Climate change is occurring far more rapidly than even the worst predictions of the UN's Nobel Prize-winning scientific panel on climate change, Al Gore said on Thursday. Must be more hot air out there than accounted for in the models. Better go back into your laboratories and don't come out until you find it.
Recent evidence shows "the climate crisis is significantly worse and unfolding more rapidly than those on the pessimistic side of the IPCC projections had warned us," climate campaigner and former US vice-president Gore said. Maybe he ought to go back to campaigning to be President. At least then he had something "useful" to do that kept him out of trouble.
There are now forecasts that the North Pole ice caps may disappear entirely during summer months within five years, he told a gathering at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Great! We only have to listen to about five more years of this stuff!
They can't forecast rain or sun three days from now, but they can forecast the end of the polar ice cap?
In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a massive report the size of three phone books on the reality and risks of climate change, its 4th assessment in 18 years. Check it for earmarks.
Global warming is a key theme at this year's meeting of the world's business and political elite in Davos. It may take all the fun out of it, but it would be better to hold this as a videoconference. Much "greener" that way, don't you think? No, the other kind of green!
#3
Perhaps it was all the jets flying to Indonesia for that climate conference.
I think he knows MAN MADE Global Warming is a fraud. I used to give him the benefit of the doubt but his carbon footprint is huge and he just doesn't care. He could do more good as President and he just didn't care. Scientists say its bunk and he responds that its worse than feared. Fearmonger trying to shore up his minions before they start using logic.
#9
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: if the ENTIRE Arctic ice cap melted, it would not raise sea levels one millimeter. Ice shrinks as it melts.
The Antarctic ice cap is another matter, since much of it is based on land. However, at the present, the Antarctic ice cap is actually growing. (An inconvenient truth that the Goreacle ignores.)
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/25/2008 13:02 Comments ||
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#14
I saw an article very recently that a huge lake of fresh water was discovered under the Antarctic Ice Cap.
So it floats too, so much for that bogus theory.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/25/2008 13:13 Comments ||
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#16
In 1972 the call was Nuclear Winter! It didn't fly! Lately it's been Global Warming, but that is being revised to the new scare phrase "Climate Change".
I was a Meteorologist for over ten years and I agree with the Sun's activity is having more effect then man. However, here are 10 items that prove Global Warming:
1. The glacier in Yosemite Valley is gone.
2. The glaciers that formed the fjords of Scandinavia are gone.
3. The glaciers that formed the Great Lakes are gone.
4. The island of Maui was once greater in size than today's island of Hawaii but the seas rose and split it into 5 islands.
5. Hurricane activity was greater than normal in 2004 and 2005.
6. Hurricane activity was less than normal in 2006 and 2007.
7. Hurricane activity keeps fluctuating.
8. The Colorado River basin is returning to its normal dry climate versus the wet climate of the past decades.
Here on the Left Coast, Northern Ca, it has been the Coldest Winter in my long memory.
Wet as hell too..
The Snow pack is very DEEP... and up in the foothills and the Sierras Mountains the Damns are all releasing beau-coup water.
#18
If the Artic icecap melts then the Northwest Passage will be open to ships that are too large for the Panama Canal. This will save billions in transport costs getting things from the North Atlantic to the North Pacific. What a deal!
#19
"As Glenn Reynolds likes to say, "I'll believe global warming is a crisis when the people who ay it is a crisis start acting as if it is so.""
Im not sure exactly what that means, sell short coastal land?
Sacrifice their own interests to save everyone else? This whole Al Gore burns energy thingie? Look man, its a free rider problem. Externality. Enviros arent necessarily any less selfish than anyone else.
Look, this is NOT a crisis, if by crisis you mean something bad thats gonna happen in the next 5 years. What it is, is like a freight train that takes a VERY long time to stop. And SOMEWHERE up ahead is a wall you DONT want to crash into. We can debate how far the wall is (IE how bad will a 3 degree c rise really be, maybe the wheat farms in the Yukon and the CO2 help to growing plants will offset all the expected bad things) but if 3 degrees isnt as bad as the pollyanas say, SOMEWHERE out there, maybe 4 degrees, maybe 5, the wall is there. And we still have our foot on the gas, so to speak.
#20
and why is it surprising that you can forecast climate better than two weeks ahead weather? I cant forecast tomorrows stock market, but I can tell you in the long run the US stock markets will increase. Day to day random stuff balances out over time.
#23
International Waters Belong to US. This is due to Rule Britinnia.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
01/25/2008 14:29 Comments ||
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#24
Al Gore: My take from the Climate change scam 'significantly worse' than feared
There - fixed.
Accuracy is important.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/25/2008 14:46 Comments ||
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#25
Since it's an almost scientific connection between Al Gore presentations on global warming and cold snaps why not plan his next meeting in the arctic to freeze up some of those ice sheets.
Yeah some activists might be lost having a meeting in such a cold climate but we're talking about saving the planet here and that's just a risk I'm willing for them to take.
#27
We can debate how far the wall is (IE how bad will a 3 degree c rise really be, maybe the wheat farms in the Yukon and the CO2 help to growing plants will offset all the expected bad things) but if 3 degrees isnt as bad as the pollyanas say, SOMEWHERE out there, maybe 4 degrees, maybe 5, the wall is there.
And, of course, the planet's NEVER been warmer than it is now.
Except, of course, it has. And it has been so within written history. And it wasn't a bad thing; just the opposite.
Why is warmer bad? The sea levels won't rise, not at any rate that can't be dealt with. Growing seasons will be longer.
Why is it assumed that a warmer Earth is the result of man's activities? Mars is warmer than it was a few years ago. There's a new red spot (massive storm) on Jupiter.
Why is the solution to a supposedly warming climate the same solution that was presented for a coming ice age? The same solution that was presented for a supposed world-wide famine? Why is giving other people more control over our lives the proper solution to every supposed climate danger?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/25/2008 16:43 Comments ||
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#28
Sacrifice their own interests to save everyone else? This whole Al Gore burns energy thingie? Look man, its a free rider problem. Externality. Enviros arent necessarily any less selfish than anyone else.
They're demanding we live poorer, shorter, less enriching lives, for what comes down to their aesthetic/religious preference. The Amish probably believe everyone should live as they do, but they aren't trying to force it on the rest of us.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/25/2008 16:46 Comments ||
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#29
When I was 16 talking about the weather was a sign of a date gone bad. Now its a matter of survival!!! or something.
#30
It's like, 100 below zero on the poles. Even if we warmed 5 degrees, is he trying to tell me that the ice caps will melt at minus 95 degrees? All the ice around my house melts at 32 degrees.
#33
Warmer = more evaporation = more precipitation = more snow = icecaps grow (averaging the seasonal changes).
Within the last decade, the Greenland's ice cover receded at the eastern coastline but has grown in the central region of the island--and not talking about a small change here.
For the first time since Kenya plunged into post-election chaos four weeks ago, the nations warring political leaders met face to face on Thursday, but afterward opposition leaders accused the president of being a fraud.
The chat went fine, opposition leaders said, and was more of an ice-breaker than anything else to start a long process of negotiation. But Mr. Kibakis short speech afterward stirred up tempers. Mr. Kibaki pointed out that he was the duly elected president and emphasized that any reconciliation would be on his terms. I will personally lead our country in promoting tolerance, peace and harmony, he said.
These comments seemed to drain the enthusiasm from the moment, and opposition leaders immediately called a news conference to criticize the president. True to his fraudulent character, Mr. Mwai Kibaki abused the occasion by attempting to legitimize his usurpation of the presidency, opposition leaders said in a statement. Salim Lone, an opposition spokesman, added: This was supposed to be an event to build good faith. Kibaki politicized it.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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TOPIX > OPPOSITION CRITICISMS FUEL KENYA CRISIS. They trust each other to break their word???
Kremlin critic Mikhail Kasyanov should be barred from Russia's presidential election, officials said on Thursday, a move likely to fuel criticism that authorities brook little real opposition.
Kasyanov has no chance of winning, but disqualifying him would remove an outspoken Kremlin foe from a contest the opposition says is already slanted in favor of Dmitry Medvedev, the man President Vladimir Putin has backed to succeed him.
Doubts are also growing that the main opposition contender, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, will run in the March 2 election. He said he was thinking of pulling out because he was being denied fair coverage on state-controlled television.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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KOMMERSANT > COMMUNISTS PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN ELECTION, + UKRAIN HAS AN EYE ON NATO AND RUSSIA + SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES EASE OIL DEPENDENCY.
Kim Jong-Il's regime could collapse within six months, bringing chaos to North Korea, observers and intelligence sources in Asia have told Jane's.
A joint United States report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the US Institute for Peace has also revealed that China has "contingency plans" in the event of North Korea's implosion. The report, entitled 'Keeping an Eye on an Unruly Neighbor', said that China was prepared to "take the initiative" and had a military strategy for securing North Korea's "loose nukes" should Kim Jong-Il's rule fail.
Any apocalyptic scenario has to be taken with a grain of salt; in 1997 the Central Intelligence Agency predicted the collapse of North Korea within five years. However, there are reasons for the heightened levels of concern; in particular, the recent actions of Kim Jong-Il and other North Korean officials are being interpreted as signs that the regime is nearing its end. Tellingly, the 'Dear Leader' is in the process of moving financial resources to ensure that his assets are portable should he have to go into exile, according to some sources.
The centrally controlled economy has also now ceased to function and the food distribution system is near breaking point. With loyalty to the regime at an all-time low, another sign of trouble is the regime's diminishing ability to prevent people from leaving the country.
#1
NET > TWO/MULTI-FRONT ANTI-US WAR SCENARIO > many analysts + Netters believe the most ideal time for such as per IRAN-NK [TAIWAN?]is during the FALL-WINTER MONTHS espec vv NORTH KOREA PER SE [lack of petrodollars, etc = not enuff miltechs compared to Iran].
MANY ARE STILL WAITING TO SEE IFF DUBYA WILL STICK TO HIS GUNS ABOUT NOT BEING A LAME DUCK POTUS IN 2008-Jan 2009 vv RADICAL IRAN + ISLAMIST NUCBOMB.
#5
DEFENSENEWS > USN COULD GIVE ALL AEGIS SHIPS BMD. Approxi 15 destroyers and 3 cruisers - may yet give to all 22 cruisers. USN > can afford 313 ships in near future.
From East Asia Intel, subscription.
SEOUL China now accounts for nearly 57 percent of North Koreas total trade volume. Foreign goods sold in what passes as North Korean markets are predominantly made in China. China Airlines is making three flights a week between Beijing and Pyongyang, and Beijing is actively seeking to invest in the large Musan coal mines and other mines in North Korea. Three flights a week, ya say? Quite the hub of air commerce.
China is also seeking ready access to North Koreas eastern ports to reduce shipping costs to its northeastern provinces. Most importantly, North Korea depends on its massive neighbor for the lions share of oil and food aid. And that is where the Chicoms have Kimmie by the economic 'nads.
Economically at least, North Korea has already become a satellite state of China, said Sung-Min Jang, a former lawmaker who withdrew from South Korea's presidential election in December 2007. China is avoiding it becoming a political issue because it does not want confrontation with the United States yet, he said.
However, Chinas push into North Korea is also being felt by ordinary South Koreans. A South Korean businessman who last year toured Mt. Paekdu, which straddles the border of China and North Korea, was shocked at a map showing the entire mountain as Chinese territory. "Isn't this a mistake? This reads China on the map."
"We make no mistakes. Our map is correct. Your map is wrong."
Our map clearly and traditionally indicates the mountain is Korean territory although we were told at school that half of the lake on the top had been given to China in return to its aid to North Korea during the Korean War.
Andrei Lankov, a Russian scholar on Korean history who teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul, said China wants North Korea to be politically stable, economically developed and diplomatically in compliance with China. It will certainly intervene if an unstable situation develops in North Korea as it does not want South Korea to absorb the Stalinist country and lose the buffer zone now existing between its borders and South Korea, which is heavily under American influence," he said. China will not hesitate to intervene if the current North Korean leadership loses its grasp on power and the country falls into chaos, Lankov said. There will be no significant international force to oppose it. And the North Korean people get screwed again.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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TOPIX [various] > NORTH KOREA WILL/MAY KEEP NUCLEAR ARMS.
As said before, ironically for the freedom + sovereignty of the NK people as well as for Regional-International free trade, dev including to CHINA's advantage, THE USA MIGHT WANT NORTH KOREA TO HAVE NUKE WEAPONS???
#2
Foreign goods sold in what passes as North Korean markets are predominantly made in China. China Airlines is making three flights a week between Beijing and Pyongyang, and Beijing is actively seeking to invest in the large Musan coal mines and other mines in North Korea.
In that case, the US passed into satellitehood about a decade ago.
Posted by: ed ||
01/25/2008 6:17 Comments ||
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#3
The devil is in the details. If Nork became a satellite state with a puppet government that obeyed Beijing, yet wasn't as psychotically evil as the one they have now, and the Chinese weren't trying to repopulate the North with Han Chinese, it would probably be acceptable.
Optimally, the Chinese would go liberal, and prefer a friendly, united Korea as a close friend and huge trading partner. In that way, the Chinese would make a fortune, not have an influx of Koreans into China, have an economic boom in their southwest, and quite possibly get the US out of the peninsula entirely.
Granted, it would be nice if we could still have the naval base at Pusan.
Lomborg, of course, is the well-known environmental skeptic.
With Bjørn Lomborg in the lead, 55 economists including four Nobel prize winners will form the team that has the onerous task of how best to solve the world's top ten problems.
The economists will meet in Copenhagen from 25-30 May at the Copenhagen Consensus 2008 conference to exchange ideas on solutions that will most effectively improve conditions in the world.
Prior to the conference, the 55 members of the team compiled a list of ten of the world's largest challenges.
The ten global challenges that will be discussed at the conference are: pollution, subsidy and trade barriers, malnutrition and famine, conflicts, terrorism, global warming, disease, drainage and clean drinking water, education and finally livelihood of women.
An expert panel of eight of the 55 economists will list the ten most effective solutions after the conference.
'This great team of economists will show that Denmark can make a global difference with limited resources,' said Lomborg.
Sidelining Copenhagen Consensus 2008, 80 students from 37 countries will meet at a youth conference and compile their own list of solutions to challenges faced by countries world-wide.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
01/25/2008 15:22 Comments ||
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#3
Ten problems plaguing civilization, circa 2000: socialism, the nanny state of overcontrolling management, destruction of true free speech, NIMBYism, Ludditism, rise of state sponsored pseudo religions, laws imposed without consent of the governed, inequities of expectations, failure of responsibilities, and standards of perfection which no people have ever achieved in human history.
#5
"Anyone want to bet their solution involves lots and lots of OTHER PEOPLE'S money?"
There - fixed that for ya', CF.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/25/2008 16:05 Comments ||
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#6
The 'limited Denmark resouces' are indeed to be proven 'limited' in many many ways, (other than by someone elses checkbook). Bets on algore and Jummy showing up for a (paid) suggestion or two?
Italy's president, Giorgi Napolitano, will begin consulting political leaders today on the country's future after the collapse last night of Romano Prodi's centre-left government.
So goes the 62nd government since the end of WWII, 63 years ago.
Silvio Berlusconi, the opposition leader who has a huge lead in opinion polls, called for a snap election. Napolitano is known to favour a transitional government to steer through electoral reform, but the media mogul who governed Italy until two years ago said the project was "senseless". What the country needed was a "new and authoritative" administration, he said. "We need to go to the polls in the shortest time possible without delay."
The senate, the upper house of the Italian parliament, doomed Prodi by voting down a confidence motion in his government by 161 votes to 156 with one abstention. Shortly afterwards, Prodi set off for the president's palace to hand in his resignation.
A member of Berlusconi's inner circle told the Guardian that he expected to be prime minister - a post he last held in 2006 - by autumn at the latest. Setting aside the bickering that has characterised the Italian right in recent months, their leader, Gianfranco Fini, said: "We feel ready to govern if the Italians will put their faith in us."
The Prodi government was plunged into crisis on Monday when it was deserted by a tiny party whose leader, the former justice minister, left the cabinet on learning he was a suspect in a corruption inquiry. Other small groups and some individuals subsequently peeled off. The odds against the government's survival had been stacking up since before Christmas.The former EU commission president's term of office has seen modest economic growth, but for many Italians its benefits have been offset by tax rises imposed to get the public finances within limits set by membership of the euro.
An announcement last month by the EU's statistical office that Spaniards were now earning more in real terms than Italians dented national morale.
Just wait a few years when the news hits that the Iraqis are earning more in real terms than the Italians. We'll be up to the 72nd government on that. Or the 82nd.
Days later rubbish began piling up in Naples - a tangible sign of political mismanagement and the pervasive influence on Italian society of organised crime. The rubbish crisis was the latest of several to which Prodi's government has reacted sluggishly. Its poor crisis management and incessant bickering within the coalition, began to wear down popular support.
According to the latest poll, carried out for the state-owned Rai broadcasting corporation, Berlusconi and his rightwing allies enjoy a 15-point lead.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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Whatever the number, it feels like more.
Posted by: ed ||
01/25/2008 6:21 Comments ||
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#2
Heh heh, governments are over-rated. The Italians don't want or need one. It's an attractive option if you've got powerful friends.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
01/25/2008 7:10 Comments ||
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#3
Prodi was recently named as a Russian agent of influence. Was this a factor? Or don't Italians care much about that sort of thing?
Turkey's Islamist-rooted ruling AK Party and a key opposition party agreed on Thursday to cooperate to lift a ban on the wearing of the Islamic headscarf in universities, a move sure to anger the secular elite.
The secular elite, who include army generals, judges and university rectors, view the ban as vital for the separation of state and religion. "Agreement has been reached ... the issue of the headscarf was evaluated in terms of rights and freedoms," said a joint statement by the AK Party and the nationalist MHP.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan needs MHP support in parliament to amend Turkey's constitution. Erdogan did not say when the proposal would be put to a vote in parliament.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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"Good Dhimi" sign here.Kiss the hand and bow to us superiors.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/25/2008 13:22 Comments ||
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A group of ultra-nationalists detained this week had been plotting to kill Nobel Literature Laureate Orhan Pamuk, Turkish newspapers said on Thursday. The group, known as Ergenekon and led by a retired brigadier, was also planning a series of bomb attacks and assassinations aimed at fomenting chaos before mounting a coup against the Turkish government in 2009, the papers said. Police have so far arrested 35 people, including former army officers and lawyers known for their far-right views, following the seizure of explosives and weapons at a house in Istanbul last year. Officials have declined to comment on the accusations against the group, but newspapers have carried extensive and detailed claims suggesting the nationalists may have been behind a number of past bomb attacks and assassinations. The gang was seeking 2 million lira ($1.67 million) and a Glock gun to assassinate Orhan Pamuk, the Milliyet daily said. Pamuk, known for novels such as My Name is Red and Snow, is loathed by Turkish nationalists for saying Turkey was responsible for the deaths of more than a million Armenians during World War One and of 30,000 Kurds in recent decades.
This article starring:
Ergenekon
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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This gang was seeking a glock gun? What kind of gang can't get a single gun?
The New York Times editorial board has endorsed Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain in the presidential primary race.
In editorials posted Thursday on the newspaper's Web site, the board argued forcefully on Clinton's behalf, while saying that McCain, R-Ariz., was the best of a flawed GOP field with which the board had "strong disagreements."
The board said its case for Clinton, D-N.Y., was based on more than her accomplishments, adding that the senator "sometimes overstates the importance of resume."
"Hearing her talk about the presidency, her policies and answers for America's big problems, we are hugely impressed by the depth of her knowledge, by the force of her intellect and by the breadth of, yes, her experience," it said.
The board also spoke favorably of Clinton's main rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, calling him "incandescent." But it concluded that "we need more specifics to go with his amorphous promise of a new governing majority, a clearer sense of how he would govern."
"Voters have to judge candidates not just on the promise they hold, but also on the here and now."
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/25/2008 05:49 ||
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Aren't they basically the same person? What are they going to do when Romney takes Florida ans wins super tuesday?
I'm really curious - do the editors of the New York Times know how much damage they did John McCain by endorsing him? Not just by endorsing him, but by citing every single time he's disagreed with conservatives? . . . This sentence jumped out at me:
Mr. McCain was one of the first prominent Republicans to point out how badly the war in Iraq was being managed. We wish he could now see as clearly past the temporary victories produced by Mr. Bushs unsustainable escalation, which have not led to any change in Iraqs murderous political calculus. At the least, he owes Americans a real idea of how he would win this war, which he says he can do. We disagree on issues like reproductive rights and gay marriage.
The victories of the surge are "temporary." The New York Times says so, because they have a crystal ball.
McCain would be well served by declaring, "Those surrender-now defeatists on the editorial board can take their endorsement and cram it."
Posted by: Mike ||
01/25/2008 10:53 Comments ||
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#5
To quote Deacon quote Heinlein..
Here's the rest of Robert Heinlein's advice.
If this is too blind for your taste, consult some well-meaning fool (there is always one around) and ask his advice. Then vote the other way. This enables you to be a good citizen (if such is your wish) without spending the enormous amount of time on it that truly intelligent exercise of franchise requires.
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) - Republican presidential contenders depicted Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as weak on Iraq and certain to raise taxes Thursday night, setting aside their own campaign debate squabbles long enough to agree that she is unworthy of the White House.
``She is so out of step with the American people,'' said former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney,'' joined by Sen. John McCain and Rudy Giuliani in criticizing the former first lady.
The chorus of criticism came as Republicans strived to present their credentials as advocates of tax cuts, particularly to head off the threat of recession. They generally agreed that the newly minted, bipartisan economic stimulus package was a good start but did not go far enough.
``I will vote for it,'' said McCain, the only contender on stage with a Senate seat. He quickly added he wants the tax cuts Bush won from Congress in 2001 and 2003 to be made permanent.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Texas Rep. Ron Paul shared the debate stage, five days before the Florida primary that is the latest pivot point in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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#4
Since I'm not going to get anything out of this, and in the end I am going to be the one paying it, why not cut out the middle man and just order me to send $600 to some person I think needs it. I would prefer that.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
01/25/2008 15:25 Comments ||
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#7
FREEREPUBLIC POSTERS > collectively, some have argued that the GOP-RIGHT has gener moved towards the SOCIALIST LEFT, and claims they either WILL VOTE THIS YEAR AT ALL = CONSIDERING NOT TO VOTE.
#3
We need a president who will run the government and manage the economy
Perhaps Mrs. Clinton should read up on the Constitution and look up the definition of "capitalism". It's the president's job to do certain duties of government and to stay the hell out of the way of the private sector, economically speaking.
The President only "runs" the country and the economy in Marxist dictatorships.
Then again, her supporters probably think that's OK.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/25/2008 5:55 Comments ||
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#4
Perhaps Mrs. Clinton should read this quote from Kudlow:
"Look fellas, the command-and-control, state-run economics experiment was tried. It was called the Soviet Union. If you hadnt noticed, it was a miserable failure."
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/25/2008 6:01 Comments ||
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Democrat Barack Obama's big lead over rival Hillary Clinton has slipped but is still substantial two days before the presidential primary election in South Carolina, where candidates were competing vigorously to win support from black voters.
Former President Bill Clinton, whose wife is battling with challenger John Edwards to stay out of third place in South Carolina, lashed out at Obama and the media for elevating race in the campaign. Obama's lead fell 3 points overnight to give him a 39 percent to 24 percent edge over Clinton in South Carolina, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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Breck Boy is making a baby move - mainly amonst the white guys..... in weird but true number O'Bama has less than 10% of the male SC Demo vote (of any race creed color or nationality). He might be the first female president
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
01/25/2008 7:16 Comments ||
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#2
Who would have known that Bill and Hillary knew Rezko too. The sleezy, slimy politics of the donks gets interesting. Karmic payback is indeed a bitch.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/25/2008 00:00 ||
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Maybe its just me but IMHO SLY appeared to have an abnormal speech impediment when on FOXNEWS last nite - does anyone know iff he may had suffered a LIGHT/MINOR STROKE-RELAPSE recently???
Sly's new movie is suppos set in Thailand - that entire Region includ Thai is likely a POST-IRAN/OSAMA ANTI-US BATTLE FRONT FOR RADICAL ISLAMISM. Without seeing the movie yet, based on Net descriptions I would surreally opine that the movie's message appears to be that RAMBO's = USA grit will project and prevail unto even the remotest areas of the world.
#4
Fred, the reason Romney is ahead is because (contrary to hype of the media wisdom) Romney is the only one of the pack that can really win. The media will try to sink him every chance they get. I can tell you McCain has almost no support among the base of Republicans(even his mom said so today). Rudy has similar liberal problems as McCain. Plus a New York mayor just doesn't sell well in the heartland and out West. Rudy or McCain will cause much of the base to sit out the election. Can you say "President Hillary"? Romney is a guy most of the base will support. Just a small percentage has a problem with the Mormon thingy. Plainly, he is the only one of the pack that can beat Hillary or Osama.
...the U.S. wind energy industry installed 5,244 megawatts (MW) in 2007, expanding the nations total wind power generating capacity by 45% in a single calendar year and injecting an investment of over $9 billion into the economy, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) announced today. The new wind projects account for about 30% of the entire new power-producing capacity added nationally in 2007------------
1. Granted that actual generated power averages about 30% of capacity
2. Granted that the power generated isn't much and it basically just marginally reduces the demand for natural gas
3. Granted that this is heavily subsidized
nonetheless, this shows the ability of industry to move on technology and I love to drop these stats into discussions with lefty enviros
#1
Granted it does not reduce the demand for fossil fuel plants. Instead it requires those plants to stay spun up in standby mode in case the wind drops. Another indirect subsidy.
Posted by: ed ||
01/25/2008 7:18 Comments ||
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#2
early start to the presidential campaigns... coincidence?
#5
In Northern Germany they have a giant windmill every couple of miles. I assume the windmill creates power for the area around it.
A few years ago the part of the SF bay area I lived in (Foster City) was wind swept constantly and had a bunch of wealthy high tech companies with cash to burn and rolling black-outs to deal with.
Only a moron wouldn't put the two together, give tax incentives to the big corporate campuses that buy wind power and take themselves off the grid, perhaps selling (or giving as Clint was forced) the excess back to the grid.
Same issue in Southern California but replace wind power with lots of flat rooftops that could easily handle solar power. I'm thinking movie studios in addition to universities and high tech.
We're not even trying because the oil companies don't want it and neither do the environmentalists.
#7
Of course, the environmental (accent on the mental) wackos protest wind power: the turbines are noisy, unsightly, and chop up birds who fly past them. The wind farms should only be built where there are NO people nearby.
What the environazis want is for most of us to live like most of the world did throughout most of human history: in the dark, in the cold, and spending most of our lives walking and near starvation. They themselves, of course, will live in their air conditioned palaces when they aren't flying off to conferences in their private jets.
#8
Solar panels on rooftops should be mandated by every local building code in the country just like plumbing and electrical wiring. Even places like North Dakota get sunlight sometimes and it would certainly reduce demand for oil.
#9
The problem wth wind is that it's not on demand and you can't rely on it for baseload. In Europe that means backup coal and French nuclear power plants. More importantly, it doubles the real cost of wind power.
Passive solar still looks the best bet for alternative energy.
#10
Wind farms are an eyesore. Windmills are charming.
The difference is obscured for the same reasons some people obscure the difference between immigration and illigal immigration and global warming and man-made global warming.
There is no reason we need one-size fits all solutions. Sunbelt gets solar power. Windy areas get wind power. Other areas get pebble-bed nuke reactors. Decentralize the power as much as we can and we remove teh power infrastructure from the bad guy target list.
#12
Abdominal Snowman, are you actually suggesting that the Shell Oil company wants and end to oil?
Being ready just shows common sense, not a desire to see the thing happen. Also by comparing an individual to a multi-billion dollar company you create a strawman and attempt to silence objection. Worthy tactics for an environmentalist or oil company stooge. You're above that so stop it.
#13
"The problem wth wind is that it's not on demand and you can't rely on it for baseload. "
If you put it one of the coastal or other areas with steady winds, and esp if you diversify a bit by having wind in different areas, Im not sure why you cant rely on it for baseload (after all its not like nuke plants dont have unplanned down time themselves). I thought the real problems was the need for peak power.
#17
are you actually suggesting that the Shell Oil company wants and end to oil?
I won't speak for AS, but Shell is running out of access to oil very rapidly. They are hunting like a dog smelling a bitch in heat for sources of energy to keep it in the game. Otherwise, they will shrink away to nothingness like an American steel company. They're at the front of a wave, and there's plenty years or decades behind them watching how they con the government into paying for their re-tooling.
#18
Worthy tactics for an environmentalist or oil company stooge. You're above that so stop it.
Well, I was _hoping_ that rantburgers in general would be above the whole "oil company conspiracy" bit but I guess not.
I could point out that wind power and oil are somewhat disjoint markets, anyway, at least until practical electric cars, instead of conspicuous consumption thingies like the Tesla Roadster, come along...
But I am really curious now. The "oil companies" don't set energy policy in this country, the politicians do. And what _they_ have decided is: NO offshore oil rigs except for off of _two_ states, NO recycling of spent uranium rods, NO decent storage facility for the spent uranium rods, NO real new construction of nuclear plants (last one was built back in the 70's), NO wind farms without fighting lawsuits from everyone and their in-laws...
NO further upgrading of the power grid. (This by itself hobbles a lot of alternate power schemes, like Solar or Wind, because you can't get the power from where it's generated to where it's needed).
There are wind farms in S. California that are only operating at half capacity because they can't upgrade the power lines from there to the rest of the grid.
THAT WASN'T DONE BY SOME SINISTER OIL COMPANY EXECUTIVE IN SOME HOUSTON HIGH-RISE. THAT WAS DONE BY THE CALIFORNIA STATE GOVERNMENT, WHICH IS JUST A PROXY FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA.
#19
Abdominal Snowman,
Actually gasoline and other fuels are the least profitable products the oil companies produce (due to political pressure).
If the oil companies had their way, they would produce as much plastic as possible (because of its profit margins) instead of gasoline. Finding alternate sources of energy would actually help the oil companies' bottom line.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/25/2008 16:25 Comments ||
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#20
It is not an oil company conspiracy to suppose that oil companies would do what is in their, and their shareholders best interests, or to assume that they pay lobbiests to increase the odds that votes go their way when possible.
I should have said oil companies though, I should have said oil interests because I include Saudi Arabia and others in this. Including at least one Japanese carmaker. According to Bob Zubrin Trent Lott removed flexi-fuel mandates from the energy bill at the behest of Toyota (I think it was Toyota). Toyota had plants in his state and is behind in the tech. So although not an oil company this also shows an alignment of other interests that are opposed to change in the status quo. Needless to say I'm not a big fan of Trent Lott because I think Zubrin makes a pretty damn solid case for Flexi-fuel.
Personally I don't vilify the oil companies, not to the extent I do the environmentalists because at least the oil companies are consistent, they are in business to sell oil.
#22
Wind blows as a power source. It costs 5 times what a large coal fired power plant does for the same capacity. In addition it requires a fast fossil/nuke plant as backup. Wind should not be a but a small percentage of a grids capacity unless it has exotic regulation and backup otherwise wind power output can go to zero in seconds and crash the entire power grid or surge and blow appliances without it. So wind is parasitic of the the more reliable elements of the power generation grid, which wind producers do not pay for.
As the article (bottom graph) shows, without wind power subsidies, wind power buildout goes to almost zero (2000, 2002, 2004). That tells you the real economic value of wind power. The 1.9 cent/kWh wind subsidy is about 40% of the cost of power from a coal plant. I sure wish I could get a 40% governmental subsidy on my salary.
Posted by: ed ||
01/25/2008 17:38 Comments ||
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Hundreds of goats have died of an unknown disease over the past four days in Birbhum's Rampurhat block II.
Some experts warned that if the H5N1 virus which causes bird flu has jumped from birds to mammals, it could be the turn of humans next.
TOI met jittery villagers in Dakhalbati, one of the affected villages in Birbhum's Margram. Abdul Mohid, a farmer, said his goat was shivering and sneezing and saliva was oozing from its mouth. Mohid had called in a local vet, who could only say the animal was suffering from high fever but could not pinpoint a disease. Though he prescribed medicines, those have not worked.
Mohid, who has already lost 35 chickens to bird flu, is now scared about his livestock. He said that several neighbours had lost their goats as well to the mystery ailment.
His neighbour Seikh Kalim has buried seven goats over the past two days. They were suffering from a similar disease. In their case, too, drugs prescribed refused to work. The animals had fever and their throats started swelling before they fell unconscious and died within minutes. At Dakhalbati, more than 60 goats have died so far.
Villagers are blaming bird flu, as the symptoms are similar. But the state administration has claimed there was no information of cattle dying in the district. "It could be pneumonia, which commonly affects goats. But an H5N1 attack is not impossible.
Pigs are proven carriers and since these goats have been sharing space with the affected birds, they are vulnerable. Chances of humans contracting the disease can't be ruled out," said Shyamalendu Chatterjee of the Indian Council for Medical Research.
Others like Barun Roy, an animal diseases expert, pointed out that H5N1 was yet to affect cattle anywhere in the world. "It is unheard of. The goats must have been suffering from pneumonia," Roy said. The state administration, too, has claimed it had no information of goats dying in the district.
Bird flu has resulted in huge financial losses for the villagers. They are not happy with the compensation. Now, most are trying to sell off their goats. "I have sold three goats at a low price. If this disease is bird flu, goats would be killed and I would lose my entire investment," said Mohammad Motier Rahaman, who lost three goats in two days.
Reports of hundreds of goats dying have also come in from Murshidabad's Khargram and Beldanga areas. Not good. Goats have a notoriously strong immune system.
#1
Not good. Goats have a notoriously strong immune system.
Natural selection, so do Camels.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
01/25/2008 7:19 Comments ||
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#2
I wish I could find some classification of immune system structures among mammals. That is, the broad similarities and differences that exist among immune systems between different mammalian species.
For example, canine and feline immune systems are very different (yet both are attacked by Avian Flu, which is truly scary); but human, pig, and ferret immune systems are very similar. In fact, ferrets are seen as the "canary in a coal mine" for human diseases, because we share so many.
Paulo Coelho, the best-selling author of âThe Alchemistâ, is using BitTorrent and other filesharing networks as a way to promote his books. His publishers werenât too keen on giving away free copies of his books, so heâs taken matters into his own hands.
Coelhoâs view is that letting people swap digital copies of his books for free increases sales. In a keynote speech (embedded below) at the Digital, Life, Design conference in Munich he talked about how uploading the Russian translation of âThe Alchemistâ made his sales in Russia go from around 1,000 per year to 100,000, then a million and more. He said: In 2001, I sold 10,000 hard copies. And everyone was puzzled. We came from zero, from 1000, to 10,000. And then the next year we were over 100,000. [âŠ]
I thought that this is fantastic. You give to the reader the possibility of reading your books and choosing whether to buy it or not. [âŠ]
So, I went to BitTorrent and I got all my pirate editions⊠And I created a site called The Pirate Coelho.
Heâs convinced â and rightly so â that letting people download free copies of his books helps sales. For him the problem is getting around copyright laws that require him to get the permission of his translators if he wants to share copies of his books in other languages.
So is Coelho just seeding torrents of his books? Thatâs just the beginning. He took it one step further and, as quoted above, set up a Wordpress blog, Pirate Coelho, where he posts links to free copies of his books on filesharing networks, FTP sites, and so on. He says it had a direct impact on sales
video of Coelho speaking about his technique and results at link
If I find something I like, I buy it. I'm not the only one either. Most people are aware that if the people who make stuff you like don't get paid, then they won't do the stuff you like.
BitTorrent let me find BSG, and I bought the DVDs lent them out and got others to buy it.
It's no accident that Microsoft gives away and ignores piracy on a lot of it's software by developers. Eventually people pay for it, or write something that makes others buy it to run the devs apps.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/25/2008 11:32 Comments ||
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#3
This reminds me of a rapper who recently teamed up with Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails) and put his latest album out for free or voluntary donation. So far < 10% of the downloads resulted in payments, but the total number paying was nearly the same number as his previous release, and - here's the kicker - he keeps every penny taken in and there's no record company taking most of the money.
#4
Seems like shareware stuff worked pretty good in the 90's, but somebody like sony or McMillan could never be satiated by anything less than pushing the price to the breaking point.
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.
Climate change is occurring far more rapidly than even the worst predictions of the UN's Nobel Prize-winning scientific panel on climate change, Al Gore said on Thursday.
Kim Jong-Il's regime could collapse within six months, bringing chaos to North Korea, observers and intelligence sources in Asia have told Jane's.
A group of ultra-nationalists detained this week had been plotting to kill Nobel Literature Laureate Orhan Pamuk, Turkish newspapers said on Thursday. The group, known as 
The New York Times editorial board has endorsed Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain in the presidential primary race.
The board also spoke favorably of Clinton's main rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, calling him "incandescent." But it concluded that "we need more specifics to go with his amorphous promise of a new governing majority, a clearer sense of how he would govern."
Democrat Barack Obama's big lead over rival Hillary Clinton has slipped but is still substantial two days before the presidential primary election in South Carolina, where candidates were competing vigorously to win support from black voters.
