a fundamental rethinking of the mechanisms of seafloor generation at midocean ridges (Nature, January 16 and June 26).
It's really hot down there, right under where all the icce is melting which everyone is being told is due to man caused global warming.
The Gakkel ridge extends about 1800 kilometers beneath the Arctic Ocean from north of Greenland to Siberia. It is the northernmost portion of the mid-ocean ridge system, the global 75,000 kilometer long volcanic chain where the ocean crust is generated by erupting magma. Because of its extremely slow spreading rate of about one centimeter per year, the slowest rate of any mid-ocean ridge and 20 times slower than the better explored East Pacific ridge, Gakkel ridge is of particular interest for scientists. It shows a number of unique phenomena that could give more information about the generation of new oceanic crust.
Read more here.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Fred On OReilly, 1/7/03
Fred gives complete concise answers that actually answer the question. Unfortunately, that doesn't fit the needs of the new sound-bite world.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Fred On CNN
Here is an outstanding interview Fred Thompson did with Wolf Blitzer on Sunday, January 6, 2008 on CNN's Late Edition.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Friday, January 4, 2008
Hemispheres And Ice/Snow Cover
The effects of global warming are obvious, right? Mathematical models alone can't prove cause-and-effect relationships. Robust real-world data backed by demonstrated plausibility would be required for that proof.
The chart line at the bottom shows that sea ice had decreased in 2005-2006 to low levels. Not alarming but low. Since man has only been around for a few years on the Earth and for even less time has been able to measure things like sea ice extent, how do we know that we have the right data from the last 4.5 billion years of the Earth to make comparison to? There have been ice ages for a long time, recently, the last one melted about 10,000 years ago, the Earth has been warming, the sea level has been rising, ever since. The key question is what started the melting, and why is it continuing today?
The ludicrous notion that we humans can effect the planet deny things like the Milochanovik cycles, and change the climate are silly.
Arctic 1/3/2008
Antarctic 1/3/2008
It's obvious the melt has refroze, rather quickly I might add. See this story "Arctic Sea Ice Re-Freezing at Record Pace" of the record fast ice refreeze during the fall. Here’s how NASA explains the record re-growth of ice over that 10-day period in October and November: Record sea ice growth rates after a record low may sound surprising at first, but it is not completely unexpected. The more ice that survives the summer melt, the less open water there is for new ice to grow. When summertime ice extent hits a record low, on the other hand, large areas of open water provide room for the ice to grow once temperatures cool off enough. While summer warming of the upper ocean surface can cause wintertime sea ice regrowth to lag initially, as the fall season progresses and sunlight weakens, the rate of energy loss from the ocean increases. That heat loss coupled with a large area of open water creates ideal conditions for sea ice to form rapidly over large areas. Note currently the arctic ice has returned to normal extent.
The article cited above still adds the doom and gloom message to the science "Recovery still lags" ... how do they know, why isn't it just the natural processes and why won't it continue? Climate on Earth always changes.
But the short answer, ice melts, ice freezes, mother nature makes the rules, not a bunch of anti-growth green socialists/communists. For man to think that he can control or effect the weather is really ignorance on display. Now if you want to believe that because you think the UN should run the world, then there isn't much hope convincing you that natural forcing run the Earth, the Universe and all in between.
For your reading pleasure, Dr. Oleg Sorokhtin a Russian scientists has put out this paper, it portends the start of the cold cycle, possibly the next "Dalton Minimum", the last cold cycle that happened about 1800 and lasted 30 years or so.
Here is an animation of sea ice in the Arctic.
Make your own ice comparisons and view other data here, here.
The chart line at the bottom shows that sea ice had decreased in 2005-2006 to low levels. Not alarming but low. Since man has only been around for a few years on the Earth and for even less time has been able to measure things like sea ice extent, how do we know that we have the right data from the last 4.5 billion years of the Earth to make comparison to? There have been ice ages for a long time, recently, the last one melted about 10,000 years ago, the Earth has been warming, the sea level has been rising, ever since. The key question is what started the melting, and why is it continuing today?
The ludicrous notion that we humans can effect the planet deny things like the Milochanovik cycles, and change the climate are silly.
Arctic 1/3/2008
Antarctic 1/3/2008
It's obvious the melt has refroze, rather quickly I might add. See this story "Arctic Sea Ice Re-Freezing at Record Pace" of the record fast ice refreeze during the fall. Here’s how NASA explains the record re-growth of ice over that 10-day period in October and November: Record sea ice growth rates after a record low may sound surprising at first, but it is not completely unexpected. The more ice that survives the summer melt, the less open water there is for new ice to grow. When summertime ice extent hits a record low, on the other hand, large areas of open water provide room for the ice to grow once temperatures cool off enough. While summer warming of the upper ocean surface can cause wintertime sea ice regrowth to lag initially, as the fall season progresses and sunlight weakens, the rate of energy loss from the ocean increases. That heat loss coupled with a large area of open water creates ideal conditions for sea ice to form rapidly over large areas. Note currently the arctic ice has returned to normal extent.
The article cited above still adds the doom and gloom message to the science "Recovery still lags" ... how do they know, why isn't it just the natural processes and why won't it continue? Climate on Earth always changes.
But the short answer, ice melts, ice freezes, mother nature makes the rules, not a bunch of anti-growth green socialists/communists. For man to think that he can control or effect the weather is really ignorance on display. Now if you want to believe that because you think the UN should run the world, then there isn't much hope convincing you that natural forcing run the Earth, the Universe and all in between.
For your reading pleasure, Dr. Oleg Sorokhtin a Russian scientists has put out this paper, it portends the start of the cold cycle, possibly the next "Dalton Minimum", the last cold cycle that happened about 1800 and lasted 30 years or so.
Here is an animation of sea ice in the Arctic.
Make your own ice comparisons and view other data here, here.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Oh The Horrors
Ever wonder why with all the hysteria about global warming no one ever talks about this? Burning the land, for agricultural use, on purpose, without regard to the CO2 and other pollutants spewed into OUR atmosphere.
I think you know the answer, it doesn't match the 'mean ole USA' template of the global socialists and the UN.
Thousands of fires (each marked by a red dot) are visible in this image captured by the MODIS on Aqua satellite on December 27, 2007. This image shows central Africa - most of the fires are concentrated in the Central African Republic (right center), Cameroon (left center) and Chad (top center). There are some fires south of the Central African Republic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The fires in this region, known as the sahel, are agricultural in nature. The sahel is a semi-arid strip of grassland in western and central Africa that runs between the Sahara desert to the north and the more fertile region to the south. You can see more fires in this region, just west of this image here.
----I think you know the answer, it doesn't match the 'mean ole USA' template of the global socialists and the UN.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Cascades, And The Rumor Mill
Today's New York Times, John Tierney makes a bold prediction: global warming hysterics will seize upon every weather anomaly that they can say proves their point and will completely ignore any event that does not fit their scenarios. In other words, business as usual for the global warming racket.
Today's interpreters of the weather are what social scientists call availability entrepreneurs: the activists, journalists and publicity-savvy scientists who selectively monitor the globe looking for newsworthy evidence of a new form of sinfulness, burning fossil fuels.If you want to get the rumor mill going, you have to filter out any information that would be contrary. Today's drive by media does a wonderful job at hiding the truth.
A year ago, British meteorologists made headlines predicting that the buildup of greenhouse gases would help make 2007 the hottest year on record. At year's end, even though the British scientists reported the global temperature average was not a new record - it was actually lower than any year since 2001 - the BBC confidently proclaimed, "2007 Data Confirms Warming Trend."
When the Arctic sea ice last year hit the lowest level ever recorded by satellites, it was big news and heralded as a sign that the whole planet was warming. When the Antarctic sea ice last year reached the highest level ever recorded by satellites, it was pretty much ignored. A large part of Antarctica has been cooling recently, but most coverage of that continent has focused on one small part that has warmed.
When Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans in 2005, it was supposed to be a harbinger of the stormier world predicted by some climate modelers. When the next two hurricane seasons were fairly calm - by some measures, last season in the Northern Hemisphere was the calmest in three decades - the availability entrepreneurs changed the subject. Droughts in California and Australia became the new harbingers of climate change (never mind that a warmer planet is projected to have more, not less, precipitation over all).
When judging risks, we often go wrong by using what's called the availability heuristic: we gauge a danger according to how many examples of it are readily available in our minds. Thus we overestimate the odds of dying in a terrorist attack or a plane crash because we've seen such dramatic deaths so often on television; we underestimate the risks of dying from a stroke because we don't have so many vivid images readily available.And that is the essence of leftists ideology. From DDT, to every other leftists scare that went bust, the same formulae is used. Tell the lie, tell it often enough and before long people will buy into it. Didn't someone else put this into action? Let me think, oh yeah, I got it -- It was George Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda minister. Good model to follow don't you think?
Slow warming doesn't make for memorable images on television or in people's minds, so activists, journalists and scientists have looked to hurricanes, wild fires and starving polar bears instead. They have used these images to start an "availability cascade," a term coined by Timur Kuran, a professor of economics and law at the University of Southern California, and Cass R. Sunstein, a law professor at the University of Chicago.
The availability cascade is a self-perpetuating process: the more attention a danger gets, the more worried people become, leading to more news coverage and more fear. Once the images of Sept. 11 made terrorism seem a major threat, the press and the police lavished attention on potential new attacks and supposed plots. After Three Mile Island and "The China Syndrome," minor malfunctions at nuclear power plants suddenly became newsworthy.
In his acceptance speech, Mr. Gore didn't dwell on the complexities of the hurricane debate. Nor, in his roundup of the 2007 weather, did he mention how calm the hurricane season had been. Instead, he alluded somewhat mysteriously to "stronger storms in the Atlantic and Pacific," and focused on other kinds of disasters, like "massive droughts" and "massive flooding."Read the rest here.
"In the last few months," Mr. Gore said, "it has been harder and harder to misinterpret the signs that our world is spinning out of kilter." But he was being too modest. Thanks to availability entrepreneurs like him, misinterpreting the weather is getting easier and easier.
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