Bernadette Peters & Stephen Sondheim – Send In the Clowns
An evening pause: An apropos song I think for April Fools. That’s Stephen Sondheim on the piano, accompanying Bernadette Peters.
Year: 2013
James Hansen is retiring from NASA and will dedicate his time to global warming activism.
James Hansen is retiring from NASA and will dedicate his time to global warming activism.
All that is really changing is that Hansen will no longer work for the government. The activism has been going on for a very long time.
Also, it is interesting how this New York Times article seems very unaware of this fact, which makes all of Hansen’s global warming claims very suspect. Might the Times not want the public to know this annoying detail?
Homeland Security has been claiming that it has the authority to inspect private safety deposit boxes without warrants.
Does this make you feel safer, or more free? Since 2011 Homeland Security has been claiming that it has the authority to inspect private safety deposit boxes without warrants.
Are your indoor tomato plants probable cause for an armed raid?
Are your indoor tomato plants probable cause for an armed raid?
Yes, if it was up to most police departments and governments today.
Astronomers searching the WISE infrared data archive think they might find a Jupiter-sized planet lurking near the Oort Cloud.
Astronomers searching the WISE infrared data archive think they might find a Jupiter-sized planet lurking near the Oort Cloud.
Debbie Reynolds – Tammy
An evening pause: If you listen real close to the second movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, you will hear the roots of this lovely song.
At a cave rescue course
Posting this weekend is light because I am attending a class here in Tucson on cave rescue. Today, Saturday, was a mostly in class session going over the basics, most of which I am very familiar with from many years of experience. We did spend ninety minutes learning how to carry people around in a sked or sled, two different types of equipment used to carry a patient through difficult cave passage. In this case the terrain was simulated by going up, over, under, and around scaffolding and vehicles inside a garage. Lots of fun.
On Sunday we will be doing a mock rescue, whereby we will arrive at a cave entrance where we will have to locate the patient in the cave and get that person out of the cave safely. Should be most interesting.
Connie Dover – I am going to the west
An evening pause: On this the first anniversary of the day we moved into our dream home, on a western hill of Tucson overlooking the mountains and the city, let us revisit this magnificent song by Connie Dover, this time sung live.
A boycott of Colorado because of its new gun restrictions appears to building among hunters.
Pushback: A boycott of Colorado because of its new gun restrictions appears to building among hunters.
What it feels like to have your life savings stolen by the global elite.
Coming to America: What it feels like to have your life savings stolen by the global elite.
Riverdance – violins
An evening pause: I am usually not a big fan of the big production Irish shows like Riverdance or Celtic Woman, as often the heart of the music gets lost in the big production. Here, however, they keep it somewhat simple, and the result is we see some good fiddling.
The collapse of household income since 2009.
The collapse of household income since 2009.
A comparison of the graph in the article above with the changing federal debt (both graphs below the fold) is quite revealing. The steep drop in household income in 2009 lines up precisely with the steep rise in federal deficits beginning in 2009. I wonder if they have anything to do with each other? The article also notes the possible negative impact of Obamacare. How could they think such a thing?
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“We’re just not interested in continuing to support bureaucracies and talkfests.”
Canada to the UN environmental movement: “We’re just not interested in continuing to support bureaucracies and talkfests.”
The country has pulled out of a UN program supposedly aimed at “combating desertification,” noting that
only 18% of the roughly CAD$350,000 per year that Canada contributed to the U.N. initiative is “actually spent on programming,” [Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper] told Parliament this week during question period. “The rest goes to various bureaucratic measures. … It’s not an effective way to spend taxpayers’ money.”
As is their normal approach to debate, there is a lot of wailing, gnashing of teeth, and name-calling among the environmentalists, but no substantive response to counter Harper’s point above.
One very good sign that North Korea’s recent warlike threats are merely posturing.
One very good sign that North Korea’s recent warlike threats are merely posturing.
[W]e do have one pretty good metric with which to judge the country’s intentions: the Kaesong Industrial Complex. The Kaesong Industrial Complex, located just across the northern side of the border, is staffed by South and North Koreans. It can’t function without Pyongyang’s daily okay. If the North suddenly shuts down Kaesong at some point, watch out. But as long as it’s still running, as it has been throughout the provocations and tensions of the last few weeks, we can probably – probably — assume that North Korea is not actually planning to launch a war.
And the complex is still in operation.
“The fact that global surface temperatures have not followed the expected global warming pattern is now widely accepted.”
The uncertainty of science: “The fact that global surface temperatures have not followed the expected global warming pattern is now widely accepted.”
This quote above refers to scientists in the climate field, who are now admitting that for the past 20 years the climate has shown no warming, despite the continuing increase in CO2 in the atmosphere and their computer models that all predicted increased temperatures because of that CO2.
India has successfully tested a homebuilt engine to be used in its more powerful geosynchronous launch rocket, set for launch in July.
The competition heats up: India has successfully tested a homebuilt engine to be used in its more powerful geosynchronous launch rocket, set for launch in July. More here.
Previous launches of the GSLV rocket used a Russian-built engine on a second stage. They also ended in failure, not because of the Russian equipment but because of other problems.
After a fast four orbit/six hour flight a Soyuz capsule carrying there astronauts has successfully docked with ISS.
After a fast four orbit/six hour flight a Soyuz capsule carrying there astronauts has successfully docked with ISS.
Rachel Barton Pine – Molly on the Shore by Percy Grainger
An evening pause: The pace and speed of this music might make us feel breathless, but she’s having so much fun playing it!
There astronauts were successfully launched today from Russia and are expected to dock with ISS later tonight.
Three astronauts were successfully launched today from Russia and are expected to dock with ISS later tonight.
They are the first crew to use the fast route to ISS, only six hours, rather than the more traditional two day rendezvous path.
Elon Musk confirms that on future Falcon 9 launches they will do tests of a powered return of the first stage.
The competition heats up: Elon Musk confirms that on future Falcon 9 launches they will do tests of a powered return of the first stage.
For the upcoming flight, after stage separation the first stage booster will do a burn to slow it down and then a second burn just before it reaches the water. In subsequent flights they will continue these over-water tests. He repeatedly emphasized that he expects several failures before they learn how to do it right. If all goes well with the over-water tests, they will fly back to launch site and land propulsively. He expects this could happen by mid-2014.
These tests are an extension of the Grasshopper tests, only this time they will take place during an actual launch.