3/30/12: Oops. Wind Turbines Heat Earth

Greg passed this along:


Large wind farms might have a warming effect on the local climate, research in the United States showed on Sunday, casting a shadow over the long-term sustainability of wind power.

Researchers at the State University of New York at Albany analysed the satellite data of areas around large wind farms in Texas, where four of the world’s largest farms are located, over the period 2003 to 2011.

The results, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, showed a warming trend of up to 0.72 degrees Celsius per decade in areas over the farms, compared with nearby regions without the farms.

“We attribute this warming primarily to wind farms,” the study said. The temperature change could be due to the effects of the energy expelled by farms and the movement and turbulence generated by turbine rotors, it said.

“These changes, if spatially large enough, may have noticeable impacts on local to regional weather and climate,” the authors said.
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I happen to know the weather center at SUNY Albany. Very good group. They used to have an interesting site, so check it out.


One of the Comments to this piece was clever. The Green folks, in their various guises, are an example of people who hold the theory that living causes cancer. 


I am not really sure if that is apt, but it must be useful for something. Art is its own raison d'etre. 

A MUST TALK 


(Simple, but take notes)

As you know, I have been wandering around warning people for years, now, about the coming bad times. I got many a rolling eyes and it was very disheartening.

I know people do not want to hear information that does not fit with experience, consensus activity, or hope; this is called a "normalcy bias." My fault was getting excited too early for people to accept what is coming.  By now, I expect people can see that we have trouble, though events may not be clear. 


A recent poll: Likelihood of Depression: 48% You must admit there is nothing you can see in your life that promises any hope that things are getting better. Whatever you do, do not listen to TV and radio news or the government; their job is to con you as long as possible.

Silver has tripled since I mentioned it some two years ago. You lose money every day you have cash in the bank. Gasoline increases to a large degree because foreign producers do not like our dollar. Our reported national debt is $15 trillion and there is only about $10 trillion in existence, in all forms. The best bond trader in the world says we really owe $75 trillion. If you had $10,000 in the bank and owed $75,000, would you borrow more money to keep paying the pool boy?

It is too late to fix our economy. A Ron Paul could, at least, soften the crash, but we have no candidate, now, who is competent regarding economics. Mr. Romney know business, can fire people, but that only a miniscule part of what we need, such as ending stupid wars. Mr. Obama has an adolescent understanding of the world, but does not care because he wants nice, simple state controlled socialism.  He just buys half a billion rounds of ammunition and builds concentration camps.

We are, essentially, screwed, so look to protect the family and community. Withdraw from the big picture, the big banks and return to 1950 or the good old days of Our Gang.  


When you are notified a tsunami is coming, you have time to pack up and get far away. Those who die are those who stare in amazement as the water in the bay withdraws. They are clueless and, now, that can kill.

I will buy Aftershock. Most people have more family and assets than I to worry about, so consider it yourself.  I fully expect to make a profit when things collapse. In addition, I am setting up a way for people to move their money into Canada. Remember, as they say, it is too late to close the barn door after the horses are gone.

To repeat many blogs, let me add a few thoughts that do not require study into economics:
1. Do not hold dollar investments. That is the exact wrong thing to do. Get out of the bank. Invest against the US dollar and economy and do not have any money in long term bonds. The stock market will do well for a little while, it does with inflation, until we go off the cliff. You had better not be in the market, then.
2. Buy "junk" silver. It is near 30 now. I have no idea where it will go, but I would not be surprised to see 100 in a few years. Keep it hidden.
3. If you have variable mortgage, get into a fixed one immediately. You will not be able to when inflation kicks in; by that time one should consider bankruptcy - if the laws do not change to screw you.
4. If you own your home outright and do no want to sell, take out a low interest fixed loan, now, and buy silver with it. You will be paying back the loan in very cheap dollars. This sounds very odd, but it is, perhaps, the simplest and most effective way to prepare.
5. If you think it is conservative to put your head in the ground, then buy TIPS. US Government bonds that will generally reflect inflation. Of course, the government lies.
6. Buy and store basic foods, seriously. Get heirloom seeds.
7. Get a weapon.
8. Be ready to cash in your silver or gold to buy distressed property. There will be
bargains in every area.
The easiest way to prepare is to think of life where the interest rates climb incessantly for years, well beyond what you think possible. Your real estate will halve. Gas could quickly, a year or so, get to $7 a gallon and increase. Home heating fuel will be your major concern.
Just think in terms of a 1950 lifestyle, a dangerous 1950, so create a bond with your neighbors.

A Review of Communism

George Konrad, Hungarian author:

...Many people feel empty, a world that seemed so strong just collapsed. Forty years have been wasted on stupid strife for the sake of an unsuccessful experiment. The values gathered together have vanished, the strategies for survival have become ridiculous. And so forty years of our lives have become a story, a bad anecdote. But it may be possible to remember these adventures with a kind of irony....

I wonder if we are starting our adventure? 


I wonder if irony provides any relief from suffering or the loss of dignity. It does permit us, however, to restart things unencumbered by feeling that we were idiots.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même

Caveat: Police State as we slept

A bill that nobody is paying any attention to is sailing through Congress: 


Senate Bill 1813. It passed the Senate by 74 to 22, and is expected to sail through the House as well. It's an act "[t]o reauthorize Federal-aid highway and highway safety construction programs, and for other purposes."

It's the "and for other purposes" part of the title that has me worried -- specifically, Section 40304: "Revocation or denial of passport in case of certain unpaid taxes."

This section would give the IRS the power to keep a U.S. citizen from traveling --










You can expect: "Your papers!"

No Caveat: Life

The sun just rose across the Pacific, eventually overwhelming the Kauai lighthouse. The darkness had gradually dissolved to reveal the cliffs below and the extended beach and low sea bottom that cause the wave sounds unlike the East Coast. 

Below, I saw there were homes, far below, directly across the street from the ocean. I could not tell, but will assume the homes were on fifteen foot high stilts, which is normal on the shore area.  The photo is looking over my hangout, but looking north. There was a beach, so it was low tide.

Seeing the houses, my thoughts turned to tsunamis, of course, Then, I thought  of Alaska having an earthquake and sending pressure waves at me. I wondered what sort of pressure would it take to top the two hundred foot plateau that is home to the resort in Princeville. 

Realizing I was envisioning a three hundred foot tsunami overwhelming the whirlpool, I turned toward the opening market store and found my way to a Starbucks (it is a resort after all). Perhaps, the temperature will soon top 83 degrees so I can get comfortable. 

A chicken chick just jabbed my toes, exposed of course, and looked up at me. A few minutes ago I dumped the crumbs from my scone about the big chicken. This guy was smart; he stayed around.  I wonder, is a "chicken" female or do we not have a counter-part to "rooster?" This is the sort of important thing you wonder about here.

I saw a T-Shirt with a picture: 

Hawaiian Chicken: 

not 

Endangered Species.

The chickens, here, are omnipresent, like robins in New York. They are wild and much more fun than those in prison at home. They even take to flying over brush. In addition to chickens, we European-types introduced some sort of pine tree that grows straight with light branching. The trunks were used for masts. The landscape that is supposed to be lush and low, is filled with tall evergreens. I makes you consider the adaptability of life. 

Yesterday, I walked along a beach at the end of Route 50 and the trees, evergreens, had massive roots systems exposed. The sea had cleared out over ten or more feet of dirt and the roots created a magical web. The roots, by the way, are huge, almost like they exist for the purposes beyond the systems found at home. The trees are happy, their chins jutting out to sea.

The island has many suspiciously perfect rivers. I will to my homework, but I expect there was excavation long ago so plantations had water transportation. The rivers look like canals.  There are cheap kayaks about, but this place would do very well to provide better ones, especially surf kayaks. Tourist, however, should be kept on cheap, safer boats.

Off the coast to the interior are beautifully envisioned and maintained farms. Behind the farms are massive igneous mountains. They are not odd, geologically. They are the peaks of the highest mountains in the world and I am sitting on the area flattened by the sea and rain and time. They are covered by foliage and one finds a reference in the film "Jurassic Park." 

Indeed, there is a Jurassic Falls somewhere off to the south. There is something I have not yet seen, yet, modestly called: The Grand Canyon. It is ten miles long and, having seen what I have, thus far, I already know it is beyond my imagination to envision the canyon. 

The chickens have moved off as the East Coasters occupy tables and drink coffee. The time zone difference for us is six hours, so even those who are not working have no choice but to wake before the sun. I am having trouble getting back to the business flow at home, which I must, as it is already afternoon, there.

The sun is noticeable upon the back of my neck, so I should consider sun screen, my adaption to environment. Life adapts and in the macro sense, does what it has to. The individual leaves that fail to meet the environment die and fall back to mother earth. In this part of the world, death and renewal is ever-present. It may be that is the reason life is well lived. 

I will leave you with what I read this morning and which prompted this missive: 

NASA 1976 Mars mission discovers life

English.news.cn   2012-04-17 14:20:51

BEIJING, April 17(Xinhuanet) -- A new research conducted by a team of American scientists provided evidences that the 1976 Mars mission found microbes on the planet, according to a report released Tuesday on the website of American National Broadcasting Company (NBC).

Four decades ago, NASA launched the Viking Mission to probe life on Mars, and then came to a conclusion that the red planet is lifeless.

After using the modern technology to reanalyze the data of 1976 mission, scientists found the microbes in the collected Mars soil might be killed by mistake at temperature of 160-degree Celsius.

"I'm 99 percent sure there's life there," said team leader Dr. Joseph Miller, a former NASA researcher and current associate professor in University of Southern California.

And the studies conducted by the team recently on methane emission on Mars also support the new finding, he said.

NASA's latest probe, Curiosity, is due to land on Mars in August, which will again search for signs of life on the planet.

As I sign off, two roosters jumped up on the table next to me and grabbed left-over lettuce from a breakfast. That is perfect, if you think about it.

CAVEAT: HAVLISH v BIN LADEN et al

U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels, SDNY, recently issued his "Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law" regarding a class action against Iran. 


This analysis is the conclusion of years of research and the gathering of evidence; there is no spin and all is documented.  The decision is essential reading for all Americans. It is fifty three pages long and must be reviewed. There is no sloughing this one off. 

The evidence included affidavits and sworn testimony from several individuals:

• Ten expert witnesses such as three former 9/11 Commission staff members, two former CIA officers, two investigative journalists, an Iran analyst who testified in 25 other cases of Iranian terrorism

• Three Iranian operatives and defectors

• Abolghasem Mesbahi, former operative in charge of Iran’s espionage in Western Europe

The conclusion of law is that the U.S. District Court has found and documents that Iran is at war with the United States and was the hub of all the activity behind 9-11. The finding documents that stated goal of Iran is undermine the economic structures and institutions of the United States and Israel. 

Judge Daniels stated that “the Islamic Republic of Iran, its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Hosseini Khamenei, former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Iran’s agencies and instrumentalities, including, among others, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security, and Iran’s terrorist proxy Hezbollah, all materially aided and supported Al Qaeda before and after 9/11.”

The finding of facts is not reviewed by an appeal court, which may review matters of law. 


Judge Daniels has held Iran vicariously liable for the acts of its agents regarding the 9-11 attack, making it liable in a significant class action.


Of note, Irans inflation rate is now 21%, so they may understand blowback from the Iranian position. 


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Now, have you heard of this case? 


Think about that. A federal court has spent nearly eight years working through the evidence and using non-hearsay evidence has determined that Iran is at war with us and assisted in attacks, including the murder of 3,000 people.  This is not a report from Israel or Princeton, sorry, the State Department. This is not from Rick Santorum.  This is from a sophisticated court that took evidence open to cross examination and made findings of fact in a law suit. The finding of vicarious liability by a country is very unusual.  


Our president wants to talk to Iran to make friends. 


The media ignores the matter.  The Iranian people are in the crosshairs that their leaders have created using their 750 AD political logic. 


Send this report to everyone you can. 

Caveat: 4-5-12

 8:09 AM Austria's central bank follows the Bundesbank example from last week and will no longer accept bank bonds from Greece, Ireland, and Portugal as collateral for borrowings, reports Dow Jones. (Read the comments on this)

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The melting away of Europe's economy will help the U.S. banks and stocks for a little time, which the President will claim is a result of his policy, and it appears, through various estimable opinions, that many of our companies have reset themselves. The resetting is part of a free economy and occurs as quickly as there is freedom, so this recession is the longest in history. 

As governments in China, Japan, Europe, and the US continue to control their economies and to protect their elite, that is protect the politicians, banks and large investors, the pain will continue. 

The Fed changed its mind yesterday and will now back off from printing money (QE3), as it is called, which was funding the stock market rise, so the selling pressure should begin asap. The extent of the pull back will be revealing.

Caveat: April 2, 2012

About 95% of all TV programming comes from a group of seven companies – Disney (ABC), News Corp. (FOX), NBC (owned by Comcast and General Electric), CBS, Time Warner, Viacom, and Discovery Communications.
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The interesting news is that competition is close via the Internet: Intel, Google, Microsoft, Sony, Apple. Still not much of a world view. It is weird that Russia TV covers the United States news with items that never make it to our TV.  


The Internet should be the source of free information, but the government and industry will eventually control it. If you can think of a new distribution channel, you will be very rich.


I am not a fan of national socialism, but I doubt one should fight it with national oligarchy:

...A recent FAIR study of nine major media corporations and their major outlets,Disney (ABC), General Electric (NBC), CBS, Time Warner (CNN, Time),News Corporation (Fox), New York Times Co., Washington Post Co.(Newsweek), Tribune Co. (Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times) and Gannett(USA Today) found connections to six different insurance companies. Five out of the nine media corporations studied shared a director with an insurance company; two insurance companies—Chubb and Berkshire Hathaway—were represented by more than one media corporation director.

The study also found crossover between these media corporations and several large pharmaceutical companies, such as Eli Lilly, Merck and Novartis, whose profits would also likely be negatively impacted by a single-payer system. Out of the nine media corporations studied, six had directors who also represented the interests of at least one pharmaceutical company. In fact, save for CBS, every media corporation had board connections to either an insurance or pharmaceutical company.

For example, the board of directors of the Chubb Corporation, whose accident and health division has offered health insurance for over 30 years, shares directors with two major media companies: Gannett and General Electric. A search of the Nexis database from January 1 through June 30, 2009, found just six articles mentioning single-payer in USA Today, Gannett’s major outlet. Out of those, only one (6/12/09) is from an advocate—a reprinted block quote from Sen. Bernie Sanders (Ind.-Vt.) originally published in the Huffington Post (6/8/09). On NBC News, GE’s major outlet, single-payer was mentioned on only two occasions in the past six months. Of those two occasions, one was on Meet the Press (6/28/09), in which both Republican strategist Mike Murphy and former Governor Mitt Romney asserted that a public option would lead to a single-payer plan. The other NBC News mention of single-payer was favorable, but very brief—PBS’s Tavis Smiley named Obama’s move away from the plan as one of his concerns after Obama’s first 100 days (4/25/09).

At the Washington Post Co., two directors are on the board of insurance conglomerate Berkshire-Hathaway, whose subsidiary General Re sells health reinsurance. In fact, Washington Post director Warren Buffet not only chairs Berkshire-Hathaway’s board, he is the company’s CEO. (Berkshire-Hathaway is also one of the 10 biggest U.S. advertisers, along with pharmaceutical company Abbott Labor-atories—Ad Age, 6/22/09.) Another Washington Post director, Thomas Gaynor, is the vice president of insurance company Markel Corporation. In the past six months, the Washington Post has published hundreds of articles on the subject of healthcare reform, fewer than 25 of which mention single-payer. Fewer than 30 percent of the sources who spoke about single-payer in these articles were advocates of the plan. 
In all, though healthcare reform has been mentioned thousands of times in the output of these media corporations’ major outlets, single-payer was mentioned in only 164 articles or news segments from January 1 through June 30, 2009; over 70 percent of these mentions did not include the voice of a single-payer advocate. Over 45 percent of the pieces that did include a single-payer advocate were episodes of the Ed Show, an MSNBC program whose host, Ed Shultz, frequently advocates for single-payer healthcare. Without the Ed Show, just 19 percent of articles or news segments that mentioned single-payer would have included an actual advocate of the plan. 

While it should go without saying that correlation is not causation—and MSNBC’s example proves that interlocking directorates are hardly the only factor in media coverage—this study indicates that, at the very least, corporate media and the insurance and pharmaceutical industries’ interests are fundamentally aligned.