Paul Simon – American Tune
An evening pause:
We came on a ship they called the Mayflower
We came on a ship that sailed the moon
We came in the age’s most uncertain hour
And sing an American tune.
Category: Behind The Black
SpaceShipTwo flies again
It appears that yesterday SpaceShipTwo flew another successful test flight.
Tinkering with the atmosphere to prevent climate change gains ground in Cancun
What could possibly go wrong? The environmental global warming activists at the Cancun climate summit appear increasingly eager to encourage governments to tinker with the atmosphere to prevent climate change. The most frightening quote:
Funding may not be far off.
In September, the U.S. Government Accountability Office recommended in a 70-page report that the White House “establish a clear strategy for geoengineering research” within its science office. A month later, a report from U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, a Democrat from Georgia who chairs the House Science and Technology Committee, urged the government to consider climate-engineering research “as soon as possible in order to ensure scientific preparedness for future climate events.”
The U.S. panel had collaborated in its study with a British House of Commons committee. “We may need geoengineering as a `Plan B,'” the British report said, if nations fail to forge agreement on a binding treaty to rein in greenhouse gases.
Perhaps most significantly, the U.N.-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, the global authority on climate science, agreed in October to take on geoengineering in its next assessment report. Its hundreds of scientists will begin with a session next spring.
Activists force Spanish cardinal to cancel lecture
Freedom of speech alert! Threats of violence by anti-religion activists force a Spanish cardinal to cancel a lecture at a university.
SpaceX static test a success
From Clark Lindsey, with video: The static test firing of the Falcon 9 rocket today was a success. Actual launch is planned for Tuesday.
Yellowstone caldara rise has slowed
In a paper published today in Geophysical Research Letters of the American Geophysical Union, scientists note that the rise of giant volcanic caldara under Yellowstone National Park has slowed significantly since 2006 and since 2008 has actually subsided somewhat. Key quote from the paper:
Here we propose that as the caldera source continues inflating, the accumulated strain energy in the deformed crust could promote earthquakes with mechanisms such as hydrofracturing,, migration of magmatic fluids, and brittle fracturing of rocks. These events can subsequently depressurize the magmatic systems or release the accumulated strain energy, slowing the uplift or even influencing a change in motion to subsidence. In January 2010 the Yellowstone caldera experienced another large earthquake swarm at its northwestern boundary close to the location of the 1985 swarm. . . . In the following five months the caldera experienced the first overall subsidence since the inception of its uplift in 2004. This scenario is similar to that in 1985 where a reverse of caldera uplift to subsidence was temporally correlated with the largest observed Yellowstone earthquake swarm.
‘A million climate change deaths each year’
Global warming activists today released a report claiming there will be “a million climate change deaths each year” by 2030.
Wanna bet? This article from AFP is typical of what I call press release journalism. The unnamed author shows no skepticism, and simply regurgitates what these activists told him without question. I for one would love to see this so-called report, as I suspect it has more scientific holes than a hunk of swiss cheese.
Update: I just did a quick scan of this so-called “peer-reviewed” report, and it is a piece of junk. (You can see the report’s press release here. The report can be downloaded here [pdf]) Its data is compiled from UN political workshops, not scientific research. Moreover, it uses the 2007 IPCC report as its fundamental source, even quoting some of that report’s now discredited research, such as its claim that the glaciers in the Himalayas will be gone in mere decades.
Orlando Sentinel calls for more NASA funding
The squealing continues! The Orlando Sentinel demands that NASA gets its funding over everyone else, even as they admit there really is no money for anything. Key quote:
We applaud the Republicans’ determination to cut federal spending. But surely there are riper targets than the space program. The federal government spends billions each year on farm subsidies, a program held over from the Great Depression.
New Biggest Volcano in the Solar System?
NASA Plans to Put Nonprofit In Charge Of ISS Experiments
Didn’t the Cold War demostrate that profits, private property, and free enterprise do it better? By order of Congress, however, NASA is planning to put a nonprofit organization in charge of ISS research.
Falcon 9 first stage test firing aborted
In preparation for its Tuesday test launch, SpaceX attempted a static test firing of the Falcon 9 rocket early today, only to abort at the last second. They plan another attempt on Saturday and still hope to launch on Tuesday.
Animator vs Animation
An evening pause: