Android Today: “Waze Social GPS Maps & Traffic” And “Scout Navigation”

By William Teach January 2, 2014 – 7:42 pm

Two navigation apps for ya tonight, folks. The first is Waze, an open source navigation system, where users can share all sorts of data like police, accidents, delays, and so much more. It, like everything else I mention, is free. I like the functionality a bit more than the standard Google maps navigation program. Graphics are a bit nicer, a bit better for traffic, shows you your speed (my speedometer is off by about 5 MPH when traveling 40 and over). It doesn’t clutter up the display, though.

And the down side, it does like to crash now and then, especially when stopping. However, it prompts you to resume the same trip. Hey, it’s free.

The other is Scout, which I guess is the new incarnation of Telenav. You can use it free or paid. The nice thing about Scout is that you cab download maps for offline use, therefore using no data. On the sorta flip side, the maps are huge. The east coast, which is most of east of the Mississippi, is a bit over 1gb. My slightly older version just had NC up through NJ. Functionality is rather limited in the free version, and the map is rather featureless. But, if you need offline, hey, it’s free, and you can download maps from all over the world.

I had tried Map Factor, which was another offline GPS, found it to be difficult to use and wouldn’t even find my zip code, one of the oldest in Raleigh. I think I tried OSMand maps and found it wanting.

Anyone have a good recommendation? For myself, I gotta have 3D maps.

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Surprise: Fast And Furious Guns Still Being Used By Cartels

By William Teach January 2, 2014 – 3:19 pm

Imagine F&F had happened under a Republican president, and 4 years after the operation ended people were still being killed

(The Hill) A gun from the failed U.S. operation known as “Fast and Furious” turned up at the scene of a shootout between Mexican authorities and alleged cartel gunmen last month, according to CNN.

U.S. officials told CNN at least one AK-47-style gun that could be traced back to the failed gun-walking scheme was found at the scene.

The shootout on Dec. 18 left five alleged cartel members dead in Puerto Penasco, a popular tourist site in Mexico.

So one of the guns Obama and Holder walked across the border into Mexico, without informing the Mexican government and with no plan to actually track the guns, was used by a member of a drug cartel to attempt to kill Mexican authorities.

“ATF has accepted responsibility for the mistakes made in the Fast and Furious investigation and at the attorney general’s direction we have taken appropriate and decisive action to ensure that these errors will not be repeated,” the bureau said in a statement to CNN.

Yet, no one has truly been held responsible for the “botched” operation, and Attorney General Eric Holder and his minions have done all they can to stonewall Congressional investigations.

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If All You See…

By William Teach January 2, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is awesome heat created snow that might get you out of work, but still means life on Earth is doomed, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Right Wing News, with a post on Lech Walesa speaking his mind on Obama.

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Climatologists Rescued From Their Snowy Fossil Fueled Hell By Fossil Fueled Helicopter

By William Teach January 2, 2014 – 10:35 am

Hooray! (I’ve cleaned the story up a bit)

(NBC News) All 52 passengers who were stranded aboard an ice-locked (fossil fueled) ship in Antarctica for more than a week were rescued by (fossil fueled) helicopter early Thursday, officials said.

The (fossil fueled) Akademic Shokalskiy sent out a distress call on Christmas morning after it became surrounded by sea ice while on a scientific mission climate change spreading awareness stunt more than 1,700 miles south of Australia.

On Thursday, a (fossil fueled) helicopter from a (fossil fueled) Chinese ice-breaking ship Xue Long — or Snow Dragon — transported groups from a makeshift helipad which the passengers had stomped out in the ice near the (fossil fueled) ship.

The  Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) tweeted at 6.20 a.m. ET Thursday that all of the 52 passengers had been airlifted from the (fossil fueled) Akademik Shokalskiy and were now on board the (fossil fueled) Aurora Australis ice-breaker.

Climahysteric leader Chris Turney had the cajones to tweet this yesterday

Because temperatures below -15F are warm.

The New Nostradamus of the North notes that the Australian taxpayers will probably be on the hook for the cost to rescue the climate alarmists.

Marc Morano is calling it the Clitanic.

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White House: We’ll Decide Whether Someone Is Hurt By Contraception Mandate

By William Teach January 2, 2014 – 8:26 am

No, really

(Politico) The Obama administration Wednesday said the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage regulations are fair – and they don’t really hurt the Denver-based religious organization that got a temporary New Year’s Eve reprieve from Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

“We defer to the Department of Justice on litigation matters, but remain confident that our final rules strike the balance of providing women with free contraceptive coverage while preventing non-profit religious employers with religious objections to contraceptive coverage from having to contract, arrange, pay, or refer for such coverage,” a White House official said.

Obviously, Team Obama knows if you’re hurt more than you do. Your feelings are just a part of their daily talking points and executive orders.

Let’s not forget that the contraception mandate, which includes sterilization procedures and abortifacients, is not a mandated requirement per It’s The Law. It does not appear within the text of the the Affordable Care Act. This was created by the bureaucrats who were given massive authority to craft the law by the law. The ACA wouldn’t be harmed in the least if they did away with the rule. But, Team Obama and the Dems needed a way to pander to their unhinged liberal base, and especially the 30 and under crowd, so free condoms, birth control pills, and Plan B are being used as candy bars to continue voting Democrat.

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Here We Go: Another Climatologist Prognosticates That World Will Warm Faster Than Feared

By William Teach January 2, 2014 – 8:07 am

You do have to admire the stick-to-it-ness of Warmists, who are more dogmatic than followers of Charles Manson and Jim Jones, Heaven’s Gate Church or Westboro Baptist nuts

(Telegraph) As the planet marked its fourth hottest year on record, a study published in the journal Nature found increasing levels of carbon dioxide will lead to thinner ocean clouds and reduce their cooling impact, causing temperature rises of at least 5.6F (3C) over the course of the century.

The team of scientists said the findings show some climate models have been too “optimistic” and previous estimates of a minimum temperature rise of only 2.7F (1.5C) could now be discounted. The optimistic models did not properly assess the impact of water evaporation, which sometimes rises only a short distance into the atmosphere and causes updraughts that reduce cloud cover, the study found.

”These models have been predicting a lower climate sensitivity but we believe they’re incorrect,” Professor Steven Sherwood, from the University of New South Wales, told The Sydney Morning Herald.

”The net effect of [climate change] is you have less cloud cover.”

This is truly hilarious. And typical garbage in-garbage out soothsaying

(No Tricks Zone) Because of the huge uncertainties involved in climate modeling, Prof. Essex, a leading international expert in computer modeling, calls projections for decades and centuries ahead using even today’s state of the art “Welcome to Wonderland”. The climate system is just too complex and it would take even today’s most powerful computer billions of years to run through a proper algorithm.

The results that today’s models put out are based on the crude assumptions that get fed in. When a model maker guesses that the globe is going to heat up, then that’s what his model will show.

No Tricks Zone highlights this explanation of how well the models have worked so far (which I highlighted yesterday, as well)

87 0f 90 models have failed. The actual global temperatures have fallen outside the prognostication of the models. There’s been no statistically significant warming in 17 years. Since 1990 there’s been a miniscule increase of 0.28F. Since 1997 just 0.14F. No child born this century has seen warming. (see this chart of real world data at Real Science)

Now, as P Gosselin at No Tricks Zone points out, maybe Prof. Sherwood ends up being correct. Because nature is a chaotic system. And previous warm periods during the Holocene were much warmer. What Warmists are doing is simply guessing based on very expensive computer models.

Nice to see one of them actually include water vapor. Of course, NASA satellite data actually shows a decrease in water vapor. And cloud cover, while it can trap heat, is more associated with a long term cooling period. Anyhow, people in the North should have fun with all the global warming snow and wind and cold and ice from Winter Storm Hercules (seriously, Weather Channel? Seriously?)

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Android Today: “Oh My Goat”

By William Teach January 1, 2014 – 6:53 pm

I’ve been a bit slack with Android recommendations, but here’s a good one. A fun little sorta side scroller called Oh My Goat. The main character, Patrick the Goat has been turned into a cube, along with all his animal friends. It takes great reflexes and timing. Check it out.

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The Australian Is Not Afraid To Publish The Skeptical View

By William Teach January 1, 2014 – 4:39 pm

More and more news outlets, along with other web outlets such as Reddit Science, are banning “skeptics” because of Free Speech or something, the something being that they are pretty much afraid to debate and have their cult disinfected with sunlight. Here’s Jo Nova on The Australian

The giant boondoggle is coming undone.

What makes this article remarkable is the strong language coming from a credible source on the front page of a major national daily. We have crossed another line in the decline and fall of the Great Global Warming Scare.  Maurice Newman is chairman of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Council , was Chairman of the ABC, and of the board of the Australian Stock Exchange. He was Chancellor of Macquarie University until 2008. The Op-Ed and news article today sums up the worst of the last five years of climate, and is the first time I can recall seeing a well respected commentator use such unequivocal and damning language and so prominently. There is no hedging here, no pandering. Newman obviously reads skeptical blogs and is very aware of what is going on. Ponder that he was Chairman of their ABC, and if someone of his sensible insight could not clean it up, we need far more drastic action (that’s another topic we will explore soon).

His opinion piece in the Australian (Crowds go cold on climate cost), is discussed on the front page as a news item titled “Climate policies helped kill manufacturing, says Maurice Newman”. A broader audience amongst the intellectual hierarchy of Australia now knows they can ramp up their dismissals. Skeptics have gained ground.

Warmists will really not like having their cult challenged.

From Newman’s op-ed

“Australia, too, has become hostage to climate change madness. It has been a major factor in the decimation of our manufacturing industry. The Australian dollar and industrial relations policies are blamed. But, for some manufacturers, the strong dollar has been a benefit, while high relative wages have long been a feature of the Australian industrial landscape. It is the unprecedented cost of energy, driven by the Renewable Energy Target and carbon tax, which, at the margin, has destroyed our competitiveness. And for all the propaganda about “green employment”, Australia seems to be living the European experience where, for every green job created, two to three jobs are lost in the real economy.

“The scientific delusion, the religion behind the climate crusade, is crumbling. Global temperatures have gone nowhere for 17 years. According to climatologist Roy Spencer’s research, “Over the period of satellite measurement, 1979-2012, both the surface and satellite observations produce linear temperature trends which are below 87 of the 90 climate models used in the comparison” – that is, 97 per cent were wrong.

“If the IPCC were your financial adviser, you would have sacked it long ago….

Some of his quotes were used in the front page article. Both the op-ed and the article are behind a pay-wall, thanks to Jo for showing us a few quotes. Here’s what you get if you hit the link to the article

THE unprecedented cost of energy driven by the renewable energy target and the carbon tax had destroyed the nation’s competitiveness, Tony Abbott’s chief business adviser has declared. Maurice Newman also says climate change policies driven by “scientific delusion” have been a major factor in the collapse of Australia’s manufacturing sector.

“Climate change” policies are doing the same around the world. Destroying jobs and economies. Much like most of the rest of the policies from the far Left.

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If All You See…

By William Teach January 1, 2014 – 1:00 pm

… is a horrid fossil fueled vehicle necessary to get across all the fossil fuels created snow, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Independent Sentinel, with a post on how it’s easier to open a business in Siberia than California.

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Climate Alarmists Still Stuck On Ship In Antarctica

By William Teach January 1, 2014 – 12:15 pm

Well, supposedly they had a good time for New Year’s Eve

(Guardian) Passengers aboard a scientific research ship stuck in sea ice near the coast of Antarctica are preparing to spend another night on the vessel after plans to evacuate them by helicopter were aborted.

The rescue mission was cancelled in the early hours of Wednesday because of hazardous weather conditions. Stranded passengers began the new year with muted celebrations aboard the MV Akademik Shokalskiy.

The passengers, about 50 scientists, academics and journalists, have been trapped on the vessel in thick pack ice off the coast of Antarctica since Christmas Day.

Several attempts to evacuate the Shokalskiy using icebreakers have been thwarted by the dense sea ice, which is up to 5 metres thick in some places.

If the weather breaks, another attempt will be made to rescue them from the really bad global warming on Thursday, which, because of the time differences, would be sometime tonight (east coast time). If they’re able to be rescued, they’ll be ferried to a Chinese fossil fueled ship, then jump back on a fossil fueled helicopter to a fossil fueled Australian ice breaker. If they can’t be rescued, a fossil fueled American ice breaker is 10 days away. Either way, they’ll eventually (we hope), make it back to New Zealand (where the fossil fueled trip started…well, except for all the fossil fueled plane rides to NZ) or Australia. Then can take fossil fueled airplane trips home. All to let us know that climate change caused by fossil fuels is Bad.

Oh, and the ice is so bad that the Chinese ice breaker has been staying away and moving constantly.

Newsbusters notes that 96% of the media outlets covering the ship fail to note why the ship was there

In fact, rather than point out the mission of the scientists to find evidence of climate change, the networks often referred to the stranded people as “passengers,” “trackers” and even “tourists,” with no mention of climate change or global warming. Chris Turney, the expedition’s leader, is a professor of climate change at the University of South Wales. According to Turney’s personal website, the purpose of the expedition is to “discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.”

Interesting. The Guardian story in quoted also refers to the passengers in the same way, and doesn’t mention “climate change” as the purpose of the cruise.

Andrew Bolt is calling it The Ship Of Fools, and notes how the media and those trapped on the ship are trying to pretend that the cruise was both not about global warming and that all the ice shows global warming still occurring.

More: Andrew Revkin offers this hilarious tidbit

If you follow the discussion around #SpiritOfMawson — the Twitter hashtag for the project — you’ll also note how this misadventure has energized climate change contrarians, offering a distraction from serious research on the impact of climate change on Antarctica.

If they were serious then a) they wouldn’t be take massive fossil fueled trips and b) they wouldn’t be blaming snow and cold on “climate change”. Also, this “serious” cruise was actually meant to be a photo GOP, not science.

Ann Althouse further beats up Mr. Revkin.

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