December 13, 2009

Ahmadinejad, Chavez, and Mugabe Will Address Delegates at Copenhagen
— Gabriel Malor

Actually, I don't mind this at all. Could there be any others more apt to deprive this ridiculous conference of what little legitimacy it had?

"King Obama demands a simple offering of Earth and Water."

He'll be there on Friday.

Slushop courtesy of the Indispensable Slublog.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:30 AM | Comments (50)
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Putting the "Hockey Stick" into perspective. [krakatoa]
— Open Blog

It's important to bear in mind that the discrediting of Mann's Hockey Stick didn't rely on a lack of warming, but rather centered on the rate and amplitude of the warming, and in comparison to historic trends.

Doc @ The Autopsy has compiled the Greenland & Vostok Ice Core graphs in a tidy YouTube presentation which is helpful for perspective.

Anthony Watts adds in the the instrumental data post 1900, as the nature of ice cores require several decades of compaction to form. Even with that data which has become suspect, the point is clearly made. Current warming is far from historic highs, far from unusual in our current 10000 year warm trend, and we should all be far more worried about what causes Ice Ages.

Posted by: Open Blog at 07:57 AM | Comments (46)
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December 12, 2009

Overnight Open Thread (Mætenloch)
— Open Blog

Welcome to the party version of the ONT! Over at the buffet table we have some light snacks and hobo jerky. It's BYOB although we do have both Sav-On cola and tap water for mixers. And the party tunes will be provided by DJ Youtube. So pull up a milk crate and get ready to par-tay ONT-style.

The Obligatory Apartment Creeper Video
So a guy in New York kept noticing that food was disappearing. Thinking it was his girlfriend he set up a video camera in his kitchen. When he checked it the next day, this is what he saw. Apparently a homeless woman had been living up in his crawlspace for at least several weeks.

Okay I'm pretty skeptical of this whole scenario - though it has actually happened in the past - but still it is a pretty interesting story and video. I'm surprised no one has made a movie based on the idea. Oh wait they have - it's Bad Ronald, Adam Carolla's favorite non-porn movie. And it turns out that the screenplay for Bad Ronald was written by Jack Vance, my favorite fantasy writer of all time.

more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:00 PM | Comments (774)
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Homogenizing Nashville to Hide the Decline
— Ace

If I'm reading the chart right (and I think I am), below shows not the temperature in Nashville, but the adjustments made to the temperature, going from raw readings to "homogenized" adjusted numbers. The scale on the left shows you the size of the adjustments.

You will notice that all early temperatures are adjusted downwards, which, in effect, adjusted the current temperature quite a bit upwards. (But note the current temperatures are barely being adjusted here; it's the older ones being pushed down.)

Here is the true trend in real temperatures vs. the supposed trend when the numbers are "homogenized."

Nashville's been trending quite a bit colder -- but once we homogenize, we get a slight upward trend.

How many of the world's weather stations are similarly homogenized to show trends that don't exist at all but for manipulation>

Full story at Watt's Up With That? I only do pictures.

Posted by: Ace at 04:47 PM | Comments (62)
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Heisman Watch UPDATED
— Dave in Texas

UPDATE: Mark Ingram, The University of Alabama

On ESPN now.

Quarterbacks Tebow or McCoy? Running backs Gerhart or Ingram? Or defensive monster Suh? Last defensive player to win the award was Michigan cornerback Charles Woodson in 1997.

My guess? Here's a clue.

more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 04:29 PM | Comments (39)
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Irish Green Party Idiot Uses " Most Unpariliamentary Language"
— Ace

Content warning for f-bomb.

Maybe this isn't fair, but when he says this, I hear him saying "Eff you, boy."

Seems like other lefties are looking to emulate Alan Grayson and show their Purity of Anger through stuff like this. Guaranteed way for an idiot back-bencher to get swamped with donations.

By the way, he said he was prompted to his outburst by "patriotism." And partly by "me Lucky Charms."

Via Hot Air's headlines.

Posted by: Ace at 01:12 PM | Comments (124)
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Obama's Geothermal Pipe Dream
— Gabriel Malor

The Obama Administration (with an assist from Professor Al "Millions of Degrees" Gore) trumpeted the benefits of green geothermal energy and then spent millions. What happened? The same thing that always happens when environmental zealots have to deal with the real world:

The company in charge of a California project to extract vast amounts of renewable energy from deep, hot bedrock has removed its drill rig and informed federal officials that the government project will be abandoned.

The project by the company, AltaRock Energy, was the Obama administrationÂ’s first major test of geothermal energy as a significant alternative to fossil fuels and the project was being financed with federal Department of Energy money at a site about 100 miles north of San Francisco called the Geysers.

But on Friday, the Energy Department said that AltaRock had given notice this week that “it will not be continuing work at the Geysers” as part of the agency’s geothermal development program.

It turns out that there are substantial difficulties involved with this type of geothermal tech. And not just mechanical. Apparently it can cause earthquakes.

Geothermal enthusiasts asserted that drilling miles into hard rock, as required by the technique, could be done quickly and economically with small improvements in existing methods, Professor Schrag said. “What we’ve discovered is that it’s harder to make those improvements than some people believed,” he added.

In fact, AltaRock immediately ran into snags with its drilling, repeatedly snapping off bits in shallow formations called caprock. The projectÂ’s safety was also under review at the Energy Department after federal officials said the company had not been entirely forthcoming about the earthquakes produced in Basel in making the case for the Geysers project.

AltaRock was also given $25 million to develop another geothermal site in Oregon. But nobody seems to know what's going on there:

Not even the power agency has been informed of AltaRockÂ’s ultimate intentions at the site, said Murray Grande, who is in charge of geothermal facilities for the agency.

“They just probably gave up, but we don’t know,” Mr. Grande said. “We have nothing official from them at all.”

There's that famed Obama Administration transparency to go with its proclaimed devotion to green technology.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 12:53 PM | Comments (155)
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Army vs. Navy Today and Other College Football Stuff
— Dave in Texas

Only one game today but it's the classic. Army (5-6) against Navy (8-4) in Philadelphia, today at 2:30 EST. Navy leads the series overall, 53-49-7 and is bowl bound.

If Army wins they'd get an invite to play Temple in the EagleBank Bowl on Dec. 29. Navy will play in Houston at the Texas Bowl on Dec. 26.

Sorry Army, Dave says "no bowl for you."

Also, DrewM reminded me I set up a Yahoo Bowl Pick group last year so I did another one for you goofballs. Go to Yahoo Sports Bowl Pick'em and find groupid #26976, AoSHQ Morons and sign up if you're interested. Password "paulanka".

Here's your pre-bowl college football thread. Championship predictions, Heisman predictions, or just talkin shit.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 09:21 AM | Comments (193)
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Palin vs. Shatner: Revenge is a Dish Best Served on the Tonight Show, With A Little Good Humor
— Dave in Texas

Heh.

MORE: Commenters bantering back and forth on whether Shatner was genuinely suprised or not (well, that and whether a Bird of Prey a Klingon or a Romulan warship). I can't really tell, Shatner's response looks genuine to me but he is a pretty talented actor.

Sarah comes off really well in this, funny, attractive (and by attractive I mean totally hot), and her timing is good. Smart play on her part.


More please.

AH: While I was writing you morons put me some f'n knowledge. Ok, he knew. Good acting. Funny stuff.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 06:19 AM | Comments (382)
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December 11, 2009

Overnight Open Thread - TGIF Edition (Mætenloch)
— Open Blog

Welcome to Friday all. And not even a single going-past-2000-comments post to comment on. So I guess we'll have to start the ONT early and make our own.

Introducing the Full-Auto Electric Crossbow
This is why crossbows will always rule over long bows. And yes, the inventor looks pretty much like what you'd imagine an electric crossbow inventor would.

more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 05:45 PM | Comments (1064)
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