Real Climate Science

http://trove.nla.gov.au/

Doh! Every idiot can see that rocks don’t move. Those seashells in Denver formed spontaneously. WTF was Wegener thinking of?

Wegener and his Critics

Since his ideas challenged scientists in geology, geophysics, zoogeography and paleontology, it demonstrates the reactions of different communities of scientists. The reactions by the leading authorities in the different disciplines was so strong and so negative that serious discussion of the concept stopped. One noted scientist, the geologist Barry Willis, seemed to be speaking for the rest when he said:

further discussion of it merely incumbers the literature and befogs the mind of fellow students.

Barry Willis’s and the other scientists wishes were fulfilled. Discussion did stop in the larger scientific community and students’ minds were not befogged. The world had to wait until the 1960’s for a wide discussion of the Continental Drift Theory to be restarted.

http://www.scientus.org/Wegener-Continental-Drift.html

“You can either be captain of the boat, or you can be the anchor”

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s served the Obama administration with notice Friday afternoon that it planned to downgrade the U.S. government’s AAA credit rating, an administration official told CNN.

But S&P has yet to make its ruling public, and the source told CNN that the agency is reconsidering after the administration challenged S&P’s analysis of the government’s finances.

The source, a senior official involved in the discussions, said the agency was off by “trillions” in its economic model and was now working to revise its analysis.

http://money.cnn.com/

http://www.arctic.io/observations/8/2011-08-05/8-N72.724809-W137.101428

A couple of observations.

1. The wind compacted the ice in the Beaufort Sea today.
2. Shadows are appearing on the ice. No more midnight sun, except for very close to the pole.

The Great Storm of 1703 was the most severe storm or natural disaster ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain.[1] It affected southern England and the English Channel in the Kingdom of Great Britain. A 120-mph (193-km/h) “perfect hurricane”, it started on 24 November, and did not die down until 2 December 1703

At sea, many ships (many returning from helping the King of Spain fight the French in the War of the Spanish Succession) were wrecked, including HMS Resolution at Pevensey and on the Goodwin Sands, HMS Stirling Castle, HMS Northumberland and HMS Restoration, with about 1,500 seamen killed particularly on the Goodwins. Between 8,000 – 15,000 lives were lost overall. The first Eddystone Lighthouse was destroyed on 27 November 1703 (Old Style), killing six occupants, including its builder Henry Winstanley. The number of oak trees lost in the New Forest alone was 4,000.

On the Thames, around 700 ships were heaped together in the Pool of London, the section downstream from London Bridge. HMS Vanguard was wrecked at Chatham. HMS Association was blown from Harwich to Gothenburg in Sweden before way could be made back to England.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Storm_of_1703

Joe acknowledges that the MWP was real! Will he be called to testify?

U.S. southwest could see a 60-year drought like that of 12th century — only hotter — this century

By Joe Romm on Dec 14, 2010 at 2:35 pm

“This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.”

– Barack Obama, 2008

Obama made this statement without factoring in the Global Isostatic Adjustment, which has added 0.9 mm to sea level rise since he took office.

Otherwise, he did heal the planet and start quite a few wars.

James, Kevin, Larry, Julia, Al, Curly, Mike, Shemp, Moe, Barack

A tiny layer of dust can drastically affect the light-harvesting ability of solar cells – just a few grams per square metre can cut the efficiency in half

It is really dusty in Texas, and solar panels probably would have to be cleaned every day to keep them working close to capacity. Suppose that one person could clean 100 solar panels a day.

Texas could employ 20 million solar panel cleaners! Workers from Juarez are used to working for about $25/day, so they could probably sneak 20 million illegals across the border and keep the panels clean for only $165 billion per year.