I don’t usually wear tee-shirts of any kind. They just seem too juvenile and low-rent. When I do, however, I try to eschew those shirts printed with provocative slogans. Who needs to start a fight, okay?
But this one I would really like to wear. And, unfortunately for me, it comes in a men’s version. So far I’m successfully resisting.
Via By Georgia.
Posted in Blogosphere, Texana, The Culture
2014, we’re told today by NASA and NOAA, was the planet’s warmest year evah. (Er, make that “evah” since record-keeping began in—get this—1880.)
What we’re not told by the trumpets of the snooze media is that 2014 was the warmest year evah by the teeny-tiny measure of four one-hundredths of a degree.
Whoppingly warm, eh? Truly toasty, for sure.
And, at that tiny amount, very likely a measurement error.
Via Watts Up With That.
UPDATE: From Joe D’Aleo at WeatherBell: “We know there are significant differences urban versus rural, mountain versus valley, land versus water, forest versus grassland, etc.. Trying to create a dataset with one number representing the Global Average Temperatures is a daunting task…”
But not necessarily so hard when your aim is political to begin with.
Indeed, as Judith Curry at Climate Etc. put it on Jan. 20: “Naive scientist that I am, it didn’t occur to me until last night that the timing of the NASA/NOAA [news release] on warmest year was motivated by the timing of the President’s SOTU address…”
Never mind the usual snooze media headlines about SpaceX botching, stumbling, or failing to softly land their Falcon 9 first stage last Saturday. What they did “astonishingly right,” as aerospace engineer Rand Simberg puts it, certainly justifies plenty of optimism for next time.
After stage separation about 90 km high, they relit three of the first stage’s nine engines to slow down from about 3,000 mph. After re-entry, three more engines were relit to aim it at the tiny (from so high up) drone ship with its bulls-eye landing platform and four small fins were deployed to help steer it. Slowed down sufficiently, a single engine relight was all that was needed for a soft landing.
“With the exception of the final landing itself, almost everything went according to plan,” Simberg writes. “The vehicle entered intact, flew to the ship, and (apparently literally) hit the deck, because the hydraulic fluid that controlled the fins ran short by 10% of that needed to control and softly land.
“But in so doing, it accomplished another major ‘first,’ not just for a private company, but for any space ship. Previous Falcon flights had demonstrated the ability to enter the stage intact by retrothrusting (as opposed to simply braking against the atmosphere), but this was the first time such a vehicle had not only survived entry, but flown precisely to a pre-designated location, without wings.”
Space X will try again Jan. 29. When they finally succeed, as they almost certainly will, the next step will be to figure out how much it will cost to quickly and reliably, reuse the stage to cut their about $61 million price of a Falcon 9 launch.
Unlike the snooze media, bureaucratic NASA must be green with envy.
Via PJMedia.
Posted in Blogosphere, Science/Engineering, Space, Texana
Tagged PJMedia, Rand Simberg, reusable Falcon 9 first stage, SpaceX
Who doesn’t like the low-price gasoline these days? Well, my blog buddy Andy down in the South Texas oil patch for one. He’s worried he could lose his job as a shiny-shoe-retiree-gate guard for a fracking operation. Even as it works him to a frazzle.
Indeed, Market Watch opines that the fall in oil prices is a Saudi effort to strangle the American fracking industry in its crib. The deep-pocket Saudis can live with low-priced oil a lot longer than some of our fracking companies can.
Meanwhile, the new GOP Congress tries to pass a veto-proof approval of the Keystone pipeline. Which seems a trifle late and several dollars a barrel short. But who knows? While other federal pols work to raise our gas taxes. The crooked SOBs.
So let’s all enjoy the $1.89 a gallon regular while it lasts. It surely won’t forever.
Posted in Blogosphere, Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, The Economy
Tagged cheap gas, fracking, Market Watch, Wretchard The Cat
Cover the kippah with a baseball cap. Or better yet leave it at home. And the black fedora, black suit and white shirt? Forget about it.
Walking while Jewish is not possible in most of Europe.
The Kosher market takeover in Paris and the slayings of four Jewish customers and employees was just the latest manifestation of a growing problem.
Partly Islamic. Partly Leftist. All trouble.
Via Legal Insurrection.
Concerned that your favorite president chose not to go nor to send an emissary to the world leader march in Paris?
Why should he protest the slaying of something whose behavior he’d already condemned back in 2012 to the UN: “The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.”
Et tu Charlie.
UPDATE: It certainly was a very political political march/show.
I think he should save his money and do something else with his time besides running for president. Let Romney go down in flames before the Bush juggernaut. No reason to get all excited about Ted and Alan West abolishing the IRS, the EPA, the Department of Education, etc. Pipe dreams all. Good ones, sure. But just dreams.
The Stupid Party is bound and determined to nominate Jeb and he’ll get all the big bucks. As if his Hispanic wife was going to be enough when the Dems put up the Hildabeast for their presidential candidate. And every voter with a uterus will vote for her.
As if one more white male had a chance at the White House now that Obongo has broken the ice. Get a minority (hi Ted!) or get a woman (hi Joni Ernst!) or forget it. But they won’t listen. They’ll go with Jeb. It’s his turn. And lose. Again.
Comments Off on Much as I like Ted Cruz…
Posted in Blogosphere, Obamalot, Texana
Tagged Jeb Bush, Joni Ernst, Ted Cruz
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 