Category Archives: Weather/Climate

Brrrr

Posted on January 7, 2010 | Comments Off on Brrrr

Gad, it’s cold. Hovering at 30 degrees at the Rancho and headed down to 22 overnight. I know it’s worse in most places north and east of us. Tom Higdon, an OCS buddy in southwestern Missouri, emails that it’s 4 degrees where he is, with minus 6 expected. We’re not used to this kind of weather. At least we can anticipate being done with winter by Valentine’s Day.

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Posted in Infantry OCS, Rancho Roly Poly, Weather/Climate

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School science project experiments

Posted on January 2, 2010 | Comments Off on School science project experiments

Whew. The six experiments for Mr. B.’s school science project took four hours. Not counting an hour’s worth of breaks, one of them a trip to the grocery for more supplies.

I hesitate to explain the thing until it’s turned in later this month and the grade is given. Who knows whether the competition might pass through. By then I will be able to post one of the pictures we took in documenting everything and the conclusions we drew.  Said conclusions remaining to be drawn, of course. The data collection was exhausting enough. We continue with the analysis tomorrow and Monday.

I will say that the experiments didn’t turn out the way we expected, probably partly because our methodology wasn’t very precise. Which is one reason I doubt AGW, because of what I’ve read of their methodology, it, too, is far from precise.

Missed the Ole Miss-OK State game, of course. Sorry State was shelacked, 21-7. Maybe it’s as well I missed it. To my Mississippi relatives who follow Ole Miss, congratulations!

Alas that gives the Big 12 a 3-3 record in bowls so far. Hope Tech wins tonight and, of course, Texas next Thursday to make the record a winning one.

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Posted in Mr. Boy, Mrs. Charm, Rancho Roly Poly, Science/Engineering, Texas Football, Weather/Climate

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Climate contrarian waffles

Posted on December 27, 2009 | Comments Off on Climate contrarian waffles

That’s me, the climate contrarian. I still think it’s overblown, if not altogether bunk. But I find this Scientific American answer to the seven most prominent quibbles reasonably persuasive.

UPDATE:  ON the other hand…

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Posted in Weather/Climate

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Feeling like Jeremiah Johnson

Posted on December 27, 2009 | Comments Off on Feeling like Jeremiah Johnson

Meaning the mountain man of the old movie, not the running back for the Houston Texans. That’s how our OCS class president-for-life, Claude Cooper, is feeling after several days without power at his rural home in the North Carolina mountains. First the blizzard buried them, then an ice storm blew in and down came the power lines.

He’s emailing our happy group via his Blackberry on an unknown somebody’s stray wireless signal and recharging periodically at a child’s home a few miles away where power has been restored. Fortunately, he has a fireplace and plenty of wood. And a gas grill to cook and boil water on. It not being the height of summer, even the refrigerated foodstuffs may be able to hold out a while longer.

UPDATE:  After 3.5 days, the power was restored, and Claude is kicking himself, once again, for failing to follow-through on his old plan to invest in an emergency propane generator. Still happy, however, to live out in the quiet boonies with the deers and the bears.

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Posted in Infantry OCS, Weather/Climate

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The Local Fluff

Posted on December 23, 2009 | Comments Off on The Local Fluff

The Voyager spacecraft, still traversing the outer limits of the giant gas bubble we live in, have measured the magnetism of a nearby interstellar cloud and its implications:

"The fact that the Fluff is strongly magnetized means that other clouds in the galactic neighborhood could be, too. Eventually, the solar system will run into some of them, and their strong magnetic fields could compress the heliosphere even more than it is compressed now. Additional compression could allow more cosmic rays to reach the inner solar system, possibly affecting terrestrial climate and the ability of astronauts to travel safely through space."

The researchers conclude: "There could be interesting times ahead!" That’s a given.

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Posted in Science/Engineering, Space, Uncategorized, Weather/Climate

The Green Jobs schuck

Posted on December 22, 2009 | Comments Off on The Green Jobs schuck

"…here in CA the Bay Area is the reputed leader, with some supposed 30K plus ‘Green Jobs.’ So, what is a green job? The kid driving the curb side recycling truck – ‘green job.’ The bum off the street hired to sort garbage on a conveyer at the ‘transfer facility.’ Green job. Meanwhile, auto workers are laid off due to a plant closure, because complying with draconian CO2 caps is more expensive than shutting down and opening a new plant in Texas or overseas."

As Steve Sadlov at Fresh Bilge concludes: Point pistol at foot. Pull trigger.

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Posted in Obamalot, Weather/Climate

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Hose the atmosphere of CO2

Posted on December 22, 2009 | Comments Off on Hose the atmosphere of CO2

By Jove, I believe he’s got it. A surefire way to solve the AGW problemo. We’ll just haul these really long garden hoses, see, up to the stratosphere by helium balloon and then turn on the spigot. Or something. Go see.

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Posted in Weather/Climate

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