US Government admits satellite temperature readings "degraded." All data taken offline in shock move. Global warming temperatures may be 10 to 15 degrees too high.
The fault was first detected after a tip off from an anonymous member of the public to climate skeptic blog, Climate Change Fraud.
In one example swiftly taken down by NOAA after my first article, readings for June and July 2010 for Lake Michigan showed crazy temperatures off the scale ranging in the low to mid hundreds - with some parts of the Wisconsin area apparently reaching 612 F.
Caught in the center of the controversy is the beleaguered taxpayer funded National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA's Program Coordinator, Chuck Pistis has now confirmed that the fast spreading story on the respected climate skeptic blog is true.
However, NOAA spokesman, Program Coordinator, Chuck Pistis declined to state how long the fault might have gone undetected. Nor would the shaken spokesman engage in speculation as to the damage done to the credibility of a decade's worth of temperature readings taken from the problematic 'NOAA-16' satellite.
'NOAA-16' was launched in September 2000, and is currently operational, in a sun-synchronous orbit, 849 km above the Earth, orbiting every 102 minutes providing automated data feed of surface temperatures which are fed into climate computer models.
NOAA has reported a succession of record warm temperatures in recent years based on such satellite readings but these may now all be undermined.
World-renowned Canadian climatologist, Dr. Timothy Ball, after casting his expert eye over the shocking findings concluded, "At best the entire incident indicates gross incompetence, at worst it indicates a deliberate attempt to create a temperature record that suits the political message of the day."
In one example swiftly taken down by NOAA after my first article, readings for June and July 2010 for Lake Michigan showed crazy temperatures off the scale ranging in the low to mid hundreds - with some parts of the Wisconsin area apparently reaching 612 F.
With an increasing number of further errors now coming to light the discredited NOAA removed the entire set from public view. But just removing them from sight is not the same as addressing the implications of this gross statistical debacle.
#2
Meanwhile in the real world, the Southern Hemisphere is rapidly cooling. Antarctic Sea Ice is at a record high with several weeks to go before the ice extent peaks.
#3
coolest summer in my (51 yr local) memory in San Diego
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/17/2010 21:07 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Big deal, Frank. What was it - like 69 instead of 72?
San Diego weatherman has to be the most boring job in the world: "What's it going to be today, Frank?" Nice. "What's it going to be tomorrow?" Nice.
When San Diego goes above 75, the weather service issues heat advisories. When the temperature goes below 65, they warn people to bundle up.
/kidding
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/17/2010 21:19 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Snark is accurate (see: Lewis Black's take) , and no whining here :-)
actually I work all over, right on the bay right now, but live inland ("the sticks") also known as Inland Valleys. My area is usually mid 90's in late July and was around 78-80 avg, In August - Sept, we're usually at or above 100 (to 115). Today's the first day I put on AC - humidity from Mexico's monsoon season and 97 degrees. I have an autopay gas/electric bill based on prior usage, and I'm showing a credit all year long to date
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/17/2010 21:26 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Small navigational error - they orbited the satellite around Venus rather than Earth. :-)
[Asharq al-Aswat] A few months ago, I wrote an article entitled "Fatwas" which I began by asking "Who should we follow? Who should we reject? Whom should we label as an infidel? Who should we kill? Who is immoral? Who should we label as a heretic? Who should we boycott? These intense questions must have entered the minds of those who have begun to feel somewhat dizzy, as a result of the fatwas 'bazaar'. The sheer amount of fatwas raining down on us in this age may be greater than all fatwas issued throughout the entire Islamic history. It is an infinite series, and it haunts you whenever you might be; in front of your television, radio, or computer when you are browsing your emails. All innovations of the modern age have become fatwa outlets, yet we are unsure of who is actually qualified to issue them".
I wrote this, but did not know at the time that the closure of the 'bazaar' would be even faster than I imagined. King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz's decision to confine fatwa issuance to the 'senior Ulama Authority' came to guide us out of this dark, confusing and gloomy tunnel, which we entered as a result of the fatwa chaos. The decision also prevented us from being a source of wonder or even humour, to the world around us. This decision has returned things to normal, fatwas are limited only to specialists, and their true value has returned.
Those who were accustomed to unleashing a torrent of fatwas from their pedestals, satellite channels and internet blogs, should now learn the virtue of silence. They must look very closely at what is stated in the Royal Decree, warning "whoever violates such a command will be subject to accountability and shall be strictly penalized according to the [Islamic] Shariaa no matter who he is, in the interest of religion and the homeland above all else." The King said "We will follow up on all that has been said, with no concessions." Such strict, decisive and responsible language is not open to interpretation or misunderstanding. It is specific, and clear in both its intentions and objectives.
The decision received the attention it deserved and was celebrated by scholars of the Muslim nation. It was also welcomed by different categories of the society, praising its sensible nature. Everyone considered it as one of the most important and prominent decisions holding religion in high regard and keeping fatwas as something valuable. I'm fully confident that the authorities tasked with implementing the decision will perform their roles effectively. Those who had the audacity to issue [unsanctioned] fatwas for many years now will face two options: accountability or silence. The wise choice would be to hold their tongue and know where they stand.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"whoever violates such a command will be subject to accountability and shall be strictly penalized according to the [Islamic] Shariaa no matter who he is, in the interest of religion and the homeland above all else."
[Arab News] This month, a troupe of 100 musicians, dancers, acrobats and robed actors is performing an Ottoman-style spectacle near Topkapi Palace, once home to the sultans. An exhibition of Ottoman poetry is on display at Istanbul's international airport. Ottoman cuisine, a fusion of flavors from old imperial lands, is in vogue.
It's quite a turnaround. For most of the last century, Turks were told to look askance at the Ottoman Empire. Nostalgia for the 1453 conquest of Constantinople and other early triumphs was fine - but the excesses of the sultans were the stuff of decay, no model for modern Turkey.
Today, the legacy of the Ottomans is enjoying a makeover.
Turkey is a regional power that no longer sees itself as a junior partner of the West. Its diplomats and entrepreneurs reach out to Iraq, Iran, Syria and other lands once ruled from the Ottoman court. The roots of this confident campaign lie partly in the protocol, pluralism and Islamic piety of the imperial past.
These selective views, the old and the new, mirror a contemporary clash over Turkey's identity. It pits old secular elites in state entities such as the courts and military against an educated class of devout Muslims that has controlled the government since election in 2002.
"This is a point of real contestation: what is the Ottoman Empire for Turkey?" said Donald Quataert, author of "The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922" and a longtime researcher into the lives of Ottoman peasants and workers.
"They've been arguing about this for 100 years. It's been going back and forth." At one time, the Ottoman sultans commanded vast swaths of territory from Istanbul, which spans the European and Asian continents. Their armies marched as far as the gates of Vienna. The rise of European powers compounded their decline, and the empire dissolved in war and chaos at the beginning of the 20th century. The mass killing of Armenians, deemed a genocide by many international experts despite Turkish objections, happened in the last years of Ottoman rule.
Any discussion of its legacy must include Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a war hero who founded the Turkish republic in 1923 as colonial powers gobbled up former Ottoman territories. He abolished the caliphate and its traditions of dress and language, viewed as symbols of stagnation.
Secularism was the creed, the West was the model.
Today, Ataturk's image adorns state offices, shops and many private homes. Roads and sports stadiums bear his name. A huge mausoleum in the capital, Ankara, harbors his remains, and most visiting foreign dignitaries are expected to pay tribute. It is a crime in Turkey to insult the memory of Ataturk, whose name means "father of the Turks." Many Turks, including those who resent how he curtailed religious expression, believe Ataturk saved Turkey in a time of crisis. But increasingly, even staunch supporters admit unquestioning devotion is out of sync with democracy.
"The changes of the republic, like many other things in this country, were imposed from the top and not designed by the public itself, and this is a bad habit of our people," said Ahmet Hicyilmaz, a publicist in Istanbul.
Ataturk's unrelenting nationalism allowed little room for minority rights, seen as a dire threat to state unity.
Ottoman advocates, however, note the sultans were generally tolerant of Christians and other minorities in a tactic that may have extended the empire's life.
On Sunday, for the first time since the fall of the empire, Orthodox Christians led by their spiritual leader, Patriarch Bartholomew I, held a Mass at an ancient monastery cut into the side of a mountain near the Black Sea. The Byzantine-era monastery of Sumela was abandoned in 1923.
Turkish nationalists have objected to Bartholomew using the term "ecumenical" to describe his Istanbul-based patriarchate, fearing it implies a Vatican-style state on Turkish soil. But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan referred to Ottoman times when asked about the matter by a journalist during a May visit to Greece.
"When it comes to the question of ecumenical, if the term did not bother my ancestors, than it does not bother me," Erdogan said, using an Ottoman-era term for ancestor - "ecdad" - instead of the modern Turkish term, "ata." Erdogan, a fierce critic of Israel, has cited the Ottoman Empire as evidence that Turks are not anti-Semitic. Many of Turkey's Jews trace roots to Spain, where Jews fled persecution in the 15th century and were welcomed by the Ottomans.
"Republican history taught the Ottoman era in a very backward and negative light," Suat Kiniklioglu, a member of the Turkish parliament's foreign affairs committee, wrote in an email to the Associated Press. "We are now correcting the imbalance on our historical perceptions." The Islamic-oriented government, however, objects to the term "neo-Ottoman," which has been used by some commentators to describe Turkey's outreach to former colonies. Turkey says it has no hegemonic intent.
Even Kurdish rebels fighting the Turkish state for autonomy are looking to imperial history to press their case. A recent rebel statement quoted a top leader, Murat Karayilan, as saying Kurds always enjoyed autonomy under Ottoman rule.
Now that the Ottomans are back in favor, there is the danger of glossing things over. Many Turks know Piri Reis, an admiral and mapmaker, as a key figure in Ottoman marine history. Fewer know that he was beheaded after a falling out with authorities.
Historian Ilber Ortayli, head of the museum at Topkapi Palace, said the Ottoman empire was the "basic identity" of the Turkish people, excluding some minority groups. He said Turks were studying the period in earnest, though the road to full understanding was long.
"We didn't learn it well," he said. "Our knowledge is full of mistakes and black holes."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Mohamed Elmasry's campaign against Islamophobia in the media has been fought on many fronts, from libel claims in court to failed hate-speech complaints at three human rights commissions.
But the most unusual legacy for the retired head of the Canadian Islamic Congress is on the Internet, where his Canadian Charger website has, after a year of operation, found its place as a weekly clearinghouse for everything from poetry, cartoons and reflections on Islamic cultural history, to wildly paranoid conspiracy theories about Americans and Jews.
It has run articles titled "The Holocaust Old and New," comparing Israelis to Nazis; "Israel in Ottawa," which documents the influence of Canada's Jewish lobby groups; and "Americans, the Murderers."
An editorial in support of Israeli Apartheid Week was illustrated with a picture of a dead baby in a diaper with a bullet hole through its chest. And when an NDP MP recently apologized for wrongly describing the historical origins of Israel, the Charger said she had nothing to apologize for, because "Canada, like the U.S., is an occupied country where the Israel Lobby is the chief arbiter of truth. Anyone who undermines Zionist dogma can expect to be savaged by the Lobby's media thugs."
As it did, the website that was created to refute cheap shots at Islam took perhaps the cheapest shot imaginable, arguing that Mr. Hitchens, a one-time leftist who has moved to the right, deserves his sickness because of his political beliefs and writing about Iraq.
In doing so, the Charger raised questions about whether such alternative online media, with their famously low costs and wide reach, are capable of holding itself to common standards of decency.
The cancer is "something to be celebrated" and a "boon for humanity" according to the Charger's top story on Monday, "because it deprives the war propaganda machine of one of its most erudite apologists."
"As I was contemplating this revelation, I couldn't help feeling that the neoconservative armchair warrior was getting his just desserts," wrote Joshua Blakeney, a Masters student at the University of Lethbridge, where he studies under a prominent 9/11 conspiracy theorist, Prof. Anthony J. Hall, who is quoted in the story and is also a Canadian Charger contributor.
"It is fair to say that if cancer is good enough for babies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and soon Iran, then it is good enough for [Mr. Hitchens]," he wrote.
In an interview on Monday from Egypt, Prof. Elmasry, who teaches microchip design at the University of Waterloo, said the Charger "had in mind to be a voice for all those Canadians who could not express their views in the profit-driven Canadian media."
He gathered respected academics and writers to lend their names and submissions. He wrote his own wide-ranging and erudite columns on such topics as "What if Europeans Had Not Discovered Africa?"
He wanted to promote social justice, and to speak for marginalized groups like blacks, natives, immigrants and Muslims.
"We did not mean to be so left wing," he said. "This is not by design." He said the political slant is an artifact of the submissions they received, not his intentions.
He said the name, meaning a war horse, was "carefully selected to be very expressive," as was the logo of a white steed, taken from a painting by Canadian artist Ibrahim Shalaby. He said the Canadian Charger was designed for battle.
Prof. Elmasry rejected the impression the Hitchens article scored cheap rhetorical points by rejoicing in his cancer.
"I don't think so. Nobody will feel happy about somebody else's misery, especially striking a man with cancer. But I think the point in that article was that he was a warmonger, to use that expression, in the last number of years, and the fact that he did not respect the life of the "other" including women and children who have been suffering from cancer because of American involvement in depleted uranium," Prof. Elmasry said. "Perhaps he's tasting how these babies suffered, and their mothers and families, and are still suffering. You have to really read the whole article to put things in perspective."
#1
To get their way, the elites must erode or dismantle the Constitution, bit by bit, in one way or another. What that means is that they must dismantle America. This has been going on piecemeal over the years but now we have an administration in Washington that circumvents the Constitution wholesale, with its laws passed so fast that the public cannot know what is in them, its appointment of "czars" wielding greater power than Cabinet members, without having to be exposed to pubic scrutiny by going through the confirmation process prescribed by the Constitution for Cabinet members.
Now there is leaked news of plans to change the immigration laws by administrative fiat, rather than Congressional legislation, presumably because Congress might be unduly influenced by those pesky voters-- with their Constitutional rights-- who have shown clearly that they do not want amnesty and open borders, despite however much our betters do. If the Obama administration gets away with this, and can add a few million illegals to the voting rolls in time for the 2012 elections, that can mean reelection, and with it a continuing and accelerating dismantling of America.
#2
All they see is power at the end of the process. However, all institutions erode over time. They have no concept of end state other than power. So, what's going to protect them the day it all falls? The reply to 'I have rights' is 'What rights? You killed those protections and guarantees.' Or to paraphrase another text - He who lives by power, dies by power.
#3
Once again, let me advocate the constitutional convention to reform the system. This is because the fundamental imbalance in America right now is between the federal government, the States, and the people. Only the States have the power to reduce the federal government, because not even the federal government can do so, no matter who is in charge.
The single prerogative of the States is to defend *their* power, with respect to the federal government. This is the *only* thing they agree on, but in itself, it is a huge blanket of things.
The constitutional convention will not be radical, except in radically reducing the size, scope and power of the federal government--back towards what was originally intended.
Justice Thomas brilliantly revived the 14th Amendment in his concurring opinion in MacDonald. This is what allows the federal government to protect the people from abuses of the States.
But the people need the protection of the States as well, from the abusive federal government. So with the increase in State power, and the decrease of federal power, this will be achieved as well. And this is what takes place at a constitutional convention.
I have listed many of the essential parts of this, from the perspective of the States, as well as adding to the constitution new limitations based on some of the great laws that have been made in the past, such as Posse Comitatus and the War Powers Act, which need to be enshrined in the constitution.
#4
You understand Moose that Posse Comitatus was pushed through by Democrats from the South in the post-Civil War period specifically to remove the Army providing protection to blacks at the voting places. What PC did was to destroy the civil rights of blacks for nearly a hundred years.
You can free the states and realign the power relationship by Constitutionally banning federal mandates whether by the executive, legislative, or judicial branch upon the states. The raising and levying of taxes at the state level for only states purposes and not fulfilling a federal action or program would cripple a lot of direct and indirect power that emanates from the Beltway. If the feds want to 'chip in' that's fine, but no strings. If they want strings then they can fund and run the program themselves without the states simply a sockpuppet to cover their play.
#1
We have a president who doesnt get America. For the first time in history we have a president whose default setting is in opposition to the general sensibilities of the American people.
#2
The indications and warnings were all there, they were just ignored due to political correctness and the headlong plunge to elect a non-white POTUS. Barry is what he always was, nothing more.
#6
Yes, largely a product of a Party Press and the state sponsored religion of Socialism. That's why they so desperately want to kill this internet media. They finally were able to exploit the American character of 'wanting to be left alone' rather than bother with the mud pit of politics along with the streak of perfection demanded in one's own candidates by the other side.
#7
wHY COULDN'T aLLEN WEST COME ALONG SOONER? hE WOULD AHVE BEEN ALOT BETTER PRESIDENT THAN THIS PIECE OF SHIT. MAYBE HE WILL GIVE UP HIS SEAT IN CONGRESS LIKE OBAMA DID IN THE SENATE AND GO AHEAD AND RUN NEXT TIME AGAINST oBAMA AND WIN. i ALWAYS THOUGHT COLIN POWELL WOULD HAVE BEEN A GOOD CHOICE BUT ALLEN WEST MAKES HIM LOOK ABOUT AS BAD AS OBAM NOT AS BAD BUT JUST ABOUT. bUT HE WOULD NEVER GET THE BLACK VOTE BECAUSE HE WANTS THE WELFARE METALITY GONE.
Posted by: chris ||
08/17/2010 8:25 Comments ||
Top||
#8
I was smart enough not to vote for him, but my absentee ballot was thrown out because of a petition by a Democratic lawyer, because I hadn't lived in Missouri in awhile, and at the time, I was in the hospital, and couldn't do anything about it.
I'm to the point that I might vote against ALL incumbents. This crap has to stop. Now.
#10
The weirdest thing about the Barry flameout is the notion that this man is exceptionally intelligent. Go back and scrutinize many of his speeches and his extemporaneous remarks, and you'll find instance after instance of appalling ignorance and obtuseness.
"A united world defeated communism."
Zionism was a product of the holocaust.
Stocks are valued using the "profits-to-earnings" ratio.
American surgeons routinely amputate the limbs of their diabetic patients so that the docs can collect $50,000 fees-for-service instead of a $1,000 fee for treating diabetes.
#11
There is also a strong streak of totalitarianism in BHO. BHO would be a dictator in another culture; here if allowed. Sometimes he displays his ignorance and naivete most when he speaks "off-the-cuff." He was packaged and primed by his handlers prior to the election and programmed and scripted after the election. He knows little true humility and is arrogant. He seems to be mesmerized by the sound of his own voice and image. BO is deceptive in his speech. He like others before him tell people what they want to hear. There are many people in our country who will continue to be duped by him and will vote for him again. They are vested in him for one reason or another. However, there are many people who have quit listening to the poetry, rhetoric, and deception in his speeches and have abandoned his cause. All the talk of hope and change was a charade and hoax. They see things for what they are. They realize they made a huge mistake that has had a very detrimental and destructive effect on the country, our children and future generations of children. We can never get out of debt. Our children can never get out of debt. Slavery has become institutionalized by the government through debtedness and lack of jobs. There is still a chance to get out from under this in November '10 and '12.
[Arab News] Maya Sabti's children were born and raised in Lebanon but they speak only broken Arabic and cringe when presented with an Arabic book to read.
"I try to get them interested, but I don't blame them that they're not," said Sabti, whose children are 8 and 10. "Mobile phones, Facebook, movies -- all that's important to them is in English."
In Lebanon, where everyday conversations have long been sprinkled with French and English, many fear the new generation is losing its connection to the country's official language: Arabic. The issue has raised enough concern for some civil groups to take action.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[15 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Arabic is an imported language too. Aramaic was spoken there before and before that Ka'anan.
#2
Lebanon's sectarian and ethnic diversity have always made it open to foreign influences. Moreover, it has a huge diaspora with an estimated 8 million people of Lebanese descent living in countries as distant as Brazil and Australia -- many of whom come regularly to Lebanon for visits and often don't speak much Arabic.
What a shame that this beautiful country with so many cosmopolitan and beautiful, sophisticated people has been torn apart by islamist neanderthals. Just imagine how lovely the place would be if it were populated solely by Lebanese Christians and seculars.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Arab News] This month, a troupe of 100 musicians, dancers, acrobats and robed actors is performing an Ottoman-style spectacle near Topkapi Palace, once home to the sultans. An exhibition of Ottoman poetry is on display at Istanbul's international airport. Ottoman cuisine, a fusion of flavors from old imperial lands, is in vogue.
