Watts Up With That?

I don’t know why I’m posting this other than its how I feel today.

An airliner traveling from Chile to New Zealand early today was in for an near miss from something you wouldn’t expect.

Flaming space debris — the remains of a Russian satellite — came hurtling
back to Earth not far from a passenger jet on its way to Auckland, New Zealand.
Here’s further proof for the growing concern of the increasing amounts of space junk orbiting our planet. From the article: ‘The pilot of a Lan Chile Airbus A340 … notified air traffic controllers at Auckland Oceanic Center after seeing flaming space junk hurtling across the sky just five nautical miles in front of and behind his plane…’

Yikes!

For all those folks worried that a cell phone tower at the Elks Lodge or Hooker Oak Park is going to give rise to a legion of cancer ridden mutants, here’s another study that says “not likely”

March 26, 2007 (Reuters) –

Cell phone use does not appear to be associated with an increased risk of glioma, the most common type of brain tumor, according to a new study.

“Public concern has been expressed about the possible adverse health effects of mobile telephones, mainly related to [brain] tumors,” Dr. Anna Lahkola, a researcher at the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority in Helsinki, and colleagues explain in the International Journal of Cancer.

The researchers examined the relationship between mobile phone use and risk of glioma by studying 1,521 glioma patients and 3,301 controls.

Read the rest of this entry »

I just completed my first meeting of the City of Chico Sustainability Task Force today and here are a few observations.

First, it seemed to be pretty well rounded, we had public and private sector, business, building industry, CSUC, and regular citizens represented by the 15 appointees.

Second, so far the focus seems to be doing things better, more efficiently, and at less cost. I’m all for that.

Third, everybody seemed to get along, no shouting matches or fistfights broke out.

While the group is still feeling their way, I expect that given the makeup of it, we’ll get some useful suggestions and ideas from it that may very well get implemented as policy someday. I was worried that we might have a group of folks who were so focused on the goal of “green” that we’d see odd policy come from it like our famously silly nuclear weapons ban in the city limits.

I’ll keep you posted. I have a few ideas of my own that I’ll discuss here.

Some folks ask me how I can be against the idea of man-made global warming but for alternate energy. Its simple really, if its more efficient, pollutes less (on any venue) has no social cost, and has a lower operating cost, I’m for it. Mostly I’m for alternate energy becuase California has essentially legislated out the ability to build any traditional forms of energy generation, such as coal, hydro, and nuclear. That leaves wind, solar, and conservation as the future of energy in California. whether you beleive in man-made global warming or not, our future energy needs have to come from some source, so we’d better get started now. If they have beneficial side effects, all the better.

One thing I’m not for is a carbon credits/trading programs. I think the whole idea is simply a cop out and designed to benefit the few that setup these programs. See why in this post.

Image above: Dubbed the “Swan” this X-ray image shows massive energy releases from the sun’s magnetic field, even while we are at the solar minimum in between sunspots cycles.

Last week, on the same day Al Gore was giving testimony to congress on made-made CO2 being the sole cause of Global Warming, NASA called a press conference in Washington DC to announce some spectacular new findings about the sun. Of course everybody in the press was so busy covering Gore’s big day, there was hadly any mention of what NASA announced.

What they announced was that a new X-ray imaging satellite called HINODE, launched in September 2006, has seen the first images that explain one of the biggest mysteries of the sun: why the corona is hotter than the suns surface. Magnetic reconnection seems to be the key, and these images go a long ways towards proving the theory.

But even more importantly, scientists expected to see a very quiet sun with the new x-ray imager, since we are at solar minimum right now. NASA announced we’d reached solar min on March 6th. The fact that the HINODE scientists saw huge explosive energy bursts even while the surface of the sun is nearly devoid of sunspots tells them that the suns magnetic field is still tremendously active. The suns magnetic field has been getting more active for the past hundred years, coincidentally at the same time CO2 on earth has been increasing along with the global mean temperature.

But it seems that coincidence makes CO2 a Red Herring.

The linkage between changes in the suns magnetic field and earths climate has been well documented. Global temps closely track solar cycles as measured by sunspot intensity. Sunpots are proxy indicators of changes in the suns magnetic field. The Danish Meteorological Institute first reported the correlation in a study going back centuries. Historic data reveal that whenever the sun got more active, the earth heated up, and vice versa. The best correlation was the Maunder Minimum.

But until now, we could not see energy being transported away from the sun via its magentic field, which is why many in the environmental community doubt the role of the sun in climate change. We couldn’t visualize the sun’s magnetic output. This new tool is going to open a whole new era of understanding how the sun works, and more importantly how changes on the sun link to climate changes on earth.

Of course I’m sure Mr. Gore will find a way to explain this away, since we can’t have any new science getting in the way of a “consensus” and a “debate thats over”.

Inconveniently, NASA also announced last week a new study that shows a clear sun-earth linkage in records kept by Eqyptians of the Nile river, rainfall, and auroral activity which is a direct indicator of solar activity. It seems the sun-earth climate linkage has been around way before SUV’s.

So what’s easier to believe as the cause of climate change? That a trace gas called CO2 that has increased on earth from about 280 PPM to 380 PPM in the last 100 years is the cause, or that the giant nuclear fireball a thousand times bigger than earth a mere 8 light-minutes away has been getting more active during the same period is the reason?

Whew! It has been a busy week, with lots of things to report. So rather than
making a blog entry for each one I thought I’d condense them all into one entry
with links.

The emphasis this week seems to be on the sun, and the fact that maybe its
really the sun which has been driving climate change after all. That’s what I’ve
been saying for years, because its just unrealistic to ignore the largest and
single most important contributor to our planets energy balance and to only
focus on made-made CO2 and nothing else.

Here are some headlines and links to the reports:

Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson

comes out against Gore – cites the sun – from the National Review

Sun Blamed for Warming of Earth and Other Worlds – from LiveScience

Gore testifies on Global Warming before congress -
video from
C-SPAN – free RealPlayer required,

download here

Greenlands

Ice pack measured accurately, shown to be shrinking, but alternate cause
suspected – from NASA

NASA Finds

Sun-Climate Connection in Old Nile Records – Pharoahs apparently made some
accurate records

Sun’s Output Increasing in Possible Trend Fueling Global Warming – From a

Duke University paper and Space.com
 

Global Warming expedition to north pole called off due to extreme cold

Biggest solar storm in fify years is expected – from NASA

In the UK Channel 4 produced a new documentary titled:
The Great Global Warming Swindle This is well worth watching, especially if you’ve ever doubted the veracity of such claims, no matter which side you find yourself on.

Through interviews with prize-winning climate experts and others, this masterful documentary explains the origins of global warming alarmism; factually addresses claims of man-made global climate change; exposes the motivations of organizations, scientists and activists sounding the alarm; and explains why it’s been extremely difficult, if not downright career killing, for scientists to question global warming orthodoxy publicly.

While presenting hard facts, it is artfully done, making it watchable for the layman and scientist alike.

You can watch the video here. Its about 75 minutes. You can press the Play button and Pause button if you need a break. If the video player below doesn’t work, here is a <a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XttV2C6B8pU”direct link

&nbsp

Today I had to do a round trip drive to San Jose to inspect some video transmission equipment and back to Chico all in a few hours. Coming back, I was in stop and go traffic coming across the Benicia-Martinez Bridge (which is being rebuilt)which carries I-680 across Suisun Bay and had a fair amount of time to look at the Ghost Fleet kept by the Navy there.

Officially known as the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) they have all sorts of ships there including the WWII battleship USS Iowa, merchant ships, and an aircraft carrier. There are also some WWI steam ships there too, many in a state of decay.

I was reminded of a boat trip I took down the Delta a few years ago where I got up close and personal with these ships. Some were impressive, others downright spooky. I also remeber finding the crossing of the old Sacramento Northern Electric Railway which went all the way to Chico, and up the Esplande. I’ll tell that story another time.

In the meantime here are some pictures and links of the Ghost Fleet.

Several destroyers and merchant ships, plus a tug.

Read the rest of this entry »

This week researchers announced that a solar storm is coming — the most intense solar maximum in fifty years. The prediction comes from a team led by Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). “The next sunspot cycle will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one,” she says. If correct, the years ahead could produce a burst of solar activity second only to the historic Solar Max of 1958. Solar Cycle 24 will be the biggest in modern history.

Dikpati’s forecast puts Solar Max at 2012. Hathaway believes it will arrive sooner, in 2010 or 2011.

Translation: it going to get hotter on earth during this period.

At the same time, researchers are showing evidence that the next solar cycle 25 is likely to be very weak.

Translation: It will get cooler on earth starting around 2017-2018 and beyond.

I’m not usually a fan of food additive scares, as I find a lot of the
"science" driving them to be somewhat emotionally based rather than factually
based. For example, one of the urban legends surrounding this topic can be found
here. Be sure to read the whole article before you retch.

I like to point out that we have the safest and most nutritious food supply
in the history of mankind right now, but we also have a lot of bad choices
available. Its when the good choices start to become problematic that I get
concerned.

Food coloring, specifically Red
Dye number 40 is found in so many things, that its often hard to know if its in a food unless
you read the fine print on the product label. For example, today I found out that EGGO waffles
have Red#40 in them. It was a complete surprise. There are hundreds of other
foods that you wouldn’t suspect that have it too.

I have two small children, and my wife has found that Red Dye 40 can lead to
behavioral problems in young children. I was skeptical at first, but when we
removed all foods and snacks containing Red 40 from our son’s diet, we began to see a marked
change towards the mellow, easy going child he used to be.

It works. Here is an
article from teachers.net for you to read if you have an interest in this
issue.

Jessica Gresko at the Associated Press reports:

Certain hurricane forecasts could be up to 16 percent less accurate if a key weather satellite that is already beyond its expected life span fails, the National Hurricane Center’s new director said Friday in calling for hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding for expanded research and predictions.

Bill Proenza also told The Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview that ties between global warming and increased hurricane strength seemed a “natural linkage.” But he cautioned that other weather conditions currently play a larger part in determining the strength and number of hurricanes.

One of Proenza’s immediate concerns is the so-called “QuikScat” weather satellite, which lets forecasters measure basics such as wind speed. Replacing it would take at least four years even if the estimated $400 million cost were available immediately, he said.

It is currently in its seventh year of operation and was expected to last five, Proenza said, and it is only a matter of time until it fails.

Without the satellite providing key data, Proenza said, both two- and three-day forecasts of a storm’s path would be affected. The two-day forecast could be 10 percent worse; the three-day one could be affected up to 16 percent, Proenza said.

That would mean longer stretches of coastline would have to be placed under warnings, and more people than necessary would have to evacuate.

Average track errors last year were about 100 miles on two-day forecasts and 150 miles on three-day predictions. Track errors have been cut in half over the past 15 years. Losing QuikScat could erode some of those gains, Proenza said, adding he did not know of any plans to replace it.

This from the “fun things you can do with compressed gas” department:

Now I’ve seen everything. Tata, India’s largest automotive manufacturer, has developed a car that runs on compressed air, gets a range of 125-185 miles per tank, and a tank costs about $3 to fill up.. er..blow up.

The car will cost about $7,300 and has a top speed of 68mph. About once every 35,000 miles you have to change the oil (1 liter of vegetable oil). Initial plans are to produce 3,000 cars per year. Using compressed air to store potential energy is not only efficient, it’s pollution free while its driving. Of course there’s still energy used in making compressed air, and some polution may be created during that process, buts its lower than burning fuel carried with the vehicle.

More here from Gizmag: http://www.gizmag.com/go/7000/

No word yet on what it sounds like going down the road.

I figured for my 100th entry, I’d make it a big
one. Especially in light of the fact that a recent
editorial in the ChicoBeat
said that I’m completely wrong. Now if I’m wrong, and I see compelling and undisputable evidence
(not models or projections) that man made CO2 is the culprit and nothing else,
I’ll be happy to stand up in the middle of city plaza and announce "I was
wrong".I expect I’ll know the answer by about January to March 2018, when its expected that solar cycle 24 will be over, and temperatures on earth are postulated to drop. The year end world climate summaries will be published then. Assuming I’m still around, I’ll likely sound off in City Plaza one way or another. By then we’ll have some shade.

In the meantime, tell me how I’m doing. I don’t
hear from a lot of you whom I know are reading. Sound off, good or bad.

What I thought I’d do this time around is post some news and opinions that
aren’t mine related to the subject. These come from science and technology blogs,
forums, and newsletters that I subscribe to.

First let’s start with this headline that’s
been circulating for the past few days:

"This winter is the warmest on record
worldwide."

Read the rest of this entry »

No I’m not asking you to fill in the blank, but I am asking you to notice that at this time, there are no sunspots on the sun at all. This piucture above shows the face of the sun for St Patricks day.

Contrast this to just a few weeks ago, when sunspot 930 (shown below) erupted with a massive X class solar flare, the largest in years. It just goes to show you how volatile our sun is and how small we are in the face oif its massive energy.

You can check www.spaceweather.com for details on the current state of the sun, the solar wind, and the geomagnetic field.

Last Saturday I took a brief diversion from a long business trip to attend the air show at NAF El Centro as the guest of former navy pilot Vance Parker. NAF El Centro is the winter training base for the Blue Angels. Several people from Chico who share the same morning coffee table at Bidwell Perk made the trip. Vance was a gracious host, getting us all passes to the VIP tent.

Vance also managed to put us on the tarmac after the show, second in line behind a 3-star general, for a photo with the pilots and the FA-18 flown by the team commander. In attendance were left to right Dave Raven, Mike Effords, myself, Tim Colbie, Michael Moran, Jim Ledgerwood, (kneeling) Vance Parker and Mark Stapleton, plus Tom Dwyer (not pictured-AWOL).

The show was spectacular, the weather fine, and the beer cold. It was a day of pure heaven. Thanks Vance.

Even with all that, my best memory of the show had to do with a 2 year old little boy. He and his mom were at the VIP tent and dad was off doing duty. There were a couple of older boys who were playing with FA-18 models and the little boy kept trying to join in but he had no toy. His mom didn’t bring anything to keep him occupied and he spent his time trying to fit in with the other boys. So, knowing that feeling, I decided I’d hoof it the 1/4 mile back to the hangars where the concessions were, and pickup a toy airplane, and one for my own son too.

The smile on that little boys face when I gave it to him was far brighter than the Blue Angels at that moment.

Yesterday while driving north on Highway 99 from Bakerfield, I passed a Union Pacific freight train. To my surprise, it was quite long, I counted over 120 cars. When I got to the engines I saw something I don’t usually see, Eight UP SD70 diesels pulling the load. They had this configured to go over the Sierra Nevada obviously.

I love trains, they’ve been a part of my familiy for nearly 100 years. My grandfather made steam locomotives and my dad created a steam train ride that he took around to carnivals and church socials and gave children rides. One of my happeiest memories was sitting behind my dad in the coal tender car as we chugged along. Yes I was a carnie briefly as a kid.

Back to present. So as I pulled ahead of it a few miles, I spotted an overpass for farm machinery that I could pull off on and take a picture. Then further ahead I snapped some others. These were taken near the town of Pixley, and just south of Fresno.

My son William delighted in them. Others are below. Enjoy.