ABC animates the Universe

Wow, hard to believe somebody could find symbolism in the sinkhole that swallowed the Corvettes in Kentucky and use it to condemn America for global warming, excessive capitalism and political malaise.  Then again, it's coming from one of our beloved mainstream media deep thinkers...

If we just listen to the universe and see things a little more clearly we might realize all of us may need to adjust our life to be more in sync with the Earth. That maybe respect and compassion for each other and the world is what has been lost. And that a simpler humbler way of living and leading is what we are being asked to do.

Actually the planet has gotten to the point where it is no longer asking, but demanding. It seems until we learn that lesson and let it sink in, sink holes will continue to swallow up the old models whether that is classic corvettes or outdated institutions. I am not arguing we give up our cars, but possibly if we take our foot off the gas of life, we might see what Mother Earth is trying to tell us.

First off, had Dowd used "God" instead of animating in-animate matter his editors probably wouldn't have allowed the story in print.  A "message from God" from our PC media is only allowable when discussing movies about Chicago musician/comedians or in stories about rebel flag waving rednecks, or stories about Bush.   

But it's good they did because it illustrates the kind of twits we have reporting our daily news. Dowd is probably not alone in believing a sinkhole in Kentucky somehow has unique universal symbolism because it swallowed some really cool inventions of American ingenuity (which have provided many people great lives through decent jobs over the years) as opposed to say a sinkhole opening up in Florida and swallowing a man sleeping in bed, who was never found.

No, this event provided the perfect jump off to bash Americans as excessive ignoramuses who ignore science (what "Mother Earth", another inanimate object, is trying to tell us) while the writer himself ignores the science that might actually explain why the museum suffered the cave-in.  Caves.  Could it perhaps be the geology of the region (see page 8), which includes the fabulous "Mammoth Cave"? 

Or could it be due to the harsh winter, which due to the frequent freezing/thawing of the ground has brought the term "frost quakes" into the lexicon?

Perhaps the "Universe" is only trying to tell developers to consider geology a bit more in planning. Or perhaps the screaming message is really that 'stuff happens'.  But in the end it's always easier to blame capitalism.  A lot easier for the rubes to believe than a soulless scientific explanation. 

Sky is Falling Update

One study, two stories: 

The New York Times:

Global Temperatures Highest in 4,000 Years

CNN:

We are seeing temperatures increase at a rate not seen in at least 11,300 years, researchers say.

Nice contrast. Both are referring to the same study.

In another diversion, CNN's story blames the warming on human-kind but doesn't mention the "Medieval Warm Period" as the Times does:

The cooling was interrupted, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, by a fairly brief spike during the Middle Ages, known as the Medieval Warm Period. (It was then that the Vikings settled Greenland, dying out there when the climate cooled again.)

Yet the Times doesn't explain what caused this interruption in the data over 1000 years ago. CNN doesn't mention this interruption at all but warns that the last time it's been as warm as it's projected to be in 2100 was over 130,000 years ago:

The last time Earth has been as warm as it is projected to be by 2100 was before the last Ice Age started -- over 130,000 years ago. That's too long ago to gather reliable data on, he said.

So, if Earth reaches a projected temperature by the year 2100 it will be as warm as it might have been before the last Ice Age, a period so long ago the data is unreliable.  Meaning it's also unclear what caused the Earth to be so warm back then.  Well it surely wasn't Republicans driving SUVs and building factories, that much is known. But this was perhaps the most starting conclusion from the paper:

Scientists say that if natural factors were still governing the climate, the Northern Hemisphere would probably be destined to freeze over again in several thousand years. “We were on this downward slope, presumably going back toward another ice age,” Dr. Marcott said. Instead, scientists believe the enormous increase in greenhouse gases caused by industrialization will almost certainly prevent that.

In other words, anthropogenic global warming has saved the planet? 

Well, there's no question the temperatures have been warming during the last 120 years.  The Times story mentions that the decade from 1900-1909 was among the 95 percent of coldest decades on record in the last 11,000 years (which is strange because they seem to be glossing over the Little Ice Age from a century previous).  The fact it was so anomalously cold also tends to dramatize the warming that occurred through the 1940s and again between 1980 and the 2000s. 

But since human-kind didn't cause this downward slide it's unlikely human-kind can stop our recent upward spike, even with Chavez-like command socialism or giant windmills from sea to shining sea.  What will occur--and make us forget about global warming--is the new technology that will inevitably come along and make carbon-free non-polluting energy cheap and abundant for the masses like fossil-fuels are now.  

Clintonville Booms

I usually don't link to these guys, well, ever, but they've covering a story that sounds interesting--the Wisconsin booms:

Loud booming noises have shattered the air and rattled the ground in parts of the town, wrenching many residents out of their sleep. And no amount of investigation has determined the cause, city administrator Lisa Kuss said in a telephone interview.”

Of course the Jones gang is skeptical of yesterday's USGS announcement that a swarm of small earthqaukes, 1.5 magnitude, caused the noises, case closed, nothing to see, move on. Problem is, the sounds were occurring before the measured quakes:

Indeed, the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune reports that residents have been feeling the booms for months, noting that, “Several residents questioned the solution. After all, earlier that week they were told earthquakes had been ruled out as a potential cause of the sounds that shook them awake for several nights.”

Not to say micro quakes aren't the cause--they may be--it just seems odd the USGS would not show any quakes then suddenly find a swarm of tiny ones near Clintonville, solving the mystery. Small earthquakes aren't normally felt. But what else could it be?

Well, there are no railroad lines in Clintonville. There is a small airport but it's an unlikely source since small jets have been known to visit there without previous complaints. Obviously fracking comes to mind, the cause du jour for all recent mysteries, but..

No one seems to know what the mysterious booms in Clintonville are, which means runaway speculation is about to begin. City officials have checked and rechecked methane levels at the local landfill, monitored water, sewer and gas lines, contacted the military about any exercises in the area, reviewed mining explosive permits and inspected the Pigeon River dam next to city hall.

Nothing. And there is no mining or heavy construction nearby.

That leaves what, pranks? Someone shooting off contraband artillery? An alien base? Secret underground nuke tests? Dick Cheney hunting trip? AQ training? The entity that killed the blackbirds in Arkansas?

I'm stumped. Alex Jones obviously believes the earthquake explanation is a little too convenient--me, too--although he probably thinks it's an underground FEMA camp being constructed. If you watch the geologist on the linked video he says a possibility could be the low water table (lack of snow this winter) causing the granite subsurface to 'settle', which perhaps could explain the small earthquakes. It has been a very warm winter across most of the US, so perhaps we're experiencing some new geologic effects we've not seen before.

Whatever the case it shows how much mankind knows about our environment. These USGS guys are probably just guessing. Yet we've been told to implicitly trust climate forecasts out to 100 years.

Those Evil Little Inhalers

News is hitting the wires today about the coming forced change in asthma inhalers at the end of the year, and of course some are blaming Obama:

Remember how Obama recently waived new ozone regulations at the EPA because they were too costly? Well, it seems that the Obama administration would rather make people with Asthma cough up money than let them make a surely inconsequential contribution to depleting the ozone layer.

But Obama is only a part of the problem. He didn't create the Montreal Protocol agreement in 1987, which banned CFCs, still used to power some inhalers. All CFCs were supposed to be phased out by now but they loosened the ban to allow for a more gradual reduction for inhalers, but according to the site Weekly Standard linked, sufferers will now need to get a prescription and pay more for their life-saving plastic pumps:

Asthma patients who rely on over-the-counter inhalers will need to switch to prescription-only alternatives as part of the federal government's latest attempt to protect the Earth's atmosphere.

The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday patients who use the epinephrine inhalers to treat mild asthma will need to switch by Dec. 31 to other types that do not contain chlorofluorocarbons, an aerosol substance once found in a variety of spray products.

Does anyone know exactly how these little pumps emit CFCs? What's the science? Are there little exhaust ports or does it just seep out? Or is it exhaled? Calling Al Gore...

Speaking of Gore, here's an oldy from the 90s talking about his use of the politics of fear to hector Bush 41:

In somber tones, Gore reminded his colleagues of previous fears about "the ozone hole over Antarctica," and insisted that our nation faces "not only a long-term, critical threat to the global environment, but also an immediate, acute emergency threat." He raved about "blind rabbits and blind salmon in the areas under the edge of the ozone hole in the Southern hemisphere," and claimed that there would be "an additional 300,000 deaths from skin cancer in the United States as a result of ozone depletion over the next few decades." He also linked ozone depletion to "extra cases of cataracts and blindness due to cataracts," and to "damage to the human immune system...."

Such an effective campaign. Arrrg, the ozone hole! Yet despite the ban scientists say the level of ozone in the Arctic was at an all-time low this past winter. The reason? Inhalers. No, actually, unusually cold air aloft:

"The Montreal Protocol actually works, and the amount of ozone-depleting gases is on the way down, but quite slowly," said Geir Braathen, a senior scientist with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which co-ordinates ozone data globally.

"In the meantime, we have some winters that get much colder than before and also the cold periods last longer, into the spring," he told BBC News. "So it's really a combination of the gases still there and low temperatures and then sunshine, and then you get ozone loss."

OK. CFCs are down 10 percent since Montreal (at some level in the atmosphere wherever they measure it) but they just recorded the lowest drop of ozone ever over the Arctic, explained by colder than normal temperatures aloft they can't really explain. Meanwhile the Antarctic ozone hole just keeps forming year after year. And here on the surface of the earth in temperate climes, where ozone levels have not threatened anyone lately, asthmatics are asked to do their patriotic duty by paying more for their evil little inhalers. It sure sounds like a racket, but we're always open to scientific rebuttals.

Blizzards Now Evidence of Global Warming?

So say the experts.

OK, so what about the winters of 1976-77 and 1977-78? What did they tell us about climate?

The winter of 76-77 was brutally cold in the east, with cars driving on the Ohio River near Cincinnati at one point. It began with a massive lake effect snow assault centered on Buffalo that didn't let up til a massive storm in late January, prompting some 'action' by Grits Carter...



The following winter, 77-78 saw two snow monsters for the record book. The first one came in late January in Ohio and Indiana and set low pressure records, burying 18-wheeler trucks on interstates and requiring activation of the national guard. People died trying to get from the highway to isolated farm houses.


But it spared the east coast. Their luck would last about a week, as another monster formed and moved up the coast, known in weather lore as the official "Blizzard of '78"....

Over 50 inches of snow in parts of Rhode Island. But both were pretty bad, and came very close together.

And yet we're supposed to believe these storms were evidence of global warming, back in the 70s before the temperature began to spike? Now we're being told to expect snow due to warming. Of course, they had an explanation back in the 70s, too.

Does Not Compute

NASA Administrator Bolden to al-Jazeera..



Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs, Monday, asked about Bolden's comments..

Q I wanted to ask you, there are some comments that the NASA Administrator, Charles Bolden, made a couple weeks back that drew some interest, specifically from conservatives who are wondering why we he said that one of the charges that the President gave him when he got the job was that he had to focus on outreach to the Muslim world. Why is the NASA Administrator doing that?

MR. GIBBS: That's an excellent question, and I don't think -- that was not his task, and that's not the task of NASA.

Q So did he just misspeak?

MR. GIBBS: I think so.

Q Has the President spoken to him about that clear it up?

MR. GIBBS: No.

Q Anybody here at the White House?

MR. GIBBS: I’m sure people -- people at the White House here talk to NASA all the time.

First off, of course people in the WH talk to NASA all the time, just as they do with all the agencies. That was a throwaway deflection. Second, the initial explanation some days ago was that Bolden's "foremost" comment was about outreach only, ie, the foremost outreach, which could make sense, but watching the al-Jazeera video he seems to be pretty clear about the three pronged charge given him by Obama. And if that was the case why did Gibbs toss him under the space bus yesterday?

Apparently the new strategy is to downplay and pretend the whole thing was just a slip of the tongue--no harm, no Lebron foul. But if he really misspoke about something that large, something that could offend the Muslim world if interpreted wrong, why wouldn't the chief call him in for a little chat about acting so stupidly? Gibbs claimed Obama had not spoken to him, not even over a beer in the Rose Garden. Did anyone talk to Bolden then? Who's running the show, Zuckerman?

Nixon Warned of Global Warming

..In 1970:

Adviser Daniel Patrick Moynihan, notable as a Democrat in the administration, urged the administration to initiate a worldwide system of monitoring carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, decades before the issue of global warming came to the public's attention.

There is widespread agreement that carbon dioxide content will rise 25 percent by 2000, Moynihan wrote in a September 1969 memo.

"This could increase the average temperature near the earth's surface by 7 degrees Fahrenheit," he wrote. "This in turn could raise the level of the sea by 10 feet. Goodbye New York. Goodbye Washington, for that matter."

Of course temperatures at the time it had not warmed at all since the 1940s and people were talking about global cooling. So tricky Dick responded by forming the EPA and heralding Earth Day, thinking he might get the hippie vote after all.

Meanwhile Moynihan's prediction was not so hot--about as hot as James Hansen's 1988 prediction. But good Lord, why let reality get in the way of global fear and hyperbole? Obama, noble citizen of the world, still has a planet to save!

Testing for Earthquakes

Earthquakes seem to be on the increase but folks cannot seem to settle for a natural explanation to anything anymore. So we appear to have two running theories now--on the one hand a liberal tree-hugger who blames the increase of both quakes and volcanoes on western democracy, and on the other a Muslim cleric who blames them on too much western-style cleavage. I'll just go ahead and blame Bush, but both of these guys can't be right!

Which is why this question calls for a scientific experiment:

The campaign to trigger a 'Boobquake' was begun by American student Jennifer McCreight who has so far got 40,000 people to sign up to the idea on a special Facebook page (where another 150,000 have been invited) and has attracted a large following on Twitter.

April 26, mark it down. Observations will certainly be taken far and wide, perhaps with more precision that a mercury thermometer. We look forward to seeing the data. Oh, and by the way, to be on the safe side you may want to avoid West Lafayette next week. Just sayin'.

Exposing the Incline and the Decline

Conservatives are rightly heralding the collapse of the man-made global warming consensus--Gore's hard-line approach (flat-earthers) was appalling and downright dangerous. It's fitting the holographic, Nobel-winning, Oscar receiving king of AGW is nowhere to be found right now (he probably retreated to the same place Bill Ayers did during the campaign, his home--where media fear to tread).

But where do we go from here? Does this new information mean the entire thing was a scam? Yes and no. Yes, in respect to the spin and subterfuge placed on the data to reach a political and financial end; no in regards to the fact temperatures have indeed risen since the 1800s. In effect we should be back to square one--analyzing the mysteries using raw science, now put in its rightful place, where Obama wanted it!

But even with some of the politics removed there's still truth. What is it? Right Truth points to comments from Dr. Christy of UAH on the unreliability of the surface record as to making global decisions but his colleague at UAH, Dr. Roy Spencer, just released the latest satellite-based observations from January, which might be shocking to those suffering from all this cold, snowy global warming..

As can be seen, Northern Hemispheric land, on a whole, is not as cold as many of us thought (click on image for larger version). Below-normal areas were restricted to parts of Russia and China, most of Europe, and the southeastern United States. Most of Canada and Greenland were well above normal

Here's his map showing the departures from normal (not actual temps)..


The point--just because it's cold in America and Europe (oddly centered right over Copenhagen) doesn't mean it can't be warm overall. This data is not massaged Mann/Jones, it's from an AGW skeptic. The satellites have been used for years as a check on the surface data. So while it's good the house of cards has finally collapsed, skeptics should not fall prey to the same temptation of ignoring inconvenient data.

At the same time the great benefit of recent proceedings is that the AGW industry will have a harder time spinning Dr. Spencer's data as proof of a coming catastrophe only solvable through world socialism within the next 10 years. And that's a good thing.

A Quieter, Cleaner Jet Pack

As opposed to these, NASA is now working on this..



courtesy Avweb.

No Coincidence?

Some believe in God. Others believe everything just happened by accident. Scientists have been laboring for years to prove one belief or the other. A recent discovery--the mapping of the theoretical 'heliosphere'--an envelope of magnetism surrounding and protecting the solar system--sparked the following reaction from a researcher:

One important clue: The ribbon runs perpendicular to the direction of the galactic magnetic field just outside the heliosphere, as shown in the illustration at right.

"That cannot be a coincidence," says McComas. But what does it mean? No one knows.

Certainly, explanations that belie a coincidence will come forth soon. But if it's not a coincidence it sure seems a rather miraculous random occurrence.

Balloon Boy and other Celestial Weirdness

Their 15 minutes is almost gone but before they slip into obscurity (or until they show up on another reality show) it might be prudent to point out that balloon boy's dad, a man described as a meteorologist (he's not) and inventor, was a former business partner of another weather guy named Scott Stevens.

And who is Scott Stevens? Well, this was Mr. Stevens before he became interested in chemtrails, aliens and EMP weapons controlling the weather. Here he is now. This same guy told ABC News "I didn't want to be a part of that" in reference to Heene's crazy ways.

MORE 10/17/09

From this it sounds like he wants to be the Steve Irwin of science. Funny though, nowhere in that story did it prove the Friday episode was planned--the writer didn't even know it was about to occur.

This Seems Important..

As the Senate takes up a new climate pollution control bill (tentatively titled, "Senatorial Hubris; Or How we think Mankind Can Actually Change Earth's Climate on a Global Scale through Taxation") perhaps they should have Steve McIntyre come into the chamber and explain his article challenging Dr. Keith Briffa's proxy tree ring data for Siberia used in the IPCC's report, which appears to single out tree rings that show warming for proxy use. Or perhaps they could just click over to WUWT and read about it.

Settled Science

In other news, global tropical activity remains at a low ebb according to Florida State. This goes counter not only to Al Gore and the Environmental Defense Fund, but also to Dr. William Gray.

Wonder, does anybody besides Hansen really know what's going on? Oh well, science is now in the forefront of our policy, so no doubt Obama will take this lessening of hurricane acitivity into serious account.

To the Moon, India

Good grief, we better get back on the stick:

Chandrayaan-1—which means "Moon Craft" in ancient Sanskrit—is scheduled to launch from the Sriharikota space center in southern India at 8:20 p.m. EDT Tuesday in a two-year mission aimed at laying the groundwork for further Indian space expeditions.

Chief among the mission's goals is mapping not only the surface of the moon, but what lies beneath. If the launch is successful, India will join what's shaping up as a 21st century space race with Chinese and Japanese crafts already in orbit around the moon

Nice to know they've put all our outsourcing dollars to good use. Seriously, what an amazing accomplishment. Or maybe they just really want that Google X Prize.

Now, if NASA can just keep them from scanning Tranquility Base and blowing our secret lunar history!

Blinded with science

The story this morning on Drudge about the Dallas city councilman being called racist for using the term "black hole" to describe an inept bureaucratic office begs the question, what will they rename the term, now that it's offensive? Here are some suggestions:

• Light-challenged hole
• Blank hole
• Invisible hole
• Space hole
• Dark hole

African American hole is of course absurd--unless it can be proven these celestial oddities actually originate from Africa, which itself would be offensive. Dark hole is bordering on offensive if taken the offensive way, as everything is taken these days. I'm going with "space hole".

Come to think of it, they better fix "dark matter", too. And what about "light year"? It could be taken as offensive with some imagination. Might as well include the term "light" itself. And good Lord, what about "Red Giant", "White dwarf" and "Yellow dwarf"? And Uranus? The humanity!

MORE 7/10/08

Apparently the racial insensitivity has spread to pastries. And here we thought confection was safe!

What on Mars is this?

It looks like a giant bullet hole. Seems to be legit, too.

Maybe it leads to one of these things? Or maybe it's just a weathered vent hole.

Dunno, but it's jet black so maybe it's filled with oil. Could it be the reason Bush commissioned a mission to Mars? What does he know, and when did he know it!