Understanding the Voynich Manuscript #1 Tom, Dick and Harry explain a statistical method. The mysterious Voynich Manuscript. A simple analysis of a sufficiently large text can reveal much about the topic of that text, if the language is known. If the text, as in the case of the Voynich Manuscript, is written in an unknown script, then the same simple analytical method can point the way to the underlying language, or language group.
Arctic Ice August 2010 - Update #2Since I last posted an update, many things have happened in the Arctic and sub-Arctic.In my last update - Arctic Ice August 2010 - Update #1 - I noted that there were no floes in the main pack bigger than 35km2. I invited my readers to find a floe bigger than that anywhere in the main ice pack. Nobody did. Yes, there were a few bigger floes - even big enough to be called ice islands - but they were not in the main pack.
Petermann Glacier Calving 2010 - UpdateBefore I discuss the recent calving of the Petermann Glacier ice tongue, I want to give credit to the many scientists who were studying, predicting and observing this event. If I miss anyone out, please advise by email or comment and I will edit this article accordingly.The scientists who deserve credit, in no particular order:Humfrey Melling at DFO submitted a detailed science article to the Journal of Geophysical Research - Oceans just a few weeks before the event, and so missed the chance of including the calving in his article.
Tears For PakistanA great tragedy is unfolding in Pakistan. There is not a single region of Pakistan unaffected by floods. Whole villages have been wiped out and agriculture lost. How will these people be fed. Formerly, the USA and Russia could be relied on to to send food relief. How will Russia send food aid to Pakistan when it has its own problems with grain supplies?The world gave and gave again for Haiti. In terms of people displaced and without food, water and other supplies, the Pakistan tragedy is far worse.
A Kick In The ButtressButtressingImagine a retaining wall in sloping ground. Upslope there is soil. Downslope there is a piece of artificially created flat ground. The whole point of having the wall is to prevent landslip.The soil on one side of the wall and the fresh air on the other create an imbalance of forces. One way to create a balance is to make the wall tapered, like a dam. A cheaper way is to make the wall straight and add occasional tapered thickenings. A well-designed buttress can save a lot of money on materials by adding strength sufficient for the task.
The Anatomy Of A DiscoveryPetermann Glacier Ice Tongue Calving 2010Science20.com is a science site.Now, I could blabber and bluster about how I once advised Margaret Thatcher1. Which I did. In a private letter which was answered by the Iron Lady herself in her own handwriting. I had further communication with her via my local M.P. - the politician, not the policeman! All of which has nothing whatsoever to do with my reputation in the science community. Nor should it.
Free EnergyI have written a great deal about global warming, climate change and have made several successful predictions - notably the recent calving of an ice island at the outlet of the Petermann Glacier's floating ice tongue. As the first person to publicly report that event and as the only person - to the best of my knowledge - to predict it's scale I feel entitled to be given due credit as a person who may know a thing or two about science.It is exactly because this is a science site that I want you to agree not to believe a word I say based solely on my reputation.Science demands independent verification. If I post up a graph, don't believe me when I tell you where it came from - follow the link.
Arctic Newsflash! Petermann Ice Tongue Loses Huge ChunkI have been watching the Petermann Glacier ice tongue for some time now.Here is what I wrote in Arctic Ice July 2010 - Update #3:Judging from historic maps and images, the normal behavior of the Petermann ice tongue was the formation of a concave front at the fjord mouth. Over recent years it has retreated. Much of the tongue is now detached from the walls of the fjord. Tidal forces will flex the tongue up and down: wind, currents and ice floe impacts will all exert at least a small lateral force on the tongue. It will continue to thin from melting.
Arctic Ice August 2010 - Update #1Most of the fires in Siberia seem to have been put out or burned out. Meanwhile, the fires near Moscow continue to burn and there are more fires in Alaska. I have made a mosaic composite showing the fires at the time of writing. I have enhanced some of the red fire markers where they were faint in the MODIS originals. Please note that the size of a red blob does not equate to the size of the fire.The Arctic - August 04-05 2010 - approx. 2km resolution.
Arctic Ice August 2010Arctic warming and global warming.The year up to July 31 has produced many examples of anomalous weather events globally. We have seen fires, floods, droughts and sandstorms on an immense scale. A new report shows that 10 out of 10 indicators of global warming are trending in the direction predicted when global warming was merely a theory, rather than a self-evident fact.
A Climate Science Balancing ActThe 2009 State of the Climate report released by NOAA July 28 2010 -draws on data for 10 key climate indicators that all point to the same finding: the scientific evidence that our world is warming is unmistakable. More than 300 scientists from 160 research groups in 48 countries contributed to the report, which confirms that the past decade was the warmest on record and that the Earth has been growing warmer over the last 50 years.
Peak Oil And Global Warming"Our ignorance is not so vast as our failure to use what we know."M._King_HubbertI am confident that, if he were still with us, M. King Hubbard would be strongly in favor of the pursuit of alternatives to fossil fuels. He demonstrated that our use of fossil fuels was not only unsustainable, but could lead to a reversion to an agrarian economy if we failed to address the problem of our dependence on fossil fuels.
Arctic Heroes #3 - Robert McClureRobert McClure and his crew were the first people to transit the North West Passage - by ship and sled. They were also the first to circumnavigate the Americas - by ships and sled.McClure's ship - HMS Investigator - has just been found. She was abandoned in June 1853 due to a combination of factors: the general poor health of the crew; the uncertainty of escape from the ice; the availability of other vessels to take the crew home.
