Melting of Arctic Ice predicted to accelerate warming.

Here is an article that says that the melting of Arctic ice will enable twice the previously expected absorption of sunlight, and hence increased climate warming.

It is worth reading, but bear in mind that the same effect could cause increased clouds at mid-latitudes and increased reflectivity. Thus the overall effect is unknown.

Remembering Gramma Jo

Today would have been my grandmother's 112th birthday. She was born in January of 1900 and almost lived out the century, making it until 1998. Gramma Jo was a liberated woman before they were invented. She was widowed in her early thirties and raised two children as a single mother. When she retired in 1965 she circumnavigated the globe, even beating the hippies to Nepal. I keep thinking I should retrace her steps when I retire but I am not sure I am gutsy enough. The childhood photo shows Gramma Jo with the younger members of her family. She is the youngest girl and there were also two older brothers who are not in the picture. The other picture is more like I remember her. She was so active in her senior years that whatever age she was, I ended up thinking that wasn't old, as in "sixty-five isn't old", "seventy-five isn't old", etc. At 90 she walked down at the Accokeek boardwalk with me. Finally at 95, she did start to seem a little old. Her core good humor was legendary and remained until the end.
She liked to cook and especially to make desserts. She was good at sewing and knitting. Her retirement hobby was woodcarving and she made the woodcarving below for me when she was around 80.

Gramma Jo worked at making her grandchildren into better people. I remember how she would not let us slack on a job like washing the dishes - it meant that not only did the dishes have to get washed but you needed to sponge off the counter, too! I'm grateful now for all her influences.

Arctic and Antarctic Ice Contrary Trends

Arctic ice continues a slow decrease while Antarctic ice increases. Actually, none of the trends seem all that clear to me until the recent abnormalities of solar flux are clarified by further yearly data.

In any event, it seems possible to postpone the implications of the Arctic ice situation for national policy. It is clear that, for reasons of national energy security, that it is a good idea to proceed with electric cars , with natural gas power, with nuclear power and with solar power. All of these measures will help global CO2 emissions anyway. Hence further measures can be postponed. Wind energy is, in principle, a good idea, but natural gas energy resources are currently unexpectedly large and thereby undercut wind on a price basis. Solar panel prices have decreased a lot, and that too will be favorable for all concerned.

Runciple Spoon and Pumpernickel Fly Away

Air travel is apparently a bit tough on the two tough little dachshunds. Here is the message from Lynnis and Bryan en route to distant parts via Amsterdam:

We've completed the short leg. Still a very long trip behind and ahead. Spoon was very antsy and fussy but pumpernickel was perfectly behaved. We were never so glad to be in the company of a fussy baby to overshadow the whines.

The change of the year

Sears 4500 tractor

Today I learned that the Sears lawn tractors are useless in the snow without wheel weights and also chains. So.... we went to Sears to buy both, but, it turned out that the chains will not be available until Tuesday. Scot put the weights on and I found that the chains really are needed also. When I tried to go up a tiny hill, the wheels spun. So until the chains become available, it is no go.

I needed the little tractor to go feed the neighbors horses despite the snow that ordinarily stops my perambulation. Fortunately, after I became exhausted from the tractor no-go, Lona volunteered to go do the job of feeding the horses.

Snow removal

I bought a Sears model 4500 lawn tractor and snowblower attachment. It arrived too late for the attachment mounting process to be completed before the expected snowstorm. Later this week, Quick and I plan to take all parts to his garage where we hope to figure out the complexity and also to work in comfort. But it looks like we are going to be snowbound until then.

Domesticating bears, raccoons, pandas

Wolves were domesticated long ago as dogs. Wolves, bears, raccoons and pandas are closely related evolutionarily. It therefore seems like an interesting experiment to try moving the dog domestication genes into related animals. A friendly panda would be very popular to be sure. Best of all, the foregoing are different sizes, so, specialized friendly brutes can be created for both useful purposes and for fun.

If anyone is wondering why I haven't been posting lately, it is because I'm working on some heavy duty physics stuff that is taking full time.

new blog

...not like i need another one...

http://littlehousekitchen.blogspot.com/

The Barisol Guns

In India along the coast there are sometime booming sounds of unknown origin called the Barisol guns. A similar sound occurs in North Carolina, New Jersey, Delaware and Virginia called the Seneca guns. Yesterday, in the afternoon and evening of 26 June 2010 both my wife and I heard the phenomenon in Accokeek, Maryland for many hours. It was not thunder due to lightning as no lightning was visible. The sky was totally clear, and of course, it was only a few days after the summer solstice. As it happens, it was also only shortly after a lunar eclipse.

I have long noticed various strange electrical phenomena a few days after the summer solstice. I attribute this to the solar wind dragging electrical charge into the North magnetosphere and out the South magnetosphere toward the outer reaches of the solar system. That the recently eclipsed moon would also have been directly away from the Earth from the Sun, also suggests that, in the case we heard yesterday, that the moon might have been the target of all that charge.

Although a humid atmosphere discharges local charge, it is a dry atmosphere that best for long distance charge transport. The reason for this is that water molecules adhere with electrons and consequently bind and slow them during transport. Consequently, it is a dry completely clear atmosphere that would best fast transport charge from the Earth's surface up to the magnetosphere, and, thence, to outer space.

It is fun to stay up at night after the summer solstice and and await the astronomical midnight. On most occasions there will be observed a phenomenon usually termed "heat lightning" in a completely clear sky. Astronomical midnight is when your local longitude is exactly away from the sun. Therefore in computing astronomical midnight you must both take into account both daylight savings time and your exact longitude within the longitudinal time zone. Here in Accokeek I seem to recall it occurs around 1:20 am daylight savings time. A more exact calculation is possible, but an exact calculation isn't necessary to observe the phenomenon since it occurs at a wide range around astronomical midnight. I attribute the midnight heat lightning to the same cause as the Seneca or Barisol guns. Notably, heat lighting shows no visible lighting stroke anywhere, the sky just flashes.

How a Sewing Machine Works | Dossier

How a Sewing Machine Works | Dossier

Sunspots and the Climate

There is increasing doubt that the current solar cycle will be normal. Instead many fewer sunspots are expected. It is also becoming increasingly clear that global warming was due to previously high solar activity. With low activity expected for this solar cycle, we might well see global cooling for a very prolonged period. Watch out for another cold snowy winter, especially in Europe.


I have added the link below which puts fake email addresses into spammers searching the web for email addresses.
Anti Spam Blocker - Help Fight Spam Email!

Legionnaire's Disease and Windshield washer fluid

Recent research indicates that use of windshield wiper fluid (mostly methanol) prevents Legionnaire's Disease from breeding in your wiper fluid compartment. In other words, do not use ordinary water.

Reducing your oil use

Here is a good article with tips to reduce your oil footprint:

Reducing your oil use � Always Well Within

Ruffled Feathers

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My rooster with the famous tail was cornered in the garage and attacked by some vile creature. Amazingly enough he is fine. The funny thing is he shed his tail like a skink. I never would have imagined that tail might serve a functional purpose but it was enough of a subterfuge to allow him to escape. Feathers were going from the front to back of the garage in large clumps. If they hadn't left the feathers I would suspect a hatmaker.


Poor little man wanted to go to bed early. His tail used to touch the ground when he was on his perch.



I could make some really impressive hats or fishing flies.