Tuesday, August 13, 2013

The Sydney Morning Herald is featuring Baby Cakes.

Baby showers have cakes to commemorate the occasion. These are some of them. Believe me this one is the best of the bunch.

2 Aug 

From misshapen (click here) cake babies to questionable text, from odd colour choices to internal organ recreation, these are the baby shower cakes that taste forgot. All pictures from cakewrecks.com.

The building needs to be condemned. Just that simple.






Reuters

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - A Florida time-share resort (click here) where a sinkhole devoured a building Sunday night said that it is open for business and next week's guests should "come on down."

Paul Caldwell, the general manager of Summer Bay Resorts, which is located 6 miles from Walt Disney World, made the pitch to guests at a news conference on Tuesday. He said that geological and structural testing under way on the 100-foot wide cavern and the surrounding buildings should be complete by Wednesday....


So what? They don't intend to continue to use this hotel do they?

...Guests staying in the downed building were evacuated by an alert security guard who ran inside to wake occupants as the structure was twisting and collapsing around him. No one was injured.

A total of 36 people were evacuated from two buildings on the sprawling 64-acre property, which has a total of 900 units, the resort said....

This turbulence is rather abrupt. THere is a hemispheric system crossing the troposphere.

August 14, 2013
0030.19z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of North and West Hemisphere (click here for 12 hour loop)

The hemispheric system is reaching from the bottom to the top of this image. It is massive. 

There is usually hurricanes crossing oceans by now every year, but, the troposphere has been very quiet. The water vapor is in the upper troposphere. It appears to me to be a heat transfer system, but, it is not connected to a Mid-latitude vortex. It has to be connected to a vortex over the Arctic Ocean. There are multiple vortices in the mid-latitudes, but, they are independent to this new air mass movement.

I've watched this develop over the past twelve hours and the vortex offshore of Vancouver is nearly stationary. This is somewhat new. There is also a 'street' of vortexes east of the tropospheric air mass. The 'street' begins offshore Florida and traverses northeast.

I think that air mass traveling across the center of the North American continent is connected to that Vancouver air mass. That moisture accumulation of vortex is very new.

August 14, 2013
0030:19z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES West Satellite (click here)

The satellite below is about 11 hours ago. The water vapor accumulation is significant and is probably being pulled from the Equator. Although this is moving toward the end of summer and the water vapor from the Arctic Ocean and icefields is increased.

August 13, 2013
1330:20z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES West Satellite 

It sincerely appears this is the driving vortex to that new turbulence across the continent. As a stationary vortex it would dominate the moving water vapor and build strength to direct the equatorial air.  

The Jet Stream passing over Southern California (the dark air) is making an impression on that water vapor content. The Jet is dry and pulling the water vapor right out of the that heat transfer system where they intersect

This is interesting. There are large incident fires across the northwest and Alaska.

Well, the heat from them added CO2 to the region and might help explain the stationary aspect of that vortex and why it is fueling with water vapor now. 

If CO2 is concentrated before it dissipates into 'the entire' of the troposphere (gas laws) it will concentrate heat (infrared reflected off Eart) under it. 

With any luck, the firefighters will be getting some help soon. Let's hope it is not too much help. Mudslides. 

There ya go.

There is your heat concentration. 

August 13, 2013
1330:20z
UNISYS Enhanced Infrared GOES West Satellite (click here)

Yep.

The temperatures are still high. Earth started to spin hurricanes when we were here earlier this summer.
 

August 13, 2013
The Weather Channel
Actual High Daily Temperature Map

In the UNISYS map at the top of this entry has a promise of growing turbulence in the Gulf. With the building water vapor at the vortex in the northwest, there is a promise of storms there as well.

The Drought Monitor is no surprise. Drought due to Climate Crisis resulting in wildfires. 
 
August 6, 2013
US Drought Monitor

The next monitor will be out in two days. It should be interesting because it will be dated for August 13, 2013. Today.

This is called a NEGATIVE Feedback Loop. High levels of CO2 in the troposphere lead to drought which leads to fires which leads to increase in CO2 from the fires while the troposphere is already up to 400 ppm of CO2. It is a dangerous troposphere and should have been avoided at all costs. Everyone was told. It should never have been a political issue. The DEPENDENCE of the USA elections on special interest monies is the enemy. 

The political system in the USA has a lot of problems. This is one of them. The government is failing to protect it's citizens. 

It sincerely is time for the USA Air Force to get back to basics. Seriously.

This view of the missile base was considered a work of art. (click here)

It is so good to know that Russia can have confidence in our peace initiatives and non-proliferation. 

David T. Hanson, Malmstrom Air Force Missile Site #Kilo-11 341st Strategic Missile Wing Judith..., 1985; chromogenic print, 19 13/16 in. x 24 in. (50.32 cm x 60.96 cm); Collection SFMOMA, Accessions Committee Fund purchase; © David T. Hanson 

WASHINGTON | Tue Aug 13, 2013 7:37pm EDT
 
(Reuters) - A U.S. Air Force inspection (click here) of a Montana base found errors that resulted in a failing grade for the nuclear missile unit, the latest in a series of issues involving the Air Force's management of nuclear weapons, authorities said on Tuesday.

The failed inspection at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana does not pose any safety risks to the U.S. nuclear, Air Force Global Strike Command Commander Lieutenant General Jim Kowalski said in a statement.


The August 5-13 evaluation of the 341st Missile Wing covered operations, maintenance, security, safety and support activities and received unsatisfactory rating after making "tactical-level errors during one of several exercises," the statement said.

Carla Pampe, chief of civic outreach and internal information for Air Force Global Strike Command, told Reuters the Air Force does not release details of the inspection results in view of "operational security considerations."...


...The Air Force has sought to tighten controls over its nuclear weapons after a 2008 incident in which a B-52 bomber accidentally transported nuclear armed missiles across the country, leading to the ouster of then-Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and General T. Michael Moseley, the top uniformed officer in the Air Force.

The 341st Missile Wing, based at Malmstrom, operates 150 Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) - one third of the country's missile wings. The other two wings are at bases in Wyoming and North Dakota....

I'm okay, you're not okay, so who cares?

 

I think Chancellor Merkel's political campaign is extremely brave and genuine.

She broke the mold with this election. I love it. She decided to take the front of a classroom to teach the children. There is no better way to state she believes in the education and future of the children of Germany.

Put away all the antics of the political spectrum and bring profound ethics and commitment to reach the people. I think she is great. 

13 August 2013

Pupils in Germany (click here) got a lesson from a very important person this week.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel - who's as important as the UK's prime minister - turned up at a high school in Berlin to give a history class.
She wanted to teach the students about the building of the Berlin Wall 52 years ago in 1961.
Germany used to be two countries. It was divided after the second world war into East and West Germany.

Part of the city of Berlin belonged to the east and the other to the west.

Life in East Germany was very different to West Germany. The type of government was different. People in the East didn't have as much freedom and had to live under strict rules.

She put together a personal brochure to the voters allowing them to see her in her life. She is genuine, committed, in love with her country and the life it provides to her. She threw away the facade to prove to her country she is real. She is sincere. She is unafraid of her past, present and the desire she has for the future of her country. It is beautiful. It is very spiritual. It puts directly in the lives of her constituents. 

I don't find this at all desperate, but, inspired. I hope it works for her. How can a leader of the free world maintain a distance from the people and still remain genuine? "She is Us." I hope it starts a discussion that brings her into the lives of the German people.

12 August 2013 
By , Berlin

Mrs Merkel (click here) will return from a holiday spent hiking in the Italian Alps to deliver her first campaign speech in the city of Seligenstadt on August 14, one of seven rallies this week. The latest poll, published in the Bild am Sonntag, has the CDU on 41pc and the opposition Social Democrats on 25pc.
 

Strange picture, isn't it? But, it becomes less strange when it is put into context.

This is Wes Jackson, Founder and President of The Land Institute. Get it yet? No?

 
Here he is again, is the picture still clear as mud? Hint: No that is not a Taliban beard.

Below is one of their research projects. 

Still, no? 

Come on now, I am quite sure everyone knows what a plant root looks like, now don't you?


The Land Institute is one of those dedicated organizations to prevent crop collapse when no one ever cares about it. The Land Institute has dedicated itself to finding species that would sustain drought. It is easy to say they are way ahead of everyone else.

Here is a final view of the research conducted by dedicated PROFESSIONALS at The Land Institute. In this picture is comparison of a Perennial Wheat Grass to that of the annuals currently dominating crop production in the Midwest of the USA.  The Perennial, by visual inspection alone, out performs the commercial variety of annual plantings. 

In case no one guessed, the Perennial Wheat Grass is on the right in this picture. The long beard like structure extending to the bottom of the cloth is it's root structure. That long root structure out performs annual wheat in a million different ways, but, besides production there is being drought proof while it prevents soil erosion.

I am not the only fan Wes Jackson has, recently Thomas Friedman found him very interesting company on a trip to the MidEast. 

Ah, the Climate Crisis and the Arab Spring.

August 13, 2013

Thomas Friedman: The parallels to be drawn between prairie, al-Qaeda (click here)

I’ve spent the last few months filming a Showtime documentary about how climate and environmental stresses helped trigger the Arab awakening. It’s been a fascinating journey because it forced me to look at the Middle East through the lens of Arab environmentalists instead of politicians.

When you do that, you see the problems and solutions very differently. Environmentalists always start by thinking about the health of the “commons” — the shared air, soil, forests and water — that are the basis of all life and which, if not preserved, will undermine the whole society. The notion that securing the interests of any single group — Shiite or Sunni, Christian or Muslim, secular or Islamist — over the health of the commons is nuts to them. It’s as laughable as pictures of gun-toting fighters strutting on the rubble of broken buildings in Aleppo or Benghazi, claiming “victory,” only to discover that they’ve “won” a country with eroding soil, degrading forests, scarce water, shrinking jobs — a deteriorating commons.

Our film crew came to look at the connection between the drought in Kansas and the rise in global food prices that helped to fuel the Arab uprisings. But I stumbled upon another powerful environmental insight here: the parallel between how fossil fuels are being used to power monoculture farms in the Middle West and how fossil fuels are being used to power wars to create monoculture societies in the Middle East. And why both are really unhealthy for their commons....

Fighting "The Good Fight."

There is no indication 70% of North Carolina voters approve the the stricter voting rights laws.

There was a 63% voter turnout in national elections in 2012. That is the highest in modern history. When Americans understand their rights are under assault they turn out to defeat those seeking to oppress them.

The oppression is palpable and obvious. It is real. This is not a political strategy through propagandized ideology. 

The legal challenges to these laws are important. These laws set very dangerous precedent that could escalate into a "Voting Class." The turnout in 2012 alone is evidence enough to demand the roll back of these oppressive laws. Voting hours should expand and not be eliminated. In the case of NC there are multiple incomes in a family, it is difficult for the Poor and Lower Middle Class to 'find time' to vote in their demanding fiscal infrastructure.

While the legal challenges go forward, there also has to be a grass roots effort to register voters. If Campus IDs aren't enough, then a movement should ensue by Campus organizations to schedule buses to Motor Vehicle Offices so the community can obtain so called 'legal' IDs. The Campus population has to recognize the planned attack on their rights and act to diminish and eliminate it. The same goes for impoverished communities. Take Absentee Ballots to voters that cannot get to the polls or find that intense activity overwhelming to participate in person. The elderly can certainly be provided absentee ballots.

These measures have to go forward as well. The legal arguments are important to defeat precedent, but, Americans need to armed with legal IDs as dictated by oppressive legislatures. We are war within the USA. We are fighting for our freedoms and this is one of the most important venues of fighting "The Good Fight." 

Updated 4:30 a.m. ET Aug. 13, 2013

NEW YORK 
North Carolina Gov. Patrick McCrory (click here) has signed a sweeping voting reform bill that imposes strict photo identification requirements on the state's 4.5 million voters, rolls back the early voting period and repeals one-stop registration during early voting.
Almost immediately following the signing, civil rights groups filed lawsuits in federal court challenging the law....


This is not to 'derail' such a project, but, there needs to be a lot worked out.

The Future of Travel: NY to LA in 45 Minutes (click here) 

Having recorded a huge success with Tesla, Elon Musk is now turning his entrepreneurial eye on revolutionising long distance transportation.
When researching California’s new high speed rail project, and realizing that it will be the slowest, and yet most expensive, high speed rail system in the world, he decided there must be an alternative that offers faster travel for less cost....

I am not convinced this is a better idea than electro-magnetic rail. Think G-forces and maintenance costs. 

This is more than Tesla, which is a great venture. I congratulate him. This is the public. A 75 year old woman would have a difficult time sustaining the G forces of the system. 

And there is the issue of 'the leak' that would destroy the movement of the vehicle.

Every mode of transportation that defeats the Climate Crisis has merit. The thought of it at all is admirable. We all know we stand on the shoulders of those that have come before us, so this respects science and does not seek to disparage it or discourage young scientists to go forward with their practices.

It has merit, but, if folks are going to debate cost over advances we will never move outside the insults of the petroleum industry. We have to move to valuing ADVANCES in solving our problems including that of climate.

In the case of "Hyperloop" the idea the vehicle will travel along it's track without bumping causing wear and tear is a bit ideological. The next step is to set up a 'working table model' and use it. Make a toy train and seek to begin the physics of the entire system. Make it to scale eventually and then onto a model for use in some venue before applying it to public policy.

Stop and Frisk is a substitution for police on the street and gun control that works.

So, the Republicans are stating unconstitutional law has to be institutionalized in our country. It is okay to crash economies to benefit Wall Street, lay off city employees, increase danger to the citizens rather than having effective infrastructure, but, "hey, you know how it is, we still have to find a way to keep people safe regardless of how bigoted and racist enforcement sincerely has become." 

Why seek desegregation. Let the poor minorities in the USA sit in neighborhoods where unconstitutional state institutionalized laws overwhelm real governance.

Right.

by Jorge Rivas, Tuesday, January 8 2013, 2:40 PM EST
 
New York City’s (click here) Stop-and-Frisk program finally had its day in court, and it lost. A federal judge in Manhattan has ordered the New York City Police Department to stop making stops for trespassing outside certain privately owned Bronx buildings without reasonable suspicion. Manhattan Judge Shira Scheindlin said the practice of stopping people suspected of trespassing outside private buildings in the Bronx was unconstitutional....

I realize New York has strong gun control and it works, however, Mayor Bloomberg has stated repeatedly there are guns that come into the city through the south to north Interstate 95 Corridor. There is no comprehensive gun control to stop the flow of guns into Northeast.

So, the Republicans obstruct gun control, cut budgets, take police off the street but insist "Stop and Frisk" is necessary. They have a very long way to go to prove it. Very long way.

April 1, 2011 1:20 PM

NEW YORK (CBS NewYork/AP)Mayor Michael Bloomberg (click here) is laying it on the line warning that the city can’t make up for all of the state’s cutbacks.
“This is the hand we’ve been dealt and the question is how do you do it responsibly?,” Bloomberg said Friday. “Everybody is going to suffer.”
Hard economic times mean that New York City will have to reduce the size of its police force.
“We cannot afford the size police force, fire department, of any of these agencies if we have a $400 million deficit,” said the mayor, referring to the state budget passed Thursday that the city said failed to deliver roughly $400 million in savings that the mayor had demanded.

I hate to bring this up, but, history is rich with all kinds of references to this overreach by Police. 

Institutionalized unconstitutional law strongly looks like a Police State. People can't walk and talk and have freedom of movement without the threat of police contact. Really? A Police State? That isn't unconstitutional? That isn't setting up a community to hate their police force?  

The examples are many and date back to WWI. It is a slippery slope. If the police are allowed to Stop and Frisk, what next? Nothing? This is the only result of the law? 

Every mayor in the country has been waiting to hear this decision. Don't tell me nothing else follows.

Mayor Bloomberg has to seek to SOLVE THE PROBLEM not simply hit it with brute force.

The problem with Stop and Frisk enlists minority populations for enforcement. These have become "No Go Zones" for law enforcement. The community has to be addressed. How can a Mayor state he is enforcing good governance if his minority populations are segregated where these unconstitutional measures are required to protect citizens.

I remind it was the minority populations in the USA hit hardest by the 2008 Global Economic Collapse. Are our minorities to live forever in poverty as economic victims only to be made to accept a Police State in their neighborhoods. These realities reach far beyond law enforcement. 

A seventeen year old young man minding his own business loses his leg because he was in the wrong place when a gun went off and severed an artery. He was lucky to be alive. His mother passes out on the floor of the emergency room to this twist of fate of her precious son. She is admitted to the hospital herself to rule out a heart attack. True story. The young man was one of those that had vigilant parents that found ways of maneuvering their reality to set their son on a path of success out of the city. 

Why does that scenario exist at all? Why do minority parents face incredible odds against the success of their children? 

There is a lot "W"rong with this law and it begins with lack of opportunity to our minorities that leads to their lack of wealth and impoverishment. The drug economies of the country have their strongest hold with our impoverished. Isn't that what everyone complains about when the beginnings of al Qaeda takes root?