Winter Solstice + Lunar Eclipse—First in 372 Years

First lunar eclipse on Winter Solstice in 456 years

Lunar Eclipse Tonight + Winter Solstice—First in 632 Years

372

456

632

What year is this again?

Oh yeah, I was out there.  Once again wishing I had a better camera for this sort of thing.  Too bad it was too damned cold to get out the telescope and take a close look, but there are plenty of pictures available from the professionals.

Power from Glucose

Scientists have implanted the first functional glucose biofuel cell in a living animal. Unlike batteries that supply power to implants, a power-generating device may not have to be surgically removed and replaced, because glucose is a potentially limitless source of energy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Arctic Sea Ice Melting Season Posts Latest Start on Record

April 6 (Bloomberg) — The extent of sea ice over the Arctic Ocean grew until the last day of March, the latest the annual melting season has begun in 31 years of satellite records, the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center said.

Of course, this article also goes on to say the ice is still “well outside the range of natural variability,” but given the shifts in all data over the last couple of years, haven’t we seen enough to think maybe, just maybe, this is all part of a larger cycle? Or must we continue to be so damned arrogant as to believe the world revolves around us? (By “we”, I mean all of you arrogant assholes who insist every problem in the world is caused by humanity.)

Professor Jones told the BBC yesterday there was truth in the observations of colleagues that he lacked organisational skills, that his office was swamped with piles of paper and that his record keeping is ‘not as good as it should be’.

The data is crucial to the famous ‘hockey stick graph’ used by climate change advocates to support the theory.

And to top it off, all that “settled science” now isn’t… settled, nor apparently even science.

Professor Jones departed from this consensus when he said: ‘There is much debate over whether the Medieval Warm Period was global in extent or not. The MWP is most clearly expressed in parts of North America, the North Atlantic and Europe and parts of Asia.

‘For it to be global in extent, the MWP would need to be seen clearly in more records from the tropical regions and the Southern hemisphere. There are very few palaeoclimatic records for these latter two regions.

‘Of course, if the MWP was shown to be global in extent and as warm or warmer than today, then obviously the late 20th Century warmth would not be unprecedented. On the other hand, if the MWP was global, but was less warm than today, then the current warmth would be unprecedented.’

Sceptics said this was the first time a senior scientist working with the IPCC had admitted to the possibility that the Medieval Warming Period could have been global, and therefore the world could have been hotter then than now.

via Climategate U-turn: Astonishment as scientist at centre of global warming email row admits data not well organised | Mail Online.

NOW there’s debate.  Not when the theory was proposed.  Not when the theory was being presented to the world.  Not when stick-up-the-ass Algore was embezzling billions in “carbon credits”.  No, “the science was settled” until these phony eco-fanatics were caught cheating on the numbers.

“This is probably just a perception, but I just have the feeling that the glaciers are melting, the snow capping the mountains is less than it was 12 years ago when I saw it last time,” Thrisk said. “That saddens me a little bit.”

Complete nonsense.  Either the glaciers are melting, or they’re not.  Reporting that an astronaut “feels” like they’re smaller from when he saw them TWELVE YEARS AGO… is not reporting.  Journalism standards fall lower and lower every day.

We don’t need a conservative with strong moral values and a penchant for mythological tales of creation.

Especially not one that thinks those same tales need to be taught to children in school science classes.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Soaring carbon emissions are already causing ice-cap melting and threaten to trigger global flooding, widespread species loss and major disruptions of weather patterns in the near future. “We cannot afford to put off change any longer,” said Hansen. “We have to get on a new path within this new administration. We have only four years left for Obama to set an example to the rest of the world. America must take the lead.”

Of course, this is the guy apparently responsible for creating statistics to support his fanaticism.  (NASA Chief James E. Hansen cooked the books on Global Warming)

Headlines that don’t evoke images of doom and gloom don’t sell papers, though.  Perhaps that “fairness doctrine” they keep yelling for on radio should apply to the print media as well?  Here’s another, equally qualified opinion:

Professor denies global warming theory

“This is George Orwell. This is the ‘Germans are the master race. The Jews are the scum of the earth.’ It’s that kind of propaganda,” Happer, the Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics, said in an interview. “Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. Every time you exhale, you exhale air that has 4 percent carbon dioxide. To say that that’s a pollutant just boggles my mind. What used to be science has turned into a cult.”

Happer served as director of the Office of Energy Research in the U.S. Department of Energy under President George H.W. Bush and was subsequently fired by Vice President Al Gore, reportedly for his refusal to support Gore’s views on climate change. He asked last month to be added to a list of global warming dissenters in a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee report. The list includes more than 650 experts who challenge the belief that human activity is contributing to global warming

But the dissenting opinions don’t get the headlines – the religion of global warming (oops… “climate change”) has banished such talk to the side channels.

We may never know the truth, but I’m sure that regardless the outcome (freezing cold, burning heat, drowning in deep water, dried out husks…) someone with a gift for eloquent, convincing speech will find a way to use that event to control some portion of humanity.  After all, most of us are idiot followers looking for someone else to lead.  Fortunately for the rest of you, there are enough cynics like me in the world who can tell you just how stupid you’re being.  All you have to do is listen.

I can’t wait for the DVD.

China space mission article hits Web before launch – Yahoo! News

BEIJING – A news story describing a successful launch of China’s long-awaited space mission and including detailed dialogue between astronauts launched on the Internet Thursday, hours before the rocket had even left the ground.

…

The arcticle, dated two days from now on Sept. 27, vividly described the rocket in flight, complete with a sharply detailed dialogue between the three astronauts.

Excerpts are below:

“After this order, signal lights all were switched on, various data show up on rows of screens, hundreds of technicians staring at the screens, without missing any slightest changes …

‘One minute to go!’

‘Changjiang No.1 found the target!’…

“The firm voice of the controller broke the silence of the whole ship. Now, the target is captured 12 seconds ahead of the predicted time …

Wow… they even predicted being 12 seconds ahead of their previous predictions!  Now THAT’S incredible.  I wonder if they’re filming on the same soundstage we used to simulate the lunar landings!?

(this article was written in my religion wiki, some formatting may not carry through – feel free to read the original, currently at the bottom of the “general” page if this turns out looking like some obscure variation of cuneiform.)

The wave