Hard hitting global and local news
So our water district staff presented how they thought we could reach carbon neutrality by 2020. Depending on how you do the numbers, we became carbon neutral without even trying. A lot depends on this: ( Full presentation via scrolling to March 26 2013, Item 4.1) That’s how much energy’s used to cradle-to-grave a water drop from the Sierras to the outflow of a wastewater treatment plant
Should Eli Believe His Lying Eyes or Makarieva James reminds Eli of Makarieva et al in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics as well as featuring on several blogs. One can summarize the entire thing by noting that Makarieva claims that winds are formed when water vapor condenses decreasing the gaseous volume. Were this the major process, air would move inwards towards the area where the condensation occurred. Most others point out that the release of energy from the heat of condensation will blow the air outwards. That’s the summary There was an almost infinite amount of mathturbation about this including the original paper, and Dr. Makarieva was very, well, insistent. Eli OTOH is a member of the reality based community. The Rabett likes to look at what is going on and figure out what it means before turning the math crank. Recently Ms Rabett dragged Eli off into the mountains where he could actually watch the clouds form. He could tell you what happened, but in this world we have the video.
NASA Watch yesterday had posts and comments about a memo issued by NASA suspending all educational and public outreach activities From:    NASA Chief Financial Officer and the NASA Chief of Staff Subject:  Guidance for Education and Public Outreach (EPO) Activities Under Sequestration .
My "prediction": Tolkien was a wrestler Off topic, but still a prediction in that I don’t know the answer: Â I think Tolkien wrestled in his youth. When you read his description of armed combat, it’s pretty simple and somewhat vague, but when it becomes unarmed combat, suddenly every single motion gets described and punching takes a distant second place to grappling. Maybe it’s out there somewhere, but I’ve looked around and not read much about Tolkien’s athleticism – some brief mention of tennis and rugby at Oxford, but that’s about it.
The Egg Was First, No, the Chicken, No Never Mind An evergreen in Eli’s business is which came first exiting the ice age, the temperature or the greenhouse gas concentrations. Since the forcing is orbital changes, it is reasonable to expect at least some initial lag in the greenhouse gas and that includes water vapor, but the length of this lag has been an issue ever since Monnin, et al’s analysis of the EPICA Dome C core inferred a lag of 800 + 200 years. This has become an evergreen amongst the less serious, and indeed, there has even been considerable discussion by reasonable folk . Jeff Severinghaus provided an answer So one should not claim that greenhouse gases are the major cause of the ice ages. No credible scientist has argued that position (even though Al Gore implied as much in his movie)
Back at the beginning of time, well, to be honest Rabett Run, but did anything exist before, Eli had two excellent rants ( Rant I and Rant II ) about textbook prices and the machinations of the publishers. As you may have noticed in the US when your kid goes to college, the price of General Chemistry textbooks has shattered the $200 barrier. On the other hand, in markets where students are free to buy their own books, the price is much lower. For example, the International paperback edition (you can only get the hardcover in the US) costs ~$80 list and you can get it discounted. It is even less expensive in less expensive countries, which brings Eli to the law.
EU officials are now swarming over Cyprus threatening to cut off funds to Laiki , Cyprus’ second largest bank if the deal does not go through. Nonetheless, Cypriot politicians are balking because they know what will happen to those who go along with EU blackmail threats
Wired reports 11 Years Later, Senate Wakes Up to War on Terror’s ‘Battlefield America’ Sen.
