Thanks to the help of many readers, I’m off to cover The 2013 AGU meeting, and I’ll be in San Francisco this week. I’m in transit today.
Readers might want to peruse the AGU Meeting program and see if they have topics/questions they’d like to see covered.
For those attending and wish to contact me, you can either use the WUWT contact form, or the AGU member messaging system from their web page.
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climateace,
You took an analogy and pretended that it was a mathematical ratio.
You were cherry picking and then hypocritically trying to put it on someone else.
Aussie Politics
If the Repeal Bills are rejected twice its quite conceivable that Abbott could go to a Double Dissolution Election before July 1, or at least threaten to do so if the Senate remains obstructionists.
A risky strategy, requiring careful consideration, but if it came about then the election would be primarily on that useless tax aimed at reducing global warming…. as we slide into a LIA.
Not sure the electorate is ready for the truth.
Re: @curiousnc: Given geologic time, you don’t think humans can adapt? Far easier to adapt to warming than an ice covered continent.
Regards,
1 degree F in Colorado.
Re: Del Cowsill @December 8, 2013 at 4:43 pm
Is it forming or flowing?
Abbotts direct action plan (NOT a tax) is estimated to cost taxpayers, IF implemented, ~AU$3bil. While the IMPLEMENTED carbon tax costs “polluters” (And passed on to comsumers) an estimated ~AU8$bil, of which 10% goes to the UN.
“bobl says:
December 9, 2013 at 1:47 am”
The BoM uses 112 stations, of the total avilable, to “calculate” a national average (LOL). That’s 1 device for every ~68,500 square kilometers!
Well done to Climateace for beleiving the BoM and their manufactured tripe!
And, again, we have Tim Flannery predicting bushfires will be worse in 30 years. This must be on the back of the forest fire hazard index that has used complete data only since Oct 1991. I seem to recall that he predicted dams would be empty round about now and over the past few years forcing state Govn’ts to build De-Sal plants, ALL, now mothballed!
“climateace says:
December 8, 2013 at 9:39 pm”
Hummm, fire hazard. The computer algorithm used, in Aus, to calculate that has never used COMPLETE data before Oct 1991.
RokShox, in the past, when climate has changed, humans have perished rather than adapt. They didn’t have the ability to move great distances, on mass and usually in a weakened state. They re-colonise the areas when the climate changes back again. If we were to encounter climate change now, many more people will be affected as there are more people. They also have the ability to move….. jump on a boat and within a week or two they are somewhere else where they can survive. This may not be looked on to lightly by the people that are already there as they may not have the capacity or heart to allow the new arrivals in.
“climateace says:
December 8, 2013 at 9:39 pm
While it is true that Defence ignited one of these fires, it did not ignite the rest. Finally, I would doubt that all of the area burned had not been control burned for 20 years.”
I never said it did. I know many volunteer fire fighters, their accunt of those events do not support your view. I did say it was the LARGEST fire AND it was deliberatlely set by defence services in an area that has has no hazard reduction in 20 years an inquiery has found in. These are NOT my words.
“climateace” – my questions that you keep avoiding like the plague, reframed:
1) What regions of Australia were pulling above their weight to give a spring temperature record for the sum?
2) What is the name of the city you live in – that one you anecdotally alleged had recently lost 600 homes to fire; the one where your insurance premiums are skyrocketing and you need lots of disaster plans: what city is it?
3) Did climate priests (like Flannery) contribute to the perception that rain in Australia was now a thing of the past, like snow in the U.K. once was, or did they predict the floods that damaged/destroyed 20,000 homes in Brisbane alone?
“The urban water industry has decided the inflows of the past will never return,” Water Services Association of Australia executive director Ross Young said. (The Age, 2007)
“Drought is too comfortable a word,” said John Williams, the New South Wales state Commissioner for Natural Resources. “Drought connotes a return to normal. We need to be adjusting.” (Cosmos, 2007)
“When their houses do get burnt or destroyed in floods, do they blame themselves for their folly? Oh no. They scream blue murder at the government/council/authorities for not protecting them from their own stupidity.,” explained the shameless troll calling itself “climateace.”
The Climate ace lost his argument, so now he is shifting the goal posts so it is the people that don’t live in cities own fault that they have burned to death after the councils restricted fire breaks around their houses to as little as 6m.
He blames the same people that put food on his inner city canberran ( if I read the posts right) plate each night, day,after day, year after year.
I might point out ace, that I did in fact offer you good advice on how to address your insurance problem. Have your government modify the laws to increase the clearance geometry to the point that houses can be adequately protected. Have your government do the protective backburns, build the dams and levy banks to control flooding, add some strategic sea walls and the reduced property losses will bring down premiums. Maybe $3 Bn could make a start on that, but you better get moving, or greenpeace will beat you to it!
Finally, Once again you are wrong, as a matter of fact I do own Australian property, lots of it , Australian rural property, and yes I do have insurance, good insurance, and yes I do have a firebreak, about 200m of it, oh and just for starters I also manage to sink some 20 Tonnes of CO2 every year more than I emit.
For those in other countries, the Australian bush is tough, its fire hardened, the common trees, eucalyptus, etc have leaves loaded with hydrocarbons, some have seed that rely on being burned for germination. On a hot day, the oil evaporating off the trees can form an explosive mixture. If I burn off a pile of branches not 4 feet high and 6 ft wide of dry Australian natives the flames can reach 6 – 8 metres, intense radiant heat 20m and embers 100m. Yet some Australian councils only allow clearing of bush for barely 6m around a house,. If a 4ft pile of rubbish can produce 6m of flame imagine what a grove of closely spaced eucalyptus 20m high loaded with hydrocarbons can do. Consider then what sort of safety margin you’d want for YOUR loved ones from a grove of these biological firebombs.
Khwarizmi says:
December 9, 2013 at 3:45 am
““Drought is too comfortable a word,” said John Williams, the New South Wales state Commissioner for Natural Resources. “Drought connotes a return to normal. We need to be adjusting.” (Cosmos, 2007)”
Australia post 2007:
http://www.google.com/mars/
IP>CC
How hot does 1 atom of CO2 need to get to heat up 2500 atoms of atmosphere by 1°C?
If I built a tent out of highly polished aluminium would it overheat from my body heat?
***
Ric Werme says:
December 8, 2013 at 1:47 pm
A revised plan drops that ridge, but puts larger turbines (500 feet tall) on the other ridges they’re eying.
***
500 ft? Jeesh. Pinwheel-makers are now at the point of “mine’s bigger than yours”.
-29 deg. Celsius (approx. -20 deg. F) this morning (December 9) in our valley (altitude 6500 feet) in South Colorado.
This is considered a serious winter cold even by Siberian standards.
I was in Colorado last weekend, I just wore long sleeve shirts. But that wind became scary at 10,000 ft on my way to Porterville, CA.
Guess there’s no TWTW on AGU week. I put together my weekly rant. Here goes
Oil rose higher on a 5.6 million barrel drop in US stockpiles after ten weeks of builds. Wheat dropped on bigger than expected official estimate of the Canadian harvest. Corn bounced a bit on short covering.
The latest economic numbers suggest that we are finally into an actual self-sustaining economic recovery. Last week saw only 298,000 new unemployment claims, down 23,000 from the previous week and this is THE LOWEST in six years.
On Thursday GDP bolted higher to +3.6% which is shockingly above the +3.1% expected. But to be fair, this GDP report is not as robust as the headline reading would imply. That’s because most of the increase came from the growth in inventory I told you about. That usually leads to less production in the future as they sell off what was already made. Or simply, growth over the next couple quarters will be lower as it was already booked in Q3.
So do not be too enamored with the +3.6% effort. The estimates for Q4 are now coming in closer to 1.4% because of what just happened. When smoothed out over the coming year we will likely still find ourselves slogging thru growth territory of +2%…maybe up to 2.5%. That is plenty of growth to keep earnings on the rise. Weather permitting, if the inventory moves briskly, then all the better.
November had 203,000 new jobs created according to the survey of employer establishments. While this is not a fantastic amount, it probably doesn’t reflect the actual number of people currently working, (re: what I said before about survey accuracy). The Household Survey on the other hand shows unemployment dropping to 7% which is the lowest it’s been in more than five years.
The conventional (Conservative) wisdom is that this drop in the unemployment rate means people have given up looking for work since it’s not reflected in the number of new jobs, but this isn’t what they’re saying this time. (I will come back to this). Simply put, the employer survey isn’t all that accurate. During the Holiday Seasons you are seeing a surge of hiring in areas that aren’t being properly sampled, but it does show up when people are asked directly by phone if they are working. This includes small businesses and so-called ‘not-on-the-books’ jobs that don’t get counted, but do help out the economy.
Further evidence that things are really picking up is the new University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey, which was predicted to increase only one point, that surged to 82.5 for December and was up from 75 last month.
The Conservative hacks aren’t trying to downplay the jobs gains as you might expect. Instead they’re actually trying to make it sound way better than it really is, because that gins up their popular ‘FEAR MONGERING’ that the Federal Reserve is going to taper its QE3 bond buying program and thus the economy will most certainly tank. Janet Yellen, the incoming Fed Chair has made it perfectly clear that she’s not impressed with such talk.
The ‘gold is the only real currency’ crowd (gold is down BTW) are still certain that there will be runaway inflation ANY DAY NOW! In fact the whole point is to create some inflation so business will stop just sitting on their cash. Even if too much inflation due to excess money being in circulation were to occur the Fed could start selling its bond holdings to take money out of circulation again. Even if the Fed took a loss on the sold bonds, it wouldn’t really matter because they just printed the money they used to buy them anyway. No tax revenue was involved.
To be clear, I’m not in favor of this way of regulating the economy. But because our embarrassing government is so dysfunctional there are no effective policies on trade, finance, energy and so on. So what the Fed is doing is managing to hold things together for now. There is still the ‘too big to fail’ Wall Street bankers ‘Retake the White House’ crash coming in a couple of years if we don’t get some real action from the 2015 Congress. Elections do matter and most of the dysfunction is the result of the Grand Obstruction Party.
Unfortunately Elizabeth Warren says she won’t leave the Senate early to run for President, but she didn’t say she wouldn’t take the VP slot… at least I preferred to hear it that way. Hillary is wrong for Dems and wrong for US, caters to the 1% plutocracy (she was Sam Walton’s show pony), arrogant, duplicitous, complacent warmonger.
Guns continue to belch smoke since the Dems decided to use a simple-majority vote to change Senate rules and eliminate the filibuster for executive office-holders and federal judges (apart from the Supreme Court) and NOT for legislation. (If they seriously wanted your guns they would have gone for legislation and Obama never would have expanded concealed carry) Smith & Wesson earnings are expected to be down a wee bit, revenue still in line. When Mr. Market starts doing the ‘hey look at me, it’s now all safe to get back in’, I am not interested in working folks’ money. Except for these and a biotech with a 3 bagger, I took profits. Billionaires’ are another thing entirely. Heaven knows they’ve tried to shake me out. No, didn’t Twitter (yet), all I could get were twitter droppings.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ta?t=my&l=on&z=l&q=l&p=&a=&c=&s=RGR%2C+&ql=1
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This news below is counter to claims that Obama is arming Al Qaeda and McCain is supporting ( example as said by Louie Gohmert), looks like they wish to avoid the mistakes made in Iraq and Libya, where the army and police were disbanded with the fall of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, allowing terrorist groups to rise in a security vacuum. It’s kind of nice to have a President not involved in war as a family business.
Syrian rebels consider joining forces with regime troops to fight al-Qa’ida | Syria Solidarity Movement
http://www.syriasolidaritymovement.org/2013/12/04/syrian-rebels-consider-joining-forces-with-regime-troops-to-fight-al-qaida/
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Ted Cruz tells GOP legislators that electing US Senators instead of appointing them is a mistake. (The real reason, you can’t Gerrymander a whole state)
http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/12/ted-cruz-at-alec-summit-end-direct-vote-for-senators.html/
WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz, elected 13 months ago by actual voters, said Thursday he’d prefer to see state legislators pick U.S. senators – as they were until a century ago, when the 17th Amendment came along.
Direct election of senators has eroded states’ rights, Cruz argued, speaking to a ballroom filled with conservative state lawmakers from around the country.
“If you have the ability to hire and fire me,” he said, “I’m a lot less likely to break into your house and steal your television. So there’s no doubt that was a major step toward the explosion of federal power and the undermining of the authority of the states at the local level.”
The 17th Amendment was ratified in 1913 amid dismay that powerful federal lawmakers were sometimes picked through corruption and backroom deals. It was also partly a response to growing public irritation that even as more and more Americans had the right to vote, they got no say in who represented them in the Senate.
Cruz spoke over lunch to a policy summit of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a controversial group that for years has quietly circulated “model” legislation on anything from voter ID rules to tax policy. He got standing ovations.
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I couldn’t bring myself to listening to the noise machine comment on the death of Nelson Mandela. Dick Cheney has SUCH a big heart, bet you won’t see him at any memorials.
http://consortiumnews.com/2013/12/06/honoring-mandela-not-reagan/
As Americans honor the memory of Nelson Mandela, they must grapple with the inconvenient truth that one of their most honored recent presidents, Ronald Reagan, fiercely opposed punishing white-ruled South Africa for keeping Mandela locked up and for continuing the racist apartheid system that he challenged.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/12/06/when-conservatives-branded-nelson-mandela-a-terrorist
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Ronnie Reagan slashed taxes for his pals by 2/3, it was supposed to make us all wealthy too. Funny how Conservatives’ math only benefits the billionaires.
50 million now in poverty, Use the GOP civil war to cancel the sequester. Get $5T at 0% 100 years from Fed for infrastructure projects needed because of Conservative neglect.
http://news.yahoo.com/u-poverty-rate-remains-high-even-counting-government-200633327–business.html
Over 26,000 annual deaths for uninsured working class adults, 72 deaths per day, or three per hour.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE85J15720120620
And Ted Cruz & company with the Gold Rolls Royce Health Plan doesn’t care.
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4152095
Comments by Mitch Zacks,
” I believe 2014 will be a year of accelerating growth in the economy and another up year for stocks. Since WWII, the S&P 500 has had 18 annual gains of 20% or more and 78% of the years immediately following those great years have been positive. Household net worth is a key contributor to GDP and it is rising. Housing has been on the upswing and new home construction is expected to increase in 2014. This will have a broader effect than just helping the housing sector. All the materials and labor needed to build houses will benefit several sectors.
With a pick-up in GDP growth expected and with employment gains already firming, I expect 2014 to be a pretty good year in the labor market. Monthly employment gains are expected to average around 230,000 up from 180,000 expected for 2013. While data from one month does not mean much, it was reported this past week that the private sector added 215,000 in the month of November, the strongest level of hiring in a year. The consensus estimate for jobs created in November was 173,000. Additionally, inflation remains contained and we will not have tax hikes to deal with like we did in the beginning of 2013, which were a drag on GDP growth.”
[Long message. But not related to the topics at hand. Mod]
Kelvin Vaughan says:December 9, 2013 at 6:06 am
How hot does 1 atom of CO2 need to get to heat up 2500 atoms of atmosphere by 1°C?
Extremely and robustly hot.
Mr Ed Mertin post from December 9, 2013 at 8:23 am presented a lot of information.
I am examining the internet currency ecology that has over 80 currencies, banks and exchanges. What does the community think about internet currencies for protection of assets? I don’t have enough assets to trust traditional economic systems.
Steve Keohane says:
December 9, 2013 at 9:25 am
Kelvin Vaughan says:December 9, 2013 at 6:06 am
>> How hot does 1 atom of CO2 need to get to heat up 2500 atoms of atmosphere by 1°C?
> Extremely and robustly hot.
Self-sustainably hot. Or approximately 2800 K.
Umm, one “atom of CO2?” Is that one third of a molecule?
Australians had the opportunity to purchase these beauts: http://www.bombardier.com/en/aerospace/amphibious-aircraft.html
Can use salt water or fresh from fairly small bodies of water as well; scoops in 10-12 seconds 6.5 tones of water without having to land on the ground and can make as many trips as the gas tanks allow in ratio to how close the body of water is to the fire. However the gov of the day said nope nope nope, so now you pay more, and burn more. This is how many European countries keep their wild fires under control with great success. Canada as well of course and we do get drought conditions in certain regions. California could use them, but doesn’t and they burn.
Caveat: You must hit the fire in it’s beginning (initial attack) as once its too big, nothing helps but the luck of changing winds and a set fire line.
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And he’s absolutely right.
The Senate was not intended to represent the citizens of a State but the government of a State.
The citizens of the nation have their representation in the House of Representatives.
A side note: How come all the polls that deal with people approving or disapproving of Congress don’t break it to the House or Senate?
Ric Werme December 9, 2013 at 10:36 am
It is not one molecule of CO2 but one molecule of human caused CO2
==========================================================================
The SUPER CO2!
It has Carbon 14 from all the nukes!
And Man is causing even more Hiroshima-nuke energy everyday making even more Super CO2!
We’re duped…doomed!