Shocking! The Sun Might Actually Have An Influence On Climate Change

By William Teach August 18, 2014 – 11:04 am

This is sure to schock some people. How can this possibly be?

(Science World) It turns out the sun’s activity may just influence natural climate change. For the first time, scientists have reconstructed the solar activity at the end of the last ice age, around 10,000 to 10,000 years ago, learning a bit more about the climate of that time.

I think they meant 20k-10k years ago.

“The study shows an unexpected link between solar activity and climate change,” said Raimund Muscheler, co-author of the new study, in a news release. “It shows both that changes in solar activity are nothing new and that solar activity influences the climate, especially on a regional level. Understanding these processes helps us to better forecast the climate in certain regions.”

Unexpected? By whom? Right. Warmists. The Sun has been the primary driver of climate and weather (long term weather creates climate) for 4.5 billion years. After the Sun, you have things like land changes (both natural and anthropogenic, some which causes localized changes, some global)*, life (animal and plants), volcanic activity, and, yes, greenhouse gases.

The researchers found that reduced solar activity could lead to colder winters in Northern Europe. Yet this same process could also lead to warmer winters in Greenland, with greater snowfall and more storms.

“The study also shows that the various solar processes need to be included in climate models in order to better predict future global and regional climate change,” said Muscheler.

Sadly, this is information that actually needs to be published, to offset the idiocy of Warmists, who blame every weather change on Mankind, particularly mankind’s use of fossil fuels. And, we all know what happens next: Warmists say “sure, of course the Sun changed things back then. But, now, it is totally different!!!!!”

The Hockey Schtick has details on another study that highlights the Sun being the primary driver.

*Land changes can have tremendous changes upon the weather. Clear cutting, agriculture, urbanization, buildings, roads, etc, can change the weather tremendously. So can things like tectonic activity. Mountains blocking air flow.

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BrightSource Solar Plant Workers Have A Name For Birds: “Streamers”

By William Teach August 18, 2014 – 8:25 am

Of course, Warmists are more concerned with mythical anthropogenic “climate change” than wildlife

(AP) Workers at a state-of-the-art solar plant in the Mojave Desert have a name for birds that fly through the plant’s concentrated sun rays — “streamers,” for the smoke plume that comes from birds that ignite in midair

Federal wildlife investigators who visited the BrightSource Energy plant last year and watched as birds burned and fell, reporting an average of one “streamer” every two minutes, are urging California officials to halt the operator’s application to build a still-bigger version.

The investigators want the halt until the full extent of the deaths can be assessed. Estimates per year now range from a low of about a thousand by BrightSource to 28,000 by an expert for the Center for Biological Diversity environmental group.

The deaths are “alarming. It’s hard to say whether that’s the location or the technology,” said Garry George, renewable-energy director for the California chapter of the Audubon Society. “There needs to be some caution.”

This is at the Ivanpah facility, which has 30,000 garage door sized mirrors which direct solar rays towards a central tower, producing steam for energy (an interesting a viable use of solar), and can also blind pilots. The light seems to attract lots of birds.

The commission is now considering the application from Oakland-based BrightSource to build a mirror field and a 75-story power tower that would reach above the sand dunes and creek washes between Joshua Tree National Park and the California-Arizona border.

The proposed plant is on a flight path for birds between the Colorado River and California’s largest lake, the Salton Sea — an area, experts say, is richer in avian life than the Ivanpah plant, with protected golden eagles and peregrine falcons and more than 100 other species of birds recorded there.

This is what Leftists call “clean energy”. Where are all the environmental groups, overtaken by extreme Leftists? Mostly absent.

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Missouri Governor Sending National Guard After More Ferguson Violence

By William Teach August 18, 2014 – 7:57 am

The cops pulled back and what happened? Violence and looting and other lawlessness Saturday, followed by more Sunday night

(USA Today) Missouri Governor Jay Nixon early Monday ordered the National Guard into Ferguson hours after police said escalating violence led to shootings, arrests and “pre-planned” acts of aggression by protesters.

Nixon made the announcement following another night of clashes between police and protesters in the suburb of St. Louis.

Sunday night and early Monday morning, protesters shot at police, threw Molotov cocktails at officers, looted local businesses and carried out a “coordinated attempt” to block roads and overrun the police’s command center. The National Guard will “help restore peace and order and to protect the citizens of Ferguson,” the governor’s office said.

So now they’re sending in the military to replace the militarized police to deal with escalating violence

“Tonight, a day of hope, prayers, and peaceful protests was marred by the violent criminal acts of an organized and growing number of individuals, many from outside the community and state, whose actions are putting the residents and businesses of Ferguson at risk,” a statement from Nixon’s office said. “These violent acts are a disservice to the family of Michael Brown and his memory, and to the people of this community who yearn for justice to be served, and to feel safe in their own homes.”

Sadly, lots of people who were out in the streets protesting peaceably were caught in the middle of law enforcement and the criminal elements.

Three school districts have canceled school for Monday. Many are blaming the violence on outsiders. How many? Unknown. Some people come to join the peaceful protests. Some, not so much. It doesn’t help when outside personalities come to Ferguson, and throw gas on the fire, even while saying “stay peaceful” (and pretty much say “hey, look at me, I’m Important”). Nor do insiders help when they throw matches, such as Alderman Antonio French, who “said the police presence in Ferguson was “almost enough to start a riot” due to the lack of trust between authorities and residents in Ferguson.”

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Proper Gym Behavior

By William Teach August 17, 2014 – 1:13 pm

This especially applies to small community gyms, like where I go in my golfing community.

  • Get the heck off your phone call, or go outside.
  • Use some sort of headset (there’s a sign at my gym which says this, yet a few people have to do their own thing. I’ve asked politely, and when rebuffed, took mine off and let Rush, Glenn, Hannity, or heavy metal loose)
  • If you’re prone towards stinky, take a shower prior. Or go to a big gym. (I’ve grabbed spray front desk for people, didn’t care if they knew it. I’ve also moved to other machines. Guy got annoyed when I switched to a different treadmill yesterday)
  • Don’t hog machines. Especially don’t hog multiple at one time.
  • Likewise, don’t hog benches or areas.
  • The benches are for using, not sitting and yapping.
  • Especially do not sit your sweaty ass on top of the free weight arm curl bench.
  • The benches are not for storing your stuff. And don’t get upset in the least when I move stuff to floor, especially when you’ve had an opportunity to move it.
  • Wipe the machines down.
  • If you want to have a good old time and yammer (getting in everyone else’s way), your mother said to go outside and get some fresh air.
  • This is not your high school gym. No grunting, jumping or stalking around, making angry faces, or otherwise pretending you’re getting ready for The Big Game. You know, you see this same type of behavior at basketball courts.
  • Leave your clothes on. Stop lifting up your shirt. Also, pull your frickin pants up.
  • While looking is OK, guys, staring is not. Yoga pants with “juicy” on the butt (I’ll never understand while ladies willingly wear those) out and about, fine. Not at the gym.
  • If you catch guys looking, ladies, well, yeah. We’re guys. We appreciate the female form, especially in skimpy clothes. And don’t get offended, because we know you peek, too.
  • Be courteous.
  • Put the weights away. Also, don’t put them on rack backwards.

Simple, eh. Whatcha got?

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If All You See…

By William Teach August 17, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is wonderful coffee that will be destroyed by climate change, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Theo Spark, with a post on Greens being the enemy of energy.

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Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach August 17, 2014 – 9:51 am

Happy Sunday! Another gorgeous day in the Once and Future Nation Of America. This pinup is by Greg Hildebrandt, with a wee bit of help.

My heartfelt prayers go out to Jammie Wearing Fool, whose mother passed away earlier in the week.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. American Power has video of the New Black Panthers chanting death to Officer Wilson
  2. Patterico’s Pontifications digs deep on the Rick Perry indictment
  3. Not A Lot Of People Know That highlights a report that shows that floods are not getting worse
  4. Allen West wonders how many illegals will be in your children’s schools this year
  5. Bookworm Room notes that you’re not paranoid if you think some Islamists are out to get you
  6. Star Parker discusses Obama’s zero sum world
  7. Baldilocks (Da Tech Guy) covers the militarization of the police
  8. Director Blue notes how Pelosi has made herself and other Dems rich
  9. Gates Of Vienna says not to wait till the Islamist is at your door
  10. Congratulations to House Of Eratosthenes on 1 million hits! And, more importantly, on a house!
  11. At Jihad Watch, we see 9/11 mastermind KSM writing to Obama on oppression of Muslims
  12. Legal Insurrection has a feel good Missouri police story
  13. Maggie’s Farm has the always irresistible Lobster Roll (slobber)
  14. Neo-neocon discusses Obama being checked out
  15. And last, but not least, Pam Geller notes what a Palestinian mom wants her son to grow up to be

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page. While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your “Pinups for Vets” calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts and things that interest me

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. (BTW, since someone asked, the reason I leave links for the previous week up (or you might see a *) is because they are place holders for later in the day or for next weeks. Easier than rewriting all the time. Also, the listing order has to do with how they are added over time, not how good a post is. I just copy and paste from the previous week, then edit. If you see one of the *’s, go ahead and check out the blog anyhow, see if there is an update. I cannot update with my Android during the day.

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Should Police Have To Wear Cameras And Have Dash-Cams?

By William Teach August 17, 2014 – 8:32 am

Governor Jay Nixon imposed a midnight to 5am curfew for Ferguson, Mo. Most obeyed the curfew. Even the head of the New Black Panthers urged people to obey it. Obviously, there is some concern regarding people’s right to peaceably protest, but, then, not all decided to do that

(Fox News) Police fired smoke and tear gas canisters early Sunday in an effort to disperse several dozen protesters who defied a curfew in a St. Louis suburb where a black teenager was fatally shot by a white police officer last week.

The Missouri Highway Patrol said that seven people were arrested and one man had been shot at the site of the protest in Ferguson, Mo. Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson said that the shooting victim was in critical condition and had been rushed to a hospital by protesters.

Johnson said the use of tear gas was precipitated by concerns about people who’d broken into a barbecue restaurant and taken position on the roof overlooking approaching police. Another concern involved a man flashing a handgun who appeared in the middle of the street as armored vehicles approached. Johnson says someone fired at a patrol car, but no officers were injured.

There were numerous reports of people firing guns and threatening police. And breaking into yet another business is not protesting peaceably. Anyhow, Mark Steyn has an interesting point

The most basic problem is that we will never know for certain what happened. Why? Because the Ferguson cruiser did not have a camera recording the incident. That’s simply not credible. “Law” “enforcement” in Ferguson apparently has at its disposal tear gas, riot gear, armored vehicles and machine guns …but not a dashcam. That’s ridiculous. I remember a few years ago when my one-man police department in New Hampshire purchased a camera for its cruiser. It’s about as cheap and basic a police expense as there is.

That appears amongst the wider view about the militarization of the police, while noting that the Ferguson PD has riot gear, tear gas, camouflage uniforms, and other military gear. But no dash cams.

More interestingly, Vox, usually a hive of idiocy with their Voxsplaining, runs a cogent and thought provoking article

The Michael Brown shooting shows why police should have to wear cameras

If police officers were required to wear body cameras, questions about their conduct — like the ones that have arisen in the wake of  the Michael Brown shooting — could be avoided.

The devices are small cameras that can be attached to a police officer’s uniform or sunglasses or worn as a headset. Such a camera could have fully captured the entire confrontation between Brown, an 18-year-old black man who was unarmed at the time of the shooting, and Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson.

It is an excellent point, and not just for Ferguson, but law enforcement around the country. Much like dash cams, body cameras could provide the reality of what happens, both video and audio.

The major argument against these cameras is that they could be fairly expensive for police departments around the country. In New York City, the cameras could cost $450 to $900 a piece. That could add up to $32 million for the entire New York City Police Department, according to Gothamist. For all police departments across the nation, the cost would be multitudes higher.

Yeah, but

Stanley argues that the cameras are worth the cost and could actually save police departments money by protecting them against lawsuits. “In an era when police are obtaining very expensive, high-tech military weaponry that they don’t need, it’s silly to argue that this important technology that can serve as an important check in society on frequently abused police power shouldn’t be a priority,” he says. “The cost of one expensive citizen lawsuit against police can pay for a lot of cameras.”

They could also make sure that Bad Behavior by officers, and, let’s face it, there are always bad apples, plus some simply make mistakes in the heat of the moment. Don’t we all? They could also make sure that many who act more as People Of Authority tone it down and act more as officers sworn to Serve And Protect.

Obviously, there is concern over law enforcement recording everything, in violation of the 4th Amendment. The Vox article links to an ACLU report on the types of policies that would provide proper use of cameras, which mentions “officer accountability” quite often. I do not necessarily agree with it all (such as the report noting that SWAT should not wear them), but the use of these cams would certainly help, much as dash-cams have.

What are your thoughts?

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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If All You See…

By William Teach August 16, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is a super wonderful city, utopia on earth threatened by hundreds of feet of sea rise, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Lonely Conservative, with a post on the latest horrifying victim of the knockout game.

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Regarding Ferguson, I Wonder If Leftists Understand They Are Making Arguments For Smaller Government?

By William Teach August 16, 2014 – 11:20 am

Many Leftists are taking the occasion of what happened in Ferguson as a means to, among other things, bash America. And push their narrative that Everything Is Racist. And mixing the two. And adding in every complaint they can think of. Anyhow, as they are making their complaints, I wonder if they realize they are actually working against their own arguments for bigger and bigger Progressive (nice fascist) government. Let’s look at the typically unhinged Salon, where Aaron R. Hanlon goes loony

This has always been America: Ferguson and our dangerous delusions on race and democracy

We believe we’re the world’s champion of freedom. In reality, we torture, invade, violate rights, stop and frisk…

Politicians both left and right turn to the troubling doctrine of American exceptionalism to justify unilateral military intervention abroad, but what happens when we turn that dangerous delusion of unbounded moral supremacy against our own citizens on our own soil?

This is what’s happening in Ferguson, Missouri, right now, where it’s clear that the police have made an exception to the modus operandi of rights-based democracy by silencing and arresting journalists, seizing and firing on unarmed and peaceful demonstrators and applying military-grade armaments to do so.

And, lest we forget, they have initiated this armed state of exception to cover up for and suffocate dissent against the gravest rights violation of them all: the police shooting and killing of a fleeing, unarmed black boy, who never received due process for daring to step off the sidewalk.

As the nation and the world watch, horrified, at what’s transpiring in Ferguson, we don’t need to ask whether there’s a racial element in play when an overwhelmingly white police force, strapped to the teeth, is exercising extreme state authority to corral and suppress the reactions of a black community mourning the inexcusable loss of one of their children. But how is it possible for this to happen in a nation that proclaims itself the world’s greatest champion of freedom and democracy? The answer, in part, is the logic of exceptionalism.

Getting beyond the raaaaacism aspect, is this not something Conservatives have noted time and time again, the ever growing Power Of The State?

We witness in Ferguson a microcosm of this logic, where agents of the state have turned the doctrine of exceptionalism on our own people to justify the suspension of basic civil rights. If basic civil rights dictate due process, black Americans are the exception. If basic civil rights dictate freedom of the press, those journalists arrested for doing their jobs are the exception. If basic civil rights dictate free expression and peaceable assembly, the crowds in Ferguson taking rubber-bullet flack and choking on clouds of tear gas are the exception. The problem with so many exceptions, however, is that they risk becoming the rule.

Unfortunately, Mr. Hanlon, along with so many other Leftists, never make the connection that Government has grown too big and powerful, everywhere from municipalities to the Los Federales. Nor do they make the connection that they themselves, Progressives, are advocating for bigger and bigger government with more and more power, and you know the saying about absolute power. They never seem to understand that giving that power to Government will turn around and bite them.

What’s the solution? Leftists need to understand the fallout of their Big Government ways. We need to start at the top, and implement term limits for Congress, and most certainly repeal the 17th Amendment. What would that do? For one thing, if State legislatures are in charge of electing their Senators, it will make people pay more attention to their own state governments, and hold them more accountable. Anyhow, that whole debate is for another day, though I will suggest reading this article.

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Posted in Constitution, Current Affairs, Liberal World | 8 Comments | Trackback URL

How Big A Footprint Does Wind Power Require?

By William Teach August 16, 2014 – 9:10 am

It’s not a particularly pretty number

Wind farm ‘needs 700 times more land’ than fracking site to produce same energy

A wind farm requires 700 times more land to produce the same amount of energy as a fracking site, according to analysis by the energy department’s recently-departed chief scientific advisor.

Prof David MacKay, who stood down from the Government role at the end of July, published analysis putting shale gas extraction “in perspective”, showing it was far less intrusive on the landscape than wind or solar energy.

His intervention was welcomed by fracking groups, who are battling to win public support amid claims from green groups and other critics that shale gas extraction will require the “industrialisation” of the countryside.

This is nothing new, just more proof

That’s from the Mad Mad World Of Climatism (which you should most definitely read), and wind has the lowest power density of all the big power methods.

Prof MacKay said that a shale gas site uses less land and “creates the least visual intrusion”, compared with a wind farm or solar farm capable of producing the equivalent amount of energy over 25 years.

Nothing like fields full of wind turbines and solar panels to ruin the country side and water ways. Not that gas drilling rigs are particularly beautiful, they just take up less space. This in no way means we should abandon looking at wind power. What it does mean is that there needs to be quite a bit more R&D before just slapping wind turbines all over the countryside, and, as I’ve noted many times, perhaps we should be looking at wind and solar more for individual building usage.

BTW, we also need to be careful in drilling. Just to be clear.

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