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You are browsing the archive for March 2009 - Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal.

29 March 2009

Can The Universe Expand Faster Than Light?- Apparently Yes!

When it comes to NASA Satellites, Hubble is the star of the show. The Mars probes have gotten plenty of interest lately, but compared to Hubble, they are a flash in the pan (Wonder where that saying comes from-photography I suspect). No doubt about it, Hubble has been fantastic, and the Space Shuttle is scheduled to do one last repair mission on it in a few months. My favourite picture, in all …

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28 March 2009

What a Job! If everyone is peeved, you did It right!

I am not much of a Basketball fan. Cricket and Football for me. No not that football. REAL FOOTBALL. Think Beckham!) . (Who I am watching play for England against Slovakia, as I type!) I’m smart enough to know that March is HUGE for basketball fans. Now the rub. Two big games are on, and the CBS is broadcasting them in High Definition. As I expected, storms started to develop,  and conditions were …

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25 March 2009

The Case of The Missing Sun Spots

Do sun spots control Earth’s climate? YES! So does El Nino, La Nina, and the myriad of other oceanic oscillations. So do the slow regular changes in our orbit around the sun, and so do the ever increasing amount of greenhouse gases, in our atmosphere. The affect of the sun spot cycle on our climate has been investigated quite well. Thanks to bogus claims that the warming of the 20th century was …

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23 March 2009

Earth Hour This Saturday

This coming Saturday at 8:30pm local time, millions of people will turn off their lights for an hour. It’s called Earth Hour. The idea is to get people thinking about our planet. We waste a tremendous amount of energy everyday. If incandescent bulbs were outlawed tomorrow, you could shut down several coal fired power plants immediately! They will be phased out starting in 2014, and they already have been in my house. (Saved …

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21 March 2009

A Political Exception

I usually do not write much here about the political side of Climate Change. Frequent brushes with it perhaps, but never as a main subject. This post is an exception. They will be very few. Science is much more fascinating than politics. George Will’s column on Climate Change last month in the Washington Post has been attacked in the blogosphere by far better writers than I. The Post itself has …

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20 March 2009

Assorted books, pamphlets, and thoughts on a sunny Friday.

Spring has busted out all over here in Northeast Alabama. Much prettier here in Spring than where I grew up in Oklahoma. My yard has a beautiful Cherry tree, and a host of golden Daffodils. So, wherever you are, on this small, spinning fragment of solar driftwood, (Orson Wells Oct. 30, 1938. CBS Radio-think Martians.) here’s hope that Spring reaches you soon! (This offer not valid for Aussies, Kiwis, and …

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15 March 2009

Understanding Uncertainty

I had an email from a viewer last week, who was upset that he canceled his golf game three days in a row because I forecasted rain. He pointed out that it was Thursday, and the rain had finally started. My first thought was that he had gotten my forecast mixed up with someone else’s. (It happens frequently. I’ve been blamed for missing a snow forecast, when I was spot on!) …

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13 March 2009

The Great Copenhagen Disconnect

Hundreds of the world’s top Climate Scientists have been meeting in Copenhagen. This is the largest meeting, since the release of the 4th assessment report of the IPCC in 2007. I have written here several times about research, indicating that the situation was worse than thought, just two years ago. The rate of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is increasing more rapidly than expected in the worst case scenario. Sea …

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10 March 2009

No, Global Warming Did Not Stop in 1998

Some of the political sites that masquerade as Science have touted that Global Warming stopped in 1998. They even give you charts to prove it. Every time I log into my Gmail I see adds for some book that says a NASA Scientists has exposed the fraud of Global Warming. Time for a few reality checks. If a real NASA scientist discovered global warming is wrong, they would publish it …

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9 March 2009

Space Camp Reprised

I wrote last month about my trip to Space Camp, and meeting two Apollo Astronauts. Tonight the TV version of my weekend airs on WHNT. The talent of the people I work with continually amazes me. The piece on TV was photographed, taped, edited, and written by one David Wood. My sincere thanks to him for making the weekend at Space Camp come alive. See Weekend To Remember.

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