NC Media Watch

Mother Nature’s Threesome

Russ Steele

Art Horn a long time TV a meteorologist has an excellent summary of what Mother Nature may have in story for us:  La Nina weather pattern, a solar minimum, and a massive volcanic eruption. A threesome of cold weather events not seen for two hundred years.

This is not a computer model forecasts, this is history based science. When these event have happened in the past the planet cooled. Now we may have the potential for all three at the same time, a triad of cooling events.

Art Horn:

In a cosmically ironic twist of fate and timing, nature may be set to empirically freeze any and all anthropogenic global warming talk: a blast of Arctic cold may encase the earth in an icy grip not seen for 200 years.

This is not alarmist fantasy or 2012 babble — several natural forces that are known to cause cooling are awakening simultaneously, raising speculation of a “perfect storm” of downward pressures on global temperature. These forces let loose one at a time can cause the Earth to cool and can bring about harsh winter conditions. If they all break free at once, the effects could be felt not just in the coming winter, but year-round, and for several years to come.

You can read the detail about this pending triad at: Global Cold Wave May Be Looming — This Time, the Science Is Good.

Forecasts of natural phenomena are notoriously difficult. However, a unique set of natural circumstances have a chance to unify into a formidable triad. All eyes will be on Iceland to see if Katla awakens from its long sleep, and if it does, the theory of man-made global warming will be handed yet another crushing blow.

We have already seen the results of the late spring frost on local agriculture in Nevada County. Full story here.

Wet, cold weather and a late spring freeze have pummeled pockets of crops in western Nevada County, leaving some growers devastated — and others feeling lucky.

Early vegetables, wine grapes and some fruit have been damaged or ruined by frost, sleet, rain and hail during late April and May, according to county farmers.

Much of the damage depended on the area's variable topography; low areas that capture cool air were hit the hardest.

“It's pretty bad,” said Nevada County Agricultural Commissioner Jeff Pylman.

An early fall frost could damage the harvest of those crops surviving of the spring freeze, and the replanted replacement crops.  Keep your weather eye on the Iceland volcano here, the advancing La Nina here and number of sun spots here.

Google comes to DISH Network TV

Russ Steele

Just when you thought that Google could not find another niche in your life, it is coming to your TV set.

Google and DISH Network L.L.C. have launched Google TV, an open platform that seamlessly integrates multichannel television with rich web media content. This technology brings the full power of the Internet to the television viewing experience.

Google TV merges traditional TV programming with the wide amount of content on the web, allowing viewers unprecedented access, control, and flexibility over all forms of digital content. DISH Network subscribers using Google TV can simultaneously search for content across DISH Network, the Internet, and their DVRs. They can overlay online content related to television shows, movies, actors and more; and also hyperlink web content back to multichannel TV. The DISH Network Google TV integration is the outcome of a joint development process between the two companies. The companies began their collaborative trial over a year ago by beta testing the technology with more than 400 DISH Network and Google users. Based on continuous feedback from the trial, Google and DISH Network built the Google TV experience that seamlessly integrates traditional TV programming with rich web content. Google and DISH Network plan to make the optimized Google TV experience available to customers later this fall. DISH Network will integrate the software to enable this advanced integration on all HD DVR receivers. Users can then simply connect their Google TV devices to their DISH Network receivers via HDMI.

We recently connected our DVR to the Internet via our Cat 5 Ethernet.  Let the fun begin.

H/T to SatNews

In honor of soldiers who have given their lives for our freedom

Stupid is as stupid writes

Russ Steele

Baxter Pharr writes in Save our ski resorts from climate change

The evidence for human-caused climate change is both overwhelming and simple. Over the past 600,000 years, every time the fossil record shows an increase in carbon dioxide concentration in the Earth's atmosphere there is a corresponding increase in global temperatures. Current carbon dioxide (produced by the burning of fossil fuels) concentrations are about 390 parts per million, are rising about 2 ppm/year, and are at their highest level in over 1 million years.

Wow, talk about clueless. Pharr ignores the facts. The ice core data clearly shows that global temperature changes preceded CO2 changes by 600 to 1,000 years indicating that it was the temperature changes that caused the CO2 changes, not the reverse. As the oceans warm during interglacial warming, they emit CO2 into the atmosphere.  Where do the warming propagandist  think all that CO is coming from, humans are only contributing 3-4% of the 2 ppm per year, where is the other 97% coming from? Right?  Mother Nature! 

Suspend AB32 Update: Comparing the Internet Reach?

Russ Steele

The anti-Suspend AB32 groups are marshaling their forces and attempting to re-frame the AB32 issue from the loss of California Jobs to a ” dirty oil proposition.” Details in the latest Off the Top of My Head column, which appears in the June CABPRO Magazine. You can pick up a copy at merchants around town, including B&C Hardware, Grass Valley 76, and the Robinson Service Station in Grass Valley.

The opposition to the Suspend AB32 Proposition has launched a website, Stop the Texas Oil Companies Dirty Energy Proposition.  The main Pro Suspend AB32 site is the California Jobs Initiative. I thought is might be interesting to compare the Internet Reach of the competing web sites.  Is the opposition was getting their message out?

I checked with Alexa The Web Information Company web site to see how the pro and con sites compared among all US sites on the web. A reach of 1 is best, a reach of 2,000,000 not so good.  Alexa has both international reach and US reach. I will focus on the US reach numbers.

http://www.stopdirtyenergyprop.com/  US Reach =  303,536 with No Linked Web Sites.

http://www.suspendab32.org/ US Reach = 249,360 with 17 Linked Web sites.

For comparison NC Media Watch US Reach = 538,799 with 108 Linked Web sites.

For the most part both the Pro and Con sites are about evenly matched when it come to reach, with the Pro suspension site with a small advantage.  The interest part will be the follow up to see which way they are moving next month, up or down the reach spectrum. Stay Tuned

Ministry of Stupidity Speaks and oil prices will shoot up!

Russ Steele

Reading an analysis by the ChiefCIO on why Macedonia might be a better place for your business than California here, I came across his gem of information:

And the Feds are busy “fixing” our low energy costs with various forms of breakage of the energy industries. ( For example, in a “Ministry of Stupidity Speaks” moment, Obama froze offshore drilling for 6 months. Well, one small problem: Those rigs cost about 1/4 million $/day and that breaks the contract. They will up-anchor and go to the Middle East and Brazil to drill. And enter a new contract for a few years. We are locking in higher dependency on OPEC for the next 4 to 5 years. And higher prices. The shut-in capacity here is about 1/2 the total non-OPEC growth of supply. Yeah, that much.)

According to reports there are 90 drilling rigs operating in the Gulf of Mexico, not all deep water rigs, that can just pull up stakes and move out of US waters in the Gulf and drill for other countries, some in the Gulf.  As the ChiefCIO points out, an idle drilling platform costs the own money.  They will soon look for other opportunities, and we are the losers.  

While the United States has banned offshore oil drilling in the Gulf, Russian oil platforms will soon go up in our backyard thanks to an offshore oil production deal with the Cuban government.  With many idle drilling rigs, in the Gulf, other Counties may start their own drilling operations.  Drilling that cannot be supervised by the US Government.

There are many lessons to be learned from the current disaster, but making knee jerk decisions to stop all drilling is not the solution.  Learn the lessons  and apply them to platforms similar to the BP operations. 

Exit Question: What would you do?

H/T to Anthony Watts for the tip.

Connecting the missing dots in NC Assessors race - hiding the money?

Russ Steele

Today the Union published an article focusing on political donations and the associated party affiliations in the current Nevada County races. In the Assessors race they found only “subtle references to political bent “ due to the fact both candidate are Republicans. However,  I think that the Union writers may have missed more of the real story embedded in the California Form 460s. See the Analysis: Donations hint at political bent.

The Union Writers duly noted:

Rolf Kleinhans - a real estate broker - received a $3,500 donation from the California Real Estate Political Action Committee.

What they missed was that in a previous reporting period Rolf Kleinhans received $4,000 from the same Los Angeles based Real Estate Political Action Committee. That brings the total to $7,500 from an outside Los Angles based PAC.

Investigating farther, it turns out that both of those checks were reported to the  Secretary of State on the same date, 03-08-10, implying they are send to Rolf Kleinhans Campaign during the same reporting period. (Click for a larger image.)



This raises some questions:

• Why did Kleinhans campaign report the first check for $4,000 dollars during the first reporting period and the second check for $3,500 during the current reporting period? 
• Did Kleinhans' campaign receive both checks at the same time, as inferred by the information on the Secretary of State web site, as both were cut and reported on 03-08-10. Election law requires candidates deposit contribution checks within 10 days of receiving them. 
• Were the deposits and reporting delayed to hide the amount of money coming from an LA based Real Estate Political Action Committee?
• Why does an LA based Real Estate Political Action Committee invest $7,500 in a local Assessors election? What is in it for them if Kleinhans is elected?

One other observation that struck me as I was reviewing the Assessor Candidate Form 460s.  How professional that Sue Horns’ 460s look and how unprofessional Rolf Kleinhans’ 460s looked. See them here. 

While the 460s are prepared by the Campaign Treasure, they are signed off  and submitted by the candidates.  Lets hope that if Kleinhans wins the election, this is not the kind of sloppy work he will approve in his newly elected position. Attention to detail is important in the Assessors Office.

Full disclosure: I have contributed to Sue Horne’s campaign and support her election. She is true professional and deserves your vote. 

A morning with Nevada Union’s best and brightest (edited 05-29-10)

Russ Steele
 
One of Spring's highlights for Ellen and me is the Sierra Environmental Studies Foundation TechTest Survival Breakfast. This is the 4th year that SESF has sponsored TechTest,  and our fourth opportunity to sit down with some of Nevada County’s best and brightest high schools students.

This year all the students at the breakfast were from Nevada Union, as Bear River did not participate in TechTest2010.  The Truckee students competed for the TechTest Scholarships, with two students in the top ten, but chose not to brave Donner Pass this morning.  Past Top Ten TechTest winners also came from Truckee.

Photo of students and parents gathering at Tofanelli"s

One of the joys of the breakfast is learning about student ambitions and discuss the their vision for the future.  All but one of the students is planning on going to college. One young man has enlisted in the Air Force seeking a career in para-rescue. He wants to jump our of airplanes, and let the Air Force pay for his college education.

The top three TechTest awards this year are First Place $6,500, Second Place $4,400  and Third Place is $2,100. More details on the TechTest Program can be found on the SESF Web site here. After Award Night at the high school all the winner names and awards will be posted on the SESF Web site

This year Telestream was our first TechTest corporate sponsor and in 2011 the SESF Board of Directors will be seeking more corporate sponsors for TechTest 2011. Our goal is to increase the value of our scholarship program and to support Nevada County’s best and brightest students seeking a career in science and engineering.  They are Nevada County's future wealth creators.   

Let’s hope the BOS has more brains and ........ than the Planning Commission

Russ Steele

We have a group in Nevada County that is against all mining in the County. Their latest target is the Blue Lead Mine.

CLAIM Citizens Looking At Impacts of Mining has branched out. We are now following developments at two proposed local mine projects. These are the Emgold - Idaho Maryland Mine in Grass Valley and the Blue Lead Mine on Red Dog Road in Nevada County.

Tonight CLAIM-GV is celebrating a Planning Commission decision today. The meeting results are on Yubanet.

NEVADA CITY, Calif, May 27, 2010 - After over four hours of arguments from Blue Lead representatives, exhaustive staff reports and input from the public, the planning commission voted unanimously to deny vested right to mine. 

The 76.9-acre property, located at 18272 Red Dog Road in Nevada City, was acquired by Blue Lead Mine LLC in March 2007.

After an incomplete use permit application, the company filed their request for vested right to mine. Any vested mine does not need to apply for a mining permit to the county and no California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) document for the mining operation itself is required.



The applicant now has the option to appeal to the BOS, or to complete their use permit application.

The CLAIMer are patting themselves on the back tonight, having eliminated a few more jobs and much need tax revenue for the County coffers, all so they can sustain their stasis agenda. 

Nevada County continues to lose jobs and sales tax revenue. Jobs details here. Nevada County has a rich mining history that gave birth to the creative entrepreneurship spirit in the County. A spirit that has given the County an edge in creating innovative business clusters that others foothill counties envy.

The County needs the jobs and tax revenue that gold mining will create. Let’s hope the BOS see the job and tax benefits and override the Planning Commission. They have a responsibility of thinking about the benefits of gold mining to all the citizens of the County, not just the stasis needs of CLAIM-GV representatives.

CEI Suing NASA Over Climate Stonewall

By Chris Horner writing at the American Spectator, provided here as guest post.

This morning in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Competitive Enterprise Institute is filing suit against NASA, calling the erstwhile space agency to account for its nearly three-year stonewall of access to internal documents exposing an abuse of taxpayer funds to advance the global warming agenda.

Along the way to this point, we have begun revealing how NASA is running a third-party advocacy website out of NASA facilities, at taxpayer expense, to assail "skeptics" and promote the highly suspect basis for a specific policy agenda. This campaign also helped to elevate the particular fiefdom in question (James Hansen's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, or GISS) in terms of budget and stature. It has also elevated the scientists involved, professionally, at the expense of the taxpayer they are working to stick with the biggest economic intervention in our history (one I detail in my new book "Power Grab").

In this process, if only thanks to pressure on NASA after a December 2009 news story about their games, we have already obtained important emails among 2,000 or so pages released. These include an admission to USA Today's weather editor that NASA GISS is just a modeling office, using the temperature record of ...CRU, the ClimateGate outfit. That means their "independent temperature record" is actually a recapitulation of one that ...doesn't exist, but was withdrawn as a result of ClimateGate when the custodians admitted they actually lost all original data.

So whether the CRU claims were actually made up, as seems entirely plausible reading that crowd's own nasty anti-scientific campaign in their own words, it is as good as made up, meaning non-existent, for any legal or scientific purpose. So we already know that two of the four supposed "independent temperature records" are down the drain. And they're the only two subjected to anything resembling scrutiny.

Also along the way, in recent months we won on administrative appeal after NASA denied that documents created and held on NASA assets were really agency records, if editing and managing a third-party activist and advocacy site, RealClimate.org. NASA originally denied access to the records (which they are still withholding) on the grounds that taxpayer-funded scientists were actually moonlighting and so the documents were not really the government's property.

Our suit seeks to finally compel production of these records, among other documents the public paid for, are owed access to, but for years have been denied.