Dan’s Wild Wild Weather Journal

We started a series of on air stories on common climate chnage myths tonight. I submitted the idea to my News Director in late August and gave her several ideas. She thought the one about the Oregon Institue of Science and Medicine would be a good start.

I work with some very, very talented journalists, and photo editors. They are very good at taking the Science I write, and repackaging it into quality TV.

You can see the story at the link below.

Climate Change: Separating Fact from Fiction

Later,

Dan

If you read this journal often, then you must have the same fascination with Science as I do. Trust me when I tell you that the mathematical beauty and wonder of the universe is just as wondrous as the part we can see.

There has been and still is a revolution going on in Physics. It is a difficult subject with a firm knowledge of Calculus required to grasp the fundamentals…right?

Not necessarily.

The University of California at Berkeley has put all of the lectures in one of their Physics courses online.

The course is entitled “Physics for Future Presidents”. Now I thought at first that you really did not need an entire semester to teach students to say NEW KLEE ERH, instead of NEW Q LAR.

Actually it is top notch Physics with only very basic Math. Now take it from someone who has had a chunk of the Math, you are not really getting cheated here.

This course is FANTASTIC!

Best of all, you do not have to apply for admission to UCB, or pay the out of state tuition, which  I sure cannot afford!
Want to understand Radiation?

Ever wonder how they bult the first Atom bomb?

How do Nuclear reactors work?

Would you like someone who is REALLY, REALLY smart, to take the time to explain the wonders of Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity (in a way you could understand it?)

Well this is your lucky day, and I do expect a thank you!

Actually the person we need to thank is Doctor Richard Muller a Physycist at UCB. He teaches the course. It’s rated as the best class at Berkely. I have a feeling that there will be a lot of future science majors who got started by watching these online lectures.

Let me let you in on another secret. Once you watch the lectures and realize how interestng it is, you will think, oh but the math would be brutal.

It is really not that bad though. Understanding enough to get an undergraduate degree is actually darn easy if your willing to study instead of party!

More than likely you will get so interested in a certain field, that you will teach yourself the math before someone else has to!  Suddenly your a famous Physicist like Dr. Muller. Trust me on this, it is not that far fetched.

Ok, so here is the link, and don’t forget to send Professor Muller a thank you.

Physics for Future Presidents

I mentioned a few weeks back that we were very close to matching last year’s record low in Arctic ice. The ice usually reaches it’s greatest melt back the first week in September.

The data is in ,and we just barely missed breaking another record. 2006 is now the second lowest on record. More, and more of the ice researchers believe we have reached the tipping point. Once we pass it, the Arctic Summer ice may disappear quite rapidly.

This may very well be one the IPCC has gotten seriously wrong. See below.

Image Courtesy A. Sorteberg. University of Bergen in Norway.
As the ice melts it is replaced by dark Arctic ocean that absorbs the sunlight instead of reflecting it. This causes even more warming, which melts even more ice. This positive feedback loop is called the Ice-Albedo feedback. At some point the warming will kick in, and melt all of the ice. Let’s hope the IPCC models are right, and we still have 60-80 years before the ice goes.

You may be wondering what kind of planetary affect the lack of Summer sea ice will have. So is every other Climate scientist on the planet.

Later,
Dan

Something has certainly messed with Texas. Everyone knows who- Ike.

Ike was only a category two hurricane, but the flooding was, and still is, significant.

Hobby airport in South Houston had gusts to 96 mph. Over 2.8 Million are without power. In an area where everyone lives in air conditioning, there may be quite a few casualties of the heat over the next few days.

Imagine if this had been a category 4 with a 22 foot storm surge. Or 25 feet. Someone had better imagine it because it will happen. Maybe not for 30 years. Maybe later this month.

The flooding was worse in Houston for two reasons. Subsidence and Climate Change.

Houston has sunk up to 10 feet in the last 100 years. Why? All the water, gas, and oil pumped from the ground beneath it. Since Hurricane Alicia in 1983, the sea level has risen about 3-4 inches due to climate change. The sea level is now rising at 3.3mm per year, and this rate is increasing.

All of this spells big trouble for cities like New Orleans, Houston, and Miami. Even New York City.

Alicia struck in August of 1983. I was in Galveston, and Houston as the eye passed right overhead. It was certainly a night to remember. I wonder if any of the lessons we are being given from Mother Nature about living, and building near coast lines will sink in.

Those of us who do not live on the coast are already paying part of the insurance, for those who do. There is a growing outcry over this. Living in a sustainable world, means we must pay the real cost of the goods and services we use. That includes the environmental costs as well. If you add it up, the real cost of living on the beach is a lot more expensive than you might think.

Just some thoughts on a Saturday night, as I appreciate the breeze from Ike we are getting here in Huntsville.
Later,
Dan

About 5 years ago the TV station I work for decided to auction off some of it’s older vehicles.

One car in particular had a very troubled past. A 1995 red Corsica. It seems that one time the steering wheel came off in a reporters hand while driving down the road. Then the transmission fell out of it as well. All those things were fixed and with 120,000 miles it was to be given to the highest bidder.

Enter Dan. I have NO knowledge of cars. I met my wife because she showed me where to check the oil in my car while I was at University. (It had very little to none at the time too.)

I needed a cheap car for my daughter and bid $700 on a lark. Well you guessed right. No one else was that stupid.

Now here is the rub. That little car ran great for 5 years with only one major repair costing 600$. All I care about in a car, is that it starts, and has a COLD air conditioner. It met the bill!

Until yesterday!

I drove home from a class I am teaching at Calhoun Community College here in Huntsville, and when I went back out to start it later that day, it made a tremendous noise.

The engine is toast. Dead as an Egyptian door nail. It did not quite make it to 238,000 miles. (The average Earth - Moon distance)

The mechanic said that I should have heard something strange as a warning. (To quote a famous actor: “He don’t know me very well, do he”. B. Bunny)

My 13 year old son is Autistic, and spent many a happy hour on the boot watching the world go by. He will miss it too.

So long little red car, slowly rotting from the inside out, I will miss you. (I bought a Kia Rio 2007 that gets 38 mpg!) I just need a new Apple sticker.