Science and Technology

For Those Still Clinging Bitterly to Their Global Warming Dogma

by geo on Feb.02, 2010, under Science and Technology, The Weather

The Science & Public Policy Institute has published a major paper on the manipulation of surface temperature records in order to promote the mythology of global warming. A downloadable PDF of the full report is available at the website. This is the executive summary:

1. Instrumental temperature data for the pre-satellite era (1850-1980) have been so widely, systematically, and unidirectionally tampered with that it cannot be credibly asserted there has been any significant “global warming” in the 20th century.

2. All terrestrial surface-temperature databases exhibit very serious problems that render them useless for determining accurate long-term temperature trends.

3. All of the problems have skewed the data so as greatly to overstate observed warming both regionally and globally.

4. Global terrestrial temperature data are gravely compromised because more than three-quarters of the 6,000 stations that once existed are no longer reporting.

5. There has been a severe bias towards removing higher-altitude, higher-latitude, and rural stations, leading to a further serious overstatement of warming.

6. Contamination by urbanization, changes in land use, improper siting, and inadequately-calibrated instrument upgrades further overstates warming.

7. Numerous peer-reviewed papers in recent years have shown the overstatement of observed longer term warming is 30-50% from heat-island contamination alone.

8. Cherry-picking of observing sites combined with interpolation to vacant data grids may make heat-island bias greater than 50% of 20th-century warming.

9. In the oceans, data are missing and uncertainties are substantial. Comprehensive coverage has only been available since 2003, and shows no warming.

10. Satellite temperature monitoring has provided an alternative to terrestrial stations in compiling the global lower-troposphere temperature record. Their findings are increasingly diverging from the station-based constructions in a manner consistent with evidence of a warm bias in the surface temperature record.

11. NOAA and NASA, along with CRU, were the driving forces behind the systematic hyping of 20th-century “global warming”.

12. Changes have been made to alter the historical record to mask cyclical changes that could be readily explained by natural factors like multidecadal ocean and solar changes.

13. Global terrestrial data bases are seriously flawed and can no longer be trusted to assess climate trends or VALIDATE model forecasts.

14. An inclusive external assessment is essential of the surface temperature record of CRU, GISS and NCDC “chaired and paneled by mutually agreed to climate scientists who do not have a vested interest in the outcome of the evaluations.”

15. Reliance on the global data by both the UNIPCC and the US GCRP/CCSP also requires a full investigation and audit.

The website and full downloadable report are here:
http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/originals/policy_driven_deception.html

Today’s Global Warming Update

by admin on Jan.26, 2010, under Science and Technology, The Weather

So, if you’re a global warming enthusiast, how do you make sure the temperature gets warmer? Simple … just quit including the temperature readings from colder stations!

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Scientists+using+selective+temperature+data+skeptics/2468634/story.html

Did velociraptor have feathers?

by topkick on Sep.20, 2007, under Science and Technology

Velociraptor, the smart, pack-hunting man-eating dinosaur made famous in the film “Jurassic Park” may actually have been covered with feathers.

A close study of a velociraptor forearm found in Mongolia shows the presence of quill knobs, bumps on the bone where the feathers anchor, researchers report in Friday’s edition of the journal Science.

The feathers may have helped regulate body temperature, attract mates or intimidate adversaries, but the bone structure of the animal makes flight out of the question.

“Jurassic Park” just wouldn’t have been the same with the humans being hunted by a toothy version of Big Bird, but it gets even worse:

The velociraptor the researchers studied was about three feet tall and weighed about 30 pounds. The size of these animals was exaggerated in the movie.

Imagine “Jurassic Park” with the humans being hunted by a trio of ferocious meat-eating chickens the size of kindergarten students. Somehow it just doesn’t have “blockbuster” written all over it.

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The little Rovers that Could, Still Can

by geo on Sep.04, 2007, under Science and Technology

After “hibernating” through an enormous dust storm that blocked access to the sunlight they need for their solar-powered engines and tools, Spirit and Opportunity, NASA’s over-achieving Martian rovers, have powered back up for another round of exploration.

Since landing on Mars in 2004, the two rovers have worked opposite sides of the planet, sending back a wealth of scientific information and geologic data. Among their more notable accomplishments is the discovery of evidence of Martian rocks that had been weathered by running water in the planet’s ancient past.

The rovers’ mission was originally planned for three months, and they are both well beyond their life expectancy and still transmitting data. As they’ve rolled slowly along the Martian surface their solar arrays have been accumulating a coating of dust, which will likely eventually become heavy enough to reduce the sunlight collected to the point where the rovers will simply run out of power.

But for now, Spirit will be heading for a spot dubbed “Home Plate” in the Gusev Crater region, while Opportunity is poised to drive into the half-mile wide Victoria Crater, created by a meteor impact.

Like the Voyager space probe, which has left the solar system and continues, intermittently, to transmit data from interstellar space, NASA has really gotten its money’s worth out of the surprisingly durable little Martian rovers.

Did You Know . . .

Before moving to the phase of construction of kitchens, one should have answers to certain kitchen safety questions. The kitchen introduction should ideally proceed with the area being taken up, to the style of kitchen itself. Then there are kitchen fire safety arrangements. This is important, because appliances like toaster ovens make it necessary to have such arrangements. On the other hand, all the care a food processor requires is proper cleaning and placement, Same holds true for the wine refrigerator, which is often placed outside the kitchen.

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