Andre's Musings

OK... it's time to give you my results with "Ethos."

While I did get some increase in fuel efficiency, it did not hit the break-even point of a 2 MPG increase.  Thought you all would like to know!  Here is the screenshot of my Excel spreadsheet and you can see the details for yourself.

Obviously, your results may vary.

As I have been highlighting in the past six months, more and more meteorologists, climatologists and phyicists are becoming vocal about their disagreement with the theory of anthropic CO2 forcing.

Even goups that once nodded in agreement with the theory are now saying, "Stop the presses!"

Here's a July 16th news release from the APS (American Physical Society):

Science Group Repping 50,000 Physicists Reverses Stance, Admits 'Considerable Presence' of Skeptics

 

Myth of Consensus Explodes: APS Opens Global Warming Debate
Michael Asher - July 16, 2008 9:35 PM

"Considerable presence" Of Skeptics

The American Physical Society, an organization representing nearly 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on climate change and is now proclaiming that many of its members disbelieve in human-induced global warming.  The APS is also sponsoring public debate on the validity of global warming science.  The leadership of the society had previously called the evidence for global warming "incontrovertible."

In a posting to the APS forum, editor Jeffrey Marque explains,"There is a considerable presence within the scientific community of people who do not agree with the IPCC conclusion that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are very probably likely to be primarily responsible for global warming that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution."

The APS is opening its debate with the publication of a paper by Lord Monckton of Brenchley, which concludes that climate sensitivity -- the rate of temperature change a given amount of greenhouse gas will cause -- has been grossly overstated by IPCC modeling.   A low sensitivity implies additional atmospheric CO2 will have little effect on global climate.

Larry Gould, Professor of Physics at the University of Hartford and Chairman of the New England Section of the APS, called Monckton's paper an "expose of the IPCC that details numerous exaggerations and "extensive errors"

In an email to DailyTech, Monckton says, "I was dismayed to discover that the IPCC's 2001 and 2007 reports did not devote chapters to the central 'climate sensitivity' question, and did not explain in proper, systematic detail the methods by which they evaluated it. When I began to investigate, it seemed that the IPCC was deliberately concealing and obscuring its method." 

According to Monckton, there is substantial support for his results, "in the peer-reviewed literature, most articles on climate sensitivity conclude, as I have done, that climate sensitivity must be harmlessly low."

Monckton, who was the science advisor to Britain's Thatcher administration, says natural variability is the cause of most of the Earth's recent warming.   "In the past 70 years the Sun was more active than at almost any other time in the past 11,400 years ... Mars, Jupiter, Neptune’s largest moon, and Pluto warmed at the same time as Earth."

2008 Global Temperatures Similar to 1940

Excerpt: By Richard Courtney, DipPhil, a UN IPCC expert reviewer and a UK-based climate and atmospheric science consultant.)

Courtney took up the NRDC challenge to skeptical scientists to 'let NRDC's real climate experts take them on'

Excerpt: Richard S Courtney says that the temperature is similar to 1940. […] The global temperature fell from 1940 to 1970, rose from 1970 to 1998, and fell from 1998 to the present (i.e. mid-2008). This is 40 years of cooling and 28 years of warming, and global temperature is now similar to that of 1940.” [..] It is simply true. Please do not take my word for it but check it for yourself. I cite CRU data from: http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/temperature/had
crut3gl.txt In that CRU data set the 1940 monthly values of temperature anomalies from the 30 year mean are presented in degrees Celsius. They range between -0.191 and +0.057 with an annual mean of +0.018. In that same data set the monthly 2008 anomalies to date are +0.053, +0.192, +0.430, +0.254 and +0.278. This is a mean value for the months in 2008 to date of +0.241. The ranges of the monthly values for these years overlap; i.e. the highest monthly value in 1940 (+0.057) was higher than the lowest monthly value in 2008 (+0.053). I think it very reasonable to say they are “similar” when their ranges overlap. However, my use of the word “similar” could be considered to an understatement because the mean values differ by only 0.223 degrees Celsius and the data has inherent error of +/- 0.2 degrees Celsius. So, within their inherent errors the mean values are not similar because THEY ARE THE SAME. But atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration has increased by more than 30% since 1940 and increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is supposed to induce "dangerous" global warming.

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/pgutis/public_en
emies.html#comment1189

Cooling Underway: Global Temperature Continues to Drop in May 

'Significantly Colder'
16-month temperature drop of -0.774°C! 

Global temperatures continued to slide in May 2008.  Meteorologist Anthony Watts details the cooling temperatures in a report titled “Global Temperature Dives in May.” The new global temperature data reveals a whopping three quarters of a degree Celsius drop in temperatures since January 2007. Watts reported late yesterday that the cooling is “equal in magnitude to the generally agreed upon ‘global warming signal’ of the last 100 years.”

 

“Confirming what many of us have already noted from the anecdotal evidence coming in of a much cooler than normal May, such as late spring snows as far south as Arizona, extended skiing in Colorado, and delays in snow cover melting in many parts of the northern hemisphere, the University of Alabama, Huntsville (UAH), published their satellite-derived Advanced Microwave Sounder Unit data set of the Lower Troposphere for May 2008,” Watts reported on June 3. 

Here's a fun project to do with your kids: send their names to the moon... LITERALLY!

NASA is accepting names that will be placed on a computer chip that will circle the moon on an upcoming probe that will orbit the moon.

After you register, you will be sent a PDF file certificate that you can print just like I did for Bill and Stacey on FOX 8 News at 5 PM.

Here's the link!

 

As I mentioned on FOX 8 News at 5 PM on Friday, there is a web site that is hosting LIVE video from a number of tornado chase teams.  Technology has allowed live video feeds by phone and we get to jump into the car of a chaser and see what he or she sees.

The URL is below.  Have fun!

http://www.severestreaming.com/

 

 

Just like anybody else, I am looking for ways to save on gasoline costs.  Better driving habits help, but until hydrogen fuel cells take over, I'm always on the lookout for promising ideas.

In comes Ethos.

Approaching the additives with much caution and skepticism, this one appears different.  Wanting others to benefit if there is something to it, I bit the bullet and decided to make an experiment out of it right here on this traffic blog.

I am now in the process of carefully logging my MPGs for the next few weeks while I wait for the Ethos to arrive.  I will bde just as curious as you to see if this does what it claims (up to 19% higher fuel efficiency - click here to see the full documentation).



I hope you will find this experiment interesting.  Check back often during the summer as I will share my mileage spreadsheet with you in the coming weeks.

Buy or bust?.... 'dunno!  Let's find out....

And I am one of the signators.  Many of my co-workers in meteorology here in Cleveland have also been signers.

CLICK HERE for the complete story.

 

Earlier today on FOX 8 News at 5 PM, I showed the ODNR's web cam on the top of Terminal Tower in one of my computer hyperlinks.  What did we see?

Something VERY, VERY cute.

The baby falcons perched near the top of Terminal Tower have hatched!

Here is a LIVE image of the web cam below (darker image during nighttime).
Hit the REFRESH key for a new image every minute or so.

Biblical Scholars Challenge Pelosi's 'Scripture' Quote

The Complete Story by clicking on CNS's link:

Weblink to CNSNews.com Article:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is fond of quoting a particular passage of Scripture. The quote, however, does not appear in the Bible and is "fictional," according to biblical scholars.

In her April 22 Earth Day news release, Pelosi said, "The Bible tells us in the Old Testament, 'To minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.' On this Earth Day, and every day, let us pledge to our children, and our children's children, that they will have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and the opportunity to experience the wonders of nature."

Cybercast News Service repeatedly queried the speaker's office for two days to determine where the alleged Bible quote is found. Thus far, no one has responded.

Distinguished biblical scholars, however, cast doubt on the existence of the passage.

John J. Collins, the Holmes professor of Old Testament criticism and interpretation at Yale Divinity School, said he is totally unfamiliar with Pelosi's quotation.

"(It's) not one that I recognize," Collins told Cybercast News Service. "I assume that she means this is a paraphrase. But it wouldn't be a close paraphrase to anything I know of."

Claude Mariottini, a professor of Old Testament at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, told Cybercast News Service the passage not only doesn't exist - it's "fictional."

"It is not in the Bible," Mariottini said. "There is nothing that even approximates that."

Other scholars agree that nothing remotely resembling it can be found in any version of the Scriptures - Old Testament or New Testament.

"The quote does not exist in the Old Testament, neither in the New Testament," said the Rev. Andreas Hock, a doctor of Scripture who teaches in the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Denver's St. John Vianney Seminary.

"Even in pieces or bits, (it) cannot be found in the Old Testament," he added.

Interestingly, Pelosi has mentioned the quote before, Mariottini noted.

"In truth, (she) has used this 'passage' in many different ways, and all of those usages have nothing to do with the Bible whatsoever," he said.

Indeed, Cybercast News Service has learned that Pelosi has repeatedly used the quote........

From the web site: http://www.khouse.org

'EXPELLED' FINDS AN AUDIENCE - (Print) 

This past weekend the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed opened in theaters around the country. The documentary, hosted by Ben Stein, takes a look at the debate – or lack thereof – and the controversy surrounding the theory of intelligent design. Expelled examines how many scientists have been chastised, denied tenured positions, or even fired for suggesting that Darwin's theory of evolution may not be the best explanation for life on earth. The film argues that "big science" is using intimidation and censorship to stifle academic and scientific debate. Instead of encouraging scientists to ask questions, examine the facts, and follow the evidence wherever it may lead, our universities and scientific institutions are using their influence to suppress those who are bold enough to question the accepted evolutionary theology. 

Expelled did well at the box office, despite being almost universally panned by mainstream media critics (a rather hostile review by the New York Times actually described the film as a sleazy "conspiracy theory rant"). Expelled took in $3.2 million in its opening weekend. It managed to break into the top 10 at the box office, despite only showing on about 1,000 screens nationwide (wide release films typically show on 2,000+ screens). While $3.2 million certainly isn't spectacular for a mainstream movie, it is quite good for a documentary. In fact, Expelled had the third best opening in history for a documentary, and could end up as one of the top 10 highest-grossing documentaries of all time.

Darwin's Wall

Expelled opens with documentary footage of the Berlin going up and ends with it coming down. The idea is that a similar wall has been built in the scientific community. It is a wall meant to protect the sacred cow of modern science and the cornerstone of secular humanism. Expelled argues that scientists should be able to take an objective look at intelligent design without fear of reprisal. The film includes interviews with scientists on both sides of the debate, including Stephen C. Meyer of the Discovery Institute and well-known atheist Richard Dawkins. 

If intelligent design isn't real science, if indeed it is merely religious propaganda, what are scientists like Dawkins so afraid of? The truth is that the more we learn about universe, the more obvious it becomes that we are not the result of random chance. The discovery of DNA, in particular, has radically transformed modern science and changed how many look at the origin of life. DNA is a digital, error-correcting, and self-replicating code; and within its complicated and elegant structure are the blueprints of every living thing on the planet. According to Dr. Jerry Bergman, a professor of science at Northwest College, "At the moment of conception, a fertilized human egg is about the size of a pinhead, yet it contains information equivalent to about six billion chemical letters. This is enough information to fill 1000 books, 500 pages thick with print so small you would need a microscope to read it! If all the chemical letters in the human body were printed in books, it is estimated they would fill the Grand Canyon fifty times!"

Random chance cannot account for the complex design of DNA. It is statistically and mathematically impossible. The chances of winning the state lottery every week of your life from the age of 18 to 99 are better than the odds of a single-celled organism being formed by random chance. Likewise, the probability of spontaneous generation is about the same as the probability that a tornado sweeping through a junkyard could assemble a 747 from the contents therein. It is impossible. The evidence all points to the unavoidable conclusion that we not the product of chance, but the result of intelligent design.

To learn more about this topic click on the links below. For a more in-depth look at the origins of life check out The Creator Series (this series contains four excellent briefings on various topics related to the creation/evolution debate).

Phil Chapman is a geophysicist and astronautical engineer who lives in San Francisco. He was the first Australian to become a NASA astronaut.

"Sorry to ruin the fun, but an ice age cometh...."

The first sunspot appeared in January this year and lasted only two days. A tiny spot appeared last Monday but vanished within 24 hours. Another little spot appeared this Monday. Pray that there will be many more, and soon. The reason this matters is that there is a close correlation between variations in the sunspot cycle and Earth's climate.

The previous time a cycle was delayed like this was in the Dalton Minimum, an especially cold period that lasted several decades from 1790. Northern winters became ferocious: in particular, the rout of Napoleon's Grand Army during the retreat from Moscow in 1812 was at least partly due to the lack of sunspots.

That the rapid temperature decline in 2007 coincided with the failure of cycle No.24 to begin on schedule is not proof of a causal connection but it is cause for concern. It is time to put aside the global warming dogma, at least to begin contingency planning about what to do if we are moving into another little ice age, similar to the one that lasted from 1100 to 1850. There is no doubt that the next little ice age would be much worse than the previous one and much more harmful than anything warming may do.

There are many more people now and we have become dependent on a few temperate agricultural areas, especially in the US and Canada. Global warming would increase agricultural output, but global cooling will decrease it. Millions will starve if we do nothing to prepare for it (such as planning changes in agriculture to compensate), and millions more will die from cold-related diseases.

All those urging action to curb global warming need to take off the blinkers and give some thought to what we should do if we are facing global cooling instead. It will be difficult for people to face the truth when their reputations, careers, government grants or hopes for social change depend on global warming, but the fate of civilisation may be at stake.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story
/0,25197,23583376-7583,00.html

News from Marc Morano, Communications Director
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Washington D.C.

The pressure is on.

CBS News 60 Minutes is pressing Gore on skeptics. Gore knows he is facing serious backlash from the scientific community and peer-reviewed studies. 2007 and now 2008 are overwhelmingly turning into the “tipping points” for climate alarmism as new peer-reviewed studies continue to debunk rising CO2 fears, a U.S. Senate minority report reveals nearly 500 scientists dissented from man-made climate fears, and more and more scientists continue in 2008 to declare themselves skeptical of a man-made climate “crisis.”

The Earth’s failure to continue warming has also confounded promoters of man-made climate fear. Here is a mere sampling of inconvenient developments for climate alarmists in 2008 alone:

(1)
Oceans Cooling! Scientists puzzled by “mystery of global warming's missing heat”- LINK  

(2)
New Data from NASA’s Aqua satellite is showing “greatly reduced future warming projected as a consequence of carbon dioxide.”- LINK 

(3)
Former NASA Climatologist Dr. Roy Spencer found not one peer-reviewed paper has 'ruled out a natural cause for most of our recent warmth' – LINK

(4)
UN IPCC in 'Panic Mode' as Earth Fails to Warm, Scientist says – LINK 

(5)
UN IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri “to look into the apparent temperature plateau so far this century.”- LINK 

(6)
New scientific analysis shows Sun “could account for as much as 69% of the increase in Earth's average temperature” – LINK & LINK. 

(7)
An International team of scientists released a March 2008  report to counter UN IPCC, declaring: “Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate” – LINK

(8)
MIT Climate Scientist Dr. Richard Lindzen’s new analysis finds the Earth has had “No statistically significant warming since 1995.”- LINK 

In light of the 2007 record breaking global temperature drop and a northern hemisphere snow and ice pack that has expanded to the second greatest extent in recorded history, every single teacher that requires his or her students to watch Mr. Gore's error filled film should also require their students to watch another importnat work.

It's a documentary produced by CBC (Canadian Broadcast Company) that aired in 2007.

I encourage every single student and teacher who reads this blog to pass this along to everyone. Solid science deserves our attention!

http://www.andrebernier.com/good_science.html

Enjoy... and stay warm. ;)

In light of the 2007 record breaking global temperature drop and a northern hemisphere snow and ice pack that has expanded to the second greatest extent in recorded history, every single teacher that requires his or her students to watch Mr. Gore's error filled film should also require their students to watch another importnat work.

It's a documentary produced by CBC (Canadian Broadcast Company) that aired in 2007.

I encourage every single student and teacher who reads this blog to pass this along to everyone. Solid science deserves our attention and this is it.



Enjoy... and stay warm. ;)