There seems to be an iPhone application for everything.  Now, there is one for global warming.  A global warming skeptic in Australia created the following app, and it is growing in popularity by leaps and bounds.  I paid the 99 cents for the app, and find it to have some great charts and information about the science of global warming.

Our Climate iPhone App - Great Source of Climate Science Info

When the catastrophic climate alarmists found out about this app, they went ballistic.  It seems that there is an iPhone app called “Skeptical Science” which is purposely misleading.  The author is an over-the-top, catastrophic global warming freak, and has included in incredible amount of non-science to try to refute the real climate skeptics.

Pro-Global Warming iPhone Application

The Australian newspaper, The Guardian, blogged on the side of the global warming activist, and other global warming activist blogs are arguing that the Our Climate app is bogus.  Genuine skeptic sites point out the BS that is in the “Skeptical Science” app.  The fight goes on and on.

Enter a cartoonist, Josh, who has been reading climate blogs for years, and understands all the subtleties of the arguments.  So, from cartoonsbyjosh.com comes this cartoon.  It helps to have a sense of humor about these things.

Here is Josh’s response to the whole argument.

Josh's Cartoon Response iPanic iPhone Application

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Wall Street Journal Image

At this point the story about BP’s oil platform disaster in the Gulf of Mexico should be old news.  It’s not!  This story will keep delivering news for months to come.

The blow-out is very difficult to manage with current technology.  The faulted well is about a mile under the water’s surface, and the ability to manipulate devices and deal with the unbelievable pressures is in an almost primitive state.

BP and it’s drilling contractor, New Horizons, were involved in a high-risk, high-return venture.  Such deep water drilling is not unheard of, and the risks of the operation are well known. This all figures into the oil company risk assessment.

An accident of this nature was bound to have happened.  Steps were taken in the design to prevent this situation, and to mitigate the effects if it were to happen.  The  blow-out protector did not work.  It was not set-up properly, and this signals a management problem.

Management problems are usually the cause  of disasters such as this.  Systems are designed to handle failures, but nothing can correct for an organization or crew not following proper procedures.   This was the problem with the BP oil platform.  Inadequate management of the oil platform, the operations, and mismanagement of the drilling contractor resulted in the largest oil spill disaster in history.

We are now discovering severe problems experienced on the Federal Government regulatory level.  It turns out that inspections were not carried out; permits were not issued correctly; and unjustified exemptions to regulations were issued.

What does Obama have to do with the whole thing?  He could not have personally stopped the disaster, and he was not personally complicit in the failure of the Federal Government, or so he says.  Are we holding the President to a higher level of performance than necessary?

NO!

It was Obama’s appointees that mismanaged the regulatory process, and he is getting bad advice from his advisers.

Barack Obama does not understand the issues involved in the petroleum industry, nor does he have a clue what he should have done when being informed of the disaster.  He was like a deer blinded in the headlights.

Obama should understand that the Federal Government has no competency in stopping oil leaks, especially extreme blow-outs like the BP situation.  His best move is to stay off the backs of the oil company engineers trying to stop the leak and let them do their jobs.

The President’s job is to make the immense resources of the Federal Government available to BP if required, but especially to mitigate the extent of the damage that is starting to be felt in the states bordering on the Gulf of Mexico.  Obama’s job is to help those state governors in whatever they need.

So far, President Obama has been an impediment to mitigation processes by not providing the resources required, and by delaying those efforts with panty-waiste environmental regulations.

The Obama Administration has demonstrated extreme ignorance of the problems, what to do about them, and how mitigate the damage. There is no hint of a plan on what they will do, and  the President seems incapable of doing anything except equivocating and trying to blame George W. Bush.

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It makes me go crazy, listening to all those TV mavens  punish us with their ignorance on how we have to use alternative power sources so we can GET OFF OIL!

As a former utility engineer, and casual user of Google, I can make the following expletive with great knowledge and without hesitation.

BULL!!!!!

Oil is not used in the United States for the production of electric power in any meaningful quantity.

The United States of America is Energy Independent in the production of electric power. We do not rely on petroleum products for our electricity.

OIL HAS ALMOST NOTHING TO DO WITH ENERGY PRODUCTION IN THE USA.

We generate most of our electric power with plants fueled with nuclear energy, coal, and natural gas.

Hydroelectric generation makes up a small percentage, with geothermal growing, but still a very small percentage of our total. and the usage of wind, solar, geothermal, etc. is so small it is not in the graph.  Thank you, Wikipedia!

Notice that petroleum accounts for only about 1% of fuel used to generate electricity.

Oil is a fossil fuel, but the fossil fuels used in the generation of electric power are coal and natural gas.

The next time you hear a person on TV talk about having to build nuclear plants to get off oil, they are supremely ignorant and should be notified of their mental shortcomings.

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SETI – The Institite for the Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence, is a waste of money.

Do you remember the Fermi Paradox?  Let me refresh your memory from the annals of Wikipedia.

“In an informal discussion in 1950, the physicist Enrico Fermi questioned why, if a multitude of advanced extraterrestrial civilizations exist in the Milky Way galaxy, evidence such as spacecraft or probes are not seen.”

If all those space guys are out there, why haven’t we seen them?  Were are the interplanetary, or interstellar probes?  The South Park episode of Cartman’s anal probe notwithstanding, the space guys just ain’t there.

South Park's Cartman and Satellite Dish

On the Discovery Channel’s presentation about the universe, one scientist states that the universe is over 150 billion light years across.  We all know that is a guess, but it does underline the idea that the universe is so vast that we cannot even imagine the physical extent.   If you get your mind around that, suppose that your favorite intelligent space civilization is only about half way across the universe.  That would put them about 75 BILLION light years away.

Dude, if it will take 75 billion years for the aliens to get here, what’s the point of doing anything about it?  The universe will not exist by then.

Stephen Hawking has a bit of a different idea.  If the space guys do happen to get to planet Earth, there is a good chance that they will not be friendly.  I picked up this little gem last night on Hawking’s “The Universe” series on the Discovery Channel.

Two prominent theories about extra terrestrial intelligence are a bust for SETI.

First, the universe (and the Milky Way Galaxy) are too big for any reasonable attempt at space travel.

Second, if there are space guys on the make, there is a good chance they are after our stuff.  Any intelligent life out there stands a good chance of resembling our life forms. They are probably using up their planetary resources and will soon be looking for our stuff to keep their civilizations going.

So, there is no rational reason for SETI to exist.  Either the folks they are looking for don’t exist, they are too far away, or they could be bad space aliens.

Any way you look at it SETI needs to SHUT UP!

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She is a sweet thing.  Joulie, the Ocean Heat Monster,  lurks hidden in the waters of some deep ocean abyss like the Loch Ness Monster waiting for the Great Climate-Change Text Signal that reads, “OMG!  It is time to empty the heat pipeline.”. 

Unfortunately, my little piece of fiction sounds like what respected climate scientists are claiming about a non-existent pipeline storing Mega-Joules of heat energy waiting to be dumped into the earth’s ecosystem.  This is their answer to the question, “Where has all that heat gone?” It was made in an attempt to explain why there has been no climate warming for the last decade in spite of the massive accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Dr Pielke, a climate scientist of note, basically says that the idea of a heat pipeline storing “unrealized” heat is false.  If there is heat in a system, it is realized!

It gets real simple, real quick.  Heat energy is what it is.  By definition if it exists it has been realized. 

Nobody seriously contends that the earth has not gone through a period of global warming, and nobody can deny that we have been going through a period of global cooling.  The facts are the facts.

The essential disagreement is whether carbon dioxide is the dominant driver of global warming, and whether our future will be one defined by catastrophes caused by CO2 induced warming. 

It is time to get to serious science rather than inventing more non-existent monsters like Joulie.

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As I was driving home this morning about 1/2 mile from my house, two small deer were crossing the county road that passes our subdivision.  This is not an unusual occurrence, and I suppose some people would be thrilled that wildlife is teaming so close to their homes.

The problem is that our subdivision is thirty years old, and the deer, coyotes, and foxes are more visible than ever.  Within that thirty years, almost every empty acre of land has been developed for miles around, and I think what we are seeing is the results of the inevitable conflict of wildlife habitat with human habitat.

The deer don’t have anything to worry about.  We have municipal laws about discharging firearms in our fair city, except for the special purpose of taking care of the occasional Democrat who gets too mouthy.

The sad part is that with the decreasing wildlife habitat, these animals are frequenting suburban areas all over the nation seeking food, and becoming pests.  The deer in my brother’s home town in North Carolina are particularly devastating to the neighborhood’s flower beds, and the coyotes in my neighborhood help trim the population of those little fuzzy poodles and other yappy breeds.  Cats are particularly at risk.  Don’t let your pussy cats get out of your control.

There is no real solution to this habitat problem.  Most of us are willing to put up with the occasional invasion of deer in the neighborhood, or the occasional black bear in the subdivision (Yes, it  has happened in my neighborhood).

The conflicts are inevitable, and the radical environmentalists solution of getting rid of humans is not a rational solution. This serves to underline why the Al Gore’s of the world are such loonies.  They just don’t run on all cylinders.

Sorry about the animals.  Take care of them when you can, but, they will have to suffer the pains of losing the habitat wars.

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Photo via Wikipedia

Warning!  Boring scientific stuff will follow.

The term, “Climate Change”, is just a marketing term.  Climate changes all the time, and trying to paint this as something bad, or even controllable, is just ignorance in action.

In fact it has recently been shown that the increase in temperatures over the last century or so are completely within the limits of natural variability.

There is a climate science blog by a Dutch scientist, Bart Verheggen, where one of his posts has over 760 comments, covering a couple of weeks of some pretty deep, mathematical discussions of the hypothesis of carbon dioxide driven global warming.

You can read a layman’s account, here.

An anonymous statistician, VS, did an analysis of Dr. Verheggen’s data and concluded that the temperature increases since 1880 (where the data starts) to the present are not distinguishable from natural variations in the climate.  In other words even though the world has gotten warmer over the last 120 years, it is mathematically inside the realm of natural variations.

VS is an econometrician, and not a climate scientist.  Now, this may seem odd, but, both climate science and economics try to model large chaotic systems, and both disciplines use the same or similar mathematics to analyze their data.

The difference is that the economics guys have been at it a lot longer, and have developed some very sophisticated statistical tools in the process.  By comparison, climate science is not ready for prime time.

VS’s analysis further reveals that there is little or no linkage between atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and long term global warming.  Indeed, CO2 and other green house gases have only second order relationships with temperature.

Stated differently, CO2 is NOT a primary driver of temperature.  It has only a secondary effect.  We know this from the physics of CO2, but the total effects of CO2 on temperature have never been accurately quantified.

If VS and his references are correct, global warming has just suffered a fatal mathematical blow.  Now, maybe we can get to some real climate science and forget all this Al Gore type of nonsense.

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Yeah, I know most people never heard of PI Day, but it is one way of getting school kids to remember a little about mathematics.  The Greek letter pi is used in math to symbolize the number 3.14 which is a universal constant dealing with circles.  Remember that the circumference of a circle is equal to twice the radius times 3.14 (PI).

Today’s date is March 14, also known as 3/14.  Since 3/14 looks close to the number pi (3.14) , math teachers nationwide have started calling March 14 PI Day.  Now you know.

In a celebration of PI Day, I am embedding this YouTube clip of Elton John performing “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)”.  This is an absolutely terrific performance, and illustrates why Elton John is one of the best performers, ever.  That’s my opinion.

Oh, I almost forgot. PI Day is also my birthday.

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Dr. Michael Mann, Penn State Scientist Guilty of Bad Science

In spite of all the press Climategate has had over the last couple of months, most people in the United States are either ignoring it, or haven’t heard about it.  That’s a shame, because the truth is coming out about how some of the world’s most prominent climate scientists have lied about their studies, and have withheld important data and documents from the public.

We all learn in high school that for a scientific experiment to be considered valid, others must be able to replicate the experiment and the results.  This is where the British climate scientists at the world famous Climate Research Unit at East Anglia University have stuck it to the British and American taxpayers.  Yes, some of their work was funded by American taxpayers!

Thanks to a “theft” of emails and computer code documents from the CRU computer servers, there is now an investigative hearing in progress.  Thanks to Anthony Watts’ blog, WattsUpWithThat?, you can read a running account of the hearing.

Several scientific and mathematical societies have sent comments to the investigative committee, all recommending that scientific data and computer codes from scientific studies be made available to the interested public, and that Dr. Phil Jones, Director of the Climate Research Unit, is guilty of promoting bad science practice, and hiding the results of his data.

You may think this is a United Kindom problem, but, the CRU science criminals are joined by some equally objectionable scientists in the United States.  You see, they are all part of the same clique that cosponsor and review their own studies.

One such scientist guilty of participating in the climate frauds is Dr. Michael Mann of Penn State University.  There is an inquiry into Dr. Mann’s questionable activities, and it looks like Penn State is giving him a complete white-wash.  Dr. Mann wrote one of the early studies generating the fraudulent “Hockey Stick” graph that purports that current climate warming is without precedent.  He has been proven wrong on many occasions, yet, keeps producing phony studies.

So, be aware of the garbage science being perpetuated by scientists like Dr. Mann.  There is lots of good science out there about climate, but, his is not in that category.

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Note: Photo from Watts Up With That?

Keanu Reeves in The Matrix

One of the favorite science fiction themes is the idea that a person, today, is just the realization of a computer program.  The person or being that did the programming did it long ago.  The result might be a world as in the movie, The Matrix.

In the Matrix people worked at their jobs in modern looking buildings doing neat looking things.

But, there were a group of people that knew how to escape that paradigm.   Once outside the Matrix, the world looked like a bombed-out Detroit.

Everything was imaginary and programmed.  Humans were cloned in a giant “hatchery”, or something like that.

This idea can get really scary, especially if you have done any computer programming with one of the modern object oriented languages.

In object oriented programming you start by creating “classes”.  Let’s create an animal class, and from that evolve a human class that inherits certain biological traits that all animals share.  Then, we can proclaim an object of the people class as one instance of a person, like an Al Gore.  There would also be Bob’s, Ronald’s, Donald’s, Jim’s, and even females like Marilyn Monroe, etc.

From the basic class idea we can program into people the way they think and react in logical terms, and some hard-wired illogical contrary traits.  This way you could create a smart person, and have them do stupid things like Barack Obama.

Suddenly, fiction makes as much sense as reality.

Is intelligence a natural occurrence or a a programmed artificial property?

My contention is that whatever the answer is, we have artificial intelligence in the White House.  It is time to click on the “Interrupt” button to send Barack Obama and his Marxist programmed minions to the trash bin.

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