Author: Robert Zimmerman

Sequestration and NASA

9:49 am

Here we go again. Yesterday an aerospace organization, Aerospace Industries Association, released a sixteen page report [pdf] claiming that NASA will lose 20,500 jobs and NOAA 2,500 if the federal government goes over the “fiscal cliff” and sequestration happens.

Immediately, a slew of news articles xeroxed this report to pound home this point, noting the job loses for the specific cities of each newspaper and how disaster awaits the country if sequestration is allowed to take place and we go over that blessed “fiscal cliff”:

The trouble is, this is all hogwash and bad journalism.
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The satellite that North Korea launched early Wednesday appears to be tumbling out of control, according to unnamed U.S. officials.

9:29 pm

The satellite that North Korea launched early Wednesday appears to be tumbling out of control, according to unnamed U.S. officials.

The Defense Department does have the capability to detect a tumbling satellite, especially if its solar panels are visible, though I must emphasize that the information here is so vague it hardly means anything. Regardless, the real issue here is not that North Korea put a working satellite into orbit, but that it now has the rocket capability to put anything into orbit. For us this is not a good thing: A rogue nation that is trying to build nuclear weapons that is also officially still at war with our ally South Korea now has this capability.

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A new New York skyscraper — the largest residential building in the world — has won the top award for 2011 for its unusual undulating facade.

9:08 am

A new New York skyscraper — the largest residential building in the world — has won the top award for 2011 for its unusual undulating facade.

It is worth a look, as the building is quite strange-looking and actually stands out in the New York skyline, something you would think would be difficult for a new skyscraper to do.

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North Korea launched its rocket today, despite indications earlier in the week that they were delaying the launch due to technical problems.

10:06 pm

North Korea launched its rocket early Wednesday, despite indications earlier in the week that they were delaying the launch due to technical problems.

It appears those “technical problems” were a feint to distract everyone just prior to launch. Based on radar data it also appears the rocket did put an object into orbit.

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The solar scientists change their prediction again

12:39 pm

Today, with little fanfare, the solar scientists at the Marshall Space Flight Center adjusted slightly downward their prediction for the upcoming solar maximum, from a sunspot number of 73 down to 72. This was the fourth month in a row that they have revised their prediction.

The Marshall scientists do not archive their predictions, which I suspect is a convenient way of preventing people from noticing how much they change them. I however like to archive these revisions. Below is a full list of their changes during the past two years:
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Climate models still fail to predict mid- and long-term trends in the climate.The uncertainty of science: Climate models still fail to predict mid- and long-term trends in the climate.

12:07 pm

The uncertainty of science: Climate models still fail to predict mid- and long-term trends in the climate.

To test the forecast quality of the 23 most important climate models, the AWI scientists investigated how well these models were able to reproduce atmospheric teleconnection patterns over the past 50 years. A total of 9 known circulation patterns were investigated retrospectively, four of which in special detail. The result was that the spatial distribution of atmospheric teleconnection patterns is already described very well by some models. However, none of the models were able to reliably reproduce how strong or weak the Icelandic Low, Azores High and other meteorological centers of action were at a particular time over the last 50 years, i.e. the temporal distribution patterns. [emphasis mine]

The “centers of action” are large global weather patterns like el Nino that can influence the global climate worldwide. Most climate scientists believe that global warming will manifest itself first in these centers of action. Yet, no climate model was able to predict what we know actually happened during the past fifty years with these large centers.

But we must ignore this fact and base all our climate law on what these models predict. What could go wrong?

In related news, the United Kingdom had its coldest autumn since 1993 this year. And if you look at the temperature graph at the link, covering autumn temperatures since 1910, you will notice hardly any change, up or down.

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A Democratic state representative threatened violence on the Michigan House floor today over the passage of a right-to-work law in their state.

10:20 am

Leftwing civility: A Democratic state representative threatened violence on the Michigan House floor today over the passage of a right-to-work law in their state.

Update with video: a mob of union thugs rip down the tent of a conservative group, while people were inside. More details about the violence here. More video here, showing these creeps as they attack Steven Crowder and push the tent down with a woman inside.

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Democratic senators (who voted for it) have joined Republicans to call for the delay or cancellation of an Obamacare tax on medical equipment.

10:16 am

Finding out what’s in it: Democratic senators (who voted for it) have joined Republicans to call for the delay or cancellation of an Obamacare tax on medical equipment.

Maybe if these idiots had read the damn bill before they passed it we wouldn’t have this problem. But then again, this is the quality of senators the American people want in charge of our country. I read this and weep.

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Glide tests of Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser shuttle are now scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2013.

2:13 pm

Glide tests of Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser shuttle are now scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2013.

The vehicle they will be flying is only a prototype built expressly for these unmanned tests. A separate flight model is under construction and will be used for later manned suborbital tests, followed by a third vehicle built for orbital flights.

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