Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Map of Underground Ice on Mars...

At right is a map of extensive underground water ice fields near the surface of Mars.  These ice fields are up to a kilometer thick, and are covered with rubble of various thicknesses.  The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) gathered the data used to make this map with its Shallow Radar instrument, which was designed specifically for this task.

Go, MRO, go!

The development cost of the Shallow Radar instrument was approximately 1/45th the cost of the ISS' “picture window”.  And it returns actual science data!

Unprecedented Act of Partisan Arrogance...

An editorial in today's WSJ ends with this:
In other words, he's volunteering Democrats in Congress to march into the fixed bayonets so he can claim an LBJ-level legacy like the Great Society that will be nearly impossible to repeal. This would be an unprecedented act of partisan arrogance that would further mark Democrats as the party of liberal extremism. If they think political passions are bitter now, wait until they pass ObamaCare.
I think that's right.  There are moments when I believe that such a course might actually be the best course for our country's future – on the theory that it would provoke a revolution at the ballot box that would sweep the “big government” corruptocrats from office.  What gives me pause is that I'm not certain that even ramming Obamacare through would be sufficient provocation to wake a majority of the electorate...

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

ClimateGate: Roundup...

The Royal Society of Chemistry piles on...

Phil Jones is on the hot seat...

The Last Four Minutes of Flight 447...

This is the Air France flight that crashed off the coast of Brazil.  Interesting, but scary...

Phobos, Close Up...

Just two more days to wait...

Chilean Earthquake Causes Shorter Days...

Really, it did!

As the Ship Turns...

Pictured at right is CVN 77 (the USS George H. W. Bush) in a hard turn to port (left).  It nicely illustrates a phenomenon that catches a lot of first-time sailors on large naval ships by surprise: the ship leans “the wrong way” in a hard turn.

Actually, it's more complicated than that.  A large ship's motion in a turn varies as the turn progresses.  For example, suppose a ship is travelling at high speed in a straight line and then initiates a hard port turn by traversing the rudders to port.  Initially the rudders engaging with the moving water will force the bottom of the ship to starboard (right), and the top swings to port (left), as most people expect on a port turn.  However, as the ship itself swings around to port, the moving water acts with even more force against the hull – overpowering the rudder's sideways thrust and forcing the bottom of the hull to port, and the top of the ship to starboard.

I still remember the strangeness of these motions during hard turn exercises on the USS Long Beach when I was aboard in the '70s.  Things got even more squirrely in high winds and heavy seas as both of those phenomena contributed their own force vectors that caused yet other, even stranger motions...

Why'd They Do That?

Interesting theory about why Iran recently moved their stocks of enriched uranium from deep, protected underground storage to an open, above-ground area...

Why McDonald v. Chicago Matters...

McDonald v. Chicago matters a lot, if you care about your right to bear arms...

Baby Girl Survives a Bullet Wound for Three Days...

Two parents in Argentina, apparently distressed about global warming, decided to kill their two children and themselves.  They shot their children, then themselves, killing all but their seven month old baby girl.  She survived for three days on her own until found by paramedics; now she's in the hospital.

If this poor little thing survives, she's going to grow up with quite a burden...

Mickey Kaus for Senator?

Mickey Kaus is one of the amazingly few liberal bloggers whose posts I can read without retching.  The man thinks hard, applies lessons from the past, and really seems to “get” the political process.  I've quote him more than a few times on this blog, either because of an interesting insight, or because he eloquently defended a position one normally thinks of as not liberal. 

This morning I read that he's taking out papers to run against Barbara Boxer.  If I had to choose between the two, Mickey is a no-brainer choice (actually, Boxer is the “no brainer”, but you know what I mean).

Our November elections just got more interesting for Californians...

Siberian Tiger in the Woodpile...

They're breeding in the wild in China...

Monday, March 1, 2010

What is it About a Shower?

For years now, I've noticed a pattern when I'm working on tough engineering problems: I'll work on it for some time (usually several hours) without finding an answer.  Then I'll go to sleep, wake, take a shower – and in the shower the answer will suddenly come to me, often without consciously thinking about the problem at all.

I'm not the only one who finds showers are a good place to solve problems, so you can't pin this on my (uncontested) oddness...

It happened to me again this morning.  Each time it happens, it feels quite odd, as though the answer just came to me out of the blue.  I'm guessing that what's really happening is that my brain is working on the problem somehow in the background while I'm sleeping, and then in the shower (which serves to wake me up each morning) the answer my sleeping brain came up with bubbles up to consciousness.  But that's just a guess...

These small, ultra low power computers we carry around between our ears are pretty amazing things...

Bumper Snicker of the Day...

Via my brother Mark:

You bet we can!

Promised Land...

Via my mom:
Over five thousand years ago, Moses said to the children of Israel “Pick up your shovel, mount your asses and camels, and I will lead you to the promised land.”

Nearly 75 years ago, Roosevelt said, “Lay down your shovels, sit on your asses, and light up a Camel, this is the promised land.”

Now Obama has stolen your shovel, taxed your asses, raised the price of Camels, and mortgaged the promised land!

I was so depressed last night thinking about Health Care Plans, the economy, the wars, lost jobs, savings, Social Security, Retirement funds, etc...

I called Lifeline, the suicide help line. Got a freakin' call center in Pakistan. I told them I was suicidal.

They all got excited and asked if I could drive a truck...

Healthcare Lessons...

Here's a depressing look at what's happened in Massachusetts since they implemented a healthcare program quite similar to ObamaCare...

Solar Power Breakthrough...

CalTech is reporting development of a new solar power material with 86% conversion efficiency (versus the 15% to 20% of conventional monocrystalline solar cells).  Further, they report that it should be subtantially cheaper to make.  If that all pans out when the material moves to production, that should mean kilowatt per square meter solar panels (1/5 the size of today's panels for a given amount of power).  Even at today's prices, that would mean 20 cents or less per watt – and maybe even less, if the developers are correct about the production costs. 

But the energy storage problem is still there, with no breakthroughs in sight...

Sunday, February 28, 2010

ClimateGate: Roundup...

Still cooking right along...

The IPCC cries “uncle” – they're looking for independent review of their reporting methods.  A definite flying pig moment...

Al Gore isn't sounding quite as strident these days – and the formidable Ann Althouse takes him to task...

David Archibald on the linkage between stellar (as in our sun) output and climate.

Dr. Roy Spencer on the spurious warming to be found in surface temperature data.

Thunder and Lightning and Rainbows and Rain – Oh My!

Yesterday was a day of intermittent heavy showers, interspersed with anything between bright sunshine and gloomy drizzle.  For the day as a whole we collected 2.15 inches (about 54 mm) of rain, bringing the total for February to 5.55 inches (about 140 mm).

Toward the end of the storm last night, we had a couple of bright flashes of lightning to our north, and some lovely and dramatic rolling thunder of the sort rarely heard in these parts – scared the hell out of Lea, our female field spaniel.  During the day we had one spectacular rainbow, stretching perfectly across the mountains forming the north and east rim of Lawson Valley.

We drove out the valley late in the day to pick up Debbie's car at Rancho Jamul Auto (our auto care heroes!).  The creeks were swollen to a level higher than we've seen in quite a few years.  The soils all over the valley must be completely saturated, because it appears that all of the water from this storm is running off...

Saturday, February 27, 2010

ClimateGate: Roundup...

The hits just keep on coming...

A new report from an actual scientist says: oops, those temperature data really were affected by the urban heat island effect and poor sensor siting.  Well, duh!

Pajamas Media puts together a hockey stick graph of their own (at right, as well).  Quite funny if you've been following AGW for a while...

Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, the IPCC chief, is going to be investigated for his culpability in the now-discredited series of error-filled IPCC reports that the U.N. and national governments depended upon for the formulation of climate policy. 

Three submissions to the U.K. Parliamentary committee investigating ClimateGate – from Steve McIntyre, the Institute of Physics, and the ICO.  All very interesting.  It's hard to overstate Steve McIntyre's contributions to AGW skepticism – and impossible not to admire his civility, sobriety, and honesty.  “Professional” climatology could do a lot worse than Steve McIntyre for a role model.  Oh, that's right, they already did that...

Political tricks in the U.K., unveiled...

Quote of the Day...

From Mark Steyn:
Think of Greece as California: Every year an irresponsible and corrupt bureaucracy awards itself higher pay and better benefits paid for by an ever-shrinking wealth-generating class.
Don't miss the whole thing...

Technology and Risk...

Krauthammer, thinking clearly as usual...

Unwitting Freeway Kamikaze...

Classic Iowahawk satirical commentary on Government Motors vs. foreign car makers...

The Charisma of a Damp Rag...

Wow!  I'm not sure if this style of political debate actually accomplishes any more than the (much) more boring American style, but it one hell of a lot more entertaining!

Friday, February 26, 2010

The California Chaparral Institute Wins One!

Received this by email last night:

February 25, 2010
Preliminary Court Ruling favors fire safety and nature over county's poorly planned vegetation clearance project
County broke law when it skipped environmental review of plan


SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The Superior Court issued a preliminary ruling today in favor of the California Chaparral Institute indicating that the County of San Diego violated state law by exempting its backcountry vegetation clearance projects from public and environmental review.

"This is a victory for both citizens and nature," said Richard Halsey, director of the Institute. "The best way to protect lives, property, and natural resources from wildfire is through proper community design and sensible vegetation management directly around homes, not striping habitat in the backcountry. This ruling will give citizens the opportunity to participate in developing a rational approach to fire risk reduction. It's time we stop wasting millions of dollars of tax-payer money on projects that actually increase the threat of fire to people."

The preliminary ruling can be found at the link below:


Yon Gets a Thank-You Note...

From the parents of a gravely injured Canadian soldier whose story Yon told and photographed last week.  Don't miss it...

Treat Me like a Dog...

Via reader Doug S., who's on a roll today: Reason uses the example of how we provide healthcare for our pets to explore how we could provide healthcare for ourselves.

Their position is one I agree with, though the analogy is imperfect – the kind of economical major medical policies that we'd buy for ourselves (and which actually are still available) are, unfortunately, not available today for our pets...

Guessing Game...

Via reader Doug S.  Which one of these fighters is the U.S. Marine?




Gettin' down to business! Yup, you guessed right...

ClimateGate: the Met Fesses Up...

Geez, this is nice to see...

Nice Musical Rant...

I thought I'd posted this previously, but I can't find it, so here goes:

Why California May Be Doomed...

California's massive economic woes scream for legislative attention.  See how our Sacremento species of moronic politicians invests their time.

On the other hand, accomplishing nothing useful may actually be substantially better than anything these bozos came up with for actually, like, addressing the issues...

Win!

Awesome hack of a marketing program!

Obamaboor...

Peggy Noonan on the “healthcare summit”, well worth reading.

Several readers have written to ask me why I've stopped commenting on the healthcare debates.  I'm disgusted with the whole thing.  It seems to me that the American people have made it abundantly clear that they don't want Obamacare or anything even remotely like it – and yet our elected representatives are pressing on anyway.  Or at least they're making noises like they are.  I still believe it's unlikely to pass, as too many Democratic congresscritters are afraid for their own reelection (Scott Brown drove that lesson home in a vivid way).  If I'm wrong about this, and the Democrats do ram this thing down our throats, then I believe they're going to pay the piper at the ballot box, come November – after which we'd likely see Republican majorities in both houses.  Hari-kari, that would be – but after watching Reid and Pelosi in action, one can't dismiss the possibility...

Oversimplification?

The WSJ thinks they've found one reason for the IPCC's problems.  Me, I think it's simpler: I suspect they never were about the science, and instead always were about transferring wealth from rich countries to poor countries.  Call me paranoid...

Phoenix Not Rising from the Ashes...

At least, not yet...

Bird Brains Have Some Interesting Peripherals...

The more we learn about modern dinosaurs (aka birds), the more remarkable they turn out to be.  Now scientists suspect that (at least some) birds have sensitive magnetometers – in their beaks...

The IPCC Tries to Clean Up Its Act...

I'm skeptical that this is even possible, given they work for the U.N...

Worried About Computers Running Your Car?

Interesting and balanced take on the issue.  I'm sure every software developer has thought about this...

On a related note, I once had the flip side of this issue made dramatically clear to me.  I was interviewing software engineers for a job opening in my company.  One of the candidates looked pretty good, but I wasn't sure why he wanted to leave the company he was currently working for – he had a fascinating job there that seemed an ideal fit for his skills.  So I asked him – and he told me that a bug in code he had written had killed a patient who was wearing one of his company's experimental insulin pumps.  Now he was looking for a job were a bug couldn't possibly injure or kill someone...

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Marginial Devolution...

Eric Raymond has an excellent rant he titles “Marginal Devolution”.  The main point he makes is that as our liberal government makes it more and more expensive to hire someone.  This is a key libertarian (and to a lesser extent, conservative) plank element, and well worth understanding in detail.

The classic example is the minimum wage laws.  It's demonstrable that every time the minimum wage is increased, the number of people employed at minimum wage goes down.  Why?  Because through the minimum wage law, the government just made it more expensive to hire someone.  No matter what the level they set the minimum wage, the following will be true: there will be jobs that aren't worth the minimum wage to the business, and there will be people willing (but unable, thanks to the law) to take those jobs for less money.

This is one of the many reasons why liberalism always fails in the long run.  And very typically for liberal programs, the well-intentioned minimum wage regulation (“How can we expect people to work for so little money?”) backfires and hurts the very people it was intended to help...

ClimateGate: Roundup...

The big prize for ClimateGate: the IPCC announces that it going to make “significant changes” in how it does business.  We owe that still-anonymous hacker who posted the ClimateGate emails a huge debt of gratitude...

Dr. Judith Curry on rebuilding trust and credibility in climate research.

Dr. Harrison Schmitt (former astronaut, moon walker, and Senator) on what we should be doing about natural climate change.

Golden State, Tarnished...

Here's a good summary of California's current economic woes.  It's a bit depressing if you, like me, happen to live in California...

Promoting Travel, Liberal-Style...

Let's say you're a Washington bureaucrat in a liberal administration, and you're charged with creating jobs by promoting travel (which does require lots of workers in the service industry).  Would you (a) look hard at what roadblocks were preventing growth in tourism, and try to remove them, or (b) tax the travel industry, because obviously you know how to spend promotional dollars better than the entrepreneurs in the industry?

Well of course your answer would be (b)!

Idiots.  Criminally insane idiots.

History of the Disk Drive...

Interesting and brief history of data storage on disk drives.  I purchased my first disk drive for $10,000 in the late '70s – a broken Memorex 630 (5mb fixed, 5mb removable) that I repaired and interfaced to a 2.5MHz Z80.  By today's standards this sounds almost insane, but back then, trust me, it was a bargain.

In my years in the U.S. Navy in the early '70s, I worked with several other kinds of data storage: magnetic tape, magnetic drums, paper tape (seriously!), magnetic cores, and the most amazing of all – recirculating mercury delay lines.  Data storage was hard back then!

Just Plain Stupid...

Unfair?  Forget unfair, this is just plain stupid.  These sorts of failures in our educational system (and they come in many species) are an existential threat to this country...

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

ClimateGate: Roundup...

This is turning into a daily feature, as there's so much happening now:

JoNova demonstrates how NASA's James Hansen cooked the surface temperature data.  She also has a link-filled post about how the AGW crowd (now that their science is being successfully challenged) has been reduced to hurling insults and attempting bullying of the skeptics.

Anthony Watts has the details on the British Met's proposal to completely redo their surface temperature data – focusing on public scrutiny and rigorous peer review.  Woo hoo!

Roger Pielke reports on the WMO's update to their hurricane (tropical cyclone) perspectives.  These are the same folks who for the past few years have regularly been reporting that mankind's activities have been causing more hurricanes, more powerful hurricanes, and more hurricanes that made landfall.  The money quote from their most recent report: “…we cannot at this time conclusively identify anthropogenic signals in past tropical cyclone data.”  Translation: they don't see any effect caused by mankind's activities...

Columbian Drug-Smuggling Submarines...

These have turned into a big business, with the main challenge being finding good crews.  The Columbian drug lords are considering automating the subs, eliminating the need for a crew – doesn't really sound all that difficult, technically, so I suspect they'll succeed in this venture.

We spend billions of dollars every year on the “war on drugs” – and those unfortunates who want the drugs get them despite our DEA's best efforts.  Personally, I'd much rather see the drug trade legalized (and taxed).  Think of the resulting benefits: new tax revenues for the government to waste, less tax dollars needed for the DEA (zero, hopefully), and less tax dollars spent on the totally useless prosecution and incarceration of drug users.  Who loses from drug legalization?  As far as I can tell, only the DEA and the illicit drug trade.  The rest of us win, including the drug users who would pay less for their habit. 

You know, we've seen this movie before: alcohol and Prohibition.  The parallel is rather precise, even including addition (an alcoholic is, after all, an alcohol addict)...

Austin Bay on Obama and Iran...

StrategyPage posted an article yesterday by Austin Bay analyzing the Obama administration's reactions to the Iranian nuclear weapons development program.  Warning: the article is very badly formatted, with many words run together.  THis makes it a little difficult to read, but it's worth it.  As always, Bay has interesting insights into events in this part of the world...

Chatroulette...

This is just plain weird.

And before you ask: no, I haven't tried it yet.  The very thought makes me uncomfortable...

Harriton High School Web Cam Spying...

The Stryde Hax blog has all the technical details of how Harriton High School was able to use Mac book web cams to spy on their students at home.

The technical elements of this story are a classic clever hack, nothing really earth-shattering in them. 

The truly scary part of the story is that the high school thought that this was a good idea.  The even scarier part is that some (thankfully a tiny minority) of the students and their parents also thought it was a good (or at least acceptable) idea...

Your Tax Dollars at Work: Billion-Dollar Embassies...

Prior to reading this report, I had no idea that American taxpayers were paying billions of dollars to build embassies in foreign countries.  These are veritable monuments to bureaucracy.  $850 million for an embassy in Pakistan?  What in the hell are these people thinking?

Here's what I'm thinking:
Rope.
Tree.
Bureaucrat.
Some assembly required.

Cassini Grabs More Data on Enceladus...

The spectacularly successful Cassini mission to Saturn continues, though you see little mention of it in the lamestream media.  On a recent pass near the Saturnian moon Enceladus, Cassini captured many more images and science data – grist for the scientists trying to figure out what makes Enceladus tick.  The image at right (as usual, click to enlarge) shows particle-and-water-vapor jets near the moon's south pole.  The most intriguing finding to date: Enceladus might actually be a friendly place for carbon-based life.

I sure wish we had more Cassinis and fewer ISS picture windows...

Italy Attacks the Internet...

Yesterday three Google executives were convicted in Italy of privacy violations.  What did they do?  They “allowed” some Italian teenagers to upload an awful video of an autistic kid being tormented, and didn't pull it down quickly enough.  What's “quickly enough”?  The court didn't say.  How fast did Google pull it down?  It depends on whose story you want to believe, but Google says they pulled it down within three hours of the first complaint they received.

Google will, of course, appeal this conviction (see their official blog post).  It seems completely absurd to me, akin to holding UPS responsible because someone packed an awful video in a box and shipped it via UPS.  If companies like Google actually became liable in many countries for the content uploaded by Internet users, the inevitable result would be that all the wonderful, free services like Google video would go away, or would require payment ‐ for those companies would have to decide between hiring armies of censors or simply dropping the problematic line of business.

A Hero in Colorado...

An unarmed teacher stops a gunman in the act of shooting, but isn't satisfied with his own performance.  Two kids are injured (and expected to recover), nobody killed. 

Here, David Benke is a hero; it's a classic American story.  In England he'd probably be charged with assault on the gunman...

That Pathetic Harry Reid...

This is old, but still instructive – of the kind of weapons-grade idiot the American people is somehow willing to elect, over and over:




Fortunately for all of us, it looks likely that Harry Reid will be defeated this November...

Update: Hope and Change...

One of the innumerable Hope and Change® promises of The One was that he would reduce the pernicious influence of lobbyists in Washington, most famously by not allowing lobbyists to hold positions in his administration. 

So how's that working out?

Well, by the last count I saw there are 35 former lobbyists (including three Cabinet members) in the Obama administration – more than in any previous President's administration.  And now we learn that lobbyists' salaries are higher than they've ever been.  Somehow we doubt that lobbyists' salaries have gone up because their influence has gone down...

Lobbyists: 1  Hope and Change: 0 

J. D. Salinger...

Mark Steyn, in his literary mode, on J. D. Salinger (author, most famously of Catcher in the Rye, who died last week).  Mark Steyn resides in New Hampshire these days, not all that far from Cornish, where J. D. Salinger lived.

It's Come to This: Lawyers on the Battlefield...

What a strange world we live in!  The WSJ has the story about lawyers calling the shots on the battlefield.  I have a great deal of trouble seeing this as a good thing for our soldiers...

Sad Kelo Update...

Remember Kelo v. City of New London, the notorious (and puzzling) decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that defined the circumstances in which eminent domain can be used to take private property, specifically to include cases where the only “public good” is increased tax base for the government concerned?

Well, it's back in the news.  After the Kelo decision, the city of New London did in fact condemn the affected property, and bulldozed the houses.  Then the original developer who wanted the land backed out.  Now the city has announced plans to build townhouses on the condemned property.  So this entire affair in the precipitating case has come to naught: the city's revenue is essentially unchanged, and the citizens lives were disrupted for no reason.

How sad.  And how very un-American.  I'm still angry about Kelo, years later...

The Danger of Lying in Bed...

Excellent short story about perceived risk – from 1871, by Mark Twain!  Via the always-interesting Bruce Schneier...

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Paper Underlying IPCC's Rising Sea Level Claims is Withdrawn...

The scientists who published a study last year in Nature predicting sea level rises of up to 82 cm (about 30 inches) by the year 2100 have now officially retracted their study.  The scientists have acknowledged that two particular mistakes they made affected the outcome of their study, and the work will have to be redone.

When the study was published last year, the IPCC trumpeted it as “proof” of their report's claims of rising sea levels.  They also cited it as part of the “settled science” of climate change.

Oops.

Kudos to Mark Siddall, Thomas Stocker, and Peter Clark (the scientists who published the study) for their handling of the mistakes discovered...

Gimme Just Ten Minutes...

Anthony Watts wants just 10 minutes alone in a room with the slimy Dr. Jeffrey Sachs.

XKCD Hearts SysAdmins...

Global Warming Meltdown...

This was recently broadcast by a local (San Diego) TV station:







Seeking Sparsity to Recover Images...

An interesting algorithm that generates realistic images from very imperfect source data (example below).

Monday, February 22, 2010

Preikstolen...

I'd never heard of Preikstolen until my mom sent me an email with some photos of it (see at right, click to enlarge).  It's in Norway, and I'd love to visit this place.  I'd be sitting on the edge dangling my feet, and my wife would be right behind me yelling and screaming at me to move back!

Sucking at the Hind Tit of a Dead Cow...

Via my mom:




Awesome!

Faces in the Sky...

I want some of these, too!

On a Roll...

Another Talibaner captured.  More, please.

Israel Versus Iran: Yes!

Iran (repeatedly) threatens to blow Israel off the map.

Iran is not-so-covertly developing nuclear weapons, and is close to achieving that goal.

Israel has nukes, and delivery capability, but surely wouldn't want to use them except in extreme circumstances.

Israel has the most powerful air force in the Middle East, and surely could reach Iran – but probably at great cost to her airmen, and with great risk to mission success.

The rest of the world is doing essentially nothing to defuse this situation.  China and Russia are blocking all attempts to use less-than-military pressure, and Europe isn't too excited about it, either – especially Germany and France, who are major trading partners with Iran.

What's a threatened Israel to do?

Develop a fleet of unmanned aircraft with the range to strike Iran and with the payload capacity to carry either bunker-busters or nukes.

Yes!

ClimateGate: Roundup...

Lots more in the news:

Monckton v. Lambert on the Pinker tapes, at JoNova.

George Will's take: Blinded by Science.

Charlie Martin marvels at the U.S. press' ability to ignore the story.

L. Gordon Crovitz, writing at the Wall Street Journal on open science.

Willis Eschenbach on “adjusted” (read “manufactured”) temperature data in Anchorage.

Jasmine...

If you love animals, and especially if you love dogs, you'll want to read the story of Jasmine.  Bring Kleenex.  No tragedies, I promise...

Rainfall...

We've had just over an inch (27 mm) in the past three days – which means we're over 3 inches for the month, and nearly 10 inches for the year.

And there's more in the forecast.  Woo hoo!

Hexacopter...

I want one!  Passed along by reader Simon M.:

MikroKopter - HexaKopter from Holger Buss on Vimeo.

Taking Care of the Wounded Soldiers...

Medical evacuation by air.  Classic Yon detail, prose and photos.  Go read.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

A Menopause Question...

Via my mom:
Q: How many women with MENOPAUSE does it take to change a light bulb?

A: One! ONLY ONE!!!! And do you know WHY? Because no one else in this house knows HOW to change a light bulb! They don't even know that the bulb is BURNED OUT!! They would sit in the dark for THREE DAYS before they figured it out. And, once they figured it out, they wouldn't be able to find the #&%!* light bulbs despite the fact that they've been in the SAME CABINET for the past 17 YEARS! But if they did, by some miracle of God, actually find them, 2 DAYS LATER, the chair they dragged to stand on to change the STUPID light bulb would STILL BE IN THE SAME SPOT!!!!! AND UNDERNEATH IT WOULD BE THE WRAPPER THE FREAKING LIGHT BULBS CAME IN!!! BECAUSE NO ONE EVER PICKS UP OR CARRIES OUT THE GARBAGE!!!! IT'S A WONDER WE HAVEN'T ALL SUFFOCATED FROM THE PILES OF GARBAGE THAT ARE A FOOT DEEP THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE HOUSE!! IT WOULD TAKE AN ARMY TO CLEAN THIS PLACE! AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON WHO CHANGES THE TOILET PAPER ROLL !!

I'm sorry. What was the question?
My mom says this is the best menopause question evah!

A Different Sort of Congresscritter...

Reader Doug S. pointed me to this interesting interview of Alaskan Congressman Don Young:



He sure doesn't sound like any congresscritters from this part of the U.S...

Oh, My Gosh - the French Have Raised Their Alert Level!

From maxedoutmama:
The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide". The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" (a recent replacement for "Blame Bush") and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability.
Read the whole thing.

An Iraqi Refugee in El Cajon...

El Cajon is a city just 25 miles or so (by road) from my home.  Read the story of Thabit Khalaf, who fled the Iraqi terrorists after they kidnapped his son.   Thabit paid the demanded ransom, but he still hasn't seen his boy.  There must be many stories like this, sadly...

Saturday, February 20, 2010

U.S. Government Poisoning Program Kills 10,000 People...

I'd never heard of this before.  Apparently during Prohibition, the U.S. government deliberately poisoned industrial alcohol supplies.  The idea was to discourage thieves from stealing and selling the industrial alcohol alcohol to drinkers – but they did it anyway.  Some estimates place the resulting death toll as high as 10,000 Americans.

Yet another reason for citizens to keep their right to bear arms...

ClimateGate: Roundup...

I continue to marvel at the flood of published material, now that it's cool to be an AGW skeptic:

Sarah Palin rails about the “snow job” revealed by ClimateGate in a link-filled Facebook posting.  One thing Palin does very impressively is to leverage the Internet to get her messages out.  I can't think of any other politician who even comes close to this...

An MIT climatologist says “...at this point, the models seem to be failing.”  Doesn't sound like settled science to me!

Observed North American snow levels trending in the opposite direction of the climate models' predictions.  Oops!

Vindication for an early AGW skeptic.

What changes in snow levels tell us.

al-Zarqawi Surprised by His Reception in Heaven...

Sent along by reader Doug W.:
Abu al-Zarqawi died and George Washington met him at the Pearly Gates. He slapped him across the face and yelled, "How dare you try to destroy the nation I helped conceive!"

Patrick Henry approached, punched him in the nose and shouted, "You wanted to end our liberties but you failed!"

James Madison followed, kicked him in the groin and said, "This is why I allowed our government to provide for the common defense!"

Thomas Jefferson was next, beat al-Zarqawi with a long cane and snarled "It was Evil men like you who inspired me to write the Declaration of Independence."

The beatings and thrashings continued as George Mason, James Monroe and 66 other early Americans unleashed their anger on the terrorist Leader.

As al-Zarqawi lay bleeding and in pain, an Angel appeared. Al- Zarqawi wept and said, "This is not what you promised me."

The Angel replied, "I told you there would be 72 Virginians waiting for you in Heaven. What did you think I said?"
I was chuckling for hours after I first read it...

Krauthammer Tears Apart the “Ungovernable” Trope...

Fascinating patterns perceived...

George Will at CPAC...

Excellent speech:



His speech had me cheering – and wishing we had someone like this running for President in the last election. Maybe the next?

Excellent Rant About the Geert Wilder Trial...

Friday, February 19, 2010

Barocky Road...

Via my wife:
In honor of the 44th President of the United States, Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream has introduced a new flavor: "Barocky Road"

Barocky Road is a blend of half vanilla, half chocolate, and surrounded by nuts and flakes. The vanilla portion of the mix is not openly advertised and usually denied as an ingredient. The nuts and flakes are all very bitter and hard to swallow.

The cost is $100.00 per scoop.

When purchased it will be presented to you in a large beautiful cone, but after you pay for it, the ice cream is taken away and given to the person in line behind you at no charge.

You are left with an empty wallet and no change, holding an empty cone with no hope of getting any ice cream.

Are you stimulated?

Offered Without Comment...

Miss Me Yet?

Merchandise displaying this image (or similar ones) is selling very well on the Internet.  CafePress is one of the biggest specialty retailers of such stuff, and as of this morning “Miss me yet?” is at the top of their hit parade.  Seven of top ten items are political; all are conservative or libertarian.  Interesting...

Water Vapor Feedback...

A new study shows that water vapor in the upper atmosphere provides negative feedback to temperature, not the positive feedback the AGW models assume.  This is a great example of the failings of models on poorly understood and extremely complex processes.  Observational science is much more reliable...

Thursday, February 18, 2010

UN Climate Chief Resigns...

Yvo de Boer failed to secure any agreement from the Copenhagen warmenistfest, and now he's falling on his sword...

First Images from WISE...

NASA published these yesterday (that's Andromeda at right, in several wavelengths rendered as false colors).  More of this, please, and much less picture windows on useless space stations!

Giant versions of several such photos are available at the link above...

Frederik Pohl is Blogging!

Until I ran across his blog, I had no idea Frederik Pohl was still alive – much less blogging!  If his name means nothing to you, then you weren't a reader of science fiction in the '50's and '60s – for he is one of the giants of early SF.  He was also a personal friend of Isaac Asimov, one of the other giants of SF, and is posting some of his reminiscences on his blog.  Awesome, dude!

On Skepticism and Science...

Bill Schweber offers some wisdom on science and the role of skepticism, all in the context of AGW.  Via reader Doug W...

Death of a Soldier...

Reported by Michael Yon...

The Price of Moral Vanity...

An excellent rant on one of liberalism's central problems, as a riff on the recent capture of a Taliban honcho...

Triple Hit from WUWT...

Watts Up With That? has three interesting AGW-related stories up: another reason why Greenland's glaciers are melting, another IPCC report fiasco, and this year's snowfall in the northern hemisphere.

65 Million Years of Cooling...

A little context for the global warmenists, from JoNova...

A Politician Talking Sense?

Sounds like a flying pig moment, doesn't it?  But here's the transcript of a speech by a governor, sounding more like a level-headed businessman than a pandering, poll-driven politician.  As if that wasn't remarkable enough, this governor is from New Jersey!

Business Abandoning Climate Change...

I guess climate change, tarnished by scandal, doesn't make so much business sense any more...

Diffie, Hellman, and Merkle Win a Prize...

The Hamming Medal was awarded to cryptographic pioneers Whitfield Diffie, Martin Hellman, and Ralph Merkle.  Their basic technique for what is today called “public key” or “asymmetric” cryptography was the first available to anyone outside three-letter agencies (NSA, CIA, etc.).  It's also the only real cipher I've actually implemented, several times over the years and most recently just a year ago.  Though it's over thirty years old, it's still perfectly viable...

I'm Envious...

Of these animals who can see five different primary colors, instead of the three that I can see.  Which animals are those?  Chickens.