Antares has successfully put Cygnus into orbit.
The competition heats up: Antares has successfully put Cygnus into orbit.
The next test is getting Cygnus berthed at ISS.
Year: 2013
New documents show that more than 80% of the organizations targeted by the IRS in 2011 for harassment were conservative.
Working for the Democratic Party: New documents show that more than 80% of the organizations targeted by the IRS in 2011 for harassment were conservative.
A handful of liberal organizations were definitely targeted for close inspection, but it appears to me that these were merely picked to give the IRS some cover while it mainly focused at harassing as many conservatives organizations as possible.
Another look at the leaked IPCC draft report.
Another look at the leaked IPCC draft report. Key quote:
To those of us who have been following the climate debate for decades, the next few years will be electrifying. There is a high probability we will witness the crackup of one of the most influential scientific paradigms of the 20th century, and the implications for policy and global politics could be staggering.
The article also takes a close look at the contradiction between the data and the IPCC models and says this:
[W]hat is commonly called the “mainstream” view of climate science is contained in the spread of results from computer models. What is commonly dismissed as the “skeptical” or “denier” view coincides with the real-world observations. Now you know how to interpret those terms when you hear them.
On the air
For those of you who wish to hear me talk at length about climate and space issues, I will be on the air tonight for about two hours on the Space Show with David Livingston.
And if that’s not enough, you can listen to me again for two hours tomorrow night, September 18, from 10 to 12 am (Pacific) on Coast to Coast with George Noory.
Should be fun, as always.
For those on the East Coast, a viewing guide for tomorrow’s launch of Antares/Cygnus from Wallops Island.
For those on the East Coast, a viewing guide for tomorrow’s launch of Antares/Cygnus from Wallops Island.
Obamacare’s Useful Idiots
Guess who. And guess about what.
Another story on the leaked IPCC report, and how that new report will admit the climate has not warmed as predicted.
Another story on the leaked IPCC report, and how that new report will admit the climate has not warmed as predicted.
After two months of travel, Curiosity on Mars is now taking short break to study the rocks under its wheels.
After two months of travel, Curiosity on Mars is now taking a short break to study the rocks under its wheels.
An unmanned spacecraft designed to get rid of space junk is set to launch in 2018, and use a new European built reusable launch system.
The competition heats up: An unmanned spacecraft designed to get rid of space junk is set to launch in 2018, and use a new European built reusable launch system.
Both components of this story are significant. First, a company has gotten the necessary financing to build the spacecraft, proving that there is profit to be made in the removal of space junk. Second, the launch system is simple and reusable, and will lower the cost of getting small payloads into orbit significantly. And it appears it is being built.
Data from the 2011 Virginia 5.6 magnitude earthquake suggests that the North American continent had drifted above a mantle hotspot millions of years ago.
Data from the 2011 Virginia 5.6 magnitude earthquake suggests that the North American continent had drifted above a mantle hotspot millions of years ago.
The second static fire test of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, planned for yesterday, has been rescheduled for Wednesday.
The second static fire test of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, planned for yesterday, has been rescheduled for Wednesday.
A delay until the end of September for the actually launch is now certain, since the launch facility and range will be tied up in the interim with other activities.
A newly leaked revised draft of the upcoming IPCC report suggests that the climate uncertainties have significantly grown since the last report in 2007.
A newly leaked revised draft of the upcoming IPCC report suggests that the climate uncertainties have significantly grown since the last report in 2007.
Most important of all, the new IPCC draft finally admits that the climate has not warmed as predicted and that the climate field does not know why.
They recognize the global warming ‘pause’ first reported by The Mail on Sunday last year is real – and concede that their computer models did not predict it. But they cannot explain why world average temperatures have not shown any statistically significant increase since 1997.
They admit large parts of the world were as warm as they are now for decades at a time between 950 and 1250 AD – centuries before the Industrial Revolution, and when the population and CO2 levels were both much lower.
The IPCC admits that while computer models forecast a decline in Antarctic sea ice, it has actually grown to a new record high. Again, the IPCC cannot say why.
A forecast in the 2007 report that hurricanes would become more intense has simply been dropped, without mention. This year has been one of the quietest hurricane seasons in history and the US is currently enjoying its longest-ever period – almost eight years – without a single hurricane of Category 3 or above making landfall.
The worst aspect of this new draft, however, is how its conclusions completely ignore these admitted uncertainties.
In the new report, the IPCC says it is ‘extremely likely’ – 95 per cent certain – that human influence caused more than half the temperature rises from 1951 to 2010, up from ‘very confident’ – 90 per cent certain – in 2007. [Climate scientists Judith] Curry said: ‘This is incomprehensible to me’ – adding that the IPCC projections are ‘overconfident’, especially given the report’s admitted areas of doubt.
As I’ve noted before, though Curry favors the theory that the climate is warming, she is also a good scientist willing to honestly discuss the uncertainties of the science.
One last point: Most of these newly admitted uncertainties in the upcoming IPCC report were originally discussed in detail in the first IPCC report back in 1990. That 1990 report was an excellent and fair assessment of the overall knowledge of the field, at the time. Since then, none of the science has really been able to reduce any of these uncertainties significantly. All that happened in the ensuing years is that too many climate scientists and in the IPCC decided to make believe the uncertainties didn’t exist any more. Thus, later IPCC reports were filled with false certainty and an unreasonable insistence that the climate field understood what was going on.
These false certainties have now come back to bite that climate field, in the ass.