Froth Slosh B'Gosh

This Is Not Normal

The equivalent  of a category 2 hurricane is lashing the Midwest, and this storm formed over dry land.  This is not normal.

Its All About The Hippie Punching

Republicans in Michigan passed a law preventing local governments from banning the use of plastic bags.

A new law in Michigan will prohibit local governments from banning, regulating or imposing fees on the use of plastic bags and other containers. You read that correctly: It’s not a ban on plastic bags — it’s a ban on banning plastic bags...

The new public act prohibits local ordinances from “regulating the use, disposition, or sale of, prohibiting or restricting, or imposing any fee, charge, or tax on certain containers,” including plastic bags, as well as cups, bottles and other forms of packaging. This means individual cities and municipalities are not allowed to ban plastic bags or charge customers a fee for using them.  

So much for local government knows best, eh?  I'm of the opinion that Republicans' mind set works like this:  "Will this law piss off liberals?  If yes, enact.  If no, table and think of something that will piss off liberals."  The utility of the law, common sense, and demonstrated need do not enter into the calculation.

Meanwhile, Down Under....

Hottest temperatures ever.

So why do I mention that? Because I'm sick and tired of people saying "So much for global warming" just because we had two bitter, record breaking cold days.

Now I am fully aware that just as two days of cold weather in the North East doesn't negate climate change, neither does a multi-week heatwave "prove" climate change.

However, this is the second year in a row Australia experienced record breaking heat waves.  But even that doesn't mean much.  Australia is just one part of the world.  So what's happening globally?

This is what's happening.

It Should Be Obvious By Now

That Al Gore is fat. 

Emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases are growing at such a rate that the world will likely exceed a safe limit in average global temperatures by the end of the century and veer into a higher temperature zone that would profoundly damage economic growth and most other aspects of life, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency.

<sarcasm>The idea that its a hoax perpetuated by climate scientists to get rich makes much more sense.</sarcasm>

Its Not Your Imagination, Its Really Been That Hot

Also too:  First six months warmest ever for Pittsburgh.  And a good review of why one of these things is not like the others.

Chart is from McClatchy.

"Oceans Of Evidence"

Appeals Court upholds EPA, slaps down polluters.

A federal appeals court panel ruled Tuesday that the Environmental Protection Agency had acted properly when it set the nation’s first limits on greenhouse gases.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that the EPA’s 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger human health and the environment was based on “an ocean of evidence,” saying the agency’s move to limit those emissions from cars and trucks was “neither arbitrary nor capricious.”
The ruling was a defeat for groups that question evidence that gases from burning coal and other fossil fuels trap heat in the atmosphere. The coalition of groups that brought the complaints against the EPA said restricting the emissions would be too expensive.

I suspect that this isn't the end of this particular saga.

Court Rejects Records Request

The two-year legal pursuit of the climate scientist, Michael Mann, by Virginia's climate-sceptic attorney general ran into a dead end at the state supreme court on Friday.

The court rejected Ken Cuccinelli's demand for Mann's email, research notes, and even handwritten memos from his time at the University of Virginia, ruling that the official did not have the legal authority to demand such records.

I have to wonder how much of the taxpayers' money was wasted in Ken Cuccinelli's jihad against Michael Mann.

Poop Provides Power Possibilities!

Now this is pretty interesting!

a Penn State University research team views wastewater as an important energy resource, a raw material. By combining and refining energy technology, the research team has developed a two-pronged method of using wastewater to produce a more abundant output of electricity than either method could do individually.

The Penn State study, "Energy Capture from Thermolytic Solutions in Microbial Reverse-Electrodialysis Cells," written by Roland Cusick, Bruce E. Logan and Y. Kim, was published Thursday in Science.

The microbial fuel cell uses microbes to consume plant or human waste to produce electrons that the fuel cell converts into electrical current. But that system, Mr. Cusick said, is inefficient.

Adding a system that uses reverse electrodialysis, the research team pumped solutions of salt water and fresh water across specialized membranes that only allow positive and negative ions through, while also separating them. The separation of salt water and fresh water by the membrane generates an electrical voltage that directly increases fuel-cell power. As the ions migrate from the salt water to the fresh water, their movement also increases electrical current generated by the microbes.

Using common waste to provide power is rather resourceful. The technology appears to be too expensive to be practical at the moment, but give it time. Now,if there was only a way to produce electricity via bloviation, we'd really be on to something!

But Al Gore Uses Airplanes!

Also too, he's fat. As is Michael Moore.

Using a unique pair of satellites that have monitored the disappearing ice over the entire surface of the globe, scientists estimated that some 1,000 cubic miles of ice has disappeared between 2003 and 2010 – enough to cover the US in one-and-a-half feet of water.

The survey found that the melting of the cryosphere has been responsible for raising sea levels by about half an inch over the same period, equivalent to a rise of about 1.5mm a year. This was on top of sea-level increases due to the thermal expansion of seawater caused by rising ocean temperatures.

Yeah, well, if THAT's true, why ISN'T Murrika covered by 18 inches of water?? Answer THAT you eggheads!

I guarentee that denialists will focus on the finding that Himalayan ice loss isn't anywhere near as great as previously thought, while ignoring the rest of the findings, to "prove" that global warming and climate change aren't happening. Hell, it already IS happening!

UPDATE: Right on cue: Faux News.

Snakes Swallow Swamp Stuff, So Say Scientists

A pretty good example of how an introduced species can wreak havoc on an ecosystem.