I've moved !
Please update your links and bookmarks...this blog will remain active as an archive, but all new posts as of October 3rd will appear at:
www.wattsupwiththat.com or wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com
My new blog location will allow me to provide better service to my readers, and richer content of postings.
Thanks !
Anthony
The discovery of the heaviest chemical element yet known to
science. The new element has been tentatively named
Governmentium.
Governmentium has 1 neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75
deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving
it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held
together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by
vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.
Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However,
it can be detected as it impedes every reaction with which
it comes into contact. A minute amount of Governmentium
causes one reaction to take over four days to complete when
it w ould normally take less than a second.
Governmentium has a normal half-life of three years; it does
not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a
portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons
exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually
increase over time, since each reorganization will cause
some morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.
This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientists
to speculate that Governmentium is formed whenever morons
reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical
quantity is referred to as Critical Morass.
It appears that in the quest to save our planet from dangerous chemicals, people will blindly sign anything. Read more about this dangerous chemical here: http://www.dhmo.org/ It's "an odorless, tasteless chemical" that can be deadly if accidentally inhaled.
This chemical is so dangerous that a local city council in Aliso Viejo, CA put it on the agenda to ban foam containers made with it. I expect our liberal city council may soon address this danger like we've already done for nuclear weapons in the city limits.
Penn and Teller provide an entertaining look into mindless activism.
with a hat tip to Mark...
Sung to the famous Italian song Funicili Funicila.
For a real hoot, see Rodney Dangerfield sing it here on Youtube
An astute letter to the editor writer in Arkansas has found the reason for global warming:
This actually happened, as attested to on the rumor/urban legend verifcation website Snopes.com
A recent investigation by the Financial Times says that the new Carbon Credit Industry may already be rife with fraud. Hmmm...now where have we heard that before?
Among the findings:
■ Widespread instances of people and organisations buying worthless credits that do not yield any reductions in carbon emissions.
■ Industrial companies profiting from doing very little – or from gaining carbon credits on the basis of efficiency gains from which they have already benefited substantially.
■ Brokers providing services of questionable or no value.
■ A shortage of verification, making it difficult for buyers to assess the true value of carbon credits.
■ Companies and individuals being charged over the odds for the private purchase of European Union carbon permits that have plummeted in value because they do not result in emissions cuts.
From the article:
Some companies are benefiting by asking “green” consumers to pay them for cleaning up their own pollution. For instance, DuPont, the chemicals company, invites consumers to pay $4 to eliminate a ton of carbon dioxide from its plant in Kentucky that produces a potent greenhouse gas called HFC-23. But the equipment required to reduce such gases is relatively cheap. DuPont refused to comment and declined to specify its earnings from the project, saying it was at too early a stage to discuss.
The burgeoning regulated market for carbon credits is expected to more than double in size to about $68.2bn by 2010, with the unregulated voluntary sector rising to $4bn in the same period.
Seems like the "green" here is not about Gaia...but all about Benjamins.
There's no mention of how much these companies pay gamers to have virtual trees planted in video games.
For those of us that hate having Winnie the pig presented to us as part of our local weather report, I'd like to offer this solution that cuts all of us annoying weather middlemen and weather forecasting pigs right out of the picture and give you total control over your weather report.
Its called the ViziFrame - now you can program your own local weather channel at home, or at the office, or at the marina, or the golf course, your school, a truck stop, gas station, or wherever there may be an interest in weather to make a go/no go decision. You can view it on your own terms, and unlike the Weather Channel, you don't have to wait a half hour to get the info you need.
And the graphics, look at good as anything on TV. For those of you with a profit in mind, it can have advertising and other information too. Its way cool, inexpensive, and trouble free. It works with any TV, big screen, or computer monitor. It updates its information via WiFi or a regular Internet cabled connection to a home DSL/cable router or T1 router.
The Chico Chamber of Commerce is going to put a bunch of them (the premium model that also does video and audio clips with touch screen interactivity) around town at hotels, restaurants, city hall and other public places that cater to visitors. Local artist Gregg Payne worked out a cool design for the front fascia that looks like the Hooker Oak tree...a concept view is below along with the current weather page and forecast...which are live content links soon to be on the Chamber of Commerce web page. Kris Koenig and Anita Berkow of Interstellar Studios are doing the interactive kiosk presentation for it. Look for these around town soon!
Note the current conditions page - it has solar irradiance on it - I figured if we were going to become a solar powered city, getting a real-time indicator that people can use to calculate solar panel efficiency would be a good first step, so I invested in the equipment to do that. I'll have an entire blog entry on this service later.
The graphics are made in my rendering system as weather data arrives at my office here in Chico, there's actually about a hundred plus graphics that are available.
But you can get a weather channel for your home or business too. See www.viziframe.com I've sold several of these already and people at home just connect them up to a spare video port on their big screen TV, and when they want weather, just switch to it. No waiting, no pigs, no hassle.
Today the ER editorial Board poked some fun in Hits and Misses at the proposed forensic body farm, and Bidwell Ranch by suggesting I add a "stink-o-meter" to my www.bidwellranchcam.com website if the body farm were to be put on the land.
Not wanting to be labeled a NIMBY, I'm only too happy to oblige. Here's the concept view above.
Actually this could work, as scientists have created a smell microchip that I could build into the webcam system.
In general, Hollywood filmmakers follow the laws of physics because they have no other choice. It’s just when they cheat with special effects that we seem to forget how the physical world really works.
When you’re watching an action flick, all it takes is a crash, or maybe a stream of leaky gasoline that acts like a fuse, and suddenly, bang! You see a terrific explosion that’s complete and violent. But gasoline doesn’t explode unless mixed with about 93% air. Gas-induced car explosions were discovered on film relatively recently (you don’t see them in the old black-and-white movies), and now audiences just take them for granted. In general, there’s no need to rush out of a crashed car, risking injury, because you fear an imminent explosion – it’s probably not gonna happen.
Continue reading "10 Laws of Physics That Don't Apply in Hollywood " »
Recently it was revealed that Al Gore has a large “carbon footprint” and that he setup a corporation and as CEO that allows him to assuage guilt over that large footprint by purchasing carbon credits from himself. He later invests that money in green technology companies and the profits from those stocks return to his company.
I planned to write a harsh rebuttal but as I was eating breakfast I realized something; the man is a genius. No wonder columnist Maureen Dowd calls him the “Goreacle”.
My lovely wife and I are dieting, but I realize now that we don’t need to after all. Following Gores lead, I propose a website called waste-watchers.com which will offer us the ability to purchase “dieting credits” so that we don’t actually have to change eating habits. But unlike Gore, who doesn’t allow his corporation to sell carbon credits to the public, I’ll make this website available to everyone.
Here’s a sample of “calorie credits” you can buy: Big Mac alone, 576 calories, $5. Add supersize fries and milkshake, 1720 calories, $20. Ice cream bar, 330 calories $3, Nachos with cheese, 900 calories, $9.
Simply logon the website, make your “calorie credit” purchase, and you’ll be able to eat these foods while still maintaining your calorie count guilt free.
Humorous absurdities aside, the point is that if you want to change anything, it requires real work and physical change, not accounting tricks. Honest leadership here is more incumbent on Gore than anyone, and his failure is revealing.