Too bad it's melting

Most of us won't get to see the wonders of the far north, the Arctic snowscapes and icescapes.  And this marvel is melting before our eyes, too.  So these pictures are capturing a world that is slowly being lost.

Majestic glacier towers over Arctic landscape in extraordinary pictures of ice melting into the ocean

Including this astonishing photograph:

Here's a link to photographer Hans Strand's Arctic galleries:

Arctic #1 (you can click on each successive number to see more)

His site has many other superb landscape photographs.

The mini-reactor might just be the key to a better future

So the Russians had a few problems with the nuclear reactors on their submarines.

But seriously now;  have we, the United States, ever had a major serious problem with a nuclear reactor on a submarine or an aircraft carrier?

(Yes, maybe the sub service is so secretive that a nuclear reactor problem might have remained classified.  But I don't think so.  No, I think little, well-behaved nuclear reactors just work well).

And Babcock and Wilcox (not to mention Bill Gates, the Microsoft guy) apparently think so too.

Are mini-reactors the future of nuclear power?

We shall see.  But count me as NOT skeptical that this might work.

And you didn't believe that prediction?

Back at the beginning of the year, prediction number 8 of my undangerous predictions was:

8. Due to the nation's budget problems, several large national parks will close for at least a few days during the summer vacation season, to demonstrate how bad the situation is.
-- This would be a smart way to sway public opinion.

Well, read this and ponder if I might be right about that one:

Leaked documents show looming budget crisis for national parks

"A second leaked document shows the actual budgets of each of the parks and how much they are being asked to cut in order to make the 5% goal. Some of the hardest hit national parks include Yellowstone, which is being asked to cut $1.75 million, and Yosemite, which will lose $1.4 million in operating expenses. Those two locations aren't the only ones feeling the pinch, however, as the National Mall will also shed $1.6 million from its budget and the Grand Canyon will cut an additional $1 million.Unless the budget sequestration is averted before March 1, these cuts could have a dramatic impact on the national park experience for travelers. Understaffed and under-budgeted parks could lead to reduced hours of operation, shorter overall seasons and even the potential closure of certain areas. Visitor services would also likely be hit hard with fewer rangers on duty and less staff in visitor centers and information kiosks."

This ain't over.  The government could still close a park.  The President could even order the closure of a park to save money -- and further foment public opinion against the idyit Repubs in the House.

(But it looks like I was wrong on #5, sort of.  The Republicans aren't fighting a pitched battle over the debt ceiling.  Rather, they're going to fight a pitched battle over the sequestration cuts and over the next annual budget.  And theyre still going to take the economy down with them in this fight).

Ha ha ha, you skeptics (sad)

When a big Arctic storm hit the poles this summer, I predicted that skeptics, led by the arch fiend Marc Morano, would blame it for the worst loss of sea ice in the summer we've ever seen.  And I was right. 

Here's the prediction post:

I knew it, I knew it

and then the "See, I told you so" post:

And of course I was right again

But one might still ask, what was the ultimate scientific verdict on this storm and the sea ice loss?  Well, here we go with that:

Arctic CSI: Cyclone Absolved in Record Sea Ice Melt

Setting:
"The Great Arctic Cyclone of August 2012" arose in Siberia on Aug. 2 and crossed the Arctic Ocean to Canada, lasting an unusually long 13 days. The cyclone hit a pressure minimum of 966 millibars on Aug. 6, the lowest ever recorded for an Arctic storm. The stronger the pressure gradient, or difference in pressure, the stronger the winds associated with a storm."

Verdict:
"Not guilty.

The scientists conclude the cyclone reduced the final September ice extent by almost 60,000 square miles (150,000 square kilometers), an additional 5 percent. However, they point out that 2012's record loss was 18 percent greater than the previous low, set in 2007. [Video: Powerful Arctic Cyclone Wreaks Havoc on Sea Ice]

"Thus without the storm, 2012 would still have produced a record minimum," the authors report in their study, which appears online this week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters."

 Thus, I was totally and completely and unalterably right.  Because what Morano said (quoting Anthony Watts, who was wrong too) was that the storm made the new record low possible (i.e., if it hadn't happened, the new low would not have been possible). 

But as we can clearly see now, that's not true.

Alert: Miranda Kerr in bridal lingerie

Just not fair.  Totally not fair.

But very, very nice.


Miranda Kerr models Victoria's Secret bridal collection

Like I said, not fair at all.

Hey, Kelly Brook is available again

Not that 99.8% of the male population of this globe has a chance (if that much), but Kelly Brook has quietly announced that she has broken up with her powerfully handsome boyfriend (now ex-boyfriend, to be precise) Thom Evans.

As the article notes, Kelly has been a bit unlucky in love.  Now, depending on the way you look at it, maybe she's been lucky in love, because she apparently hasn't found "The One".  So she hasn't  been a bad marriage, even though she has had a couple of broken engagements.

Now, what I'm hoping is that Kelly has enjoyed each of her paramours, in all the senses that entails.  She emanates wholesome sexiness and curvaceous healthiness.  She's the type of woman that you hope enjoys sex, because you know you'd enjoy it with her if you ever got the chance.   Impossibly unlikely, but still...


'It was a mutual decision': Kelly Brook confirms split from Thom Evans as she cuts a lonely sombre figure

But wait, she's having fun with friends on the beach!

Green with envy: Single lady Kelly Brook enjoys the company of her girlfriends as she takes some downtime from modelling shoot

This particular article included the shot below, which the paparazzi photog who took it must have nearly fainted when he saw this piece of doubly good fortune through the lens:

Seriously, that's a gift.

Sometimes it makes sense to take a break

I haven't written a post for a few days.  Anybody notice?  I don't know how many regular readers I have, but I know I don't have many.

That's not the point.  Now, I'd like to get more people to realize that climate change skepticism is a farce and that we face a serious globalwide problem.  And I'd like more people to realize that nuclear power is a definite part of the way we can potentially avoid the worst of it.

I'd like more people to realize that a lot of Republicans in the House of Representatives (and a few Senators, too), are way, way, way out of the mainstream of what normal Americans are thinking.  It makes my feel pain when John Boehner says "the American people want 'this' " (whatever 'this' is). He's massively skewing the truth, because what he really means is that a tiny fraction of the American people who live in massively skewed safe Republican districts have elected super-wingnuts who want 'this'.

I want people to appreciate women the way I do.  Beautiful women are beautiful to look at.  That's why a lot of beautiful women get paid a lot of money so that men will look at them, of course.

I want people to realize that the Earth, the solar system, and the Universe are amazing places with amazing, astonishing sights.

But if that's what I want, why write this?   Well, put it really simple, it's self-expression.  It's me.  It's what catches my interest and so I'm going to write down that it catches my interest.  And if anyone shares what I think is interesting, then I hope they appreciate what I'm doing.

And I also don't have to hold back.  My opinion holds as much weight as any other average American's opinion - which is, not much.  So I can state it, on this little soapbox in the digital world.  I can be crazy or stupid or smart and not get noticed.  Not much, at least.  But I can state my view of the world.

Yes, I take this seriously.  But I don't always have to be serious.

Now, on with the show.